effie is officially a seasoning (efffie) wrote in find_horcruxes, @ 2010-03-03 21:54:00 |
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Entry tags: | effie pepper, octavius pepper |
RP Log: Effie & Pepper
Who: Effie & Pepper
What: Pepper is home! Finally.
When: Afternoon of 3 March, 1980
Where: Their flat in Montrose.
Rating: PG
Status: Complete!
Pepper had never in his life been so happy to see a sofa. After a month in the hospital for 'observational purposes' and then the three nights of his first full moon as a werewolf, Pepper had wanted nothing more than to just appreciate getting to put on jean trousers, to have a double espresso and half a pack of cigarettes, and then to edge his way over to the flat's little sitting room, where he perched himself on the reupholstered cushions and turned on the telly. "Oh my God," he said, voice dripping with satisfaction as he sunk back into the cushions (after settling on the news), turned his head to the ceiling and closed his eyes. He ignored the fact that Curry had ran like a bat out of hell when he'd come through the door, that his shoulder was still bandaged along with several new additions to his growing collection of scars, and that the weight of his injuries left him with something of a gait. Pepper tried to focus solely on the fact that he was home, and better yet, home with his wife. "Eff, has this sofa always been this comfortable? It must be the plaid." "As a Scot, I can happily say that it is probably the plaid," Effie replied easily, shooting a smile across the room to Pepper. She had been doing a bit of an inventory on her paints, having had gone a bit gung-ho with the hobby turned New Years resolution. Way back in January she had dug out all of her supplies, most of her paints and brushes having had to have been replaced from not being used, but the easel still in working order. After setting it up in a little nook in the sitting room, right next to the window so she got just enough natural lighting to be able to see properly, it had quickly become her favorite place in the flat while Pepper was in the hospital and she spent nights alone. Now, though, he was home. And Effie couldn't have been happier about it. The whole flat had seemed empty without him, which was funny given that they had only lived there together for a few weeks before everything went awry. His presence was so calming to her, though, and she almost felt uncomfortable without him. She felt like this was a good sign. Looking up suddenly from where she was sitting at her stool, making a mental note that she really needed to get more blue paint and take it easy on the yellow for a while, she asked, "Are you hungry? Or do you need anything?" "Mmm, just the pleasure of your company," Pepper replied with a slight smile, opening his eyes just enough to peer at her. He was interested by her painting, not really having had an opportunity to appreciate her hobby when she'd decided to pick it up again, when they'd gotten married, before... before the attack. He clucked his tongue, and resisted the urge to pull his cigarettes out of his shirt pocket and burn through the rest of the pack. "You look beautiful." A little smile crossed Effie's face as she gazed over at him for a few moments, then widened as she turned back to her paints. He had said that before, but she always reacted in the exact same way. A little blushing, a little smiling, and herself wondering what wonderful things she had to have done in a past life to manage to get him. "Well, then you need to get your eyes checked," she teased, her free hand coming up to run through her hair. "There's not a thing wrong with my vision," Pepper insisted, sticking out his tongue. "I'd almost forgotten what this place looked like. I'll be having nightmares about lime green robes, tugboats and fruitcups for weeks to come." Never mind it was more likely he'd be remembering the dankness of the Ministry facilities, the endless dread, the smell of his own blood. Being held captive on CII was the equivalent of spending the day at a theme park when you compared it to transforming into a werewolf in a cement cell. "Talk about brutal," Effie replied, scooting off the edge of her stool and abandoning her paints to cross the sitting room. As she meandered over to him, she continued, "Needless to say, you won't find me complaining that you're home. It felt really empty without you here." She eased onto the couch, right next to him with one of her legs tucked underneath her. "Curry doesn't provide the same sort of scintillating company as you do." Pepper laughed. "I imagine not, given she spends 23 hours of the day asleep and the other hour licking herself," he said, glancing over to where the cat had taken refuge behind the bookcase, a wary look on her face. He looked back at Effie. "I'm not entirely convinced that she's ever going to come near me again." "She will," Effie replied firmly, her gaze going over to where the kitten was trying to hide. Really, she had hoped that this sort of nonsense would have been avoided and the cat wouldn't have been too daft, but judging just by how she reacted whenever Effie came home from the hospital after spending the day with him... she had been expecting it. "She just needs to get used to you again, that's all." He inhaled deeply, nostrils flaring. He'd believe it when he saw it, but Pepper didn't voice that thought, choosing instead to put his head back to where it had been resting on the back of the sofa, shutting his eyes again. "I've been away from real life for a long time," he said quietly, taking deep, even breaths. Not that real life actually had a definition anymore, not now that his license was gone, and that there was no returning to CII unless he was once again a patient. Now? Now he had no idea what he was actually going to do. He had toyed with the idea of continuing on with healing in some sort of illegal fashion, but Pepper hadn't the slightest clue how to go about starting something like that. "Tomorrow I'm going to go to Jon's lab," he added thoughtfully. "Then I'm going to set the oven on fire trying to make a pie." His first remark made Effie pause, her gaze still on the kitten across the room. Real life. What had that even been, anyway? Did she ever have a real life? She went from Hogwarts student, to Quidditch reserve, to starting Seeker, to wife. All in the matter of six months. And then there were werewolves and vampires and Death Eaters. It was exhausting. Effie couldn't help but think that maybe a break from this Real Life nonsense would be a good thing. But he continued speaking, so Effie's eyes flicked back to her husband's face "Admirable goals," she replied, leaning to the side so her cheek was resting against the back of the sofa. "I'm going to try going for a run tomorrow. Ease into it, you know?" They had taken the brace off her back and told her that everything was fine, but her wrist was still wrapped for the time being. Apparently she had managed to use it to brace her fall, the impact of her body mixed with the velocity it had gathered from falling more than fifty feet had done a number on all of the little intricate bones. Effie was happy to take it easy on that front, though, because she needed that hand for when Quidditch started up again. "Maybe I'll go with you," Pepper said genuinely, figuring that now was as good a time as any to try something new. Besides, a bit of physical exercise would probably help him more than it would hurt him. "I can't promise I'll keep up, or that I won't end up wheezing halfway through and bracing myself up against a tree while I suck the life force out of a cigarette, but I'll try." He reached blindly, carefully, for her hand. "We've had a shit start to newlywed life, Eff," he said after a moment's pause. There was no arguing with that. She hadn't been kidding when she said that she hoped that they had gotten all of the excitement out of the way and the rest of their married lives would be boring. "Yeah," Effie sighed, her other hand coming around to cover the top of his. "Yeah, we have. But, lucky for us, we've got the rest of our lives to make up for it." "True enough," Pepper conceded, trying not to think of the potential strain, the future arguments, and of how much they could end up resenting one another if they didn't work out the details now, while they had the opportunity. He squeezed her hand, then turned his head, opening his eyes to look at her. "Hey. Didn't you say you were going to shag me ten times or something? That's a pretty stellar way to make up for, oh... at least half of all this." "You're right," Effie replied with a little teasing smile, looking up to meet his gaze. "I believe that I did. But, you've only got ten times from now until the end of time. You'll have to choose when to cash in on said shags very wisely." She was joking, of course, despite that their situation wasn't really one that made it easy to joke. It seemed, though, that making jokes and trying to smile was even more important, though. While she was far from unhappy, Effie could feel strained when she thought about everything and what they had gotten themselves into. It didn't seem like the cards that they had been dealt were fair and she wasn't sure just when she would completely come to terms with them, but they would make it through. And, she thought, they would make it through a bit easier if they were smiling. Pepper snorted. "If that's the rule, I'm going to have a problem with it," he said, amused, face breaking into a grin. He leaned slowly, closing the distance between them. "And we'll be breaking it spectacularly, because I'm dedicated and I bet you'll be easily convinced." And as if to prove it, he kissed her. Effie was happy to kiss Pepper back, especially since she was kissing him on their sofa and not from a hospital bed. There was something about being in a hospital that put a damper on those sorts of things, but being home made it much better. She even went so far as to let her good hand reach up into his hair - and then promptly backed away. "Eh, I don't know," she said with a wide grin. "I'm not entirely convinced." "Woman. Don't make me throw you over my shoulder," Pepper warned, smile wry as he licked his lips. "I am injured and you will be very upset with yourself if I end up rendered incapacitated and this shagging can't take place. It will be all around tragic." "If you throw me over your shoulder, you're going to make me throw my very delicate back out and then I'm not going to be able to shag you," Effie replied smartly, starting to lean in for another kiss - but then pausing with a raised eyebrow. "Is it just me or did we suddenly just age about fifty years?" "Lets not think about old people shagging," Pepper suggested, scrunching up his nose. "Lets just focus on hobbling our way to the bedroom, carefully removing each individual bit of clothing, easing our way onto the bed, and taking our good, sweet time." Effie chuckled, leaning in and taking that kiss that she had put on pause just a moment before. "Sounds like a plan." |