Day Ten - Still Wearing his Face

[ashes_like_sand]

Who: Chase, Pepper, Caleb
Where: In or around the dorms
When: Later afternoonish, after his return
Rating: Chase is frustrated - R

Status: Closed, completed
Summary: Upon his return, still wearing his Caleb disguise, Chase returns to DauphinMare. He encounters Pepper who believes him to be Caleb, which makes Chase wonder if Caleb is here. Upon

Comments

[yes_miss_potts]

Pepper was trying this whole leaving her room thing again, since it had worked out so well for her the last two times. It is with this in mind that she stiffened a bit when she saw who she assumed was Caleb.

"This day cannot possibly get any worse, can it?" she muttered under her breath before putting on her very best diplomatic smile and nodding to the approaching form. "Hello again, Caleb," she offered, and despite herself, some of her chagrin managed to work its way into her voice.

Cursing herself for that, she wondered if it would be possible to escape to her room again without being incredibly rude. She came to the conclusion that it likely wasn't and sighed inwardly, awaiting his response.

[ashes_like_sand]

"Funny," Chase said, thinking that she was just playing, but ...

... no. Something was off about her voice.

And he would have expected more of an 'oh thank god you're back' sort of reaction.

He let his disguise fade away. "What do you mean, again?" he said tersely. Because oh, wouldn't that just perk his mood right up.

[yes_miss_potts]

Relief flooded through her, and she put a hand over her heart and heaved a sigh.

"Oh, thank God it's you," she said, "I met someone earlier who looked just like your disguise, and I thought it was you. I ... well it was really embarrassing, actually. New arrival, I guess."

He didn't look particularly happy, but she didn't think much of it. He'd just come back from Riverfell after all, and that didn't seem like an overly happy place to be to begin with.

[ashes_like_sand]

His eyes were black and he was moving before it occurred to him he didn't know where to look.

And this was probably not a reaction he wanted Pepper to see.

And it could have been a look-alike, and he was jumping to conclusions.

So he made himself calm down. "Caleb's here?" he said. "Caleb Danvers?" He turned to Pepper once his eyes had lost their blackness, though his jaw was still set, clenched.

[yes_miss_potts]

"Yes," she agreed, "He's two doors down from us. Is ... is something wrong?"

She immediately began to wonder if, despite her best efforts, she'd still managed to screw something up while he was gone; he looked more than not happy now. She'd thought it bad enough that she'd managed to nearly throw her arms around a complete stranger thinking it was him, but apparently things could get worse.

Though at least Caleb had stopped her before that particular scenario could have gotten any farther. She could only imagine how that would have gone when Chase got back.

[ashes_like_sand]

"Wrong." Chase said. "Is something. Wrong." He ran his fingers through his hair, and two weeks was not enough time to forget about Caleb throwing him through a barn.

Granted, he'd landed in the oasis, but that was more or less irrelevant.

And he was two doors down from them. Absolutely not. "No," he said, shaking his head. But at least now he had a location, and he was very, very inclined to go say hi to Caleb.

He inhaled, trying to find something to focus on that wasn't killing Caleb, because that was a Riverfell thing to do. His teeth ground together. "Caleb. Threw me. Through a barn."

Nevermind it was while he was trying to get the other witch to will him his power. Nevermind that at all.

[yes_miss_potts]

Pepper's hands flew to her mouth.

"Ohgod," she said quietly, concerned, "He threw you through a barn?"

She looked behind her, as if expecting to find Caleb standing there or something. Which was silly. And she thought he'd been quite nice about it all, really. It was difficult to envision him throwing anyone through anything, but she didn't think Chase would lie about something like that.

She reached out a hand to touch him, to comfort, then thought better of it, her hand still halfway between them as she dropped the thought. If he was angry or upset about it, maybe he wouldn't want her to touch him. And he did seem really on edge.

[ashes_like_sand]

He was torn between fessing up and making himself out to be the victim, but he reasoned Pepper would see right through that.

"Well." He cleared his throat. "I may have been trying to steal his power at the time, but that ... doesn't matter."

And now he was here. "Did he mention me at all?" he asked, maybe a little too casually - especially given the mood he was in.

He did notice the hovering hand, and he reached out, squeezing it softly. It probably wasn't the best time for him to be holding her. If he got another hit of rage, he might break her.

[yes_miss_potts]

"You came up," she admitted, "But that was kind of my fault; I thought he was you. I ... he acted like he didn't know me. Which, of course, he didn't. And I got upset, and ... well I said your name, and he picked up on it."

She grimaced a little. Yes, she'd managed to screw up again. And, as usual, without even trying.

[ashes_like_sand]

Chase exhaled a soft sigh.

"All right," he said, though there had been nothing in that that merited that sort of response. Fingers ran through hair again before he managed a tight smile to her.

"I should probably go ... clear things up with him."

Not that he wanted to, but he didn't want there to be any ... misunderstandings.

Though he wasn't sure he'd bother warning him about the Reid look-alike. He grinned widely at that thought. No, he'd let Caleb figure that one out.

[yes_miss_potts]

"Oh," she replied, "Um, alright. Well, I guess come find me when you're done? I'm just grabbing something to eat and then probably I'll go back to the room."

Pepper did wonder, though, what exactly 'clearing things up' entailed, but she figured Chase would handle it however he saw fit.

And it occurred to her she ought to mention his impending conversation with Tony - and she was dreading that, actually - but she figured one thing at a time was good enough.

[ashes_like_sand]

"I'm not mad at you," he assured Pepper quietly. "I just...had a rough time over there. I didn't get a chance to kill him." He frowned. "And there's a gaping blank spot in my memories, and ... I come home to find that Caleb's here."

He reached out for her, pulling her close to him unless she protested. "After I talk to him, I'll come find you, okay?" he murmured.

[yes_miss_potts]

She had absolutely no problem with him pulling her close, and smiled.

"Alright," she agreed, "I won't be far." Not that, really, she could go all that far anyways, but she meant not far from where they were now.

Wrapping her arms around his neck, she regarded him and smiled wider, letting a hand trail back to his cheek.

"I'm glad you're alright," she whispered, "In case that weren't obvious."

[ashes_like_sand]

He pressed his lips against hers. "I can handle myself," he reminded her as he tightened his arms around her, pulling her body against his. "Did I miss anything else exciting? Did they get whoever was here from Riverfell?"

Not that he really expected her to be up to date, especially if she'd been in their room all morning.

Rubbing her back gently, he was content for now to just hold her, to let her presence calm him.

[yes_miss_potts]

"They sent out a letter just a little while ago announcing they'd been caught," she replied, nestling comfortably against him, "I figured it was safe to leave my room now."

She'd left it earlier as well, twice. But that wasn't really the point. No harm, no foul.

"Nothing exciting, though," she murmured.

[ashes_like_sand]

"Good," he said softly before he claimed her lips gently. "See?" he murmured, a little bit a tease creeping into his voice. "You can survive this just fine without getting into any trouble."

And while he had nothing against hanging out with her for the rest of the day, he should go see Caleb - before Caleb saw him first.