Death was humming to himself. His hum was not the chirpy energetic hum of most people though. It was heavy and sombre, though he was trying to make it sound jolly. And other things ending in olly.
If points could be awarded for trying Death would get a perfect ten. In his study he was sitting at his desk. He was gazing at the woodwork as though it contained the meaning of life (although as this is Death's desk this could be, in fact, the truth), and tapping his finger-bones on its surface.
So...Susan was even now alone with Teatime. Death knew that a vital component of all this 'courting' business was the chance for the courter to spend time alone with the courtee. Death wasn't entirely sure whether it was Teatime or Susan who was the courter. He was aware that traditionally it was the male that courted the female, but he was fairly certain that Susan would never be the one with the least power. Death also knew that somewhere in the whole complicated process roses should be involved, although he could see no practical use for them. On the other hand pokers were definitely not considered a common ingredient in successful relationships, despite the fact that he could see many practical uses for them.
Humanity was hard work.
Then there were the actual individuals themselves. Death had realised quite quickly after meeting Teatime (although this happened to be only a few minutes before Teatime was dead) that Teatime and Susan would make a very good couple for some very logical reasons. They were both outcasts. They both had strange powers. Teatime would accept and even enjoy Susan's less mundane genetic traits. He also enjoyed challenges and puzzles and Susan was definitely both of those. Teatime would be able to protect Susan from anyone. The Auditors of Reality wouldn't stand a chance.
There were more reasons, Death realised, reasons connected to hormones and glands that he neither possessed nor understand. But, if he was honest, he had another motive.
He had seen the way humans acted. He had millennia of experience, in fact. And, having seen it so often he had decided he wanted to try revenge. Just to see what all the fuss was about. That poker could have really hurt if he hadn't been watching Susan carefully. He had always known how short her temper was. He had found, through his little experiment, that, in the right conditions, and with no actually being killed it was really quite fun. And the additional result was that Susan and Teatime were enjoying themselves. Quite why Death chose to believe that they were enjoying themselves is a mystery. Although it was true. It was just that mostly they were enjoying themselves because they could contemplate various interesting ways of either annoying or killing each other. And then try to put them into practice.