Let's go to the movies.

[ajrimmer_ssc]

WHO: Rimmer and Raven.
WHERE: Stark Tower at first, then a movie theater.
WHEN: Evening 10/5/09.
WARNINGS: Nah.
SUMMARY: Rimmer's in his happy place, so to celebrate he's taking Raven to the movies. Yeah. That's his idea of a celebration.
FORMAT: Whateva.

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[darkprophecies]

Raven was still in business mode as she quickly made her way out of her place of work - it usually called for her to be proper with her words, as good of a personal assistant as she could manage to be. She barely watched where she was going, one high-heeled step in front of the other, navigating based on the emotions of people around her alone.

Her eyes were focused hard on the cellphone in her hand, thumb going a mile a minute as she worked at inputting data, replying to texts, anything to wrap up her day and get that last thing in. She was becoming more like Tony every day, it seemed.

However, in her peripheral vision, she saw the car approaching, and quickly went to send one more message out before tucking the cellphone into her bag.

[darkprophecies]

"I've died many times, to be honest, and it never gets any easier..."

Raven held on until right when he would have to pull away to drive, and did even that slowly. Whenever someone hesitated like that, her natural reaction was to provide whatever comfort they needed - especially dear friends like Arnold. But, he needed both hands to drive properly.
She set her hand in her lap instead.

"I am curious though - on a scale of one to ten, how devastated will you be if you're returned back to your previous state?"

[ajrimmer_ssc]

"...Actually, now that I think on it, I've died twice. So, twice is enough. How ridiculous is it, that we can speak of dying multiple times? It's supposed to be the final frontier, as it were, not the penultimate frontier."

He regretted the necessity that he had to have both hands free to drive, but accepted it as gracefully as he could. But when she asked that question, he tensed slightly, blowing a puff of air out through his lips.

"Hm. Eleven?" He sighed and shook his head. "I know, I know. I know it won't last. These little tricks the 'Porter plays never do. I'm just going to pretend it will, though."

[darkprophecies]

She sighs a bit through her nose, shaking her head. "It's ridiculous really, that this is even an issue. There are times that I wonder if things would have been better off if I were left in my deceased state. Alot of things would be different, that's for sure."

And that would be as morbid she would get for the rest of the night.

"... you know that I'll be here for you when that moment comes, correct?"

[ajrimmer_ssc]

As they slid to a stop at a red light, he reached back over and took her hand again. And the look on his face was very serious.

"All right, that's one thing coming from me, but absolutely obscene coming from you. Don't you dare ever say that again. Understood?"

Consider that your flick to the forehead, Raven. Then he let go of her hand to continue the drive.

"You better be. I'll probably have a massive nervous breakdown when it does. But then again, I seem to have those once a month around here, so I'm sure you're used to it by now, correct?"

[darkprophecies]

Her blue eyes held his until the light changed, but all she did was smile in answer to that. Nothing he could say would ever make her change her mind about that fact - too many had died or suffered because of her existence at this point. If it had been over and done with the first time around, their lives could have been spared. ... especially one in particular...

Her eyes focused forward, and she finally speaks. "Used to it, yes. Happy about it, no. I don't like it when any of my friends are distressed, regardless of a predisposition to or not."

[ajrimmer_ssc]

His hazel eyes met and matched that gaze, and when he jerked them back onto the road, he realized that his throat had gone dry. The thought of Raven being dead, really dead, for good, made him knot up. He was well and truly sick of people being dead or dying, including himself.

"Tell you what. If and when it happens, I'll go to New Jersey to be miserable. That way I'll be out of your range and since it's New Jersey, nobody will notice." Then he glanced at her again. "Unless you don't have a range like that. Do you? Could you feel what I did if I were far away?"

He had a feeling he already knew the answer.

[darkprophecies]

It was nice to know someone outside of her team felt that way about her - she was slowly discovering there were more people like that then previously thought. ... easy to do when the number expected was zero, but still.

"During my stay in Paris, I knew the exact moment that Tony and Peter had managed to blow up the project they were working on. Once the emotional bond is there with a person, distance isn't a factor for me."

She tucked some curls behind her ear as she watched him again with a light shrug. "To me, it feels comforting, even the negativity to some degree. It means they're always with me."

And she looks forward one more time. She didn't want him to see the look creeping into her irises.
"That is until their emotions go completely silent out of the blue. Dreamless sleep is one thing, however the abrupt halt either means they've been ported out, have passed out, or have died. Not the most pleasant experience I've ever had."

[ajrimmer_ssc]

He took a slightly sharpish breath in through his nose, and nodded. She might not have wanted him to see it, but he didn't have to. He lived it. Not as often as she did, but once was enough.

"I know," he said huskily. And that was all he really needed to say. That was a topic covered more than adequately in prior conversations.

One more turn, and they were at the theater's car park. He killed the engine, leaving them in an echoing silence in the garage. That was one thing about a V-12 engine. It wasn't quiet. And, his ears still ringing with the rumble of that engine, he turned to her again and took both her hands.

"I'll try very hard not to make you miserable."

[darkprophecies]

Despite the warmth her hands were now taken into, she didn't look at him for a good four seconds of time, a near concerned state radiating from her. It had been awhile since she had friends who could honestly say they understood how she felt - between Arnold and Conner, she wasn't sure if she was happy to have someone to talk to, or upset that they actually did get it.
She wouldn't wish most of these things on her worst enemy, after all.

But after that, she managed to look at him, raising an eyebrow up almost playfully.
"It's going to take you alot more effort than bad days to make me miserable, Arnold."

[ajrimmer_ssc]

"Well, never let it be said that I wasn't willing to give it the Space Corps try," he teased back, trying to lighten the mood along with her. Because he was still giddy-happy, even with a more serious turn of conversation. Being alive again was doing good things for him tonight.

As for talking to somebody who actually got it, that was a rarity in his life, too. Starscream understood a lot of what he, Rimmer, had gone through, but that former mech had the empathy of a squashed frog. Whereas Raven was infinitely easier on both the eyes and the spirit.

"Tell you what. When I have a really miserable day, I'll turn off my light bee and..."

He stopped himself.

"Ah. Well. No, I won't, will I? This is going to take some getting used to."

[darkprophecies]

That causes a laugh from her, a real one, not one just for his benefit. He was so excited... like a child at Christmas, in a way.

"You will, I'm certain. Everything can be adjusted to with enough time and effort, yes?" with that she leans forward just enough to kiss his forehead, like she does to those she's closest with.
"I have no doubt in your ability to. Not that I would even want you to turn off anything in the first place. I don't mind your negativity, and it's usually cured by a stray beam of light in your life as it is."

With that she opens the passenger door and exits.

[ajrimmer_ssc]

Whereas he sat in the car for a second longer, his fingertips slowly raising to his forehead and pressing where she'd kissed him. Erm. What a strange sensation that was. He really had no words to define it, and had a feeling if he tried to, the feeling would slip away, like squeezing an ice cube in a fist.

Huh.

The grin that broke out on his face was slightly stunned and immensely goofy, as he exited the car as well and set the alarm.

"You are that stray beam of light," he said, letting the words out before he could throttle them back. "You've routed all my shadows."

Then his brain caught up with his lips and he winced slightly. UGH SO CORNY shut up Arn ugh.

[darkprophecies]

She circled the car, carefully keeping her steps steady and even - she always did try so much harder to look nice in public. Taking his arm, she laughed rather cheerfully at that admittance, the slightest bit of color coming to her cheeks.

"You're such a dork at times. But... I'm glad I can be that for you. You deserve it."
It was cute though, she had to admit.

[ajrimmer_ssc]

"I am, aren't I? An enormous dork. Usually only when you're around, though. You seem to get the worst of my dorkiness."

He pulled his arm close to his body, coincidentally taking her hand with it, and then laid his other hand on top of hers again. He guided her out of the car park, toward the theater. There was a large crowd around, even for a Monday night. Couples and friends and families with small children. Life, thronging and talking and laughing and queueing up for a show. And, for the first time since he came to the City, he didn't feel like he was apart from it all. He felt like he belonged.

"And the fateful decision is upon us, m'dear. What shall we spend our hard-earned money and two hours of our lives on?"

[darkprophecies]

"And I regret nothing."

The smile on Raven's face only brightened as they neared the crowd - so much excitement, particularly in the children, all buzzing about the newest movie they wanted to see. They always seemed to catch her attention first, eyes following their joyful bouncing and dashing about - there was just something about the life they gave off that delighted her.

Perhaps it was because she never got to experience that herself.

"Most likely something we'll simply make fun of in the car on the way back."