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[am-alwaysfree.livejournal.com]

There was no other way of putting it. Mal Reynolds was in a terrible mood. Whether what he was doing fell under the category of sulking or mourning, he was just not dealing well with the supposed loss of everything and everyone he knew. He went through the motions of talking to a few people, asking them questions about Stacy and their purpose; he even managed to make friends with some of them. But regardless of how friendly he was with them, they couldn't fill the sudden void that had settled on him, making him feel like he was carrying a load of bricks.

So, retreating from the Obs deck, where he'd returned to after visiting a few locations on boarrd, he made his way to the Sensorium, seeking solace in a simulation of his ship Serenity. He wandered through the simulation until he found the room he was looking for: the dining area. Mal slowly walked over to the heavy wooden table, and sat down in one of the chairs, his mind reeling from the shock of finding himself on board the ship and everything he'd learned since arriving.

But, as he sat there totally lost in thought, his instincts, sharpened from wartime experiences and other dangers, warned him that someone else was in the room with him. Without bothering to turn around, he asked, "What do you want?"

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[thehollycopter.livejournal.com]

"Every ship is a good ship if you treat it right," Holly said with a smile. "Even the old buckets I have to fly." Like Mal, she was half joking, half serious. Either way, she loved to pilot.

"It's a bit more exciting then I'd like it to be." She meant it, too. Her life would be so much easier if certain people hadn't brought all that 'excitement' into it. "Cargo vessel, huh? For air, or...?" She normally would have assumed it was only for air, but having just recently seen a space ship in the vessel dock, she wanted to be sure.

[am-alwaysfree.livejournal.com]

"Well, some can be pretty hard to handle, no matter how you treat them," Mal pointed out, still smiling.

"Why's that? You don't like bein' involved with enforcing laws?" Not that he blamed her at all; he was just trying to make sense of what she was saying. "Oh, yeah, she's an airship, though we take her through space too, if a job calls for it." Though, after thinking about it for awhile, he figured Serenity was more of a hybrid more than anything, combining aspects of both.

[thehollycopter.livejournal.com]

"True," Holly said, thinking of the brain-juice she occasionally saw on shuttle headrests.

"Oh, I like enforcing laws," she said - in fact, it was her life's calling. "I tend to get dragged into... complicated things, though."

She let out a low whistle. A ship that worked in both the atmosphere and space? She was starting to like it.

[am-alwaysfree.livejournal.com]

"Heh, sounds familiar. Gettin' dragged into complicated situations is something of a way of life for me." Mal laughed, and added, "Ain't complaining, though. Things like that make life more exciting."