mnt_raph | (no subject)

(no subject)

*Raph sits on his newly expanded and re-comfortized bed. Seems someone was amused by the prank and decided to ease up a bit. Or maybe, they're just comforting him before battle. Who knows? Anyway, the bed is covered in lists and drawings of pranks to come, but Raph isn't paying any attention to them at all. Instead he's holding a pristine edition of the Death: The High Cost of Living graphic novel.

He hasn't cracked the spine yet...it feels too much like cheating somehow.*

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*His eyes have closed from the attention, only opening when she asks him the question. Well, at first they're open...then they're open so wide his eyes could just fall out of his skull at any minute.*

Uh...I ...I can explain.

She tilts her head to look at him, a half-smile on her lips.

"Sweetie, I'm not mad. Just curious. Silly."

*He buries his face in the nape of her neck*

yeah...me too. can't read it though.

Her hand is still in his hair, gentle and strong and comforting.

"Why not?"

*he sounds far away...could be that he's distracted*

seemed like cheatin'.

"Not cheating if I'm here."

okay...point.
storytime?

She smiles, pushes some of the papers out of the way, and pats the bed next to her.

"If you like."

*Reluctantly, he follows. Sometimes you're just better off not knowing, and Raph feels that this is one of those times.*

You seen this?

"Not yet."

She opens the book...

...and stiffens just a little. Someone else might not notice it, but he's not someone else.

*he knows the look and the expression, it's the same one he had the day he saw it on the shelf in the store. Unsure of what to do, he gently gives her a reassuring shoulder check...it's more of a bump really.*

She cuts her eyes sideways to grin a little at him. It's lopsided, yes, but it's a little weak.

She leans against him and starts in on the story, starting with Mad Hettie under the bride in London...

*He leans back, sweeps the rest of the stuff off the bed, and then curls around her slightly so that he's reading over her shoulder. Is it more for his comfort? Or for hers? The world may never know.*

And then it's Sexton. And Billy. And the garbage dump, and helping Sexton out from underneath the refrigerator.

...Death remembers breathing.

She leans a little bit closer to Raph.

*It doesn't hit him at first...seeing Death flesh toned instead of the normal bone white. Raph knows there's something odd about the picture, but maybe...it's her hair? No, that can't be it at all. Wait...did she just introduce herself as Didi?

He wraps an arm around her*

And then there's Mrs. Robbins and apples. And the apartment where she fixes Sexton's jeans for him. And Slim and Wandsworth. She laughs a little when Sexton slams the door and stalks down the stairs...

She's even doing voices by this point.

*He raises an eyebrow when she starts reading, and silently chuckles when the voices start. Not to be outdone by this lovely companion, Raph takes the roll of soundeffects.*

And Mad Hettie, looking for her heart and threatening Sexton with a broken glass bottle. Then there's a hot dog. A perfectly peachy keen hot dog. And hailing taxis.

...and then comes Theo and the blind man.

*Raph listens as Death narrates the conversation between Sexton and Didi.

Didi: Sexton, is the chemical aftertaste the reason why people eat hot dogs? Or is it some kind of a bonus?

Sexton: look, let's get a few things straight. If I'm going around with you, it's not because I like you or anything. Or because I'm scared of that crazy woman you left in your apartment. It's because I don't have anything else to do tonight and there's no point in going home until dawn. You got that?

Didi: You want the rest of my hot dog? I'm not sure that I can finish it.

Sexton: Look, I don't like you, okay?

Didi: No reason to turn down a perfectly peachy keen half-a-hot dog.

Death: So, where do you think we're going to find a really good party, then?*

So wait a sec. Did you...er...Didi really just shang-hi this kid for?

"Yep. For a given value of shanghai."

There's a slight rustle from the pages, though she hasn't turned any of them. It's as soft as a baby's breath, but it's there.

Her hands are shaking just that much.

Heh, true enough. I mean, he he really didn' like her he coulda just bolted...

*He smiles when he hears the pages turn, and is just about to make a smart alec remark about how it's cheating to skp ahead, when his eyes scan down to see the pages haven't been flipped at all...and the book is not stable in her hands.

*Raph, who up until now was propped up on an elbow, sits up completely. One arm goes around her, the other rests on the book itself.*

we don't have to do this.

She leans back against him and sighs. The book sinks to the bed, her hands still on it.

"I want you to know..."

it ain't worth it if it's gonna make you upset.

"Will you read it, though? Please?"

*he nods*
yeah...promise.

*After sliding the book out from under her hands, he closes it and lets it drop slowly to the floor.*

but not right now.

*Raph tightens his hold around her, slowly moving her from where she sits on the bed onto his lap. He doesn't say anything. And aside from a tender kiss he places on her temple, he doesn't try anything. He just holds her.*