Who are the people in your neighborhood...

[flash_demon]

Crowley had grown weary of reading the books he'd gotten to take to Aziraphale in the clinic, so he sauntered into the rec room to do battle with the bookshelf. He had always believed that Good and Evil were just names of sides, but that was until he'd encountered the shelf and the jukebox. Leave it to Knowledge and Electronics to prove to him

Comments

Death

[nevergrowsup]

Peter had recently discovered the showers. Before this, he had been taking baths in the river as per usual. But then he had found these fountains that shot out water when you asked them to and you could fiddle with the temperature. They merited further investigation.

He was contemplating a papaya as he walked through the room that always seemed terribly crowded. Then he saw the girl at the table. Carefully, Peter set the papaya in front of her.

Fruit helped with sadness. Candy did better, but all he had was fruit.

Re: Death

[get_a_lifetime]

Death took one look at him and lit up. She hadn't seen such precious eyes in so long. "Hello. Is this for me?" she asked, looking at the papaya. She liked them so much more than mangoes.

Re: Death

[nevergrowsup]

He nodded at her. "Yes. But..." Peter held his finger up warningly and used his Stern Voice, the way he did on the Lost Boys. "You cannot look sad while you eat it."

Re: Death

[get_a_lifetime]

"Yes, sir," Death replied, smiling softly as she raised her arm to salute him. She only got it so high before she winced, then dropped it so she could concentrate on the bubbling smiles instead of the throbbing ache.

"Thank you so much. It's very kind of you to share...you are sharing, right? You'll eat some too?"

Re: Death

[nevergrowsup]

He smiled widely back at her and nodded as he sat down in the chair next to her.

"I'll eat some too," Peter said, toes kicking idly a few inches off the ground. "But I have to go explore the underground fountains too."

Re: Death

[get_a_lifetime]

"Underground fountains?" she asked, slurping up a juicy bite and wiping her chin with her hand. "We have those?"

Re: Death

[nevergrowsup]

"We do, I just found 'em after they caught me fighting dragons." The last part was said as an afterthought, as though everyone had been out battling. "They're special fountains too, when you turn them on they go from hot to cold!"

Rarely do children sound so excited about bathroom fixtures.

Re: Death

[get_a_lifetime]

"Oh!" she exclaimed, her mouth still full. "Aren't those wonderful? I can't wait until I can use them again," she nodded emphatically, shoving the fruit toward him. "I love them. Showers. Love them."

Re: Death

[nevergrowsup]

"Showers." His smile grew before he took a juicy bite of the offered papaya. "Showers. I like 'em. Why aren't you allowed to use them anymore, does your mother say no?"

Somehow, though he'd be hard-pressed to explain why, Peter knew that this was a girl sort of grown-up and not a mother sort.

Re: Death

[get_a_lifetime]

"I don't have a mother," she replied, tucking her hair back from her face and looking at him with ancient, knowing blue eyes. "I can't use them because I got hurt very badly and the doctors say I can't get wet for a while more," she explained, lifing her shirt so he could see the incision tied off with a neat line of black, knotted thread. It had healed enough not to need a bandage, but she still was forbidden real bathing.

Re: Death

[nevergrowsup]

"I haven't a mother either." His eyes met hers, looking very young, not much changed from the wee babe he'd been once. Peter opened his mouth to say something else, but was quickly distracted by the wicked cut on her belly.

"That's wicked." He had no idea that you could use thread to string someone back together, but he wasn't surprised. Tremendously useful thing, spring. "Did one of the pirates slice at you?"

Re: Death

[get_a_lifetime]

"Isn't it?" she asked, looking down at it. "It wasn't a pirate, it was a doctor. I was hurt by the...dragons. Hurt bad. Doctor House cut me open and reached in and grabbed my heart and made me live again," she said, leaning forward and sonding every bit as if she was telling him some fantastic lie.

"You had a mother once," she added, snatching another bite of the papaya and cramming it in her mouth.

Re: Death

[nevergrowsup]

Peter grinned widely at the story, loving it whether it was true or fibs. "I did that once, except I didn't hold anyone's heart. I held her whole body." Of course, it should be noted that he held Tinkerbell's body rather often.

At the mention of his mother, Peter rubbed his eye with his fist. He was a boy whose whole heart could be read on his face, and he wasn't smiling any more. "Yeah, well, I don't now. She didn't want me."

Re: Death

[get_a_lifetime]

"Do you want to know a secret, Peter?" she asked, leaning forward a bit more and blinking slowly. Her lips curved into a mischevious smile and shimmered with sticky juice.

Re: Death

[nevergrowsup]

"Oh, yes." Peter scooted to the very edge of his chair, looking at her eagerly. He, like so many children, adored secrets.

He didn't wonder why she knew his name. People did that, with him.

Re: Death

[get_a_lifetime]

"Death doesn't want you either. You're far too brave and important," she nodded, then looked around the room to see who might be loking. "Too many pirates and indians, you know?"