InsaneJournal

Tweak says, "I'm like Jesus, in a way."

Simon Tam (mysisterisaship) wrote in wariscoming,
@ 2010-06-15 01:42:00

Entry tags:

karl, simon tam

WHO: Simon and Karl
WHAT: Inaugural meeting of the Crazy Smart Sisters Club
WHEN: Afternoon
WHERE: Complex roof
WARNINGS: None I can foresee

Simon was surprised at how much he missed Serenity. If he'd been speaking only for himself he would have said he preferred the complex-- here he could be a proper doctor again, could live on a planet instead of a strung-together ship with more parts breaking than new, and most of all there was no Alliance presence here, he'd finally found somewhere they could never reach his sister. Of course that line of reasoning just reminded him that he didn't speak only for himself. River wasn't happy here, and it was more than just the black-eyed people (demons they said, though that still seemed impossible) that seemed to be attracted to whatever the Alliance had done to her mind. She kept saying something about the noise, about everyone being too loud. He'd turned off anything he could find in their apartment or the hall outside it that could possibly make a sound, had hunted up and down for vents connecting their apartment to the others, carrying noise, before he'd been forced to concede that she didn't mean ordinary noise. With River unhappy and his time not in the medlab taken up with caring for her Simon couldn't have called himself contented here either, wouldn't even really have considered the question, it had been that long since he had spoken only for himself. Though there were things he missed about Serenity for its own sake, the things he'd managed to take from their old home on Osiris, ~~Kaylee~~ most of the crew.

All of which was more or less why he found himself wandering up to the roof of the complex that afternoon despite the late winter chill. He knew River came here often, found it quieter or more restful, probably closer to the sky. Though the idea of being close to the sky was not ordinarily an appealing one and he saw nothing to interest him in the shabby patches of dirt and half-constructed gardening apparatuses Simon lingered anyway, standing a few feet back from the ledge with his arms crossed not worrying about anything in particular for once. Maybe this is actually the place to get some peace around here after all, he thought wryly.

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notraisedbytv
2010-06-15 06:01 am UTC (link)

It wouldn't be long before that peace was interrupted by hammering. Not proper hammering either, it was the sound of a rubber mallet against wood. At the far side of the roof Karl was working on knocking the frame for the greenhouse together. It was an ongoing project, really, and would be ongoing for a while, since his only real goal was to get it finished in time to start summer seedlings, tomatoes mostly, because everyone could do with more tomatoes.

Realizing he wasn't alone, he arched a brow over his goggles before lifting them away from his eyes and letting them hang loose around his neck, "Hullo." He said by way of greeting, "Haven't seen you 'round these parts before." He added with a circular gesture of the hammer, likely indicating the roof itself, though possibly the rest of the complex as well.

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mysisterisaship
2010-06-15 03:54 pm UTC (link)

Of course, in what seemed to be the earth-that-was version of trans-dimensional lunatic asylum, peace was a limited commodity and it seemed that Simon's allotment had been spent. He felt his shoulders tensing and rising in automatic defense against the sudden assault of noise, some kind of hammering, and he sighed to himself for a moment before turning slowly to see...a man with goggles whacking at things with a...is that a rubber mallot? Of course it is. Still the man has greeted him politely enough and he could see, after taking a better look at the various shabby results or tools of gardening endeavors lying about that this must be something of a work in progress and that Simon himself was probably more the intruder than whoever this was.

"Ah yes, hello," he started, picking his way gingerly over some patches of dirt towards the other man, "my sister and I haven't been here very long, since just before Christmas." It suddenly occured to him that if this man spends time on the roof he'd probably run into River before. For a moment he was sidetracked by thoughts of how he'd have to start insisting River wore a coat when she comes up here, and gloves maybe, this much dirt couldn't be healthy and there were probably rusty nails lurking around somewhere and her immune system had come out fine, better than normal even, in all his scans but... he forced his attention back to the person in front of him, "I'm Simon, you may have already met my sister, River?" he suggested, unable to keep a bit of suspicion out of his tone, wary, protective, as always. River might be a genius but one thing that hadn't changed since their time on Osiris was that she still walked up to new people wide-open and unafraid, perhaps too much so for her own good.

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notraisedbytv
2010-06-15 04:03 pm UTC (link)

He smiled at that, dropping the mallet onto a nearby worktable, well, a nearby plank propped up on a couple overturned buckets, but it worked as a table for him, it was the kind of thing he was used to, "Yeah, she's been helping me out up here, time to time." His accent was decidedly London, and more than that it was Whitechapel, though probably a good deal earlier in its evolution than anything Simon would have heard. He indicated a row of potted herbs under an overhang, "She did most of those, matter of fact. She doing alright? Ain't seen her in a couple days."

He rolled his eyes then, huffing a laugh and shaking his head before offering a hand, "I'm Karl, sorry, sometimes forget to say, haven't been here that long myself, still getting used to people not knowing who I am." A shrug, "Home's a bit smaller, most people know each other."

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mysisterisaship
2010-06-15 05:31 pm UTC (link)

Simon blinked, a bit overwhelmed by the sudden onslaught of friendly chatter in an archaic accent. It's rather like being accosted by a museum exhibit. The younger man reminded him a bit of Kaylee for a moment, the way the both of them practically tripped over themselves in their hurry to say everything they could to a new acquaintance right away. That, combined with a seemingly genuine regard for his sister dropped Simon's guard a bit and he closed the distance between them to shake Karl's hand, after a quick wince at the thought of the bugs or germs or whatever it was that lived in the dirt that he was probably transferring to his own palm.

"Of course." Simon said politely in response to Karl's apologies. "We're used to a smaller environment as well. Before we came here we were on a transport ship with nine people including my sister and myself aboard," he responded a bit distractedly as he stepped to the side to examine the pots Karl had indicated as his sister's handiwork. "She's...having some trouble adjusting, I think, to all his," he admitted, a bit guardedly, not willing to reveal more about River than he had to. "I'm sure she'll want to come back up here soon. She always did love running off to wherever the closest pile of dirt was," he added, smiling a little sadly at the less complicated memories of his sister, holding up a worm, cocking her head in confusion at a lecture about ruining her best dress.

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notraisedbytv
2010-06-15 06:45 pm UTC (link)

"Got a few more than nine back home." He said, scratching up under the brim of his hat, along the edge of the tinfoil wrapped over his head beneath it, "Told her she's welcome up any time, says she likes it because it's quiet, she said." He nodded, looking distant for a moment, that was something he understood all too well. He shifted back to reality easily enough, smiling again, "Got a sister a bit like her back home." He said, stepping away from the construction, nodding towards a card table he'd been using as combination worktable and breakfast nook, since it was in the lee of the lean-to he'd made himself, "Have a seat, we can have ourselves a palaver."

Folding chairs were brought out from the narrow storage space beside the shanty, and Karl perched in one, drawing one knee up to his chest, just leaning against it, arms looped around it, "She's told me about you, a bit." He shrugged, "Mostly that you're here, you look after her."

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mysisterisaship
2010-06-16 08:28 pm UTC (link)

Simon hesitated a moment as Karl ambled over to set up the folding chairs. It was on the tip of his tongue to say that he had to head back inside, to find River, to do chores, but a moment later he realized he actually didn't. That was still something to get used to about this place, leisure, the ability to relax knowing that no one here had any reason to harm River aside from the demons who couldn't reach her. Maybe once I'm completely comfortable with this time's medical technology I can actually have the time and calm to make some headway into fixing what the Alliance did to her...

Karl was already sitting, however, and he shook off the thought, making his way gingerly over to the indicated folding chair and perching next to the other man. “Yes, the noise, all the people, it's a problem for her,” Simon said, frowning again. He liked the complex, the more urban feel of the place, having a real med lab to work in, and it's where the captain was but he still wasn't convinced it wouldn't be better to go somewhere quieter, somewhere rural where there were neither demons nor wars. Still, River wouldn't hear of leaving and so that was that, and he refocused his attention on what Karl was saying, raising his eyebrows as the other man claimed River reminded him of his sister. “A bit like River?” he asked, “How so?”

He'd noticed the tinfoil when Karl had pushed his hat up but had decided to just let it go for now. Who knew what was considered normal fashion from...wherever Karl was from.

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notraisedbytv
2010-06-16 08:58 pm UTC (link)

"My sister Arkady. Got that same sort of..." He waved a hand, a circular, searching movement, "Like she's not all there and right where she's supposed to be at the same time sort of presence." He shook his head, "Not sure if that makes sense. That sort of feeling that she might know everything, but doesn't remember it all at once." He shrugged then, not really sure how much to reveal about his own powers, which meant that he couldn't reveal a lot about Arkady's, since they were similar, "She almost died once, when we were younger, the rest of us figure that's what triggered it, sometimes she says she left her memory in the future and she's always trying to catch up to it." A small, fond smile, shaking his head again, "And sometimes she 'remembers' things that haven't happened yet. Which is how she figures her memory's up ahead of her somewhere."

There was a huff of a laugh then, shaking his head once more, "Makes her sound like an absolute nutter, makes me sound like one for believing it. But she was always the sharpest of us, asking the questions the rest of us had ignored for being too obvious, or hadn't got to yet on account of trying to sort out smaller things first. She always got right to the heart of it."

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mysisterisaship
2010-06-17 03:36 am UTC (link)

Simon straightened a bit in his chair and forgot the dirt for a moment as he listened. The parallels to River's situation were striking despite his initial disbelief. He smiled a little, realizing he'd been a bit like his father in that moment when Gabriel Tam had frowned over a letter from a teacher saying that River was one of the brightest pupils the man had ever taught. ”One of?” their father had said incredulously, ”There's no one like her.”

“It doesn't sound crazy,” he said slowly to Karl, “and you're right it does remind me a bit of River, she always did know things sooner than anyone could expect...” he shook his head a little, mind already scurrying to find all the ways to utilize this new knowledge, possibilities to use it to help River. “You say she underwent some sort of near death experience? That some kind of physical trauma was the cause? But she's coherent most of the time, enough to speculate on her condition? Does it cause her pain?” He realized a moment later how odd the rush of questions must have seemed especially to the seemingly rather laconic man and rubbed his temples for a moment, frustrated, as always, with his inability to get to the heart of the matter quickly enough. “River...underwent some trauma herself. You can see the effects, I'm sure. I'm a doctor and I'm trying to find a way to reverse the damage but I still don't have all the details of what happened to her.” He smiled ruefully, “Though I suppose for now I'm more concerned about how to help her get some 'quiet' here.”

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notraisedbytv
2010-06-17 03:52 am UTC (link)

He held out both hands as if to stave off the tumult of questions, but he was smiling anyway, "One at a time!" He said, laughing and shaking his head, "Told River she's welcome up here anytime, quiet because I'm the only one up here most times, and she can't hear me." He tapped his temple to indicate, that was what he'd realized first, that River had the same problem with people being too loud that he did. He was just lucky he could shut them out with something as simple as tinfoil.

"And as for Arkady?" He shook his head, brow furrowing as he tried to sort it all into order, "When we was fourteen or fifteen, she overdosed, rest of us found her facedown in a puddle, needle still in her arm." He shrugged, "But she pulled through it, mostly thanks to Miki, ah, Miki's another sister, she's our medic." He shook his head then, "Kady doesn't talk about it much these days, when she does she says that there was nothing there, it was just empty." He shook his head again, "None of us is quite sure what it means, but we don't pry because she just clams up and refuses to talk about anything. Doesn't seem she's got any pain from it, no more headaches than the rest of us have, she forgets a lot though, especially if it's something she's predicted, like as soon as she's said it it's gone."

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mysisterisaship
2010-06-17 10:44 pm UTC (link)

Simon nodded slowly, following Karl's gesture with his eyes when the other man tapped his temple. "Well, I'm glad she can get some quiet here then," he said. "None of the rest of us back home," and there's a moment when he smiles wistfully, realizing that may just be the first time he's referred to Serenity as 'home' which quickly fades as he realizes that may have come now that it was possible he would never see the ship again, "have any kind of...abilities... so she didn't get much quiet there either but it didn't seem to bother her as much. I suppose it's that there are so many more people here, strangers, and all of them going through confusion and fear..." he trailed off and shook his head. "Whatever works for you, to keep the noise out, won't work for her will it?" He asked, suspecting that if Karl knew of any way to help River he would have done it already.

He listened closely to Arkady's story but it didn't seem like it would be much help to River after all. Still, it was another mark in Karl's favor, the fact that he spoke about his own sister with seemingly genuine warmth.

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notraisedbytv
2010-06-17 10:58 pm UTC (link)

He shook his head, "Pretty sure she tried to explain to me why it wouldn't work for her, and why it shouldn't be working for me." He shrugged, "But it does, and I just leave it at that. Don't figure it'd work for her though." He thought about it a moment, brow creasing just slightly, "If she wants I could try and teach her the way Sirkka does it." A huff of a laugh, "Sirkka's another sister." He scratched at his brow again, "And none of us are really related, just that we were all born at the same time in the same place and we're all connected, we figure we're siblings even if we've all got different parents."

A loose shrug then, "Sirkka uses meditation, and it's not hard to learn, really, I just never bothered since the tinfoil worked just fine for me. But I know how could probably teach it easy enough." He'd have to remember to ask her about it the next time he saw her, see if it was even an option for her.

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mysisterisaship
2010-06-21 03:58 pm UTC (link)

"I'm sure she did try to explain it," Simon said with a small smile, picturing his sister's polite (or occasionally less than polite, mostly when Simon himself was concerned) attempts at explaining what, to her, was always perfectly obvious. "And the way it all makes sense will probably occur to you about a week from now while you're doing something else. River doesn't always pick the most...obvious... way to say things but I find she's right a rather infuriating percentage of the time."

Karl's offer to teach River his sister's strategy elicited a thoughtful nod. "Meditation?" he mused, eyes taking on the sharp straight-ahead focus that Simon had developed in place of the thoughtful fiddlings others had with their clothes or hair. Surgeons couldn't afford careless hands. It was that same background that made him wary, would once have made him derisive, of 'natural healing' techniques like meditation or a tinfoil hat that worked just because it did. Still, they were a long way from the drugs and technology of the core worlds (and even the time those things belonged to). "Even if it doesn't help her get some quiet it might be good for her. I don't know if her mind can handle that kind of discipline yet but it would be useful to see..." he drifted off again, thoughtful, but quickly forced himself to return to the conversation as he recalled a lifetime of raps on his knuckles, his
mother's voice reminding him that letting his attention wander during a conversation was rude, that navigating social politics would be as important to his career in the hospital as all his science.

"Families are formed differently I suppose," he said in response to Karl's explanation of his 'sisters,' thinking of the crew of Serenity and how they were as interwoven as any biological family he'd encountered, "did any of them come here with you, from your home?" He didn't know what he would have done if he had been transported here without River or vice versa.

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notraisedbytv
2010-06-21 08:53 pm UTC (link)

There was another sudden smile at the idea that he'd get what River had explained sorted out when he was busy doing something else, nodding, "That's how a lot of Arkady's ideas are too, she figures it's because we can all do what she does, it's just that she's figured it out first and leaves it to us to sort it out on our own." He shook his head, "Not sure if I wan't River's explanation to make sense though, not if it means I'll have to keep up internal brain-blocks instead of the foil." A one-shouldered shrug, "Won't be the end of the world if I have to though."

He tilted his head, looking rather like a curious bird as Simon fell silent, even if it was just for a moment or two, and he nodded at the response to meditation, "And it might not even work for her, Sirkka's not a trained practitioner, she just sort of made it up on her own after hearing about it, but it works for the rest of us, might work for River too, if she wants to try it." Because that was the important part, he wasn't about to try and convince River to do anything she didn't want to. He suspected that he could forcibly calm her mind, or at least parts of it, but that kind of puppeteering was against FreakAngels law, and even without any of the others here to enforce it, Karl wasn't going to do such a thing because that would make him as bad as Mark.

Realizing that Simon had asked another question he shook his head, taking a moment to go back over what he'd heard to catch it, "Oh, no, I'm the only one, can't hear the rest of them." There was a wry, crooked little smile, "Spent all me life telling them to shut up and now that I can't hear any of them... it's kind of lonely." He shook his head again, "Don't matter though, they'll either find their way here or they won't and that's that."

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