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Sep. 15th, 2006 10:01 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
flybywashThey call it the ghost months.
It used to keep time with the moon of Earth-That-Was, and it used to happen every year. They'd tell stories of the dead walking the earth: ancestors returned to visit their families, ghosts sent to snatch the living back through the gates of Hell. They'd burn offerings, perform plays; they'd avoid weddings, water, and open spaces after dark.
They still tell the stories, but only once every seven years now, and for two months straight instead of the ancient tradition of one.
On Sihnon, fires burn bright on the streetcorners, kept in tightly tamped containers with narrow grates along the top. The only paper money this side of the system will ever see (available in packets from the vendor across the street, ten fake bills for one credit) gets tossed inside by passerby, a tourist novelty, a casual afterthought.
Beaumonde's known for its giant theater festival that spans the entire two months, one new play every day. Traditionally, only the best new drama debuts here. A work based on Sing Hua's three-act novels is slated to take center stage at the exact midpoint of this decade's festival, a time slot accompanied by an elaborate all-day buffet and one that's fiercely contested over for years leading up to it. Tickets have been sold out for well over a year and a half.
Nobody living in the Bellerophon Estates will claim to believe the myths, but travel over the vast ocean slows come nightfall anyway. Some even walk to the edge of their property, lean over to look down at the waters, and silently drop paper boats over the side before retreating indoors.
On Serenity, they hold a moment of silence, and nobody finishes their entire meal or cleans up the dishes after dinner.
In Wash and Zoe's bunk, Wash falls asleep within minutes of his head hitting the pillow.
It used to keep time with the moon of Earth-That-Was, and it used to happen every year. They'd tell stories of the dead walking the earth: ancestors returned to visit their families, ghosts sent to snatch the living back through the gates of Hell. They'd burn offerings, perform plays; they'd avoid weddings, water, and open spaces after dark.
They still tell the stories, but only once every seven years now, and for two months straight instead of the ancient tradition of one.
On Sihnon, fires burn bright on the streetcorners, kept in tightly tamped containers with narrow grates along the top. The only paper money this side of the system will ever see (available in packets from the vendor across the street, ten fake bills for one credit) gets tossed inside by passerby, a tourist novelty, a casual afterthought.
Beaumonde's known for its giant theater festival that spans the entire two months, one new play every day. Traditionally, only the best new drama debuts here. A work based on Sing Hua's three-act novels is slated to take center stage at the exact midpoint of this decade's festival, a time slot accompanied by an elaborate all-day buffet and one that's fiercely contested over for years leading up to it. Tickets have been sold out for well over a year and a half.
Nobody living in the Bellerophon Estates will claim to believe the myths, but travel over the vast ocean slows come nightfall anyway. Some even walk to the edge of their property, lean over to look down at the waters, and silently drop paper boats over the side before retreating indoors.
On Serenity, they hold a moment of silence, and nobody finishes their entire meal or cleans up the dishes after dinner.
In Wash and Zoe's bunk, Wash falls asleep within minutes of his head hitting the pillow.
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Date: 2006-08-30 05:44 am (UTC)He lets go.
It's only for the split-second it takes to pull Zoe into a tight, desperate embrace, hiding his face against her neck.
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Date: 2006-08-31 02:18 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-08-31 02:23 am (UTC)And if it's shaking too hard to be understood, or spoken too soft to be heard...
Maybe that's for the best, if Wash doesn't exactly believe it anyway.
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Date: 2006-08-31 02:29 am (UTC)But as they've established, eventually doesn't help so much with right now.
Zoe pulls back, framing his face with her hands, and kisses him firmly, and then again, like Death's coming back in four minutes instead of four days and she has to get everything in while she can.
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Date: 2006-08-31 02:53 am (UTC)Wash kisses her back, hard, arms sliding down around her waist.
He could say it again, or I'll be back soon instead, but he isn't much for talking all of a sudden, nor of looking past this very moment of him and Zoe, together, taste and smell and touch and all.
Who knows how much he'll remember of it when he's there?
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Date: 2006-08-31 03:14 am (UTC)Low, "Four days?"
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Date: 2006-08-31 03:19 am (UTC)He sniffles, and the pressure against her forehead lessens for a second as he looks over his shoulder at the ladder.
"God, I'm gonna have to get all the charts together and run diagostics and talk to River..."
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Date: 2006-08-31 03:25 am (UTC)"Hadn't even thought about that, yet. But I guess someone's gotta fly this thing."
"Gonna be a lot to do, before."
It doesn't matter that she can't finish the statement.
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Date: 2006-08-31 03:39 am (UTC)He's starting to slip into a distracted unsteadiness, one hand moving from Zoe's lower back to rub at his temple.
"I, I have to -- "
Wash doesn't realize that he's also starting to pull away.
He can't just take care of Zoe. He has to take care of them both.
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Date: 2006-08-31 03:46 am (UTC)And on the heels of her first thought--don't be ridiculous, he's got a job to do--comes another, just as unexpected.
Is this what it's like for him, with me'n'Mal?
It takes her by surprise, but she doesn't have time to dwell on it right now, and she doesn't stop Wash as he pulls away.
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Date: 2006-08-31 04:00 am (UTC)"I need help getting the charts out," he says, not caring that it's a naked plea for something else entirely: I don't want to be alone. "Can't carry 'em all one-handed."
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Date: 2006-08-31 04:04 am (UTC)So's not letting Wash out of her sight, if she can help it.
"Sure, baby."
A nod, and she slips out of bed as well, reaching for her own clothes.
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Date: 2006-08-31 04:26 am (UTC)And his notes, old and more recent alike.
And his datapad, which he usually keeps in their room, but remembers he stuck on the top shelf a couple days ago while he was working out some new vectors.
And a dusty flight manual, way in the back, and underneath the blankets are the other set of charts that he hardly ever uses because he's practically got them memorized, but what's to say somebody else won't, even if River is a genius mindreader --
Pretty soon he's just emptying the entire thing onto the deck, and none too quietly either.
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Date: 2006-09-01 04:33 am (UTC)"Go to bed soon, mèimei?" he'd said, putting a light hand on her shoulder.
"The ur-cosmological theory needs restructuring," she'd informed him. "I will."
She's still awake, though, and still frowning at her article.
After a while, her head lifts. "No," she tells the air, as if responding to someone else's question. "The substrate is inherently flawed. We'll have to account for three more early quantum states."
As if something's been decided, she rolls off her bed, knocking the pillow to the floor without noticing. Digital paper in hand, she slips out into the hallway.
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Date: 2006-09-01 04:49 am (UTC)Charts first.
With Zoe's help, Wash grabs as many of them as he can and migrates to the kitchen to sort them out. Most of them are one digital sheet, the size of an ordinary piece of paper. One or two (the really old ones) are much larger, rolled up like scrolls.
He takes a seat and starts shuffling through them, one hand still combing fitfully through his hair.
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Date: 2006-09-01 05:09 am (UTC)She pauses in the doorway, watching.
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Date: 2006-09-01 05:30 am (UTC)She's the first one to get the sensation of being watched, and she half-turns, offering River a small (very small) smile before her hand moves up to Wash's shoulder, squeezing gently to get his attention.
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Date: 2006-09-01 05:37 am (UTC)"River."
He makes as if he's about to stand, hands braced against the edge of the table, then thinks better of it and sweeps up the charts he's already sorted into a crooked-edged stack.
"Here, I've got -- " He starts to hold them out, but it turns into a vague beckoning gesture halfway through. "Talking should, um, happen. A lot of it."
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Date: 2006-09-01 05:41 am (UTC)But she moves forward after a minute, towards the table and the crate placed at the end of it. River likes makeshift seats better than actual chairs, often.
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Date: 2006-09-01 05:52 am (UTC)He sets down the stack of digital paper between them, only to lift off the top two sheets and move them to another pile. "Not really sorted out yet, but it's kind of a start -- it might be better if it's alphabetical by quadrant, but, um, for now I've just got it so it's closer to what you're actually seeing out there than what's..."
He scratches a spot between his eyebrows.
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Date: 2006-09-01 05:54 am (UTC)Zoe's hand moves again, from shoulder to neck, rubbing gently.
"I think you should probably just start from the beginning."
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Date: 2006-09-01 05:59 am (UTC)She's listening; her shoulders are hunched, and her gaze slides from the charts to Wash and Zoe and the empty air around them. Mostly, she focuses on the charts.
She's silent.
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Date: 2006-09-01 06:05 am (UTC)Vaguely, as he shuts his eyes for a moment and exhales.
"I'm." He opens his eyes, looks at River. "Gonna have to leave for a couple months. And this isn't -- it ain't like I'm asking you to do all the flying, but last time I wasn't around you were..."
He trails off.
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Date: 2006-09-01 06:17 am (UTC)Her head snaps sideways a fraction of an inch, and her breath shudders with sudden comprehension or sudden vertigo. It passes in an instant, as usual, and it leaves her face wearier and older.
"You want to stay," she whispers to the chart, fingers twitching against nothing.
"I want to ask. Please."
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Date: 2006-09-01 06:30 am (UTC)I didn't ask him. If I can keep from that--
But it's not the same for River to control herself and not say something, and Zoe knows it.
That only takes a little of the sting away.
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