[Perhaps if Rip could know what the child attempts to do, he could see the logic behind it. He is that sort of man; not a good person, but one who counts the cost and weighs them each, and picks the path of greater good. It's why when he watched one comrade knock out another to take his place, to commit heroic suicide in place of the man the future dictated would die, Rip had listened to Mick's wish to go.
He'd hesitated, to be sure, but in the end? If he'd forced that stubborn man away, all three of them would've ended up dead. What would've been the point in that case?
He cannot save everyone. This lesson Rip knows. But now, perhaps, he can save someone.
He draws near enough to almost reach, but the child moves away before his fingers find purchase. There are so many reasons why that might be: Wonderland is full of dangers, and the water dark, cold. There's every chance this child has no idea someone is attempting a rescue rather than something far more cruel and nefarious.
(Is does not occur to Rip that the child wants to die. No child should want to die.)
He tries again, ignoring the screams of his lungs, the tinges of color edging their way into his vision. He's running out of time, and so is this child. If he is to do anything it must be now.
I never got to teach him how to swim. There just never seemed to be--the time.
He is not gentle when he reaches out again, grasps an arm or a leg, wherever he can find purchase. He does not yield even when the child begins to struggle, instead pulling them firmly against his body.]
no subject
He'd hesitated, to be sure, but in the end? If he'd forced that stubborn man away, all three of them would've ended up dead. What would've been the point in that case?
He cannot save everyone. This lesson Rip knows. But now, perhaps, he can save someone.
He draws near enough to almost reach, but the child moves away before his fingers find purchase. There are so many reasons why that might be: Wonderland is full of dangers, and the water dark, cold. There's every chance this child has no idea someone is attempting a rescue rather than something far more cruel and nefarious.
(Is does not occur to Rip that the child wants to die. No child should want to die.)
He tries again, ignoring the screams of his lungs, the tinges of color edging their way into his vision. He's running out of time, and so is this child. If he is to do anything it must be now.
I never got to teach him how to swim. There just never seemed to be--the time.
He is not gentle when he reaches out again, grasps an arm or a leg, wherever he can find purchase. He does not yield even when the child begins to struggle, instead pulling them firmly against his body.]