She's my baby - closed to Connie Murphy

[b_for_bastard]

Riddick closed the library up for Saturday. Days getting shorter, now, the dark coming early; he liked that. He checked the door twice as it closed, frowning

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[lt_murphy]

Murphy was indeed at the PI office, drinking coffee as she scowled over some reports. She just happened to be on the porch. Nothing and no one was going to make her stay indoors on a gorgeous autumn day like today.

[b_for_bastard]

Honey saw her and wagged. Riddick saw her and smiled, warm and with his whole face. Same instinctual response.

"It's getting dark, lady. You sure you want to be out here?" he said, strolling closer. "I here there's some shady people come out after dark."

[lt_murphy]

"Horrors," Murphy said, her face lighting up with a smile. "That would be a shame. I don't know I'd stand it.

She made her way down the porch steps. "I know you're not starving," she mock-scolded Honey, petting him. "But I wish I had a treat for you."

Then she walked over to Riddick and gave him a fierce hug. "And hello, tall, dark and shady person. Haven't seen much of you lately. How are you?"

[b_for_bastard]

"Survivin'." Riddick took fate-- and his girlfriend-- in his hands, lifting the woman up off the ground, hooking one arm under her legs, and heading toward the porch to sit down with her.

Nope, he didn't ask. Yep, there was a fifty-fifty chance he'd get an elbow in the face for it. Damn, he loved Connie.

Honey followed, still wagging from the petting. The word 'treat' was lodged inside his brain and fired a few neurons. "More pain-in-the-ass new people. Not enough of you."

[lt_murphy]

Murphy feinted a sharp elbow jab toward Richard's face, but she couldn't help laughing. Any other guy in the world--well, the multiverse--who picked her up would get a jab toward the solar plexus and a right to the jaw. But Richard was the exception that proved all rules.

"Surviving is good," she said, grinning. "I'm in favor of surviving. Especially if there's more you around. And I haven't met any new people for a while. How are they being pains in the ass?"

[b_for_bastard]

He rocked his head back, an exaggerated motion as if he'd taken the hit. Together, they settled on the porch, Riddick's arms wrapped up around her. Honey flumped against them both, his big head and shoulder pushing against Riddick's side.

"This Deschain kid is new. Demonbreed. Overpower, under-common-sense, under-controlled, underfoot. Someone's gonna get hurt if he doesn't stop whining and start dealing with himself." He sighed. "Love that, don't you? ...but seriously, little thin kid, turns into a spider, avoid him."

[lt_murphy]

"Haven't run into the Deschain kid. Mercifully." Murphy was a Catholic and a cop, and therefore opposed to demons twice over. "And oh, great, someone with too much power and too little control. That's gonna go over so well.

"And he's a were-spider? Seriously?" She grimaced. "Yeah, I'll be avoiding him. Not a fan of bugs. Especially not big bugs. Maybe I'll pick up some insecticide at the general store, too. So what kinda powers does Spiderboy have?"

Not that she'd run into any demons back in Chicago--at least not yet--but all the stories about them said that "powers" covered a wide range.

[b_for_bastard]

"Reads minds," Riddick said darkly. It went deep with him, that aversion to people getting in his head. Old memories, a racial instinct. "Yeah, I'm so thrilled, ain't you?"

But it'd be handled, and at least when he'd lost his chain he'd hurt someone who could take it. This time. Riddick put his head against Connie's curly main of hair and breathed in; her scent relaxed him, made him feel safe.

[lt_murphy]

Murphy scowled, remembering the serial killer Gus Boone--the body-switcher that Harry had gotten rid off. That had caused all kinds of damage, at least in part because Harry hadn't told her at once what had happened. For a long time, she'd thought that her dreams and flashbacks of the mental invasion had been symptoms of a nervous breakdown rather than actual memories.

"Yeah, not a fan of people who can and do invade other people's minds. That's not right. If you can control it and you ask permission...well, still not going to like it. But it's better than reading everyone's mind whether they want their minds read or not. That's just...psychic rape."

She snuggled closer to Richard, inhaled his scent as well, and gave a relaxed sigh. "Thanks for the warning."

[b_for_bastard]

"He ain't anything Bob couldn't handle, shit hits the fan," was Riddick's assessment; that was why he didn't run. He had family who could protect each other. He was safer in this village than he'd ever been since the day he was abandoned in a liquor store dumpster. And not just him-- the people he wanted safe, too.

"How you been?"

[lt_murphy]

"Bob can handle anything." In Murphy's opinion, Bob was more than a match for everything in the multiverse. Including gods. "And will, if he thinks the were-spider's a danger.

"And I've been good. Busy. People are still a bit unsettled by what happened when the Master invited all the monsters in. Doing a lot of checking and reassuring at the moment. How's the library?"

[b_for_bastard]

"Quiet. Big non-human looking guy's been coming in, doing research, but he's polite and good with the books." And that was all that Riddick needed to know. "Faramir's doin' better. Still ain't the same without Bennet around, though."

[lt_murphy]

"Bad guys aren't generally polite," Murphy observed. "Though of course there are exceptions. Glad he's good with the books. What's his name? And I'm glad Faramir's better, too.

"How's Bennet's daughter handling his death? She doing okay?"

[b_for_bastard]

"Hellboy, would you believe? It's even in the village computer." There was another name attached to the account, but if you tried to access it it fucked up the database and shut down the computer.

"Dunno. Don't know her, the daughter. Think she works at the bakery. Ain't been leaning up against walls and sighing all over town, so I guess she's dealing."

[lt_murphy]

"Hellboy? Seriously? Whoever named him must have been either incredibly cruel or incredibly obvious.

"...did you ever see anyone that DID lean up against walls and sigh all over town?" She hadn't run into anyone like that, but maybe Richard had. He'd been here longer.

[b_for_bastard]

"I dunno. Could be an affectionate thing. He's got the banter. ...and I've met the ones who're all trying to put their drama in your face, yeah. The lady who runs the magic school... me and her, we ain't friends."