(Untitled)

[playswithboys]

Time: July 16, 2000
Setting: The greenhouse
Status: Public (Crowley's gardening expertise needed!)
Summary: Pepper's having issues with the greenery

Comments

[playswithboys]

Pepper was in too much pain to jump into the air at the sound of the voice. Instead she whirled around in the direction it came from and got stabbed in the arm by one of the barbed potted horrors next to her. She dropped the watering can and put a knuckle between her teeth to stop herself from making another sound. It clearly wasn't helping her, yelling and swearing, so she might as well shut up.

Her other hand clenched into a fist. Of course. Of course someone had to be there right when she was looking completely ridiculous. She really hadn't met anyone in the manor yet, and naturally this would be her first introduction. Her luck was just unbeatable. She picked up the pruning shears and started making little clipping noises with them, feeling better with something to squeeze in her hand. "Close?" she asked quizzically. Pepper wasn't sure she wanted to look up just yet, so she concentrated on her bleeding finger. She really needed to wrap that in something.

"I should have stuck with fight choreography and karate," she muttered dismally, not even sure she wanted the stranger to hear her. "I'm bloody useless at this."

[anthony_crowley]

Crossing the distance between them in a few short strides, Crowley caught Pepper's hand in his and gently touched her cut. As he did, it sealed itself closed and stopped hurting. The blood disappeared and he let go.

"You've just got to show them who's boss," he said as if he'd done nothing out of the ordinary. "Or rather, tell them."

Crowley turned to the plants. "All right, you lot. What did we say about growing? Who's going to be the first to get fertilized with fire?" He looked them over carefully and picked up a sulky one on the end. "You then." Ripping it out by the roots, he carried it outside and there was a burst of flame. He came back in. "I'll just leave the empty pot there, shall I? The rest of you have one week to straighten up. I want to see flowering, got it?" The plants seemed to stand taller and he smirked. "Simple, really."

[playswithboys]

Pepper should have hit him. She had programmed her instincts that way: any unwarranted contact, especially by someone male that she didn't know, and they got a nasty jab to the face or stomach. But he was careful and then suddenly her finger didn't hurt at all, the whole thing was... gone. Like she'd imagined it, only it kind of tingled where the cut had been. And he hadn't done anything out of line really. Something was bugging her, though.

And he was good-looking. Very good-looking. And that suit looked so expensive, Pepper was afraid to breathe near it. He was talking about how to treat the plants, and she thought he was crazy, but suddenly everything looked a little healthier. A little brighter. "Threaten the plants? I suppose that is simple." She smirked. Didn't know why that hadn't occurred to her before. Damn logical. But the suit was catching her eye again, something that wouldn't go away....

Her smirk grew. Now she knew what that nagging feeling was at the back of her head. Why she was so happy to have figured it out was beyond her. "You don't recognize me do you?" she said softly, biting the corner of her bottom lip, sorting through drifting memories. "I... think I remember now..."

[anthony_crowley]

"Should I?" He narrowed his eyes slightly to look at her. Fully human, red hair and freckles, about Adam's age, local accent, subtract nine years...

"You're her, aren't you? With Adam. The skinny one with the stick that went up against War. Never got your name, though. I'm Anthony Crowley. That was a hell of a night, huh?"

Crowley smiled. He liked this girl. She had spunk. And a mouth that a sailor would blush at.

"You like gardening?"

[playswithboys]

Pepper almost snorted at being called The skinny one with the stick that went up against War. Almost. And she had tried to stop clipping the pruning shears nervously when he looked her over, clearly trying to make up for time in her appearance. She didn't know why it was making her nervous, she was doing the same thing to him. Only difference was that he looked... exactly the same. Maybe the suit was a little more up to date, but...

So he got to look like that forever then, eh? Lucky him.

"Name's Pepper," she said, not sure if she should offer a hand to shake. After all, she was covered in dirt. Smudges everywhere, probably on her face too. Pretty picture she was making. "Least that's what everyone round here calls me, as they're not allowed to use my real name." She struggled with the images in her head, trying to put them together in order. "Hell of night is right. From what I can piece together, that is. Adam finally let me have those mem'ries back a few days ago. I'm still trying to sort everything out."

Not that she needed to tell him that. Not that he wanted to know. Well, there went her mouth again, shooting off when she didn't know what to do.

She was still clipping frenetically with the pruning shears and she glared at her hand to make it stop. Honestly. "I used to like gardening," she told him with a laugh. "I used to be good at it when I was little. But if yelling at them's all it takes, I guess I shouldn't have a problem. Just wish someone had told me sooner, woulda made the first week easier." She thought about what he'd done a moment ago and grinned mischievously. "Did you really set that plant on fire?"

[anthony_crowley]

Hopefully Crowley looked cleaner and somewhat less desperate than he had then, but otherwise probably the same. Pepper looked significantly more interesting, though.

"Pepper? Suits you. And you're not missing anything if you don't remember. In the end, nothing happened at all."

He watched her toy with the shears and the corner of his lip turned up. Crowley tended to have that affect on people. But if she wasn't careful, she'd cut herself again.

"It's not so much yelling at them as very specifically threatening them." He nodded to the plants. "I haven't been in here as much as I should, but these have had the fear of Crowley put into them. They'll do as I say or they'll regret it." A tremble seemed to go through the leaves of the nearest plants and the demon smirked.

"First week of what? And of course I set it on fire. What else do you think I would have done?" He would have winked, but she wouldn't have seen it through the sunglasses. In fact, the unfortunate begonia was just sitting outside the door to the greenhouse in a spare pot. Pepper would see it when she left.

[playswithboys]

Pepper laughed again when he said her name suited her. "And you? Which do I call you, Anthony or Crowley? Though I'll just come right out an' say that I dun't think Anthony quite fits." Adam had called him Crowley, but she figured she might as well ask him what he liked to be called himself.

He had smirked at her erratic shear-clicking. Good thing she had put a stop to that. Pepper could by God-awful at trying to hide her reactions sometimes. She really had to work on masking, Adam was better at it than she was. She had always held her fury and confusion in her face and fists.

So the plants would listen to him or suffer the consequences? She'd have to try it sometime when he wasn't around. Though she had a feeling that she woudln't be as effective. "First week of work here," she explained. "I just got back to Tadfield. Haven't really been home in two years." She didn't really want to go into Adam's draw, didn't want to talk about being lured without noticing. She still wasn't sure how she felt about the whole situation.

She itched her nose and could feel herself spreading dirt across it. Oh well, too late to do anything about it, and why did she feel like the stare behind those sunglasses would have her clicking the shears again? It didn't make sense, she'd only just met him after all. Still, she tried to keep everything together. "So if you set it on fire, then you're...." She tilted her head to the side. "You had wings. I remember that now. I know you're not human, but what are you?"

[anthony_crowley]

Resting one hip against a potting bench where it specifically did not get dirty, he said, "Then call me Crowley."

He considered the girl before him carefully. While he could read her expressive face quite well, he got the impression that there was a lot more to her. Figures that Adam would have exceptional friends...

"You just got back home, stopped off here, and Adam gave you a job as a gardener?" He raised an eyebrow. "Is that what you wanted to do? Either way, I could probably give you a couple of tips that might help. I know a fair bit about botany." He should. He helped create some of it.

The demon sighed. This was all so much easier when no one knew what he was; more fun to spread temptation around those you'll never see again. "Guess," was all he said.

[playswithboys]

"Is that what you wanted to do?"

Pepper's mouth twitched. Funny how he'd picked that right up. Funny and also not what she wanted to hear. "He... he needs us, I think. I mean, he would never really put it like that, says he's trying to protect us, but I think he needs some support around here. Word has it, you're not all the easiest beings to deal with." She tried to smile, but her eyes hardened before she could manage it. "And I don't do anything I don't want to do. So it's fine, really. I don't mind being back."

Her knuckles were going white around the shears, she was squeezing so tight. She tried to let go. She couldn't. "I could use the help, though," she sighed, trying to relax. She knew better than to turn her nose down at help when she was getting the crap beaten out of her by foliage.

She stared at him. Or rather, at the sunglasses. And suddenly, she desperately wanted to see his eyes, like that was important somehow. "You're not an angel," she said certainly, not sure how she knew that. "The other one was, your friend, and you aren't the same." And when the other obvious option flickered into her head, the smile finally came back for real, her eyes sparking with the kind of excitement that she normally showed for pirates and magic and bonfire night. "You're not really... are you? For real?"

[anthony_crowley]

"Sure, kid," said Crowley agreeably, "I believe you. And it's true, we're not easy to deal with. Though he's never had to intervene in anything I did." He eyed her. "I expect you really don't do anything you don't want to do."

Bemused, he added, "I can see that you could use some help." The demon paused, feeling an odd, generous impulse towards this friend of Adam's who spoke her mind. Tired of intrigue and games, meeting someone who was blunt was very refreshing. "But if you need something beside tips, sometimes I can be convinced to lend a hand as well."

After a moment's thought, Crowley slid his sunglasses down his nose and winked, returning them to their normal place almost immediately. He didn't think he'd need to say anything to verify her suspicions. The demon had met a number of women throughout the years who'd thought that the forces of evil were... attractive in one way or another. But he'd never met one who'd been quite so excited to knowingly be in the presence of one of Hell's operatives.

[playswithboys]

Pepper's mouth twisted a little at being called "kid". Of course, he was undoubtedly much older than her, being what he was, but really now. The nickname actually wasn't so bad, it was more adding with the fact that he obviously didn't believe her. Masking. She had to figure it out. She squinted a little when he claimed that Adam had never had to intervene with him. Well maybe she just didn't believe him on that herself. After all, he was there too, wasn't he?

And then he... wait, was he offering to help? That was a surprise, as he didn't seem the type. She glanced at the ground for a moment to collect her gaze, not wanting to seem so over-amped about everything. "That would be great. If you have time, that is, don't want to bother you." She smirked as she pondered over how he'd worded the offer. "But what exactly do I have to do to convince you?"

His sunglasses went down and she saw a flash of yellow-gold and narrow pupils. Eyes of a snake, she'd seen enough pictures to know. She gasped just a little, quietly as she could. And she tried not to let her eyes go too wide. "Brilliant," she whispered. Her stomach was not in the right place at all, she realized. "What do you do? I mean, what sort are you?" She had a strange desire to step closer, but she knew she shouldn't, so she planted her feet resolutely.

[anthony_crowley]

He had to stifle a snigger at her expression. But really, kid was affectionate for him. He could have called her Red.

Crowley could tell that she didn't believe him, though. Let her ask around. He had a damn good reason to be at the Manor and he rarely started fights. He couldn't help it if he often had to defend himself against others, though.

"I've got nothing but time," he replied with a smirk. "As to how to convince me, that's up to you. Homemade pie, good conversation, I'm flexible..."

The demon had no such inhibitions and did step nearer to her, though not enough to be threatening. "If I tell you that, Pepper," he said, voice low and soft, her name rolling smooth and velvet off his tongue, "then you'll guard yourself against me. Isn't it more fun to leave things a bit... mysterious?"

[playswithboys]

She raised an eyebrow at the first suggestion. "Do I look like the sort of girl that makes pies in her free time? I think the last time I tried to cook the fire department came to my house and the kitchen smelled like vinegar and cooking yeast for a month." Which made her sound like an idiot. Well, it wasn't her fault that she was domestically challenged. When your best friends were all boys it was hard to get into knitting and the like. Pepper had never found any of that homey stuff interesting in the slightest.

If it had been anything else that looked or sounded male advancing on her like that, she would have backed away or prepared to deliver a roundhouse punch. But he was stepping closer and she didn't budge. Or she might have leaned in. A little.

Guard herself against him? She didn't think she could if she tried. And she had never ever heard her name spoken like that. Truthfully, she'd never thought that calling someone's name could be erotic, certainly not her name, which was meant more as an endearment to her friends and family than it was something to be proud of. But when he said it, something shot straight down to her toes and her blood gave a quick roar in her ears. What is wrong with you? she scolded in her head, not used to being so easily provoked this way. He probably does this to people like you all the time. Get a grip.

She tilted her chin up defiantly. She could at least look like she was making an effort here. "S'pose it is more fun. But don't expect me not to try an' figure it out." Which she was already trying to do. And it was strange because she felt like it was obvious, and she was just too close to piece it together. Her brain felt a little fogged up at the moment.

[anthony_crowley]

He laughed at that. "No, you don't, actually. So you'll have to think of something else."

Glancing around, Crowley's eyes landed on a flowering bush situated just behind Pepper. With a smile, he reached around her, produced a small, sharp knife, and cut off the lovliest of the burgundy roses. After quickly running the knife down the stem to remove all the thorns, he slipped it behind her right ear. Let her figure that one out, this intriguing girl of conflicting passions.

"Be my guest," he whispered in her ear. "Let me know when you work it out."

With that, Crowley slipped out of the greenhouse and headed back up to the Manor in a better mood than he'd been in for quite some time.

[playswithboys]

When he reached out, Pepper had a moment of panic where she wondered where his hand was going, but it wasn't really because of the proximity as much as her own reaction to him. She watched as the knife appeared in his hand out of nowhere, watched with fascination as he deftly cut the rose from the bush, and watched without breathing as he slipped the rose behind her ear. Pepper felt the brush of air against her cheek and ear as he whispered, and every hair on the back of her neck stood on end. It would have normally annoyed her, as she despised cliches, but she had a flower behind her ear at the moment and everything was a little sideways.

He left quickly as he seemed to have arrived, and Pepper reached up to touch the rose, fingering the soft petals carefully. When she looked down she noticed that the pruning shears were on the floor. She had no idea when she had dropped them.

Later, when she left the greenhouse, she looked by the door outside and saw the begonia left in a spare pot looking dejected and pitiful. She laughed until her sides hurt.

She decided to leave the rose behind her ear for the remander of the day. Let people ask if they wanted to. She wouldn't tell.

Mysteries were more fun.