Firefly - Pushing the Line
Title: Pushing the Line
Rating: PG
Disclaimer: The characters and settings referred to here are not mine, they belong to Joss. No infringement is intended and no profit is made.
Summary: River, Mal, and a bug.
Author's note: I started writing this for a prompt, but it took an peculiar turn, so I'm posting it as is. Set after the movie. Thanks to geek_mama_2 for the beta!
Pushing the Line
by Hereswith
Sitting crosslegged, leaning forward, chin on her hands and her elbows on the floor, she stares at it, the shiny black bug settled in front of her. She could catch it and study it closer, examine the parts, but catching is holding and trapping, not free, so she doesn’t.
“Are you lost?” she asks, tone conversational. “I was lost. The world seemed so big it could swallow me, tip of my head to my toes.” A jointed limb is raised, waved in the air, but she can’t sense an answer, only a whispering tickle of life. “It’s smaller now,” she adds. “I almost fit.”
“Who’s that you’re talking to?”
The captain’s voice, sounding deeper, louder than hers, and the captain’s weighted, booted steps. The insect wings up with a whirr, a chitinous gleam, disappearing behind the crates.
Stretching, she says, “A bug.”
“Should’ve stomped on it, you’re quick enough,” he replies and halts beside her, arms crossed, looking down. But she wrinkles her nose and he adds, lighter, “Talked back, did it?”
She’s silent, can’t quite decide, but then she turns her face to him, all serious, unblinking innocence. “Yes. Secrets slip in between, through the pipes, if you listen. It told me everything.”
His eyes widen, rounding for less than a second, she’s counting, before they narrow, alert with accusation. “You’re having me on.”
It isn’t a question, he’s certain, and she claps in delight. “You’re learning.”
It doesn’t clear his brow. He mutters, “Ain’t your pet dog, you know.”
“I know.” Corners of her mouth up and this is fun, bait and tease, pushing the line to see how far she can go, how far he’ll let her. “But you’re still a good boy.”
She’s on her feet before he reacts, dancing around and away, her skirt flaring, printed flowers spreading leaves and petals wide.
He calls after her, “Watch it, you!” and he isn’t pleased, no, but not angry angry, and she twirls again, she smiles and says, “I always do.”
Rating: PG
Disclaimer: The characters and settings referred to here are not mine, they belong to Joss. No infringement is intended and no profit is made.
Summary: River, Mal, and a bug.
Author's note: I started writing this for a prompt, but it took an peculiar turn, so I'm posting it as is. Set after the movie. Thanks to geek_mama_2 for the beta!
Pushing the Line
by Hereswith
Sitting crosslegged, leaning forward, chin on her hands and her elbows on the floor, she stares at it, the shiny black bug settled in front of her. She could catch it and study it closer, examine the parts, but catching is holding and trapping, not free, so she doesn’t.
“Are you lost?” she asks, tone conversational. “I was lost. The world seemed so big it could swallow me, tip of my head to my toes.” A jointed limb is raised, waved in the air, but she can’t sense an answer, only a whispering tickle of life. “It’s smaller now,” she adds. “I almost fit.”
“Who’s that you’re talking to?”
The captain’s voice, sounding deeper, louder than hers, and the captain’s weighted, booted steps. The insect wings up with a whirr, a chitinous gleam, disappearing behind the crates.
Stretching, she says, “A bug.”
“Should’ve stomped on it, you’re quick enough,” he replies and halts beside her, arms crossed, looking down. But she wrinkles her nose and he adds, lighter, “Talked back, did it?”
She’s silent, can’t quite decide, but then she turns her face to him, all serious, unblinking innocence. “Yes. Secrets slip in between, through the pipes, if you listen. It told me everything.”
His eyes widen, rounding for less than a second, she’s counting, before they narrow, alert with accusation. “You’re having me on.”
It isn’t a question, he’s certain, and she claps in delight. “You’re learning.”
It doesn’t clear his brow. He mutters, “Ain’t your pet dog, you know.”
“I know.” Corners of her mouth up and this is fun, bait and tease, pushing the line to see how far she can go, how far he’ll let her. “But you’re still a good boy.”
She’s on her feet before he reacts, dancing around and away, her skirt flaring, printed flowers spreading leaves and petals wide.
He calls after her, “Watch it, you!” and he isn’t pleased, no, but not angry angry, and she twirls again, she smiles and says, “I always do.”