Ned → River (locked) § Video 02 § Day 68

[nedofpies]

[ The problem with Ned having a communication device attached to his wrist at all times is that it makes drunk dialing very, very easy. So, after he has deposits Charlie back at his house, it gets into Ned's head that he really ought to call River. It doesn't occur to him how late it is, but he does have the presence of mind to (after a great deal of effort) fix the settings so the video will go only to her.

So River's going to be getting a screenful of very drunk Ned, his hair a mess and his cheeks and nose red with intoxication. But, at least, he's smiling ]

Hey, River. Y'there? Hello?

Comments

[enchangement]

No. I'm here, not there.

[ River has trouble sleeping when a lot of other people are asleep, since arriving at Cape Kore. This is for various reasons but one is that she's always felt better choosing to sleep when everyone else is awake. The waking, walking thoughts of strangers and loved ones are easier for her mind to process than dreams plus her own nightmares.

So she isn't asleep. She is ...a little surprised that Ned is calling her, so she peers at the tiny screen to confirm that, yes, he's smiling, he isn't injured and every scrap of thought and emotion and being she can connect to at this unfocused distance is more or less in the positive spectrum of things. ]

You have a tomato for a nose.

[nedofpies]

[ Ned actually brings a hand up to his face, feels his nose for confirmation you never even know in this place, man before it very obviously belatedly occurs to him what she means. He even says: ]

Ohhhh. Right, it's red, 'cause- [ He breaks off with a small giggle, of the kind he would never allow himself while sober. ]

Anyway I'm calling because you're super. [ It's a completely valid reason, alright? It's not as if it were a calculated plan, calling when he's so drunk he can barely see straight and his verbal filter is completely shot, but it does make it a lot easier to just say what he wants, for once, as opposed to worrying and keeping silent and censoring himself. ] You're a super sis I never thought I'd have an' I love you. And I know that you know that... because you can see in my head and stuff. [ He indicates this very clearly by poking himself in the temple with one forefinger. ] But I still wanted to say it.

[enchangement]

'Cause. But you had fun, you're smiling. [ So River can't judge too harshly. She gets that people do this, inebriate themselves knowing good and well in the morning they may or may not feel like something left out in the rain overnight. But Ned doesn't do this often, and he's not drowning in the moroseness that seems to consume a lot of people through alcohol so ...it's good.

Plus, she realizes with a smile, if he's confessing to her then he'll probably go bother Daneel next, and the latter doesn't sleep.

Which means she won't be giving him any warning.

Not to say that Ned's words don't charm and warm her; they do. Sometimes it's nice to have combined memories, of knowing and being told. Sometimes it's nice to remember the way a voice sounds saying I love you.

'Super' makes her giggle though. ]

Super sis. I love you too Ned. Glad to be here. [ She doesn't say that lightly. ] Glad to know you. Glad to call you brother of mine.

[nedofpies]

[ It's still a remarkable thing, for Ned, a precious and an unprecedented thing, hearing someone say they love him. No one's said that to him since his mother - well, said it and meant it. This is different than casual colloquial 'I love you's that come after a particularly good slice of pie, or the kind of 'I love you's that meant 'I barely know you but I want something from you'. So he beams at her, the corners of his eyes crinkling with happiness. ]

'f the two of us ever get outta here and we can't get you back to your space pirate ship, I'm gonna take care of you, okay? [ Sober Ned knows, of course, that River isn't in need of protecting, but sober Ned isn't in at the moment. But that isn't the kind of care he means, anyway. There is a certain kind of care that he is capable of, he thinks, and as far as he's concerned, he can't think of anyone better to use it for than River. ]

[enchangement]

[ River smiles in a way that somehow manages to show that she might cry otherwise, turning her face towards the pillow. ] Okay.

[ It's not a question of who can or cannot take care of themselves. Sure, River can fight, but she's only managing so well here because it's a bubble. They are contained, with a definite idea of who is the enemy even if they don't have a definite face to put to that title.

She rubs at her eyes with her other hand, briefly. ] If you can't go back to Digby, you're coming with me.

And if it stops or pauses and waits, outside of time, inside of everything, then we'll see them both. [ That has to be an option. If one tear could be rendered through reality such as this one, gathering people from different times and histories and universes, then why can't it work both ways? As a door or portal? ]

[nedofpies]

[ Oh no WHY IS SHE MAKING THAT FACE, Ned did not want to make her make the smiling-so-I-don't-cry face. But then, that's pretty much the only kind of smiling that's possible here, isn't it? Especially with people vanishing out of their beds, left and right. But he's so happy right now, he can't let all that creep up on him, so he pushes it out of mind. ]

I think I'd make a good pirate. Pie-making pi-rate. [ He's pretty amused by his... does that even count as a joke? In any case it makes him laugh. ] I could get an eyepatch. [ Ned covers one eye so River can appreciate how inevitably badass he would look ]

And you'd make a good pie-maker's assistant. Taught her everything she knows! [ Her mention of Digby also gives him a pang of sadness and worry, but Digby can take of himself. Ned knows that. They'd been separated before; Digby had been abandoned, just like he had. Digby had found his way across miles and miles to where Ned was, so he'll be alright. ] And Digby'd love you too. I just know he would.

[enchangement]

[ River erupts into laughter because really. She can just imagine everyone's reactions to Ned wandering around trying to make pie with an eyepatch.

Mal would frown at River for days. Jayne would tease Ned every five seconds. He and Simon could out-awkward anyone. Kaylee ...would probably have to be told not to hug him or something, but she'd manage. She's dealt with Simon for so long after all.

Meeting Inara might give Ned a nosebleed.

Book would be ...well, Book.

He might remind Zoe too much of Wash, though.

It'd be completely worth it. ]

I would. Best assistant ever.

Never knew a dog.

[nedofpies]

[ That's good, he's so gratified to hear River laughing and know he's the one who caused it, even if she's only laughing at what a complete fool he's making of himself right now. He's more than happy to act like an idiot, if it makes River forget where she is and why it's awful, for a little while. ]

[ But then she says she's never known a dog and Ned's mouth opens in a comic expression of complete surprise ]

What?

[ But her wording makes it unclear, so he asks ]

You've never seen a dog? Like, ever?

[ Ned can't even imagine such a thing. Digby's been around his entire life; his one friend, and his one constant ]

[enchangement]

Never known like a friend or anything more in passing. Never owned, never befriended. [ River shakes her head slightly. ] No friends, pets, or either. Just a brother and then, arrrr. [ Pirates. ]

What was the poison? The drink that made you so ...gleeful.

[nedofpies]

[ River had just had her brother, and Ned had just had Digby. The parallel there isn't lost on him. And now that neither of them have either of them, they have each other, and that's much better than nothing. ]

Whiskey. [ Ned pushes his hair out of his eyes, only succeeds at leaving it more of a gravity-defying mess than before ] Charlie brought it by. To apologize for tying me up, and everything, so we drank it and talked about stuff. He's nice now that I'm not scared he's gonna torture me or eat me or anything.

[enchangement]

[ River makes a face. Dear God, Ned, whiskey? Doesn't even sound like it tastes good. ]

Good! To apologize instead of just yelling sorry out into the night.

He won't. [ He'd better not, or River will hurt him quite a lot. ] They're interesting. Pirates on the ground instead of in the seas or in the air. Gangsters.

[nedofpies]

......gangsters.

[ Ned says the word with such complete non-comprehension that it's as if he's never heard it before. Because. Gangsters. And then his eyes widen and he slowly starts gaping at River over the communicator because of course they are gangsters. He thinks about the way they dress, the way they speak, the way they hold themselves. Meyer and his interest in numbers and business and card-counting and statistics. Charlie and his - well, Charlie's everything, really. The incredibly shady way he'd not said what other things they were thinking of moving on to, apart from their card game. The way he was constantly talking about him or Meyer shooting people or things (like the scientists). How on earth did he not realize? ]

Oh my god River they are totally gangsters.

[ He's gonna just need a few minutes to be blown away by this. It would be a lot to take in even sober; drunk it is MIND-BLOWING ]

[enchangement]

[ Oh, Ned. Could you be less adorable? River thinks the universe might be laughing right along with her. ]

Bonafide and original. Everything the smaller minds and petty crooks back in space ever hoped to be.

Young though. Closer to me in years that mean nothing as numbers go than to you.

[nedofpies]

[ Yes, yes, but what does their age have to do with anything? Did River miss the bit where they are gangsters and Ned didn't realize it until she said so. ] Meyer came by this morning and we talked about all kinds of stuff, and I said the 20s probably weren't anything like in the movies where it was all booze and mobsters and he said actually it was exactly like that.

[ Ned's gonna bury his shocked face in his hands a few seconds ] How am I so stupid, River. They might as well've been wearing badges.

[ A little of his levity fades away as he looks back into the communicator and asks, with the studied seriousness of someone very intoxicated ] Are they dangerous? I mean... I mean you and I are dangerous, we're all dangerous, but... [ But should he avoid them, in her opinion. Because Ned trusts River's opinion, completely. ]

[enchangement]

[ Maybe when Ned is sober he'll get how impressive it is that they're established gangsters in their 20s. Or ...however old they are, maybe it doesn't actually matter. Either way, River is still the most amused. ] Not stupid because you didn't see it. Just a different turn.

Would've caught on eventually. [ In like ...a month? Perhaps? River giggles again, before she's distracted by Ned's super serious question. ]

No. Not harmless, but not dangerous to you. They know. There's a force to be reckoned with in your corner, and they are still rats in this maze too.

[nedofpies]

Good. [ Ned would be disappointed if River told him he should stay away from them. He had really rather enjoyed his time talking to the both of them, in their separate ways. Even if he didn't realize quite to whom he was speaking ]

You're in my corner. [ It's something he knows, of course, but there's value in saying it out loud, reminding himself that by some stroke of luck he's got River who has got his back. ]

[enchangement]

Always. [ She smiles at him. ] They're only dangerous to risks and the risks are the ones in charge, not us.

Make friends. It'll be fine.

[nedofpies]

[ Yes, River is right. Making friends is a good idea. Why did he go so long thinking it was a terrible idea? Keeping people away might have kept him from the kind of sadness he'd felt when Jesse died, but it also meant not having people like River around, or anyone else he'd met here. One of whom, just then, comes to the top of Ned's mind. With sudden decision he says: ]

'm gonna go see Daneel.

[ He's out and about anyway, so why not? ]

[enchangement]

Good. Go see him, infect him with whiskey-fueled happiness and remember. He's good for you, you're good for him.

Sleep for the little sisters. Goodnight, Ned.