Disclaimer: Joss is Boss
title ideas welcomed
Mal, Zoë and Jayne strode through the dusty night streets, ignoring the various arguments, tussles, and fires in barrels around them. Occasionally, gangs of similarly dressed, seriously armed men would move past, and were severely ignored by the three from Serenity, who were too busy having a discussion of their own.
"But, Mal, every time you say I aint to bring no weapons, things go awry. Every gorram time!"
Mal and Zoë shared a glance. They both knew, in part at least, he was right. However, anybody not a member of one of the "enforcement squads" – or vigilante gangs, as most people outside of Allen saw them – carrying weaponry of any kind would be executed immediately. They both knew that Jayne knew this. Jayne knew that Jayne knew this. But it wasn't about to stop him having a full and good complain to Captain Bossy. Being without weapons in any situation made his teeth itch all nervous like.
"Don't be ignorin' me, Mal, you know I'm right, and…"
Mal cut him off, stopping abruptly to face him.
"Jayne?"
"Whut?"
"Shut up. Weapons here get you killed. Well, weapons anywhere get you killed, but that aint the point. Don't for one second think that I'd have a hard time replacing you, coz I…."
"Sir?" it was Zoë's turn to interrupt. Mal looked round, first at his first mate, and then and the two rather large, and rather heavily armed, young men. They were both dressed similarly in loose clothing made from heavy, khaki cloth, and when they stood shoulder to shoulder as they now did, they gave a very good impression of a wall. Possibly not a wall that had bothered with any fancy education that might include moral philosophy, though.
"Is there a problem here, sirs and madam?" enquired one. Mal recognised the accent as being vaguely similar to Badger's. He shook his head.
"Nope, no problem here, just tellin' my friend her not to be more of an idiot than he can help."
The men glanced at each other, then leered.
"Would that telling involve your friend's fondness for weapons, sir?" it was the other one that had spoken this time.
Mal hesitated slightly. He didn't trust either part of the human wall.
"Well, we aint got any with us, so you have no call to worry on that, friend." He said, keeping his tone the friendly side of neutral.
The leer was revived.
"Well, isn't that nice. Perhaps that makes us friends. And as friends, maybe you could share your plans for this fine evening."
Mal opened his mouth to speak, but Zoë got there first.
"We're going to meet my husband. Can you tell us where we might find a bar called the Mersey?"
Again, the two thugs shared a glance. Apparently, they believed Zoë, because one of the two gave a sarcastic little bow and said:
"Certainly, madam. Take a left and the end of the street. You can't miss it."
Then, on hearing gunshots a short way away, they pushed past the browncoats and Jayne, and disappeared.