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tamingthemuseTitle: Missing Persons Report
Fandom: Firefly
Prompt: Barbeque
Warnings: None
Rating: G (so far)
Word Count: 861
Summary: The crew is making new friends and taking new jobs.
Mal opened the bay doors and sighed. Still raining. It had started to thunder an hour after they landed, and the light drizzle had quickly turned to a downpour. Turned to a downpour, and not let up for the three days they’d been on Cadence.
It didn’t make for a pleasant walk into town, and it didn’t make for a particularly happy crew.
Mal, Zoe and Jayne were each taking shifts watching the house that had been pointed out to them as belonging to Doctor Leri and her son. It didn’t seem like such a bad job, since the only place with a decent and dry vantage point was the local saloon. ‘Course, it wasn’t much fun to sit in a bar, nursing a drink for several hours, getting glared at by the barman and not even getting to participate in any quality violence.
At least it was Norton’s money that paid for the drinks.
Everyone else was confined to the ship, and getting downright fussed about it. Mal didn’t dare let Simon, River and Norton show their faces in town for fear Doctor Leri would recognize them, and there was just no need for Inara and Kaylee to leave the ship. Inara’d fought him on it, as she always did. For a wonder, he’d won that battle with her when she had to admit there wasn’t a client waiting on the pleasure of her company.
Truth was, his bad feeling hadn’t let up, and he wanted everyone safe and sound and right where he could find them in a pinch.
He buttoned his coat tightly and headed down the ramp into the rain. He turned to close the ramp behind him, but it was already lifting. River stood at the panel, watching him with worried eyes.
*****
Rain had soaked the back of his neck before he got inside the bar and settled himself and his brew in a booth against the window. It was fuller than it had been for the past couple of days.
Full of purple.
Eight Alliance soldiers had pulled two tables together in the centre of the bar and were good-naturedly bantering over a card game. Empty glasses sat at each corner of the table, and as Mal watched, the much cheerier than usual barman quickly cleared them away and brought them another round.
‘Well, now, this is right uncomfortable,’ Mal muttered. He tensed, ready for someone to take a dislike to his coat, but they were deeply involved in his game. Carefully, he shifted and slumped to blend in with the locals, and fixed his attention on the house across the street.
It was a small bungalow, painted a dreary grey and tucked in beside a white windowless building. It reminded Mal of a prison, but he assumed it was the lab. Assumed, because there was no way in except the small door guarded door the Doctor passed through twice a day.
As if summoned, the door of the bungalow opened and Leri stepped out. Stepped out, followed by a gangly kid with sandy hair and a dull expression.
“Isaac.”
It was the first time Mal had seen anyone other than Leri leave the house, but the kinship between this boy and Norton was unmistakable. But where Norton burned with the desire to rescue his son, Isaac was an empty shell. His shoulders slumped and his steps shuffled behind Doctor Leri’s.
Compared to River Tam, even River Tam as Mal’d first seen her, Isaac was an idiot child. Compared to River Tam now, Isaac was barely human.
Something was deeply wrong with this picture, and he had a feeling the answers were in the lab.
*****
He wasn’t any closer to figuring out how to get inside when Jayne showed up, slid into the other side of the booth and started complaining.
“Mal, this ain’t getting us anything useful. I still say we should be cutting our losses on this job; one crazy person is more’n enough for me. And Norton tried to use my weights today! It just ain’t right, a man touching another man’s things.”
“What’s got you all in a tizzy, Jayne?”
Jayne glared, then his eyes widened. “Uh Mal? Isn’t that Crazy?”
Dressed in one of her light dresses, barefoot and wet to the skin, River stood in the middle of the street. Night had fallen and the wind had picked up as the storm strengthened. Lightning cut across the sky and thunder boomed. Her hair whipped across her face in long dripping hanks, but she didn’t move. Didn’t even shiver despite the cold, didn’t jump despite the lightning striking right in front of her. Striking the lab.
“Gao yang zhong de gu yang!” He could smell the stink of charred wiring, the combination of ozone and rubber. He rose, but even as he watched, he knew he wouldn’t be fast enough. The lab door opened and Dr. Leri stumbled out amid a cloud of smoke. River darted inside and the door slammed shut behind her.
“Gorammit! The girl trying to get herself barbequed?” Jayne hollered, jumping to his feet and running outside.
Leaving Mal with eight suddenly very interested Alliance soldiers.
Fandom: Firefly
Prompt: Barbeque
Warnings: None
Rating: G (so far)
Word Count: 861
Summary: The crew is making new friends and taking new jobs.
Mal opened the bay doors and sighed. Still raining. It had started to thunder an hour after they landed, and the light drizzle had quickly turned to a downpour. Turned to a downpour, and not let up for the three days they’d been on Cadence.
It didn’t make for a pleasant walk into town, and it didn’t make for a particularly happy crew.
Mal, Zoe and Jayne were each taking shifts watching the house that had been pointed out to them as belonging to Doctor Leri and her son. It didn’t seem like such a bad job, since the only place with a decent and dry vantage point was the local saloon. ‘Course, it wasn’t much fun to sit in a bar, nursing a drink for several hours, getting glared at by the barman and not even getting to participate in any quality violence.
At least it was Norton’s money that paid for the drinks.
Everyone else was confined to the ship, and getting downright fussed about it. Mal didn’t dare let Simon, River and Norton show their faces in town for fear Doctor Leri would recognize them, and there was just no need for Inara and Kaylee to leave the ship. Inara’d fought him on it, as she always did. For a wonder, he’d won that battle with her when she had to admit there wasn’t a client waiting on the pleasure of her company.
Truth was, his bad feeling hadn’t let up, and he wanted everyone safe and sound and right where he could find them in a pinch.
He buttoned his coat tightly and headed down the ramp into the rain. He turned to close the ramp behind him, but it was already lifting. River stood at the panel, watching him with worried eyes.
*****
Rain had soaked the back of his neck before he got inside the bar and settled himself and his brew in a booth against the window. It was fuller than it had been for the past couple of days.
Full of purple.
Eight Alliance soldiers had pulled two tables together in the centre of the bar and were good-naturedly bantering over a card game. Empty glasses sat at each corner of the table, and as Mal watched, the much cheerier than usual barman quickly cleared them away and brought them another round.
‘Well, now, this is right uncomfortable,’ Mal muttered. He tensed, ready for someone to take a dislike to his coat, but they were deeply involved in his game. Carefully, he shifted and slumped to blend in with the locals, and fixed his attention on the house across the street.
It was a small bungalow, painted a dreary grey and tucked in beside a white windowless building. It reminded Mal of a prison, but he assumed it was the lab. Assumed, because there was no way in except the small door guarded door the Doctor passed through twice a day.
As if summoned, the door of the bungalow opened and Leri stepped out. Stepped out, followed by a gangly kid with sandy hair and a dull expression.
“Isaac.”
It was the first time Mal had seen anyone other than Leri leave the house, but the kinship between this boy and Norton was unmistakable. But where Norton burned with the desire to rescue his son, Isaac was an empty shell. His shoulders slumped and his steps shuffled behind Doctor Leri’s.
Compared to River Tam, even River Tam as Mal’d first seen her, Isaac was an idiot child. Compared to River Tam now, Isaac was barely human.
Something was deeply wrong with this picture, and he had a feeling the answers were in the lab.
*****
He wasn’t any closer to figuring out how to get inside when Jayne showed up, slid into the other side of the booth and started complaining.
“Mal, this ain’t getting us anything useful. I still say we should be cutting our losses on this job; one crazy person is more’n enough for me. And Norton tried to use my weights today! It just ain’t right, a man touching another man’s things.”
“What’s got you all in a tizzy, Jayne?”
Jayne glared, then his eyes widened. “Uh Mal? Isn’t that Crazy?”
Dressed in one of her light dresses, barefoot and wet to the skin, River stood in the middle of the street. Night had fallen and the wind had picked up as the storm strengthened. Lightning cut across the sky and thunder boomed. Her hair whipped across her face in long dripping hanks, but she didn’t move. Didn’t even shiver despite the cold, didn’t jump despite the lightning striking right in front of her. Striking the lab.
“Gao yang zhong de gu yang!” He could smell the stink of charred wiring, the combination of ozone and rubber. He rose, but even as he watched, he knew he wouldn’t be fast enough. The lab door opened and Dr. Leri stumbled out amid a cloud of smoke. River darted inside and the door slammed shut behind her.
“Gorammit! The girl trying to get herself barbequed?” Jayne hollered, jumping to his feet and running outside.
Leaving Mal with eight suddenly very interested Alliance soldiers.
no subject
Date: 2009-08-02 04:35 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-08-04 06:02 pm (UTC)