trans_9 | Sooo...Meet-y

"Well let's hope it doesn't come to that. Stacy has a mean bitch slap, I don't recommend ever experiancing it for yourself." Jo informed him quite seriously.

Her eyes then widened and she couldn't help but a little awed. "Seriously? I'm from like 2008. Wow, that's kinda cool," she informed him, trying not to appear so awestruck.

"So I've heard. I'll try not to get too trigger-happy, then," Mal replied, taking her warning very seriously. Some might accuse Mal of being a reckless man, but he also knew when to be serious.

He took Jo's surprised reaction in stride, keeping in mind that there were others from different years and different worlds. "Suppose it is, at that. Like I said, doesn't seem that life's changed any, but I guess I can't really say for sure." Earth-that-was had been uninhabitable for a long time before he came around, so he couldn't make any comparisons.

"Well that is way cool," Jo is seriously impressed here. "But really, how can life not have changed. You're what? A good five hundred years plus from the future? Are there flying cars? Have you all fixed Global Warming?"

"All right, maybe we've got some advanced technological stuff but I don't know nothin' much about that," Mal admitted. "Anyway, flyin' ships and transport vessels are mostly what we got, for travelin' between the planets. And depending on what planet you're on, there are some kinds of flyin' cars. Most of us use land speeders though. They work well enough."

"No, we ain't fixed nothin'," Mal said rather flatly. "Hate to say it, but the fact is, some time ago, the Earth you probably know got used up, was made uninhabitable. There were too many people livin' on it, and all the resources got used up. A new kind of Earth was made, and everyone left the old Earth and went there."

"Can you fly?" Jo asked, a wide smile forming on her lips. Wow, this was....

Suddenly not so cool anymore.

Jo's smile faded away and she was suddenly giving him a look that basically screamed 'why-would-you-tell-something-like-that-you-big-jerk'. "No more Earth?!" Jo asked, trying not let her voice rise, but it was kinda hard.

Though really why she was getting upset about all of this was beyond even her. Heck her world had been apparently destroyed by some insect aliens and she gets more pissed that humans ended up destroying some version of Earth?

"What did you all forget about birth control?!"

Mal was about to answer Jo's question about flying, when the floodgates opened. She was suddenly angry, and he had the odd feeling that she was about to punch him. He raised his hands in what he hoped was a placating gesture, as he tried to come up with a response.

"Earth still exists, or no one would be livin' at all. There's just a.. a new version of it." This was going well. Mal rolled his eyes at himself. "It was about 50 years ago. If you're angry, take it up with the people who did it." He wasn't trying to be harsh, but he was trying to tell her that there wasn't much point in getting worked up about something that happened so long ago.

Still, he figured there wasn't a reason to be a jerk, so he added, "Sorry, guess that was the wrong thing to tellin' you."

"Ya think?!" Jo snapped before taking a deep breath. OK, she really just needed to calm dow. This was something dump to be getting all worked up over. But seriously, she'd have thought humanity might get a little smarter in the future, apparently she was wrong.

"Sorry," Jo apologized to him for the second time since she'd met him. It must have been a record. "I'm not mad at you. It's just.. Seriously humanity just seems to be full of idiots. No matter what the time period peole are from."

Mal didn't say anything to her exclamation, deciding it would probably be better if he shut up for awhile, let her blow off some steam. But short of apologizing a thousand times, he wasn't sure what else, if anything would calm her down. He hadn't had a direct hand in it... in fact, a lot of people had nothing to do with it. 50 or more years was a long time... Most people had forgotten what happened to Earth-that-was, and only a few seemed to have learned from the mistakes.

"Méi guānxi. It's all right," replied Mal. "Of course humanity is full of idiots. I'm thinkin' it'll be amazin' if we manage to not destroy the planets again. You'd think people'd learn from their histories, but that's never the case. Wars and destroyin' planets happen all the time 'cause people just never learn." He sighed heavily, rolling his eyes. It was a sad state of affairs with not a lot of chance of anything being done to break the cycle.

"That's why I wonder sometimes if it's even worth tryin' to save things," Mal admitted slowly.

OK, that last comment was almost enough to make Jo hit him a good one - but the thought of being smacked around by Stacy made her think better of it. Instead he gets another glare.

"You seriously think that?" Jo demanded, shaking her head. "No matter how dumb people are, they don't deserve to die. Hell, back in my world the town I live in is FULL of brilliant idiotic scientists, who one a regular basis mess up and almost destroy the town and on occassion the world, but... They're MY people and I'm gonna do everything in my power to ensure that things get turned back so they're OK!"

She continued to scowl at him. "You need to get over whatever it is you're wangsting over and pull yourself together."

Somewhere underneath all his cynicism regarding saving lives, Mal knew Jo was right. It wasn't people Mal had an issue with; it was systems of government run by people who thought they had the ability to fix everything and make everything better, even when their efforts meant causing harm (financial, social, economic, you name it) to people. He'd seen it many times over, every time he traveled from the central planets to the outer planets. The facts were there; governments meant trouble, if they weren't run by the right people.

But Mal didn't say any of that to Jo. He figured she didn't want to hear it, and part of him really didn't want to go down that path again. There was a reason why he never talked about this kind of thing with anyone; the reaction that typically arose was never pleasant.

So, Mal dragged himself out of his internal monologue, and tackled Jo's arguments. "All right, Jo. I don't really think that, but I also ain't convinced either. There's some good people out in the 'verse, but there's also corrupt ones. They're the ones I don't think are worth bein' saved. But it ain't possible to be choosin' who gets saved and who doesn't, which is why I still got some hope that maybe people'll turn themselves around. What I don't believe so easy is the idea that governments who think they can make everythin' right, but don't stop to count the consequences, can change."

Mal shook his head, and sighed. "Seen enough damage caused by people like that, and it ain't pretty. And far as my 'wangsting' is concerned, hate to say it, but it ain't gonna go away just 'cause you want it to." Though, even as he said that, Mal thought he felt some of his cynicism starting to disappear.

He knew exactly why that was, also. It was because of the person he was with; Jo was beginning to represent something to Mal... Her personality represented some facet of his own that had been lost through disappointments and just being knocked around by life. Though he couldn't make himself believe entirely in the good of the human race, Jo's stubbornness made up for what he was lacking.

Jo herself had seen the ugly side of what corrupt goverments could do to a country. She had seen first hand what happened in wars, and how it affected everyone involved, and even those who weren't. She wasn't naive enough to think that Governments should always be followed and she certainly wasn't naive enough to think that all governments were infallable.

She knew better.

But she also knew that there were enough good people in the world that there should always be hope for something better, for hope that things could and would get better. Perhaps she was stupid to think so, but she truly believed that.

Jo crossed her arms and shook her head. "That might be so, but I don't think every world that was effected by the Ohm are like that. And even if they were, everybody here deserves a chance to go back to their own worlds, not matter how messed up they are... Because believe it or not - things can alwys get better."

"Guess we're gonna have to agree to disagree, Jo," Mal said with a hint of a smile. "But who knows, maybe someday I'll be able to believe that, 'cause anything's possible."

After a moment, Mal thought up something else he wanted to ask her. "So I've told you about what things're like where I'm from, but aside from me guessin' a few things, I'm not entirely sure what your world's like."

She nodded her head. "I suppose we are. But wouldn't hurt you to try to have faith in people, ya know?"

She was quiet for a moment before shrugging her shoulders. "OK, well... What do you want to know exactly? I mean, I'm from Earth, and there's still plenty of resources. So, I guess what I tell you depends on what you want to know."

Mal looked down at his hands, avoiding Jo's eyes. This conversation was affecting him more than he cared to admit. "I know that, but it ain't gonna happen in a day. Stuff like that takes time."

"Nothin' much, really. You got any family there?"

Jo reached out and rested her hand lightly on his arm in a reassuring manner. "Well who knows? Maybe that's one reason you were brought here."

"I do," She smiled, sropping her hand from his arm. "I have three older brothers. Growing up they kinda made sure I didn't turn into what they called a girlie-girl. Which I guess kinda worked."

"Maybe it is. And maybe meetin' you has got some purpose neither of us knows yet." He didn't come straight out and say it, but what he meant was, he was glad to have Jo around.

"Havin' family's usually a good thing. Gives you someplace to go, and people to help you out if you need it." Mal couldn't help smirking as he added, "And they sure did a good job. A girly-girl's the last thing I'd call you."

"Maybe," JO replied with an almost lazy smile. "Could be I'm meant to whip you into shape or something." She was teasing, but she probably could if he really wanted her to.

She laughed. "Well I think my brothers would be proud to know that their years of trying to use me as a human football worked wonders." She shook her head chuckling. "You know, maybe sometime I can show you where I live. We have this place called the Sensoriums and it's able to recreate places. I mean it's a hologram of sorts, but pretty realistic."

"You think it's gonna be that easy, do you?" Mal raised an eyebrow and grinned at Jo, very much amused. "You ever want to try that, let me know. Might put you in the Med Bay awhile..." He paused for a second, and looked her over, as though sizing her up. "Might put both of us in there, now I think about it."

He laughed too, at her comment about being a human football. "I think I'd like that... Gettin' to see where you live, I mean. And while we're at it, maybe I could see about showin' you Serenity."

"Hey I might be small, but I'm fiesty," She beamed. "I've been known to take down a guy or two in my time so I'm sure you'd be pretty easy." She winked, letting him know she was only teasing... Well at least partly.

"Serenity? What's that?"

"Well, we'll see just how feisty, if we ever get to that point," Mal said jokingly. "Same goes for me. More than a guy or two, so you might be a bit in over your head." He laughed though, enjoying the banter, even though he, like Jo, was partly serious.

"Guess I ain't mentioned her yet. Serenity's my ship, the one I'm captain of."

"Well I don't know about that," Jo said shaking her head in amusement. "We're just gonna have to find out some day. Maybe a little bit of friendly sparring?"

She shook her head. "No you haven't mention Serenity before... But she's your ship? What kind?"

"Sounds good to me. Just set the time and place, and I'll be there." Mal was equally amused, and the thought that maybe he was the one over his head never occurred to him.

"She's an 03-K64 Firefly, or somethin' like that... I've never been great at remembering her code number. Anyway, she's a transport vessel, and I use her for carryin' cargo to different places."

"Once you're all settled we can set somethin' up." Jo's actually looking forward to this. She hadn't had a sparring partner in a while. It could turn out to be a lot of fun.

"Oh.. Well before now I've never been in a space ship... So yeah, I'd like to see your Serentiy." And sometimes bein' on Stacy wasn't all that great... ANd half the time it wasn't even like being in a space ship.

"Works for me. Seems settling down shouldn't take too much long, 'cause I ain't got a lot to put down," Mal replied, smirking. It wasn't a bad thing at all; Mal was used to not having a lot anyway, as that kind of came along with his job.

"Really? Never been on one?" Mal raised his eyebrows. He found this unacceptable. "Well, that's gotta change. Ain't nothin' like flying through the 'verse, with nothin' and nobody holding you back." There was a brief pause, and the ship's captain added with a dry laugh, "Well, nothin' except occasional engine trouble. But that's what good mechanics are for."

"Awesome," Jo grinned. "I suppose we can look for some quarters for you while we're out, ya know.. So you're more settled and then you won't be able to use that against me when I'm kicking your ass." So maybe she was a tad bit arrogant with her fighting moves, but... Whatever.

"Nope, not once." She smiled. "Well I think that sounds like it could be a lotta fun. You gonna teach me how to fly it? Or would be it be called driving it?"

Sooo...Meet-y

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blah, sorry for the tl;dr

Re: blah, sorry for the tl;dr

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Just so you know, the mods decided Serenity's actually on Stacy after all.

Re: Just so you know, the mods decided Serenity's actually on Stacy after all.