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the only octavius o. pepper ([info]dinglealltheway) wrote in [info]valesco,
@ 2014-02-17 22:45:00


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Entry tags:mirabelle jasper, octavius pepper

WHO: Octavius Pepper & Mira Jasper
WHAT: Some wrangling
WHERE: Mira's
WHEN: Immediately before this thread


Octavius Pepper could not believe the start his new year had gotten off to.

It was almost comical, if you thought about it and you weren't, in fact, Octavius Pepper.

But, unfortunately, as that was who he was for the foreseeable future, Octavius found little humour in the situation.

He had already fired one employee, threatened to can two more, and was now committing the grievous sin of missing work so he could hammer on the door of his missing-in-action personal to scold her for that very same reason.

Octavius acknowledged that Mira's role came with a very long leash—necessitated by her, of course. He let Mira get away with a great many things, for the simple fact that her purpose at the Wizarding Wireless Network was to make his life easier, and she aced the job entirely.

In fact, it was his personal opinion that she was painfully overly qualified for the role, but would only tell her so in a life-or-death situation being that she simplified his life in ways he couldn't even have imagined even when he was an unemployed sixteen year old still in school.

But even a week, let alone two, of unnoted absences was out of line for Mira, and with no communication from her aside from the owl her friend had intercepted, Octavius hoped he would not be forced to let her go as well.

"I know you're in there, I can hear you breathing," Octavius called through the door.

Mira stood within, clutching her elbows with her opposite hands while warily eying the door. She had not assumed for one second that Octavius would fall through on his word and not show up today, but she simply did not know what to say to him. Or, specifically, there was nothing that her addled mind could focus on long enough to come up with a valid reason as to why, through one reason or another, she had not been in the WWN for the past two weeks. It was rather touchy, not wanting to admit to your friend/boss that you simply couldn’t make it into work because of the internal crisis you were having over finding out about an unplanned pregnancy.

Merlin, she could already picture the look on Octavius’s face. Or, actually, two potential looks, it really was a toss up between his muted anger one and wild discomfort, both of which she really didn’t feel like witnessing. Mira pinched her bottom lip with her fingers in dislike.

She wished Bianca was here to scare him away. Her best friend had been incredibly supportive since New Years, and a near-constant presence by her side since then, but Bianca did have a family of her own she had to tend to once in a while. It was just by luck (or fate?) that Octavius managed to show up when Bianca wasn’t here.

Stepping closer to the door, Mira froze mid-step as the floorboard beneath her foot let out a loud creak. Silently cursing herself, all the while feeling an hysterical feeling begin to brew within, she swallowed soundly. She should at least attempt to turn him away, yes?

“That’s ridiculous,” she responded after a bit of time, certainly lacking her usual vigour but nonetheless managed a hint of condescension in her tone. Mira crossed her arms tighter over her chest, deciding the closed door between her and Octavius was her best safeguard now. “You can’t possibly hear that through the door.”

The corners of his mouth turned up with grim satisfaction when he heard her voice. "Mira, open the door!"

He'd gone over the last few weeks in his head repeatedly, and could not determine what had happened, at least in terms of the WWN, to make Mira as truant as she had been. The year before, yes, they had been in a tense stand-off, and the party had had a similar occurrence where people very much enjoyed kissing one another, and then he had "forcibly dragged her kicking and screaming" (her words, not his) to Istanbul for the European Cup coverage.

Had their schedules allowed for it, and Mira disappeared into the night never to be heard from again, he'd have vaguely understood why.

But the person responsible for the fiasco of this New Year's Eve had already been dealt with, and there was no professional reason he could think of for Mira's absence, which meant it could only be a personal one.

Breathing aggrievedly through his nose as yet another bout of silence greeted him, and leaned his forehead on the arm that rested against her front door.

"Mira, just tell me what's going on. Please."

Her lips curled into a frown, and her grip on herself tightened. She could not simply “tell him what was going on” as that would require her to voice out loud what was going on, a feat Mira had not even achieved herself lonesome in the quietest of voices since New Year’s Eve. It was stupid, and unavoidable, but it felt like… the less she had to talk about it, think about it, then the less her pregnancy felt like a legitimate life change to address.

It was stupid. No amount of avoidance would fix the budding frenzy within her, but at this point she would grapple for any kind of temporary relief she could manage.

So if that was the case, then why did she already feel tears beginning to spring from her eyes? Mira took a deep breath, and quickly rubbed the water away from her face. But it was of no use, as those tears were replaced with new ones, and before she could blow her nose, a tell-tale sniffle escaped her. And then another. A frustrated groan escaped her, but it was weak.

His tender tone spoke to her. It invited her to inch closer to the door, ease her shoulder against the frame and rest her gaze on the handle. Arms still crossed tightly across her chest, Mira closed her eyes.

“I---” she began, her voice wavering. “I’m---” Mira paused, pushing the top of her foot under door.

“I don’t want to tell you. The face you’ll make won’t help.”

What did that mean! Octavius's face contorted in an expression he couldn't say for certain was the one Mira had indicated, but was nonetheless a mixture of disbelief, annoyance, and a lot of concern and worry.

Ordinarily, that sentiment would have raised another bout of yelling and hammering on the door, but he couldn't help but detect an almost watery note to Mira's voice.

Octavius hadn't heard Mira even come close to crying since… well…

Ever, he thought.

Stumped, bewildered, and honestly a bit frightened, he pondered over Mira's words. She didn't want to tell him… in part because the face he made wouldn't help… wouldn't help what? Her? Wouldn't help how?

Did something—Had something happened to Mira? Was she—

Octavius had to resist the urge to shout and pound on the door demanding he be let in. He strained to make his voice patient and slow, saying, "Mira, I promise my face won't do anything you don't want it to. I just want to see you, that's all. Please let me in?"

He exhaled heavily. Why didn't he have more sisters? Why wasn't he ever surrounded by normal women, who would have properly coached him for moments like these?

She pushed the tip of her foot further under the gap between the door and the floor, mulling over Octavius’ words. What else was there to say? What more could she do? In the end, it was not something she wanted to face, but eventually Octavius, like the rest of the world, would find out. And then what? While the prospect of the unknown scared her, Mira supposed… she supposed that at least now she had the chance to take control over it. In a small way.

Consciously, her hand dropped to rest on her stomach, a movement she had admittedly avoided doing since New Year’s Eve.

This was ridiculous. Was her getting pregnant really so worth of such a dramatic spectacle? Yes, Mira believed so fervently, but she supposed that others would find it not as considerably significant. She closed her eyes, and dipped her chin to her chest. Wiping the side of her face on her own shoulder, she spoke in a small voice.

“I might be a bit pregnant,” Mira revealed in a hushed tone, one that was quiet but could certainly be heard through a front door. She sighed, and finally, carefully, unlocked the door. “Bianca has been helping me…” Yes, perhaps that was an appropriate word. Weakly, she pulled the door open a sliver.

A bit pregnant? Octavius attempted to not let his jaw hit the floor.

A bit pregnant? Wasn't that an all-or-nothing sort of proposition?

It was, of course it was, which meant that Mira was… definitely quite a lot pregnant.

He wasn't entirely certain how to handle the news. From the way she'd sounded, and what she's said—well, he had begun to fear something horrible had happened to Mira. And still, he absolutely did not want to make any rash judgments, but based on the way she had been behaving since the new year, he'd wager to say… the news might have caused some upheaval.

How long had she known? How far along was she? Who was the father? Was she coming back to the station? If she was, would she then leave the station soon after—after—?

This was actually, quite possibly, sort of life-changing news.

Octavius wasn't sure where to begin, or what questions he could ask. He wasn't quite sure what Mira needed him to do, so he asked the one thing he absolutely had to find out before he said or did anything else.

"Are you… all right?" he asked, craning his head into the crack of the door where her face appeared.

Her mouth automatically formed into a frown, and Mira shifted to hold most of her face with her hands. Was she alright? Was she alright? What kind of question was that! Did it look like she was alright? Mira leaned back, feeling it necessary to retreat further into the safety of her home. Or, at least, withdraw from Octavius Pepper’s floating head.

“I don’t know,” she responded honestly, her shoulders rising to her neck. Mira closed her eyes, and pulled back her lips. Which was true, she really didn’t know anything, had severely put off thinking at all about everything, so it did feel like…. she really had no idea. Unless he meant---

“I mean yes!” Mira rushed, throwing her hands out and waving them slightly. Tears began to form again in her eyes, and in an effort to stop them, she opened them and turned to watch Octavius carefully. “Of course, but---”

Mira stopped, and upon fully looking at Octavius, screwed her face up tight. Her hands balled into fists, and she quickly released them toward Octavius’ direction. Had he not just promised his face wouldn’t do anything she didn’t want it to?

“You’re making the face!” she hiccuped, coming off entirely much less threatening that desired.

"I'm sorry!" he said, pawing at his face with one hand, because he wasn't entirely sure what expression it was making. "I didn't mean to—it just happened!"

While he wrestled with contorting his expression into one more suitable for Mira, Octavius couldn't deny his relief, but he was still very shocked. A pregnant Mira! A Mira who was going to be a mother! A Mira who might not come back to work!

They would of course need to discuss her future plans at the station, but now wasn't the right time for that. Now that he knew the secret she had been hiding, Octavius felt sure that he wouldn't have to worry about Mira vanishing without a trace again.

Yet it was all still a little much for the poor station manager, who then asked quite faintly, "Do you need a hug?" He paused a moment, then said, "I might need one."

Her hands dropped, and Mira let out a long breath. It was only until now, in this very moment with her gaze upon a green Octavius Pepper that she thought…. perhaps she could have handled all of this a bit better. While technically her professional superior, Octavius was still her friend, a very close friend (though not willingly sometimes), and his current nervous stature made her feel… was that a bit of guilt?

No, of course not. Preposterous. More like a dainty burp so severe it was contributing to the fresh tears swelling her eyes. Shrugging her shoulders (because she really had admitted defeat in all possible ways now), Mira shook her head.

“I suppose I can forgive you this one time,” she sniffled, failing a bit at mock sarcasm. Her voice dropped as she shook her head. Perhaps a hug wouldn’t be the worst of things. Unclenching her hands, Mira quietly slipped forward, not stopping in her movements until the comforting wrap of Octavius’ (skinny!) arms engulfed her. Pressing her face into his robes, she took in a deep breath only to released it a few moments later. She would thank him later, she knew, for his concern and loyalty, but for now… he had been right. Mira had quite needed a hug.



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