tampered | Log: Complete

Log: Complete

When; Penguin Day!
Rating; G
Characters; Frederick Abberline, Faye Valentine, and anyone else who feels like dropping in.
Summary; Frederick goes to visit Faye and brings a new friend with him.
Log;

He hadn't meant to actually bother the penguins - he'd learned at a young age, like anyone else, that you didn't mess with wild animals, even if they were docile ones. You left them alone and sometimes got to watch from afar. But they were just so ... cute. He winced internally every time he reacted that way to small animals, but he just liked them. Penguins and other exotic creatures that they didn't have at the zoo had always fascinated him, even if only in passing. And he missed his dog. And they seemed very friendly.

And one followed him for half a block.

So it was entirely by accident, really, that when he knocked on Faye's door, he was carrying a small penguin with him.

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Abberline had been in the middle of working up a first-class glare at Faye for her laughter when he noticed Scarab. He cracked a bit of a smile seeing her wrapped up in a blanket - but then gave Faye a Look over her remark.

"It's--" he stopped, looking down at the penguin. "I don't think it realizes that I'm not a penguin."

Faye mirrored Abberline's Look as well as she could while still feeling laughter in her stomach. She wanted to make a comment about his feathers being ruffled but she restrained herself.

"Oh, don't look at me like that. I told you," she said, "you're dressed alike. Blue or not. They're probably colorblind anyway." Peter had settled for waddling around Abberline, and Faye looked down at him as well and then up at the woman on the stairs, who Faye wasn't sure she knew the name of. "Besides," she continued, "it's all very English and cute. Stop complaining."

Scarab made a first class effort not to snicker at the 'only child' comment, but failed miserably, only managing to screw up her face inan effort not to smile.

"He does have your fashion sense, Frederick" she teased, as she pitched a bit of bread near the little penguin.

The woman with Abberline didn't look very dressed for the cold, but Scarab forebore to comment.

" I don't think we've met", she said to Faye, " You can call me Scarab. I'm fairly new in town."
With a little rearranging of blanket she poked out her hand politely to Faye, and nodded. No telling if the woman observed eastern or western courtesy, so best to cover all the bases.

Frederick felt completely out of his league among the two quick-witted women. It didn't help that they were both from a time far beyond his. He tried to respond, but another much larger penguin was ambling over for some free bread, and it slid down a snowslope and directly into him. He flailed slightly, and then fell over in the snow between Faye and Scarab.

"... All introduced, then."

She gave Abberline a pleased look as the other woman fought not to laugh. "See," she said. "I'm not the only one who sees the resemblance."

Faye, who had her arms wrapped around her midsection although it was her legs that were cold, looked up at the woman who introduced herself as Scarab. She had seen her on that computer in the apartment, but it was nice to put a real face to a name. Extending her hand, she said, "I don't think we have either." They shook. "Faye Valentine. You said you were fairly new? I guess I'm kind of new myself. Enjoying it?"

It was kind of nice to meet another woman, she thought, even if Faye was more used to men.

"Well, it's not boring" she replied, as she shuffled and slid down the steps and tried to offer a hand up to Abberline....only slip when she tried to pull him up and land sprawled unceremoniously across him in the snow.

"Ow!....sorry..."

((OOC: typooosss @_@))

"That's all right, I can--Omph!"

Frederick's arms came around her impulsively, and he sat up, trying not to get the both of them any further soaked on the snow than they were; she was effectively in his lap now.

"Well," he said, eyebrows raised, "Hello. Ahh, it seems you're being robbed..." he pointed out the penguins laying harvest to her bag of bread crumbs, obviously trying to draw attention away from the unignorable fact that he was sitting in the snow with a woman on his lap.

Faye winced as the two bodies collided in front of her, watching as a few penguins began sticking their faces into Scarab's bag. When the snow had settled, Faye felt that it was all right to snicker.

"Definitely not boring," Faye said, openly smirking as Peter the penguin waddled around the two fallen people before her. Reaching down to help Scarab into a standing position, she glanced back at Abberline. "Would like a hand too or do you want to stay down there?"

"er...yes, it seems so" she replied, trying to cover the awkwardness, then gratefully accpeted Faye's help.

( Not that she minded such a compramising position, but with an audience it was a little wierd)

The bread crumbs were now a total loss as the main body of begging birds had fallen on it, and were cheerfully consuming the lot.

Letting her hair fall foreward to hide a mild blush, she took off the blanket to stand chattering in the snow and shake it off before the flakes stuck to it melted.

Abberline got to his feet quickly, brushing off what snow he could - the rest had melted immediately, and now his legs and backside were soaked and freezing. He might have have been blushing, but it was hard to tell in the biting cold air.

"I think our mission of returing Peter to his kind has been accomplished," he announced, turning to look at the small penguin, who was clustered with the others, enjoying Scarab's fallen bread.

"Perhaps we should escape now."

Faye shifted her weight from side to side a little, pressing her legs together as if trying to warm them up. Her breath puffed in front of her face when she said, "An escape to someplace heated, I think. Not all of us have blankets, even if they are a little wet." She gave Scarab a warm look, though she didn't feel very warm at all.

She couldn't resist one last comment, though: "Are you sure you're ready to leave your baby behind, Frederick?"

" I'm all for organized retreat to a heated space" she chattered wrapping up in the blanket agian as sweatpants and tee-shirt were hardly helping agianst the chill.

"My apartement is an ice box at the moment, so my place is right out."

At the baby comment, Frederick bent down, as if fixing his shoe. Scarab's suggestion was brilliant - he was wet and uncomfortable. Heat would be great...

Very calmly, the inspector walked behind Faye, and shoved a large handful of snow down the back of her indecent shorts.

Faye had opened her mouth to say something--she didn't remember what it was now--when she felt something absolutely freezing and wet in her shorts. She screeched and fell forward, her hands bracing her against the snowy steps, but it didn't matter. The cold shocked her palms and she fell awkwardly at Scarab's feet, looking up at the other woman as if the fact that they were both female would somehow help her out of this situation and dry her off.

"You do realize that I'm going to have to kill you now," she said to Abberline, spitting snow out of her mouth. "With snow."

She tried. She really did!

But it was no use, the laughter reached the air before Scarab could clap a hand over her mouth, thus dropping her blanket.

Shivering and giggling, she stooped to retrieve the fallen blanket, and came back up with a fist sized snowball.

" I'm very sorry. Please allow me to make reperations.", she said to Faye, looking terribly serious except for the tears in her eyes from holding in giggles, and without warning lobbed the snowball at Abberline.

He dodged easily, and poised with another snowball in hand. Oh yes, a middle class Londoner - he could have one hell of a snowball fight.

"Sure you want to do that, darling?"

From her advantage on the ground, Faye was able to do several things with all eyes not on her. Banding against Abberline with Scarab for a common cause, she bunched up a handful of snow into a tight ball and promptly threw it in the inspector's face.

"I don't know about her, but I'm sure I wanted to do that," she said, getting up and handing Scarab back her blanket, though she figured she probably wouldn't need it, and said, "Here you go. We can throw it over him to distract him, if you want." She glanced sidelong at Scarab and held in her own laughter.

Nodding her thanks for the blanket Scarab said nothing, but when Faye looked back at abberline, she grabbed up another handful of snow and pitched it at Faye.

"Sorry, I'm on no one's side but my own" she laughed and threw her blanket over her shoulder to keep her hands free.

She was chiled to the bone, and could no longer feel her fingers or her sock-clad feet...and she was having the time of her life.

Frederick took one to the face, and skid about to the side, lobbing a ball at Scarab, and quickly sending another one toward Faye. He could not hide the mischievous smile on his face - he spent all winter doing this with the other kids in his neighborhood, right up until the last acceptable moment as an adult (once he got into the police academy, there was no room for silliness - it wasn't long before that his visions began). He loved it.

Faye had never had a proper snowball fight. Or if she had, she couldn't remember it. She had a vague feeling that it was supposed to be unpleasant and cold, but she was sweating and laughing and picking up slush and shoving it down the back of Abberline's coat while she wiped Scarab's hit out of her eyes. She scooped a handful of the stuff and rubbed it into Scarab's hair, acting betrayed but laughing with the other woman.

And although she couldn't feel her fingers anymore and the sidewalk was slick and she had to grab Frederick's shoulder to keep from falling on her ass--which earned her snow down the front of her jacket--Faye couldn't remember ever having a better time. "This is psychotic," she said, sliding a bit and pinwheeling her arms. "I think I love it."

Numb feet on slippery surfaces now had Scarab flat on her bum, and shivering.

Her hair was dripping, and her blanket lay forlorn and forgotten near the steps, but as wet and cold as she was the others were just as bad off.

She had managed to peg Abberline in the back of the head while he was busy putting snow down Faye's front, and had returned the favor of snow in the hair to faye before finally losing her footing and ending up covered on slush.

"S-so who's w-winning?" she chattered and pushed at her sodden hair.

"I am," Abberline said, smiling as wide as he ever did - which was still rather blase to some people. He dumped Faye into a large pile of snow, and had to duck his head to try and cover up his laughter.

"All right, I think we all need to get inside and get warm before someone dies of hypothermia." He extended a hand to Scarab, half expecting one of them to still get in a last shot, but figuring he deserved it anyway.

"In your dreams," Faye said, pushing herself to her feet after struggling out of a bank. She dropped a large fist of snow in Abberline's hair and pushed her hair out of her face. Her hands were shaking, and her fingers were bright red. She was absolutely freezing.

"I think that would be me," she piped in, raising a hand before hugging her arms to her body and trying not to bite her tongue with her chattering teeth. "Going inside seems like the best idea I've ever heard, all fun and games aside."

Faye didn't care where they went, so long as it involved blankets and heat.

Scarab got to her feet a little clumsily, and went to retrieve her now-useless blanket, and shooing away the curious penguins that had waddled over to inspect it.

" Fair warning; I'm confiscating the dryer of the person who has a heated apartement" she commented," Though I will need to pick up some things from my place first"

She stood and looked between the two others, shivering.

" So, lets get to wherver we are going because my feet are numb."

"Well I'm back across the way," Abberline said, "But it's plenty warm there..." he trailed off, noticing that the two women were significantly closer to freezing to death than he was. He didn't feel too bad for getting them into a snowball fight, though - Faye's jokes about parenting had hit him funny. He knew they were innocent and lighthearted and he did indeed see the humor in the situation, but ... What did my son look like? He shook his head slightly and shivered.

"I think we ALL need warm clothes. Scarab, if you need some place to dry off or use hot water, you're more than welcome - I think I'll be heading back, however thrilling and adventurous this has been." He cracked a smile at the last to show he truly did have fun - but that he was also truly freezing and soaked right through.

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glock30.livejournal.com - 2006-08-28 22:32 (UTC) - Expand

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