Parallel
Totally the fault of kiarasayre for suggesting River/Atlantis. I've no idea where the Inara/Weir came from.
Atlantis is nothing like Serenity and exactly the same.
Serenity she could talk to, could be, but Atlantis talks back with whispers that are crystal windchimes in her brain as it tells her secrets like fairy tales like memories. Tells her about the girl in a box who stayed frozen until she was an old woman, about the monsters with evil hands that never come in just twos, about the simple farmers from a simple world who steal her people away to hurt them with lies and threats from poison lips. There's medicine for Simon to learn and practice and teach, stubborn determination like Mal never surrendered, loyalty that could make Zoe cry. Beauty for Kaylee, faith for Book, guns for Jayne, a pretty-polite-hygienic-educated-veryverystresssed-woman-in-charge for Inara. There's math so intricate it's like filigree fractals and there's family like she never dreamed existed outside a Firefly's hull.
It's not all sea breeze and fresh food, she knows. There's a war, good people fighting and dying for freedom from an alliance of reavers. But they're big damn heroes to the bone, every one of them, and they'll never give up just because they're outnumbered.
She realizes she's dancing to the chimes, celebrating a 'verse that had places for them all. She wonders what the others will do when they figure it all out and if there's a way Atlantis can make sure she's there when Wash finds out about the planet full of dinosaurs.
Atlantis is nothing like Serenity and exactly the same.
Serenity she could talk to, could be, but Atlantis talks back with whispers that are crystal windchimes in her brain as it tells her secrets like fairy tales like memories. Tells her about the girl in a box who stayed frozen until she was an old woman, about the monsters with evil hands that never come in just twos, about the simple farmers from a simple world who steal her people away to hurt them with lies and threats from poison lips. There's medicine for Simon to learn and practice and teach, stubborn determination like Mal never surrendered, loyalty that could make Zoe cry. Beauty for Kaylee, faith for Book, guns for Jayne, a pretty-polite-hygienic-educated-veryverystresssed-woman-in-charge for Inara. There's math so intricate it's like filigree fractals and there's family like she never dreamed existed outside a Firefly's hull.
It's not all sea breeze and fresh food, she knows. There's a war, good people fighting and dying for freedom from an alliance of reavers. But they're big damn heroes to the bone, every one of them, and they'll never give up just because they're outnumbered.
She realizes she's dancing to the chimes, celebrating a 'verse that had places for them all. She wonders what the others will do when they figure it all out and if there's a way Atlantis can make sure she's there when Wash finds out about the planet full of dinosaurs.