Neutral Omens

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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"Then confess to bein' a shoe-stealin' witch, por favor," said Adam crossing his arms over his chest and biting the insides of his cheeks to keep from smiling. "If the Inquisitorial Squad dun't have anythin' appropriate, I'm sure I could ask Ellie to borrow somethin'..."

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Pepper was going to keep in character if it killed her. If Adam wasn't laughing she wasn't about to crack. "You know I'll not confess to things I've not done, so I thank you to take that por favor and ..." Pepper paused a moment and cocked her head to the side, narrowing her eyes on him. "Hold up now, who is 'Ellie', an' why would I be afraid of her clothes?"

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"You done it. I saw you. Now you've gotta confess for it to be all proper."

Adam did a passable smirk then. "Ellie? Oh, she's a succubus..."

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She was about to tell Adam that shoe stealin' did not make her a witch, viva espana, when she heard the word 'succubus'.

Pepper was torn between being illogically excited at the idea of a real succubus in the same quarters with all of them, and being suspicious of how casually Adam had mentioned it. After all, wasn't it Adam who said they all had to be wary? "Oh, is she?" Pepper said with a strategic eyebrow raised, smirking just a little from her desire to tease in spite of the situation. "And you know her well 'nough to ask her for clothes to borrow, do you?"

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"I expect so," said Adam, eyes twinkling. "Most of 'em are pretty small, as you might imagine. They'd fit you, just not cover you up much. And I bet I could even convince her to turn them pink first. So you see, you've gotta confess."

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Pepper eyebrows shot up into her hairline. Seems being older did change the rules, even if just a bit. They'd threatened her with dresses and pink before, but never with lingerie. They don't have the guts for it, she thought. They're still little boys.

"Oh, so you all really fancy seeing me in something strappy an' revealin', then?" she said, her eyes twinkling to match Adam's. She sat up and leaned toward him menacingly. Well, she hoped it was menacing with how hard she was still trying not to laugh. "You. Wouldn't. Dare."

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