trans_9 | A Reason to be Hopeful Again

Entry tags:

A Reason to be Hopeful Again

In the short time since Mal's arrival, the ship captain had experienced pretty much the full range of emotions; he'd been at the lowest point possible, only to rebound and hit the highest point once he learned that his ship Serenity was on board with him. It wasn't enough to make him forget to worry about his crew, but it was more than enough to get him out of the funk he'd previously been in.

So, being true to his word, Mal showed up at the vehicle bays with Jo, ready to show off his ship. Except she was the real thing, not an imitation projected by the Sensoriums.

Whether he was able to actually let her fly his ship was another matter. Somehow, he thought that Stacy might not like that idea. Either way, Mal was in a very good mood. Having his ship with him was like having part of his crew around. With a large smile, Mal pointed Serenity out to Jo, unable to keep a note of pride from his voice. "There she is. That's Serenity. She don't look like much, but don't be underestimatin' her. She's a good ship, and she's served me and my crew well."

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

"Suppose so. I mean to get around to that at some point, 'cause after all, short of using her as a place to live, not much else to be doin' with Serenity except flying her," Mal replied, shrugging again.

He got the feeling that if Stacy didn't want him flying his ship, she'd find some way of letting him know. But still, asking never hurt anything. "Might even be helpful with whatever it is we're meant to be doin'."

"You've seen Stacy's crew quarters, right?" Jo asked her eyes rising in question. "If I were you, I'd so use Serenity as a place to live. I mean, you'd have more space and you wouldn't be sleeping on a bed that pulses..." She suddenly grinned. "Well of course if you're into that sort of thing, the crew quarters are awesome."

Rising back up, she nodded her head. "That's true. I mean there's got to be a reason Stacy brought Serenity with you, right?"

"Well, yeah, I've been by there a few times," Mal replied casually. "You're probably right, livin' on Serenity seems like a better arrangement."

Then, Mal raised an eyebrow. "You seem to hate the crew quarters... If you happened to want an alternative to movin' beds, you're more than welcome to stay here."

Jo eyed him for a moment, trying to figure out if he was implying anything other than a friendly alternative to her current quarters. After a few moments, she decided that he wasn't, and she was pretty sure he was smart enough not to try anything like that. If not, he'd always learn the hard way she supposed.

"Seriously?" she asked, still eyeing him. "For free? No strings attached?"

Mal was aware of Jo's eyes on him, and he looked straight back at her, certain that she was sizing him up, analyzing his words. There was nothing behind his offer but a genuine interest in giving her somewhere else to live that might be better. And while under normal circumstances, he would have asked for payment, the circumstances were not normal. So he would not take payment, in any form.

"Yeah, for free. Don't see a reason to be chargin' you, when... Uh.. When we've already lost so much."

"Well that's good, 'cause I don't have any money anyway," Jo pointed out with a grin. "But that's really nice of you."

She glanced once more around the engine room before looking back at him. "I guess I'd need to see your... I mean the crew quarters before I decide. I mean, you know lack of awesome futuristic beds might weigh heavily on my decision."

Mal couldn't help laughing. He'd forgotten about that little detail. "Wouldn't have taken it from you if you had it, you know," he said with a smirk. "No, it's the least I could do. Not 'cause I'm nice, because I'm not."

"Suppose you will, at that. We can head back down that way, if you want."

"Oh you're not?" Jo laughed, "Well you sure had me fooled. I guess I should keep an eye on you then?" She was teasing, but really - for all she knew he wasn't so nice. She'd never been really good when it came to reading people and how they really were.

"Maybe after you show me the bridge?" she suggested, her eyes widening a little and almost looked like a little kid waiting for a present.

"Maybe you should. Kind of comes with the job description; a captain has to be firm and nice at the same time, so that the crew knows who's in charge but nice enough so they don't get scared away." Mal rolled his eyes and shrugged. "And anyway, everyone's got some secrets they want to hide."

"Right, the bridge. After the engine room, probably the next most important," he replied with a smile, noticing her expression. "Right this way."

"Well watching people is part of my job." She eyed him again, though this time more in a playful exsaggerated nature. "Are you going to be a problem that's going to end up giving me a headache?"

But he was right about the secrets, everyone did seem to have one or two that just needed to be tucked away.

She began to follow him again as he lead the way toward the bridge. "So how long have you been a Captain?"

"That depends on your definition of the word 'problem'. Now, I try not causin' problems for anyone, cause that usually ends up comin' back to haunt me." Mal shrugged yet again, smirking in an amused manner. "You never know, though."

"Well, I bought Serenity after the war, and I've been flyin' her ever since. About five years." Mal walked up to the bridge, and stood to one side, next to the main control panel, waiting for Jo to follow him.

"I shouldn't be surprised," Jo muttered, rolling her eyes for added effect. "I always seem to make friends with the ones who attract problems." And she did. Look at Carter. he was like the magnet for trouble.

"You were in a war?" She couldn't help but ask, she'd fought in battle too. Stepping onto the bridge, Jo's hands rested on her hips. "Very nice." She nodded her heads and stepped toward the controls. "How long does it take to fly one of these things?"

Mal crossed his arms, keeping his expression rather neutral. "Seems to be a common theme. All the people on my crew are like that, to varyin' extremes. I guess I've gotten used to it after awhile." Though, this wasn't entirely true. Having Simon and River Tam on board, along with their status as wanted individuals, was something Mal hadn't quite gotten used to. But they were part of his crew, so throwing them off wasn't an option, like he'd said before.

"The Unification War. I fought on the side of the Independents, the Browncoats. The other side, the Alliance, won." Mal's expression turned grim, thinking back to those events. "Probably as long as it takes to learn anythin'. Go to flight school, get some practice, get the authority to fly... Find somethin' to fly, and... That's mostly it in a nutshell."

"Yeah? Well get use to it here too. With all sorts of people and creatures and aliens and stuff from all over? Problems are always bound to rise up." She's not really kidding, she's kinda being serious. With so many different cultures and races onboard, there really were bound to be problems of sorts rising up now and again.

"You were fighting for independence?" she asked, looking over her shoulder at him. "So what's this Alliance do? I mean do they run things now?" She turned to face him. "I fought too, in a war. War, no matter the reason is never a pretty thing."

She cleared her throat and turned back to the bridge and stepped foward so she was near the pilot's seat. Resting her hand on it, she looked once again at all the controls and gadgets. "Well I'm guessing getting to a flight school would be a problem here."

"Of course. Doesn't take long to figure that out. Ain't seen no problems yet, but I'm expectin' them."

Mal looked Jo in the eyes, and nodded slowly. "The Alliance, the central planets, had taken most of the resources and things needed for survival, leavin' the outer planets to survive by themselves, or not. The people on the outer planets got tired of bein' under the thumb of the central ones, so they left the Alliance for good."

He shook his head, and sighed. "They were lookin' to start their own Alliance, but the central planets didn't take well to that idea, so they decided to start a war. The outer planets lost the war, and that was the end of that."

"Like I said, the Alliance was a government made up of elite living on the central planets. They believe they're doin' the right thing, even though there's a bunch of evidence pointin' elsewhere. The Alliance and I don't get along."

Mal sighed again; topics like these always made him feel uncomfortable, mostly because he didn't like reliving parts of his past. So, he was more than happy to talk about something else. "Seein' how this situation ain't exactly normal, I'm thinkin' flight school can be skipped and no one will really mind."

She shook her head, and was about to speak more on the subject of fighting and war - but his expression made it clear that this wasn't something he really liked talking about. She could understand that.

"I'm sorry," she murmured. It was all she was likely going to say, unless Mal himself decided to talk more but... She wasn't going to be holding her breath.

She laughed though, kind of glad herself to have moved on to a different subject. "So what be take place of flight school? Simulator practice? "

"Don't apologize. Wasn't a great experience, but war never is," Mal replied, before continuing to talk about flying, "No, nothin' like that, unless of course you'd feel more comfortable. I was thinkin' about teaching you myself." Mal wasn't the greatest pilot ever, not like Wash, his pilot on Serenity. But since Wash wasn't actually there, he figured he'd have to do it. And he knew the basics of flying, so teaching someone probably wouldn't be too difficult.

"So, like I said, if you'd rather learn from simulations, you're more than welcome to. I'm not a great pilot, myself," Mal admitted, thinking there was no point in keeping that bit of information from her. She'd probably get it out of him anyway.

"You'd teach me how to fly?" Jo immediately turned to grin at him. "That would be so cool! When can we start?" Nope, Jo's not the kind to sit around and wait for something. When she's interested in something, she wants to do it right then.

"Ya know, you're doin' that whole nice thing again. If I didn't know better I'd say you were lying about being mean." She chuckled, shaking her head. "But you know, I'll have to think of a way to pay you back. I mean, maybe I can teach you something."

"Sure. Why not? Doesn't look like we're going to be doing anything anytime soon. Would help make the time pass quicker." Mal thought for a second or two, amused at her enthusiasm. "Well, I'm not doin' too much now, other than showin' you stuff. So guess we could start now, if that works."

And then, he couldn't help but laugh at her reply. "I could be lyin', but I also could be real good at acting. Hard to tell, isn't it?" Still smiling, he looked straight at her, his tone sounding friendly but no-nonsense at the same time.

"I won't be acceptin' payment, though. We're all in the same situation here, so the way I see it is, we've all got to help each other out. And if this helps you out, then that's great."

Jo had to supress the urge to say yay, but she didn't want to appear over eager. Instead, she nodded her head almost solemnly. "That would be great. And now is a good time for me, I didn't have anything else planned."

"You could be," Jo agreed, smirking at him. "I could real be a serial killer too, you never know." She shook her head, laughing again. "And here you are offering to let me stay on your ship. Scary huh?

"Well when I kick your ass at sparring later, you're not gonna toss me out of the ship and refuse to teach me anymore, are you?"

Jo didn't have to say "yay" or any of its equivalents; Mal could tell she was excited without her saying anything at all. "Shiny. Well, no sense in waitin'." He pointed to the other control panel that was to the left of the main one. "That's like the co-pilot's area; I'm guessin' you'll want to start there."

"You? A serial killer?" He rolled his eyes. "Might be a possibility but I kind of doubt it. And don't be gettin' any ideas. Murderin' me in my sleep ain't a good idea."

Mal smirked amusedly in response to Jo's comment. "Don't be so excited; you ain't seen nothin' yet."

No sooner than Mal had pointed outthe co-pilot seatm Jo was in it. She looked over at him and grinned again. "I guess I do."

She leaned back and flashed him an overly innocent look. "We you never know! And why isn't that a good idea? I mean, you sleeping would be the perfect time, you know."

"Ya know, you sound just about as confident about your skills as I am mine." She eyed him again, sizing him up. "You might get a swing or two in before I take you down."

"All right, so you're going to want to make sure all the settings are right before you do anythin'," Mal started off with. He pointed out a few things on both sets of control panels, making corrections where necessary, and just giving Jo a few pointers about the basics of flying.

"Most important thing to keep in mind, though, is that for a ship to work with you and not cause problems, you need to know how to really love the ship you're flyin'." Mal glanced over at Jo, completely serious. "Numbers have nothin' to do with it; you can know all the figures there are in the 'verse, but if you don't love your ship, you won't get very far."

Jo made sure she paid serious attention to everything Mal had said and pointed out about flying. She pretty much knew she wouldn't be flying anytime soon, but hey - she could get the basics down at least.

"OK..." She could understand needing to love something if you were going to use it the way it was suppose to be used. She totally got that. "So I'm guessin' you must love Serenity a lot if Stacy brought her with you."

While Mal had been explaining things, he was watching to gauge Jo's reaction, and whether she was understanding him or not. He hadn't exactly taught someone about flying before, so he was feeling slightly unsure. "Did you get all that? I can explain again or answer questions, if you want."

A small smile came onto Mal's face. "Sorry if I talked too much about that; it's just I think it's very important. Could be the difference between life and death, if you know what I mean." He rested one hand on Serenity's control panel and nodded. "Love, respect, commitment... All very important things. Like I said earlier, it's been five years since I bought her, and we've learned to get along."

Mal looked sideways at Jo again. "Sounds funny, talkin' about her like she's a person, but after so long of workin' with her, sometimes that's how she feels."

A Reason to be Hopeful Again

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

ffff I have no idea how to teach someone to fly XD and AIM needs to stop dying.

Re: ffff I have no idea how to teach someone to fly XD and AIM needs to stop dying.

no subject

no subject

no subject

(no subject)

(no subject)

(no subject)

(no subject)

(no subject)

(no subject)

(no subject)

(no subject)

(no subject)

(no subject)

(no subject)