neutral_omens | (no subject)

Time: October 14th, 2000
Place: Lobby
Status: Semi-private (Pepper, Crowley, War, John, Bast, Wensley and Roger) [Complete]
Summary: An unexpected visitor

Pepper had spent the day moving various plants into the lobby and trimming them as best she could, throwing the extra leaves and little branches in a garbage bag she'd brought with her. The place needed some greenery and some flowers, and she figured it couldn't hurt now that it was getting colder and things outside would take care of themselves more.

She thought she'd bring in some poinsettias soon.

Granted it wasn't even Bonfire Night, but being English meant that she started preparing for Christmas in October, like everyone else. Besides, Adam had promised a good winter, and she was looking forward to it.

The plants had generally been behaving themselves, all except one. Whoever'd had the bright idea to grow wysteria on the pergola near the garden should have been caught and executed, in Pepper's opinion. The plant had a history of growing up the sides of buildings, destroying framework quite effectively, and yet someone had let the thing go. Pepper had spent half the summer trying to tame the thing and it still wouldn't stop spreading. She was certain that countless people at the manor had probably seen her pitching a fit while hanging upside down from pergola, cursing the wysterias ancestors into oblivion. Those branches were thick.

Maybe that was why she'd decided that she deserved time working in the lobby.

So now she was enjoying a moment of rest, sitting in a chair near the front desk and rereading The Man in the Iron Mask. She'd forgotten how much she enjoyed the book, hadn't read it since she was fourteen or so, and was pretty caught up in it. Pepper had a tendancy to be very expressive as she read or watched movies, and she was currently engaging in gnawing her fingernails down with her teeth, eyes wide as two pound coins, while King Louis ordered d'Artagnan to arrest Porthos and Aramis.

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She shook her head a little, her nose brushing his shoulder. "S'okay. I'll do it later.... When I can bear to be seen in public again," she added morbidly, knowing that it would be a long time before she could. The flowers would have died by then. Maybe it was just as well. Lillies. She was pushing everything aside, cramming it back out of the way to pull herself out of it. Finally, she was beginning to feel more numbly shocked than anything, which was better because it wasn't as painful. Less reeling, more dull ache.

She would have to talk to Adam about all of this, she knew it. Even if he knew in his own way, which he probably did, there were things she had to say herself because she felt like a coward not saying them. Not just yet, though. Give it time to pass.

Pepper pulled away from Adam and lay back in bed, closing her eyes and covering them with her hands, disappointed when it didn't help the way she'd hoped. Darkness needed to be better at blocking out the world.

"You don't think anybody down there thinks any less of you, d'you?" Adam asked quietly. It had been a collection of demons, gods, occultists, personifications, and not an angel in sight, thank goodness. "They don't care none. They just wanted to be there for you, no matter what." It was really working. By some miracle, it was finally all working...

He knew she'd need to talk it out sometime, but not now. Adam stood and adjusted the covers on the bed to envelop Pepper and keep her warm in her shock and pain. "Tell you what, Pep. Why don't you just go to sleep? You'll feel better. An' I'll sit right here with you the whole time. I won't go anyplace."

Pepper sighed. "I hope not. An' if they do, then sod 'em. Got no right to judge." There. That sounded more like herself. She'd get through it because she had to, that simple.

There was a strange kind of hope lingering in Adam's voice that made her remove her hands and look at him, finally. "They put on a pretty good show too," she added with a weak smile. "I should write out Thank You cards."

It was good to be cocooned in blankets and Pepper turned onto her side, curling up in them. He said he'd stay. And she found that she didn't mind that at all. Probably be easier to sleep with him close by, just like her first day back. Funny, that. "Promise?" she whispered.

Adam laughed at the idea of Pepper sending out Thank You cards to everyone, but all he said was, "Promise. Now you jus' go to sleep." And if he helped her do that a bit, who's to say? Sitting in a chair nearby, with his arm resting on her bed, Adam opened his mind to watch what was going on while he stayed physically with Pepper. He wasn't a boy who ever got bored.

Having considerable more trouble finding the tea he knew was Pepper's favourite, when he arrived at the room again the poor girl was fast headed for sleep. Passing a cup of tea to Adam, he pulled another chair alongside the bed.

"She'll be alright for now?" he asked, hoping not to disturb Adam's thoughts.

Adam refocused and shot Wensley another deeply grateful glance. "You're a good friend, Wens." He took the tea and sipped at it. It burned his tongue a little.

Then he looked down at Pepper and nodded. "I think so. I promised I'd stay." His tone of voice implied that she couldn't be otherwise while he was there. But he looked up at Wensleydale, who he hadn't seen for a while except in passing. He'd missed the other boy. "What did you think of all that?"

"I think that was a rotten trick, stalking Pep all the way here," he said vehemently, taking his own cup in his hands, feeling the warmth seep through the white ceramic. "And telling us we wouldn't function in normal society."

Adam smiled. He'd thought Wensley would come to Pepper's defense, but it was nice to hear it. "Well, we know that's not true. You can function well as anybody. Everybody can. 'Cept Bast maybe. People do look at you funny if you have a cat head and a tail."

Then he grew thoughtful. "But to come all the way here to fight with her after she told him on the phone that it was over - I thought that was a bit strange. And sayin' all that stuff in front of everyone..."

"Well, some people have trouble letting go," Wensley mused, shifting a little bit. "But that was an awful thing to say, either way. I wonder how she got tangled up with him, anyways?" He didn't seem the sort of person she would have spent time with. Then again, he hadn't seen her for a year. Who knows how much someone can change in a year?

Rocking back in his chair, taking care not to spill the tea, Adam glanced over at the sleeping Pepper. "I think..." he paused, "I think she wanted to see who she was separate from us. An' he's not anythin' like you or Brian, or me."

He cocked his head to one side. "I dunno. Roger's not bad. Just... not right for Pepper. An' he wouldn't understand anythin' we're doin' here. Or that there's things more important than school."

Nothing more important than school. So this Roger was caught in the trap he'd almost let himself be stuck in. He felt a bit sorrier for him now.

Actually, that pleased Adam to no end. Most of what he was trying to accomplish was to get people, for a given value of the term people, to feel compassion for others - regardless of who they were or what they stood for. That Wensley could understand Roger, even if he still didn't like him, was all he wanted.

"You gonna stick around? I think she'll be sleepin' for a while..."

"Of course," he replied, shifting a little in the chair. "Are you?"

"I promised." And that seemed enough of a response. The boys would wile away the hours together, catching up, and watching out for a wounded girl because they knew she'd do the same for them.