river_meimei: (Default)
[personal profile] river_meimei
The room is comfortable, quiet and peaceful. Airy, with no mustiness, for all that it doesn't feel lived-in.

Mostly what it's been used for, these last few months, hasn't involved much of peace and comfort.

Simon unlocks the door, one arm around River in his habitual soothing guidance, and the group files in. Roland gestures to the round sofa with a jerk of his chin; the younger Tams are already settling into place there. The others follow suit.

Date: 2005-07-19 03:43 am (UTC)
gabriel_tam: (Default)
From: [personal profile] gabriel_tam
He can't quite repress nervousness at this whole idea, or his distrust and -- if he's to be perfectly honest -- near-loathing of the man who suggested it.

But the fact of the matter is that something has to be done. Gabriel Tam knows perfectly well that the Alliance isn't going to let this go. I can't let them, Gabriel thinks in bitter desperation.

Now in the room, he turns to face the others, standing tall and very proud, but silent. Waiting.

Date: 2005-07-19 03:55 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] righthandwoman.livejournal.com
Roland gestures brusquely for Gabriel to sit, and he obeys reluctantly.

Zoe remains standing, her arms folded, and turns to Simon.

"Seems to me like the best way to stop the Alliance diggin' any deeper is to convince 'em you and River are dead, somehow." Then, to Roland, "Don't have much experience with hypnotism outside of fakers at street fairs--could you put a convincing story 'bout that in his mind?"

Date: 2005-07-19 04:06 am (UTC)
simon_doctor: (sarcastic)
From: [personal profile] simon_doctor
Simon's shaking his head before River has quite finished speaking. "She's right. They won't believe we're dead. Not without some evidence."

He's looking from Zoe to Roland, still avoiding

(you've forgotten)

the face of his father.

"They want to know how he knows about gunslingers. And whether he knows where we are. Whatever story we spin has to cover both of those. Believably."

Date: 2005-07-19 04:13 am (UTC)
lastgunslinger: (come come commala)
From: [personal profile] lastgunslinger
Only Roland can look as though he's hunkering when he's sitting on a couch.

After a moment, he looks up. "All right. They know he's been doing research. Say somebody contacted him. Away from your Cortex, mayhap. Told him that if he wants to know where the two of you are, he ought to research gunslingers. And naturally...he would."

Roland never looks away from Simon.

"The way they spun it, the two of you are murderers. He's a man who doesn't need to cross the Alliance. How better to get himself back in their good graces than by turning his children in?" Dry. Cold. "That's why the searching. Man in his position doesn't need two crazy children haunting your 'verse, exacting revenge from the ones who have done them a perceived slight."

Date: 2005-07-19 04:23 am (UTC)
simon_doctor: (sarcastic)
From: [personal profile] simon_doctor
"Sounds plausible."

Simon's lips are numb.

"Maybe he even thought he could get us to turn ourselves in. If he could just talk to us." Another of those darting glances at where Gabriel sits. "Explain how River needs the treatment they can only give her at the Academy."

Date: 2005-07-19 04:26 am (UTC)
gabriel_tam: (Default)
From: [personal profile] gabriel_tam
"They'll believe it."

Clipped and painful, and he doesn't look at any of them. Gabriel studies his hands, focusing on his wedding ring. "She's sick, Mr. Tam. She's sick, and she needs help...would she have committed murder before Simon kidnapped her?"

"It's what they think they convinced me of, after all."

And now he does look up, and at Simon. His son. He won't plead, he's too proud for that, but he can't look away. "I know better... but they don't know that."

Date: 2005-07-19 04:40 am (UTC)
lastgunslinger: (come come commala)
From: [personal profile] lastgunslinger
"All the better." He speaks crisply. "He tried to find you. He took the tip from the men who contacted him. A letter, hand-written and hand-delivered. He destroyed it, as asked, afterward. Started looking for gunslingers, in order to find you to turn you over to the Alliance. To try to talk you into turning yourselves in, first. And then, if you refused, to give up your location. But he doesn't know where you are. He was researching when they pulled him in. Wasn't really finding anything. Poetry, and tales of long ago."
But...Gilead's long gone.
His face twists in a mockery of a smile. "Blood-and-thunder tales of pretend."
I am not.
And Roland inclines his head, the expression gone. "So. We plant this story. Make him believe it. Any holes you can see?"

He turns to include Zoe as well.

Not Gabriel Tam.

Date: 2005-07-19 04:49 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] righthandwoman.livejournal.com
"It's a good story, if the hypnotism works--he'll really believe it, and forget what he knows about Serenity?"

There's still a note of dubiousness in Zoe's voice.

From where he's been silently watching near the door, Cuthbert speaks up. "He'll believe it as surely as he's ever believed anything, sai."

His tone is one of quiet confidence in Roland, and Zoe considers a moment, then nods.

Date: 2005-07-19 04:57 am (UTC)
simon_doctor: (sarcastic)
From: [personal profile] simon_doctor
And it's that very confidence that brings it home to Simon: this is tampering with the brain as surely as if they'd opened the skull and cut into the living tissue beneath it, and he has to suppress a surge of revulsion before he can speak.

"It should hold together."

Date: 2005-07-19 05:00 am (UTC)
gabriel_tam: (business)
From: [personal profile] gabriel_tam
There's no point in drawing it out. It's something any businessman knows -- you agree the terms, then close the deal.

And then walk away.

His voice doesn't sound like his own, but is coolly professional when he says, "Fine, then. Let's get it done."

Date: 2005-07-19 05:09 am (UTC)
lastgunslinger: (gunslinger)
From: [personal profile] lastgunslinger
Hand to his gunbelt. Bullet on the back of his knuckles. "Watch, then."

And it dances.

Roland puts him under. The questions are asked -- what is your name, where are you -- and the instructions are given.

It's then that Simon, standing behind Roland, looks up to see his father's face. River, though, doesn't move.

Gabriel Tam will tell the Alliance that he received a letter, and destroyed it. That he wanted to help the investigation, for everybody's own good -- the good of the Alliance, the good of his children. Roland gives him permission to add details that might help...that maybe Simon taking River away harmed her, and now Simon can't fix it. That Gabriel has no idea where River and Simon are, despite looking. That he only wants to find them, for everybody's safety. That he hasn't had any luck.

"You will forget that you ever heard of Serenity, or anybody on board. And you will forget your time here, in Milliways."

River looks up sharply at that -- to her father's face.

Date: 2005-07-19 05:16 am (UTC)
gabriel_tam: (fuqin)
From: [personal profile] gabriel_tam
He hasn't resisted, not any of it. It's hard to resist under hypnosis, anyway-- Gabriel's expression had been calm and oddly peaceful during all of it. Accepting.

But at this, something twists in his face, and he half-raises a hand as though in instinct to shield himself, then lowers it slowly, with reluctance.

"Must I?" Half-dreaming, not awake, there's an sense of sorrow and a strange, simple dignity in the single question.

"For your friend spoke the truth, before: I had forgotten the faces of my children. And I would not do so again."

Date: 2005-07-19 05:23 am (UTC)
simon_doctor: (help us)
From: [personal profile] simon_doctor
And as suddenly as that, he can't see, can't breathe. The room blurs into patches of color and shadow in front of his stinging eyes, and his throat has locked down painfully, too tight to admit speech or breath.

Date: 2005-07-19 05:34 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] key-youth-bert.livejournal.com
Cuthbert starts at hearing Gabriel Tam quote his words--words he'd thought wasted on him, given his response at the time.

He winces slightly at the Tam's reactions, then stares hard at their father.

Like Roland, like Zoe, like Mal, he'd thought Gabriel Tam only worth killing, if not for the bar's rules and the will of his children. Now, under hypnosis, he says this.

Date: 2005-07-19 05:44 am (UTC)
lastgunslinger: (in this haze of green and gold)
From: [personal profile] lastgunslinger
Roland's face gives nothing away.

Jake had forgiven him. Now River's father is asking for the same chance.

It won't make any difference, in the end. When Roland had read that the deepest level of hell was reserved for traitors, he'd nodded without flinching. Sounded right.

In the end Gabriel Tam is just as damned as Roland.

Roland might as well give him his chance.

And -- how had Will Stanton done it, months ago?

"You'll remember when it's safe to do so. When they've left you alone for long enough. Your undermind will know when. And you won't forget until you set foot out the front door."

Give him that much.

"Count to thirty, and wake, slowly, when you're through."

Date: 2005-07-19 06:05 am (UTC)
gabriel_tam: (fuqin)
From: [personal profile] gabriel_tam
if her Daddy ever saw her fly
As River leans her head against his knee in the very moment that his eyes open, his hand moves.
Wouldn't he be proud of her?
Automatically, unthinkingly, with the instinct of years-long habit, it comes to rest on her head.
Did you wonder if your father's heart would break?
He remembers her doing this before, when she was just a little girl-- she'd come to sit by him in the evening in the study, watching the fire dance and chattering brightly to him about her day-- and her brother's day as well, often as not.
Oh, wouldn't he, wouldn't he be proud?
Lost in this moment, Gabriel closes his eyes once more and strokes his daughter's hair as though she were a child again, safe at home with him, long before all of this had happened.
still proud of you...

Date: 2005-07-19 06:07 am (UTC)
lastgunslinger: (in this haze of green and gold)
From: [personal profile] lastgunslinger
Silently, Roland stands and goes to the window, facing the outside, hands clasped behind his back.

Date: 2005-07-19 06:13 am (UTC)
simon_doctor: (sarcastic)
From: [personal profile] simon_doctor
Levelly: "Get up."

He's looking down at his father and sister, and it's possibly not clear which of them he's speaking to.

"Please let's get this over with."

Date: 2005-07-19 06:24 am (UTC)
gabriel_tam: (fuqin)
From: [personal profile] gabriel_tam
His stillness is sudden and absolute, even as River tenses beside him. Slowly, Gabriel reaches down and takes her shoulders, easing her away from him, and then gets to his feet.

He doesn't look down at her, nor does he say a word to Simon. Instead, he turns to look at Zoe, Roland, and Cuthbert in turn.

"I think I've taken quite enough of your time this evening." A pause. "I don't foresee this being a problem in the future, however."

"Gentlemen, ladies, I wish you all the best. Goodbye, and good luck." It's very professional, very smoothly corporate. Get the deal done, then walk away.

And walk away is just what Gabriel Tam does, heading for the door.

Date: 2005-07-19 06:35 am (UTC)
simon_doctor: (lost)
From: [personal profile] simon_doctor
"Bà..."

Gabriel Tam stops. And stands for a moment, and turn slowly to look at his son.

Who is already lowering his gaze.

"Zhùyì."

Date: 2005-07-19 06:39 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] key-youth-bert.livejournal.com
As River first goes to her father, Cuthbert swallows hard, and looks away.

After everything that's happened, River Tam still remembers the face of her father.

Then, as Roland walks to the window, turning away from the scene and staying that way even as River sits curled up, his brow furrows.

Date: 2005-07-19 06:44 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] righthandwoman.livejournal.com
Zoe watches the scene in silence, her face mostly impassive.

Then, as Gabriel walks toward the door and River huddles where she's been left...

Someone else might hesitate. Might wait for Simon to go to her, or hold back on the thought that she might flinch away, not accepting comfort.

Zoe crosses to River's side without hesitance and bends down, smoothing her hair back with one hand.

"Hey. It's gonna be okay, kid."

Date: 2005-07-19 06:53 am (UTC)
gabriel_tam: (Default)
From: [personal profile] gabriel_tam
He is still looking at Simon, who is no longer meeting his gaze. Quietly,

"I will."

A pause. "You'll take care of her." It's as near as he can get to a request, but there's a clear certainty in the statement as well.

Gabriel turns to leave once more, but stops when Cuthbert says firmly, "We'll see you out."

Date: 2005-07-19 07:06 am (UTC)
simon_doctor: (lost)
From: [personal profile] simon_doctor
Down the stairs, and through the main barroom in a close knot, in a direct line for the door, ignoring the stares, ignoring the merrymaking going on all around them.

Simon doesn't see Kaylee until she's right beside him, looking up into his face with searching concern. He says nothing to her either, but takes her hand. Clutches it, really.

Please let's get this over with.

The front door opens in front of Gabriel Tam. And closes again behind him.

There is no goodbye.

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River Tam

August 2010

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