It hadn't taken her long to realize he hadn't followed her. Shorter still for her to backtrack and chase after him. Just a quick word to Fionn had her heading his way. His larger size meant he traveled much faster than she though, so by the time she managed to catch up he is already lost amount the ruined earth of the badlands. Brittle grass and cracked earth shattered beneath her paws, just like she feared her heart would. Because this. This was strange and new and weird and not at all good. Usually it was her with the bruised feelings and damaged heart. However this spoke to something that she had done wrong, that she had failed at. What? She had little clue. However on the rare occasion he expressed himself Crixus made himself perfectly clear.

Anything with her was where he did not wish to be.

"Crixus! Crixus Wait!" she calls, her breath fogging up the air, voice and lungs straining. She barrels along, top speed too fast shit. A patch of ice, a bit of ground that had once been mud sends her careening. Completely out of control towards Crixus. Well... That certainly was one way to get to the bottom of things... It worked quite well for a metaphor for how things were going between them too. Out of control and violent.

As far as he was concerned, the little maned lioness could escort herself straight back to the pink man and throw herself at his feet instead. He hadn't a single fuck to give about what she did after he was gone, only that she needed to know he didn't. He wanted her to know that she had gone and botched things between them after professing her weird fucking feelings for him, which he had done his best to reciprocate because that's what she assumed he wanted. That hadn't been the case, however. She just wanted whoever was in front of her at the moment.

Crixus didn't answer her, but he did hear her skidding towards him. The blue lion glanced over his shoulder in time to step aside, letting her go skidding past him and off into her own fate. Funny, that. It was almost like she was dealing with the consequences of her actions and Crixus was withdrawing his assistance, wasn't it? An unintentional comparison, but one he couldn't help but make as he turned to stare blankly at the woman.

"What?"

@Pandorra

Ignoring her, shunning her, turning away, it hit like a bullet to the skull. Even as he stepped aside and she slammed into the earthen slope of a Mesa, she is looking at him. Poleaxed. Not in the good way as the term was actually often used for. There is an audible thud as she hits, and gods it hurts. But she drags herself to her feet, meeting the yellow gaze gone so fucking cold. Burning her like the pins and needles but worse. So much worse. "What? I have no idea why you are so mad at me. " she admits voice somehow small and quiet and yet loud at the same time. She doesn't know, doesn't understand what she did wrong; sure he would be annoyed by the flirting but that couldn't be it could it? Not for this level of response. She didn't know. Despite sleeping with him, traveling with him for months she has very little knowledge of him, the past, because he kept it so hidden. Never knew his thoughts because he never really spoke. "Talk to me. Tell me how to fix this." she queries, an edge in her tone now. Desperation leaking into the words, eyes wide and oh so hurt and lost and confused. Wavering, teetering above the void she had been so determined not to fall into.

Now the question was would he push or throw her a rope with which she could secure herself with? She feared it would be the former.

If Crixus were a lesser man, he likely would have scoffed in her face and walked off again. Fortunately, he was willing to hear her out before he ultimately decided what to do with the tattered remains of their friendship. That's what it was, wasn't it? A friendship. She hadn't spoken of anything more since rejecting him.

"I will not apologize for being displeased by watching you flirt with that monstrosity. I had assumed we had a relationship, but I was clearly incorrect. Why don't you flutter back to him, I'm sure he would be glad to keep you warm at night." Based off what he'd seen, anyway. Crixus scowled, lifting his lip in irritation.

"I asked you to be mine and you rejected it. I should have expected this, but I thought better of you. Not again." He was ready to cut his losses.

Her mind ran in circles, trying to parse through her actions, her words to understand what had gone wrong. Okay so he was mad at her for the flirting, that was fair enough. However as he continues, her face falls, confusion and fear warring for dominance. Why did he think they didn't have a relationship? Why did he think she was going to sleep with the man who had insulted them both? And then, he answered her question her eyes widening and then narrowing with more confusion.

When did she reject him?

"Um... but I never rejected you?" she states, the confidence in the truth of the statement there, but it was in a voice that was made small with hurt. "At least, I never meant to make you think so.... why do you think so?" she continues, quiet, rushed, words tumbling out of her mouth, chasing each other. Matching the beat of her churning, racing heart. What had she done?

There was a flash of anger behind his gaze as she spoke, nearly sheepish as she proclaimed she hasn't rejected him. "I asked you to be mine and you said we'll figure it out. That's a yes or no question, Pandora." Crixus grumbled, tempted to swing himself away and waltz off. If that wasn't rejection, he didn't know what was. He didn't know what a lot of things were, to be fair, but he knew this didn't sit right in his chest.

"And then I see you gawking at this other man -- for god's sake, make up your mind." She couldn't have it both ways. Crixus didn't want to entertain the idea she would be anything but his, but she was making that nearly impossible. "And then to tell me what to do while simultaneously telling me what not to do? No. You can't have it both ways. You're either mine or you're not. You either like me, all of me, or you don't. It's simple."

The man snarls and she shrinks. Part of her wants to kick herself for doing so, for cowering beneath the anger of her friend, but old habits and scars linger long after the wounds they stemmed from healed. Head snakes, a negative, the man misunderstanding her words in the moment, but she almost doesn't have the nerve to correct him. Almost, not quite. "Tha... that's n not at all what I m meant." she tells, stutter that she thought she had conquered returning as well. Well that was fantastic. Petite(Compared to him, to his strength) woman inhales, sucking in courage and hopefully exhaling anxiety. "I want.. I want to be yo yours. I just... didn't know what that looked like at the time. What you wanted... or needed. Thats... what I meant. We needed to figure out what all of this meant, how it would work for us, what we needed from each other, wanted too." she continues, her voice growing firmer but still not to its usual bubbly strength. Inhale. Exhale.

Inhale, exhale, fuck this really wasn't helping much. She is holding on by the very tips of her claws. Trying so godsdamned hard to cling to the edge of the void. He had never seen her fall, and, to be honest if she did, he probably wouldn't understand. She couldn't submerge beneath the trauma, couldn't let it sweep her away and her defense mechanisms run her on autopilot. A shadow of herself, going through the motions without seeing.

He deserved better. She probably deserved better, but then again... she was a horrible lioness.

"I did...I chose you." she says quietly, an unreadable, strange sort of quality in her tones now. Something of the edge, something of what she was fighting to hold back tinging her tones. "I choose you." she repeats, a broken record. Yet its all she can say when she is this close to her hell and the arms of the past nightmare are reaching, attempting to drag her down and out. "I choose you."