"And I've come here to ignore your cries and heartaches
I've come to closely listen to you sing
I've come here to insist
That I leave here with a kiss
I've come to say exactly what I mean
and I mean so many things."
-Hymn #101 by Joe Pug
Jayne was a man of simple tastes. Made no secret 'bout it either, what with his drink and his exercise and a bit of trim every once in a while. Everyone that he met knew that. He wasn't that hard to figure out, really.
So why'd that gorram girl have him sittin' all along on his bunk, thinking? Not like he didn't think some anyways; he wasn't stupid, just simple. But she made little offhand remarks. Somethin' about him smelling real dizzy today. That didn't make too much sense. And later, she remarked he'd been awful quiet, which was true. And the lights were hurtin' him, which was true too.
Why'd she pick the morning he was hungover to go pryin' in his head?
Of course, holing up in his bunk had helped plenty, 'specially after he'd yelled at Simon for walking by. It was afternoon now, and he was plenty better. So he decided to venture out some. Maybe apologise to Kaylee for bein' so snappy this morning. She didn't deserve that.
She wasn't in the engine room, which was strange. He doubled back, seeing her bunk was empty, and headed back. As he approached the hold, he tried to figure out what was going on.
Someone was singin'.
Now, he didn't have any objections to music, as a matter of fact he played some guitar himself. But on his ship? Singin'? Not quite the usual.
He leaned his head in, surveying who was there. Kaylee was there, lookin' real happy. She was singing, too, he could tell, but real quiet. It was River making most of the noise.
She had a real pretty voice, and he realized he wasn't surprised at all. She did talk kinda sing-songy sometimes. It was all high and light but still loud, and he could even hear Kaylee under it. She wasn't as pretty a singer, but she could carry a tune.
Simon was there, too, smilin' like it was his birthday or something. He didn't sing. Jayne didn't expect him too, much too pompous to engage in silliness.
Jayne listened for a minute, trying to figure out what River was singin'. Was in Chinese, he knew that. After a minute, he smiled, disappearing from the doorway. None of the group in the hold noticed he had even been there.
Nor did they notice his return, 'till he came down the stairs all huff and gruff and loud. River shut up quick, looking at him like he had just walked in on her naked. He walked over to the crates, still silent, and sighed loudly as he shuffled through the contents a little.
"What you guys doin' down here?" he said meanly. Kaylee opened her mouth, but River beat her to it.
"Singing songs about land, wishing it to rise to meet her feet again. She looks to the ceiling and sees nothing but beams of steel, but if she closes her eyes they turn to clouds." Well, at least River had made some sense there.
He grunted. "Well, don't be getting any ideas about singin' and such. We don't do it often around here."
River's face fell and she stared at his boots. "Singing songs is for the young ones, he thinks no one will know if he sings in his bunk."
"Now I ain't been singin' nothing in my bunk!" Jayne protested, dropping his duffel bag to the ground slowly. "Simon, your sister has funny ideas about singing."
Simon frowned. "River, have you been eavesdro--"
"No, just feeling the song flow through the metal. A good coductor. Of electricity, of consciousness."
Jayne frowned. "Told ye the the girl was a ruttin' Reader," he muttered.
River met his eyes. "Go away before the song starts again, run lest it insult your masculinity." Even as she spoke, she sat down next to Kaylee, starting to sing again. River's voice was harsher, louder, trying to drive Jayne away.
"Well now that's just an insult to me and my manhood. Y'think I can't handle a little sing-a-long?" he said, barely containing a smile as he pulled his guitar out of the duffel bag. He'd been careful not to think on it, too, keep it a surprise.
River's eyes widened. She slid off the crate onto her knees, hobbling over to the instrument. Still singing, she gently stroked the strings. Jayne picked it up, strumming out a few chords. Still in tune.
"You know, Jayne, I never would have though you the type to..." Simon started, but trailed off as River stood, swaying, singing, grinning.
"'Tain't unmanly to play a guitar," Jayne mumbled, picking out an accompaniment.
River smiled. "Now play something new," she ordered when her little Chinese song had finished. Jayne obliged, playing a simple melody to please the girl. She began to dance, combat boots and pink skirt whirling in the middle of the cargo hold, hummang along a harmony she'd just made up.