FIFTH VERSE ☯ VIDEO;

[problematical]

[ River looks comfortable with the console with the backdrop of the Welcome Center behind her, and that's a telltale sign that she's used them before. She's ready when the video feed starts, and looks at the screen with earnestness, as if hoping to see familiar faces on the other end. ]

The old story ended, and the new one's begun. The Dragon is gone, the Queen and Knight are dead. The sleeping flowers have woken up and turned their faces into the sun.

[ and then, perhaps needlessly confirming the previous: ]

I was here before. One day I woke up, and I was back on Serenity... and I didn't forget, but I didn't remember, either. It was--

[ How to describe it? ]

A missing chapter in a book. The story doesn't quite make sense, but you just have to keep reading.

Good job slaying the dragon.

Comments

video;

[wrathfulkhan]

I thought all dragons didn't need to be slain.

[But he's smiling.]

Welcome back.

Re: video;

[problematical]

Yǒu hào lóng, hé huài de lóng.

[ She's smiling too. ]

You're still here.

video;

[wrathfulkhan]

This place hasn't found a way to get rid of me yet.

Re: video;

[problematical]

That makes you happy.

I have...

[ she fingers her soul gem; she got the basic rundown from the Welcome Center, but... ]

It's very small. Maybe souls are small, and Shepherd was wrong.

video;

[wrathfulkhan]

...it does.

[He's not sure how she knows. But she's always been an odd one.]

It's small, but at least it's more portable than the lanterns. Watch yourself - a few months ago several people had their gems stolen from them. They were always found before any long-term damage could occur, but the next person might not be so lucky.

[redlightgreenlight]

There was a Dragon?

[She looks a bit excited at the thought]

[problematical]

Yes. The kind that ate people, even if they didn't disappear.

[redlightgreenlight]

If they were eaten, why didn't they disappear?

[problematical]

It ate them from the inside.

[redlightgreenlight]

That's...

[...Kind of creepy.]

Are you being metaphorical?

video;

[purered]

This is the first I've heard of a dragon.

Are you a new arrival, miss?

Re: video;

[problematical]

New and old and new again. Sinusoidal wave, peaks and valleys. The wave-number is related to the angular frequency by k, omega over v, 2-pi f over v, 2-pi over lambda where lambda is the wavelength, f is the frequency, and v is the linear speed.

video;

[purered]

Am I to take that to mean you've been here before?

Re: video;

[problematical]

A thing said twice is once lied, and once believed.

I was here before, I said.

video;

[purered]

Ah - I apologize for my misunderstanding. Please allow me to welcome you back, miss.

I am Klaus Reinherz.

[lasergrenades]

Are you a poet or something?

[It's not spoken with annoyance, but interest. There have been a few new arrivals that have had particularly distinctive ways of speaking, and this newcomer apparently falls into that category. Pepper is, as always, curious.]

That's a much nicer way of describing what happened. I'm Pepper, by the way. Have you been here before?

[problematical]

[ quotes: ] "The poet is a liar who always speaks the truth."

The Dragon wasn't very nice at all.

Yes. I said I was. I'm River.

[lasergrenades]

I didn't say the dragon was nice, just that you described it, the whole situation...better. Less awful than I've heard it before, without being inaccurate about what happened. I've only heard stories, since I wasn't here then.

[Right, the young woman had said she'd been here before. Pepper had gotten a little lost in the narrative, apparently.]

Welcome back, then, River. That's a cool name. Is Serenity the world you come from?

[problematical]

I asked once who was bad, and who was good in the story. Even knowing how it ends, I don't think anyone knows.

[ It's not a rebuke, just River's meandering thoughts. ]

Serenity is the ship. Firefly-class.

[lasergrenades]

[Pepper tilts her head, just moderately confused. River seems... a little odd, but interesting.]

Is that a spaceship or a sailing ship? We've got people from both kinds here. Shay's ship even showed up during the last landfall, we're gonna use it for part of the turtle moving. The turtle is kind of sinking, if no one's mentioned that, but we've mostly figured out how to deal with that.

video;

[ruinsprofessor]

I've seen you before, though I don't believe we ever spoke in detail.

[The cryptic nature of her speech certainly sounds familiar. Past network posts, perhaps.]

If the dragon is who I suspect you mean, it was not easily done, but worth the battle.

Is there anything that you need explained? Since a good deal has changed in your absence.

Re: video;

[problematical]

[ River studies Raine, and then she nods. She recognizes the healer too, but not by name. ]

You helped beat the Dragon. He forgot that dragons hoard treasure, didn't he?

This... [ she touches the soul gem ] They said it's important, but can't put a soul in a bauble, it's not safe.

video;

[ruinsprofessor]

[Riddles. Is that the girl’s choice, or can she not think straight enough to phrase it more obviously?]

It isn’t safe, no, you’re right. For what it’s worth, I don’t believe the gem holds the entire soul, for it is possible to be temporarily separated from it and survive, but it is an anchor.

Be careful with it.

[Don’t swallow it like some people she could name.]

[Raine detours back to the first thing River said, though, thinking.]

You say he forgot that dragons hoard treasure. What do you mean? That he hoarded, too, the instruments of his own demise?

[If she means the Vilii stone, then...]

Re: video;

[problematical]

Shepherd still wouldn't like it.

Yes, but he hoarded himself too. Got too focused, couldn't see the galaxy for the stars.

[ruinsprofessor]

Shepherd? [A tilt of her head.] Is that metaphoric, or literal?

[But there's a nod, for the rest of what River says.] I... believe I follow.

--Ah, that's right. [She's remembered that people introduce themselves when not being peppered with question after question.] My name is Raine Sage. I run the Healers' Guild-- I don't believe it was present when you were here last, or at least not in its current form.