021 - Dried Winter Apple

[deadly_ned]

[Something's happened to the Piemaker in the days since he was held hostage by the inmate calling himself Hannibal Lector. He's shut down, closing out everything that could possibly remind him of the nightmare it was spending quality time with the man.

Effectively, this means not going back to his own room.

Instead, he sits on the floor of Alpha's room, having retreated there to make his post. He doesn't want to do it in the infirmary; he wants to be alone. And with his dog Digby cuddling up to both Alpha and new inmate Ellie, he's got his wish]

I'd like to share a secret.

It's something that a few people on this ship already know through either me telling them or the Barge circumnavigating my wishes to keep the secret a secret and whispering it into the ears of people I would rather not have known.

And. And until last week I didn't think it mattered that people didn't know because I didn't conceive of a way it could be used against anyone. It's redundant.

There's a reason I hate magic, and there's a reason I hate Halloween, and there's a reason why I don't go around hugging people all willy-nilly, and why my dog is neurotic and why my pies taste so good.

I can touch dead things and bring them back to life.

And...Dr. Lector found this out. And he kept the secret.

But he also kept me, in my room, while he used my magic to bring dead things he took out of people back to life.

And if I had told more people what I could do, or if I wasn't...here on the Barge to begin with, it probably wouldn't have happened like it did.

I don't care about who knows anymore. There's nothing worse you can do to me and nothing worse I can do to other people than what happened.

I'll answer questions about it. If there are any.

Alpha, I'm sorry.

[Private to Friends]

I would...really appreciate it if someone could go pick up some things from my room. I can't go in there right now.

Comments

Private;

[silvestris]

Just wait till you get revenge on that person.

Private;

[deadly_ned]

It won't happen. That person is my father and I haven't seen or heard from him in twenty years.

Private;

[silvestris]

Maybe you won't at home...but if the Admiral knows, he'll probably make you face it sooner or later.

Private;

[deadly_ned]

No he won't. There's nothing I have to say to him and nothing I care about that he could say back to me.

Private;

[silvestris]

...I'm sorry your dad was an asshole, Ned. You of all people deserved better. I wouldn't say that to most men...not even to most women.

Private;

[deadly_ned]

.."Jackass" tends to be the word the neighbors used most.

Thank you, Selina. It means a lot.

Re: Private;

[silvestris]

[That startles a laugh out of her]

'Jackass'? You? Why, do you have some obtrusive fetish I don't know about?

Private;

[deadly_ned]

Not me. My dad. What people remember of him, before he left.

Private;

[silvestris]

Now that I believe. ...Mine was, too. Maybe it's a symptom of fatherhood.

Private;

[deadly_ned]

Maybe it's a symptom of people brought to the Barge.

Private;

[silvestris]

But you're a warden. It's no secret that bad parents make broken people, but most of us are inmates.

Private;

[deadly_ned]

There's no rule that says wardens can't be broken.

Private;

[silvestris]

But then it's just the blind leading the blind, handsome.

Private;

[deadly_ned]

They don't give you a manual or a teaching certificate or a vocational program. There are plenty of days where I don't know what I'm doing and have to hope I'm doing more good than harm.

Private;

[silvestris]

Like parenting, except you're in charge of a full grown sociopath.

Private;

[deadly_ned]

Exactly.

And I've had no..real experience or examples in that department either.

Private;

[silvestris]

What, parenting or sociopaths? With Alpha, you're just about there with both.

Private;

[deadly_ned]

Parenting, actually. Sociopaths I know.

Private;

[silvestris]

How did you get so very comfortable with us, Ned, a nice boy like you? Your girl hardly seems the cutthroat type either.

Private;

[deadly_ned]

Chuck isn't. And I'm..sort of partnered with a private investigator. Into homicides. You can sort of...see where my magic would come in handy.

Do you really think you're a psychopath?

Private;

[silvestris]

I can.

...And yes. I did murder a man in cold blood, in one of the most terrifying ways I could come up with on short notice. Doesn't that qualify me?

Private;

[deadly_ned]

What did the man do?

Private;

[silvestris]

He murdered me first. And then he tried to ruin the city--but that's a small crime compared to shoving a girl out a window, don't you think?

Private;

[deadly_ned]

I wouldn't call you a sociopath, then.

Private;

[silvestris]

Even if I set out to destroy him? To torture him? And my b- Bruce. Bruce Wayne, the guy I almost rode off into the sunset with, let's not start with what I did to him.