InsaneJournal

Tweak says, "one for the money"

Malcolm "Mal" Reynolds (i_wearbrown) wrote in we_coexist,
@ 2009-03-05 20:45:00

Entry tags:

malcolm reynolds, simon tam

you can't take the sky from me. [ Mal + OPEN. ]
The split log landed atop the burning campfire with a loud clap and a rising flurry of orange specks that drifted upward with the smoke. The Captain, who'd not only thrown the timber, but cut it earlier, sat back down on one of the steel footlockers that had been pulled out of the ship to encircle the fire pit.

Sure, the weather had taken a rather pleasurable turn from the snow and ice that had come before it, but nights still had a cutting chill to them. The ship had heat, but even Mal was getting frustrated with the walls of Serenity's hull when it wasn't cruising through the black, leaving the City far behind.

The rising sparks dulled as they floated higher, the orange fading into black against the dark, star-dotted sky. The expanse of space stretched out each night as if only to taunt the planet-bound Browncoat. Lowering his gaze from the stars, he came to focus on the flames as they lapped the firewood. Quiet nights on Serenity used to be anything but. Dinner conversation would linger long after the meal'd been choked down; usually up until he or Inara insulted the other, or River did something... odd. Wash and Zoe'd manage to slip off while no one was paying any particular attention. In times where they'd had a fire like this, Jayne'd been known to trade in a gun (singular, not plural) for a guitar; Kaylee'd be trying to snag a seat closest to the doctor and it would all remind Shepherd Book of some story he'd want to share.

But here? Now? It was just Mal.

Or was it?

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i_wearbrown
2009-03-05 10:21 pm UTC (link)

It was quite the juxtaposition of two kinds of comfort; the draw of a campfire was an ancient one and the draw of the black was something that the ship looming behind the fire represented (or at least once had), was quite futuristic for most that lived within the City.

And there Mal was, stranded between the two.

Mal hadn't startled at the sound of footsteps. The scuff of foot against dirt had been too loud for anyone trying to sneak up on him and lacked the dragging and stumbling that had occurred with the zombies. If someone wanted to stride on up and start something with the Browncoat, well, he'd welcome the excitement right about now. Anything to break the silence.

As the fire's light stretched to illuminate just barely the fellow standing at a distance, Mal regretted thinking the word "anything". Or at least part of him did. The other part would never surface to the light of day. Crew would always be family. Even doctors. Even that doctor.

Mal rose to his feet again, but to Simon's relief, didn't reach for his gun. Instead, he bent down to pick up another piece of firewood and drop it atop the flames. "Can't be good for business when a doctor's coughin'."

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i_conform
2009-03-05 10:31 pm UTC (link)

"It's why I do it when I'm off duty." Simon was trying to make a joke, and maybe he succeeded, maybe not. He didn't exactly know what to do or say in this situation; he hadn't exactly thought he'd ever be here. The captain really wasn't very high on his list of people he'd want to socialize; actually, Captain Malcolm Reynolds was pretty damn high on one list, and it made it hard for Simon to ever think of putting the man behind him.

Simon always wanted the gorram man's respect and trust. It was almost as bad as wanting his father's respect so long ago. Simon would never admit to it, but anyone who'd been around the two men could probably read it.

"Good night for a fire." He hadn't stepped further into the light; didn't exactly look as if he were going to sit, get comfortable. Then again, Simon didn't do comfortable very often. Not around Mal anyway, and not without a good bit of mudder's milk around. His hands were buried in his pockets as he looked from fire to man then back again.

"Serenity made it through the snowfall, okay?" Talking about the ship seemed like the best choice, but it was dangerous talk. It could lead to who might be on the ship.

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i_wearbrown
2009-03-05 11:06 pm UTC (link)

It may have been a joke. But Mal wasn't one to chuckle so easily.

Respect was something Simon had managed to earn, in pieces. Mal had respected his dedication to his sister; even if it was just the appreciation of seeing a reflection of the dedication he'd shown as a soldier and as the captain of Serenity. And like anyone who'd bore the scars of some sloppy patch ups after a scrap -- he respected Simon's skill as a doctor.

Two. That was an all right list... wasn't it? Though the list wouldn't do much locked within the Browncoat's thoughts.

Another dry cut of wood was tossed into the flames, sending the sparks up through the air between them -- rising to the sky like the rest. It was as close as Simon was going to get for an answer to the night being good for a fire. His query about the state of the ship came just as Mal was fixin' on sitting back down -- but the question held him still. Looking across the fire, he quirked a brow as if giving the doctor a chance to retract. But not much of a chance. "Seein' as how ain't purple bellies, Reavers, or the undead walkin' about with their sights on eatin' my crew.. been able to do more than dent her, I'd think someone with your fancy learnin' might not think snow'd be much in the way of a threat to my ship."

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i_conform
2009-03-05 11:14 pm UTC (link)

"Snow's not like the rest; snow's a little more natural." Simon winced when he thought of what he'd just said. The amount of snow they'd just been through wasn't natural, not at all. Thankfully, Mal didn't know how Simon was connected to the zombies; maybe it was his Alliance elitism, but he doubted that Mal had bothered to pick up a paper to see that Simon had linked to the undead outbreak.

He didn't ask to sit, but instead, just settled on a box. His hands rested on his knees; he was dressed in the Earth-That-Was gear, suiting the current time rather than the clothes he'd worn on Serenity. Simon had liked fitting in when it suited him, and for now, it suited him to fit in here in the City.

He looked back at the current topic of conversation, his hands absently rubbing at his knees and thighs before he settled into leaning forward, resting his elbows on his knees.

"Then again, Serenity's been through worse. She's a good ship." See, he was trying to make nice, even if it meant he'd have to be nice to the captain. Why Mal was able to get him riled up sometimes, the good doctor Tam would never know; no one else on the crew could ever make Simon feel so inadequate. Not even Kaylee when he felt awkward and just socially backwards.

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i_wearbrown
2009-03-07 05:18 pm UTC (link)

It was an Independent's stubbornness that kept Mal from checking the headlines of the local paper. Why waste time getting a know a place you wanted nothing more than to escape from? Interest in his surroundings was the start of giving in -- and Mal didn't care for giving in to anything.

The Browncoat didn't object to the doctor taking a seat. He merely picked up a brown, glass bottle from the shipping container beside him and took a sip. It wasn't Mudder's Milk, things weren't that bad yet. Like any good captain of any good ship, space or sea bound -- Mal had a good taste for rum and the liquor was fairly easy to come by in this City, as opposed to out in the black. It wasn't his first sip, and it was far from his last, but the captain didn't show much in the way of adverse effects. His speech wasn't slurred, his body didn't sway where he sat. Completely coherent, but quietly medicating his own maladies. The state of the ship being one of them.

"She'll be a great ship once Kaylee gets the engine roarin' again." He tipped the bottle towards Simon, brows arched in a wordless offer of a nip of the drink. "Then we'll be off this rock mighty quick-like. You'd done made it quite clear you're comfortable bein' cooped up in that hospital and I'm not aimin' to get my mechanic any more riled up, but if your sister's lookin' to co-pilot.. she's crew and she's welcome aboard."

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i_conform
2009-03-07 11:26 pm UTC (link)

The doctor looked at the bottle for a moment before taking it; he was a lightweight, but he'd take it easy. It wasn't like he could forget, or really remember, the incident on Canton. With a quick swig and barely a wince, he handed it back.

Simon understood the not so subtle hint that he wasn't invited to go back to the Black; not that Simon really wanted to go, but being asked not wanting to go and being purposefully left off the invite list were two different things. His brow raised at Mal's mentioning Kaylee.

"Captain, I don't know why you'd think I'd do anything to Kaylee. I don't know how you could think it; she's a nice girl, and I wish her all the best. I'm not the man she expected me to be, and no one can expect me to be someone I'm not." Actually, they could; his parents certainly had.

"Don't know if River would be all that willing to leave. She's got a...boyfriend here." Simon didn't like calling Hannibal Lecter that; he didn't like thinking of his sister with that creature, but he couldn't change River's mind no matter how much he wanted to. "She's in love, and she dances here."

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i_wearbrown
2009-03-07 11:46 pm UTC (link)

"I got more drink left in this bottle than expectations of you, Doctor." Mal shook the container that he'd just taken back, the liquid swishing about in the bottom. His tone wasn't even intentionally disparaging, just matter-of-fact. It wasn't the first time he'd cut the tie linking Simon to the rest of the crew. He'd had practice when they'd landed at Beaumonde, after the payroll heist. If Simon wasn't interested in being a part of Serenity, that was fine enough for Mal. "But your presence ain't sitting right with her and I ain't the one controllin' what she expects from you."

Mal tipped the bottle back against his lips, wiping the back of his hand over his mouth after setting the rum back down on the crate beside him. River settling down didn't bother him as much, though he wouldn't say so. After everything that girl'd been through, she deserved some sense of normalcy. But boyfriends and dancing were both things that could be found on any rock in the 'Verse. "Well, I'll have to see 'bout hearin' such a decline from her."

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i_conform
2009-03-09 02:12 pm UTC (link)

Simon didn't wince at the comment; it was more fact than insult by now. Captain Malcolm Reynolds had never really held the doctor in highest regard, even when the doctor could plan a decent heist. Simon did shake his head though at Kaylee; he wasn't the same person.

"You ever do something, or been involved in something, that you wish you hadn't?" Simon gave a bitter bark of a laugh. "What am I talking about? Captain Reynolds don't hold no regrets for nothing, not nobody." He did a decent Mal when he wanted, and this wasn't the drink talking. He might be a lightweight, but one sip wasn't going to do much.

"Mal, I came from a time before, you know that. Things have happened here, and you can't hold that against me. Well, you can, and you probably do." Dr. Tam wasn't looking at the captain; he was looking at the fire, and for a moment, he looked a little tired. "I wish I could be who she thought I was; it'd make things a helluva lot easier. It'd be one of those things that could make sense when nothing else does. She's...wonderful, but it just wouldn't work now. I don't think I could make her understand that."

He wasn't asking for Mal to help him; he just needed to talk, which the captain probably wasn't the best choice for. If Simon had known Book was around, he might have hunted the shepherd down. The doctor leaned forward and tossed a twig into the fire.

"I think River would tell you, you won't be going far. The City's self contained; it lets people in and out as it sees fit. But, if you can get out, then I want you to take her. This place isn't, some of these people, it's just not good for her. Myself included." Yes, the doctor was ready to let his sister go, if it meant she'd be better, be safer, then he'd let her go back to the Black.

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i_wearbrown
2009-03-11 10:06 pm UTC (link)

Mal was surprisingly calm despite Simon's mocking impression of the Browncoat. It had taken a punch to the face to get Mal to toss him off the ship and this was far from it. Plus, Mal could be just as intimidating all steely and quiet-like as he could ranting and defending himself. Besides, the more Simon went on, the quicker he was winding himself down. He had to get it out of his system, as Mal thought to see it. If anyone was able to understand being wound a little too tight about the situation in this City, oddly enough it was the captain.

"I ain't been involved in something that I didn't believe was right." Simon hadn't been completely wrong in his mimicking statement. Mal didn't regret his actions, though quietly he might have regretted the outcomes. Men who'd died under his command, particular bouts of peril his crew had been placed in. But in the end, they'd done what had to be done, to fight for freedom, to earn a paycheck and to expose the sinister underbelly of the Alliance to the 'Verse. Things like that came with a price.

"As far as things go regardin' Kaylee." Mal wasn't watching the flames at all, his eyes were focused upon the doctor. Except with, perhaps, Inara, Mal didn't shy from taking on a subject head on. "I wasn't impressed with yer bedside manner. Considerin' she was lucky to know which way was up. Whatever you two might be and might not, crew don't turn back on each other." His tone was firm, even, lecturing, in a way. But not a droning, monotone. Mal meant every word. "I don't think she needs to understand much'a any of that now. She ain't hurtin' for company in this place." Mal's expression quirked unintentionally there; the one called "Kyle", he hadn't minded so much. But he cared for this Guy fella about as far as he could throw him. "She came 'round on understandin' we got a pilot that's supposed to be dead who's warmin' his seat, quite alive."

Mal stretched a sleep-tingling leg out forward, kicking a small spray of dust into the fire. Bits of debris burned quickly while others were lost into the ashes at the base of the flames. "I've had my fair share of City-types tellin' me who goes in and out and when and where -- don't care to listen much, never have, never will. Ain't nothin' in this 'Verse that ain't possible."

And in everything he'd said, what gave Mal pause was Simon's stance on River. Simon was to River as Mal was to the crew of Serenity. There was no force yet to be named that would have Mal giving his crew up to someone else. "Dead set on stayin' in this hospital, hm?"

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i_conform
2009-03-11 10:36 pm UTC (link)

"My bedside manner. I've been near death a few times, running with you on Serenity. I've damn near. Only here, I got to see what it was really like. Death. That's the world she came into. Funny thing, she'd been here and gone before I ever got to see her before. The City's a gorram nut job." Simon rested his elbows on his knees, his lifted hands supported his head for a moment. He was tired of all this.

"She's got someone new?" There was a cruel thought, and he shook his head as he sat up. "That didn't take long for someone who was in love, pinin' as you said. Then again, Kaylee was always a free spirit in the best sense of the words. Nothing much could keep her down. Not even a broken ship and a lost love. Or are you the company she's keeping?" The doctor looked over at Mal, but the question wasn't meant to insult. It wasn't that sort of keeping he was talking about; just simple spending time together.

He shifted a little on the box; his eyes rose to the sky above them. It was a good night, and he wondered how Jennifer was doing. "I have a life here. What some might call a life. People need me here, and some even like me. I don't have to fight to be heard; I'm not some pariah because I was born with a few more luxuries than some and on the winning side. No one gives a shit about Purplebellies or Browncoats here. The Hospital works for now; not exactly dead set on staying, but it's better than fighting to feel at all worthy of my existence every ruttin' day of my life. I'm a doctor; I gave up everything to save River..it's about damn time I get to feel like I'm someone important and not someone who's only useful."

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i_wearbrown
2009-03-16 08:27 pm UTC (link)

"What? No." Mal looked at Simon as though the doctor had grown a second head, not that it would have been the strangest thing he'd seen yet in the City. But being the one to keep Kaylee company, in the sense the doctor was implying? Well, that was treading on the crazy side of the trail. "She brought some.. Kyle... around to see the ship." Mal only offered a shrug of his shoulders in judgement of the young man who'd come calling on his mechanic. He hadn't appeared to be a threat to Kaylee nor anyone else in the crew, so he'd pressed further into knowing more about Kaylee's beau.

"The flames stretched higher, licking at the curls of smoke that rose from the firepit. Mal was staring straight through them as Simon continued. "When you sign on to give up everythin', Doc, you do so knowin' you ain't likely to get it back." Mal leaned back some, his own gaze lifting to the dark sky that spread out above them. He'd signed up to protect his way of life, his freedom, knowing either come back to a life much improved, or shambles -- though not even Malcolm Reynolds had any inkling of just how tattered the war would leave him. "Not in the way you left it, anyway."

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i_conform
2009-03-19 04:35 pm UTC (link)

"There's such a thing as giving up too much, captain." Simon took a deep breath; the name Kyle tumbled round in his head. He didn't like that name, not that he had any reason to feel any particular way about it, but he didn't like it. The doctor suspected that the man was at least nothing like a Core doctor, or Mal would have fought to keep Kaylee on the Serenity rather than let her go do whatever it is mechanics and Kyles do.

"And, I didn't plan on getting anything back. Just didn't plan on giving up so much either." Then again, Simon had never really had everything River had had. He leaned forward to toss another twig in the fire, watching the wood burn in the heat.

"Ever wonder what will happen when you break atmo, Mal? There's a Wash here; think he'll still be on board when you leave? Think everyone will go back to what they were before? If so, he'll be dead. Think that if you don't leave with a whole crew, including River and me, things won't work?" Simon's eyes lifted from the fire to the captain's face for a moment before moving to stare at the stars. What would happen if he didn't have a full crew to work the Firefly class vessel?

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i_wearbrown
2009-03-25 09:21 pm UTC (link)

"You believe in something enough, there's no 'too much'." It was odd how his curt tone came back when speaking to the doctor. In his time, relations between himself and the core doctor had steadily improved. The events of Miranda had brought those that remained closer together -- on top of that Mal suspected that the exit of the elephant in the room regarding Kaylee and Simon did something to calm the doctor and he and the captain could happily keep out of each other's way.

But this was the Simon who found his way under Mal's skin with all the skill with which he'd wield a scalpel. Dealing with this Simon came back to Mal with the ease of recalling how to ride a bike. It was a battle of learnin' against experience.

"When I break atmo, Doctor..." There was a particular amount of venom stirred up in the Captain based on what the doctor was implying. His eyes narrowed, watching the doctor through the well-fed flames. "I get my ship back in the black with whoever's supposed to be on it. Maybe it's me, Zoe, Wash, Kaylee and Inara. Everyone I take off this rock. Maybe it's not. You were on my ship before I got sucked into this gorram City, ain't nothing saying you and your sister won't be there when I leave again. I got more than 'nuff to get her in the sky."

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i_conform
2009-03-28 09:31 pm UTC (link)

"You're not following, captain." Yes, that was certainly the thing to say to Malcolm Reynolds; suggesting that he was stupid or not very bright was not going to put Simon on the top of his Solstice Festivities list. Or Christmas card list. Or even the don't shoot even when annoying list.

"I'm saying, if you do go back, if you can get back, it might not be with Wash." He didn't know about Book's death or his current living status here in the City. "The man's dead when you're from. He's probably going to be dead when you go back. We'll be there, probably, if you haven't kicked us off...again." There was a pause; how many times had the captain actually kicked them off? "But, I doubt Wash will be there just because you broke atmo here."

"Much as I respect Kaylee's abilities, she's a good mechanic, and as good a ship as the Serenity is...I'll bet if the City doesn't want you getting off the ground, you're not getting off the ground. You can fight it, Mal, but this place decides what happens to us." Simon didn't sound too resigned to the fact, but the captain's "I will do it" attitude was starting to wear on the doctor's nerves.

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