(no subject)

[river_meimei]

Wash is gone. Pretty much every member of the crew has chipped in to help with flying at some point; skill levels vary, of course, but it's not complicated to fly in a straight line through the black, or babysit the autopilot. Every night, Zoe silently takes Naomi and leaves for Milliways, to sleep there instead of in their bunk.

All the same, there's work needs doing. Or, maybe, everyone's got extra reasons to seek out work right now. Keep the hands busy and (maybe) the mind quiet.

Either way, it's been a while since River's guns were last cleaned. Which is why she and Mal are sitting at the kitchen table with rags and brushes and oil, guns in various states of disassembly spread before them both.

Comments

[e_delmar]

Back and forth and back and forth, Ennis' neck's gonna get tired.


"They're your guns?"

[badinlatin]

Now Mal's directed at River more than Ennis.

"He didn't know?"

[river_meimei]

River looks blankly at Mal.

Lots of people don't know, Mal, because River does not make conversation like a normal person.

"These," she says to Ennis, as if it's obvious.

There are two pistols in front of her, one complete and one disassembled, and both of them old-fashioned even for Ennis's day. Colt revolvers, like a gunfighter's in a museum or a Western. One is covered in scrollwork, decorative but deadly; the other, a converted military pistol, has a rattlesnake inlaid in the grip, worn to a patina with use.

[e_delmar]

Ennis reaches out, looking at River before he'll put his hands on one of her weapons. His voice is low, gravelly.



"'d you get these?"

[badinlatin]

("Well met, sai Reynolds.")

"Friend o' the crew," Mal replies before River can respond.

[river_meimei]

River's head is bowed; she's silent for a long minute, while Mal speaks and after he's silent.

Then, low, "It's an inheritance."

[e_delmar]

Ennis looks up at her for more'n a moment, thinking on the coat, and her reaction to his hat and-



well.

He pulls his hand back, slowly, and nods.

"You know how to use them?"

It's not patro- patri- it ain't puttin' her down, but knowing such things is important.

[river_meimei]

River gives him a sidelong look, and for an instant her focus is clear and level as it very rarely is.

She's not offended; the glance is, clearly, a yes.

[badinlatin]

Mal tries hard not to smile. It's not really something to smile about.

But.

"You got any experience with metal, Ennis?"

[e_delmar]

Nicknames don't always follow from place to place -- or time to time -- so it takes him a second, but he gets it.

"You've gotta, with what I do."

Did.

Though even then he thinks back to Jack and was a half-assed shot he was, and he smiles, only a little.

[badinlatin]

"I can understand that, but sometimes -- "

Mal thinks about being young, and only worrying about how to skip school that day.

" -- sometimes you need to be in a certain place to learn, and that don't come for some folk."

[river_meimei]

The right place to learn.

Yeah.



River is focusing very closely on the barrel of Joe's old revolver. Whether she's sighting it for obstructions or just staring through it isn't entirely clear.

[e_delmar]

Ennis' more'n confused, not that that's anything new. Certainly not around River.


"What'you mean, a certain place to learn?"

[badinlatin]

"Can't learn shooting holed up in a big city or some such, right? Or at least, not any shooting that matters -- "

Mal casts a glance at River just then, and cuts himself off, probably leaving Ennis more confused than before.

" -- Can't be of use like that unless you've got reason to know what you're doing," he finishes slowly.

[e_delmar]

Ennis' about seventeen ways more confused than before, but he doesn't ask more questions.

Eyes narrowed, he lifts them to River, watching her move, slow, confident, and not the kind that's for show.

[river_meimei]

"Not with the hand," River says, to Ennis or Mal or just to the gun she's still holding.

[e_delmar]

Ennis moves, standing behind her, silent and still, watching.

[river_meimei]

River stares at Joe's gun, or through it, for a long second. She breathes in, and out, slowly.

And then she picks up the cloth by her elbow, and wipes the gun clean of excess oil with a few deft motions, and sets it down again. She reassembles the gun in a series of rapid clicks -- her hands are quick and sure, and for once her gaze doesn't go wandering -- and only then lifts her eyes to Mal.

[badinlatin]

And there's not much Mal'd actually be able to say without convincing Ennis that he's as incomprehensible as River.

The gun Mal was working on is reassembled and finished, and Mal bends to pull the knife out of his boot, digging out a whetstone from his cleaning kit.

"You know," Mal offers while eyeing the first blade of three, "I could really go for some bao."

[e_delmar]

It's pretty damn close already, as Ennis takes in a deep breath and sits down nearby.

His eyes are still on River, not so much on Mal, but he don't know what bao are, and says so.

[river_meimei]

"I don't know how to cook," River says to the far wall.

Beat.

"Means dumplings. Without the gunpowder."

[badinlatin]

"I can't cook bao worth a good gorram, but I was thinkin' I could go to Milliways and pick some up," Mal explains.

"If folk'd be interested."

[e_delmar]

Ennis shrugs, and nods vaguely, 'cause, well. No need to offend the man.

[river_meimei]

Ennis doesn't look as if he's likely to turn green at the sight of food.

So River is free to turn wide interested eyes on Mal.

[badinlatin]

Mal laughs aloud at the look on River's face as he rolls his cleaning kit back up.

"Lemme put my toys away, and I'll be back in awhile."

Mal's door to the bar is usually Inara's shuttle, so he takes the exiting corridor toward the cargo bay, leaving Ennis and River at the kitchen table.