[oom] April Fool's Day

[hell_in_highheels]

Oh, River is not a morning person, but this prank requires some dedication and preparation.  She has her sonic screwdriver set to wake her an hour before the alarm, and she'd packed the blanket and the picnic basket the afternoon before while he was out running.

The matter of the prank itself is a simple few moments with the screwdriver on the red setting.  Quick.  Harmless.  And best of all, reversible. 

She still expects to get a bit of a hiding for it, but he did throw down the gauntlet.  Her cheeks ache from grinning at the very thought of the look on his face when he figures out just what she'd done.

Prank accomplished, she slips into her boots and shushes Damocles, swearing him to silence.  Rather, bribing him with future promises of bacon.  She leaves the note on the pillow and catches herself just before she kisses him on the cheek.  If he wakes, the surprise will be ruined before she can make her escape. 

Dear Richard~

Have been kidnapped by rabbits.  They said something about their pelts being used for "unseemly" purposes. Their leader says, if you ever want to see me again, come alone.

(crudely drawn map of the lake side and the meadow with an X)

Love,
~River

Comments

[hell_in_highheels]

River gives him a sly smirk. "I would love to hear about the forest. Oooooor I could tell you that project I've had spread out over my desk for the past three weeks. The one that Ray's helping me with?"

[captainryan.livejournal.com]

He makes a bit of a face.

"Am I going to understand any of it?"

[hell_in_highheels]

"Why wouldn't you? It's not quantum physics. Well, yet. Regardless, Ray needs to take some readings, because your 'state', as Deitmar so delicately put it, is interfering with -- the surprise I've been working on."

[captainryan.livejournal.com]

He sniffs at her, intrigued.

"What sort of surprise?"

Which is a roundabout way of saying 'yes, tell him more'.

[hell_in_highheels]

"Well, you remember what I told you about the data recorder in my screwdriver. The one that recorded my neural signature, long enough for me to be uploaded into CAL?"

She waits for the light of recognition in his eyes.

"Well, I'm trying to build one for you. For when you go out of bar."

[captainryan.livejournal.com]

"For when I- oh. Oh." He doesn't know what to think. On the one hand, she's taking steps to make sure he can come back to her.

On the other, she's assuming it'll be needed. He chides himself almost immediately for thinking the latter. He'd be foolish for thinking he's invulnerable. He should know damn well that he can die, and easily. Was the first time not enough of a lesson for him?

"Thank you," he says humbly.

[hell_in_highheels]

She leans against him in a gentle bump, interlacing her fingers through his. "It's not that I doubt your abilities as a soldier. It's just, well, frankly the whole 'fading after three days' thing -- it's just not on. I won't have it. There will be no fading, not if I have anything to say about it."

She's not even thinking about the dying, although the device covers that possibility as well. That's one thought she refuses to entertain for a moment.

[captainryan.livejournal.com]

Aaaand there's the fading. He kind of forgot about the fading.

(He feels a little better now. Getting locked out of the bar is a better option than dying.)

"I'm not arguing with you," he says mildly, a little amused at her fierceness. "A question, though. I assume I have to carry the recorder on me? What keeps it from fading when I do?"

The last time he had that problem, all of his kit came with him.

[hell_in_highheels]

She slits her eyes in determination. "That, is one of the problems Ray is supposed to be helping me with. Shielding the recorder from your PKE emissions. My goal is to embed it in a wafer you can wear on your tags."

She unconsciously touches her own tags under her shirt.

[captainryan.livejournal.com]

He nods. "Fair enough. Anything I can do to help, then, I'll do." He pulls her in for a hug.

"Your recorder is still working, yes?" If she can worry about him, he can worry about her.

[hell_in_highheels]

The fact that he would even think to ask sends a thrill of lightness through her. She hugs him back.

"I still return to the Library for backups, and I store a copy of those archives in my desk. I'll show you when we go home, if you like."

[captainryan.livejournal.com]

"I'd like that. I can't get to the Library without you, so it'll be a good idea to have a copy of the backups where I can reach them."

And pass them off to Ray or someone who knows what they're doing with the tech.

[hell_in_highheels]

She nods, smiling. "Easily done. And we can talk to Ray about that as well, if you like."

Dam, pets?

She needs to touch both of them for a moment.

[captainryan.livejournal.com]

Coming!

"It sounds like that in order to properly test it, you'll need me to stay there for a while." He arches an eyebrow, questioningly. "And we don't want you to fade as well, correct, so you'll have to at least step back through to here before running any tests."

He's picked up things from Deitmar.

I'm here! Pets! Dam prances about their feet, waiting for his reward.

[hell_in_highheels]

Her hand comes to rest on Damocles' head and she ruffles his ears.

"We can work out the details once I confirm that we're actually getting a clean recording of your neural signature. But yes, you're absolutely right. It needs to be tested. On both of us."

[captainryan.livejournal.com]

Richard rubs the dog's neck.

"With a Door to Milliways at hand in case I don't last as long in this Ray's world," he amends. "It was at least half a day in the other Ray's world. Being a ghost is...interesting."

Dam alerts under their hands, then takes off like a shot shouting, Squirrel!

No hunting! We have enough meat as it is!

Not hunting, just chasing!

Richard shakes his head as cheerful yips reach them. "Puppies."

[hell_in_highheels]

River's grin doesn't quite reach her eyes as she watches Dam race away. She reaches for Richard's hand again, bringing it to her lips.

"New York," she recalls. "The two dimensional world? Where you went when the statue took you?"

[captainryan.livejournal.com]

"That's the one," Richard answers, growing sober again himself.

"I don't believe I've said, but that was the creature kidnapping everyone. Dam was just a pup at the time."

[hell_in_highheels]

"So you weren't the only one who was taken. And I gather, from the way bar time moves, they were gone for far longer than they were missed here?"

She remembers he spent six months in New York.

And then she remembers the height of his fear just a half hour before. "They took a pack mate, didn't they?"

[captainryan.livejournal.com]

Ryan's face shuts down.

"Suzi and Deitmar both," he reports, watching their footing.

"She nearly died."

[hell_in_highheels]

River holds tight to him, her arm looped through his as they walk. "I'm sorry."

Both for Suzi's misfortune and again, for frightening him this morning.

[captainryan.livejournal.com]

"She was lucky she landed on the world she did," he says, sounding a little tired. He almost mentions Deitmar being with her, but then he suspects that would lead to how he ripped a dragon apart and that's not his story to tell.

[hell_in_highheels]

She lets that weighty sentiment settle for a moment, still holding him.

"All's well that ends well, yes?"

[captainryan.livejournal.com]

"Yes."

He leans over to nuzzle her, reassuring.

[hell_in_highheels]

She returns the nuzzle, breathing him in. Love you.

That bit of canine was flawless and possibly completely unconscious.