Neutral Omens

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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"Dunno how I'd call a tube top and mini skirt strappy, but def'nitely revealin'," grinned Adam, flushing slightly. "But don't look at me. It was Brian's idea." It wasn't, of course, but it might buy him some time. When it came to playing with Pepper he had to deceive, defend, distract, or run like hell.

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"Don't look at ME," Brian said firmly. "I wouldn't give her the satisfaction. I was thinking something pink and ruffly. Like a princess."

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"The satisfaction?" Pepper huffed. "Because I dress like that all the time for my own gratification, is that right?"

She turned on Adam again, determined to keep her focus. He was trying to pass Brian off as a viable target, but Brian wasn't the sort to put her in a mini skirt, and she knew that well. Not that Adam had ever been the type either, but he was the one who'd brought it up. "And you, you horrible liar!"

Wait... was he blushing? Just a little round the ears? Pepper looked away, mouth twisting mischievously. "Anyway, it'd still have to be strappy, cos bare shoulders an' me don't go." And a tube top would probably fall right off me, was what she didn't say. "You still wouldn't do it." Pink and frilly they could do, wouldn't bother them. Revealing? She doubted they could even imagine her in clothes like that, let alone actually put her in them.

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"You don't think, so, huh?" asked Adam with a slightly evil smile, but he couldn't resist the dare. In an instant, he changed her clothes to mimic what Ellie had been wearing during the May Day bonfire (http://community.livejournal.com/neutral_omens/85812.html?thread=1411892#t1411892) but with the addition of tall, black stiletto heels in order to slow her down, and took off running as fast as his legs would take him. It didn't matter where he was going to as long as he was getting away from Pepper. Adam knew he was going to pay for this, but for now it was too much fun to stop.

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Brian just stared for a moment.

..."I'm staying well out of this." And he backed away from Pepper.

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Nope, he wouldn't do it, not in a million -

- well, that was a lot of air. In places where it didn't belong.

It took Pepper a few second to register what had happened, and in the end it was Adam dashing away the same manner that he had when he'd fingerpainted his sister's hair in her sleep that actually got her to look down and see what he had done. A halter top. And scrappy piece of fabric that couldn't have passed for a skirt on a doll let alone a full-sized person.

She rose to her feet and bolted after him - ...until she tripped and landed flat on her face. She tried to wrench the scrap of fabric down on her hips while she inspected her feet. Stiletto heels. Pepper had never even worn small, chunky beginner's heels, to say nothing of these little balancing acts, so naturally the shoes proved to be a problem. She yanked them off, shouting, "Adam! When I get my hands on you the pointy end of this shoe is goin' straight into your eye!"

Shooting a glare at Brian, who had the nerve to back out like he hadn't been a part of the whole thing, she staggered to her feet, one shoe in hand, and took off as fast as her legs-which-suddenly-needed-to-remain-very-close-together could carry her.

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Oh, gosh.

Brian pulled off his shirt and chucked it after her. As far as cover went, it was about twice as big as the dressy thing she was wearing.

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Apparently Brian was more worried about feeling her wrath than she'd originally anticipated... or he just didn't want to see that much.

Pepper whirled around, snapped the shirt up from the ground - crouching, as she realized that bending over would be a bad mistake - and threw it over her head, pulling it down far over her legs. She set her eyes in Adam's direction and spotted him in the distance.

"Right," she said, and dashed off.

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Brian sighed meekly and turned towards the manor.

Now he needed a new shirt.

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Adam looked over his shoulder. Bad idea. Pepper was gaining on him. Briefly noticing that she seemed to have acquired Brian's shirt, he turned into a wooded area hoping to maybe double back and lose her in the trees.

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