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Ursa Major, Ursa Minor
folder
1 through F › Firefly
Rating:
Adult +
Chapters:
34
Views:
8,783
Reviews:
21
Recommended:
1
Currently Reading:
1
Category:
1 through F › Firefly
Rating:
Adult +
Chapters:
34
Views:
8,783
Reviews:
21
Recommended:
1
Currently Reading:
1
Disclaimer:
I do not own Firefly, nor any of the characters from it. I do not make any money from the writing of this story.
Badger
Chapter Two:
Mal was watching them. After that eerie-ass exchange in the mess he felt like he should pay a bit more attention to what his mercenary and his pilot did together. The summer season had settled onto the Eavesdown docks and everyone was dressed accordingly—though sometime during their prep, Jayne had dropped his sunglasses over River’s eyes and mumbled something about the ‘sun bein’ too gorram bright out’ and he insisted on her wearing them while he plopped his cowboy hat on to shade his own eyes.
“But your eyes are more susceptible to the bright UV rays.”
“Huh?”
“You have blue eyes,” River explained, as if this made perfect sense. She slid his sunglasses up into her hair and tried to catch those blue eyes of his.
“So?” Jayne’s eyebrows tried to meet in the middle of his forehead and he avoided her gaze by checking Boo’s clip (even though he had already done this three times before he’d even walked into the hold).
“Your pupils contract at a faster rate than mine would—it puts more strain on your eyes.”
Jayne grunted, suddenly understanding. “Don’t matter none, I got a hat on to shade me.”
River poked him in the chest. “Double negative again, Jayne Cobb.”
Mal watched the exchange beneath his lashes under the pretense of adjusting his gun belt and rolling his sleeves up his forearms. He was going for sneaky, but Zoë caught him anyway.
“Sir?”
He nearly jumped clean out of his skin. “Hou zi de pigu, Zoë!” he shouted.
River and Jayne abandoned their argument at this.
Nonplussed, Zoë strapped her mare’s leg to her thigh and raised a brow at her captain. “Simon, Kaylee, and Inara just said they’d be meeting us at the Xu Hou* bar when we finished. It’s right by the docks.”
Mal just nodded and walked down the ramp—ignoring the confused looks on River and Jayne’s faces. River snapped out of it quick enough to elbow Jayne in the stomach, grab his forearm, and drag him after Mal.
Zoë’s eyebrow rose slightly.
*
Jayne had to keep himself from bolting in shock when River attached herself to his side right before they walked into Badger’s place. He glanced down at one of her tiny hands clutching so hard on his bicep that her already pale knuckles had turned as white as one of Simon’s fancy-ass shirts.
“Well look who we ‘ave ‘ere!” Badger drawled as his hired goons set an extra place at his tiny dining table. He leered at River. “I remember you, sweetheart.”
His grin was far from charming—no matter how hard he tried.
River curled into Jayne further. “Remember you, too,” she drawled in perfect mimicry of his cockney twang. As Jayne tried to sit in the chair he’d been offered, River swiftly maneuvered herself to sit in his lap and slid her borrowed sunglasses up into her hair. She picked eagerly at the cake and offered Jayne a handful.
“Remember something else,” she said—her put-on accent slowly drifting into her normal tone and cadence. “I remember I didn’t like you.”
Jayne grinned at Badger’s stricken face and let River shove cake in his mouth.
Mal cleared his throat. “What’s the job, Badger?”
The little man squirmed in his chair as River and Jayne continued to trade bits of food off the table. River grabbed a handful of sugar cubes and dumped them in their teacups.
Mal cleared his throat to bring Badger’s attention back to him and his first mate (who was much better at hiding her surprise at River’s antics). “Badger? You said you’d have some work for us?”
The smarmy man shook himself away from the spectacle Jayne and River were making and cleared his throat—trying to refocus. “Y-yeah. On Londinium. It’s an inside job—more o’ that fancy dress go se you seem to attract, Captain Reynolds. I got four invites this time ‘round.”
“Why the fancy le se, though?” Mal asked, idly wondering how in the fiery depths of hell he was going to force Jayne into a monkey suit.
Badger nervously eyed Jayne and River as they ate and drank all of his tea and cakes. “Client’s particular. She’s asking for you and yours personally—heard about what you done with the signal and got it into her head that you lot could do what she needed.”
“She?” said Zoë.
Badger cleared his throat again and fiddled with his apple peeler. “Donna—my cousin.”
Jayne snorted into his tea. “Ya mean someone out there is related to your sorry ass?”
Badger aimed a look at the merc that would have been intimidating had it not melted away seconds later at the sight of the slip of a girl on said merc’s lap. She was holding a switchblade and poking at the rest of the cake with the point—the action reminded Badger of a bored child stabbing at roadkill.
“She ain’t proud of it,” Badger grudgingly admitted. “But she does take advantage of our blood relation from time and again to get me to hire the likes of you for odd jobs. My cousin’s got the thief’s eye but lacks the thievery skills to take what she finds profitable.”
Mal drank some of the tea in front of him and fought the urge to cough it right back up.
Badger slid the four invites across the table for Zoë to grab. “Donna’ll give you the particulars when she waves you later. By the way, when I say ‘fancy’ I don’t just mean a sharp cut suit or a slinky dress. You and your lot have to look completely respectable when you rob this place blind.”
He paused and looked directly at Jayne.
“Means the goatee’s gotta go, my friend,” he motioned to his own face and mocked a sorrowful expression.
Jayne’s face hardened to stone.
Mal cut a hand through the air as if the action could dissuade his hired muscle from snapping across the table and gouging Badger’s eyes out with a teaspoon. “Badger, yer cut’s gonna have to be five percent if we gotta get all dolled up for a job.”
“No argument here. Cousin Donna’s planning on compensatin’ me anyhow,” he jerked his head at his goons, which gave Mal the distinct feeling that they’d best be getting gone.
He stood from his chair and motioned for the others.
On their way out, the captain sidestepped closer to Jayne and grabbed him hard by the back of the neck. “What in the sphincter hell were you doin’ back there?”
Jayne grimaced. “Just following Crazy’s lead, Cap’n.”
Mal glanced at River. She was grinning from ear to ear. Zoë seemed to be sharing the younger woman’s amusement, and Mal couldn’t be angry when he saw his first mate smile for the first time in weeks.
“You even own a suit, Jayne?”
The taller man let out a gut-busting laugh.
TBC
Translations:
Hou zi de pigu: monkey’s butt
*Xu Huo: Drunk Monkey (loose translation)
Go se: shit/literally "dog shit"
Le se: garbage
Mal was watching them. After that eerie-ass exchange in the mess he felt like he should pay a bit more attention to what his mercenary and his pilot did together. The summer season had settled onto the Eavesdown docks and everyone was dressed accordingly—though sometime during their prep, Jayne had dropped his sunglasses over River’s eyes and mumbled something about the ‘sun bein’ too gorram bright out’ and he insisted on her wearing them while he plopped his cowboy hat on to shade his own eyes.
“But your eyes are more susceptible to the bright UV rays.”
“Huh?”
“You have blue eyes,” River explained, as if this made perfect sense. She slid his sunglasses up into her hair and tried to catch those blue eyes of his.
“So?” Jayne’s eyebrows tried to meet in the middle of his forehead and he avoided her gaze by checking Boo’s clip (even though he had already done this three times before he’d even walked into the hold).
“Your pupils contract at a faster rate than mine would—it puts more strain on your eyes.”
Jayne grunted, suddenly understanding. “Don’t matter none, I got a hat on to shade me.”
River poked him in the chest. “Double negative again, Jayne Cobb.”
Mal watched the exchange beneath his lashes under the pretense of adjusting his gun belt and rolling his sleeves up his forearms. He was going for sneaky, but Zoë caught him anyway.
“Sir?”
He nearly jumped clean out of his skin. “Hou zi de pigu, Zoë!” he shouted.
River and Jayne abandoned their argument at this.
Nonplussed, Zoë strapped her mare’s leg to her thigh and raised a brow at her captain. “Simon, Kaylee, and Inara just said they’d be meeting us at the Xu Hou* bar when we finished. It’s right by the docks.”
Mal just nodded and walked down the ramp—ignoring the confused looks on River and Jayne’s faces. River snapped out of it quick enough to elbow Jayne in the stomach, grab his forearm, and drag him after Mal.
Zoë’s eyebrow rose slightly.
*
Jayne had to keep himself from bolting in shock when River attached herself to his side right before they walked into Badger’s place. He glanced down at one of her tiny hands clutching so hard on his bicep that her already pale knuckles had turned as white as one of Simon’s fancy-ass shirts.
“Well look who we ‘ave ‘ere!” Badger drawled as his hired goons set an extra place at his tiny dining table. He leered at River. “I remember you, sweetheart.”
His grin was far from charming—no matter how hard he tried.
River curled into Jayne further. “Remember you, too,” she drawled in perfect mimicry of his cockney twang. As Jayne tried to sit in the chair he’d been offered, River swiftly maneuvered herself to sit in his lap and slid her borrowed sunglasses up into her hair. She picked eagerly at the cake and offered Jayne a handful.
“Remember something else,” she said—her put-on accent slowly drifting into her normal tone and cadence. “I remember I didn’t like you.”
Jayne grinned at Badger’s stricken face and let River shove cake in his mouth.
Mal cleared his throat. “What’s the job, Badger?”
The little man squirmed in his chair as River and Jayne continued to trade bits of food off the table. River grabbed a handful of sugar cubes and dumped them in their teacups.
Mal cleared his throat to bring Badger’s attention back to him and his first mate (who was much better at hiding her surprise at River’s antics). “Badger? You said you’d have some work for us?”
The smarmy man shook himself away from the spectacle Jayne and River were making and cleared his throat—trying to refocus. “Y-yeah. On Londinium. It’s an inside job—more o’ that fancy dress go se you seem to attract, Captain Reynolds. I got four invites this time ‘round.”
“Why the fancy le se, though?” Mal asked, idly wondering how in the fiery depths of hell he was going to force Jayne into a monkey suit.
Badger nervously eyed Jayne and River as they ate and drank all of his tea and cakes. “Client’s particular. She’s asking for you and yours personally—heard about what you done with the signal and got it into her head that you lot could do what she needed.”
“She?” said Zoë.
Badger cleared his throat again and fiddled with his apple peeler. “Donna—my cousin.”
Jayne snorted into his tea. “Ya mean someone out there is related to your sorry ass?”
Badger aimed a look at the merc that would have been intimidating had it not melted away seconds later at the sight of the slip of a girl on said merc’s lap. She was holding a switchblade and poking at the rest of the cake with the point—the action reminded Badger of a bored child stabbing at roadkill.
“She ain’t proud of it,” Badger grudgingly admitted. “But she does take advantage of our blood relation from time and again to get me to hire the likes of you for odd jobs. My cousin’s got the thief’s eye but lacks the thievery skills to take what she finds profitable.”
Mal drank some of the tea in front of him and fought the urge to cough it right back up.
Badger slid the four invites across the table for Zoë to grab. “Donna’ll give you the particulars when she waves you later. By the way, when I say ‘fancy’ I don’t just mean a sharp cut suit or a slinky dress. You and your lot have to look completely respectable when you rob this place blind.”
He paused and looked directly at Jayne.
“Means the goatee’s gotta go, my friend,” he motioned to his own face and mocked a sorrowful expression.
Jayne’s face hardened to stone.
Mal cut a hand through the air as if the action could dissuade his hired muscle from snapping across the table and gouging Badger’s eyes out with a teaspoon. “Badger, yer cut’s gonna have to be five percent if we gotta get all dolled up for a job.”
“No argument here. Cousin Donna’s planning on compensatin’ me anyhow,” he jerked his head at his goons, which gave Mal the distinct feeling that they’d best be getting gone.
He stood from his chair and motioned for the others.
On their way out, the captain sidestepped closer to Jayne and grabbed him hard by the back of the neck. “What in the sphincter hell were you doin’ back there?”
Jayne grimaced. “Just following Crazy’s lead, Cap’n.”
Mal glanced at River. She was grinning from ear to ear. Zoë seemed to be sharing the younger woman’s amusement, and Mal couldn’t be angry when he saw his first mate smile for the first time in weeks.
“You even own a suit, Jayne?”
The taller man let out a gut-busting laugh.
TBC
Translations:
Hou zi de pigu: monkey’s butt
*Xu Huo: Drunk Monkey (loose translation)
Go se: shit/literally "dog shit"
Le se: garbage