ficlets #2 + #3
19/3/04 01:08![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
schmericaAll ready and packed for tomorrow, yay! The room's even clean, man.
Plus! A tiny bit of writing accomplished. I might get more done on the train, I think. Or I might just sleep. Hard to tell.
*****
The small box is expensive. Much more expensive than Simon can honestly afford, more expensive than he can really justify to himself when he thinks about his responsibilities, about his and River's situation.
At home, they had fresh fruit with breakfast every week. Berries, mangoes, apples, peaches -- Simon didn't comprehend the luxury involved, not for a long time. He didn't care for strawberries then; he left them uneaten on his plate. He doesn't even know what happened to them from there.
Still, though, as Simon watches Kaylee open the box of fruit, pleasure spreading across her face, it's hard for him to imagine something more precious. Kaylee's eyes are sparkling as she lifts one berry up to his mouth, and as he bites down he thinks it's the most delicious thing he's ever tasted.
*****
Inara gave it to River, after she saw her looking at it, said Here it's pretty it matches your eyes take it.
It matches everyone's eyes, River said, and Inara smiled a smile that wasn't really a smile and River left, cradling the hand mirror in her arms.
She went to find Simon. The girl in the mirror is wrong she's not all there, she said.
Simon looked at her with his eyes all sad. The girl in the mirror is you River and River wanted to slap him. Instead she said That's just a trick of the light and left him too.
She could have gone to Kaylee but Kaylee was happy and River would have just made her face crumple and her mouth twist. So she folded herself up and sat on the stairs in the cargo bay and looked some more. The girl in the mirror had dirty hair and her eyes were unfamiliar, the same color as the carved frame.
A boot pushed lightly against her shoulder and a voice said Some of us are needing to get through here.
River tilted the mirror at an angle and the girl's face left and the captain's came.
The reflection in the mirror's all wrong, she explained calmly. It's disturbing.
And something in the captain's face softened. There's days that's the most disturbing thing there is.
Plus! A tiny bit of writing accomplished. I might get more done on the train, I think. Or I might just sleep. Hard to tell.
*****
The small box is expensive. Much more expensive than Simon can honestly afford, more expensive than he can really justify to himself when he thinks about his responsibilities, about his and River's situation.
At home, they had fresh fruit with breakfast every week. Berries, mangoes, apples, peaches -- Simon didn't comprehend the luxury involved, not for a long time. He didn't care for strawberries then; he left them uneaten on his plate. He doesn't even know what happened to them from there.
Still, though, as Simon watches Kaylee open the box of fruit, pleasure spreading across her face, it's hard for him to imagine something more precious. Kaylee's eyes are sparkling as she lifts one berry up to his mouth, and as he bites down he thinks it's the most delicious thing he's ever tasted.
*****
Inara gave it to River, after she saw her looking at it, said Here it's pretty it matches your eyes take it.
It matches everyone's eyes, River said, and Inara smiled a smile that wasn't really a smile and River left, cradling the hand mirror in her arms.
She went to find Simon. The girl in the mirror is wrong she's not all there, she said.
Simon looked at her with his eyes all sad. The girl in the mirror is you River and River wanted to slap him. Instead she said That's just a trick of the light and left him too.
She could have gone to Kaylee but Kaylee was happy and River would have just made her face crumple and her mouth twist. So she folded herself up and sat on the stairs in the cargo bay and looked some more. The girl in the mirror had dirty hair and her eyes were unfamiliar, the same color as the carved frame.
A boot pushed lightly against her shoulder and a voice said Some of us are needing to get through here.
River tilted the mirror at an angle and the girl's face left and the captain's came.
The reflection in the mirror's all wrong, she explained calmly. It's disturbing.
And something in the captain's face softened. There's days that's the most disturbing thing there is.
