deadly_ned | 035 - Cinnamon and Brown Sugar

[On video, the Piemaker is wearing one of Dean's protective amulets, holding it in his hand and looking it over. He's also sitting on the man's couch, and looks like he has been for at least a week.

Aside from that, he's...thinner. Paler, and less altogether himself, even as his free hand continuously pets Digby the golden retriever beside him. Digby, for safety, also wears an amulet clipped to his collar]

I'm not much of a necklace person.

I wasn't expecting this to work. It works. I don't feel anything.

I didn't feel anything before I put it on either, so to the person who has my doll, thank you for not hurting it.

This flood is...

[The Piemaker falls silent. His eyes unfocus, and his head seems to drop. Something is clearly twisted up inside him.

This lasts for an uncomfortably long time, minutes worth of dead air filling up the network. Finally, the Piemaker seems to wake back up, wincing and rubbing at his eyes. He glances around, confused, before spotting the camera's light. He reaches over and shuts it off without explanation]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

From:

deadly_ned

[A hurried shuffling from inside, as the Piemaker scrambles to get himself sorted. Seconds later, he's cracking open the door, shoulders hunched]

Hi, Iris.

Are you looking for Dean? He might be in Maintenance.

From:

routemistress

[Elvis and Solace are with her; Iris might have hesitated to shoulder into the room past a cracked door (or she might not) but the dogs, seeing their BFF Digby, make no bones about it, and Iris follows purposefully in their wake.]

No, you plonker, I come to see you. You look like you followed a deathtoll with a two week absinthe bender, Ned, what the 'eck's up with you?

From:

deadly_ned

[The Piemaker quickly lets the door go rather than risk getting slammed by the overzealous dogs. He grimaces, looking over at the now three(!!) dogs on Dean's couch. Digby is happy to sniff Elvis and Solace in greeting, but little more than that: partially because of his age, mostly because of the fact that he smells just slightly of death to other dogs.

Trying not to think of how Dean is going to react to this nonsense, the Piemaker turns back to Iris only to find her already in the room]

Nothing's up with me. I'm only feeling under the weather. You came all this way because I'm down with the flu?

From:

routemistress

[Iris doesn't care. Nor does she care if Dean is going to mind or not; though she's utterly confident he wouldn't.]

Bullshit. I just watched you practically nod off in front of your comm. 'Ave you been to sickbay? And 'ow come you're shacking up with Dean again? Did someone kill you again and you're not telling anyone, Ned?

From:

deadly_ned

[The Piemaker hopes Dean won't mind, but still keeps an eye on the dogs just in case Digby tries to sneak into Dean's bed. Again.]

Nobody killed me. There wasn't any killing or dying or otherwise deathtolling.

Can't a friend just have a sleepover once in a blueish moon without making a big to-do about it?

Edited Date: 2014-04-25 02:42 pm (UTC)

From:

routemistress

There aren't any moons 'ere, Ned, and I weren't born yesterday. So fine, you didn't die, but summat's up with you. You going to spit it out or do I sit 'ere and harangue till you do? Your choice.

[By "sit here" she means going through Dean's fridge till she finds beer, popping the top off with her sonic corkscrew and then looking at Ned.]

Tea or beer?

From:

deadly_ned

I can't spit out what I don't have in my mouth to begin with. There's nothing there. I'm sick and under the weather and until I climb up over the weather there's nothing that can be done. Spitting or otherwise.

[A helplessly exasperated look at the fridge raiding going on]

Are you sure you should be taking that? What if Dean comes back?

From:

routemistress

[The most incredulous look.]

If 'e comes back it'll save 'im bothering to offer, won't it? So 'ave you been to sickbay with it? 'Cause it's not that common to get sick 'ere and honestly, Ned, you look a lot worse than bog-standard flu. What are your symptoms?

From:

deadly_ned

[Giving up on attempting to put restraints on Iris'...Iris-ness, the Piemaker gently nudges aside Solace to drop down on the couch again]

I don't know why it's rare to be sick. We're a few dozen people stuffed tightly into one small place. Germs are waiting to spread.

I have a headache. And I'm not sleeping well. Not something you would go to the infirmary for.

[His eye twitches, betraying the lie. He's also not eating, and losing time, and sleepwalking.]

From:

routemistress

[Beer isn't Iris' favourite, but it's associated in her mind with Dean; it's the right thing to be drinking in this room that smells of leather and gun-oil and now also slightly of dogs and cinnamon. It's a good smell, and she's mentally compiling a chemical formula to reproduce it as she sits down and makes a Deanic gesture at Ned with the beer bottle.]

I expect it's rare for the same reasons it's rare on board a TARDIS. The ship looks after you. When she doesn't something's wrong. And I don't like the way I saw you zone out just now on the comms, Ned.

Maybe I'm just a daft old bat that worries too much, all right? But do me a favour, would you? Go and 'ave Bruce give you a proper workup. Did you see the writing on Morgana's mirror, at all?

From:

deadly_ned

[He watches the beer bottle directed at him and sinks lower into the couch, his hands stuffed inside his pockets]

It's a product of the not-sleeping-well. Sometimes I zone out.

No. What was the writing on Morgana's mirror?

From:

routemistress

It was mirror-writing, Ned. Words appearing on the wrong side of 'er mirror. Again.

Do I 'ave to remind you what went down last time that 'appened?

From:

deadly_ned

[With a shudder, the Piemaker closes his eyes, his hand reaching over to hug Digby's fur. He falls suspiciously silent]

From:

routemistress

No, I thought not. Ned, it's like I said to Morgana - we're forewarned, we can plan for this. If it's what we think, all right, there's no way it won't be terrible, but we've got a chance to make it less terrible. And the best chance of that is finding out everything we can.

So can you please go and get checked out? 'Cause this isn't normal, and anything not normal needs to be looked at 'ard.

Edited Date: 2014-04-25 03:22 pm (UTC)

From:

deadly_ned

[Instead, the Piemaker pulls Digby further into his lap, wrapping his arms around his dog]

The last time I was there, I died. Digby almost died. We were tormented.

From:

routemistress

And I were doing some of the tormenting. Ned, d'you think I will ever forget that?

Morgana and me are making some plans. If we can get every bugger on the same page before it 'appens, we're 'oping there'll be enough unaffected to ...neutralise the biggest problems right off the bat. Before it gets as bad as last time.

But we can't pull it off if people are keeping quiet about weird stuff that's 'appening. Do you see what I mean?

From:

deadly_ned

Weird stuff is happening to me. But it doesn't mean that it's that Barge. We shouldn't be jumping to conclusions. Morgana's...yes, but not me. There's nothing wrong with me.

[There's a good deal wrong with him]

From:

routemistress

[Sceptical Iris is sceptical.]

I'm not jumping to anything, Ned; I'm taking precautions. There's a difference. It's not necessarily connected; but what if it is, eh?

I'm not asking for your liver, you pillock! I'm asking you to get a bloody check-up. Is that so 'ard?

Edited Date: 2014-04-25 03:39 pm (UTC)

From:

deadly_ned

If it is, there's nothing we can do except live in a state of existential dread. The Barge will change us, we'll go back to that other one, and that'll be..it.

Or it could be the Admiral is punishing me for not going home. Or it could be a very unfunny prank. Or I could just be sick.

From:

routemistress

No. I'll tell you what we can do, Ned: if we're going to 'ave that 'appen again, we can 'ave a plan in place for everyone that gets across not changed. We can 'ave everyone working together instead of our usual herd of cats approach to everything, do you see?

[She stops, takes a deep pull from the beer, and snorts in amusement.]

Look at me, the biggest cat-'erder in the multiverse, advocating organised coordination. Makes me wonder if we're not in the Mirrorverse already. But you 'ave to admit this is a special occasion, Ned love. All right, might be about to be a special occasion.

From:

deadly_ned

We were all changed last time. Most of us. I can't think of anyone who wasn't changed.

And now Alpha and the marquis are gone. But we didn't get any warning last time. Why are we getting warning now?

If it is what you and Morgana think it is.

From:

routemistress

We did get a warning last time. We just didn't know what we were being warned about 'cause it 'adn't 'appened yet. But the mirror writing, the ...did you see that bloke that turned up on Kara's post? No one 'ere knows 'im. That 'appened last time and all.

There were people not affected. Bruce, Nathan, Eddie - I was affected so I'm not sure who else. But people were, and whatever 'appens this time, there's bound to be someone staying normal.

We need those people to 'ave a few ideas beyond just making it up as they go, is all.

From:

deadly_ned

I don't think anything we do is going to necessarily change things.

I'm losing time. Seconds and minutes and longer. And it's. I've always had a preternatural relationship with time. I always know what time it is.

But I'm losing time. I'll blink and an hour's gone and I don't remember what I'd been doing.

Sometimes I'll be somewhere and not remember how I got there in the first place.

From:

routemistress

...Oh Ned, that's serious. Please let Bruce give you a once over. Or I can do a scan up in the lab if you'd rather?

Look, we might not be able to change what 'appens to the boat. But I do think we might make a massive difference to the people that 'ave to live through it, d'you see? It's worth a shot, isn't it?