01 - [Video]

[upchucks]

[ The first thing the video shows is a vibrantly yellow dress, attached to a girl who is currently talking to someone else, thanking them cheerfully for being so nice about showing her how to use the communicator. Once that's done the camera turns to actually focus on her face which is lit with a bright is slightly tentative smile. ] People here are so nice! I guess it's because people get lost here a lot, huh? I'm lost, too, sort of. Not lost-lost like I'm terrified.It’s the sort of lost like when you're a little kid and you get lost in the grocery store.


[ Realizing some might not get what she means, Chuck elaborates. ]


When you’re little and lost in a store it’s an adventure. You're more curious about where to find the candy or the fancy cheese your aunts told you about than you are about where your dad went so you just kind of wander around for a while and find all kinds of neat things. But then you start missing what you can't find and you ask for help.


So this is me. Asking for help. I'd like to go home but sometimes Home is a person and not a place and for me my Home is a person. A person named Ned, specifically. He's tall and really sweet and he bakes pies and even though he doesn't like touching too much he usually looks like he really needs a hug. Ned, if you're here, I'm here too and I'm waiting for you. I'll wait for a while longer before I come looking for you myself, okay?

Comments

[intelligently]

I wish I'd had that way of looking at it when I'd first arrived. It might have made believing it easier.

( Or did it? Did your grocery stores have magic, was that part of the adventure? )

Ned's here.

[upchucks]

It seems a little crazy but I'm also pretty no one would work this hard on a prank.

[ Especially when she only has three people who really know her. Emerson wasn't really a pranky person and Olive would have gone for something less elaborate. Except for the girl named Chuck, all of that gets sidelined at the mention of the pie maker. ]

He's here? Do you know where he is?

[intelligently]

I blamed a friend of mine at first but then there ended up being too many people here that I didn't know.

( And too many friends that corroborated what he'd told her )

If I had to guess I'd say the diner? That's where he makes pies here.

Video

[sorta_cinderella]

... Ned.

[She says slowly, nodding to herself.]

Yes, he deserves this. I'm glad you came.

Video

[upchucks]

Deserves this in a good or a bad way? Because that's very ambiguous phrasing.

Video

[sorta_cinderella]

Good way. A person like him should have company. Especially company he is familiar with.

Video

[mourning_ghost]

I don't know anyone with that name. If I see him, I'll tell him that you're looking for him.

Video

[upchucks]

Thank you! ...Are you really a bird? [ Or is there someone off camera doing some really great ventriloquism. ]

Video

[mourning_ghost]

Yes. What else would I be?

[Video]

[vampdetective]

I've met Ned. He helps Tohru out up in the diner-- nice guy.

[He'd catered to Angel some when the vampire had been granted human tastebuds for the length of an event. Of all the things he missed about being human, he missed being able to taste normal food most of all. Pie had been just the thing.]

You don't seem too worried. [She seems to have a good head on her shoulders, and that's worth a lot anywhere-- but especially here, he thinks.] That's a good thing.

[Video]

[upchucks]

I think if this had happened a year ago I would have been a little more freaked out about it. Or a lot more freaked out, really.

[ That was before she had been murdered and then brought back to life by her childhood sweetheart, though. Everything that had happened post-death had raised the curve for weirdness. ]

[Video]

[vampdetective]

I take it you've had some experiences since then that made all the difference?

[There's definitely something to be said for life throwing you curveballs. The more it happens, the more open-minded some people have the potential to become.]

Video

[breakthecurse]

That's a really good description of him!

[It paints a really clear and accurate picture of him and even if Tohru didn't know him she would know exactly the sort of person she's referring to.]

But you're a friend of Mr. Ned? That's really wonderful! He'll be so glad to see you.

[Especially since...oh! Something dawns on Tohru suddenly, and she gasps. She's so excited by the possibility that she's practically starry-eyed.]

Excuse me, but...are you Ms. Chuck, by any chance?

Video

[upchucks]

[ Oh gosh, this girl is adorable. Then again she isn't really surprised, Ned seems to attract cute girls. Olive was proof of that. ]

I definitely am, unless Ned knows another girl named Chuck.

Video

[breakthecurse]

I don't think so? Oh, but that's wonderful though! He's told me about you before, and he'll be so happy you're here!

[Mr. Ned deserves that kind of happiness - the kind that comes from being reunited with someone he's dearly missed for so long now.]

Ah! I'm sorry. Where are my manners? My name is Tohru Honda. Um, there's a diner on the eighth floor, and Mr. Ned and I work there together. It's very nice to finally meet you!

video;

[wordvomit]

[The Pie Maker is not a selfless man.

He is caring and kind, more often resembling an elaborate baked good than a person, and frequently pessimistic, but he is not selfless. Not in the sense that, were someone in trouble, he would avoid helping them - no, Ned is not selfless in that he tends to postulate what it might be like to have someone from home here. He tends to consider the consequences of his actions long before the actions have been taken, and more rarely, he brings dead things back to life for longer than sixty seconds.

It has been three months, six days, eleven hours and four minutes since the Pie Maker last arrived in Wonderland, soaked with snowmelt and damp with distress, a listless baker in the diner who did his very best to carry on in the way that The Girl Named Chuck might find admirable, acceptable.

Up to his elbows in dough Ned's gaze trails lazily to his communicator as it flickers to life. His hands turn to fists in the flour, his breath catches in his throat like a particularly dry piece of toast and he fumbles for the CALL button.]

Chuck!

[he chokes, frantically wiping his fingers off on his apron.]

Chuck, it's- it's me, I'm here!

video;

[upchucks]

[ The moment she hears the Pie Maker's voice, something in her eases. People had said he was there and one person in particular has said he'd been there for a long time. It's a comfort to know that her Home is right there as always. Chuck's face lights up in a smile and she leans in close to the camera on her communicator. ]

Ned! There you are! I was about to go looking for you.

video;

[wordvomit]

[Under normal circumstances Ned might attribute the explosive feeling in his chest to acid reflux, heartburn, or cardiac arrest. The strangling sensation he experiences - the one making it hard to breathe - is akin to a warm vise squeezing his lungs and his stomach together, sending prickles over his skin and a flush into his face.

It's like an emotional Heimlich.]

I'm here!

[He said that already, didn't he?]

I'm- I mean, I'm- I'm in the eighth floor diner, where are you? Should I come find you? Do you know where you are? Are you okay?

video;

[assistanting]

Click your heals together three times and say you want to go home.

video;

[upchucks]

I'm not sure if it's that sort of a story, honestly. [ She looks down at her feet for a moment and then smiles. ] Plus my shoes aren't red. Or slippers.

video;

[assistanting]

Plus you'd have to be in Oz. Welcome to Wonderland.

Voice;

[cupboards]

[ Harry is pretty sure he hasn't seen anyone react to Wonderland quite like this before. ]

You're taking all this well. I'm not sure I've seen Ned around, but I can answer any other questions you might have?

Voice;

[upchucks]

I'm a little used to weird. And I can't really think of questions except is there anything I really need to know about? Like will I get my head chopped off if I wear pink on thursdays?

Video;

[clairsentient]

[She's suddenly glad that the feelings thing they'd had hadn't lasted, because she can just imagine how Ned is feeling right now.

She smiles, broad and genuine.]

He's here. If you haven't found you yet, I can take you to him.

And maybe leave a 'do not disturb' sign on the door.

Video;

[upchucks]

I'd definitely appreciate the directions. All I know so far is that he's probably on the eighth floor.

And I don't think we'll need a sign like that, though.