005 - Three Plum

[deadly_ned]

[Locked to Thomas MacLaine]


We should probably...I don't know, talk at some point.

Um. My name is Ned. I'm your.

Warden.


Could I please come over.

Comments

[deadly_ned]

[The Piemaker allows the transfer of goods from his arms to Thomas', careful as always not to touch. Now pieless, he stuffs his hands in his pockets and leans against the door, biting his lip]

Thanks. Thank you. I, um.


It's nice to meet you. Again.

In the flesh.

[meanstwin]

[Thomas looks over his shoulder as if to invite Ned into the room - the public half of a tiny apartment, possessions in open cardboard boxes stacked against the wall - but makes it more explicit with a few more nervous words and a "pleased to meet you again". He starts to potter about to make Ned a little more at home, digging out plastic forks and knives, the only kind the Admiral's letting him keep, and opens up the box with pleasure.

He's deliberately ignoring the file.]

You made this? Is this a hobby, or what you do at home?

[deadly_ned]

[Not usually comfortable or practiced at making himself at home in other people's houses, the Piemaker still gives it an amiable try and pushes forward, sitting down on the couch with his hands stuffed carefully under his thighs. It's obvious he's very, very particular about what he does or does not touch]

I did. It's. At home, I bake pies. I own a restaurant, it's...nice.

I didn't know what flavors you like or don't like but that one is three plum. It's. It's a house favorite.

But if you want, you could..give me a list of what you do like and I can make...that.

[He too is ignoring the file, but knows he can't avoid the topic forever]

[meanstwin]

It looks delicious. I'm sure anything you make...

[He tries to stay busy as an excuse to not make eye contact. If he looks at Ned, the man's going to see some envy he's embarrassed to show anyone, even over something so small.]

I do this, sometimes. I cooked every day at work, but never had the time for something so complicated. That was for after hours.

[By now, he's done, and he serves up two plates on the couch, edging a box towards Ned as an implied invitation to make himself more comfortable.]

But there's no need to tell you that, is there?

[The first time he's acknowledged the file at all.]111

[deadly_ned]

[Unlike the pies made at home, this one used fresh fruit, and thus the Piemaker is able to eat his own slice without difficulty. He sets the plate in his lap, slicing the crust up into smaller chunks with the edge of his plastic fork]

Pie's not as complicated as people make it out to be. It's simple. I can, uh. Show you. If you have an interest. I don't want to come off as a pie pusher but we could have you knocking them out like a pro in hours.

You can tell me whatever you want to tell me. There's no set quota on any conversational tidbits.

...But yes, it did say you, um. You cook. Which I think is a little invasive of it, but I don't write the files.

[meanstwin]

I don't mind. It's something everyone knew about me.

[He starts to get a little more animated, one of his knees almost knocking his own plate over as he straightens, but one hand steadies it as the other heads to his mouth in exaggerated horror. He finally gets a taste at this point, and he gives first the plate, then Ned, an appraising look that turns into a beatific smile.]

This is incredible. I never would have thought to try fresh. They like their fruit sweeter back home. I was never as good as the man down at the A&G, but I can make a lot of the classics. And a few things no one around town had ever seen before. My sister had a place she really wanted to be upscale, she'd have me cater.

[deadly_ned]

[Despite the unfortunate circumstances, the Piemaker can't help but give a shy, satisfied grin at being praised for his pie; it's something he never gets tired of hearing]

I always try to make it fresh. You can sweeten it with sugar or ice cream but if it's too sweet it's..overwhelming.

What do you cook?

[meanstwin]

[This, Thomas understands, and is more than proud to start describing, though this time he's more cautious with the plate.]

At work, I made what everybody eats. Fried chicken, scalloped potatoes, biscuits... I even have a method for curing my own ham. You wouldn't believe what you can do in your refrigerator, if you ask the right people.

[He's starting to get ahead of himself and stops for a moment.]

After hours, I liked seeing what I could come up with. Carol always wanted something new, and she wanted me to watch the bar, too, so I had to get creative.

[deadly_ned]

[And this, no surprise, is a much easier subject than the file they're both avoiding. The Piemaker manages a shy smile of his own, listening to Thomas explain food. He recognizes that same passion in himself and thinks, well, maybe the Admiral hadn't paired them accidentally after all.

But he knows he has to bring down the unfortunate hammer of reality sooner or later, and searches for the right segue that won't immediately cause Thomas to withdraw in on himself]

I like to, um. Invent things too. Devices for...making life easier.

Just not usually with food.

[meanstwin]

[That's a conversational hook right there, and Thomas was raised to be a very nice, polite boy, so he grabs it.]

Then what for? What else do you do?

[deadly_ned]

I have a dog. Digby. You can meet him if you want; I just left him in my room because you know, you don't know who's a dog person and who's a cat person and the two don't usually see eye-to-eye with each other and better to let sleeping dogs lie than to risk a potentially offensive situation..

...Anyway. I'm...deathly allergic to him, so I can't actually touch him, so when he wants to be petted I sort of use this...device I invented so he can get scritches on the ear and not have to feel like no one loves him.

[meanstwin]

[Thomas's eyes noticeably widen, and he manages to slide in a "no, no, that's all right", but Ned's story is sadder than any of his own fears.]

...that's very clever, actually. He's all right with it?

[deadly_ned]

He gets along. We get along. He's very well-behaved.

...I won't bring him over. He'll stay in my room, you won't have to see him.

[meanstwin]

It's... that would be best.

[At night, when it rains, the dogs come out. No one ever talks about it, but Thomas has heard the bellowing since he was small, even seen them through his window, twenty feet tall with eyes like headlights, when he dared to look through his curtains one night. And that was before what Willie did.

He doesn't know if Ned knows this, and isn't about to say.]

I'm sure you have a very good dog.

[deadly_ned]

He is a good dog.

[And he knows to keep away from people who don't want to touch him. Hesitantly, the Piemaker reaches forward and picks up the file from the table]

I, um.

I guess we should talk about this now.

...Before we start, I just want to know. Is there anything...off-limits, or not up for discussion..? Sometimes things are too painful to, uh. To talk about right away and I didn't want to force you into something you weren't ready for.

[meanstwin]

[That Ned would even ask surprises him, but that type of shock he's learned to tamp down; it isn't the same visceral fear as blood or dogs. Even answering is talking about it, though, so he shakes his head limply, hands twisting in his lap.]

[deadly_ned]

...Okay.

Okay, let's...talk.

Not to get all...judgy judge psychiatrist on you but I'm sort of curious and forgive me if this is asking too much too fast but..

Why do you think you're here?

[meanstwin]

[Thomas has put a lot of thought into this, but the truth is too much for someone he barely knows.] I tried to kill someone. And I knew someone else was, too, and... I should have known it wouldn't stop.

[deadly_ned]

[The Piemaker understood the need for secrets. He too had secrets he'd kept for twenty years; secrets he wouldn't feel comfortable sharing with strangers either. He won't yet force Thomas to reveal his own]

Premeditated murder would be a big, um. Reason.

I'm more curious why you wanted to kill that someone.

[meanstwin]

Ever since I met her... she'd been in the way. [Again, he tries to keep it superficial. She'd shown up at the most inconvenient time that day, the worst officer to try to break out Agent York from where Thomas was keeping him, but that wasn't everything. Even when she'd come to town as a high school kid and he was a couple years ahead of her, she'd gotten his attention, and the more she turned him down, the more he could only talk about her, even to Thomas or Carol. The two of them had been good enough until then.]

[deadly_ned]

Who'd been in the way?

[The Piemaker knew exactly who, from reading the file. But he hadn't heard Thomas say her name yet]

[meanstwin]

Her name was Emily. I worked with her. It didn't have to be her, not that day...

... but I think it would have ended like that with us somehow.

[deadly_ned]

Did you hate her?

[meanstwin]

Do you already know the answer?

[deadly_ned]

I think it's rude to assume I know the emotions of other people based on an incomplete short story someone wrote about their life without their permission or input.