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Prompt #5: Jayne - A mean-tempered man with big guns, but he didn't really hate her. She could tell.

Words: 528

Jayne watched the dark-haired Reader as she played with her hair. His own rough hands lovingly dragged a rag along the barrel of his beloved Vera.

Strange girl. Strange, odd little psycho genius. Mind-reading genius with a messed-up head of crazy.

The beginnings of a thought stirred in Jayne's brain. Once it poked his curiosity, it wouldn't go away despite his knowing it was probably a bad idea. A very bad idea. Like "sell out the doc and his crazy sister to Alliance agents on Ariel" bad.

Hey, girlie.

Nothing. She just kept playing with her hair.

Hey.

Her head cocked ever so slightly. That strange, mad gaze slithered over the floor and up the wall until they landed on his face.

Jayne concentrated harder than he'd ever concentrated on anything before. You readin' my mind?

River's dark, deep eyes blinked slowly. Her head bobbed in the shallowest nod of acknowledgment.

Jayne's eyebrows shot up. You can really hear me?

Her lips twitched. Someone could almost argue it was an attempted smile. Jayne swallowed nervously and tried very hard not to think about anything that would get himself in trouble.

"Mother would be shamed," River stage-whispered.

He held on to Vera and bolted.

She found him later, pumping weights in the loading bay. Knowing how he hated to be snuck up on, River deliberately stomped down the steps to announce her arrival.

Jayne sat up straight, weights gripped as if he was getting ready to defend from an attack. When he saw her, the man's shoulders tensed even more. "What're you doin' here, girlie?" Please, please, PLEASE don't let her be here to kill me.

River halted at the foot of the staircase to give him space. "Came to say sorry," she said. "Shouldn't play around with crew. Cap'n doesn't approve."

He didn't relax. "You really mean that?"

"Really do."

His distrust was almost enough to make her choke. But beneath it all was a river of curiosity and interest that had River thinking that maybe, just maybe, she could salvage something from the terrifying mental image of a homicidal psycho-killer that Jayne had of her. Taking a breath, she decided to take the chance.

"You want to practice shooting when we hit the next world?"

Huh? "Huh?" The double echo was almost enough to make her twitch.

"Wanna shoot some scrag?" she asked, changing her voice to match his rough accent and speech pattern. "Might be good ta finally git the air cleared as ta who's the better shot."

The shock and distrust quickly gave way to professional outrage. "You challengin' me to a shootin' match?"

"That's the rub of it."

"Oh, then it's on, girlie." Jayne replaced his weights and jerked his head towards the cockpit. "Let's convince the Cap'n that we need some shore leave."

River grinned eagerly and skipped on ahead. She knew he didn't hate her. Fear of the unknown sometimes masqueraded as hate. He just had to see her as a regular girl.

Maybe I should let him win.

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