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[flybywash]

[From here.]

Pilot on crutches. Pyro bearing fruit.

Front hall of Serenity.

"Welcome aboard in an official non-mayhem capacity. We got a couple of spare rooms downstairs -- and if I get stuck in the grates," this is said a little sheepishly, as he wiggles his crutches, "just help me yank these gorram things out of it?"

Comments

[nitro-is-ace.livejournal.com]

"Sure thing." She grins at him, then at the ship, staring around wide-eyed. "I remember it being more crowded. Definitely better without lotsa people all armed to the teeth. I applaud the change in decor."

[flybywash]

He laughs. "Yeah, I'm a big fan myself. You wanna see the bridge first, some other fun but not nearly as wonderful place, or none of the above?"

[nitro-is-ace.livejournal.com]

"Bridge. Let's go check out the black." She learns quick, this one.

[flybywash]

That she does.

Wash beams, and turns back to the door they just walked through.

When it opens this time, though, it's on a pair of consoles (the chair in front of the right-hand one looks much newer than the one on the left), a section of exposed wires swinging from the ceiling....

And the best damn view of the black you'll ever get.

Not that Wash is biased or anything.

[nitro-is-ace.livejournal.com]

She does her damnedest to ignore the chair, though she can guess, and she has a damn good imagination, and she is never going to ask.

Instead, she gapes at the stars.

She drops down the stairs to get a closer look, getting right up close as she can.
"They're beautiful. That's the one thing I don't like s'much about TARDISes, there's not much of a view from the inside when flyin'."

[badinlatin]

Enter one Captain, with one Witty Remark.

"Usually the views from inside here are more Wash recreatin' battles with his dinosaurs, but the stars ain't bad either."

A bright grin. "Heya Ace - over for a visit?"

[nitro-is-ace.livejournal.com]

"Hullo Mal." No one's shared the many nicknames of Mal with Ace yet, so much woe. He should enjoy it while it lasts. "I brought fruit. Don't throw me inna airlock." She holds up the fruit basket as a shield, even as she grins at him.

[flybywash]

Wash nods, solemn.

"I've taught her well."

[badinlatin]

Mal bows chivalrously before making off with an apple, whipping out a pocketknife from his boot to slice off a piece.

"I only throw people in the airlock that I don't like. And I definitely like you, so you're safe. Plus - bribing captains with apples is always good."

[nitro-is-ace.livejournal.com]

"Well good. That whole 'in the airlock' thing just doesn't suit m'style." Which is, you know, breathing. And warm. Usually in combination.

[flybywash]

"Even if it did, I would protest vehemently," Wash points out. "There might even be pitchforks."

He snags an apple of his own and bites right in, then gestures to the windscreen with the fruit.

"Couldn't you use the TARDIS's magical morphing powers to add a window, or am I completely misunderstanding your strange yet fascinating alien technology again?"

[nitro-is-ace.livejournal.com]

"S'not safe t'look into the Time Vortex. It's why the TARDIS will find a when to be, before it finds a where, in the case of an emergency. It's almost better to rematerialize in the middle of a mountain, than to not be in a real time. There's things out there."

There isn't a bit of her galaxy that's completely safe.

Of course, that's what makes it so interesting.

[badinlatin]

"...Huh."

Mal understands nothing, and wallows cheerfully in ignorance.

"Well! I'm thinkin' I'm gonna stick to apples, and let you two get back on with your tour. You let me know if either o' you need anythin', dong ma?"

[flybywash]

Wash tosses off a casual salute.

"Sure thing, cap'n." Beat. With a wicked grin, "You know, there's still that port extender -- "

[nitro-is-ace.livejournal.com]

Ace eyes him. Suspciously. It's the healthy suspicion of little sisters everywhere.

"Port extender?"

[flybywash]

"Yeah. We had to replace it after the ship went down, and somebody got one that was too short."

He glares at Mal good-naturedly.

[badinlatin]

Mal waves his hand dismissively toward Wash before leaving.

"Later, Washburne. Argue with me later."

Mal takes another apple and gives Ace a peck on the cheek for her trouble before walking off past his bunk and around the corner toward Shuttle Two.

[nitro-is-ace.livejournal.com]

Ace grins wickedly at Wash.

"Captain likes me better than you." She sings at him, cheekily. "So, where we goin' next?"

[flybywash]

See Wash sulk. Sulk, Wash, sulk.

....For all of five seconds.

"Kitchen? To stash away the fruit in secret hiding spots that only I know about?" he suggests innocently.

[nitro-is-ace.livejournal.com]

"Lead on, McDuff. Don't think I saw the kitchen, last time." She's a curious creature, and there's a whole big ship to explore.

She may be bouncing a little.

[flybywash]

"Ain't a lot to see," he quips, hobbling his way off the bridge and down the front hall. The hatches to the below-deck bunks line the walls; Kaylee's, the first one on the left, has a brightly-colored sign reading "Kaylee's Room" and a string of Christmas lights outlining the door.

"But..." He spreads one arm as they step down into the kitchen. "Ta-daa."

[nitro-is-ace.livejournal.com]

She beams, wandering further in.
"Brilliant! S'all... homey, and such. So." She turns around to grin at him. This is, officially, the longest she's been smiling since... well. A long time.
"Where do I stash the goods, pirate king?"

[flybywash]

"Blame Kaylee for the flowers." Affectionately.

And then he scratches his chin, thinking it over.

"Hm. How about...here." He makes his way over to one of the cabinets and pulls it open. On the very top shelf is an array of what looks a lot like small bricks.

"Behold the end result of the finest minds of the Blue Sun Corporation: kiwi-flavored protein," he deadpans. "Bought it once, tried it once, discovered that by 'kiwi' they really mean 'algae,' and nobody's touched it since."

[nitro-is-ace.livejournal.com]

She takes one out, for further investigation.

...

It is most assuredly not a kiwi.

...

She's not entirely sure it's edible.

...

By anything.

...

Even cockroaches.

...

"I am bringing Zoe care packages. She can't get good nutrition off this rot." She finally declares, prodding the block with a pencil she dug out of her pocket. The not!kiwi block moves across the counter sluggishly.

[flybywash]

"The sad thing is, with the amount of nutritional supplements they pack into that teeny tiny space, you can feed a family of four for a month." He prods it back in her direction. "In other words, yes, please, care packages. Preferably with small foodlike objects I can steal, too."

Shifty eyes.