Arrival Post [OTA]

[piesordeath]

Well, this was ... different.

For a man who was used to dealing with the unusual and the eccentric for nearly all of his life (certainly all of his adult life), this was - yeah. Different.

The facts were these: Ned the piemaker was on his way down from his apartment to the Pie Hole after a rather rough (to say the least) morning, with every

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[f_wentworth]

"Welcome, sir." Frederick Wentworth had bowed to the mores of the village, and wore denim pants to work at the marina, and cotton shirts with the sleeves rolled to the elbow, but he had retained the callused hands, windblown hair, and more the manners of a captain in His Majesty's Navy.

He offered the new arrival his hand. "I apologize for the suddenness, but welcome to Haurvatat. You have gotten rather blown off course, I'm afraid."

[piesordeath]

"Haurva-what?"

He looked a little unsure, and certainly a little more nervous.

"How did I -"

He glanced down at the stranger's hand, then back up again. Ned wasn't going to touch anything here until he was sure about ... well, everything living and dead.

"- get here?"

[f_wentworth]

"Haurvatat. I know; damned tangle of a name. I think it may be African. It is a sort of a town outside of time, and we are prisoners of a sort here. But it is not such a bad place to live, and everyone leaves sooner or later."

Wentworth sighed. "As to how you got here, all that I or anyone can tell you is that it brought you here."

[piesordeath]

"Prisoners?" He swallowed, his acid-reflux acting up again. He never liked being a prisoner of ... well, anything.

(He'd had enough of that as a kid.)

And then the rest of his explanation began to gain some importance as he took it all in.

"A town outside of time? How is that even - okay." He took a breath, nodding. He wasn't going to have a panic attack. He would be calm. "Why me?"

[fringe_science]

And here was another man used to dealing with the unusual and the eccentric for nearly all of his life, and, though he wouldn't admit it, he had a great propensity for causing much of what was unusual and eccentric.

Going on errands alone was a point of pride for him, an indication towards independence. So he was returning from fetching lunch: a paper carton of albondigas soup from the Mexican restaurant.

"Stunned expression to the face, elevated respiratory levels, and the muttering of the word 'huh'. All pointing towards a single conclusion!" Was he speaking directly to Ned? Unsure. Sometimes it seemed like Walter simply enjoyed hearing the sound of his voice. "Welcome to Haurvatat!" he added brightly.

[piesordeath]

Whether he was or wasn't, Walter had Ned's attention. With his hands tucked into the pockets of his dark trousers, he tried to look calm about wherever this place was, but being a rather terrible actor made his attempts a little obvious.

"Uh - thanks?" Then: "Exactly how did I end up here?"

He didn't remember anything particularly telling. One moment, Pie Hole; the next, here.

[fringe_science]

"Ah-hah!" And his finger waggled a little at Ned, as if scolding him for something. "That is the crux of the matter, isn't it? 'How did I get here?'" He paused for a smile, which quickly faded. "I'm not entirely sure. But! I have theories a-plenty. One of which I'm certain edges close to the true explanation."

With eager, quick movements, he fetched out the carton of soup from its paper bag. Carefully, he gripped at the paper lid, shimmying it off without spilling a drop of the precious soup within. He beamed, staring at the soup with nothing less than awe. "Beautiful, isn't it?" he asked Ned, nodding at the meatballs and vegetables swimming in thick, brown broth.

[piesordeath]

Really, Ned was expecting the carton to provide some sort of explanation.

But all he saw was ... well, soup.

It did smell good, but that wasn't the important thing! There was no answer as to how he ended up in this place in the way the meatballs and veggies formed swirly patterns.

"It's - great." His shoulders hunched, slightly. "Uh - I don't mean to be rude, considering we don't even know each other, but what sort of theories do you ... have?"

[honeyanddeath]

Charlotte Charles had been careful not to mope since the Pie Maker had apparently dropped off the face of the earth (or wherever they were). She still smiled and laughed, stillread interesting books and dreamed of having her own apiary, but something was undeniably missing. For the first time since her death, she didn't have her childhood sweetheart with her. In some ways it made things easier-- she didn't have to worry about dying from an accidental touch, and since no one here knew her secret unless she chose to tell them, she could very easily pretend to be completely normal. She was completely normal for this place, and that was a nice feeling

[piesordeath]

Seeing her beaming at him brought on quite the relief. The last time he'd seen her, she was angry and hurt - and made of a point of not wanting him to find her.

It was ... well, it had been terribly stressful.

But the relief was very short-lived once he remembered exactly where he was - and thus, where Chuck was too.

"Chuck -" he started, afraid that any sensible, logical question or comment would only become swallowed by the tumble of words that threatened to flow out from his lips.

(His fears were right.)

"- I'm sorry. About everything. Your dad - I should have told you earlier, but I just didn't know how. I didn't know I could ... do what I did at the time."

[honeyanddeath]

It took her a moment to catch on to what he was saying, she was just so happy to hear his voice.

"My dad?" she repeated, baffled but unable and unwilling to relinquish her smile. "What are you talking about?"

Well, she knew at least one reason why Ned might be apologizing about her dad, but now? When they hadn't seen each other in so long?

[piesordeath]

By now, Ned had begun to run out of steam in his word-vomit. He was now a little more exhausted than anything - and still very glad that Chuck didn't seem to be about to get angry again.

Maybe, everything was going to be okay.

"About - what I told you? The other ... night?"