Christmas With the Pevensies - for ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
caramelsilver
Aug. 9th, 2011 04:30 pm![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
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narniaexchangeTitle: Christmas with the Pevensies
Author:elenielofnarnia
Recipient:caramelsilver
Rating: G
Possible Spoilers/Warnings: Spoiler scenes that allude to Last Battle.
Summary: Eustace Scrubb and Jill Pole are visiting the Pevensie family during Christmas break. From within the sibling dynamic and from outside, the distance each of them feel towards Susan becomes more and more obvious.
Christmas With the Pevensies
The air bit into his skin like sharp needles, but Edmund found it refreshing. After spending hours in stuffy classrooms barely allowing students a break, he liked to feel the cool evening air brush up against his skin, remind him that there was an outside world.
It had snowed the night before and the flurries were starting to fall once again. Christmas was approaching, families were getting together, including Eustace and his friend Jill. They had met a few times before but this was the first time Jill Pole was staying with the family for a whole week at the Pevensie household.
Edmund’s mind continued to wander as he leaned his back up against a telephone booth by the school. The cold chilling feeling the snow always brought with it every year reminded him of his time in Narnia, mostly of one particular event before the Golden years started. By now he’s moved past those moments, past the days when he could not stop calling himself a traitor… but every year it snuck up on him as a reminder. Just a small reminder…
The sky was still edging into darkness, light creeping out from some of the clouds as the wind started to pick up and the flurries increased in size and weight. Edmund still didn’t move from his spot, taking a pack of cigarettes out of his coat pocket. He didn’t plan on smoking these at home where Lucy and Susan could criticize his “awful habit”. He had taken to doing it privately after classes.
The cigarette and its smoke warmed him up nicely. It always did. Edmund made sure he didn’t use it so much during warm days in England, but when it was freezing out and a good cigarette was all he needed, it was absolutely perfect.
He was finished just as the sun finally disappeared behind the clouds and the streets were left under a dull grey glow. Edmund popped a mint into his mouth that he knew wouldn’t fool Lucy in the end and greeted Peter as his older brother left the school’s building.
“Lucy won’t be fooled by that mint Ed.”
Edmund feigned confusion. “What mint?”
Peter only grinned as they started walking together. “You never wait for me after classes.”
“Well, it’s bloody cold out.” Edmund rolled his eyes, stuffing his hands in his pockets.
It really had become chillier than before now that the sun was gone. Peter quickly tugged on his knit hat and they both trudged on in silence through the oncoming gloom. Sometimes they preferred the lack of conversation between the two, but Edmund had an odd feeling this time around. Like one of them should be speaking, like they should be prepared for something.
“Is that Jill Pole coming by today? Eustace’s friend?” Edmund finally ventured with a question. Peter didn’t bother turning to look at him.
“Tonight, she might be there by now.”
“Susan will kill us for being late.” Edmund grinned, playfully, but his brother didn’t return the grin.
“I don’t really care what Susan will do to us.”
It had been like this for almost two years now, ever since Susan stopped spending time with her siblings. She was beginning to slip from their grasp, saying things like how Narnia was “just a game they played”. Edmund and Lucy still tried to tell her differently, tried to remind her of their Golden Years, of when they helped Caspian… but she was barely listening anymore, and Peter didn’t even bother trying to help. With Jill staying for the week, Edmund could only assume that things would become even more awkward than they already were.
They arrived home in the same silence as they had when they started and saw that their house was lit up with many lights for the coming holiday. As expected, they had been late in greeting Jill when she arrived. Lucy was upstairs with her to help get Jill settled in the room they were sharing together.
Eustace walked out of their kitchen and surprised Peter with a greeting in the form of a welcoming hug. Edmund smiled at Peter’s expression; they had grown used to Eustace being friendly and welcoming towards the siblings, but sometimes they remembered how he used to make fun of their “stories” of Narnia. Peter definitely remembered, but he returned the hug quickly before he seemed rude.
“Made the trip here well-enough, Eustace?” Peter asked when they were all seated in the kitchen together.
Eustace sat across from them with a grin, but he looked slightly annoyed. “It took a little bit of a while with the weather. We’re not used to it being like this.”
As they conversed Susan made her way into the kitchen and the conversation immediately died down. She was dressed for a night out, brown curls pulled into a low ribbon. She smiled at the silence and made her way towards a cupboard.
“Don’t let my intrusion interrupt your conversation. What were you on about?”
“Nothing, Susan… trivial things like the weather.” Edmund gave her a smile, the only one who had bothered answering. “Eustace and Jill got here just in time.”
Susan nodded, but her attention turned towards Peter. He was looking down at his hands. Even Eustace was trying not to watch him too closely. The two older siblings barely spoke to each other, especially lately. When Edmund and Lucy weren’t worrying about making Susan believe in Narnia again, they were trying to get Peter and Susan to get along. It was usually a lost cause.
She watched her older brother for a small bit before turning away towards the door and grinning down at the two people who had just arrived.
“Lucy, is Jill all settled in?”
--
Jill had met the Pevensies and spent time with them before, but not for as long as this week. She was staying in Lucy’s room, things already taken out and put away into a small drawer.
During outings with Jill’s older sister Maggie and their mother, she had always overheard people telling them how Jill was so quiet and observant; how she always seemed to look like she was lost in thought. At school with Eustace teachers told her family that she was loud and free-spirited. Whenever Jill met with Eustace’s cousins she tried to be a combination of both. Observant and thoughtful but open as well.
After greeting each of them with a smile and spending a good day within their household she had already observed a few things. Edmund and Lucy spent most of their time together, including Eustace and Jill in their day-to-day activities. Sometimes Peter conversed with the younger group, sometimes he spent his time with them, but most of the time he seemed lost in his own world. He worked alone and seemed to have a commanding presence on the household if his father didn’t already.
Susan on the other hand seemed just as lost in her own world, only more-so than Peter. She spoke to Edmund and Lucy, but much of her time was spent outside, going to parties and making friends. Jill assumed she was the only one, besides Eustace, who was confused about these peoples’ names, of the friends Susan always seemed to have, but in the end it didn’t seem like the case.
On the third day within the Pevensie household, when everything had been cleaned and prepared for Christmas during the coming week, Jill found herself in need of a private place to read. Nothing too grand like a library, because the nearest one would be hard to get to through the snow, but just a quiet room that nobody visited.
She eventually found solace in the small un-used room beside the kitchen. They washed clothes and stored junk in that room, but Mrs. Pevensie had finished washing everything the night before.
When Jill had settled into a perfect spot out of sight from anybody in the kitchen, a dreadful truth weighed down on her. She had left the book she was going to read on the kitchen table. Not wanting to remember how her sister sometimes called her forgetful, Jill gave an annoyed sigh and was ready to walk back out to retrieve the book, until she heard a noise. It was loud and it was clearly three people conversing with each other… angrily.
Edmund, Susan and Peter all walked into the kitchen. Edmund looked tired and forlorn, Susan looked annoyed and angry, but wearing a gorgeous green dress that frilled at the ends close to her knees and hugged her waist with one of those belts Jill had seen in magazine-ads. Still, it was Peter that caught Jill’s attention. Through a crack in the wall she could see that he was standing with clenched fists, his eyes set on their sister, clothes forgotten from her memory.
“I don’t see why you two are so angry with me. I barely remember last year’s Christmas, I would just be a burden here.” Susan started, not looking him in the eye.
“Christmas is only in a few days. Have mum and dad heard about this… excursion?” Edmund asked, trying to remain the calm one of the three.
“It’s only two weeks in America. I told you about the people we met two years ago when you were with Eustace and Peter was with that professor—”
“Kirke. He was Professor Kirke Susan.” Peter finally put in, the anger evident in his voice. “How could you forget his name? How could you be forgetting so much?”
She sighed, a soft flush coming to her cheeks as she tried to find something in her purse. “Are we starting that again? This is getting ridiculous Peter. It was a game.”
“It was not a game!”
He hadn’t meant to shout, at least Jill hoped so. She watched him, not daring to blink at his shaking figure. Eustace had mentioned something about not bringing up Narnia to Susan, at least now she knew why. Jill could only assume that this was what Peter and Susan were talking—yelling about.
Susan finally looked up at him and a battle of wills seemed to take place between the two. Poor Edmund seemed to be in the middle of it. He sighed in exasperation, placing a hand on Peter’s shoulder.
“Lord I need a fag.” He muttered.
Peter finally dared to look at him in a small amount of annoyance, but the anger seemed to have dissipated. Susan looked at him too, confused.
“What was that?”
Edmund looked back up quickly. “I asked you if you told Lucy where you were going in such a hurry. I understand that we barely spend time together, the four of us, but Lucy would hate it if you left to spend Christmastime with people you met in America and not with us.”
This seemed to finally have an effect on Susan. Her tense posture started to relax as she thought about her sister.
“Well, all right. I’ll see if I can postpone this trip for another time… when we aren’t celebrating something like this.”
Jill watched as Susan gave Edmund a small grin. It wasn’t much, but for once he had won something against her that took less effort than they had imagined. The look she gave Peter was brief but it seemed to be more pained than could be helped, before she walked out of the kitchen.
When they were sure she was out of earshot, Edmund let his hand fall from Peter’s shoulder and Peter sighed into the chair in front of him. Edmund looked down at him, knowing how he felt. Jill couldn’t help observing (once again) that they both wore similar braces, only Edmund’s was blue and his shirt was neatly tucked in. One of Peter’s straps hung loose and he looked shaken and tired. The night before Jill remembered Susan remarking on how dishevelled Edmund had looked; now he looked like the complete opposite. Peter hid his face into his hands, exasperated.
“You mustn’t be angry with her like that. She can’t help it.” Edmund voiced, crossing his arms.
Peter finally looked up again. “That’s just it Edmund, I think she can.”
A creaking noise caught their attention and they looked up towards the room Jill had been hidden inside. She turned away from the crack in the wall and looked down at her foot pressed against a loose floorboard. Huffing, she stood up and opened the door, revealing herself. No use in acting like a feeble little girl and pretending anymore.
They looked surprised at her sudden appearance. She was almost afraid that they would be angry with her for eavesdropping, but it really was an accident. That’s all she needed to say in the end.
“Jill, what were you doing in there?” Edmund finally asked.
She shrugged. “I was looking for a place to read.”
“Is this your book?” Jill finally turned her attention towards Peter, who held up the book she had left on the table.
Their eyes met and she could see that there was such ferocity in his that she hadn’t noticed before. How could his siblings handle him so well? She gave him a slow nod and just as he handed the book towards her, Lucy and Eustace appeared from outside, having just cleared the sidewalk with her father. Eustace looked tired, which made Jill grin, but Lucy looked ready to rule the world; ready for battle.
“Lu, what are you wearing? Is that mine?” Edmund asked and Jill suddenly noticed Lucy’s attire. She was wearing trousers like the ones Edmund wore, a faded blue that seemed big on her.
She smiled, brushing him off. “Oh really Edmund, you try shovelling snow in a dress.”
--
The week had almost passed with a flurry of cheerful colours and thanksgiving from family members. Susan hadn’t left for America after all, postponing the trip for when the New Year passed.
Peter sat by the hearth the night after Christmas day, a schoolbook on his lap. He had been studying England’s history in royalty for some time now and as he stared down at the newest picture of King Henry VIII, he couldn’t help feeling disdain. It was a feeling that never should enter a King’s mind, but it had been such a long time ago…
He couldn’t imagine how Susan could just forget; how she could just call their lives in Narnia a “game” they played. It sounded awful in his head, Narnia had been his life.
Looking up from the book, Peter observed that Edmund had left the room. He had been playing chess with Lucy earlier, but now she was conversing with Jill. Eustace and Susan were upstairs with their parents. Lucy was still wearing trousers – new ones from a few days ago. These ones seemed to fit her better. Peter couldn’t help smirking at how much Lucy hated her dresses. She was so different from Susan.
As if she could sense it, Lucy suddenly looked up at Peter’s inquisitive eye. He gave her a quick grin and she smiled back brightly.
“Peter, do you know where Edmund went?”
He did not know exactly where his brother went, but he could only assume it was out for a smoke. Peter himself had always found that such a ghastly habit, but as long as Edmund wasn’t doing it indoors he didn’t bother nagging.
Shaking his head, Peter looked back down at his book with a sigh. “No, sorry Lu.”
Edmund obviously hadn’t been gone for long, because he came striding back into the room as if he hadn’t left, taking off one of the few hats he owned.
“There you are Edmund! Is Susan around?”
He looked at Peter, who was observing them all again, before turning back to Lucy.
“No, she’s upstairs.”
“Good… I just wanted to thank you both for convincing her to celebrate Christmas with her family.”
This time Peter and Edmund looked at each other in a mixture of surprise and shock. How had she found out? Peter turned his gaze away from Edmund and caught Jill’s eye. She immediately turned to look at Lucy. That’s how his sister had found out. Apparently his mind had wandered even more than he thought or Peter would have heard their conversation.
“I don’t understand what has gotten into her lately.”
Peter’s gaze pulled away from Jill and he saw that Lucy was looking deflated. She still looked happy but her gaze had ventured downwards. Usually she was so lively, even when she was arguing with Susan.
Without hesitation, Peter put his schoolbook to the side and approached Lucy. He took her hand and surprised her by pulling the younger girl up into a hug. The surprise quickly went away as she returned it. Soon even Edmund was hugging her and neither cared that Jill had turned into the inquisitive one.
--
The Christmas holidays ended with a whole new year and soon everything went back to its regular routine. Susan left for America and came back less than three weeks later just as planned; Eustace and Jill went back to their own homes.
Lucy knew it wouldn’t last for long, the calm before a storm. Soon they would all be fighting again; soon Susan would find more reason to want to travel away from what she once considered her home. Edmund would get back to his smoking, even though he swore he never touched the stuff… Lucy always knew better.
As the three of them, Lucy, Edmund and Peter with identical hats on, walked down towards their schools together, Lucy thought about all of the time that had passed since their first adventure in Narnia. For now she liked the peace they had in England and resolved to wait until the next holiday that would bring them all together again.
It wasn’t a long wait.
End
Original Prompt that we sent you:
What I want: England fic, post!Narnia. My favorite characters are Edmund and Peter, and I love fics that's about sibling dynamic. I want to see that Narnia has had an effect on them, not too angsty, but maybe a bit of a bittersweet grim feeling over it all. I want them to be awesome, of course. Wise, battle-worn, and maybe a bit lost. I love outside POV on the Pevensies as well, so if you want to write Jill's view of the Pevensies then I'd love to see it. (If she has a bit of a crush on Peter, even though he scares her to death, that would be cool to see too.) Edmund smoking is my own fandom favorite, so if you can just put that in there I'd be happy. (Of course if that squicks you, then don't!)
Prompt words/objects/quotes/whatever: I really want to see the boys wear hats. And coats. And suspenders! And Lucy in trousers! (and a hat?), and Susan in some sharp fashion. Words: Dust. War. Wit. Banter. Cigarettes. Smoke. Wine. Melancholy?
What I definitely don't want in my fic: Narnia. (I really want the fic to be set in England.) Death of main characters. Incest. Fluff.
Author:
elenielofnarniaRecipient:
caramelsilverRating: G
Possible Spoilers/Warnings: Spoiler scenes that allude to Last Battle.
Summary: Eustace Scrubb and Jill Pole are visiting the Pevensie family during Christmas break. From within the sibling dynamic and from outside, the distance each of them feel towards Susan becomes more and more obvious.
Christmas With the Pevensies
The air bit into his skin like sharp needles, but Edmund found it refreshing. After spending hours in stuffy classrooms barely allowing students a break, he liked to feel the cool evening air brush up against his skin, remind him that there was an outside world.
It had snowed the night before and the flurries were starting to fall once again. Christmas was approaching, families were getting together, including Eustace and his friend Jill. They had met a few times before but this was the first time Jill Pole was staying with the family for a whole week at the Pevensie household.
Edmund’s mind continued to wander as he leaned his back up against a telephone booth by the school. The cold chilling feeling the snow always brought with it every year reminded him of his time in Narnia, mostly of one particular event before the Golden years started. By now he’s moved past those moments, past the days when he could not stop calling himself a traitor… but every year it snuck up on him as a reminder. Just a small reminder…
The sky was still edging into darkness, light creeping out from some of the clouds as the wind started to pick up and the flurries increased in size and weight. Edmund still didn’t move from his spot, taking a pack of cigarettes out of his coat pocket. He didn’t plan on smoking these at home where Lucy and Susan could criticize his “awful habit”. He had taken to doing it privately after classes.
The cigarette and its smoke warmed him up nicely. It always did. Edmund made sure he didn’t use it so much during warm days in England, but when it was freezing out and a good cigarette was all he needed, it was absolutely perfect.
He was finished just as the sun finally disappeared behind the clouds and the streets were left under a dull grey glow. Edmund popped a mint into his mouth that he knew wouldn’t fool Lucy in the end and greeted Peter as his older brother left the school’s building.
“Lucy won’t be fooled by that mint Ed.”
Edmund feigned confusion. “What mint?”
Peter only grinned as they started walking together. “You never wait for me after classes.”
“Well, it’s bloody cold out.” Edmund rolled his eyes, stuffing his hands in his pockets.
It really had become chillier than before now that the sun was gone. Peter quickly tugged on his knit hat and they both trudged on in silence through the oncoming gloom. Sometimes they preferred the lack of conversation between the two, but Edmund had an odd feeling this time around. Like one of them should be speaking, like they should be prepared for something.
“Is that Jill Pole coming by today? Eustace’s friend?” Edmund finally ventured with a question. Peter didn’t bother turning to look at him.
“Tonight, she might be there by now.”
“Susan will kill us for being late.” Edmund grinned, playfully, but his brother didn’t return the grin.
“I don’t really care what Susan will do to us.”
It had been like this for almost two years now, ever since Susan stopped spending time with her siblings. She was beginning to slip from their grasp, saying things like how Narnia was “just a game they played”. Edmund and Lucy still tried to tell her differently, tried to remind her of their Golden Years, of when they helped Caspian… but she was barely listening anymore, and Peter didn’t even bother trying to help. With Jill staying for the week, Edmund could only assume that things would become even more awkward than they already were.
They arrived home in the same silence as they had when they started and saw that their house was lit up with many lights for the coming holiday. As expected, they had been late in greeting Jill when she arrived. Lucy was upstairs with her to help get Jill settled in the room they were sharing together.
Eustace walked out of their kitchen and surprised Peter with a greeting in the form of a welcoming hug. Edmund smiled at Peter’s expression; they had grown used to Eustace being friendly and welcoming towards the siblings, but sometimes they remembered how he used to make fun of their “stories” of Narnia. Peter definitely remembered, but he returned the hug quickly before he seemed rude.
“Made the trip here well-enough, Eustace?” Peter asked when they were all seated in the kitchen together.
Eustace sat across from them with a grin, but he looked slightly annoyed. “It took a little bit of a while with the weather. We’re not used to it being like this.”
As they conversed Susan made her way into the kitchen and the conversation immediately died down. She was dressed for a night out, brown curls pulled into a low ribbon. She smiled at the silence and made her way towards a cupboard.
“Don’t let my intrusion interrupt your conversation. What were you on about?”
“Nothing, Susan… trivial things like the weather.” Edmund gave her a smile, the only one who had bothered answering. “Eustace and Jill got here just in time.”
Susan nodded, but her attention turned towards Peter. He was looking down at his hands. Even Eustace was trying not to watch him too closely. The two older siblings barely spoke to each other, especially lately. When Edmund and Lucy weren’t worrying about making Susan believe in Narnia again, they were trying to get Peter and Susan to get along. It was usually a lost cause.
She watched her older brother for a small bit before turning away towards the door and grinning down at the two people who had just arrived.
“Lucy, is Jill all settled in?”
--
Jill had met the Pevensies and spent time with them before, but not for as long as this week. She was staying in Lucy’s room, things already taken out and put away into a small drawer.
During outings with Jill’s older sister Maggie and their mother, she had always overheard people telling them how Jill was so quiet and observant; how she always seemed to look like she was lost in thought. At school with Eustace teachers told her family that she was loud and free-spirited. Whenever Jill met with Eustace’s cousins she tried to be a combination of both. Observant and thoughtful but open as well.
After greeting each of them with a smile and spending a good day within their household she had already observed a few things. Edmund and Lucy spent most of their time together, including Eustace and Jill in their day-to-day activities. Sometimes Peter conversed with the younger group, sometimes he spent his time with them, but most of the time he seemed lost in his own world. He worked alone and seemed to have a commanding presence on the household if his father didn’t already.
Susan on the other hand seemed just as lost in her own world, only more-so than Peter. She spoke to Edmund and Lucy, but much of her time was spent outside, going to parties and making friends. Jill assumed she was the only one, besides Eustace, who was confused about these peoples’ names, of the friends Susan always seemed to have, but in the end it didn’t seem like the case.
On the third day within the Pevensie household, when everything had been cleaned and prepared for Christmas during the coming week, Jill found herself in need of a private place to read. Nothing too grand like a library, because the nearest one would be hard to get to through the snow, but just a quiet room that nobody visited.
She eventually found solace in the small un-used room beside the kitchen. They washed clothes and stored junk in that room, but Mrs. Pevensie had finished washing everything the night before.
When Jill had settled into a perfect spot out of sight from anybody in the kitchen, a dreadful truth weighed down on her. She had left the book she was going to read on the kitchen table. Not wanting to remember how her sister sometimes called her forgetful, Jill gave an annoyed sigh and was ready to walk back out to retrieve the book, until she heard a noise. It was loud and it was clearly three people conversing with each other… angrily.
Edmund, Susan and Peter all walked into the kitchen. Edmund looked tired and forlorn, Susan looked annoyed and angry, but wearing a gorgeous green dress that frilled at the ends close to her knees and hugged her waist with one of those belts Jill had seen in magazine-ads. Still, it was Peter that caught Jill’s attention. Through a crack in the wall she could see that he was standing with clenched fists, his eyes set on their sister, clothes forgotten from her memory.
“I don’t see why you two are so angry with me. I barely remember last year’s Christmas, I would just be a burden here.” Susan started, not looking him in the eye.
“Christmas is only in a few days. Have mum and dad heard about this… excursion?” Edmund asked, trying to remain the calm one of the three.
“It’s only two weeks in America. I told you about the people we met two years ago when you were with Eustace and Peter was with that professor—”
“Kirke. He was Professor Kirke Susan.” Peter finally put in, the anger evident in his voice. “How could you forget his name? How could you be forgetting so much?”
She sighed, a soft flush coming to her cheeks as she tried to find something in her purse. “Are we starting that again? This is getting ridiculous Peter. It was a game.”
“It was not a game!”
He hadn’t meant to shout, at least Jill hoped so. She watched him, not daring to blink at his shaking figure. Eustace had mentioned something about not bringing up Narnia to Susan, at least now she knew why. Jill could only assume that this was what Peter and Susan were talking—yelling about.
Susan finally looked up at him and a battle of wills seemed to take place between the two. Poor Edmund seemed to be in the middle of it. He sighed in exasperation, placing a hand on Peter’s shoulder.
“Lord I need a fag.” He muttered.
Peter finally dared to look at him in a small amount of annoyance, but the anger seemed to have dissipated. Susan looked at him too, confused.
“What was that?”
Edmund looked back up quickly. “I asked you if you told Lucy where you were going in such a hurry. I understand that we barely spend time together, the four of us, but Lucy would hate it if you left to spend Christmastime with people you met in America and not with us.”
This seemed to finally have an effect on Susan. Her tense posture started to relax as she thought about her sister.
“Well, all right. I’ll see if I can postpone this trip for another time… when we aren’t celebrating something like this.”
Jill watched as Susan gave Edmund a small grin. It wasn’t much, but for once he had won something against her that took less effort than they had imagined. The look she gave Peter was brief but it seemed to be more pained than could be helped, before she walked out of the kitchen.
When they were sure she was out of earshot, Edmund let his hand fall from Peter’s shoulder and Peter sighed into the chair in front of him. Edmund looked down at him, knowing how he felt. Jill couldn’t help observing (once again) that they both wore similar braces, only Edmund’s was blue and his shirt was neatly tucked in. One of Peter’s straps hung loose and he looked shaken and tired. The night before Jill remembered Susan remarking on how dishevelled Edmund had looked; now he looked like the complete opposite. Peter hid his face into his hands, exasperated.
“You mustn’t be angry with her like that. She can’t help it.” Edmund voiced, crossing his arms.
Peter finally looked up again. “That’s just it Edmund, I think she can.”
A creaking noise caught their attention and they looked up towards the room Jill had been hidden inside. She turned away from the crack in the wall and looked down at her foot pressed against a loose floorboard. Huffing, she stood up and opened the door, revealing herself. No use in acting like a feeble little girl and pretending anymore.
They looked surprised at her sudden appearance. She was almost afraid that they would be angry with her for eavesdropping, but it really was an accident. That’s all she needed to say in the end.
“Jill, what were you doing in there?” Edmund finally asked.
She shrugged. “I was looking for a place to read.”
“Is this your book?” Jill finally turned her attention towards Peter, who held up the book she had left on the table.
Their eyes met and she could see that there was such ferocity in his that she hadn’t noticed before. How could his siblings handle him so well? She gave him a slow nod and just as he handed the book towards her, Lucy and Eustace appeared from outside, having just cleared the sidewalk with her father. Eustace looked tired, which made Jill grin, but Lucy looked ready to rule the world; ready for battle.
“Lu, what are you wearing? Is that mine?” Edmund asked and Jill suddenly noticed Lucy’s attire. She was wearing trousers like the ones Edmund wore, a faded blue that seemed big on her.
She smiled, brushing him off. “Oh really Edmund, you try shovelling snow in a dress.”
--
The week had almost passed with a flurry of cheerful colours and thanksgiving from family members. Susan hadn’t left for America after all, postponing the trip for when the New Year passed.
Peter sat by the hearth the night after Christmas day, a schoolbook on his lap. He had been studying England’s history in royalty for some time now and as he stared down at the newest picture of King Henry VIII, he couldn’t help feeling disdain. It was a feeling that never should enter a King’s mind, but it had been such a long time ago…
He couldn’t imagine how Susan could just forget; how she could just call their lives in Narnia a “game” they played. It sounded awful in his head, Narnia had been his life.
Looking up from the book, Peter observed that Edmund had left the room. He had been playing chess with Lucy earlier, but now she was conversing with Jill. Eustace and Susan were upstairs with their parents. Lucy was still wearing trousers – new ones from a few days ago. These ones seemed to fit her better. Peter couldn’t help smirking at how much Lucy hated her dresses. She was so different from Susan.
As if she could sense it, Lucy suddenly looked up at Peter’s inquisitive eye. He gave her a quick grin and she smiled back brightly.
“Peter, do you know where Edmund went?”
He did not know exactly where his brother went, but he could only assume it was out for a smoke. Peter himself had always found that such a ghastly habit, but as long as Edmund wasn’t doing it indoors he didn’t bother nagging.
Shaking his head, Peter looked back down at his book with a sigh. “No, sorry Lu.”
Edmund obviously hadn’t been gone for long, because he came striding back into the room as if he hadn’t left, taking off one of the few hats he owned.
“There you are Edmund! Is Susan around?”
He looked at Peter, who was observing them all again, before turning back to Lucy.
“No, she’s upstairs.”
“Good… I just wanted to thank you both for convincing her to celebrate Christmas with her family.”
This time Peter and Edmund looked at each other in a mixture of surprise and shock. How had she found out? Peter turned his gaze away from Edmund and caught Jill’s eye. She immediately turned to look at Lucy. That’s how his sister had found out. Apparently his mind had wandered even more than he thought or Peter would have heard their conversation.
“I don’t understand what has gotten into her lately.”
Peter’s gaze pulled away from Jill and he saw that Lucy was looking deflated. She still looked happy but her gaze had ventured downwards. Usually she was so lively, even when she was arguing with Susan.
Without hesitation, Peter put his schoolbook to the side and approached Lucy. He took her hand and surprised her by pulling the younger girl up into a hug. The surprise quickly went away as she returned it. Soon even Edmund was hugging her and neither cared that Jill had turned into the inquisitive one.
--
The Christmas holidays ended with a whole new year and soon everything went back to its regular routine. Susan left for America and came back less than three weeks later just as planned; Eustace and Jill went back to their own homes.
Lucy knew it wouldn’t last for long, the calm before a storm. Soon they would all be fighting again; soon Susan would find more reason to want to travel away from what she once considered her home. Edmund would get back to his smoking, even though he swore he never touched the stuff… Lucy always knew better.
As the three of them, Lucy, Edmund and Peter with identical hats on, walked down towards their schools together, Lucy thought about all of the time that had passed since their first adventure in Narnia. For now she liked the peace they had in England and resolved to wait until the next holiday that would bring them all together again.
It wasn’t a long wait.
End
Original Prompt that we sent you:
What I want: England fic, post!Narnia. My favorite characters are Edmund and Peter, and I love fics that's about sibling dynamic. I want to see that Narnia has had an effect on them, not too angsty, but maybe a bit of a bittersweet grim feeling over it all. I want them to be awesome, of course. Wise, battle-worn, and maybe a bit lost. I love outside POV on the Pevensies as well, so if you want to write Jill's view of the Pevensies then I'd love to see it. (If she has a bit of a crush on Peter, even though he scares her to death, that would be cool to see too.) Edmund smoking is my own fandom favorite, so if you can just put that in there I'd be happy. (Of course if that squicks you, then don't!)
Prompt words/objects/quotes/whatever: I really want to see the boys wear hats. And coats. And suspenders! And Lucy in trousers! (and a hat?), and Susan in some sharp fashion. Words: Dust. War. Wit. Banter. Cigarettes. Smoke. Wine. Melancholy?
What I definitely don't want in my fic: Narnia. (I really want the fic to be set in England.) Death of main characters. Incest. Fluff.
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(no subject)
Date: 2011-08-09 11:46 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2011-08-10 01:58 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2011-08-10 02:03 am (UTC)I liked the way Peter found Eustace's change a bit of a surprise, but he handled it well anyway.
(no subject)
Date: 2011-08-10 02:11 am (UTC)I also like Jill's thoughts on the way people describe her differently depending on who she's with, and trying to pick the personality to inhabit while visiting the Pevensies.
(no subject)
Date: 2011-08-10 12:53 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2011-08-10 05:50 pm (UTC)It's a nice way, here, how you show the slow disinteragation of the family. It's sad. But it's really well done.
(no subject)
Date: 2011-08-10 10:07 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2011-08-11 02:25 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2011-08-13 02:19 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2011-08-14 03:16 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2011-08-17 12:29 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2011-08-27 08:55 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2011-09-07 09:52 pm (UTC)I love, love, love the fact that you added all my small clothing details! Down to the braces! THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR THAT! It paints such a lovely picture and I love it when fics leaves pictures in my mind! The kitchen scene especially stands out in my mind, because I can see it so clearly, with Jill peaking through the door and everything. I love the way you've written Jill. My favourite part was when she came out of the room, because there was no use in pretending that she wasn't there. That was so very... brave, I'd say, and very Jill. Nicely done.
And Edmund smoking! THANK YOU FOR THAT! I know I'm very peculiar for wanting that, but... It's my thing, and I like it ;)
AGAIN THANK YOU SO MUCH. THIS IS BRILLIANT AND I LOVE IT! &hearts &hearts &hearts
(no subject)
Date: 2011-10-12 12:25 am (UTC)