A Kind of Pygmalion Enterprise

[righteousapollo]

Characters: Enjolras and Peter Pan
Location: Enjolras’ office
Time: idk after lessons I guess
Content: Enjolras decides to making Peter into a Functioning Member of Society.
Warnings: none

Comments

[righteousapollo]

Holding the door aside and allowing Peter to enter the classroom first, Enjolras impassively corrected the boy's mistake: "Just Enjolras."

He pointed, indicating that Peter should sit as Enjolras took to his own chair behind the desk. He sat down with a serious sigh.

"And while we're at it, not 'flag-waving Enjroles' either," he added reproachfully, linking his fingers behind his head and sitting back further in his chair.

Enjolras didn't have much experience in dealing with younger people. As a single child of a wealthy family he had of course had to interact with young children at his boarding school - but never in the capacity of a teacher or anyone with a position of power. Bodily-speaking Enjolras was barely out of student-hood himself. The idea of being an authority figure appealed to his Fearless Leader side, but the idea of a teacher was much more exhilarating. He knew he had to be stern; that being liked was never a priority; and that what he imparted to these students now might very well remain with them for the rest of their lives. Enjolras wanted to be formative on these kids, but it was just such a challenge to make the sceptics believe.

Enjolras loved a good challenge.

"So. What was school like back in London?" He asked coolly.

[littlecrazyface]

"Boring." Peter replied shortly. He shifted his weight from one foot to the other and then reluctantly took a seat. The very second that his rear hit the seat, he immediately wanted to rise to his feet once more. He was not particularly good at sitting still for any length of time - unless he was playing hide and seek, of course, in which case he was the very, very best. "I had to go to classes plus 'sessions' where they wanted to find out if I was adjusting." His upper lip curled in a way that turned his beautiful boyish face a bit ugly, at least for a moment, and then he was smiling again, as if he had not a single care in the world. "Except I was always at Kensington, so there was nothing to adjust to, was there?" He shrugged. "So I fixed it."

[righteousapollo]

"You fixed it?" Enjolras echoed, taking his hands from behind his head and sitting upright in his seat. He gripped the arms of his chair and gave Peter a keen sideways look. "By creating this, this 'Neverlands' place, correct?" Yes, Enjolras had read the boy's (quite sizeable) files but he preferred to hear it from Peter himself.

[littlecrazyface]

"It's Neverland." Peter replied, sticking out his jaw slightly in boyish defiance. "And The Neverlands if you're being plural." He added, "It's got different bits, y'see, there's one big island and a few little ones and then- there's things up in the sky and deep, deep down in the sea." His gaze moved up and to the right as he began to conjure the images in his head, "No one ever saw beyond the island, though, there wasn't enough time to see everything, even I haven't seen everything."

[righteousapollo]

He believes it, Enjolras thought to himself warily. He really, really believes it. God alone knew, Enjolras was a big fan of believing in things you hold dear - but was this going too far? He sat still in his seat, his keen look frozen in place, as he racked his mind as to what this all meant.

Enjolras almost wanted to pity him. There were things that were very wrong in this world (or so Enjolras believed) and here was a case of someone who just couldn't handle it (again, so Enjolras believed).

"There wasn't enough time... because you had to leave? And come here?" He queried.

[littlecrazyface]

"Because James buggered it right up." Peter shot back, a clearly annoyed expression on his face. "And he got out, and then he told like a scared little girl. And then they left because they were scared - except for Tink, 'cause she died, kinda." He looked away from Enjolras, picking out a point on the wall to stare at, and then another, and another. "And then, without them, there wasn't a point to keeping it around, was there? I only wanted to help them stay they way they wanted to be." His eyebrows furrowed. "I could have made it again, if they hadn't sent me away."

[righteousapollo]

Enjolras finally moved, readjusting himself on his seat and propping his elbows on the desk so he could lean forward towards Peter a little confrontationally. "You say you wanted to help them stay the way they wanted to be... so you did all of that," he waved his hands emphatically, "for your friends? That would almost sound selfless-" he started, thinking in his head if it weren't for the fact that it's probably a lie, but saying instead: "-if it weren't for the fact that Tina nearly died and James lost his whole hand."

[littlecrazyface]

"Tink didn't nearly die to save me, she nearly died because she was being stupid enough to think that I could die in my own world. And James lost his hand because he didn't believe well enough." Peter let out a little indignant snort of breath. "As if anyone could die in Neverland if they didn't really want to - the whole point is to stay alive and in the proper way forever. But-" He rolled his eyes to the ceiling. "If you're not thinking properly, it goes wonky. Not my fault."

[righteousapollo]

This wasn't even what he had called Peter in to talk about, but Enjolras found it so fascinating he couldn't help but ask more questions. It was all so perverse and yet somehow relevant to his own interests.

"So how many people didn't believe well enough? Did all your friends 'not think properly'? How many people fell foul of Utopia?" He said the last one with a kind of dark relish - remembering the failure of his own, more literal, attempts at creating a better place for mutantkind.

[littlecrazyface]

"It started with Hook - that's James to you, I suppose," Peter began, slowly craning his head down to look into Enjolras' face once more. "One day he went mad and said he didn't want to play anymore. I guess he didn't like being my nemesis much. Yellow-belly." Peter scowled a little, "All you really have to do is keep thinking happy, light thoughts. It shouldn't have been so bloody difficult."

aufghhhh small post, my brain is broken D:

[righteousapollo]

"I sympathise with your unhappiness with the world," Enjolras said after a moments thought, "But did you ever think there were other ways to go about this? That maybe you could change the world instead of hiding from it?"

Happy thoughts! It was so childish, so innocent. If it weren't for the poisoning and the severed limbs it would be cute.

[littlecrazyface]

"I'm not unhappy or hiding." Peter replied indignantly. It was a lie, of course, in the morning hours, or in very late nights, when the silence and the loneliness crept in so deep down inside of him that he had to talk very loudly to himself in order to drown it all out, he was miserable. "I've only done it once, anyway, pulled a lot of people in." He crossed his arms, "You can't expect something to work perfectly the first time. I just have to be more careful."