paradisa | THE RIVER

Entry tags:

!plot: lost world

THE RIVER

[YOU CHOSE THE RIVER ROUTE Too bad, Mama decides to give this group chase. There's a cave up ahead, a small waterfall partially concealing the entrance, but it should provide safe cover, if you can make it]

[[ooc: The chase | The cave | Day three OOC post | Plot Hub]]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[Odd, they seem to be having the same problem. What is it about near-death experiences that always makes a guy want to shove a beautiful lady up against the wall and have his way with her?]

I--this isn't about me! I would've been--

[He tries to say he would have been fine, but even York can't put that lie past his lips. Clearly the best reaction after getting chewed on by a dinosaur a few years ago is to freeze in your tracks as another one is chasing you now.

Stupid large predators.]

You could have been killed. I can't--

And letting yourself die is better? [She stares at him incredulously, his no-stop low self-esteem not making it any easier to just be pissed. If they were together, she could have kissed him again, could have reminded him that she wanted him here, to reassure that he was worth something, anything.

But she knows she can't do that.] What the fuck is wrong with you!

[Well, there's a question that has about a million possible answers, though in this case it's a pretty simple one of 'PTSD flashback'.]

I wasn't trying to let myself die! I was trying to distract it so you could get away.

[You know. After the whole freezing in his tracks thing.]

Distractions are usually moving. [Carolina continues to frown over at him, still angry ~~and concerned and wanting to push him up against a wall~~.] You froze.

[York winces at that. Yeah. Yeah, he froze. Not the best reaction to a T-Rex running at him with open jaws, and he knows it. So he can't really refute that part.]

...That doesn't mean you had to throw yourself at it.

So I could watch you get eaten instead. [She outright glares at him now, her anger now boiling again, like it always seemed to when she was around him.]

[He's tempted to reply that she'd probably just like having him out of her hair for two weeks, but then--she had kissed him back, at least for a little while.]

I would have moved.

After it started chewing you up. [It's a good think he doesn't mention that or she would be punching him right now.]

[He frowns.]

Look, that's--kind of what happened last time these things were around. It made me freak out, okay?

[Her glare lessens marginally in intensity for a brief second or two. If nothing else, Maine's attack had made it much easier to sympathize with PTSD. She didn't want him reliving being chewed up, either physically or mentally.] Which is why I ran at a dinosaur.

[She tries to explain a bit more softly to him just why she did what she did.]

[York bites his lip, suddenly looking a lot more vulnerable than a moment ago. Maybe it wasn't a half-buried deathwish on her part? Maybe--no, she would have done the same for anyone. His expression returns to a careful neutral.]

Don't get so close to them. We have guns for a reason.

[When he goes back to scolding her, her glare returns.] Don't stop moving when a giant dinosaur is about to eat you and I won't have to.

[He gets a tiny smile at that. Just a little one.]

Wasn't like it was intentional, you know.

[She knows that, certainly. She knows just how she reacts when she gets close to cliffs, or if anyone reaches toward her throat, or the nightmares she still had despite her best efforts to ~~cuddle them away with Jack's panda~~ work through them.

Some substantial heat is removed from her voice and gaze.] Doesn't matter. Don't do it.

Well, if it'll keep you away from them....

[Seriously, that almost scared him worse than the sight of impending reptilian death.]

[Well that surprises her, but she does what she can to hide it. Part of the reason she'd ragequit the Castle was the assumption that he would go running back to Texas.]

It will. [Neutrally, if a little cautious.]

[Sometimes assumptions can just make a donkey out of everybody. York looks entirely serious as he nods back.]

I'll try, then. And, well.

Thanks. For saving my life.

[She nods in acknowledgment before adding quietly, very low and very serious, making sure they're the only ones who can hear it.] I promised I would, Rick.

[#nope

York turns around quickly so his expression is hidden, but his voice is soft in return as he starts to walk away a little deeper into the cave.]

People don't keep promises. Not to me.

[She reaches out for his arm as he starts to walk away, trying to grab his forearm in a strong enough grip to keep him there. Of all the shit he could say, this makes her the most angry.]

You don't dismiss me like that. [All of a sudden all that heat is back in her voice.]

[Surprise, he's not angry! Just looks very much like he's about to cry, which is so much the opposite of manly that he was just going to...go hang out a little closer to the waterfall for a little while. Yes.]

Leave me alone. That's what you want anyway, isn't it?

[She's about to be more angry when she sees those beginnings of mantears and she lets go in an instant to instead reach for the front of his shirt ~~all the better to shake him with!~~] Not when you're being an asshole and acting like what I say doesn't matter. If you did that less I wouldn't want to be far away from you more often.

Yeah? And why should I believe this promise when you've gone back on every other one you've ever made to me? I lost my ability to believe in you when you threw your gift to me off a fucking cliff like it was garbage.

[She really should have just let the dinosaur eat him, he's thinking. It would be easier to deal with than this roller coaster.]

It wasn't garbage. It was private information I had to dispose of. [Whoops looks like they're fighting again. And no one was surprised.]

That you trusted me with. And you threw away. So why should I trust any promise you make, again?

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