Why did you run?

[kaylee_firefly]

Who: Kaylee, River, and Billy
What: Kaylee is confused
When: January 16
Where: Starting at the hangar, continuing to wherever Billy is
Rating: PG to start? No idea!

Comments

[brainpanned]

When River's thoughts became once again her own and the braids in her hair smoothed out to veil over her shoulders, she began noticing strange things. Kaylee was no longer Kaylee-shaped, her thoughts accented by unhappy heaviness. And the rest of the town had grown silent. Especially a certain Bad Doctor -- no -- Billy.

So when Kaylee had requested her help, River was more than eager to oblige.

She bundled herself in the heaviest clothes she could manage and trekked over the fields of snow into the airplane hangar. "Kaylee? I've um. Here."

[kaylee_firefly]

When she heard River's voice, Kaylee dropped what she was doing, and ran over to greet her friend.

"Hi, Mei-mei," Kaylee nearly cried, wrapping the younger girl in a hug. When her adult memories had come back, Kaylee had been almost overwhelmed with worry about River, and seeing that she was all in one piece was very reassuring. "You ok?"

[brainpanned]

"Present and accounted for." River smiled into Kaylee's hair, overwhelmed with the smell of strawberries. "And -- I liked being little. It was carefree."

River wished she could have seen what Kaylee had been like as a child, but doubted that it would be very different from what she was like now. Pulling away a little, River pressed the softness of her thumb beneath Kaylee's eyes, and smiled her reassurance. "I'll make it right."

[kaylee_firefly]

Being little had been kind of fun, except for the shock at the beginning of not knowing where she was, and the shock at the end of getting all of her memories back at once.

When River's hands went to her face, Kaylee bit her lip, still very upset over the whole situation with Billy.

"I just don't know what happened," she sighed, willing herself not to cry. "The party was like a dream. He was charming and sweet and we danced-" she cut off, sighing again. "And he kissed me, too. He kissed me," she emphasized the words, her eyes wide. "And then he ran away. Like I was- well, I don't know what."

[drhorriblesblog]

He was okay. Fine. Better than fine. Really.

Dr. Horrible was hard at work.

He'd found this warehouse early on, and staked his claim right away. Abandoned warehouses were classic villain territory, and it made an perfect place to store and work on projects that were too large or volatile to keep in his main lab. The very first thing had been to make sure nobody took it into their heads to rent it, or even wander inside to investigate. He'd accomplished this by setting up a subtle electrical field around the outer shell of the building, so that anyone who approached the walls or doors would start to feel an uncomfortable, quivery sort of tingling under their skin, nothing strong enough to pinpoint or necessarily even realize was unnatural, just enough to irritate. Whether they thought they were getting sick or that a storm was coming or that the building had fleas, he didn't care, as long as it got them to leave. It had worked well enough so far - most people didn't venture out this far from town anyway - but recently he'd backed

[brainpanned]

As River slipped inside, she felt her body relax, grip of his technological spells slipping away and out of her in waves. Briefly, she considered going back out and taking Kaylee inside, but she was dancing with the beast -- meeting the monster rather than the man. Kaylee didn't know the truth (but how could she not?) about her Billy, and River knew just exactly how much that knowledge would hurt.

Inside, River looked up at the mechanical creation, complex and tangled in wires, and her breath caught in her throat. Gloves removed, River's half-moon nails bit worriedly into her skin, leaving sickles of pink and red against the white of her. The machine's nerves laced up and around, all laid out in a cold, cerebral map into the brain of the thing.

brain. but no heart. brain without a mind.

There was the artificer -- standing high on his pedestal of creation and raining lightning down on his subjects.

River was speechless.

How did one approach a god?

[drhorriblesblog]

Secure in the knowledge that no one was going to be wandering into his fortress, Dr. Horrible didn't notice right away that someone had. He finished the join and shut off the torch, stepping back to survey his work, before his eyes (still covered) fell on the person who shouldn't be here.

And, of all people, her. He could only think of one prospect that would be worse. (Though having the Doctor turn up might be equally bad. He didn't completely have the Doctor's measure yet.)

"You," he spat. Turning on his heel, he climbed down from the scaffold and stalked over to confront her. "How did you get in here? No, never mind, just get out!"

[brainpanned]

Gods. Vengeful gods with black eyes and blood-soaked clothing.

River staggered a small step back before remembering his mortality. Surprisingly because she realized she knew that gods weren't real, just a preacher's bedtime stories. But for a moment, only a second, there was a glazed look of fear behind her eyes.

Breathe out, breathe in: lift your chin to show them you aren't afraid and shake your head to demonstrate your defiance.

"No. I won't." Swaying a little, she looked around his shoulder and at the enormous mass, looming like something out of a horror movie. Her hand moved to rest lightly against his arm as River slid around, intending to approach the enormous machine. "It's a -- it's..."

[drhorriblesblog]

The door closed behind her and he slumped, all the arrogance draining out of him. His dire expression crumbled into despair. Jerking off one of his black gloves, he buried his face in his bare hand, breath hitching.

Everything was working out according to plan. She was gone. It seemed very unlikely she'd come back. Any sorrow or regret or terrible crushing remorse he felt was his own weakness, and would just have to be overcome.

Because he couldn't have cupcakes and laughing over nothing. He couldn't have dancing, holding her close. The spot where her hand had rested so briefly on his chest burned, but he couldn't have that either. He couldn't have both. That was just the way things were.

Why did it have to be so hard?

[brainpanned]

It took her a minute to realize that the shouting had stopped, only sound filling River's ears that of buzzing generators and humming wires. She often preferred those sounds to people (definitely to shouting.) Machines never shouted at her, always facilitating pleasant conversation in various clicks and whirs; now that she understood the purpose of this one, talking became less of a chore. Yet it was missing something -- a key of sorts -- puzzling River as she stroked curious fingers in mathematical circles over the metal.

He couldn't have both. She mouthed the words but said nothing. Not yet. Not even noticing that Kaylee was gone until she turned vacant, dark eyes at the broken man.

One word.

"Puppet."

[drhorriblesblog]

Billy had entirely forgotten about the other person in the room. It actually took him a moment to figure out where that single word had come from. Lowering his hand slowly, he turned red-rimmed (but dry) eyes toward her.

"What?"

[brainpanned]

"Puppet." River repeated the word as a curse, not quite spitting it out, but letting it slowly spell his downfall. "Pulling yourself. Forgetting too many wires have been cut. You've no control." Empty eyes smiled eerily, voice a distant song -- River hadn't quite returned back to Earth the way she should have.

"Wireless puppet, drawn up by his heartstrings and thinking life his." Her lip curled back in a brief but hideous snarl. "You'll never be rid of them." Emotion. Love. Kaylee.

River's thoughts were drifting toward a dark place. Words that growled, He doesn't deserve her. Doesn't deserve to cause her pain.