[OPEN]

[dontpatr0nizeme]

Who: The Freelancers and anyone else
What: Nightmares
When: Through the Nightmare plot
Where: The Mother of Invention
Rating: TBD, potential warning for torture or other really bad things, as RvB Freelancer era isn't very nice

This is the Frigate Mother of Invention. The home base of the UNSC's top secret Project Freelancer. As much as the frigate might have been lively before, now it's full of eerily empty echoing halls, windows into the empty blackness of space, and alarms that seem to be going off all too frequent. The training areas have grown a darker, more sinister air. As for the medical areas and the research labs? You really don't want to go there.

[OOC: Okay, there will be specific nightmare threads within this that I'll be linking on the main post and I will put warnings if any of those might be too bad. If you'd like to join in from outside cast, either hit one of those or start a new thread. We'll be tagging around, and I'll link any new threads you might set up.]

Locker Room (York)  |  Ranking Board (South)  |  Implantation Room (Washington) (Warning, not sure how bad this might be)  |  The Director (Carolina)

Comments

[youfallback]

[Carolina rises up with a sweeping kick aimed right at his chest, unable to see past beating him and impressing the Director and making sure she's the best she can be right now.]

[encryptedlock]

[Yep, just going to float away. He seems to be knocked out...or finally waking up from the nightmare.]

[youfallback]

[Carolina watches as he fades away from her view and slowly so does the rest of the Mother of Invention and the metal all around her, leaving her in the cold darkness before she suddenly wakes up. Surrounding her in bed is warmth, soft sheets, the breath of someone else quietly filling the air around her, and she sits up as quickly as she can. Her hands feel around for York, trying to find him in the sheets and for a moment she panics when she doesn't, but then her fingers bump against his side.]

[encryptedlock]

[He feels sweaty, almost clammy to the touch. The enforced sleep hasn't been at all restful to him, and at her touch he snaps awake, breathing heavily for a few moments before he takes a gulp of air and tries to steady himself. Delta's presence helps immensely with this, as it always does. Breathe, York. This is Paradisa, Delta's here inside your mind, and Carolina is alive and next to you and not crazy.]

What--

[youfallback]

[She doesn't speak outright, but lets her hand trail across his skin, feeling that thin sheen of sweat cooling him as she navigates her hand to one of his. Shaking her head, she tries to clear the nightmares out. She's not like that. She's not so focused on being number one that her team doesn't mean anything.]

[encryptedlock]

[It takes York's brain a good few long moments before he squeezes her hand back, weakly. That fight in the elevator--that hadn't happened for her yet. Right? Because if it had, she wouldn't be here with him right now.

He takes another deep breath, trying to calm his nerves. It was just a nightmare. These things happen.]

Sorry, I--had a bad dream.

[youfallback]

So did I. [Carolina silently wishes up a glass of water and holds it out for him as she reminds herself that she's here in the Castle. Still, she can't help but feel guilty, not only for things she did in the nightmares but the fact that she's sitting so close to him. Like those protocols still exist. Like the Director might be around here somewhere.]

[encryptedlock]

You, too?

[And of course since he's just torn himself awake, he remembers them in unusual clarity. The fight on the Mother of Invention. New York being attacked by the Covenant.

No. No, he's here in Paradisa. He takes the glass and downs it, though the cold water makes him shiver a little more. It's a good thing the lights are down, because he's looking pretty miserable right now.]

Sorry if I woke you up.

[youfallback]

No, I--- [She curls around herself a little where she's sitting next to him, even as she reminds herself that she's allowed to touch him, allowed to kiss him and hold him here. So, she cautiously reaches over for his shoulder.]

York, does... the elevator... [She licks her lips to wet them enough to speak.] I don't do that in the future, do I?

[encryptedlock]

[If she's touching him, she'll feel his shoulders tense up at the question. That should be answer enough, really. It's not exactly like that, no, but it's close enough to have caused a reaction like that.]

You saw that, too?

[Avoiding the question, go.]

[youfallback]

[The sudden tension in his shoulder answers it well enough and her stomach bottoms out, leaving a sucking vacuum behind.

Barely a whisper,] Yeah.

[encryptedlock]

[Normally he'd be curling right up against her, assuring her everything was okay, that he was there for her, but...not with that so fresh in his mind. Not with that stark reminder of how she didn't want him there. So he's ominously silent for a while.]

When you first got here, I asked you what you remembered.

[youfallback]

[Carolina keeps her hand securely on his shoulder as she watches him, concern etched firmly into her features.

Nodding,] I remember. Last thing from home for me was the Sarcophagus mission.

[And he'd been so relieved, she remembers, but she hadn't thought anything of it at the time. Later when he told her that having two AI made her go crazy, she assumed that was the reason- it'd be difficult for him to go through that again in the Castle.]

[encryptedlock]

[What he didn't tell her was that one of the consequences was--well, was it really a breakup when they weren't even dating at that point?

Yeah. It really had been.]

That was the last I ever saw of you.

[youfallback]

[Carolina pales immediately, swallowing. The last he'd seen of her, she'd been fighting him, telling him that she didn't want him around and then knocking him out? She glances away for a moment, but keeps her hand on his shoulder.

But if the last he saw of her, she was alive, then, maybe she survived. Maybe she could save him after all. Though, right now, she's focusing on him. She reaches carefully for the side of his face with her other hand.]

Rick, I want you here with me. I couldn't do... [She gestures vaguely with her head toward the Castle at large.] this without you.

[encryptedlock]

[He'd held onto hope that she was alive and kicking ass and taking names, but the fact of the matter was she'd been shoved off a cliff after having two minds ripped out of her head in an inhospitable environment. Even if she could have survived that, the radio silence for years said that she was dead to him one way or another.

Her hand won't come back dry. He's more upset about this than he wants to admit.]

You would have found someone else to help you. That's how you are.

[youfallback]

[She really can't argue with that point. She's bull-headed and strong-willed enough to have done things, even if she didn't have him here, but she wouldn't have done as well with the whole Maine fiasco, with South, with Wash. His tears on her hand push her to move a little closer, wrapping her arms more fully around him and trying to tuck him safely in her grasp.]

I wouldn't trust them like I trust you.

[encryptedlock]

[Well, he doesn't push her away, but he can't exactly relax just yet, either. So she'll have a nice bundle of tension in her arms, and he's still not turning around to face her.

York can't argue the trust part - she's given him far more trust than he would have asked for, really - but it doesn't change that she'd eventually leave him and there was nothing he'd said that could change her mind.

Instead he'll remain silent, trying to get his breathing under control at least.]

[youfallback]

[Him not responding is absolutely heartbreaking and she honestly doesn't know what to say, so she runs her hand along his back in an attempt to soothe him. She pauses for a moment before realizing that maybe there is something she can do. For a second, she loosens her grip so she can reach over for the panda from Laura's room back in May. The "try" is still written so clearly on the tag, in York's own handwriting.

Carefully, she navigates the panda toward his hands and then curls her arms around him again.]

[encryptedlock]

[Yeah, that's about the last straw after everything he's just been through, and York just clutches the panda and starts crying. For himself, for her, for everything they could have had and lost, but mostly because even though he can try all he want he still doesn't really believe it'll work. Not right now, anyway.

Because when has he ever been that lucky?]

my heart :c

[youfallback]

[When York starts to cry, the pain in Carolna's chest expands through her and she holds him painfully tight and close to her. Seeing him like this, devoid completely of his usual easy smile and humor, hurts too much and she wishes there were some kind of quick fix to help him.

But, all she can really do right now is just be there for him. She presses a kiss to his hair as she just holds him. It isn't fair. It isn't fair that a guy like him had to go through all that and then be reminded by the Castle of just how much he lost in his life. It's somehow not enough that he lost it all in the first place and possibly won't get a chance to make it right (although Carolina will just double her efforts to figure out a way to jog her memory if or when she disappears from the Castle.]

[encryptedlock]

[Eventually he does actually feel better, between letting it out and finally acknowledging the arms around him. There's no quick fix for this, but the little things do help. The woman he loves isn't abandoning him only to be tossed off a cliff by a former ally, she's right next to him and willing to change. He has Delta, of course, being a steady pulse in his mind.

And, false hope or not, the little toy in his hands tells him that there may be a future that leaves the past behind - here and at home.

Finally he calms down enough to turn and hug Carolina back.]

Would you--stay with me for a while?

[There's no way he's sleeping again after that.]

[youfallback]

[Carolina nods against the side of his head, where he's tucked safely and tightly against her. Of course she'll stay with him. She might not be as better-suited for comforting others, but she's been working on it the past year or so. Pulling back just a bit, she gives him a light tug on the arm.]

Let's go make some breakfast.

[encryptedlock]

[He doesn't know if he's up to eating just yet, but he'll nod and slowly follow her anyway, keeping Laura's panda clutched tightly in one arm.]

I'll put the coffee on.

[That should help. Coffee is one of those things that can be very soothing - or at least remind you that you're awake.]

[youfallback]

[Padding down to the kitchen, Carolina heads over to the toaster to start get some toast going before they hit anything more solid food-wise. Still, as she moves around the kitchen, she makes sure she's no more than arm's length away, hoping her presence will be a comfort in and of itself. She's not going anywhere. She's not fighting or training or sparring or obsessing. Just here, having some breakfast with him. There's no touch of her usual militaristic efficiency in her movements, every tug of plastic or tie or bread a touch slower and more lazy.]