N e w: Y o r k

[brainpanned]

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

Comments

[brainpanned]

River sighed a little against his throat and hid her face there.

"She would have continued shouting at you. m' head hurts."

[freelanceryork]

He pressed a hand to the back of her head to gently keep it in place and smiled slowly. "Thank you, River." Just as quietly. And he'd sit there for a moment, until Tex came back in, eyebrows lifting.

"Both of you get up and get to work. My floors aren't going to clean themselves." Demanded, before she disappeared again, and York let out another breath. "You don't have to help, River. Let's get you into a bath and I'll clean it up." Because she hadn't done any of this.

[brainpanned]

Why did Tex always have to shout? River's shoulders flinched, seemingly guiltily for what "she'd" done, but mostly it as an effect of the pounding in her head. She nodded a little, keeping her eyes squeezed shut as the skinny arms curled around York's neck once again.

She did shift, a little, moving her mouth away from the place near his neck to higher up, by his ear.

"...I rather liked this dress." And he would owe her a new one. River was joking. Mostly. Somewhat. Okay, not really. The fact that her dress was torn did upset her greatly.

[freelanceryork]

"I did too." Assured with a little smile, and he let his eyes slide closed. His head hurt, too. But it was such a small thing in comparison to what Spartans were used to. "I'll get you a new one. A few new dresses, to make up for it." Even as he said that, he was shifting, spreading his legs some and wrapping his arms around her more securely, so he could push up to his feet, lifting her in his arms as he did. Then he was walking her to the door (careful to wipe his boots on the wood floor there, so he wouldn't track it through the house. Then it was up the stairs, to the third floor, where he was carrying her into his bathroom. York then turned to sit her on the closed toilet and reached out messy hands to close up her dress in a sheepish manner

[brainpanned]

River lost herself a little, making affirmative noises when he carried her. He didn't have to get her anything new -- it was unnecessary. Just something to keep her covered.

York said he was crazy. River shook her head, covering one of his hands with her own. "Not. Your gears twist. Circular bent elliptical." A little smile, then. "Like me."

And somehow she looked a bit dejected at the prospect of going home. River would much rather stay here. At least for the night.

[freelanceryork]

He smiled when she said that she was like him, and after turning on the shower, he noticed her rather dejected look and frowned just some, before it turned slowly into a smile. That meant..

"Do you want to stay here for the night, River? We'd be happy to have you.. You'd have to call your roommate and let her know, though." Because York was just that sort of responsible, and wasn't about to let her simply disappear for the night.. they'd have people with pitchforks and torches at their door within moments.

Everyone loved River.

So did Yor--Whoa!

York liked her, too.

[brainpanned]

River tried not to look too excited by the offer, but she didn't hide the little smile that surfaced. "I would like -- I would prefer that." Though it was highly unlikely that River would call Kaylee; there were already too many nights that she didn't come home. Kaylee had stopped worrying as much, as long as she was there in the morning. The twenty-four hour rule seemed to apply.

She stood a little, holding her dress tightly around her. A fair amount of paint covered her, from the marks on her stomach to the handprint around around her wrist and the press of red against her cheek. Looking down at York, she considered a kiss but thought it would be too presumptuous. She cleared her throat.

"Think I'd like to be clean, now." That meant it was time for you to go, York.

[freelanceryork]

York had been staring at her when she stood up, and he smiled slowly-- he'd considered a kiss also, and had leaned in some when suddenly she spoke.

And it made the Freelancer jerk, shaken from his little in-mind fantasy.

And his cheeks flushed pink. A rare reaction on a Spartan. But then again, York was a rare Spartan. "Of course. Yeah. Sorry. Jeez. Sorry about your dress again, and-- yeah. Idiot." The last part was more quietly said to himself as he turned to head out the door, tugging it closed behind him.

[brainpanned]

Cocking her head sideways, River managed a confused frown. The blush seemed out of place, and she hadn't quite realized fully that it was there (under all the red) until he spoke. What had he been thinking? Well other than the kiss; River sensed it, and felt a nearly guilty for breaking it off, confused when he turned and left.

For a moment, she stayed still, watching the closed door and expecting it to do something exciting. When nothing of the sort happened, River slid the dress off her shoulders, folding it with excess care despite its irreparable nature. Undergarments following. The strange things about them was how they matched. Her underwear always matched while the rest of her clothes often didn't. A strange bit of (today peach-colored) order in her mismatched world.

Sliding under the water, River sighed, a peaceful little smile spreading on her lips. Warm... She kept her ears underwater because it drowned out the sound of everything else -- even the noise in her own head. She reappeared when the tips of her fingers turned

[freelancertexas]

The water could be heard going down the drain from downstairs, and as River watched it swirl down, the door opening behind her. But it wasn't York's voice, and Delta wasn't in the background. It was Tex. And silence.

"He didn't hurt you, did he?" Tex wasn't stupid. She knew that'd been York (the hand prints on the wall were too large to be River, and most of the foot prints were his, not hers), and not the dark-haired crazy. "I got something you can wear. Come on, little Albatross." She jerked a thumb towards the door. And before River could ask:

"Don't worry, Lover Boy is still cleaning up the mess he made. Delta's pretending to help."

[brainpanned]

River didn't think it would fool Tex long. Her mind was more exposed, now, sensitive to people and the difference in the presence of Tex and York. York was still downstairs. River watched the water spin, picking up speed as there was less and less of it to drain.

"Ought to have realized." She half-whispered the words, weight shifting from footprint to wet footprint, damp strands of hair growing cold in the draft that Tex brought with her. "Ought have felt it. You understand? The apple breaks its hold and is swallowed by the snake, but this is hardly Biblical. Bible is flawed, mistakes. Saint John is flawed but just like River. He weeps for the perils of his own mind. The great Leviathan shows his arm."

[freelancertexas]

"Saint John?" That made Tex's lips curl up. "He told you we called him Saint John? What an idiot. Come on, River. Out of the bathroom, you're naked," Not really, "And wet," She was drying, "And you need to put on some clothes before Church sees you and turns into a horny bastard. Come on. Now." She was stepping over to her to plant her hands on her shoulders and turn her-- directing her towards the door of the bathroom. "York's a little on the crazy side, yeah. So are you. That's why it works."

[brainpanned]

River clung a little bit to the towel around her body, stumbling out into the hallway, pushed along by the Spartan. She shivered a little as the comparatively cold hair made her arms break into rippled goose-flesh; River far preferred the pleasant humidity of the bathroom and whined.

"Not crazy." River hated that word. It was like racism, but with people judging you for thinking in a more colorful direction than others. "Not." She hugged herself tighter, realizing that there was in fact very little empirical evidence to back this up.

[freelancertexas]

"Okay, okay. Not crazy. How about.. sanely challenged?" It was a good thing Tex was in such a great mood, and once they got into her bedroom, Tex closed the door behind and moved around River to her dresser so she could rummage through it. Those pants had a drawstring and would be a little long, but River could deal, and they were tossed onto the bed. Then a t-shirt followed.

"Come on, dry off. Do you need help getting dressed?" She looked a little like.. she wasn't all there right now, and Tex didn't really want to leave her alone like this.

[brainpanned]

"I'd like my..." River drew a vague shape in the air. It wasn't really a shape, even. Just something squiggly. "Underthings!" Aha! She did remember the word. Those were still in the bathroom, folded atop her paint-encrusted dress. She could remember those, at the very least.

[freelancertexas]

Tex let out a breath and waved a hand. "Fine. Stay here. Dry off." And she was moving back out the door. A moment later, she returned, the peach objects hanging from her fingers. The door, once again, clicked shut behind her, and Tex extended them out to River. "Dry off. Get dressed. You're going to get sick and die if you stay wet, and I don't want to have to bury your corpse, it's too much work."