Jayne and the Horror of Telekinesis
Title: Jayne and the Horror of Telekinesis
Prompt: #12 Horror
Rating: PG
Word Count: 683
Title: Jayne and the Horror of Telekinesis
Prompt: #12 Horror
Author: Cricket
Disclaimer: I’m just playing with Joss’ toys, but I promise to put them back when I’m done
Rating: PG
Word Count: 683
Note: Inspired by nutmeg610's wonderful suggestion :)
Jayne watched in horror as the small, thin teenage girl on the cortex screen mercilessly killed her classmates, tossing things around the gymnasium with just a blink of her eyes and the will of her mind, all the while coated head to toe in sticky red pig’s blood. The girl’s stringy hair and wide frightened eyes seemed all too familiar and the striking similarity pulled an uncomfortable question to the forefront of his thoughts. He thought she’d just been trying to scare him, but what if their own resident crazy girl really could kill them with her brain?
She probably wouldn’t kill her brother, he thought ruefully, and River would never hurt Kaylee, she was like a sister to the girl after all. Inara was always trying to take care of her and would probably be safe, as would Wash; the only emotion he’d ever shown towards her was amusement. Whenever River’s sanity was questioned, Book was there to defend her, and though she thought the preacher’s hair was frightening, he didn’t think she’d end the old man over it. Mal and Zoë treated the girl well enough despite their suspicions about her and that certainly was no call to go murdering them.
And that only left himself, the one who teased her, just as the girls in the movie had taunted their telekinetic classmate. Hell, just this morning he’d made a crack about how close the siblings were, insinuating a little more than brotherly and sisterly relations between the two. The girl had glared daggers at him all day until he could practically feel the weight of her eyes burning into his skin. When he sat down and thought about it, she had all the reason in the ‘verse to knock him off. He knew it was a mistake now and would never do it again, but he had tried to sell River and Simon to the feds and it would be just his luck if the girl was holding a grudge about it.
He didn’t realize how tightly he was holding the armrests of the chair until his fingers started to ache from the tension. He loosened his white knuckled grip and tried to push away the fear that was creeping in to him. As the closing credits of the movie scrolled by, Jayne turned off the cortex screen and slipped through the darkened hallways, past the slumbering crew’s quarters up to the bridge.
River sat in the pilot’s seat staring out at the black star speckled sky. She looked too small to do a man like him any damage, but Jayne knew what she was capable of. The girl was deadly, dangerous and none too balanced and that there was a combination for unpleasantness. She turned her head and looked at him where he stood in the shadows of the doorway, a look of mild curiosity on her face.
“Jayne?” The mercenary coming to visit her on the bridge was unusual to say the least. The man barely talked to her, except to insult her or her brother, and generally didn’t like being in the same room with her. Voluntarily being alone in the room with her was so out of character even her heightened intuitive senses hadn’t seen it coming.
He looked startled to hear her voice and his eyes darted around the room as if he was expecting something to come flying at him out of the shadows.
“Just come to say goodnight…River.” The name tasted foreign in his mouth, but if he was going to get himself into the girl’s good graces he figured using her name would be as good a start as any.
She bid him goodnight and watched him curiously as he dropped down into his bunk.
Before sleep took over Jayne’s body and mind, he made a mental list of several things he could do make River not want him dead. He was a survivalist at heart and would do just about anything to keep the soul in his body, even if that meant being nice to a crazy little thing like her.
Prompt: #12 Horror
Rating: PG
Word Count: 683
Title: Jayne and the Horror of Telekinesis
Prompt: #12 Horror
Author: Cricket
Disclaimer: I’m just playing with Joss’ toys, but I promise to put them back when I’m done
Rating: PG
Word Count: 683
Note: Inspired by nutmeg610's wonderful suggestion :)
Jayne watched in horror as the small, thin teenage girl on the cortex screen mercilessly killed her classmates, tossing things around the gymnasium with just a blink of her eyes and the will of her mind, all the while coated head to toe in sticky red pig’s blood. The girl’s stringy hair and wide frightened eyes seemed all too familiar and the striking similarity pulled an uncomfortable question to the forefront of his thoughts. He thought she’d just been trying to scare him, but what if their own resident crazy girl really could kill them with her brain?
She probably wouldn’t kill her brother, he thought ruefully, and River would never hurt Kaylee, she was like a sister to the girl after all. Inara was always trying to take care of her and would probably be safe, as would Wash; the only emotion he’d ever shown towards her was amusement. Whenever River’s sanity was questioned, Book was there to defend her, and though she thought the preacher’s hair was frightening, he didn’t think she’d end the old man over it. Mal and Zoë treated the girl well enough despite their suspicions about her and that certainly was no call to go murdering them.
And that only left himself, the one who teased her, just as the girls in the movie had taunted their telekinetic classmate. Hell, just this morning he’d made a crack about how close the siblings were, insinuating a little more than brotherly and sisterly relations between the two. The girl had glared daggers at him all day until he could practically feel the weight of her eyes burning into his skin. When he sat down and thought about it, she had all the reason in the ‘verse to knock him off. He knew it was a mistake now and would never do it again, but he had tried to sell River and Simon to the feds and it would be just his luck if the girl was holding a grudge about it.
He didn’t realize how tightly he was holding the armrests of the chair until his fingers started to ache from the tension. He loosened his white knuckled grip and tried to push away the fear that was creeping in to him. As the closing credits of the movie scrolled by, Jayne turned off the cortex screen and slipped through the darkened hallways, past the slumbering crew’s quarters up to the bridge.
River sat in the pilot’s seat staring out at the black star speckled sky. She looked too small to do a man like him any damage, but Jayne knew what she was capable of. The girl was deadly, dangerous and none too balanced and that there was a combination for unpleasantness. She turned her head and looked at him where he stood in the shadows of the doorway, a look of mild curiosity on her face.
“Jayne?” The mercenary coming to visit her on the bridge was unusual to say the least. The man barely talked to her, except to insult her or her brother, and generally didn’t like being in the same room with her. Voluntarily being alone in the room with her was so out of character even her heightened intuitive senses hadn’t seen it coming.
He looked startled to hear her voice and his eyes darted around the room as if he was expecting something to come flying at him out of the shadows.
“Just come to say goodnight…River.” The name tasted foreign in his mouth, but if he was going to get himself into the girl’s good graces he figured using her name would be as good a start as any.
She bid him goodnight and watched him curiously as he dropped down into his bunk.
Before sleep took over Jayne’s body and mind, he made a mental list of several things he could do make River not want him dead. He was a survivalist at heart and would do just about anything to keep the soul in his body, even if that meant being nice to a crazy little thing like her.