As sad and nerve-wracking the last day had been for Jerome between soft memories that had turned painful, and the everlasting realization that life at home was inevitably progressing without him, he had found quite a lot of comfort in the interaction with various people, finding himself going on an egg hunt with Lucy instead of ruminating alone in the lounge, trying to convince himself not to drink, or spending the evening with Pam baking cookies and drinking tea instead of locking himself up in the room he hated so much and getting drunk after all, as he had done on so many evenings before. And the day had really given him a reason to, and really ignited the urge to chuck down the fucking fact his children were all by themselves on Easter, still not knowing where he could be, suffering, probably crying as much as he did. Luckily, socializing proved to be a healthy alternative to his self-destructive habits, even though the guilt of enjoying himself when he should feel bad for his children really hit his guts that day, trying to prevent him from feeling anything but misery and pity for his children and himself, trying to drive him into the dark corner where he had spent so many hours already. And at first, the gesture of searching for eggs with Lucy definitely had felt like just a favour he did, not being able to deny the adorable quirky teenager inviting him to join her search, even though he hadn't felt like giving in to Their crap sadistic attempt to spread festivity mood at all, quite the contrary even. It had felt wrong, and he had felt like he had no place there at all, but eventually, it had bettered his mood quite a lot, and through the guilt, he had allowed the comforting feeling of enjoying himself.
It was just impossible to not enjoy himself when around Lucy, or Pam for that matter. The undisputed highlight of this day definitely had been achieving the vouchers to gift his housemates something with, and the idea hitting him like a truck quite immediately, accompanied by the mental image of how happy he could make her, and how much she would enjoy having a pet around. He didn't know right on the spot which animal to gift her, but the moment he had read the voucher's lettering, he instantly knew that it had to be an animal for Pam. And after a little bit of thought, even though he would have loved to gift something to Lucy or Oliver, too, it got clear that he would need both vouchers to get the pet the home it needed. As much as he would have liked to get a voucher for himself, despite his resistance against Their generosity between torturing and taunting Their subjects, and despite still not wanting to settle in too intensively, he still would have liked the opportunity to get himself a pair of glasses, but ultimately, gifting something to someone else felt more fulfilling. And Pam was the only one he absolutely knew how to make happy, igniting the feeling he always had when gifting his children the things for their birthdays or Christmas they had wished for, which also had been an animal in the case of his daughter once. It was, indeniably, the most comforting feeling he had experienced that day, brightening the rest of it quite a lot, anticipating her joy, something that in his opinion, she deeply had deserved. Since the day he had met her, he had liked her, but since he had opened up to her where she had proven to be a truly great listener and support, she had earned a special little place in his heart. She was a friend.
He had mused for quite a while after that which animal to gift her, and more concretely, which animal would be a good enough fit for a place like that. Not every animal would be a responsible choice, naturally excluding baby elephants which she had declared her favourite animals, but even some normal pets wouldn't be too happy inside this place. It needed to be an animal for which her room as a whole would be enough space, and for which the cage would be affordable and not too small, which excluded quite a lot of rodents on the spot. Eventually, he liked the idea of getting her one or two birds, depending on the price, because they would be able to use all of the roomspace to the fullest, and could fill the house with a little, much needed, chirping. A world without any bird chirping was so weird and silent, and he imagined that when he already thought like that, Pam would miss it even more.
He had his doubts about if They really would grant him his wishes, or just decide to screw with them like They always did with everything. He hadn't seen Them do any positive things like gifting genuine gifts to people yet, and couldn't exclude the possibility They would screw and twist their wishes to something horrible, like gifting Pam dead budgies instead of very alive ones. For that very reason, he had hesitated to actually write the PM to Them for a minute, deciding to give it a shot anyways.
And this morning luckily had proven his doubts to be unnecessary. Checking the network had left him with mixed feelings, as apparently, They surely hadn't disappointed in throwing some shit at them again right after something good had happened, continuing to play Their little game of carrot and stick, probably enjoying Themselves like fucking kids pulling legs from insects. It was more than expected, given his short experience with Them and Their habits, given the fact that there apparently had been punishment notes from the machine, and Jerome wasn't long enough there already to really wonder about this Zippy account, relaying the message that Edwin and Vanessa have been hidden inside this house. Vanessa had proclaimed the day before that she had received a punishment card, and Jerome just assumed the same applied to Edwin. He couldn't deny the feeling of fatigue, like a sensory overload in terms of punishments inside this house, as if he already got used to the intensity of these punishments enough to not be even surprised or really shocked anymore. Worried, definitely. Which was why he quit his first intention of visiting Pam after reading that she, indeed, got the budgie, and contributed to the search in hopes to find both of them safe and sound rather quickly. At least they weren't in town. After the first abduction incident just a few days ago, which had shaken him quite a lot, this one didn't evoke nearly the same intensity of feelings, a fact that bothered him a little, feeling as he shouldn't feel as used to this bullshit as he did at this point, feeling as he should feel more outraged. It just felt wrong not to. It felt wrong to even slightly accept this as reality, and the norm.
It wasn't until after the search had ended and making sure that both of them were alright that he finally found the calm to visit Pam and her new resident. The joyful anticipation knew how to lay itself over his exhaustion and the feeling of being worn out that was the annoying companion of slowly getting used to Their bullshit, filling him with a better mood as he approached her door, trying to just blend out the nuisances of this day. Just the sound of the bird chirping behind the closed door layed a smile onto his lips, and he reached out to knock at the door, asking himself which colour the budgie would have.