Chapter 3: Wash, Rinse, Repeat, or Adventures of Curly Haired Amazons in Space
The Captain has told her she can go anywhere as long as she doesn't cause too much trouble. (She supposes she should get used to calling him Mal; informality makes more sense, no matter how short a time she may be here.) But she's decided the bridge is as good a place as any to start. She can see who's flying this thing (unless she's flying herself, although River doubts it) and what sort of "not too much trouble" she can get up to with whatever new faces she comes across.
Wash- once he's gotten over the shock of another curly haired amazon on board- and this one apparently roaming with the captain's permission - he's delighted to swap piloting stories as she examines his console and the intricacies of the flight deck. The air is warm here, and River eases out of her white Diesel Gisil coat- catching Wash's appreciative glance at the gauzy black tank she's wearing underneath as she refastens the leather cincher at her waist. Men, she thinks with a smile and a toss of her head that sends her curls bouncing. The same the universe over. And she wouldn't have it any other way.
Zoe's not around, so he risks a comment about her outfit; she teases him in kind about his impressive Hawaiian shirt collection. When she spots the tiny plasticine dinosaurs at the controls, she smiles, and Wash braces himself for comments about how childish it is and how ridiculous a hobby it is for a grown man to like. When a few moments pass in silence, he braves a look at her face, and sees an almost reverent expression as she gently strokes the fringe on the back of one toy. She tells him of how she dealt with these things once or twice in the past, and he hangs on her every word like a delighted child as she weaves her tales of dinosaurs in space. When Zoe comes by to check on things, River is behind the controls, getting a flying lesson from Wash as he regales her with his "juggling of baby geese" story. She ponders the archaeological ramifications of such a society between her giggles.
Zoe- Zoe isn't jealous of the woman with the golden ringlets; really, she's not. Nor is she concerned when she arrives on the bridge and sees the adoration in her husband's eyes directed at the woman putting Serenity through a few paces. If she sensed for a moment any real threat from their temporary passenger, there would be blood and bullets - or at least handcuffs involved - before you could say bizui.
But she finds herself, well, fascinated by the woman. There's the hair (obviously) but there's also her laugh, and the way her nose wrinkles, and the way she holds a gun like it's a part of her arm, and moves like she hears music and is shifting to the beat. It starts with a drink - just one - and a quick conversation, and somehow they bond. They bond over being weapon-wielding warrior women in space with mad hair, in love with madder men. They sit back to back and disassemble the other's weapon, seeing how fast they can get it back together; River wins, but only because there's a guide component that insists on hovering out of Zoe's reach until River uses an iso-net to catch it.
They laugh together and Zoe lets her hair down in more ways than one. Once the guns are reassembled, they sit facing, and each takes a curl of the other's and winds it around their index finger, just absorbing the feel of it and staring into each other's eyes, having a silent conversation in their smiles. This is how they are when Jayne stumbles in to find River. He is halfway through a lewd comment about the odd behavior when, without taking their eyes off one another, each has a weapon cocked and aimed at vulnerable anatomy. He swallows back the rest of the statement, clears his throat, and issues a polite (for Jayne) invitation to show River his guns.
She waves him out with a flick of her meson blaster, and he leaves to wait in the hall. Guns holstered, the Amazons smile at one another, and embrace amidst their giggles. Rising together, Zoe walks her new sister to the door, and with a perfectly timed mutual tug on their untamable locks, River departs with a grin. Zoe's smile grows wider when she hears a whap before Jayne grumbles and two sets of boots take off down the hall.
A/N: sorry about the delay. to make up for it, I'm posting a double. coming up next, the man they call Jayne... gets his butt whipped.