My first one focusing more on River!
Snow is something that people find beautiful even as it kills them, and that is such an amusing thing. It would smother them or freeze them still, and yet they'd still call it pretty. Could make you blind or your limbs go dead or your mind go mad and still someone would smile and wonder and go out to play, slipping and sliding and building and destroying.
Snow is precipitation in the form of flakes of crystalline water ice that falls from clouds. It is a granular material due to being composed of small ice participles. It has an open and therefore soft, white, and fluffy structure, unless subjected to external pressure.
River, wearing a pair of Kaylee's boots that were two sizes too big and a layering of sweaters, pants, and a borrowed coat, clopped her way through the thick snow covering the ground, getting just a little bit farther away from Serenity and her cursing captain.
"Juh Shi Suh Mo Go Dohng Shee? Kaylee, you better get her back into flyin' shape soon else I'll get mighty mad." Mal growled, a grumpy grumpy bear whose porridge had been eaten all up. River knew that it was just a gasket that had wiggled off on the underside of the fuel injection and one of the power cores that had gotten a little loose going through Atmo; River knew, but she didn't feel like telling anyone because Kaylee would eventually find it and she wanted to make a snow-person.
Can't assume gender identity. Would be rude.
"I hate the snow somethin' fierce." Her captain growls to Zoe, kicking at a small pile of it, and River giggled because lies. Lying liar, see how he lies? Loves the snow, reminds him of home. Of a seven year old boy crashing through snow banks, toppling over to the ground to create the prettiest snow angels there ever were. Tackling a man with rough hands and a thin face, laughter and happiness and the promise of warm milk if he came in. Thick stews and icicles on the window, and a stern woman's smile as he begged her to show him how to make snow cream. Please please please? Pretty please? Yes, Malcolm, but only if you promise to clean up. Warm fires and soft rugs to lay on, the sound of the cold wind screaming outside in the dark, and those were the happiest times-
River gently pulls herself away and lets her body fall back, laying in the snow and letting the cold seep into her and chill her right down to the core, staring up at the blue blue sky and staying perfectly still.
"Think you're supposed to move around if'n you're wantin' to make yourself an angel." Says the Jayne, big and looming and all bundled up, his orange hat knit with love and worry and I hope he doesn't get himself into too much trouble. His letters never say nothin'. Always a handful, that boy. He can't never come home to his own Ma, and that just ain't right. Ah, he'll come back one day, though not for long. Always had big dreams and feet that weren't never gonna stay on the ground for long. And he worries so sweet, sendin' us money for Mattie's meds. That boy's always talkin' 'bout how he want to travel the stars just like Jayne. Ain't even met his brother and he loves him more than the others. Bennett's jealous, though he ain't gonna show it. Wonder if he needs any socks. Must be cold-
"She does not wish to move. Is lying in wait to see if they will find her."
"Who?" He asks, wondering if this is just a bit of her crazy or if there's someone actually out for them, and she smiles because he's concerned, just a bit, and wouldn't his Ma be proud, worried over a girl who he claims to not even like.
"The whispers." She tells him, looking away from his looming shape to instead look up at the sky once more. They're miles and miles and miles out from anything other than themselves, and it might just be one of the quietest places in the whole wide verse if it weren't for the crew.
Simon is upset, always upset and worried and what if she get too cold? What if she wanders off? What if this new medication doesn't work, what'll I do then? Head hurts, wish Kaylee could talk. Too busy fixing this ship, but can't blame her. She loves it too much. Does she love it more than me? Does she- And little Nathan is so happy, toddling through the snow wearing an old coat that was once his fathers since he doesn't have proper winter gear just yet, grew out of the old things. He's so happy and surprised! Why is it so cold? And wet? Why can't I put it in my mouth? Why won't the mother let me!? Zoe watches and God, Wash would love him. Has his eyes. Course he'd love that stupid coat, one of the ugliest things Wash owned. Careful, be careful. Ice is slippery and- Can't run up, the books say to let them get up on their own. Want him to be dependent and strong, and I can't baby him forever, but I hate it when he cries-
Everyone's thoughts are a jumble and they tangle and push at her, and she just can't push back, but Jayne… Jayne's thoughts never tangle, they're always just there and they never push. He doesn't bother questioning himself, hardly ever worries, and thinks so simply that it's like a lullaby that soothes the roars that echo in her head. The girl is weird, gives you the creeps sometimes. Isn't she cold, laying there? She'll probably get up when it gets too much, and the Doc or Mal will come and get her if she's too stupid to get up. I wonder what we're eating tonight. It's Kaylee's turn to cook, so it's up in the air if'n it'll be good or not.
Straight. To the point. His thoughts could actually be written down on a bulleted list, everyone else's a web that twists and turns and hurts her eyes to look at. The only time it turned complicated was when he questioned himself and his decisions, and thankfully that was very rarely (such as Ariel) because once he made a decision he stuck with it as long as it worked. He was so simple and it was refreshing to let his thoughts fall onto her and wash away the sticky tangles other people's voices left all over her.
She smiled at him and held her ungloved and now frigid hands up for him to take and pull her up, but he just looked down at her like she'd done just about the stupidest thing he'd ever seen and then turned away, leaving her on the ground. He'd only managed to get a few steps away when River hurried up and then leapt onto his back, latching on to him with her arms tight around his chest and her legs around his waist.
"Huh? What're you doin?!"
"Transport. She does not wish to walk back."
"Doesn't wish to- Get the hell off me, you Feng Le girl!" Jayne shouts, swatting back at her and trying to pull her off, though it didn't do any good. "I'm warning you!" He growls.
River knows what he's going to do as soon as the thought flits through his head. Smiling brightly, she tightens her hold and braces herself and Jayne falls back on to his back and on to her. There's a moment of breathless impact where her hold loosens, and he takes this opportunity to try and get up River-free, but River fixes herself too soon for his liking and he finds that when he tries to stand she's still holding on to him.
"Jayne! What in the hell do you think you're doin'?!" Mal shouts, spotting the two of them and their strange position on the ground.
"She won't let go, Mal! Sayin' I have to carry her!"
"Then carry her! We're heading off as soon as Kaylee fixes her up, so you'd better hurry up and get back on the ship or else we'll just leave you here!"
Jayne grumbled unhappily as he stood back up, grabbing River's legs to readjust her before he started back to the ship, continuing to hold on so that she wouldn't slip and become even more of a bother. River just smiled and tilted her head back, humming and kicking her legs as her aggravated and cursing ride clomped back home.
Translation:
Juh Shi Suh Mo Go Dohng Shee- What the hell is this crap?
Feng Le- Crazy