on recently getting back into firefly; looking at all the games

[comprehend]

You shouldn't stir up old ghosts. They don't like to be disturbed, and they're noisy. Crowding up the room with their chatter. It's loud in here.

( but she glances pensively off to the side, oddly tranquil -- for now. )

Is it time to wake up? No days in the black. I won't know.

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[pompous_today]

[Simon simply comes up to his sister, runs his hands through her hair, and kisses her forehead.]

He misses her.

[comprehend]

Shouldn't. Castles were an antiquated defense system for nobility on earth-that-was.

( a pause. )

Jayne thinks you're pompous.

[pompous_today]

Well, that's nothing new to me.

[He smiles and rests his head against her.]

Antiquated though it may be, the place does at least provide for us materially. We're never hungry or in want of clothing. In return, something does get taken from us, though.

[comprehend]

You left something behind.

( the serenity cared for them too. but there's an old saying, right? home is where the heart is. so her home is wherever simon is.

she wouldn't be afraid. )

[pompous_today]

Some of my memories, yes. There are some events that are very fuzzy. [Specifically, he doesn't remember how he broke River out of the Academy, nor what's wrong with her brain.]

... The last time she was here, I was her price. She didn't remember me.

[comprehend]

( she buries her face in his shoulder. maybe there are things she would like to forget, but even if she forgot the academy, she wouldn't be better. wouldn't function like a girl should. and simon is the last person she wants to forget, because he's the one who keeps her anchored. he's a doctor, such a good doctor. he takes care of her. )

They meddle. With our brains.

( like the academy. she's tired of being meddled with. )

[pompous_today]

[Simon strokes her hair, nuzzling softly against her. Yes, the castle does meddle, with everyone- not just taking away memories, but abilities.]

That seems to happen everywhere we go, doesn't it? ... It was hard. I tried to take care of her the best I could, but... she couldn't be who I remembered her as. She had other friends, though. Another brother, named Peter. And a sister named Katniss.

[comprehend]

But not you.

( she doesn't want another brother. and she doesn't want to forget, either. her reality is already fragile enough without poking holes into it. without the constants, the equation won't be contained. )

[pompous_today]

No. ... Not me.

[He's quiet for a short pause.]

I hated it. Being a stranger to you.

[interitum]

[Ghosts .. in someone who seems so young. It's disquieting.]

Ghosts are loud, but they can also be banished. They fear the black more than we do.

[comprehend]

( fear is a palpable emotion, even when people push it back to the recesses of their minds. her mind is all boarded up, nails and coffins made from the precise cuts of a scalpel. back on earth-that-was, primitive peoples would drill holes in the skull to let the demons out. all river knows is that the academy cut her open to put them in.

she is too open. she can smell the death in him, can taste the echoes of fear. the fact that he's not human is more of a curiosity to her than anything else. she wants to poke him, wants to peer at his skin and wonder why it's so green, but that's rude. )

Do you fear the black?

( you're a ghost, thane krios. )

[interitum]

[Idle curiosity, or an implication? There is something in this child's eyes that unsettles him. Something painful, vulnerable, but profoundly intelligent all the same. And his own gaze is one that does not shift from its mask--somehow, it's likely that doesn't matter.

Perhaps he does speak from experience.

He's looked out on it. Counting stars has become habit. They're in his mind, but they never stay in the same place, and the endless churn of the universe around him is a pattern he will never memorize.]

I've been lost in it, yes. But I always find my way back to colour. As will you.

[comprehend]

( she unsettles a lot of people, and the worst thing about being a reader is that she understands that. there are plenty of things people say without saying a single word. but at this point, river doesn't mind much. even kaylee looks at her a certain way sometimes. even simon knows that she's dangerous. an assassin. a word with very old roots.

river tilts her head. she gives thane half a smile. )

Stars and moons. Green, like trees after terraforming. Your universe is different.