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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Let's go see the staaaaaars! )
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.
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"If I'd known you liked documentaries, I'd have invited you to the cinema well before tonight. I should have known. Come on, then, let's get our seats. Ten dollars says we're the only people in the theater."
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And with that she takes his arm again.
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Life could actually be pleasant, sometimes. Even for him.
"Focusing on my emotions, hm? Voyeur."
If he didn't tease a little, he wouldn't be him.
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"Yes, it's an addiction of mine that I've been struggling to get over. It's just so difficult."
Her expression changed only momentarily as a young girl, around the age of four, dashes down the hall ahead of them, squealing something about her excitement to see the newest animated film out - her parents following behind her, as proud as can be. ... So this is how that felt, that youthful excitement she never got to have as a child?
It brought a more serene smile to her face.
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Then, he raised an eyebrow at the squealing child, wondering why dear old mom and dad weren't holding on to her a touch more tightly. If that were his daughter, he'd have a couple of words to say about running around like that...and then he stopped himself. It was unlikely that he'd ever have a daughter that age, no matter what he did. It was so unlikely that this status of living would last, and even if it did, the one person he'd want to share the duties of parenthood with was gone.
So his was a wry sort of smile.
"Seen and most certainly heard, that one," he muttered.
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She looked back at the child again as Rimmer muttered his words, and hugged a bit tighter onto his arm.
"Mmn, a child's excitement is something hard to reproduce in later years. She's fortunate to have a family that allows her to express herself, rather than withhold her emotions and feelings. There's no question she wants to see the movie, and that she's been looking forward to it for awhile. She's so free."
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"Were your emotions forcibly repressed when you were a child?"
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She didn't bother walking much further into the theater, even though they could have if they wanted to, freely.
"It was believed... that if I expressed my emotions, I would be a danger to myself and others, because of my father. They wouldn't even allow me to see my mother often, incase it brought them out."
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As bruised and battered as he was, in her own way. Where he gave in to the anger and bitterness and self-loathing and hate, she tried to give her all for a team, tried to build a new family around herself.
"Who's 'they?'" he asked quietly, still standing in the short hall that led into the auditorium proper. "You mentioned this Azar place. Was it somebody there?"
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"Azarath." she corrected simply, "Azarath is the name of the place, Azar is the name of the high priestess, a part of my religion. And yes... it was... everyone there." a bit of concern had begun to drip into her features, so she simply looked in the other direction. After all, if he couldn't see it, it didn't necessarily have to be there.
"It was for the safety of the world, they claimed."
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He opened up his arms and pulled her into a hug, right there against the wall of the hallway. It just felt like something he needed to do, not just for her sake, but his as well. To remind himself that...that while he might make horrible decisions from time to time, while he occasionally had a megalomaniacal bent, at least he was never that bad.
Right?
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There was more details to it, ones he would probably find out one of these days. She seemed to tell him everything after all. But until then, she'd just keep it at what it was.
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"I begin to understand why you put up with everybody's negative emotions. Anything to feel, right?"
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Her words were a bit muffled by his shirt, but she said them anyway.
"... anything to feel someone else."
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His arms tightened around her, and his eyes closed. How very, very much he understood that. The aching need, the pressing want, to leave yourself behind, put down all the hurts, and live somebody else's life for a while. Oh, he got that. He got that in spades, in droves. Only he didn't have the empathy powers; all he could do was retreat further into his own bitterness.
Except around her.
"...I also begin to understand why you say you'd beat my horrible life. I thought at first you were trying to make me feel better, but..."
He trailed off. This was also not a topic of conversation he was expecting to have, on this first night of the rest of his life.
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