FIC: Different Eyes 3/6
Sep. 24th, 2005 04:11 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
mhalachaiDifferent Eyes part 3/6
by Mhalachai
Rating: PG
Spoilers: All of Firefly, same for Anita Blake.
Disclaimer: Joss Whedon and Mutant Enemy own all things Firefly. Laurell K. Hamilton owns all things Anita Blake. I am but borrowing the characters for a brief time and shall return them intact at the end.
Summary: Serenity gets four new passengers and, as usual, things are not as they seem.
~~. Part One .~~ ~~. Part Two .~~ ~~. Part Three .~~ ~~. Part Four .~~ ~~. Part Five .~~ ~~. Part Six .~~
~~*~~
Kaylee's attention was drawn up from the layout of mechanical specs in front of her by a young voice. "What kind of music did they dance to at the ball?" Ashley demanded when his daddy finished the story.
Nathaniel put the book down. "What ball?"
"When they got made kings and queens," Ashley said. He got up on his knees in the chair and turned to River, still sitting across the table. "Do you think they had music to dance to?"
"Yes," River said dreamily, her eyes half-closed as they had been throughout the story. "The angels always have music."
She was probably right, Kaylee thought. Even when things were really bad back home, no work and no money, someone had always been singing. It never got too bad for her momma to sing her to sleep.
"What's this about music?" Anita's voice came up the stairs. A second later, she and Richard appeared.
Kaylee looked back down at her specs. No matter what she'd said to Simon earlier, it was a whole lot of weird that Anita had these two men with her. They'd all slept in the same bed. Did they all have sex at one time?
"What kind of music did they dance to in Narnia?" Ashley asked, jumping off his chair and running to his momma. She swung him up into her arms.
"You don't need music to dance," Anita said.
"Do too!"
"Do not!" Anita teased. "I'll show you." She shifted Ashley around on her hip until she could hold him with one arm, and held out her free hand. "Might I have this dance?"
Ashley giggled as his momma swung them around the kitchen area in a formal dance, like Kaylee had seen at that fancy party on Persephone. As mother and son danced, Kaylee realized it was the first time that she'd seen Anita smile. It made her look a whole lot younger.
River stared longingly at the dancing pair, her eyes following every movement of Anita's feet. Richard slowly came over to her side. "Would you like to dance?" he asked River.
The girl looked up at him, a faint bit of colour in her cheeks. "I'm not her," she said.
Richard held out his hand. "I know who you're not," he said. "One dance?"
River stood up, not meeting his eyes. Once they stepped away from the table, Richard placed one hand on River's waist, and took her hand up in his. There was a lot of distance between the pair. "I might break the music," River warned.
Richard gently pulled on River's hand and began a silent dance. "I won't tell if you don't," he responded.
Kaylee watched them, Anita and Ashley's giggling a stark contrast to the solemness of River and Richard. The pairs danced around each other effortlessly, gracefully. They were wearing slightly scruffy clothes, dancing around a dingy room that had seen better days, but in that moment, they were all beautiful.
"How about you?" Nathaniel murmured next to Kaylee. "Want to go for a spin?"
Kaylee looked down at her papers for a long moment. "Sure," she said brightly as she pushed the papers back and stood up.
Nathaniel smiled at her, that knee-weakening smile, and took her offered hand. When they were finally spinning around the table, there was only a little bit of distance between them, nothing like the formal posture of River and Richard. Nathaniel's shoulder was muscular and defined under Kaylee's hand, and she found it a bit hard to think clearly, with the heat of his body so warm. He even smelled good.
After a particularly intricate turn and dip that left Kaylee breathless with laughing, she heard a familiar voice behind her. "Might I cut in?"
She turned her head to see Simon standing there. She was still trying to find some words when Nathaniel said, "Of course," and spun her into Simon's arms.
Simon gave a little half-smile as he took up her hand and hesitantly led her into a dance. He wasn't very good at it, Kaylee thought, but he seemed to want to do it. With her.
She still wasn't sure what had happened earlier that morning, when they'd been doing the dishes. All of a sudden, she wanted to rip off Simon's clothes and jump his bones right there in the kitchen. Sure, those were thoughts she had sometimes, but not as impulses so strong she had to ball her fists up to stop herself. Even thinking about it was a bit awkward. But he couldn't have known what she wanted, right? Not if he was dancing with her like this.
A high-pitched squeal made Kaylee look around. Anita had dipped Ashley so far down his head almost touched the ground, then pulled him back up again. They were both laughing as they completed the dip.
Then, as quick as thought, Anita froze, her smile wiped clean off her face. In its place was a blank expression that chilled Kaylee to the bone.
"Mommy?" Ashley asked in a tiny scared voice.
River let out a whimper and stepped away from Richard. Kaylee wasn't sure what to do, when the Captain's voice came over the intercom, as intense as she ever heard him. "Kaylee! Get to the engine room, I need all we got, now!"
Kaylee pulled out of Simon's embrace and took off for the engine room. As she passed River, she could finally make out what the girl was repeating frantically under her breath.
"Reavers, Reavers, Reavers..."
~~*~~
Zoe gripped the back of Wash's chair hard as her husband manoeuvred Serenity, trying to outrun the Reaver ship. The ship had come from out of nowhere and was almost on them. It would have caught them, too, if Wash hadn't been flying so fast.
The Captain was shouting orders at Jayne, who for once wasn't arguing. Zoe listened to the orders, but the familiar routine of following orders didn't make the panic in her head go away, or the pounding of her heart in her chest. If the Reavers caught them....
"Zoe!" The Captain yelled. "Get as many as you can, go make a barricade in the hold. They'll probably try and come through the main door, once they get us in their grapplers."
Zoe knew what she had to do, but still she hesitated. She didn't want to leave Wash like this, didn't want to die without him. Didn't want to die.
Then let him fly, and you go do your job, she thought sternly to herself. It was the hardest thing she'd ever had to do, but she made herself turn and run down the hall to the kitchen, almost colliding with the Shepard as he came up the stairs from the hold.
Simon was attempting to calm down his frantic sister. The new passengers stood in a huddle, the boy in his mother's arms. As Zoe looked around the room, Inara came up the stairs from the passenger area.
"We've got Reavers on our tail," Zoe said, concentrating on appearing calm. "I need help to put up a barricade in the hold, to give us a last chance."
"Can we use my shuttle to get some of us away?" Inara asked, gripping a chair back with white fingers.
"They're too close," Zoe replied. "If a shuttle leaves, they may go after it. We make a stand here."
"What about weapons?" Richard asked.
Zoe made a decision. "Jayne's up on the bridge. He's coordinating weapons. Go help him."
Richard squeezed Anita's shoulder and headed down the hall. Anita's eyes followed the man as he left.
"As the for the rest of us, we need to move," Zoe said. Book nodded at her and he and Inara went for the stairs.
Nathaniel kissed Anita on the cheek. "I'm going with them," he told her, placing a hand on his son's back. Anita nodded slowly, then turned and walked stiffly toward the passenger dorm.
Zoe didn't have time to argue with them, so she let Anita go. She didn't want to say it, but if Reavers got the ship, it wouldn't matter where they were on the ship. They'd all die.
"Simon, we need your help," Zoe said, going with Nathaniel to the stairs.
"But River--"
"Will die like the rest of us if we don't do something!" Zoe said, keeping the edge of panic out of her voice. She had a job to do, orders to follow. "Leave her!"
Looking as mutinous as he ever had, Simon let go of River's arms and followed Zoe. In the hold, Book and Inara were already moving boxes around. Nathaniel swiftly joined them and started lifting. He must have been a lot stronger than he looked, Zoe thought as he lifted a box she knew to be heavy, all on his own.
Book knew what he was doing, and Zoe let him tell people where to place the boxes. It wouldn't really matter, once the Reavers got in. The air was thick with silent fear, but everyone kept working, as if their actions would somehow make a difference. They were a rag-tag bunch; a preacher, a fugitive doctor, a Companion, but they didn't give up, didn't panic. They were a good crew. They didn't deserve to die like this.
Serenity shuddered and veered so sharply that Zoe almost lost her footing. Far overhead in the kitchen, River began screaming.
Simon dropped the end of the box he was lifting with Nathaniel, and Zoe had to grab Simon's arm to stop him. "She needs help!" Simon shouted.
"Leave her!" Zoe shouted back. "That's an order!"
Jayne and Richard clattered down the stairs, each carrying a pile of weapons. "What's that goram girl screeching over?" Jayne asked gruffly as he began laying the guns on top of the boxes they'd use for cover.
The ship shuddered again and then evened out, and River stopped screaming. The engines' hum reached an almost painful whine.
Zoe grabbed a gun and began checking the ammunition. She didn't know what was happening up there, but she was waiting for that final impact, when the Reavers' magnetic grapplers grabbed Serenity. Until that happened, they still had a chance.
River skipped onto the ramp at the top of the hold, seeming so carefree that Zoe was half tempted to shoot her. "The dead things came," River announced, stepping up on the railing. "We have to turn."
"What are you talking about?" Simon asked.
"The ship." River raised her eyebrows, and her voice lost its childish inflection. "The ship is going to blow up."
"What?" Simon demanded, but Zoe was already moving. She knew River wasn't talking about Serenity. She also knew River could not possibly know what she did, but if there was any chance...
She punched the intercom. "Captain! River says the Reaver ship is going to blow up."
The sound from the intercom crackled. "They stopped matching our moves," came the Captain's voice. "But if they blow, we're still too close." He swore loudly. "Wash, turn us around, now!"
"Hold on to something," Wash said distantly. That was all the warning they got, before Serenity lurched again. The gravity dampeners held, but the momentum caught everyone. Jayne crashed into a stack of boxes, and the top box flew off the pile and struck Book on the head. The Shepherd dropped like a stone.
Nathaniel and Richard were there, lifting the box off the bleeding man, and Simon was at his side a moment later. "He's not dead," Simon said after a moment. "Just a glancing blow, broke the skin."
"Captain?" Zoe said over the intercom.
There was a moment of silence. "They're not following us," the Captain said. Another pause, then an exclamation.
Wash swore as well. "They exploded!" he said. "The goram Reaver ship blew up!"
Zoe let go of the intercom, her knees weak. If Wash hadn't seen the Reaver ship in time.... if River hadn't known the ship would explode...
"I need help in getting him to the infirmary," Simon said, looking at Zoe expectantly.
She would break down later, when there was no one to see. "Jayne, you and Richard get those guns away," Zoe ordered. "Inara, see to River." She went to Book's side.
"I can carry him," Nathaniel said.
Zoe was about to object, that Book was on her ship, that she'd be the one to carry him, when Simon spoke up. "With the potential of a neck injury, it's going to take three of us."
Zoe nodded at the doctor. She'd seen Nathaniel lift those boxes, he was strong, she admitted to herself. He could help her carry one man to the infirmary.
Everyone dispersed, leaving the remains of the pitiful barrier behind. Zoe carried Book's feet, while Nathaniel carried the weight of his upper body and Simon cradled his neck. The awkward procession made it without incident to the infirmary, where Simon began to bustle about, not even paying attention to Zoe or Nathaniel.
"Can we help?" Zoe asked.
"No, not right now," Simon said, running a scanner over Book's neck. "He looks fine, just knocked out. Possible concussion. I don't need any assistance."
Zoe took a step back, a shiver running down her spine. "Let me know if you do," she said before escaping the infirmary, Nathaniel close behind her.
In the hall, Nathaniel gave her a weak smile. "Is life out here always so interesting?" he asked.
"Yes," Zoe said shortly. She pushed her hair back out of her face. A flash of red caught her eye, and she realized she had blood on her arm.
Nathaniel sniffed at the air. "You should get the doctor to look at that," he said, worry on his beautiful face.
"It's just a scratch," Zoe said. The stinging of the cut was slight, and the blood had already stopped flowing. She'd had a lot worse.
However, if anything, her answer didn't reassure Nathaniel. "If not you, then..." his voice tapered off as he slowly turned around, as if in a nightmare.
Not understanding what he was talking about, Zoe looked past the young man. The hallway was still. Zoe barely had the time to wonder where Anita and her son were before she noticed the blood, moving thick and fast over the floor.
Years of training took over, and Zoe was running toward the blood before she thought. She turned around the corner, stepping over the blood on the floor, and jerked to a stop.
In the new passengers' room, Anita lay on the floor, unmoving and pale as death. Her son, covered in blood, had his tiny hands over her wrist. Ashley looked up when Zoe stopped in the doorway, his terrified eyes huge in his face.
"Tyen shiao-duh," Zoe breathed, dropping to her knees beside the boy. She pulled his hands off Anita's wrist, to see a long cut in Anita's flesh under the blood, so very close to the artery. "Simon!" she shouted into the hall.
Nathaniel tore into the room and pushed Zoe away from Anita so hard that she fell to the ground. He grabbed a piece of cloth off the bed and pressed it against Anita's wrist, then yanked her arm up above her head. "Get away from her!" he exclaimed, almost as white as Anita.
"I'm trying to help her!" Zoe retorted, but Nathaniel looked so panicked that she stayed on the other side of the small room.
Ashley had pressed himself back into a corner, watching the scene silently. He put his hands over his mouth as Nathaniel lifted Anita into a sitting position, keeping her arm elevated over her heart. Anita's head lolled back, her eyes half open. She still had to be alive, Zoe thought, watching for the slight movement of her chest from her breathing.
"Richard!" Nathaniel yelled. He wedged Anita against the bed and patted her cheek with his free hand. "Come on, Anita, please don't do this," he whispered. "You need to stay with me, please."
Simon came around the corner. He took a sharp breath at the scene, and tried to kneel next to Anita, but Nathaniel pushed him away. "She needs a doctor!" Simon said forcefully.
"She doesn't need you!" Nathaniel said frantically. He looked over Simon's shoulder as Richard crowed into the doorway. The tall man's jaw dropped in shock.
"Nathaniel, let the doctor help her," Richard said firmly. He gripped the edge of the door so hard that the metal bent under his fingers. "How--"
"We need to get her to the infirmary," Simon interrupted. "She's lost a lot of blood."
Nathaniel lifted Anita effortlessly and almost ran out of the room. Richard stood back to let Nathaniel and Simon out, then hesitated. He looked at Ashley, still cowering in the corner, then at Zoe, panic and worry visible on his face.
"I've got him," Zoe said, understanding what Richard was silently asking. Richard jerked his head in a nod, then vanished.
Zoe turned to Ashley, who was still staring at the place on the ground where his mother had been. When he didn't react, she crawled across the floor to him, wincing at the pain in her shoulder.
"Ashley?" she asked. She could handle screaming soldiers any day, but she didn't know what to do with a kid. "Can you hear me?"
The boy didn't respond. Zoe reached out and gently took his blood-covered hands away from his mouth. He let her lift him to his feet before he looked at her. "Is mommy dead?" he whispered. Zoe had seldom heard a more heartbreaking sound.
"No, mommy's not dead," Zoe said forcefully, and smiled reassuringly. "The doctor and your daddy are going to get her all fixed up, good as new."
The boy looked down at the floor. At first, Zoe thought he was staring at all the blood, then she realized that he was looking at a small knife. She hadn't seen it at first because it was coated in blood.
She had to get him out of there. Getting to her feet, she picked the child up around the middle and left the room. The boy didn't show any signs of life until they passed the infirmary, and he saw his mother lying on the bed in the centre of the room. He began to squirm in Zoe's arms. It was all she could do to hold on to him. She thought about telling him to stop, but instead concentrated on getting up the steps into the kitchen, away from infirmary.
Once they were up the steps, Ashley stopped fighting. He lay limp in Zoe's arms until they reached the kitchen, when Zoe sat him down on the kitchen table and pulled up a chair in front of him. "Now, let's have a look at you," she said. She needed to make sure that all of this blood covering him was his mother's, and that the child was not injured.
Ashley let Zoe feel along his arms and legs, then pat over his stomach and chest. He kept his eyes on her face the entire time.
"All good," Zoe said, then wanted to kick herself. How could she say that, when the boy had watched his mother try to suicide in front of him? Pushing the boy's silky hair off his forehead, Zoe asked, "Do you want to tell me what happened?"
Ashley shrugged and touched the end of her necklace. She let him play with the leather for a few minutes. "Mommy told me I had to be quiet," he finally said, his voice no higher than a whisper. "She said she had to make the bad men go away."
"Did she say how?" Zoe asked, picking up a napkin on the table and dipping it into a puddle of water on the table, from a tipped-over glass.
Ashley shook his head.
Zoe washed the blood off Ashley's mouth, then rewet the cloth. "How did you know to put pressure on the wound like that?" she asked as Inara walked into the room. The Companion's eyes went wide at Ashley's appearance, but at a look from Zoe, remained silent.
"Mommy showed me." Ashley pulled up his pant leg and pointed at a fresh scar on his knee. "I fell and got a cut. Mommy pushed on it, and it hurt, but it made the blood stop." He looked at Zoe with very serious eyes. "Did I do right?"
"Of course you did," Zoe said hastily. "That was the best thing for a cut." She went back to washing Ashley's hands, anger at Anita growing inside her chest. What kind of a woman tried to kill herself with her baby son watching? What kind of woman would slice up her wrists, leaving a boy defenceless against Reavers?
Mal came down the steps from the hallway, Jayne right behind him. He frowned at Zoe. "Doctor told us what's going on," the Captain said. "How's everyone else?"
"We're good," Zoe said. She gave Ashley's hands one final wipe.
Mal nodded. Jayne made a noise in the back of his throat. "Some kind of coward, tries to off herself before Reavers come on board," Jayne said, sounding disgusted.
"Jayne!" the Captain said in a threatening voice, but it was too late. Ashley bounced to his feet on the tabletop and pulled himself up to his full height, little hands balled into fists.
"You take that back!" the boy shouted. "My mommy's not a coward!" Jayne looked surprised, as if he hadn't realized the boy would hear him. Ashley was the closest to tears Zoe had ever seen him. "Take it back!"
"Ashley," came a new voice. Richard came into the room at a quick walk and scooped the boy off the table. "Stop."
"He called mommy a coward!" Ashley said hotly, glaring daggers at Jayne.
"It doesn't matter what he said," Richard said. "Mommy wants to see you now."
The boy whipped his head around, anger gone. "Is she okay?" he asked.
Richard nodded. "She's going to be just fine."
Ashley wrapped his arms tight around Richard's neck, and buried his face in the man's shoulder. Richard gave Zoe a nod of thanks, then headed for the stairs.
"I just meant that any--" Jayne started, making Zoe heartily wish she could just shoot the son of a bitch.
"Shut your mouth, or I will shut it for you," Mal said, voice low and even. Jayne stopped talking.
Richard faced Jayne, one hand steadying on Ashley's back. "I agree with you," Richard said, shocking everyone in the room. "Any woman who would kill herself out of fear of Reavers, and leaving her child defenceless, would be a coward." He then continued down the hall.
"What happened here?" Inara said, breaking the silence.
The Captain turned around. "Jayne, get out of my face, now," he said, glaring at the other man. Without a word, Jayne stomped off down the hall toward his bunk.
Zoe stood up and pushed her chair against the table, hoping the movement hid the tremor in her hands. Slowly, she explained to Inara what she had seen, down below. During the story, River drifted into the room, spinning lightly on the balls of her feet.
When Zoe finished, the Captain crossed his arms over his chest. "None of this seems right," he grumbled. "Wouldn't have figured Anita for a woman who'd leave her son for Reavers, do you, Zoe?"
"No, sir." Zoe was tempted to say that she suspected Anita would be waiting, knife at her son's throat, waiting until the last minute to spare her son death at Reavers' hands, but she held her tongue.
"She made the bad men go away," River said, stopping at the table and touching the bloody handprints on the tabletop.
"What?" the Captain asked.
River raised her fingers to stare at the blood. "She let the skins have one last chance at vengeance," the odd girl explained. "She let them kill one last time."
A terrible, horrible idea rose in Zoe's head, and she tried to push it away. The Reavers sewed bits of their victims' skin into their clothes. It sounded like River meant... but no. That was impossible, as impossible as walking free in space with no suit.
The Captain shook his head. "I'm going to talk to them," he said to no one in particular.
"Do you need me to go with you?" Zoe asked. All she wanted to do was lie down and shake, but she'd always do her job before letting her own weaknesses come to the fore.
"No," Mal said. "Why don't you go see if Wash needs any help."
Her husband needed no help to pilot the ship, and they both knew it. Didn't matter, though. The rush of relief was overwhelming. "Yes, sir."
Anything to get away from these memories of useless blood and horrible nightmare-inducing stories from little girls.
~~*~~
Simon steadied the bag of liquid by Anita's arm, bumping into Nathaniel as he did so. The young man insisted on touching Anita, almost to the point of indecency in an infirmary. Simon would have kicked him out, but the second Nathaniel stopped touching Anita, her vital signs had dropped like a stone. She must have unconsciously registered Nathaniel's presence, Simon told himself, but he let the young man be.
Richard had just left to get the child. Nathaniel stroked Anita's face, white under the drying specks of blood. The man hadn't interfered with Anita's treatment after Richard had stepped in, only kept touching Anita.
By rights, the woman should be dead. She had lost so much blood that Simon was surprised she still breathed. But here, with Nathaniel touching her, and fluids slowly dripping into her body through a needle, her vital signs were strengthening. Simon had never seen anything like it.
Anita made a whimpering noise, and opened her eyes. She looked around the room, not really focusing on anything. "Nathaniel?"
"I'm right here, Anita," Nathaniel said reassuringly, putting his hand on her cheek. "You're going to be okay."
Anita blinked a couple of times. "Where's Richard?"
"He'll be back in a minute," Nathaniel promised.
"Did he go to get Erin?"
Nathaniel sucked in a quick breath, then shook his head. "Anita, Erin's been dead for a very long time," he said softly.
Anita looked up at the ceiling, tears filling her eyes. Simon felt like a voyeur, but he couldn't leave, not with two patients. Book was sleeping safely, but might still take a turn for the worse.
"Anita, do you remember what happened?" Nathaniel asked after a minute.
Anita nodded, a tear rolling down her cheek before she could blink them away. "She was so old, but she wasn't," Anita said. "She told me it was okay, but it wasn't, and she died and I had to go away."
Nathaniel kissed away Anita's tears and rested his forehead against her hair. "Anita, I need you to concentrate," he urged. "Do you remember what happened today? With Ashley?"
Anita took a few deep breaths and nodded. "I do." She tried to sit up, and Nathaniel helped her before Simon could protest. "Where is he?"
"Richard went to get him," Nathaniel said as he wrapped his arm around her shoulders. "He's okay."
Simon stepped up to adjust the monitor on Anita's chest. She followed his movements with dark eyes. "You'll be fine in a little while," Simon said in what he hoped was a passable bedside manner. "We didn't have a compatible donor on board, so you'll need to take it very easy for a few days."
Anita nodded. "Thank you."
Richard entered the room, carrying Ashley on one arm. The boy's face lit up when he saw his mother awake.
"Hey there," Anita said with a smile. Richard carefully put Ashley in her lap, and the boy hugged his mother tightly. Anita ran her uninjured hand over her son's hair, closing her eyes.
She stayed that way until footsteps on the stairs announced a new visitor. Captain Reynolds strode into the infirmary. He looked quickly at the sleeping Shepherd, off to the side of the room, then at Simon. Simon shook his head and stepped back. He wasn't getting involved in this.
"What happened?" Mal asked abruptly.
Anita opened her eyes, so calm now that Simon found it hard to think that only a few minutes ago, she'd been crying over someone named Erin. "I slipped."
Mal looked at her. "That wasn't no shaving accident," he said, his voice verging on anger. "Is River right?"
"What did River say?" Simon asked, unable to help himself.
Nathaniel leaned closer to Anita. "River's a seer," he said softly.
Anita regarded the Captain. "I don't know what happened to the Reavers," she finally said.
"Who told you something happened to the Reavers?" Mal asked, looking at Simon, who briefly shook his head. Since Anita woke up, no one had mentioned a thing to her about the Reavers.
Anita smiled then, and the expression made Simon go cold. "I really don't know anything," she said. No matter what else Mal tried, Anita wouldn't say anything more, and the two men remained silent. Ashley appeared to ignore the entire scene as he clung to his mother.
After a while of Anita refusing to answer any question, Mal left in disgust. Anita leaned back against Nathaniel, sighing as Richard put his hand on her shoulder. "All's well that ends well," Anita murmured, closing her eyes again.
Simon very firmly kept his mouth shut.
Next chapter...
by Mhalachai
Rating: PG
Spoilers: All of Firefly, same for Anita Blake.
Disclaimer: Joss Whedon and Mutant Enemy own all things Firefly. Laurell K. Hamilton owns all things Anita Blake. I am but borrowing the characters for a brief time and shall return them intact at the end.
Summary: Serenity gets four new passengers and, as usual, things are not as they seem.
~~. Part One .~~ ~~. Part Two .~~ ~~. Part Three .~~ ~~. Part Four .~~ ~~. Part Five .~~ ~~. Part Six .~~
Kaylee's attention was drawn up from the layout of mechanical specs in front of her by a young voice. "What kind of music did they dance to at the ball?" Ashley demanded when his daddy finished the story.
Nathaniel put the book down. "What ball?"
"When they got made kings and queens," Ashley said. He got up on his knees in the chair and turned to River, still sitting across the table. "Do you think they had music to dance to?"
"Yes," River said dreamily, her eyes half-closed as they had been throughout the story. "The angels always have music."
She was probably right, Kaylee thought. Even when things were really bad back home, no work and no money, someone had always been singing. It never got too bad for her momma to sing her to sleep.
"What's this about music?" Anita's voice came up the stairs. A second later, she and Richard appeared.
Kaylee looked back down at her specs. No matter what she'd said to Simon earlier, it was a whole lot of weird that Anita had these two men with her. They'd all slept in the same bed. Did they all have sex at one time?
"What kind of music did they dance to in Narnia?" Ashley asked, jumping off his chair and running to his momma. She swung him up into her arms.
"You don't need music to dance," Anita said.
"Do too!"
"Do not!" Anita teased. "I'll show you." She shifted Ashley around on her hip until she could hold him with one arm, and held out her free hand. "Might I have this dance?"
Ashley giggled as his momma swung them around the kitchen area in a formal dance, like Kaylee had seen at that fancy party on Persephone. As mother and son danced, Kaylee realized it was the first time that she'd seen Anita smile. It made her look a whole lot younger.
River stared longingly at the dancing pair, her eyes following every movement of Anita's feet. Richard slowly came over to her side. "Would you like to dance?" he asked River.
The girl looked up at him, a faint bit of colour in her cheeks. "I'm not her," she said.
Richard held out his hand. "I know who you're not," he said. "One dance?"
River stood up, not meeting his eyes. Once they stepped away from the table, Richard placed one hand on River's waist, and took her hand up in his. There was a lot of distance between the pair. "I might break the music," River warned.
Richard gently pulled on River's hand and began a silent dance. "I won't tell if you don't," he responded.
Kaylee watched them, Anita and Ashley's giggling a stark contrast to the solemness of River and Richard. The pairs danced around each other effortlessly, gracefully. They were wearing slightly scruffy clothes, dancing around a dingy room that had seen better days, but in that moment, they were all beautiful.
"How about you?" Nathaniel murmured next to Kaylee. "Want to go for a spin?"
Kaylee looked down at her papers for a long moment. "Sure," she said brightly as she pushed the papers back and stood up.
Nathaniel smiled at her, that knee-weakening smile, and took her offered hand. When they were finally spinning around the table, there was only a little bit of distance between them, nothing like the formal posture of River and Richard. Nathaniel's shoulder was muscular and defined under Kaylee's hand, and she found it a bit hard to think clearly, with the heat of his body so warm. He even smelled good.
After a particularly intricate turn and dip that left Kaylee breathless with laughing, she heard a familiar voice behind her. "Might I cut in?"
She turned her head to see Simon standing there. She was still trying to find some words when Nathaniel said, "Of course," and spun her into Simon's arms.
Simon gave a little half-smile as he took up her hand and hesitantly led her into a dance. He wasn't very good at it, Kaylee thought, but he seemed to want to do it. With her.
She still wasn't sure what had happened earlier that morning, when they'd been doing the dishes. All of a sudden, she wanted to rip off Simon's clothes and jump his bones right there in the kitchen. Sure, those were thoughts she had sometimes, but not as impulses so strong she had to ball her fists up to stop herself. Even thinking about it was a bit awkward. But he couldn't have known what she wanted, right? Not if he was dancing with her like this.
A high-pitched squeal made Kaylee look around. Anita had dipped Ashley so far down his head almost touched the ground, then pulled him back up again. They were both laughing as they completed the dip.
Then, as quick as thought, Anita froze, her smile wiped clean off her face. In its place was a blank expression that chilled Kaylee to the bone.
"Mommy?" Ashley asked in a tiny scared voice.
River let out a whimper and stepped away from Richard. Kaylee wasn't sure what to do, when the Captain's voice came over the intercom, as intense as she ever heard him. "Kaylee! Get to the engine room, I need all we got, now!"
Kaylee pulled out of Simon's embrace and took off for the engine room. As she passed River, she could finally make out what the girl was repeating frantically under her breath.
"Reavers, Reavers, Reavers..."
Zoe gripped the back of Wash's chair hard as her husband manoeuvred Serenity, trying to outrun the Reaver ship. The ship had come from out of nowhere and was almost on them. It would have caught them, too, if Wash hadn't been flying so fast.
The Captain was shouting orders at Jayne, who for once wasn't arguing. Zoe listened to the orders, but the familiar routine of following orders didn't make the panic in her head go away, or the pounding of her heart in her chest. If the Reavers caught them....
"Zoe!" The Captain yelled. "Get as many as you can, go make a barricade in the hold. They'll probably try and come through the main door, once they get us in their grapplers."
Zoe knew what she had to do, but still she hesitated. She didn't want to leave Wash like this, didn't want to die without him. Didn't want to die.
Then let him fly, and you go do your job, she thought sternly to herself. It was the hardest thing she'd ever had to do, but she made herself turn and run down the hall to the kitchen, almost colliding with the Shepard as he came up the stairs from the hold.
Simon was attempting to calm down his frantic sister. The new passengers stood in a huddle, the boy in his mother's arms. As Zoe looked around the room, Inara came up the stairs from the passenger area.
"We've got Reavers on our tail," Zoe said, concentrating on appearing calm. "I need help to put up a barricade in the hold, to give us a last chance."
"Can we use my shuttle to get some of us away?" Inara asked, gripping a chair back with white fingers.
"They're too close," Zoe replied. "If a shuttle leaves, they may go after it. We make a stand here."
"What about weapons?" Richard asked.
Zoe made a decision. "Jayne's up on the bridge. He's coordinating weapons. Go help him."
Richard squeezed Anita's shoulder and headed down the hall. Anita's eyes followed the man as he left.
"As the for the rest of us, we need to move," Zoe said. Book nodded at her and he and Inara went for the stairs.
Nathaniel kissed Anita on the cheek. "I'm going with them," he told her, placing a hand on his son's back. Anita nodded slowly, then turned and walked stiffly toward the passenger dorm.
Zoe didn't have time to argue with them, so she let Anita go. She didn't want to say it, but if Reavers got the ship, it wouldn't matter where they were on the ship. They'd all die.
"Simon, we need your help," Zoe said, going with Nathaniel to the stairs.
"But River--"
"Will die like the rest of us if we don't do something!" Zoe said, keeping the edge of panic out of her voice. She had a job to do, orders to follow. "Leave her!"
Looking as mutinous as he ever had, Simon let go of River's arms and followed Zoe. In the hold, Book and Inara were already moving boxes around. Nathaniel swiftly joined them and started lifting. He must have been a lot stronger than he looked, Zoe thought as he lifted a box she knew to be heavy, all on his own.
Book knew what he was doing, and Zoe let him tell people where to place the boxes. It wouldn't really matter, once the Reavers got in. The air was thick with silent fear, but everyone kept working, as if their actions would somehow make a difference. They were a rag-tag bunch; a preacher, a fugitive doctor, a Companion, but they didn't give up, didn't panic. They were a good crew. They didn't deserve to die like this.
Serenity shuddered and veered so sharply that Zoe almost lost her footing. Far overhead in the kitchen, River began screaming.
Simon dropped the end of the box he was lifting with Nathaniel, and Zoe had to grab Simon's arm to stop him. "She needs help!" Simon shouted.
"Leave her!" Zoe shouted back. "That's an order!"
Jayne and Richard clattered down the stairs, each carrying a pile of weapons. "What's that goram girl screeching over?" Jayne asked gruffly as he began laying the guns on top of the boxes they'd use for cover.
The ship shuddered again and then evened out, and River stopped screaming. The engines' hum reached an almost painful whine.
Zoe grabbed a gun and began checking the ammunition. She didn't know what was happening up there, but she was waiting for that final impact, when the Reavers' magnetic grapplers grabbed Serenity. Until that happened, they still had a chance.
River skipped onto the ramp at the top of the hold, seeming so carefree that Zoe was half tempted to shoot her. "The dead things came," River announced, stepping up on the railing. "We have to turn."
"What are you talking about?" Simon asked.
"The ship." River raised her eyebrows, and her voice lost its childish inflection. "The ship is going to blow up."
"What?" Simon demanded, but Zoe was already moving. She knew River wasn't talking about Serenity. She also knew River could not possibly know what she did, but if there was any chance...
She punched the intercom. "Captain! River says the Reaver ship is going to blow up."
The sound from the intercom crackled. "They stopped matching our moves," came the Captain's voice. "But if they blow, we're still too close." He swore loudly. "Wash, turn us around, now!"
"Hold on to something," Wash said distantly. That was all the warning they got, before Serenity lurched again. The gravity dampeners held, but the momentum caught everyone. Jayne crashed into a stack of boxes, and the top box flew off the pile and struck Book on the head. The Shepherd dropped like a stone.
Nathaniel and Richard were there, lifting the box off the bleeding man, and Simon was at his side a moment later. "He's not dead," Simon said after a moment. "Just a glancing blow, broke the skin."
"Captain?" Zoe said over the intercom.
There was a moment of silence. "They're not following us," the Captain said. Another pause, then an exclamation.
Wash swore as well. "They exploded!" he said. "The goram Reaver ship blew up!"
Zoe let go of the intercom, her knees weak. If Wash hadn't seen the Reaver ship in time.... if River hadn't known the ship would explode...
"I need help in getting him to the infirmary," Simon said, looking at Zoe expectantly.
She would break down later, when there was no one to see. "Jayne, you and Richard get those guns away," Zoe ordered. "Inara, see to River." She went to Book's side.
"I can carry him," Nathaniel said.
Zoe was about to object, that Book was on her ship, that she'd be the one to carry him, when Simon spoke up. "With the potential of a neck injury, it's going to take three of us."
Zoe nodded at the doctor. She'd seen Nathaniel lift those boxes, he was strong, she admitted to herself. He could help her carry one man to the infirmary.
Everyone dispersed, leaving the remains of the pitiful barrier behind. Zoe carried Book's feet, while Nathaniel carried the weight of his upper body and Simon cradled his neck. The awkward procession made it without incident to the infirmary, where Simon began to bustle about, not even paying attention to Zoe or Nathaniel.
"Can we help?" Zoe asked.
"No, not right now," Simon said, running a scanner over Book's neck. "He looks fine, just knocked out. Possible concussion. I don't need any assistance."
Zoe took a step back, a shiver running down her spine. "Let me know if you do," she said before escaping the infirmary, Nathaniel close behind her.
In the hall, Nathaniel gave her a weak smile. "Is life out here always so interesting?" he asked.
"Yes," Zoe said shortly. She pushed her hair back out of her face. A flash of red caught her eye, and she realized she had blood on her arm.
Nathaniel sniffed at the air. "You should get the doctor to look at that," he said, worry on his beautiful face.
"It's just a scratch," Zoe said. The stinging of the cut was slight, and the blood had already stopped flowing. She'd had a lot worse.
However, if anything, her answer didn't reassure Nathaniel. "If not you, then..." his voice tapered off as he slowly turned around, as if in a nightmare.
Not understanding what he was talking about, Zoe looked past the young man. The hallway was still. Zoe barely had the time to wonder where Anita and her son were before she noticed the blood, moving thick and fast over the floor.
Years of training took over, and Zoe was running toward the blood before she thought. She turned around the corner, stepping over the blood on the floor, and jerked to a stop.
In the new passengers' room, Anita lay on the floor, unmoving and pale as death. Her son, covered in blood, had his tiny hands over her wrist. Ashley looked up when Zoe stopped in the doorway, his terrified eyes huge in his face.
"Tyen shiao-duh," Zoe breathed, dropping to her knees beside the boy. She pulled his hands off Anita's wrist, to see a long cut in Anita's flesh under the blood, so very close to the artery. "Simon!" she shouted into the hall.
Nathaniel tore into the room and pushed Zoe away from Anita so hard that she fell to the ground. He grabbed a piece of cloth off the bed and pressed it against Anita's wrist, then yanked her arm up above her head. "Get away from her!" he exclaimed, almost as white as Anita.
"I'm trying to help her!" Zoe retorted, but Nathaniel looked so panicked that she stayed on the other side of the small room.
Ashley had pressed himself back into a corner, watching the scene silently. He put his hands over his mouth as Nathaniel lifted Anita into a sitting position, keeping her arm elevated over her heart. Anita's head lolled back, her eyes half open. She still had to be alive, Zoe thought, watching for the slight movement of her chest from her breathing.
"Richard!" Nathaniel yelled. He wedged Anita against the bed and patted her cheek with his free hand. "Come on, Anita, please don't do this," he whispered. "You need to stay with me, please."
Simon came around the corner. He took a sharp breath at the scene, and tried to kneel next to Anita, but Nathaniel pushed him away. "She needs a doctor!" Simon said forcefully.
"She doesn't need you!" Nathaniel said frantically. He looked over Simon's shoulder as Richard crowed into the doorway. The tall man's jaw dropped in shock.
"Nathaniel, let the doctor help her," Richard said firmly. He gripped the edge of the door so hard that the metal bent under his fingers. "How--"
"We need to get her to the infirmary," Simon interrupted. "She's lost a lot of blood."
Nathaniel lifted Anita effortlessly and almost ran out of the room. Richard stood back to let Nathaniel and Simon out, then hesitated. He looked at Ashley, still cowering in the corner, then at Zoe, panic and worry visible on his face.
"I've got him," Zoe said, understanding what Richard was silently asking. Richard jerked his head in a nod, then vanished.
Zoe turned to Ashley, who was still staring at the place on the ground where his mother had been. When he didn't react, she crawled across the floor to him, wincing at the pain in her shoulder.
"Ashley?" she asked. She could handle screaming soldiers any day, but she didn't know what to do with a kid. "Can you hear me?"
The boy didn't respond. Zoe reached out and gently took his blood-covered hands away from his mouth. He let her lift him to his feet before he looked at her. "Is mommy dead?" he whispered. Zoe had seldom heard a more heartbreaking sound.
"No, mommy's not dead," Zoe said forcefully, and smiled reassuringly. "The doctor and your daddy are going to get her all fixed up, good as new."
The boy looked down at the floor. At first, Zoe thought he was staring at all the blood, then she realized that he was looking at a small knife. She hadn't seen it at first because it was coated in blood.
She had to get him out of there. Getting to her feet, she picked the child up around the middle and left the room. The boy didn't show any signs of life until they passed the infirmary, and he saw his mother lying on the bed in the centre of the room. He began to squirm in Zoe's arms. It was all she could do to hold on to him. She thought about telling him to stop, but instead concentrated on getting up the steps into the kitchen, away from infirmary.
Once they were up the steps, Ashley stopped fighting. He lay limp in Zoe's arms until they reached the kitchen, when Zoe sat him down on the kitchen table and pulled up a chair in front of him. "Now, let's have a look at you," she said. She needed to make sure that all of this blood covering him was his mother's, and that the child was not injured.
Ashley let Zoe feel along his arms and legs, then pat over his stomach and chest. He kept his eyes on her face the entire time.
"All good," Zoe said, then wanted to kick herself. How could she say that, when the boy had watched his mother try to suicide in front of him? Pushing the boy's silky hair off his forehead, Zoe asked, "Do you want to tell me what happened?"
Ashley shrugged and touched the end of her necklace. She let him play with the leather for a few minutes. "Mommy told me I had to be quiet," he finally said, his voice no higher than a whisper. "She said she had to make the bad men go away."
"Did she say how?" Zoe asked, picking up a napkin on the table and dipping it into a puddle of water on the table, from a tipped-over glass.
Ashley shook his head.
Zoe washed the blood off Ashley's mouth, then rewet the cloth. "How did you know to put pressure on the wound like that?" she asked as Inara walked into the room. The Companion's eyes went wide at Ashley's appearance, but at a look from Zoe, remained silent.
"Mommy showed me." Ashley pulled up his pant leg and pointed at a fresh scar on his knee. "I fell and got a cut. Mommy pushed on it, and it hurt, but it made the blood stop." He looked at Zoe with very serious eyes. "Did I do right?"
"Of course you did," Zoe said hastily. "That was the best thing for a cut." She went back to washing Ashley's hands, anger at Anita growing inside her chest. What kind of a woman tried to kill herself with her baby son watching? What kind of woman would slice up her wrists, leaving a boy defenceless against Reavers?
Mal came down the steps from the hallway, Jayne right behind him. He frowned at Zoe. "Doctor told us what's going on," the Captain said. "How's everyone else?"
"We're good," Zoe said. She gave Ashley's hands one final wipe.
Mal nodded. Jayne made a noise in the back of his throat. "Some kind of coward, tries to off herself before Reavers come on board," Jayne said, sounding disgusted.
"Jayne!" the Captain said in a threatening voice, but it was too late. Ashley bounced to his feet on the tabletop and pulled himself up to his full height, little hands balled into fists.
"You take that back!" the boy shouted. "My mommy's not a coward!" Jayne looked surprised, as if he hadn't realized the boy would hear him. Ashley was the closest to tears Zoe had ever seen him. "Take it back!"
"Ashley," came a new voice. Richard came into the room at a quick walk and scooped the boy off the table. "Stop."
"He called mommy a coward!" Ashley said hotly, glaring daggers at Jayne.
"It doesn't matter what he said," Richard said. "Mommy wants to see you now."
The boy whipped his head around, anger gone. "Is she okay?" he asked.
Richard nodded. "She's going to be just fine."
Ashley wrapped his arms tight around Richard's neck, and buried his face in the man's shoulder. Richard gave Zoe a nod of thanks, then headed for the stairs.
"I just meant that any--" Jayne started, making Zoe heartily wish she could just shoot the son of a bitch.
"Shut your mouth, or I will shut it for you," Mal said, voice low and even. Jayne stopped talking.
Richard faced Jayne, one hand steadying on Ashley's back. "I agree with you," Richard said, shocking everyone in the room. "Any woman who would kill herself out of fear of Reavers, and leaving her child defenceless, would be a coward." He then continued down the hall.
"What happened here?" Inara said, breaking the silence.
The Captain turned around. "Jayne, get out of my face, now," he said, glaring at the other man. Without a word, Jayne stomped off down the hall toward his bunk.
Zoe stood up and pushed her chair against the table, hoping the movement hid the tremor in her hands. Slowly, she explained to Inara what she had seen, down below. During the story, River drifted into the room, spinning lightly on the balls of her feet.
When Zoe finished, the Captain crossed his arms over his chest. "None of this seems right," he grumbled. "Wouldn't have figured Anita for a woman who'd leave her son for Reavers, do you, Zoe?"
"No, sir." Zoe was tempted to say that she suspected Anita would be waiting, knife at her son's throat, waiting until the last minute to spare her son death at Reavers' hands, but she held her tongue.
"She made the bad men go away," River said, stopping at the table and touching the bloody handprints on the tabletop.
"What?" the Captain asked.
River raised her fingers to stare at the blood. "She let the skins have one last chance at vengeance," the odd girl explained. "She let them kill one last time."
A terrible, horrible idea rose in Zoe's head, and she tried to push it away. The Reavers sewed bits of their victims' skin into their clothes. It sounded like River meant... but no. That was impossible, as impossible as walking free in space with no suit.
The Captain shook his head. "I'm going to talk to them," he said to no one in particular.
"Do you need me to go with you?" Zoe asked. All she wanted to do was lie down and shake, but she'd always do her job before letting her own weaknesses come to the fore.
"No," Mal said. "Why don't you go see if Wash needs any help."
Her husband needed no help to pilot the ship, and they both knew it. Didn't matter, though. The rush of relief was overwhelming. "Yes, sir."
Anything to get away from these memories of useless blood and horrible nightmare-inducing stories from little girls.
Simon steadied the bag of liquid by Anita's arm, bumping into Nathaniel as he did so. The young man insisted on touching Anita, almost to the point of indecency in an infirmary. Simon would have kicked him out, but the second Nathaniel stopped touching Anita, her vital signs had dropped like a stone. She must have unconsciously registered Nathaniel's presence, Simon told himself, but he let the young man be.
Richard had just left to get the child. Nathaniel stroked Anita's face, white under the drying specks of blood. The man hadn't interfered with Anita's treatment after Richard had stepped in, only kept touching Anita.
By rights, the woman should be dead. She had lost so much blood that Simon was surprised she still breathed. But here, with Nathaniel touching her, and fluids slowly dripping into her body through a needle, her vital signs were strengthening. Simon had never seen anything like it.
Anita made a whimpering noise, and opened her eyes. She looked around the room, not really focusing on anything. "Nathaniel?"
"I'm right here, Anita," Nathaniel said reassuringly, putting his hand on her cheek. "You're going to be okay."
Anita blinked a couple of times. "Where's Richard?"
"He'll be back in a minute," Nathaniel promised.
"Did he go to get Erin?"
Nathaniel sucked in a quick breath, then shook his head. "Anita, Erin's been dead for a very long time," he said softly.
Anita looked up at the ceiling, tears filling her eyes. Simon felt like a voyeur, but he couldn't leave, not with two patients. Book was sleeping safely, but might still take a turn for the worse.
"Anita, do you remember what happened?" Nathaniel asked after a minute.
Anita nodded, a tear rolling down her cheek before she could blink them away. "She was so old, but she wasn't," Anita said. "She told me it was okay, but it wasn't, and she died and I had to go away."
Nathaniel kissed away Anita's tears and rested his forehead against her hair. "Anita, I need you to concentrate," he urged. "Do you remember what happened today? With Ashley?"
Anita took a few deep breaths and nodded. "I do." She tried to sit up, and Nathaniel helped her before Simon could protest. "Where is he?"
"Richard went to get him," Nathaniel said as he wrapped his arm around her shoulders. "He's okay."
Simon stepped up to adjust the monitor on Anita's chest. She followed his movements with dark eyes. "You'll be fine in a little while," Simon said in what he hoped was a passable bedside manner. "We didn't have a compatible donor on board, so you'll need to take it very easy for a few days."
Anita nodded. "Thank you."
Richard entered the room, carrying Ashley on one arm. The boy's face lit up when he saw his mother awake.
"Hey there," Anita said with a smile. Richard carefully put Ashley in her lap, and the boy hugged his mother tightly. Anita ran her uninjured hand over her son's hair, closing her eyes.
She stayed that way until footsteps on the stairs announced a new visitor. Captain Reynolds strode into the infirmary. He looked quickly at the sleeping Shepherd, off to the side of the room, then at Simon. Simon shook his head and stepped back. He wasn't getting involved in this.
"What happened?" Mal asked abruptly.
Anita opened her eyes, so calm now that Simon found it hard to think that only a few minutes ago, she'd been crying over someone named Erin. "I slipped."
Mal looked at her. "That wasn't no shaving accident," he said, his voice verging on anger. "Is River right?"
"What did River say?" Simon asked, unable to help himself.
Nathaniel leaned closer to Anita. "River's a seer," he said softly.
Anita regarded the Captain. "I don't know what happened to the Reavers," she finally said.
"Who told you something happened to the Reavers?" Mal asked, looking at Simon, who briefly shook his head. Since Anita woke up, no one had mentioned a thing to her about the Reavers.
Anita smiled then, and the expression made Simon go cold. "I really don't know anything," she said. No matter what else Mal tried, Anita wouldn't say anything more, and the two men remained silent. Ashley appeared to ignore the entire scene as he clung to his mother.
After a while of Anita refusing to answer any question, Mal left in disgust. Anita leaned back against Nathaniel, sighing as Richard put his hand on her shoulder. "All's well that ends well," Anita murmured, closing her eyes again.
Simon very firmly kept his mouth shut.
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
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Date: 2005-09-25 12:14 am (UTC)Anita is definitely more powerful now. She brought the skins to unlife, killing the Reavers. Serenity's crew suspects something's going on now. I foresee some conflict in the future.
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Date: 2005-09-25 03:07 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-09-25 01:51 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-09-25 03:08 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-09-25 02:09 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-09-25 03:09 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-09-25 03:04 am (UTC)I wonder how far Serenity's crew will push to find out what's going on. Can't wait for the next chapter (but of course there's always Inevitable, Candlelight, Switchback...).
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Date: 2005-09-25 03:10 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-09-25 05:25 am (UTC)*Such* a tease, you are, dangling tidbits like that when you know we won't get the next chapter today!
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Date: 2005-09-25 07:18 am (UTC)-Sonya
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Date: 2005-09-25 02:45 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-09-25 03:15 pm (UTC)I especially love in this chapter Richard's comment about cowardly women leaving their children to die...how cryptic!
E.A.V.
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Date: 2005-09-25 05:27 pm (UTC)I especially love in this chapter Richard's comment about cowardly women leaving their children to die...how cryptic!
It's because he so very much wanted to scream from the rooftops that Anita had just saved everyone's life by risking her own, and that she was in so many ways not a coward, but he couldn't spill the secret that she's like this crazy powerful necromancer. Plus he's got his hands full of traumatized little boy. It's hard being Richard.
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Date: 2005-09-25 06:30 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-09-25 07:51 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-09-26 01:45 am (UTC)(I still cannot figure out the mechanics of italics. Do we use programming language? i sldkfj ijd /i or something like that?)
You're still simply amazing...impossibly amazing. I'm glad I decided to read you're Inevitable, and then read the rest of your stories. You really spoil your readers. Here we are not hoping for but EXPECTING a new chapter by the weeks end.
I propose a toast to Mhalachai! May the Muses never falter!
E.A.V.
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Date: 2005-09-26 02:56 am (UTC)less-than i greater-than Text you want to italicize less-than slash i greater-than
Like this, except the less-than and greater-than symbols instead of brackets:
[i] I'm a sample. [/i]
I'm italicized.
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Date: 2005-09-27 06:20 pm (UTC)And thanks so much for your kind words. Your comments really do cheer up my day :)
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Date: 2005-09-27 08:09 pm (UTC)Bolstering the moral efforts of authors is the reason for a reviewer's cyberexistance. Something to do with the mostly misguided idea (In your case, completely guided) that happy writers will write more, like that ad: 'Happy cows...' or something.
how Anita is going to pose her question to Harry.
Question? What question? I obviously missed something, and if I didn't, I'll just have to make do until the next chapter.
Take care, and I think I speak for most of your loyal fans when I say, Don't work yourself to death...[but if you must, have fun doing it. And be sure to finnish Inevitable before you kick the bucket. We'd miss your writing and responses terribly.]
E.A.V.
ps-words in brackets may not appear to be but are supposed to be gentle sarcasm.
pps-Thanks whoeveryouare for the italics help...I think I got it right.
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Date: 2005-09-27 08:27 pm (UTC)Trust me, I'm not working myself to death. If anything, I consider writing to be fun. I think I've got a few loose screws.
And that question is sort of one Anita hadn't really thought of at the end of Chapter 31, so I guess I'm jumping the gun a little bit. Oh well.
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Date: 2005-09-26 02:53 am (UTC)That the skins would turn murderous is recent-canon-consistent. Two points. :-) Didn't LKH exposition-bomb us with that, lately? Actually, the third-person viewpoint and resulting lack of Anita-expostion is kind of a nice change, although it makes it more _Firefly_ and less _Anita Blake_, if you see what I mean. I'm a little unclear on how murderous zombie skins could cause an explosion ... unless Anita managed to make zombies so good that they had all their memories of spaceship operation. Whoa!! That's pretty audacious, but I guess after 500 years Anita is even more super-duper than ever.
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Date: 2005-09-26 07:30 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-09-27 06:37 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-09-27 06:36 pm (UTC)That the skins would turn murderous is recent-canon-consistent.
Yuppers, that's actually what cinched this crossover for me. The reavers are the perfect embodiment of all Anita hates -- mindless violence with a total disregard for humanity. The perfect monster. And she's got a perfect way to kill them, too.
Actually, the third-person viewpoint and resulting lack of Anita-expostion is kind of a nice change, although it makes it more _Firefly_ and less _Anita Blake_, if you see what I mean.
I think I do. That was sort of the point, for me, in writing this crossover. It's my first go at a Firefly fic, so I wanted a bit of the familiar in there... if that makes sense :) I think it's working out okay.