The Unpopping of River Tam

[biblerewrite.livejournal.com]

River found herself in the not unfamiliar state of being utterly disoriented.

This is not logical; there is not enough butter on Serenity to bathe in.
And yet, to spite the illogical bend of the situation, here she was, covered in butter. Did they even have butter?

And, surrounded by popcorn.
There is not enough popcorn on Serenity to fill a room.
This was a highly illogical situation. A distressing one.

"Simon?" she called out, tentatively. She didn't expect an answer. That... was far more distressing than the popcorn.
Don't be irrational, she thought. It was sound advice.
"Simon?!" She called again, louder. Of course, no answer, but she was allowed to be irrational once in a while. But only for a few seconds. If Simon wasn't here, he was obviously elsewhere, so elsewhere she would go. She stepped out of the popcorn room, and dripped down the unfamiliar hallway.

Comments

[biblerewrite.livejournal.com]

"I think they'll be just as good," she said, not losing her smile one bit, "if not better."

[i-am-an-hero.livejournal.com]

"There, there will be lots of fruits for you to try," he stammered. "And I will, I, I'll make limeade, with limes from the tree, with lavender in it."

It seemed a logical variation on lavender lemonade.

[biblerewrite.livejournal.com]

"Lavender?" she looked thoughtful for a moment. "I've never had a drink with lavender in it. I don't think I've ever had lavender..." she could remember smelling it once or twice, one of Inara's oils. "I know it smells lovely."

[i-am-an-hero.livejournal.com]

"For Summer Christmas we had lamb seasoned with lavender, and I made lavender jelly to go with it. It was good. Wishbone had some, and he gave some to Schrodinger and Einstein as a present."

[biblerewrite.livejournal.com]

River hummed again, imagining what it must have tasted like, and the feeling from A was strong enough that she could almost re-live the memory.
"Summer Christmas... what a pretty thought. All the gentleness, none of the cold."

[i-am-an-hero.livejournal.com]

"It was the first time I had a Christmas," A confided. "There, there were presents and a tree with things on it, and I surprised Ryuzaki with a strawberry-rose cake." It was a good memory and he smiled. "And now in the mangosteen grove it will be summer on Christmas."

[biblerewrite.livejournal.com]

"Strawberry-rose?" her eyes went wide, and she clasped her hands under her chin, grinning. "Roses are wonderful! Roses with strawberries... that's amazing."

[i-am-an-hero.livejournal.com]

"I have roses in many colors." He liked seeing her smile, he realized. "White and red and purple, and some that are more than one color. Roses, oh, oh yes, they are wonderful. They are pretty and smell nice and can be used for food and for medicine. I will have a new rosebush to plant soon, a new kind of rose that is many colors."

[biblerewrite.livejournal.com]

"When you get it, may I help you plant it?" her voice was tentative, but hopeful. She hadn't seen something be planted since before the academy. And even then, it wasn't as if her parents let her join in the process; she'd been forced to merely watch.

[i-am-an-hero.livejournal.com]

L had helped A plant, and Kusuriyuri. But they didn't seem to have this kind of reverence for the very act of it, although A suspected Kurama would.

But surely Kurama would not ask him if he could help as if it were a favor A were granting.

"I, I, I..." He had to force himself to take a deep breath. "I would like that, if you helped me give the rose a place to grow."

[biblerewrite.livejournal.com]

She just may have hugged him for that, but she didn't know him that well, and she was still kind of slimy, even with the cats doing their best to resolve that issue.
"Thank you," she said instead, her voice very soft. "I would like that very much."

[i-am-an-hero.livejournal.com]

A hug, at that point, probably would have startled A into incoherence, so it was probably just as well.

"And you should, should tell me, what kind of fruits and vegetables you like, and flowers. I am always deciding what to plant next."

[biblerewrite.livejournal.com]

"I will," she promised. "I'll find all kinds. If you let me help you plant..." her smile turned shy, "I'll teach you to dance."

[i-am-an-hero.livejournal.com]

A looked at her, and tilted his head.

"I never... I never thought about dancing. It was never an option. But, but... I think the mangosteen grove would be a good place to dance."

[biblerewrite.livejournal.com]

"It's an option now, she said firmly. Not knowing how to dance was acceptable, but never being allowed to try? Well, River wasn't going to have any of that. She paused and looked down at herself.
"Well, not immediately, she mused. "But you know what I mean."

[i-am-an-hero.livejournal.com]

"After you have had Charentais melon, and met a pear tree," he said softly.

[biblerewrite.livejournal.com]

"It will be a good day," River knew this, as surely as she knew anything.

[i-am-an-hero.livejournal.com]

"I want it to be." Optimism still wasn't natural to A, but spending a day in River's presence, in the garden, sounded very good indeed.

[biblerewrite.livejournal.com]

"So do I," her voice was quite solemn, though she was still smiling. She liked A, he was comfortable.

[i-am-an-hero.livejournal.com]

"There should be sandwiches," A said, equally serious. "They could be chicken salad, or cheese, or roast beef. Or something else."

There would also be rose jam thumbprint cookies, but they would be a surprise.

[biblerewrite.livejournal.com]

"I'll eat anything," she assured him, then made a face. "As long as it isn't Alliance Foodstuffs. It gets old after the first bite."

[i-am-an-hero.livejournal.com]

"Alliance?" He had no idea what she meant.

[biblerewrite.livejournal.com]

She waved her hand, banishing the question. She'd rather not think about the Alliance, not when there was the promise of fruit and flowers and sandwiches. "They're not here, I think, and that's all good to me."

[i-am-an-hero.livejournal.com]

And the way she said that, the tone, was so very familiar that he dropped it instantly.

"It can be good, to be here."