Rough as they go (Closed RP, Simon, River, A)

[biblerewrite.livejournal.com]

It was a common game from childhood. Some tiles were safe, the others lava. River's version was a bit skewed, and anyone watching her kick and punch the air above each 'safe' tile before she stepped to it would probably be confused.

In River's playground, all the safe areas had Reavers for beating.

Her progress was followed carefully by the now more catlike kittens Branch and Bloom, who were quite good at the game, pawing at invisible cat-reavers in the air.


She saw Simon out of the corner of her eye, and spun on her toes down a hallway with far fewer safe areas. After a flying kick to the head of another unseen enemy, she stopped and waved. "Ni-hao."

Comments

[superfraternal.livejournal.com]

Hogwarts could be disconcerting; Simon's sister could be disconcerting (he still wasn't over that Christmas gift -- wasn't sure he would be for a long time); but on the whole, life was good these days. All the better when he saw her acting like ... well, approaching normal.

Was attacking the air normal? She wasn't attacking a person. The cats were playing along, which seemed a promising sign, too. Cats had a way of making themselves scarce when circumstances warranted.

Plus, she was greeting him lucidly. He smiled his genuine smile, the one that lit up his whole face. "Mei-mei."

[biblerewrite.livejournal.com]

River's return grin was just as bright, her mood lifted even higher by the sight of that smile. It was axiomatic: No matter how much time they spent apart, Simon was Simon and wonderful, the best brother.

Which made talking to him about certain things all the more amusing. One couldn't have the best brother in the 'verse and not wish to tease him mercilessly.

"Was it helpful?"

[superfraternal.livejournal.com]

"Hm?" Simon pretended he didn't know what she was talking about. Instead he bent to scoop up one of the cats. "I don't need any help with anything at the moment, mei-mei. Don't worry about me. How about you, though? You haven't needed any medicine in a while."

By which he meant, like, antipsychotics.

[biblerewrite.livejournal.com]

Her smile didn't falter, but she filed that away under 'I am so going to publicly humiliate you with just this subject next chance I get.' "I'm taking a different kind of medicine, actually," she said instead, taking a long step to another 'safe' tile, followed closely by Bloom. "More holistic type herbal remedies."

[superfraternal.livejournal.com]

"Oh?" Taking a step to match hers, though declining to follow her ludic pattern, Simon scratched between Branch's ears and tried not to sound as concerned as that remark made him. "Herbal remedies? Be careful. The concentration of a desired ingredient can vary from plant to plant. It's hard to control dosage that way."

He meant what he said, and nothing beyond that. He had no way of knowing that she wasn't talking about something like St. John's wort, for example.

[biblerewrite.livejournal.com]

She lifted an eyebrow, leaping to a particularly far safe spot. "Kusuriyuri is as good as you, But no needles. Just tea." Tea that made sure she had other things on the brainpan than babies.

[superfraternal.livejournal.com]

"Okay," said Simon, a little testily, "but ancient Earth ethnopharmacology might not be all one would hope. Just keep that in mind, please?"