drabble meme: John and River
cidercupakes asked for John and River; she got an outtake from Blessings. Let's say it's set between Xu Landing and Xinwuwei Port.
A break in, with the promise of cake:
John gets back to Adelaide late, tireder than he'd hoped, thinks he'll kick off his boots and sleep 'til noon. But no luck: the seal on the hatch's been broken, and there's a crossbow bolt lying in two pieces just outside it. He listens as he bends down to touch it. No blood. The salt line's intact, as well.
When he straightens up he's got a gun in his hand and something like a smile on his face; he's as quiet as he can be, the few steps through the hold and up to the quarters. At the hatch he presses back against the wall, waits a beat -- if it's Zoe in there he's gonna be mightily embarrassed, but embarrassed is better than dead any day -- before kicking it open and bursting through, gun-first. What he sees is shape: long legs and arms, body too high -- a moment of vertigo, thinking not on the ceiling, not fire -- and then she drops and his brain kicks in and he pulls back his arm, rocks back on his feet, pulled off-balance by his own damn body. "River," he says, once his brain catches up. The weapon-girl, but she's standing there all big young eyes, looking like that Reynolds never gives her enough to eat. "What're you doing here?"
"I only had enough pieces for the border and the sky," she says. John tucks the gun away and rubs a hand over his face; he's sure Sam never talked like that, even at his worst. "I forgot you see it everywhere."
"Hunh." He glances through the room: she's been at the file he was working on, that's clear enough. Anything else will have to wait until he's got time alone to go through the rest. "Ain't it late for you to be out on your own?" Serenity must've landed while he was working, and now he'll have to walk her back there, which might have one or two compensations of its own, now he thinks of it.
"My father told me that were-creatures were just a story." He gives her a sharp look, at that: there's nothing in the file there to say what it was, just a handful of memorial notices and the sketch of a family tree, half gone from the were-cat working through it. "Is anything just a story?"
It's on the tip of his tongue to say, well, he ain't never seen an angel, but he bites it back. "Knew a man on Persephone who said he'd seen a dragon," he says instead. "Reckon he was lying, though."
"Oh." She sounds sad to hear it.
"Won't your people be looking for you?" he asks.
She shakes her head. "I said I wouldn't wander." He must look skeptical, because she adds, "I left my blanket wrapped around a pile of clothes. And I would've snuck out before you saw me, but I forgot. People don't usually look up."
"No," he says. "No, I suppose they don't."
She lets him be quiet a long moment before she steps forward. "Kaylee made protein cake," she says, "but this time there was real sugar for the icing, and nobody almost died." She holds a hand out to him. "There's half of it left."
She's too much of a puzzle for him, tired as he is: too young and too knowing. He takes her hand and lets her lead him back out into the darkness.
end
And now to bed -- I should have been asleep an hour ago!
A break in, with the promise of cake:
John gets back to Adelaide late, tireder than he'd hoped, thinks he'll kick off his boots and sleep 'til noon. But no luck: the seal on the hatch's been broken, and there's a crossbow bolt lying in two pieces just outside it. He listens as he bends down to touch it. No blood. The salt line's intact, as well.
When he straightens up he's got a gun in his hand and something like a smile on his face; he's as quiet as he can be, the few steps through the hold and up to the quarters. At the hatch he presses back against the wall, waits a beat -- if it's Zoe in there he's gonna be mightily embarrassed, but embarrassed is better than dead any day -- before kicking it open and bursting through, gun-first. What he sees is shape: long legs and arms, body too high -- a moment of vertigo, thinking not on the ceiling, not fire -- and then she drops and his brain kicks in and he pulls back his arm, rocks back on his feet, pulled off-balance by his own damn body. "River," he says, once his brain catches up. The weapon-girl, but she's standing there all big young eyes, looking like that Reynolds never gives her enough to eat. "What're you doing here?"
"I only had enough pieces for the border and the sky," she says. John tucks the gun away and rubs a hand over his face; he's sure Sam never talked like that, even at his worst. "I forgot you see it everywhere."
"Hunh." He glances through the room: she's been at the file he was working on, that's clear enough. Anything else will have to wait until he's got time alone to go through the rest. "Ain't it late for you to be out on your own?" Serenity must've landed while he was working, and now he'll have to walk her back there, which might have one or two compensations of its own, now he thinks of it.
"My father told me that were-creatures were just a story." He gives her a sharp look, at that: there's nothing in the file there to say what it was, just a handful of memorial notices and the sketch of a family tree, half gone from the were-cat working through it. "Is anything just a story?"
It's on the tip of his tongue to say, well, he ain't never seen an angel, but he bites it back. "Knew a man on Persephone who said he'd seen a dragon," he says instead. "Reckon he was lying, though."
"Oh." She sounds sad to hear it.
"Won't your people be looking for you?" he asks.
She shakes her head. "I said I wouldn't wander." He must look skeptical, because she adds, "I left my blanket wrapped around a pile of clothes. And I would've snuck out before you saw me, but I forgot. People don't usually look up."
"No," he says. "No, I suppose they don't."
She lets him be quiet a long moment before she steps forward. "Kaylee made protein cake," she says, "but this time there was real sugar for the icing, and nobody almost died." She holds a hand out to him. "There's half of it left."
She's too much of a puzzle for him, tired as he is: too young and too knowing. He takes her hand and lets her lead him back out into the darkness.
end
And now to bed -- I should have been asleep an hour ago!