strangetrip | [EP/GP] Check-In: I Assure You We Are Open

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[EP/GP] Check-In: I Assure You We Are Open

The damp, cool, chilly morning clouded with fog seemed to fit the mood about the Madonna Inn. Nobody had been quite right since the undead invasion. Definitely not Vax'ildan. But for him, it was less about their sense of day-to-day calm and safety shattered, less about undead specifically. It was a lot more to do with losing Scanlan and Pike, and the new memorials installed in the Temple.

He wondered about it, not for the first time, even as he readied for the fresh arrivals that might be coming today - or not, because they didn't always. What decided who came and went? Was there any sense in how many and when or why? Not so far as he could tell, but he'd never been the brains.

Gathering up the great heap of cloth and rope in his arms, the lean figure summoned the wings of his armor, the black of his silhouette merging with the other dark and shifting shapes skulking about in the first light of dawn. With a crouch and a lunge from the roof, he spread his wings wide and circled through the air right up to the face of the main building, unfurling the massive banner he'd sewn of spare bedsheets and painted with dark dye to tie it up taut:

WELCOME NEWCOMERS
YES, THIS MEANS YOU
NO REALLY WE'RE SURE

Life kept going on around you, no matter how confused or scared or fucked-up you were. And the best thing, the kindest thing, the sanest thing he could think to do in all this was to start up the coffee machine, stack some decorated pumpkin-shaped cookies on a platter in the lobby, and prop open the doors for whoever would join them in being confused and scared and fucked-up today.

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"Then watching me should not make you tired." Logic. She was upright again by now, doing a hamstring stretch.

"Stretching is important to prevent injury." Also important when discussing bed mates. Injury would put a damper.

She took pity on him, "I am sure if you were actually lacking she would have told you." After all if you were sufficiently close to engage in sex, one would assume open discussion was also possible.

But then she remembered Liz and Peter and the other girls concern about moving too fast for the boy. And that didn't explain whores or companions... certainly Inara spoke to her clients but River had always assumed that Jayne was less chatty with his 'bits of trim'.

Her face as she switched legs was inquisitive as she considered.

"Aren't you too young to be talking about sex and knowing this stuff?" Okay, so he knew she wasn't - she was around the same age as Peter and probably had less hang ups there... probably.

"I am unsure of my age." Barely sixteen when Simon had come for her. Maybe seventeen now? How long had she been here? Twenty one months but the reckoning of the Inn... Was she older?

"Durations differ depending on your location..." And she was bad at keeping track before she came here. How long had they been on Serenity before she'd come to the Inn?

She frowned, "The math is complicated."

Alec watched her for a bit, trying to figure out what she was doing. "Are you... trying to do the calculations in your head?" He paused. "You know it's okay if you just don't know, right?"

"It is not okay," it bothered her. People should know things as simple as their age.

"But I do not have sufficient data to do the calculations." Though she could do them in her head.

She plucked a muffin off the tray on the front desk and peeled the wrapper from it, not quite dejected but obviously bothered.

He paused, considering. Somehow he felt the need to help - thanks Max and Peter.

"Anyway you could get some of that data now?"

She considered that, nibbling on the muffin. Banana nut. Not bad.

"Some of it may be available. Day is a mode of time keeping. Have to determine difference in duration between here and home to calculate age using the same basis. Time spent on Serenity will be harder to pinpoint."

She didn't always know and day changed depending on planet. Or in the black.

He thought. Despite his outward projection, Alec did have some brains to him.

"Ever thought about something like... bone analysis or blood test?"

Her initial reaction was to shrink back, drop her eyes, hands fidgeting with the muffin. Both those things involved doctors, and equipment and something deep inside her was vehemently opposed.

"NO." Then softer. "No one here to do it. Or the proper equipment."

Alec did not need to have a degree to figure out that reaction was more than a simple 'not interested'. He paused and then nodded, his expression, perhaps, becoming a little more serious - he could do serious sometimes. He had seen some of the kids in Manticore act like that about Psy-ops.

He held up his hands. "Don't need to justify it to me. No means no. No tests, that's fine."

She relaxed, marginally bith because of his words and because of the thoughts behind them.

"Simon might be allowed. But Simon would be able to provide missing data to do the math."

"Who's Simon?" Obviously someone important, but other than that he had no idea.

Edited 2018-10-08 23:29 (UTC)

"Brother," a pause. "Doctor."

Another pause. "Brother."

He nodded. "A Brother Doctor Brother sounds like someone who could help." He couldn't help the sarcasm sometimes, even if he understood what she meant. "I'm going to assume he's not here." Since he was pretty sure he knew the name of everyone at the inn.

"On Serenity," then she frowned. "As long as he has not wandered off. He can be a lot of work."

He watched her quietly for a moment, trying to decide what she might mean by 'a lot of work'. "Pretty sure all women say that about men at some point in their life."

"He is not a man," she made a face, because okay he WAS but no. Not in her head. "He is my brother."

"Right. Sorry. My mistake." Though he was mostly just saying that to placate River. "Well, for what it's worth, I'm sorry he's not here." And he meant that.

"He would like it here," or she thought he would. Maybe. If Kaylee came too. He liked... quiet. And safe.

He nodded. Some people were definitely suited for this sort of place over others. "You got Sam here, though, right? Not the same, but he looks... helpful?" Better than 'a tool' which he was originally going to say.

Sam was helpful. Usually. Of late he had been, distracted.

"He has other things to worry about right now." She didn't know precisely what was wrong with Bo but she knew SOMETHING was wrong. On a variety of levels.

"Probably trying to figure out if he should get his hair cut or not." The dude had pretty long hair, after all.

"He doesn't worry about that," she said sternly, but her eyes twinkled with merriment. "Bo is.."

Sick didn't seem like the right word. Nor did in trouble seem to fit.

"She needs his assistance."

"Yeah, she needs that a lot." While he didn't know what she was, Alec wasn't an idiot and had slept with her a few times. He knew Bo was different and lately he had seen she seemed to be more on edge somehow.

"Well, don't let him ignore you over another girl." He said it out a habit of trying to rile a woman up, but then he realized River wouldn't take bait like that and he meant it. Maybe Peter was rubbing off on him way too much.

She patted him on the arm, because he should be encouraged for meaning it.

"She is important," to Sam she means, though she feels like maybe Bo is important where she comes from for other reasons too. She overlooks that she herself is probably important to someone (other than Simon), somewhere at home.

[EP/GP] Check-In: I Assure You We Are Open

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