tushanshu | first verse ☯ video;

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first verse ☯ video;

[ River's sitting in her suite in the Water, evidenced by the soft colours and natural materials in her background. She touches the screen carefully, teeth pinching her lower lip as though she doesn't know recording has started -- but then she starts speaking without changing anything, so maybe she does know. ]

High chance of improbability even in this 'Verse, can't go between-between-between. Even if you use orthogonal coordinates, meeting at right angles. Two wrongs to make a right, two rights to make a wrong, the graph is broken. Order of chelonii or testudines but even the largest can't hold a city. Can't check the book, no chapters on waking up in new places.

[ She seems briefly frustrated, whether at the improbability of her situation or merely her own inability to verify what the kedan told her is unclear. She hadn't had the opportunity to think on it much with being drafted into the bottle, with all that had followed that and now that she did, she was still no better equipped to explain anything. Her fingers tangle in a dingy chain around her neck, tugging at a small ring and charm that seem very tarnished. ]

I'm supposed to have a job.

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((OOC: Relink for River's permissions post too, if you haven't filled it out yet!))

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I never had a real brother. Kinda jealous. I haven't met a Simon here, but maybe he'll turn up.

I. Don't really follow. Who's they? The kedan? Cause it's not like you 'gave' them any.

Did you have a fake brother?

[ From her curious tone, she's treating this as a legitimate question. ]

No, not them. The ones who turn the old into the new, like they did with River.

N- huh. I don't know. Would you call a genetically-altered clone of yourself a fake brother? Cause I really don't want to. He was an asshole. I meant more that my best friends are like brothers.

[And it is, in fact, answered as a legitimate question, but that's possibly to give him more time to figure out the old-into-new thing.]

But. You're River.

[ Technically River would consider that a fake brother but when Bart seems not to like the idea, she says nothing. But mentally, she's ascribed him with a sort-of sibling. ]

Yes. I'm the River there is now.

[It's probably better for her to keep that one to herself.

Bart doesn't like breaking out things like "Wait. Rewind." all that often. He thinks it's better to plow on ahead and let things sort out as they unfold, but perhaps a slight breakdown is necessary.]

So. You're now-River. And past-River is... the one back home, yeah? There's still only one River though. You've only got one soul. Think of it as a limit. X is how many full seconds you spend on Tu Vishan. The limit of x as x approaches 1 zeptosecond is infinity. Someday, your soul jumps back, but there's nothing missed there. I can confirm. I've got friends here who're younger than they should be, and they've never gone missing 18 months. And I've got friends who've been here who're older than they should be and I've never gone missing 11 months and counting.

Old River is the one who went to sleep and new River is the one who woke up.

[ Bart's explanation isn't addressing exactly what she'd meant but the infinite limit formula makes sense to her, so she goes with it. ]

I think new River's all right. You ever lived alone before? Do you know how to cook? Ohmygod don't eat sea prunes.

[ River shakes her head at the question about living alone, because she'd always been at home or at the Academy or with Simon aboard Serenity. Cooking was... not her strong suit. ]

I know the rules, just the recipes. Haven't done it here yet.

[Congratulations, you've just made his list of people to keep an eye on.]

The recipes are... prolly not gonna help you as much as you think. The food is weird here. None of it looks how it tastes. But, y'know. People figure it out.

It's mac n' cheese night here, if you're hungry.

... mac n' cheese?

[ Tell her more, Bart. ]

Yeah! Y'know. Macaroni... and cheese. Together in the same plop of mush. You've seriously never heard of it? It's awesome. Total comfort food.

[ River shakes her head; the average meal on Serenity is reworked protein molecules, Bart. And comfort food wasn't exactly on the menu of her previous living arrangements. ]

Can I try some?

Uh, yeah. Kinda why I mentioned it. As an invitation, y'know?

[Oh gosh, she can never tell Bart that unless she wants him to turn into one of those grandmothers that feed you til you pop.]

I don't need fourths.

[ River sees a lot of things, but sometimes the really obvious ones don't get her attention. ]

When can I...?

[Bart shrugs, throwing his arms wide.]

Anytime you like. The door's always open. Figuratively. Do not try to just open the door. Knock. Knocking's good.

[ Congratulations Bart, you've just assured that she'll knock on your door any time she passes it, regardless of whether she intends to come in or not! ]

Tommyknockers.

I'll come over later.

[She better not be a night owl.]

That book sucked.

[ Oh you sweet summer speedster... ]

Late last night and the night before,
Tommyknockers, Tommyknockers, knocking at the door.
I want to go out, don't know if I can,
'Cause I'm so afraid of the Tommyknocker man.

[Other people do the 3 am patrols. He is patrolling his bed, thank you.]

I think "he thrusts his fists against the posts and still insists he sees the ghosts" has more of a ring to it, if you're gonna go for a Stephen King quote.

Round here though, maybe "monsters are real, and ghosts are real too. They live inside us, and sometimes, they win." Or anything about Randall Flagg.

"Whoever fights monsters should see to it that in the process he does not become a monster. And if you gaze long enough into an abyss, the abyss will gaze back into you."

[ Nietzsche has survived from Earth That Was, apparently. ]

Yeah. But that which does not kill us makes us stronger, so I say if you survive staring into the abyss, you're tough enough to not let it get to you.

[A beat.]

I don't mind Nietzsche so much. He's better than Hobbes. "No price is too high to pay for the privilege of owning yourself." Words to live by.

[ River smiles, enjoying the rapid trading of quotations. It's nice to have someone who keeps up with her on a verbal level. ]

Where did you learn?

Learn what?

[He looks almost confused by the question.]

I've been to a bunch of high schools if that's what you mean. But I picked that stuff up on my own. I read a lot. What about you?

I went to school on Osiris but it was hard... it was very slow.

[ The way she says it is apologetic, almost guiltily. ]

But I took a lot of graduates. Two of them were in Earth-That-Was studies.

[He doesn't feel guilty about it, but he does sympathize.]

School is never, ever harder than when you're too quick for it. Never heard of the Earth-That-Was, though.

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problematical - 2014-04-17 21:42 (UTC) - Expand

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backinakidflash - 2014-04-25 23:40 (UTC) - Expand

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