[OOM: In dreams.]

[mnt_raph]

INT. TENT THAT DREAMS OF BEING A STUDIO APARTMENT
The scene opens on the interior of Raph's tent as it exists at present, the scene is a desolate one. The camera pans through the space, starting with the front door flap and moving counter-clockwise through the space. As it travels through the living room/sitting area there is a brief pause to take in the one shred of magic still left on the roof: the Raph-shaped clean spot that claims the left-most cushion of the couch. The tour continues over the breakfast bar and through the galley kitchen, before coming to a halt on the remnants of what was once a bed.

Suddenly the alarm clock on the bedside table sputters to life, and the moonlight which bathes the room is augmented by the blue blinking display. The camera pivots to take in the face of the clock which blinks the time: 1:22 am. When it pans back to the bed proper, the bed is not only whole but currently occupied as well. A shirtless Human RAPHAEL lays on his back, his eyes closed.

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[mnt_raph]

"By all means."

Only Raph doesn't move. Instead he tosses the bait at her. The sooner he's rid of the creepy crawly, the happier he is.

[3rdtimelucky.livejournal.com]

Without really looking, Goldy lifts a hand and snatches the creature from the air.

"Okay. Watch and learn."

She takes the wriggly invertebrate by both ends and pulls it tight. There's a comical twang sound effect as it straightens and becomes completely rigid along its length. Then, looking extra smug now, Goldy pulls a glistening hook from the brim of her hat and pierces it through one end of the beast. Her precision is almost surgical.

The bait goes limp once the procedure is finished, and it is already contorting and twisting again as she tosses it back to the turtle.

"There. Just right. Tie it on now, and you're golden."

[mnt_raph]

Raph pulls a face, mugging to the non-existent fourth-wall. It's not clear what he's more unhappy about: the fact that he now has to handle the creepy-crawly, or that Goldy has once again shown him up.

"You'd think that like, fish'd have better taste than this. Stupid fish."

Tying on worms isn't easy when you're trying ever so hard to keep from touching it.

[3rdtimelucky.livejournal.com]

Goldy watches, all kinds of amused at his squeamishness.

She's not the only one having a laugh at his expense. Snickers also drift out of the trees from a host of spectating woodland creatures, invisible in the shadows, but for their blinking eyes.

"Quit your bitching. This is supposed to be relaxing."

[mnt_raph]

That's easy for her to say, my neck is killing me says the worm in its very own high-pitched voice.

Raph screams, and drops the worm and hook combo into the water.

[3rdtimelucky.livejournal.com]

Goldy looks askance at the turtle.

"Shit Raph, chill out. You act like you've never heard an animal talk before. Which is pretty ridiculous, coming from a talking turtle."

[mnt_raph]

"chill out....Chill Out...CHILL OUT?!?!?! YOU JUST PUT A HOOK THROUGH IT!"

There appears to be no end to his flailing.

[3rdtimelucky.livejournal.com]

"So? It's just a worm."

She sighs and eyerolls.

[mnt_raph]

"...JUST A WORM?! Nothin's JUST anythin' when it talks!"

Says just the turtle.

[3rdtimelucky.livejournal.com]

"My sensibilities don't kick in unless they have a spine."

Neeble might take issue with that sentiment, but she'd quickly assert an exception for the MiB nightcrawlers due to their arms and legs... and personalities.

"On this showing, you're only just scraping a passing grade," she snerks.

[mnt_raph]

And with that the plight of the worm is forgotten. Raph's eyes narrow, and he glares at Goldy.

"Bite me."

[3rdtimelucky.livejournal.com]

Something takes Raph's advice, but it's not Goldy.

She's about to fire a suitably snarky comment back at him when her float dunks under sharply, twitching the line that's attached to her toe. That causes her attention to shift hastily to the water.

"Ooh!"

She snaps her leg up, hopefully striking the hook into whatever mouth is around the bait.

[mnt_raph]

"Eh? What you got somethin'?"

Raph shifts, attempting to peer into the water.

[3rdtimelucky.livejournal.com]

The tension doesn't let up on the line after her knee jerk. In fact, it seems to increase.

"Yes!" she cries gleefully as she reaches to reel it in.

"Something big too!"

[mnt_raph]

The reeling is slow going, as what ever it is doesn't appear to want to go quietly.

"I bet it's just like, a tire or something."

Raph gives up attempting to view through the gloom of the water, and slumps back. As he yawns and stretches in the summer sun, a dragonfly alights on his hand.

"Pretty bug."

[3rdtimelucky.livejournal.com]

The reeling is very slow going. Goldy's actually got a bit of a fight on her hands. She's standing up now and determinedly straining against the play of the creature on the other end of the line.

"Pretty lively for a tire," she gasps.

She won't be requesting help though. No way, José.

[mnt_raph]

"Maybe it's that Just A Worm lookin' to repay you for that hook thing."

Raph chuckles to himself as he watches the dragonfly zip dart back up into the air and zip away.

[3rdtimelucky.livejournal.com]

There's no witty reply from the Fable this time.

Just an "...erk!"

That's because she's just been violently yanked off the grassy bank. There's a resounding KA-SPLOOOSH! as she hits the water and submerges, still being dragged by whatever she hooked.

Maybe next time she won't wind the line around her thumb and elbow when she reels in?

[mnt_raph]

He can't help it, he's an asshole. And what do assholes do when their fishing buddies get dragged under water by a fish that just won't land?

They laugh.
And they laugh hard.

Raph clutches his plastron as wave after wave of laughter overtakes him. Somehow he finds it in him to roll to his side so he has the best vantage point when she surfaces.

But she doesn't surface.

Soon Raph begins to realize that the only sound by the water is his own laughter, for even the river has gone still and quiet.

His stomach sinks.

"goldy?"

[3rdtimelucky.livejournal.com]

This is usually the point in any good fake drowning prank, when the person under the water comes exploding back out, soaking the concerned shore party and laughing right back in their face...





It doesn't happen though.

The river remains placid, its surface undisturbed by even the smallest air bubble.

[mnt_raph]

"goldy? Goldy?! GOLDY!"

He leans over the water's edge, attempting to peer through the murky depths for any sign of life. Nothing. He sees nothing but his own faint reflection.

"GOLDY!"

He yells one final time before diving into the water towards the place she went under.

[3rdtimelucky.livejournal.com]

A shoal of minnows scatter as the turtle breaches the tranquil waters, scales glinting in the sun like a thousand tiny mirrors.

There's no Fable to be found beneath the river's surface. Just rocks, rotten branches, silt and an occasional clump of weeds, their fronds wafting in the lethargic current.

[mnt_raph]

But...she has to be down here. He saw her get pulled under. Raph looks up in an attempt to make sure he's in the right spot. He is. This...this isn't right. Something isn't right.

Maybe...maybe she was swept downstream. Yes, that's it. Downstream. She's out of the water already. She's sitting on the shore just waiting for him to surface.

And so he does, expecting to hear her laughing over sound of the rushing water.

[comm-npc.livejournal.com]

Sadly for Raph, there's no pretty girl sunning herself on the bank, awaiting her chance to mock him.

As he scans the shoreline though, the water starts to roil and churn behind him. And out of it erupts a hideous creature, very far removed from the foxy blonde who vanished beneath it. It's a slimey muscle-bound hulk, with a formless face, a cruel looking sucker where its mouth should be, and six empty black eyes, all of which are fixed on Raph.

"Mmmm, turtle," it growls, "After juicy human, Bloodsucker is now hungry for turtle. Make nice dessert."

The turtle in question might recognize this monster as a certain mutant leech that was once borne out of his own blood.

[mnt_raph]

Raph doesn't scream. He can't. Memories that he has fought long and hard to keep back begin to overtake him.

It started with a joke and ended in blood. Day after day he lost just that much more of himself: his training, his mobility, his voice, until finally all he had left was the sheer will to survive.

"No no no no. No you can't have me back. I won't go back. You...you keep away from me!"

His hands are up. He's ready to defend...he hopes.

The spot by the river, where Goldy once sat, is now the resting place for a tiny worm-sized set of bleachers. The remaining bait has assembled to cheer on Bloodsucker. They hold signs aloft which proclaim their support: LET HIM HAVE IT! and SHOW HIM WHAT FOR!