InsaneJournal

RP Log: Effie & Pepper
Characters: Effie McKinnon & Pepper!
Setting: Pepper's flat; the evening of 29 October after this conversation
Summary: Effie is pissed off at her sister and goes to Pepper to make it all better!
Rating: PG-13? They make out a bit and swear some. I suck at ratings, guys.

Effie was still marginally livid at her sister. She didn't know where Marlene was coming off thinking that she could say anything about, well, anything that Effie did in her personal life. Perhaps Effie ought to have known better and not have come right out and cited that she was shagging her boyfriend, but why shouldn't she be able to? It's not like they were growing up when their parents were teenagers or anything. And besides if anyone was going to judge her, her sister was the last person that had any room to. It's not like she was fifteen or anything. And shouldn't she giving her the benefit of the doubt anyway? And why was she questioning her judgment and why - All right, no. Effie shook herself off, her eyes having dangerously narrowed through the entire thought process as she checked her reflection in the mirror. Besides, she reminded herself, she had a wonderful boyfriend. To her, it didn't matter if they had been together only a short time - it felt like it had been forever. Isn't that what it was all about? Actually able to smile to herself, Effie strode out of the bathroom and promptly apparated in front of Pepper's flat. She knocked three times and realized that she was in a considerably better mood than just ten minutes prior... but there was a good chance that the ire could bubble right back up at any given moment. "I told you to stop knocking!" Pepper called from where he was sitting on the sofa, tossing his journal on the table as he got up and headed toward the door to let her in. He had been quite angry when Effie had told him that Marlene had called her a slag (Christ, if Pepper had ever said that to one of his sisters, they'd both slap him, then his mother would, then his brother-in-law and father would punch him, and then his niece and nephew would have a go for good measure), to the point where he'd had to say something. Marlene hadn't replied, and he didn't know if she would, but at that point, fuck it. He'd rather focus on making Effie happy than on shutting her sister down. He had a big grin on his face when he opened the door. "Hello, beautiful!" "I know, I know; but I'm always afraid to just barge in," Effie replied, stepping inside and raising her arms up to slip around his neck. Because, really, if anything was right and proper in return for him sticking up for her and telling her that she made him happy - it was a kiss. So, she leaned in and gave him a quick one before doing the polite thing and closing the door behind her with her foot. "It's not barging if I'm telling you to do it," Pepper said with a sly smile, returning her kiss. "Just like when I tell you not to ask if you can have something when you want a drink. Mi icebox es su icebox and so on and so on." He led her into the living room, where a box of pizza he'd ordered when she'd said she was coming over was waiting. He plopped back down on the couch, pulled Effie into his lap, then opened the box. "So. All right?" "Not really," Effie admitted, reaching down to nab a piece of pizza. "I don't really get where she thinks she can talk to me like that. Yeah, she's my older sister, but I'm also Isobel's younger sister and I'd never talk to her like that." She took a small bite of pizza and then kept right on talking. "I mean, you don't call your sister a slag unless she's actually being a slag. I mean, fucking Merlin. She lost her virginity eons before I did." Pepper made a face, reaching for a slice himself. "Well," he said through a heavy mouthful of cheese and pepperoni, "If I said it to Dina or Anna I'd get the living shit kicked out of me by my extended family. I can't imagine pulling a line like that unless we were doing some sort of intervention. I mean... she has to realize that it's pretty fucking hypocritical, right?" "I'm sure she does - deep, deep down inside of her," Effie replied, rolling her eyes. She leaned back a bit, her head resting on his shoulder. "A part of me really wants to tell mum and dad, but that'd be stooping down to a level of juvenile that I'm too good of a person to manage." "Yeah, better to just let her fume it out and talk to her about it later, when she's less retarded," Pepper agreed, nuzzling her shoulder before pretty well cramming the rest of his pizza into his mouth. He swallowed before adding, "In the meantime... you could come meet my family?" His mother had been pestering him about inviting Effie to dinner for sometime, and all told, he'd wanted to make sure that she was comfortable with him before introducing her to the Pepper clan. "You might have to call me Octavius. Otherwise everyone gets confused." Effie would have had to have had a heart of stone if she didn't melt from that. First he told her that she made him happy and now he wanted her to meet his family? How cool was that? "I'd like that," she admitted, taking a much smaller bite than Pepper had out of fear of choking. At least she'd have a Healer around if it happened. After she swallowed, she smiled slyly. "Can I call you Oct? I think you should let me call you Oct." "Oct? Like the short form of October?" Pepper asked, both amused at her comment and excited by the fact that she'd agreed so easily to meeting his family. "That makes me sound like either a porn star or a centrefold. Maybe both. I do look pretty fantastic in lingerie..." "That is something that I would prefer not to see, I'm afraid," Effie replied with a resigned sigh. "While I don't mind looking at you with no clothes at all, I have to say that lacy underthings might ruin the whole look for me. Just saying." Laughing, Pepper reached for another bit of pizza. "Your loss," he said with mock nonchalance, unable to hide his smile. "People got all uppity at your question though, I saw that. I get people being embarrassed and keeping it to themselves and what not, but that one bird commented just to saw she wouldn't be answering? Sirius Black might not exactly be King of the Tactful, but he was right that she should've just left it alone." "Yeah, I thought it was kind of nice that he said anything at all," Effie replied with a little smile and a shrug. She toyed with the crust of her pizza slice in one hand, holding it in front of her nose as she silently tried to decide if she wanted to eat it or not. Crusts were very serious business. "It wasn't necessary at all, but sometimes it can be nice when someone comes in out of bloody nowhere to defend you." Pepper nodded. All that going on about not being judgmental when really, it had turned into a massive headache of hypocrisy. Seemed to be going around lately. "Sirius has got the right idea. I think it's good to say what you think, but that's a pretty passive aggressive way of telling you she thought your question was invasive and like... crude or something." "I just hate it when people act as though everything that's said in the journals that they might not approve of is the end of the damn world," Effie rolled her eyes, breaking the crust in half. "I mean, really. Do these people have the special journals where you can't turn the page? Because if so - that must be terrible for them." "They could close the whole thing. Go do something else, rather than speculating as to just how uncouth the world at large is. Because I've got news for them, right. There's a whole hell of a lot more uncouth out there than asking when people lost their virginity," Pepper said, cramming the last of a another piece into his mouth. "'Oookers, 'n p'rn, 'n sex 'lubs," he managed thickly before gulping it down. Dina always told him he ate like a duck. "Maybe I'll have to touch on all three next time," Effie replied, popping the last bit of her crust into her mouth before nuzzling into Pepper fondly. "It might be difficult as I've never really had any experience with hookers, porn, or sex clubs, but I'm sure that I could make something up." Laughing, Pepper said, "I imagine you could. Next time you should ask how many blokes stash porn mags under their beds. We had Busty and Bewitched laying around our dorm like it was a ruddy coffee table book." He grinned widely at her. "Not that I read it for anything more than the articles. Being I was chaste and wholesome and such." "Mmhm, Mr. Sixteen," Effie teased, leaning in to gently kiss his cheek to make sure he knew that she was only kidding. The whole intention of that entry was that judging over those sorts of things was daft. She was rather certain that Pepper would understand that anyway. But, it also made her think of something else. She backed away just a bit and smiled happily. "Do I really make you happy?" "Of course you do. How could you not?" Pepper replied. "Intelligent, beautiful, independent, you're honest and you don't take shit, you let me touch you when you're naked..." Effie smiled, leaning in to steal another kiss. It was nice to hear that, especially after the evening she had just had. While she knew that she would eventually get over her strop at Marlene - although it most certainly wasn't going to be an overnight fix - it was reassuring to hear that from her boyfriend. She returned the sentiments ten times over, of course, and if she was really honest with herself she would have to admit that she felt much like she was falling in love with him. But it was far too early to say that. Right? "Just checking," she finally replied when she backed away from him, leaning into the cushion of the couch. "I wanted to make sure nothing changed on my way over." "I'm not a twelve year old girl, so no," Pepper said with a smirk. "My thoughts have a tendency to stick. And root. And make little thought babies that... I don't know. Burrow and infect and yeah. Sorry Effie. You're stuck with me thinking you're awesome and attractive, I'm afraid." And if Pepper hadn't convinced himself that they were probably moving too fast, he might be able to admit that he felt the same way as Effie; he was falling in love with her. He'd never really been in true, honest to goodness love before. There had been an older woman when he was on his first year of rotations, a healer in spell damage who had been married and who had broke things off before her husband could find out, and she'd started her own practice in Brighton after that. That... that had made Pepper feel like a terrible fucking person. Now the opportunity to have a real, honest-to-goodness romantic was right in front of him, and he was kind of petrified of fucking it up. "I'm pretty certain that I could have a much worse fate," Effie teased. She wiped her fingers down on the thigh of her jeans to make sure that there wasn't any pizza grease lingering, then lifted them up to push through his hair. "As it turns out, you're awesome and attractive yourself. And you stick up for me and you cheer me up when I'm feeling lousy. And you're intelligent and have a big heart and... really, I don't think I could have asked for anything better." "Flatterer," Pepper said following Effie's lead in wiping his hands on his trousers before sliding his arms around her and pulling her closer. He kissed her. "You know just how to woo me." "I'm sneaky like that," Effie murmured, then took another kiss. It was a short one, though, because her fingers went to toy with the collar of his shirt and she smirked. "I know that there's more pizza there, but I'm getting really antsy to look into that second thing on the list of why I'm awesome." "Oho!" Pepper exclaimed exaggeratedly, though his hands were starting to wander, sliding under the hem of her shirt. "Effie McKinnon! Here I thought we were going to enjoy a nice evening together, enjoying one another's company, when it seems you only want me for my body. My toned, muscular body. You sexy, sexy user, you." "Don't even pretend for a second you don't love it," Effie teased, shifting in his lap as her arms circled around him. She was grinning as she leaned in and pressed her forehead against his. "It would be silly for you to pretend such a thing when I'll bet you've had ulterior motives yourself this entire conversation." "Who, me? Noooo. I already told you. I'm chaste and wholesome," Pepper said, one hand sliding farther up her back and unclasping her bra with a snap. "Whoops. Did I do that?" Effie pulled a shocked expression, then pulled herself out of Pepper's lap so she was standing in front of him. "I'm going to go into your bedroom now," she announced with a smirk, her arms working as she spoke to pull her now unclasped bra out from under her shirt. "You're welcome to follow me." "I think I just might," Pepper said, stretching his arms before standing. Then, before Effie could start moving towards his room, he grinned widely, grabbed her bodily, and threw her over his shoulders. Effie couldn't help but laugh the entire way there, but once she was actually in his bed she was decidedly focused. Because, really, nothing else mattered at that very moment other than Pepper. It didn't matter that people were being insane in her journal or that her sister was being judgmental. All that mattered was Effie and Pepper and the fact that she was about certain that she loved him. That was enough for her.