Thursday Night, Stephie and Peter (guest appearance by Tuesday)

[slinkster-ghoul.livejournal.com]

It was cold but not unbearable so. The fading light of early evening was overpowered by the newborn street lights as Stephie took a detour on her way to Scarlett And James Pizza Night Of Doom. She had far too many things to think about tonight, demons, Deirdre, Sophie, Ry. But she was trying to be methodical about it all; Father Peter first. Ex-Father Peter.

There were lights on in the house, that was a good sign. Stephie tooks a quick breath and knocked on the door, then waited.



Tuesday skipped down the stairs at the sound of the knock. Poor Peter... her mind was definitely on him and so she reacted by instinct in responding to the door, not really stopping to think who it might be. So she opened it.

"Hello? Oh-" She stopped, not sure what to do. "Hi, Steph."

Stephie could only blink for a moment. "Tuesday?"

"Yes, it's me. Did you want Peter? He's a bit laid-up at the moment..." Tuesday trailed off, regretting her choice of words. "That is to say... Did you want to come in?"

Stephie took a small step back and took in Tuesday, her head tilted slighty. "Tuesday... are you nursing him?"

"Nursing? Well... nursing is a relative term..." Tuesday found herself going red. "Are you going to come in or just stare at me all day?"

Stephie noticed the blush and grinned. "I would so be teasing you about this if I didn't have to be somewhere in an hour." Stephie said, poking Tuesday in the shoulder. "Is Peter talk-to-able?"

Peter pulled his pants back on, wondering why Tuesday wasn't back by now. It wasn't like he could get anywhere quickly. Slowly, he made his way out of his room and down the stairs. "Hello? Is someone at the door?"

"Um, hi Peter," Stephie waved her fingers at him. "I'm guessing now is kind of a bad time to be all with the talking, huh?"

Peter looked back and forth between Steph and Tuesday and instead of saying anything, he just covered his face with his hands and walked down the last few steps. He lowered his hands and shook his head. "Talking could happen..."

"You want me to come back?" Stephie asked. He really didn't look like he wanted to talk, but he was a guy after all, and why talk when he could be having more crazy Tuesday sex?

Stephie shook her head. Not an image she needed.
)
Tuesday sighed, looking at the carpet and closing the front door. "I'll just make myself scarce for a bit, shall I?"

"No...no of course not" he said to Slink. If she needed him, he was hardly going to send her away. He'd done that to Deirdre unknowingly and look how THAT turned out. He had the dozens of bruises to show that it didn't end up pleasently. He stood beside Tuesday and kissed her forehead to show that he wasn't embarassed of her, just embarassed by the situation.

"You don't have to go, Tuesday."

"Um, well, sorry Tues, but it's kind of... secret." Stephie smiled apologetically at Tuesday. "But I won't be long!"

Peter kissed Tuesday one more time before gently leading Slink through to the dining room they hardly ever used. He closed the doors behind them and smiled. Then he took a seat painfully and sighed. "Sorry about...ahem...what can I help you with?"

"It's about Deirdre, well, heh, surprise. You know a lot about demons and things, don't you? You've seen them before?"

Peter had suspected that Steph or Pierre or both of them would want to talk about this eventually. Perhaps it would have been beter timed when he was NOT in the middle of...things...but that was hardly Steph's fault. He hoped his face wasn't still all red. He was just glad that she hadn't said anything about it. Yet.

"Yes. I'm not the most knowledgeable by any means, but I've seen several and known several of them. Did you have any specific questions?"

Stephie took a deep steadying breath to prepare herself. "I want to help. I want to do whatever it is you're doing that's helping Deirdre, and probably others. I'm guessing there's been others, just cos you seem so... unphased. Or at least not as completely lost in the woods as the rest of us are, and you just- you seem to know. I want to know. I mean, heh, I'm walking round the house and there's this demon- and she's Deirdre but she's also this... something else, and it's headtrippy but I can deal, just so long as I know what, exactly... this is. And what to do if she needs someone like that again- if she goes off the rails and you're not around. Because if she attacks Jude- or anyone like she did us last night then I will be jumping her again. 'Sides, this is Deirdre and she doesn't deserve to go through this, this ordeal by herself. And I can't just stand by and do nothing, not after everything she's done for me- look, even if it's just reading up on things, just give me something and I'll do it, cos I'm going to do something with or without you and without you I'm just running blind." She took another breath after all that and looked up at Peter's face wholeheartedly. "And I'm serious. Completely and utterly, foolhardily and singlemindedly serious."

Peter just gazed at her for a moment, a silly little smile on his face. "I'm glad you're serious, Steph. I think it is important that you understand it if you want to. And you could be a great help to Deirdre. A greater help than me because I can't be there all the time. I could give you some things to read if you'd like. Pierre could read them too. If he's interested, of course."

Peter couldn't help but feel extremly proud of her. And it made him feel better about Deirdre too. With so many people on her side, she could beat this.

Stephie stared at him for a moment, she hadn't expected it to be that easy. But he looked serious and she grinned. "Thanks," she said sincerely. "Where do we begin?"

"I guess we begin with any questions you might have about anything specific. Otherwise, while I was in Melk for the short time that I was, I had collated all of my experience. I could let you read it." Letting her read it was going to give her a lot of information on the person HE was as well. He supposed that wasn't necessarily a bad thing. It was probably a good record of what happened to people when they didn't understand the demons they dealt with.

"Most of it is in the diaries that I kept every year to document my experiences. If you don't mind reading those." He gave her a bit of a cheeky grin.

Stephie shook her head. "I don't mind, I think it's all, well, fascinating. In the kind of way that a volcano is fascinating. And honestly, I have no idea where to start asking questions."

"I understand that. Just remember that I am still learning too. All of what is in my diaries was written before I understood what I was dealing with. I only found out what Deirdre was very recently, which is why I went back through my research. I'll get it for you in a moment. I have to prepare before I stand up today...heh." He paused and looked at her, smiling.

"I just want you to understand that...none of what you read is going to be nice. These people weren't like Deirdre. Most of them were lost to it before I got to them. They can be quite dangerous, as you witnessed a little of last night. I have no right to tell you what to do and what not to do with your life, but I do want you to be careful and take the things that you read to heart."

Stephie bit her lips together for a moment before she nodded again. "I've seen dangerous people before- I don't think I'm going to be entirely... unprepared." She looked up at Peter for a moment then down at her hands. "I've been dangerous people before, but not as much as- as some, I guess. So, yeah, I'm gonna take it seriously." She got up off the chair and walked over to Peter's, holding out her hand. "Need a little help?"

"As much as I hate to admit it, yes." Peter said. He let Slink help him up. "The diaries are upstairs. We can go get them if you'd like" he said, hoping there weren't any incriminating items of clothing that had been carelessly flung and not picked up.

"I don't want to sound patronising in any way, but...I'm proud of you, Steph. Not many people could see what they saw last night and take it all in AND decide to help all in one night. That takes a person of incredible strength. I am very impressed."

Stephie thought she might blush, but she hadn't done that in a long time and wasn't planning to start again. She grinned at her boots as she followed him up the stairs. "Yeah well, she would've done the same for me."

"I am sure she would." Peter veered off into his room, and did a quick glance around. Nothing out of place except the bed being incredibly messy. Oh well. He moved over to his bookcase and grabbed the diaries and the research and handed them to Slink. "This is everything. And once you've read them, I can probably fill in any blanks you have. Let Pierre read them too, if he's interested, just so he understands."

Stephie nodded and swing her bag off her shoulder so she could give the diaries a place to live for the moment. "I'll let him know I've got them," she said, turning the last one over in her hand, speculating already at its contents. "And... thank you. Um, this is a lot, I know. Thanks for... for thinking I'm up to it."

"Thanks for being up to it, Steph. I'll talk to you soon."