revolving door party member. (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
bountyhead) wrote2019-03-17 07:32 pm
bountyhead) wrote2019-03-17 07:32 pm× ᴏᴘᴇɴ ᴘᴏꜱᴛ
→ STARTERS/OVERFLOWS/TEXTS/PROMPTS/PSLS ★
bountyhead) wrote2019-03-17 07:32 pm
no subject
Cars are dull. Dinosaurs is where it's at.
[ Truth is, there wasn't a ton of great options to choose from, most of them being rom-coms or musicals. Hopefully, those aren't Raiden's favorite. She's personally not a big fan. Out of the few left to pick from Jurassic Park becomes the winner, a movie that came out a year before she was born — she can't remember if she's ever seen it. Maybe she hasn't. Maybe watching it will spark a memory. She wasn't counting on it.
The first few scenes unfold and she's paying attention but there's something nagging at her, festering in her head and filling it with noise, making it harder to focus on the movie as it goes on. She waits it out at first, waits for something interesting to happen, waits for him to say something, tries to re-focus. When they reach a lull in the plot, it takes her a second to find her voice so she can tell him: ]
Hey, I... wanted to thank you again for taking care of me.
[ She's pretending to watch the movie now, not quite wanting to look at him yet, shame suddenly ballooning in her gut. Embarrassment. It's taken most of the day for her memory to trickle in and for that recollection of things done and said to remind her just how vulnerable she had been. How careless she can be sometimes. ]
I know I'm nothing but trouble but I appreciate you coming to my rescue. I couldn't have asked for someone better to do it.
[ A breathy laugh leaves her lips as she remembers the moment he swooped in and scared all the ducks away; how dramatic she had been in her gratitude to him. That gratitude still lives and it shows as she looks at him and smiles warmly. ]
no subject
[ a pleasant surprise strikes him. the blue of his eye brightens, the ends of his upper lip furling up in amusement. and then a quiet kind of enthusiasm washes over him in a shockwave and he leans in, pulling his knee up as his gaze settles onto the television screen. ]
This was one of my favorites growing up... a real classic, even. It inspired so many different types of cinematography for the decades to come. Not sure if I'd quantify it as a monster movie, but I always felt kind of bad for the dinosaurs here.
[ for monsters in general, he intends to say. raiden watches earnestly as they fall into silence — it's easy to see how it pulls him in, absorbing him wholly, until her voice draws him back out. for a moment, he blinks as if he's processing what faye's saying. and then a touch awkwardly: ]
It's no problem. I didn't do much. [ a hand moves to the back of his head and idly rubs before raiden sets it back down against his side. that smile inspires a flutter of warmth in the pit of his stomach — an emotional response that he can't deny due to the nature of his body. ] Besides, I'd say you make the trouble worth it. [ a light chuckle. ] You've got a beautiful smile.
[ leisurely, he leans back against the headboard. admittedly, the movie's begun to drone out of his mind and fade into the background. huh. ]
Everything I said yesterday... I meant it. [ a beat. ] One day, you won't have to run if you don't want to. I'll help you get there.
[ instinctually and without thinking, his hand meanders towards her own, gently clasping over it. his bangs have loosened and frame his face, a sight that makes him look softer and more human. briskly, he speaks again: ]
You can hold me to that.
[ she was such a girl, he thinks. terribly young in spite of the appearance she put up. he'd been completely different at her age — a sociopath who feigned innocence and youthfulness despite being bankrupt of both. he thinks back on the feeling of her wrapping her arms around him in her sleep, on the delicate kiss pressed to the exoskeleton of a monster from that same night. it'd been as though the world hadn't quite drained her of that innocence just yet.
maybe the prospect of that in of itself breaks his heart. ]
this thread is killing me in the best way :')
The effortless tenderness he gives her only adds to it. She'll be as red as her jacket by the time the movie ends if he keeps on with the flattery like that. Against her best efforts, she can't seem to pin her smile down and so she slinks into herself abashed. He's really good at dulling her sharp edges — drawing out an innocence that, unbeknownst to her, still remains after everything. And, strangely, she lets him do it.
Her gaze retracts to settle on his face as the mood suddenly dips and things become a little more intimate.
I'll help you get there. You can hold me to that.
She wants nothing more than to believe that. Only time will tell if he really means it after she's retreated for the umpteenth time; runs off and refuses to let anyone know that she's alive until she shows up without warning. But those aren't waters she wants to test with him. Right now, sitting beside him, the current object of his warm affection — it was good. Whatever this was. What this had the potential to be, or not. It doesn't have to be anything. It was already good. ]
I'll hold you to it then.
[ Her gaze falls on their hands, absorbing the moment until she slips hers out and places it over his, squeezing it gingerly. ]
I meant it too. Hugging me when you're scared.
[ And surely he knew that but there's a depth to that which expands across many points of expression. Hopefully, somehow, he understands that without her having to say it. There's a pause and then, without any rhyme or reason, she reaches up and brushes a few of his silvery strands from his face. There's something almost loving about the way she does it. ]
I'm here for you. Whenever you need me. You can hold me to that.