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brainpanned in aternatopia

N e w: Y o r k

Feb 21, 2009 21:30

Who: River and York
What: Lovely day
When: 20th Afternoon
Where: Starts out York's house.
Rating: Cute?

( A sweet smile. )

york, river tam, *status-complete, tex

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freelanceryork February 22 2009, 04:29:50 UTC

She was lucky that it wasn't Tex who showed up at the door-- Tex, actually, was upstairs laying in a hot bath, because all of her muscles ached. She'd worked out today until she physically couldn't do it anymore, and had to sit until she was able to stand again. Then she'd gone upstairs for a bath. That was.. about five minutes earlier. So it was York who was tugging that door open. And it was York who broke into a smile and lifted both eyebrows. And it was York who moved an arm out in a grand gesture for her to come into the house.

"River! What a great surprise, D and I were just talking about you. Come inside." Well, they hadn't be talking so much as arguing. Delta wanted to know more about the experiments done to her. York didn't want to ask.

brainpanned February 22 2009, 04:55:13 UTC

The matter of the Academy was a strained one. She'd talked about it...sometimes. Simon usually did the talking, back on Serenity. He knew what had happened, a little. Not as much as she remembered, locked away in that dark dark place, but he could put it into a coherent form. The Doctor knew because he must -- and he knew everything. Ianto knew for Ianto's sake.

Otherwise, it was bits and pieces of information, scattered about town. York would know in due time, when it was for York's sake.

The sight of him had her smile, but it soon faded into an expression more curious. "You ought not water your flowers with blood." River stepped inside, following first his gesture and then allowing her eyes to wander the full breadth of the grand manor. "They'll grow up with dreams of genocide..."

freelanceryork February 24 2009, 03:23:38 UTC

"Yeah.. that was Tex, not me. Apparently, Church brought someone home and she wasn't too pleased. Shot her. Shot him a few times, too." He smirked some and shrugged up a shoulder. "That's Tex for you.. she doesn't always fail to pull the trigger. Sometimes she actually does. She waves her gun around a lot, but.." He glanced back to where he'd known it had happened, and the holes in the floor. "She's got it bad for Church. She's sort of defensive about him. And she's.. well." He smirked some and looked back at River. "She's different."

brainpanned February 24 2009, 03:31:07 UTC

"I know."

She had felt it all over Church when they'd last met. After some interesting situations that would possibly (probably) be awkward to explain. Her hand traced the contours of a nearby vase that had likely come with the house, as she didn't see anything breakable lasting very long in a house filled with Spartans.

Turning a little, she saw the places on the walls splattered with invisible memories of blood and shivered. "I know. He wants her jealous. Wants her for himself. Wants a different face but you can only have so many masks." Personally, she liked the mask he put on with her and it had her half-turn, smiling secretively in York's direction.

freelanceryork February 24 2009, 04:01:05 UTC

Unless that Spartan was York, who was so much unlike the others-- well. So was Caboose. Their whole little group was off.. even Tex, who was too aggressive.. but that was thanks to her armor. To the AI. And to circumstances that York knew about, but wasn't mentioning to her, or Church just yet. She would flip out. He would flip out. And York.. well.. York would probably get hurt in the process.

Yes. He could wait to tell them.

"What's that smile for, River?" He smiled back just as easily enough, and was stepping forward to slide both of his arms around her back. "Epsilon is here." Epsilon, like Delta. Parts of Alpha. And distance pieces of Tex. The entire program was just so.. wrong.

brainpanned February 24 2009, 04:12:32 UTC

"Can't I have my secrets?" River ducked her head, returning the hug loose around York's waist. She'd promised Church that she would definitely not tell York about how sweet he was. Her own secret would be forfeit as well. Though if Tex had already spilled the beans about River's tendency to go...psycho.

The mention of Epsilon brought a frown to her lips and she echoed his thoughts.

"So is Alpha. So many aren't to be here, you think."

freelanceryork February 24 2009, 04:20:22 UTC

"Of course you can. But next time I ask why you're smiling, your answer should be something along the lines of 'Because you're so handsome'." Teased lightly. And he might have said more except his head jerked a little to the side and he stared forward blankly all of two seconds before looking down at her again. Epsilon was near. Delta wanted to speak to him.

York shook it off.

"There's more here than I thought. More than should be." He agreed quietly. Delta, Epsilon, the Alpha.. and Tex. Delta knew about Church and Tex both.. because York knew. And he was eager to speak with the both of them, but York had cut him off from being able to speak aloud without permission. It'd been a wise choice on his part.

brainpanned February 24 2009, 04:29:21 UTC

Well he was handsome, but that was not the point of their conversation. River would lavish praise only when necessary and only when earned. It was always a system of reciprocity. A moment later, she tilted her head to mimic his movement, eyebrows pulling into a frown.

"What is Epsilon?" She understood that he was similar to Delta, but couldn't catch the specifics. "Mister Alpha didn't mention him."

Mister Alpha.

Church hated that name.

freelanceryork February 24 2009, 04:38:28 UTC

"Delta is Logic, he's the logical part of the Alpha. Epsilon is Memory, and he's the memory part of the Alpha. And Church..." He gestured vaguely, before returning his hand to her waist. "You know the rest of the story." Clearly.

brainpanned February 24 2009, 04:45:13 UTC

"But he doesn't." As her scowl deepened, River began to sway with him, an absent, thoughtless dance while she thought. Her head cocked back so she saw with full certainty the light over their heads. Bright. It flooded her vision with tiny spots when she looked back at Church.

"Did he forget?"

freelanceryork February 24 2009, 05:02:29 UTC

"Yeah, he forgot. He knew, but while they were escaping, they set off an EMP that knocked out all of the electronics, and it must have wiped his memory of the event, I'm not really sure how that works." Neither was Delta. But he wanted to find out. Desperately -- Delta, not York. York just wanted.. to retire.

brainpanned February 24 2009, 05:10:08 UTC

She swayed around him, stretching out her arms to take his hands in her smaller ones. River listened, of course, but the extent to which she was able to stand still was .... non-existent. "Electromagnetic pulse...intensely fluctuating magnetic field producing current and damaging voltage currents." Her hand moved upwards to brush at York's hair, soothingly

"It is...possible? But I do not understand the mechanical function of the Artificial Intelligence." River looked down, flustered and ashamed at admitting her shortcomings. "Too far into the future."

freelanceryork February 24 2009, 05:17:37 UTC

"I only get it because Delta gets it, even though he's a little sketchy on some things." He curled his fingers around hers and swayed their hands some, before she was releasing one and touching at his hair. That made him smile wider.

"So don't worry about it. Epsilon is in Tex's room, and so long as she doesn't try to stick her in her head, I'm sure we'll all be just fine." Because the last thing they needed was an even more insane Tex.

brainpanned February 24 2009, 05:22:08 UTC

"That would be awkward." River grimaced at the image Texasmiss even angrier than she presently was.

But an inconsolable thought struck her.

"Do you think -- " River licked her lips, adding softly. "Do you think I could try?" She'd mentioned wanting something like Delta in her head -- some voice to drown out all the others. Epsilon was Memory. Memory was something River lacked.

freelanceryork February 24 2009, 05:28:10 UTC

"You want to try Epsilon?" He seemed a little startled by that, because Delta was shouting in his head, echoing, nearly blocking out the words that she was saying. But then he stopped suddenly, and silence rang through the Freelancer's head as the AI waited for his response ( ... )

brainpanned February 24 2009, 05:43:27 UTC

She flinched when Delta shouted. "...Oh."

River bit down on her lips, listening solemnly. Of all those things -- the horrible things -- it was the mention of surgery that made River withdraw. She could handle the memories. Sometimes. She knew what pain looked like -- felt like. It had cut into her, through her brain, stripping away pieces here and there. Leaving what was necessary.

So many of York's words sounded familiar.

"...you left her alone." River's eyes locked on his, sharp, accusing and merciless, growing wet at the edges. "Scared living as nothing but memory...and you left her alone?" Did he have any idea how that felt?

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