Neutral Omens

"I am not scary," Brian said to Pep. "YOU'RE scary! So there."

He dove for the shoe when it bounced off of Adam's head, rolling with it held tightly to his chest. "Hah!"

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Pepper let the shoe and the comment go, and looked hard at Adam. Well, there was a way to kill fun that she hadn't seen used before. She'd thought he seemed a little somber for all the sillyness. More cautious than he used to be.

"Adam..." She really wasn't sure what she wanted to say about that. Except exactly what was in her head, and she wasn't sure he would respond well to it. "Adam, it's just me and Brian. It's not sides, it's just...." She finger combed her hair out of her eyes, stared at the ground in frustration. "You're not going to hurt anyone, Adam, if that's wot you're worried 'bout. I know you won't."

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Brian frowned. The victory of the shoe seemed a bit diminished.

He dropped it and wriggled his foot into it.

"...woss going on?"

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"I'm sorry, Pep. I guess it's just habit now or somethin'. People keep thinkin' that if I'm not with 'em, I'm against 'em. Nobody trusts what I'm doin' and you guys are all I've got left. If you think I'm on Brian's side or Brian thinks I'm on yours, even in play, then one of you's not gonna trust me at an important moment and we'll all lose. And this isn't a game we can lose. Okay? I don't mean to ruin the game, but I hadda say that."

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Pepper sighed. "That's the most ridiculous thing I've ever heard. You know we never had sides between us, even when we played, not really. It was always the four of us 'gainst everyone else." She reached forward and prodded the toe sticking out through his tattered trainer. "And I trust you, Adam. And you know that Brian and Wensley do too. But I'll trust you more if you don't trust us to act like the rest of them. You should know better."

It was all true. They were Adam's since their first day on the playground. And once you belonged to Adam it was difficult to belong to anyone else. Pepper had figured that out the hard way. "You've forgotten us, haven't you? Maybe you don't think you have, but you have a little. We're not the burden Adam. We're not like everyone else you're tryin' to take care of. If we're not here to make things easier for you, then why are we back? And don't say it's to keep us safe, or I'll punch you in the mouth.

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"I know that. Course I know. It's just weird gettin' used to havin' you guys around again. I been havin' to be grown-up all by myself and yellin' at people thousands of years older than me when they're actin' stupid. You three mean everythin' to me. And I don't want your feelin's to get hurt. If that's keepin' you safe, then go ahead and hit me, Pep."

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I been havin' to be grown-up all by myself...

Well, that was the easy way to make Pepper feel totally guilty. Wait, no, that wasn't fair. Why couldn't he have just asked? Why didn't he ever ask for help, instead of just handling everything on his own? He could have. There was nothing stopping him from doing that. It wasn't her fault that he'd been alone.

"You better get used to it fast," she said carefully, laying back in the grass again. "I still want to hit you, though. You're bloody thick sometimes, dun't care how much responsibility you've been takin' on."

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He hadn't asked because he knew his friends deserved lives of their own as well. Adam didn't know how much longer he'd be around and he needed to make sure that they could continue without him if need be. Responsibility was as much of a bugger as free will.

"Kay. I'll just be thick then." He lay in the grass indolently, then threw a sly look at Pepper. "But even if I'm thick, I'm still the best at ticklin' you..." And Adam pounced on her, tickling her ruthlessly.

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Pepper huffed at his decision. Fine. That was fine. He could just be -

Oh no, that wasn't -

"Oy! Gerroff!" she shrieked as she was tackled, feeling Adam's fingers wriggle against her stomach until it tickled so bad it almost hurt. He was the best at that. She'd nearly forgotten.

He had his weak spots too, but not as many as she or Brian, or Wensley. If she could just get at his feet, or his neck, or just behind his ear.... ah, there we go. She had both hand scrabling at his throat, and if he wanted to stop her, he'd have to pin her hands down first.

She had forgotten that maybe Brian would want payback from her tickling him, of course.

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THAT was more like it!

...Brian'd have to talk to Adam later. Alone. But now, he knew exactly what to do.

"REVENGE!" he yelled, throwing himself over both of them gleefully.

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Immensely cheered and trying to continue tickling her while blocking her attacks, Adam laughed and said, "Brian! Get her arms!"

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Pepper thrashed and tried to keep moving her arms around so that Brian couldn't get a fix on them. "No!" she shrieked, trying not to laugh so much as it made her sound like she was enjoying the attention very much. Which she wasn't, of course. "Bloody not fair! You're both twice my size and... oh, I swear on my mum's crystal ball, if you don't stop I'll... I'll..."

If she could only roll over maybe she'd have a chance. Unless Brian got hold of her arms first....

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"FREEEDOM!" Brian cried, grabbing for her arms. Not that it had anything to do with what was going on, but he'd seen it in a movie and it'd been neat.

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Pepper blinked at Brian and stopped trying to roll. "Brian, you mental?" she asked on a pitiful laugh, still wriggling for all she was worth to dislodge Adam.

And that, of course, gave Brian an easy chance at grabbing her arms. Great.

"No!" She was gasping now, coughing from lack of air and still laughing, laughing like she hadn't done it in forever. "Can't... breathe...." She tried to roll over again, but Brian had her arms, Adam had her waist, and damn, if only she could use her legs, but the angle was all wrong -

"Let me... up... you heathens!" she struggled to say, panting and trying not to smile so wide.

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"Never! Revenge for the shoe!" Brian said, trying to tickle the bit under her neck. He wasn't as good at it as Adam, but he was trying.

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"'Freedom!' sounded better than 'Revenge for the shoe!'," laughed Adam, easing up on Pepper. He knew when it was time to stop tickling. Just before she started turning blue for preference.

Adam sat back on her legs waiting for her to catch her breath. "So do you confess?"

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Pepper rolled over on her stomach, which did not help breathing much, but did ensure that it would be hard for them to start tickling again. She put her face to the grass for a moment to let the adrenaline rush subside. "Confess what?" she asked slyly from under her hair. Not that she didn't know what he was talking about. But prolonging covnersations gave her more recovery time.

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"Art thou a shoe stealing witch, ole?" asked Adam, trying to maintain a serious expression.

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Pepper pushed her hair out of her face and looked up at Adam with wide, innocent eyes. Though that wasn't saying much. Her Innocent Eyes weren't as good as, say, Wensley's.

"No, I've naught stolen a shoe in my life. You can't prove anythin'," She tried to look haughty and unimpressed, but she could see Adam was about to break too, and it made things harder.

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"Inquisitorial squad!" said Adam to Brian. "The suspect won't confess. As Chief Inquisitor, I say we must continue the torture, viva espana." He wasn't going to laugh. He really wasn't going to laugh.

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"I say we..." Brian got a crafty look in his eyes. "I say we dress her in a ruffly pink dress and make her walk through Tadfield."

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Adam's eyes lit up and he started to look frighteningly speculative. He was better about giving credit when the others contributed a good idea than he had been as a child. "An excellent plan, Inquisitorial Squad..."

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"Yeah, with bows in her hair."

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Pepper's mouth dropped open in exact fury. "You will not be puttin' me in anythin' ruffly or pink. You do an' the Inquisition will have to figure out how to question suspects in soprano. Besides, you don't have anythin' ruffly or pink, 'less you're not tellin' us somethin', Inquisitorial Squad." She smirked. They'd have to think of a different way to torture her, because that was not going to happen.

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