Pepper lack certain feminine traits, this is a fact just about everybody knows. Though being raised by a gritty male college student along with all his other manly friends surrounding her 24/7, you really can't blame her for being the way she is. Even if she would never like to admit it, she has always been a tomboy.

She's always the one snorting the loudest, eating the messiest and looking the dirtiest by the end of the day and she also isn't aware of a lot of other ladies who would rather spend their time playing pranks and messing around with other people other than gashing over a couple of boys.

Though as rough as they may be on her, she knows her friends are only trying to help. Them all being very lady like themselves. She had no problem fitting in with them, not at all. In fact there was nothing she enjoyed more than spending some quality time with her girlfriends, but it has happened quite often that one of their conversations have drifted off on to other more feminine topics like Blythe's latest pet fashion designs and recent guys that have visited their little day camp which would always break in to a fit of giggles, leaving Pepper sitting by herself with a swollen lip and a bored facial expression. She felt excluded once this happens, not really finding any of the other girl's interests very… interesting. She knew very well they didn't mean pushing her aside like that, they've tried including their grey friend in their glee filled conversations, but they get so carried away that she always end up feeling like a cat in a milk cellar.

It wasn't so bad, at least it wasn't like she had no one to turn to in her dire situation. She had a very close friend who would never dream of changing her and meeting up with each other every time the girls start their little girl talk has become a regular thing for the two. She remember the first time they did it, her friends bursting out in to their usual fit of gleeful giggles about some new Hollywood sensation and her in her usual state of boredom. Upon deciding that she had finally heard enough about Justin Beaver's hair, she silently slipped away from the girl's conversation and went off to go do her own activities, feeling hurt that her friends didn't even notice her leaving.

She sat at the back of the shop holding her rubber chicken as closely as possible trying her best not to show her disappointment, but the foul smell emitting from her tail didn't make it very easy for her. She sighed and started fidgeting with the soft rubbery beak of her toy, her emotions couldn't be helped.

"Um, Pepper, is there something wrong?"

The thick accent pierced her ears and she looked up out of sudden fright, not expecting this voice to interrupt her thinking proses. She found herself staring in to a pair of golden sympathetic eyes.

"Sunil? What makes you think something's wrong?"

"Well Vinnie made me come over here to ask you if you are the cause of this horrible smell, but then I noticed you looked a bit under the weather. Did something happen?"

Pepper looked up at him before looking back down at the rubber chicken now embraced in her arms.

"No, nothing happened. Well nothing out of the usual norm. It's just I love the girls and all, but I don't really feel like I fit in to their conversations very well. I always feel left out because our interests are different and even though they try to get me involved I still feel pushed away."

Sunil looked at her sympathetically before grabbing his tail in his usual nervous state. He looked down at his feet kicking the ground a bit before looking back up at her.

"I know exactly how you feel."

Pepper raised her brow.

"You do?"

"Pepper, can I ask you a question?" He walked up beside her and pressed his back firmly against the wall sinking his entire body on to the floor so that he was sitting right next to her.

"Um, sure, Sunil. Fire away."

"What is the one thing I love doing? The one thing I dedicated my life to?"

"That's easy, it's magic." Pepper tilted her head with an odd smile on her face. Completely taken back by the change of topic and obvious questions.

"Ok and what can you tell me about it?"

"Yah just flick your little stick in the air and things happen. Just gotta make sure you don't flick the wrong stick, if you know what I mean!" Pepper started snickering at her own joke. Dirty humour truly was the best kind of humour to her.

Pepper wiped away a tear in her eye as she tried to calm herself down.

"Ah classic. Sunil?" She saw her friend sitting with his head just as heavy as his frown. He sighed deeply, not looking away from the ground.

Pepper felt awkward. Did she go too far with her joke? She knew not everybody was a fan of dirty jokes, but she thought this one was quite funny. Maybe he didn't find it funny? She wasn't losing her touch was she?

"Sunil? Are you ok there buddy?" She tried, placing her hand on his shoulder.

"You know if it's about the joke I wasn't trying to be rude. I'm not saying you should fling anything, but you can if you really want to I mean it's not like we wear clothes anyway, so the opportunity is there if yah really wanna take it. I mean I'-"

"Pepper!"

"What?"

"I'm not upset because of the joke."

"Then what got you so upset all of a sudden?"

"I'm upset because nobody takes my magic seriously. Everybody thinks you just wave something in the air and say a couple of words and things happen. But that's not what being a magician's all about! Well to me it isn't. Nobody takes any of it seriously." Sunil buried his face in his arms his ears drooping from the side.

Pepper looked at him and she felt her smile fading away.

"Wow Sunil, I'm really sorry. I had no idea you felt that way. I mean, I feel like that every day. Nobody takes my comedy seriously either. To them it's just like telling a joke, but it takes a lot of time writing those jokes and coming up with new and fresh stuff. But the others don't get it. I'm probably just one big joke to them."

She heard Sunil chuckle lightly from his arms which made pepper feel a bit better. At least Sunil will always find her jokes amusing.

Pepper looked down at her rubber chicken still embraced in her hands. She squeezed it a few times as she was concentrating on her thoughts. Finally she smiled as an idea ran through her head.

"Well how about we tell each other about our interests?"

Sunil lifted his head from his arms and looked at her.

"What?"

"You know, like you tell me about your magic and I tell you about my comedy."

"You mean you actually want to listen to me talking about magic?"
"Well yeah, I'd love learning more about it and what better person to learn it from than an actual real life magician! Um, do you mind listening to me talk about being a comedian?"

"Not at all! You know I love your jokes, it would be a very interesting conversation."

"Then it's a deal Mr Nevla, we meet back here every day!"

Pepper took a hold of Sunil's hand and shook it as if closing a deal while Sunil tried his best to shake the blush off of his cheeks.

Just then they both heard the raspy yell of a reptilian calling out to them from the other side of the room.

"Yo, Sunil! You planning on coming back, or what?"

Sunil rolled his eyes and got up on his feet. He turned to Pepper and sheepishly placed his one paw behind his head.

"So…same time and place tomorrow?"

"Yup! Really looking forward to it!"

He chuckled softly the nervous grin on his face growing.

"Sunil!"

"Oh for God's sake hold on to your tail, man! I'll be there in a second!"

Sunil turned around, but quickly turned back giving a quiet 'bye' before dashing off and making his way back to Vinnie.

Pepper waved a paw back at him before getting up and heading off to her own direction. Perhaps she'll try her luck again at the girls.

Okay! So that was just the first chapter. Wasn't planning on dividing this story in to two chapters, but then again I never really actually do what I plan .A. I'll upload the second chapter as soon as possible. Please tell me what you think so far and don't be afraid to point out any errors.

Rather short I know, but I can assure you the second chapter will be a bit longer.