[open] a friend in need's a friend indeed

[nedofpies]

Who: Ned and OPEN
What: Random encounters & fallout from dream-walking tomfoolery
Where: House 20, the garden, anywhere around town
When: Day 89

It's been a long week. A long, mostly-sleepless, weird week during which Ned has seen far more of his friends' and neighbors' subconsciouses than he would have liked to. Plus, a creepy city made of crystals that everyone seems to have seen, but no one will claim as their own. Shady stuff. Today, he is determined to wear himself out. Perhaps if he's tired enough, whatever mojo the men behind the curtain have put on him won't be strong enough to stir him out of a deep and dreamless sleep.

It's probably a futile tactic, but he can't just do nothing.

So he is a bustle of activity - cleaning the house, walking around town, checking on the crops to see if they are holding up well (carefully, with an eye for any enterprising tigers roaming too close to the edge of the forest), keeping an eye out for new faces and an ear out for rumors of missing ones.

Comments

[dowhatisays]

Charlie kept his promise and didn't go over to Ned's house right away. He did what Meyer said, waited until tempers had cooled a little. All the same, that fear and anger is still twisting in his gut and consequently the smile on Charlie's face as he knocks on the door is airing more on the side of predatory than friendly.

"This ain't a bad time, is it? I was hoping we could haves a chat."

[rulebreaks]

Buffy finds herself in the gardens a lot these days. Mostly because they're gardeny and close to the outskirts of this place, and besides, plants don't ask those hard-hitting questions.

Though it does, on occasion, come with the awkward price of seeing someone she recognizes here. It's getting harder to be normalgirl each day she's here tbh.

"Ned." That was his name, right? Boy he was. Taller than he looked on communication devices. "...Hi."

[nedofpies]

Ned is mid-clean when Charlie shows up, complete with bright yellow gloves and apron, a damp washcloth cluthed in one hand, his hair slightly disarrayed. He can tell that something is up right away. Charlie doesn't seem the type who would need to justify his presence, if this were merely a social call. Plus, the words 'we need to have a talk' and all variants thereupon are never a good sign.

So he steps aside and lets Charlie in, a frown of concern on his face. There are any number of things Charlie could need to have a chat with him about. Could it be as simple as the dream of his that Ned had stumbled his way into? Or is this something to do with watching over Meyer while he's injured? Or could it be in reference to what he'd recently learned about those two.

"Please, have a seat," he gestures at the couch, but makes no move to sit down himself.

[dowhatisays]

"Thanks," He takes a seat, a bit awkwardly. This would be so much fucking easier if he was just threatening him. He's insane good at cornering someone on their way home and giving them a good scare. This... he has no frame of reference for.

No point beating around the bush, anyway.

"Meyer told me abouts what yous found out."

[nedofpies]

It takes Ned a moment or two to recognize her, but once he does, he offers a friendly smile of greeting, waving at her with the hand that isn't holding the watering can. "Hello, Buffy." There's something slightly uncomfortable about her body language, and he wonders if she came out here for a few moments to herself. He feels bad for intruding, but all the same, plants need watering. He starts on the rows that are a comfortable distance away from her, darting up occasional glances but trying to otherwise looking thoroughly occupied.

Still, it would be impolite not to continue the conversation, so he asks, "Been settling in okay?"

[undomesticated]

She's coming back from a her morning run, jogging up the stairs and opening the door to a bustle of frenzied cleaning. Well, at least that's what it seems like to her. The smell of cleaning products is strong and almost like a slap to the face, and she wonders if maybe Hal decided to come over again and straighten the place out as a coping technique.

Only it's not Hal's scent she picks up; it's Ned's. She pauses for a moment, not sure how he'll take to seeing her after their little dream interaction. It was one thing to share all that in the safety of her subconscious, but in the light of day, she wondered if it had been the best thing. She didn't know much about him other than he seemed sad and that he brought people back from the dead. But he hadn't taken it too badly.

In the dream.

Taking a deep breath, she decided to see if the reality would be better or worse, purposefully moving away from her room and towards the source of the activity. "Hey. Did the dirt in the house say something offensive?" It was an attempt at humor as well as to appease her curiosity as to what had prompted this.

[nedofpies]

Apparently they are done with hello, skipping right past how are you and right on to the discussion of deep dark secrets. Ned is fine with that, though it does leave him wrong-footed for a few seconds.

He glances around, confirming that he doesn't hear any of his housemates wandering around where they might overhear them. It isn't his own paranoia - Ned knows for sure that most of them couldn't care less what Charlie and Meyer get up to in the privacy of their own home. All the same, Meyer had been so frightened at the idea that anyone would know, and Ned had hated seeing him like that.

"Why don't we talk about this somewhere else," he suggests firmly, eyebrows raising, "There's my room, or we could go for a walk on the beach." Somewhere with a door that closes, or where they would see people coming from any direction.

[rulebreaks]

"Settling?" she asks, uneasily. But then she smiles. Also uneasily. "No complaints here... tall guy."

A beat.

"I mean pie guy. I mean... Ned guy."

[dowhatisays]

Charlie gets up again, glad to not have to pretend he isn't crawling out of his skin right now.

"Yeah. Let's walk."

[nedofpies]

"What?"

Ned was lost in his thoughts, so that it takes a few seconds for Riley's words to sink in. When they do he laughs softly, shaking his head. He can't blame her for asking, in her own humorous way, what all the frantic cleaning is in aid of.

"It's a never-ending battle," he explains, gesturing at the half of the living room that is clean, and the half that is as-of-yet untouched. How it's gotten so messy so quickly is anyone's guess. Kenzi, in particular, is a tornado of disorder. His efforts, Hal's efforts, and Daneel's efforts were only just enough to keep the chaos at bay.

He doesn't seem at all uneasy at her presence, after what he learned about her in the dream. If anything, he is more relaxed. The dream had been a good one - more restful than any of the others he had visited this week.

"Have a good run?"

[undomesticated]

"Hey," she said, holding her hands up, "I keep my room clean." Which was generally where she went to eat all her meals or be when she was in the house. But she also took them into the kitchen to clean them and leave them when she was done. Her sense of smell made the concept of trying to have nasty food dishes in her proximity a bit of a hardship.

Her small smile grew a little when she noticed that he wasn't as tense around her now. She nodded. "Yeah, I like to get out in the morning. It's more peaceful and I'm less likely to run into anyone that way. How about you? Are you okay?"

[nedofpies]

Ned nods, pulling off his gloves and untying the apron, darting into the kitchen to set those things down and take a moment to let out a single slow breath, bracing himself for the conversation to follow.

He rejoins Charlie, hands deep in his pockets, leads the way out the door. Once they are a few feet away from the house and he sees that they are alone without anyone in hearing distance he says, picking right up where they'd left off, "Did he also mention that I promised not to tell anyone?"

[dowhatisays]

"Yeah, he did. Seemed to think yous was real fucking sincere about it, too." Ned will probably be able to tell that Charlie is not entirely sold on this concept himself. Dammit, wait, Meyer told him to be friendly. Fuck, he's fucking this up. Changing tactics.

"But I figures he knows yous a lot better than I do."

[nedofpies]

"I was sincere. I am," Ned says, firm but not confrontational. Charlie's stress is even more apparent to him than Meyer's had been, though thankfully he doesn't look like he's going to be sick any time soon. It's there, though, in the fretful movements of his hands, in how quickly he's walking, in the snap of anger in his voice.

The lighthouse is looming closer and Ned rubs a hand across the back of his neck, hating this situation. He wants to just be happy for Meyer and Charlie, to talk and gossip and be a good friend to both of them. He understands where they are coming from on this issue, though, even if it isn't a part of his own experience.

He's glad to hear that Meyer, at least, is convinced (at least partially) of his sincerity, but now he needs to do the same with Charlie, too. Chewing on his bottom lip, Ned draws a steadying breath, asks, "What can I do to convince you?"

[nedofpies]

"You can call me tall guy, if you want. Or pie guy. Or Ned guy. Or Ned. Or just guy," he says, easily, wondering what's got her so on edge. She says she's fine, but...

"No complaints?" He's surprised by that. Perhaps she's just trying to be polite, but it seems to him that there's plenty to complain about. If it's not the food shortage, there's the strange business with the nightmares that has been happening recently. Does she know that has been happening to everyone else? There has been chatter about it on the network, but perhaps she has been avoiding it and doesn't know it isn't just her.

"Not even about all this dream business?"

[dowhatisays]

"Don't know yet." He brought his cigarettes with him. He only has a few left and he's been carefully rationing them, but he knew this was going to be one of the times he'd need one desperately. The ritual of it is calming - getting it out and sticking it in the corner of his mouth to light. Plus, it gives him something to do with his hands.

"Yous was in one of my dreams, weren't you? You were that kid. I knew it was yous."

[reluctantsword]

More than anything, Wallie just needs to be out of the house. Today, he's sitting near the crops, whittling away at a piece of wood which he's busily turning into nothing in particular. There's no purpose to this but to keep his hands busy while he thinks.

He's had more than a few peculiar dreams about Shonsu, lately, and that they've been witnessed is uncomfortable.

When he sees Ned, he stops what he's doing and waves a hand in greeting.

[rulebreaks]

"It's nice to know you're... flexible." Welp. Buffy tended to just go by 'Buffy' but maybe that was just her. "...Uhm. What dream business, in particular?"

[nedofpies]

Ned doesn't know if it's what made the difference with Meyer, but he stares down at his hands as he says, "I can make the same promise to you that I made to him. I swore on my mother's grave that I wouldn't say anything." Despite the repetition, the words have the same weight that they did the first time. If there is one vow Ned is not about to break, that is it. It's the strongest he can offer: stronger than swearing by God, on a Bible, on his soul, on anything.

Now that he's shored up his intentions, he gives a reassurance of his capability: "I'm good at keeping secrets, Charlie. You don't have to worry that I'll make a mistake."

"Yeah. The- prison cell, right?" He hadn't known whether to bring it up or not. "You gave me a cigarette." The gesture makes more sense to his waking mind, and he can understand it as a kindness in a way that he couldn't while he was still dreaming.

Charlie's dream had been far less harrowing and intimate than some of the others he'd shared, but it was still full of a certain amount of private information. "Sorry about that."

[nedofpies]

Ned's head tilts to the side in curiosity. The problem had been pretty ubiquitous thus far, but perhaps Buffy has remained unaffected. If so, he wonders how, if there is something different about her. Or perhaps she had been walking in other peoples' dreams without realizing it? Or, of course, she could always be lying, be trying to cover up what she didn't understand.

"People have been kind of showing up in one another's dreams these last few nights? And not in the regular, Wizard of Oz, I had a dream and you and you and you were there kind of way. I mean really actually in one another's minds."

[nedofpies]

"I suppose in that case you're an ally against the dirt, or at the very least a neutral party. Like Switzerland."

Her question sounds more heartfelt than just a perfunctory conversational nicety to fill up the silence. Ned is glad; Riley is kind, well-meaning, and interesting. He could always use more people like that in his life. Perhaps she remembers what he said in her dream, about not really being as unapproachable as he might seem.

"Yeah. I mean it's all been a bit Alice in Wonderland these last few days. Anyone else show up in your head uninvited?" There's a hint of self-reproach and apology, there. She might not have thought she minded the intrusion while she was asleep, but now that she's awake, perhaps she's changed her mind.

[undomesticated]

"I am the Swiss, only without the chocolate, which is a total bummer."

She leaned against the side of the wall, hands in her pockets as she settled in for more than a casual 'hi' before hiding in her room again. "Not that I'm aware of. I managed to wind up in someone else's." The memory had a hint of a pink tinge rising to her cheeks, but she smiled. Balthazar hadn't been lecherous about it at all, and once they'd left the, um, activities, she'd enjoyed the chat she had with him. Much as she always enjoyed her chats with him.

"I take it you were in more than just mine?" It was less of a question and more of an assumption, especially after his reaction to her touches in her dream. It made her a little sad for him that he'd seemed to have been harangued by nothing but negativity. It also made her wish she could have found a way to just... open up the dreams she had that were like that one; nice, calming, non-terrifying, to anyone who wanted to visit.

[nedofpies]

Ned sees Wallie before he is seen; he is by all appearances intent on his carving, so that Ned contemplates heading in a different direction and leaving him be. But then Wallie glances up and spots him and Ned returns the wave, slouching his way over.

"Whatcha making?" he asks, by way of greeting.

[nedofpies]

Ned is observant, notices the blush, but doesn't inquire further. He, too, had stumbled upon one or two rather embarrassing sights in other peoples' dreams. Friends without their pants on, that kind of thing. Looks like he isn't the only one.

"Yeah, maybe half a dozen or so." Trust a baker to say half a dozen instead of six. "But yours was definitely the nicest."

It occurs to him, belatedly, that that might have sounded different than he'd intended it to. It is true, but Riley isn't likely to realize just how dark and unpleasant the competition had been, on the whole. Ned wonders if she's the only one in this place who isn't in the thrall of near-constant nightmares.

"Left me with a craving for guava, if I'm honest, only I can't exactly go to the store and buy any, here."

[blackmagus]

Fortescue's taking a walk of her own, to clear a head full of far too many thoughts — both hers and otherwise, in the case of the dreams plaguing the Cape. Jazz walks in front of her, undisturbed, stopping to sniff certain spots that he'd rubbed up against before, claiming the place as his own. To a black cat, one ear only half-there, the concept of their landlords is something foreign; to him, scent determines who owns the place.

She yawns as he stops to rub his chin against a length of pipe sticking out of the ground, smiling in a friendly manner as she spots Ned nearby.

"Afternoon."