a/n: you'd never guess which class i thought of this in.
disclaimer: how does it go? joss is boss.
River had long ago learned the three basic laws of Physics discovered by Newton on Earth-That-Was almost a thousand years before. She can't even quite remember when she learned them, because the father used to say that she came out of the mother's womb spouting string theory mathematics. She had just known them, like how one knows that the sky is blue or how a rose smells or how the lips are for kissing.
The academy had taught her how useful the subject of the universe really was – there was the needles and the blinking and the dreaming and then her muscles suddenly were able to utilize every factor into one sweeping movement. (Means to an end, as Machiavelli had said.)
But it wasn't natural. She was born with grace and intuition – but River thought herself as much of a fighter as an apple is an orange. She was born to dance (the one with the Reavers didn't count).
---
He scowled and watched as she looped and leaped 'round the cargo bay, over various boxes and things that he didn't have no idea what the use for was. Damn girl was right distracting as he added twenty-five to his bench, and damn if he knew if she wouldn't leap that pretty ass over and drive a stick of wood into his chest.
"Do that somewhere else, will ya?" he finally snapped, resting a hand on his knee and wiping sweat from his face.
"Look," she replied. She tossed one o' them bouncy rubber balls Kaylee had for jacks up in the air; skeptically, he watched it zoom upwards and wondered if she had done one of her killer math tricks on it so it'd come back down and take his eye out. Or somethin'.
The only thing that happened was her carefully aiming then throwin' a jack at it; it swerved off course and bounced off the wall. "Look," she repeated.
---
Now, Jayne – he was a natural fighter. If River was born spewing theoretical physics, he was born with a semi-automatic in his hand. He did it consciously, meaning to and wanting to, and although she had never watched him dance she guessed that it wouldn't be among his few attributes. (Blue drops of water on a white slate.)
He knew math, too; she knew it, but he didn't, and she didn't care for the effort of explaining on how aiming a gun had to do with angles and gravity and acceleration and air resistance or why (he knew) that he needed to hold tighter on a gun that would shoot more powerfully. (Newton's third law; perhaps he was born with that, too.)
---
He loved to clean his guns. They were his girls, he loved 'em, and his ma had always told him that if was gonna take care of someone he'd better take care of his girl.
If there was one thing he agreed with Mal on it was that the only half-decent place to clean a weapon was at the table. He preferred the broad side facing the kitchen 'cause he didn't much like having his back turned at the knives no more.
She walked in from behind (it wasn't clear why or how he knew, p'rhaps a rush of a dress or the light tap of her foot, but when he turned around he was looking at all dark hair and dark eyes and that damned deceptive face. The poor lighting fell on her face funny, making her eyes and cheek have shadows on 'em that was right scary to someone who wa'n't used to it.)
"Whaddya what?" he finally asked gruffly, turning back to his girls then fumbling and cursing as a few bullets spilled and scattered onto the floor.
He didn't even realize she had bent down and picked one up until she was already closely examining it. "Give the gorram bullet back, moon-brain."
"It's so tiny."
"Who the hell cares?" "It needs to run fast to do its work," she replied, letting the small metal round roll into her palm. "You are so demanding and it is so small that it can't do it properly without." She paused, and studied his dumbfounded face. "Do you know what will stop it?" She held it between her two fingers. "A man's gut, I reckon." She simply smiled, and walked up to him and took his hand and opened his large and calloused fingers, then dropped the small bullet within. "Here's your bullet, Jayne," she said, and walked away.
---
River remembers when he changed.
It was when she changed, at her last horrible dance recital. The blast doors opened and she was surrounded by people who were lying down but not clapping. He lay, exhausted, looking at her in wonder and her hands gripped crude weapons and her feet stood flat on the floor.
For a second, their eyes met and --
yes, that was when he had changed.
And River felt that something was suddenly off balance.
---
She was bearing down on him, and he was scared, and moving backwards until he hit the wall. She was close, too close, he was gonna die -- "Inertia." "Huh?" "That is what has happened to us." "...What."
"An object at rest tends to stay at rest..." Her hand was on his heart, now, over the scar. He was sure that she could feel it through layers of skin and muscle it was beating so hard. "...unless acted upon by an unbalanced force."
He watched her; it was night-cycle and the hall was dark, throwing shadows onto that small face o' hers, and even though he couldn't see much her lips were highlighted as if a spotlight was thrown on 'em. And he was sweating now, and she was too close, and something most definitely wasn't right about this – but then she kissed him, so he knew that whatever was wrong wasn't that. And Jayne didn't kiss girls by the mouth so it was a downright strange feeling but not entirely bad. And, as she pulled away, he decided that he wanted to try again.
"Inertia," she repeated, his breath and hers colliding. "Newton's first law. Physics."
He didn't know much of what she was talking about, what with Nooten or whatever the pansy's name was, but he also didn't much feel like snapping at her. "Then what's my next lesson?" He finally asked, shifting a bit so he wasn't pressin' himself so hard against the wall. "The attraction between two bodies." He raised his eyebrows. "Gravity."
i had such fun writing this. :D
review!
points to anyone who can get all of the references to newton's three laws. the ones that aren't already stated, of course.