Like Blood in the Rayne Chapter 9
Title: Like Blood in the Rayne
Author: elsibet34
Fandom: Firefly
Pairings: Jayne/River with hints at Mal/Inara and Simon/Kaylee
Rating: R
Disclaimers: Joss is the Master of the Firefly ‘Verse. Subspecies is the product of Charles Band’s beautiful mind. It’s all theirs.
Summary: Serenity takes on more than its’ crew bargained for when they transport an ancient artifact.
Notes: This takes place after the BDM and all the Subspecies films. Everything is fair play. Also, I reserve the right to change pov at scene changes. I like to. :P You do not need to have seen Subspecies; I promise.
Chapter 9 - Making the Most of Things
Jayne climbed down into his bunk, locking it behind him as he went and ready to hand off the sketchbook the girl had to have so darn badly. What did she need with a book in the middle of the gorram night? She’d already spent half the afternoon sitting up on the bridge drawing. He ended up dropping the thing on the floor so he could have both hands to rub at his eyes. He looked again and saw the same thing. La shi. Mal’s going to change his mind, follow me in here, see that and kill me or maybe Simon will just let me die the next time I’m shot up, he thought.
River, having stripped down to just her panties while he’d been gone, was knelt on his bed, running her hands over the guns he kept hung handily over his resting place. She rubbed over every gun repeatedly and thoroughly, humming a different tone for each gun as her hands perused them. Before long, Jayne realized she followed a pattern, making a song he either didn’t know or had forgotten as if she played them. He could only see her back but the vision it presented was enough to stop him in his tracks, having a greater effect than all the whores he’d ever seen naked combined. He stood transfixed and watched the light play over the muscles on her back, moving beneath her silky skin.
River turned just her head over her shoulder so that he could only see glimpses of her features peaking through her hair, enough that he could see her eyes were closed and a faint smile hovered on her lips. She hummed and caressed, hummed and caressed until Jayne was panting from the sight of it. “Pretty metal girls, Jayne. They all sing uniquely. Every girl has a different voice but together it’s all a harmony, like a choir.”
Maybe he’d already spent too much time around the girl ‘cause he’d be damned if that didn’t make sense, not that it’d keep him from wanting more alone time with her if she was to be taking off her clothes now. “Uh, yeah. That’s why I got so many. Never know what kid of gun you’ll be needing till the bullets are flying, you know? Still gotta choose ‘fore we go out on a job. Mal won’t let me bring too many.”
River happily grabbed one of the guns off the rack. Jayne knew full well anyone else doing such a thing would be in a world of hurt from his fists. Her doing it, though, it was kind of cute. She turned around to sit cross-legged facing Jayne, holding the gun up to sight it toward the wall. “Choosing tonight. I’ll need a weapon as well when the fighting starts, when the shadows come to dance. Can I have one?”
As far as Jayne was concerned, she could have anything she wanted if she was going to sit there and play with it like that, all skin showing and excited. His eyes bulged when she cuddled the darn thing against her bare chest like it was a pet or something. Ai ya, that was all kinds of hot. He’d never seen Crazy shoot a gun but from what Kaylee had told them all it was quite a sight, one he seriously wanted to see. He’d give anything for it just then, even one of his precious guns. “Go on ‘head. Take your pick, girl. It’s not like I can use all of ‘em at once, anyways.”
“What’s her name?” She asked about the gun she was already holding in her teeny little hands, that one gun being the only one he owned small enough not to dwarf them. “I think I like her. Small, like me, but she hides a powerful secret inside.” River moved the weapon to hold it in the palm of one hand, petting it with the other in slow strokes.
Wondering what other powerful secrets River might have inside sent Jayne into a tailspin. He coughed nervously and tried to carry on a normal conversation, and stop staring at her naked breasts, since that seemed to be what the girl wanted. Turned out to be harder to manage than he would have thought. “She does, at that. That one’s named Maggie. Got a few extra clips you can have, too. You want me to show you how she works?” Her ‘you’re an idiot’ look came across more as a sultry glance. “Right. Stupid question. You probably know more about it than I do.”
She set the gun down on her folded dress where it lay on the floor next to the bed, stretching her form invitingly in order to reach far enough. Jayne moved to touch her when she sat back up but she pointed behind him. “Could I have my sketchbook, please?” she asked.
Jayne couldn’t wrap his head around what she’d said at first, really not doing too well on the plan not to stare. He shook his head, trying to pay attention. “What’d you say? Oh.” He grabbed the book and handed it to her, watched her flip it open. Again, he thought, what in the sphincter of hell does she need with that book?
She must have been reading his mind, not too much of a surprise. “I need you to be prepared to fight, to know what’s coming.” She found the page she needed and handed the book back to him. “The shadows.”
The sketch at the top of the page was a familiar image, the very picture of the Bloodstone they’d found on the cortex, reproduced almost exactly with rough penciling. Would have been almost pretty if he didn’t know what it was. Beneath it was a drawing of things for which Jayne had no words, just a gut instinct that they were evil things and seeing them first hand would be nightmarish. “Qingwa cào de liúmáng! Shouldn’t you show these to all the rest? Let ‘em know what we’re up against?”
River answered quietly. “Inara saw them already. I could hear her.” She pointed at her head. “Decided they were my imagination and closed the book, the right choice for her. Won’t help for any of them to know, just cause panic. It’s best to keep running, hoping we never get caught in the butterfly net.” She snatched the book out of his hand and threw it on the floor. “But you needed to know so you can keep your head when it matters. Sleep on it.”
Nothing could have distracted Jayne from the monstrous images he’d just seen. Nothing except a mostly naked girl in his bed, that was. “Sleep? With you?” Well, that came out all manner of wrong, Jayne winced. “I didn’t mean anything bad by that. I mean, I can’t shake this feeling they’re gonna realize you’re in here and come yank you out back to your own room.”
River climbed under the covers. “All traces and possibilities of duplicity are gone. Objections have been raised but were summarily dismissed.” She waited but a second before automatically explaining for Jayne’s benefit. “They know. We’re not sneaking anything. You’re not in trouble. Now, come on, get in bed. It’s cold all by myself.” She burrowed deeply into the cover. Maybe she truly was cold, just like the night before when he warmed her. Or, maybe she was just using that as an excuse to get him in the bed.
Oh. He thought he got it but Jayne’s head was still stuck on the one thing about this situation that bothered him in a bad way, that whole part where Mal was sure to space him. “Sure, they let you stay in here without killing me over it but you’re all nekkid…”
She smiled a smile that was far beyond her eighteen years, giving Jayne all sorts of ideas he thought were liable to get him killed later. “I almost forgot. Shirt, please.” River said with a light tone. The ideas came to a dead end. “I’m cold. My dress was too cumbersome. I could use one of your shirts to sleep more comfortably. The one you’re wearing should suffice.”
Jayne’s hands itched with the need to touch all that pale skin he’d just spent the last few minutes seeing. The thought of her covering it all back up without his feeling it under his hands ached in his stomach miserably. There she was, though, looking all trustingly at him with those great big eyes of hers. Jayne had no idea why she’d ever put any faith in him but the fact that she seemed to do just that made him happier than he’d ever let on. He pushed his needs back, pulled off his t-shirt, and held it out for her to take.
She smiled again, broader and friendlier than he’d ever seen anyone else smile at him, giving him the instant feeling he’d done the right thing, which was starting to become a habit with her. “Thank you. I don’t need it.” River said quickly.
Now she didn’t want it anymore? Just when he thought he was starting to understand the way her nutty brain worked, she threw him for a loop again. “What? Then why’d you go and ask me for it?” Jayne asked, being perplexed also becoming a habit when she was involved.
River came back to a sitting position, the cover falling to pool over her legs, reached toward Jayne, and pried the shirt out of his tight grip, letting it fall where it may. She shuffled around and made herself as tall as possible for a little thing kneeling on a bed to look up into his eyes. “I knew I could trust you but you weren’t sure I could. Now you know, too.”
Jayne was a touch angry. Okay, he was more than a touch angry, not that it took much to get the better of his temper but still, angry. “You testing me, little girl? Seems to me that ain’t fair, you getting’ in my head and playing me like that.”
River shook her head and placed her hand on his shoulder, tugging at him. She managed to pull hard enough he was forced to sit on the edge of the bed as she rocked back to sit on her feet. Damn, she was stronger than she looked, impressively so. “No, not testing you, Jayne, letting you test yourself. I already knew the answer to that question. My test would have asked you how long you’ve been in this room without kissing me again. The answer is four minutes and eleven seconds, by the way. Far too long.”
With an answer like that, how was a guy supposed to stay mad? Jayne smirked at her. “Four minutes and eleven seconds? Is that all? Say, you got all the numbers running around in that busy head of yours that’ll tell you how long it’s been since we was kissing this morning?”
River answered with a little pout. “Don’t tease.” She ordered and wrapped her arms around his neck to pull him closer, gasping when their chests made their first skin on skin contact. Jayne figured that was a better answer to get than getting to hear all the hours, minutes and seconds, anyway and took advantage of her open mouthed breathing to lean in to her for a deep kiss, running his tongue along the roof of her mouth.
River whined into Jayne’s mouth, pressing herself closer still to him and swaying back and forth ever so slightly, rubbing her chest across his so he could feel it changing as she grew aroused, softness hardening and pushing points into his flesh. She put her hands on his cheeks and held him steady to move her own face far enough away to talk. “Sensations heighten exponentially with the removal of clothing. The books I’ve read didn’t really explain that. Perhaps more study is warranted.”
Jayne turned his head in her hands to lay a kiss on one of her palms, lick up the palm to the tip of her index finger, and suck the tip into his mouth, releasing it only after she moaned. “River,” her name still felt strange but came out a little smoother every time he said it. “You said you trust me, right?” He waited for her to nod. “Then do us both a favor. Shut it about the books for a bit. There’s things you can’t learn by reading about ‘em. I’ll show you. Okay?” He waited again for another nod.
Seeing River was willing to let him lead, Jayne went back to kissing her with more vigor than before. He clutched at her back with one hand, holding her tight against him, and stretched his other hand to the mattress for support. Slowly laying them down and making sure to keep his weight off her, he basked in the warmth of her mouth as it gave way to his searching all the while until they sank into the bed together. He left her mouth then to place wet kisses, tongue fluttering out to taste her, along her chin and down her throat, sucking hungrily at her pulse point when he felt how fast her heart beat.
River’s voice didn’t but barely sound like her from the breathy quality it held. “Will you show me whatever I want?” She asked.
Jayne chuckled. “Anything you want.”
I’ve decided you should know the main curse words by now but…
*Help with the new Chinese, just in case:
qingwa cào de liúmáng - frog-humping son of a bitch
**River’s sketches live HERE. (Images from Subspecies, altered.)
Author: elsibet34
Fandom: Firefly
Pairings: Jayne/River with hints at Mal/Inara and Simon/Kaylee
Rating: R
Disclaimers: Joss is the Master of the Firefly ‘Verse. Subspecies is the product of Charles Band’s beautiful mind. It’s all theirs.
Summary: Serenity takes on more than its’ crew bargained for when they transport an ancient artifact.
Notes: This takes place after the BDM and all the Subspecies films. Everything is fair play. Also, I reserve the right to change pov at scene changes. I like to. :P You do not need to have seen Subspecies; I promise.
Chapter 9 - Making the Most of Things
Jayne climbed down into his bunk, locking it behind him as he went and ready to hand off the sketchbook the girl had to have so darn badly. What did she need with a book in the middle of the gorram night? She’d already spent half the afternoon sitting up on the bridge drawing. He ended up dropping the thing on the floor so he could have both hands to rub at his eyes. He looked again and saw the same thing. La shi. Mal’s going to change his mind, follow me in here, see that and kill me or maybe Simon will just let me die the next time I’m shot up, he thought.
River, having stripped down to just her panties while he’d been gone, was knelt on his bed, running her hands over the guns he kept hung handily over his resting place. She rubbed over every gun repeatedly and thoroughly, humming a different tone for each gun as her hands perused them. Before long, Jayne realized she followed a pattern, making a song he either didn’t know or had forgotten as if she played them. He could only see her back but the vision it presented was enough to stop him in his tracks, having a greater effect than all the whores he’d ever seen naked combined. He stood transfixed and watched the light play over the muscles on her back, moving beneath her silky skin.
River turned just her head over her shoulder so that he could only see glimpses of her features peaking through her hair, enough that he could see her eyes were closed and a faint smile hovered on her lips. She hummed and caressed, hummed and caressed until Jayne was panting from the sight of it. “Pretty metal girls, Jayne. They all sing uniquely. Every girl has a different voice but together it’s all a harmony, like a choir.”
Maybe he’d already spent too much time around the girl ‘cause he’d be damned if that didn’t make sense, not that it’d keep him from wanting more alone time with her if she was to be taking off her clothes now. “Uh, yeah. That’s why I got so many. Never know what kid of gun you’ll be needing till the bullets are flying, you know? Still gotta choose ‘fore we go out on a job. Mal won’t let me bring too many.”
River happily grabbed one of the guns off the rack. Jayne knew full well anyone else doing such a thing would be in a world of hurt from his fists. Her doing it, though, it was kind of cute. She turned around to sit cross-legged facing Jayne, holding the gun up to sight it toward the wall. “Choosing tonight. I’ll need a weapon as well when the fighting starts, when the shadows come to dance. Can I have one?”
As far as Jayne was concerned, she could have anything she wanted if she was going to sit there and play with it like that, all skin showing and excited. His eyes bulged when she cuddled the darn thing against her bare chest like it was a pet or something. Ai ya, that was all kinds of hot. He’d never seen Crazy shoot a gun but from what Kaylee had told them all it was quite a sight, one he seriously wanted to see. He’d give anything for it just then, even one of his precious guns. “Go on ‘head. Take your pick, girl. It’s not like I can use all of ‘em at once, anyways.”
“What’s her name?” She asked about the gun she was already holding in her teeny little hands, that one gun being the only one he owned small enough not to dwarf them. “I think I like her. Small, like me, but she hides a powerful secret inside.” River moved the weapon to hold it in the palm of one hand, petting it with the other in slow strokes.
Wondering what other powerful secrets River might have inside sent Jayne into a tailspin. He coughed nervously and tried to carry on a normal conversation, and stop staring at her naked breasts, since that seemed to be what the girl wanted. Turned out to be harder to manage than he would have thought. “She does, at that. That one’s named Maggie. Got a few extra clips you can have, too. You want me to show you how she works?” Her ‘you’re an idiot’ look came across more as a sultry glance. “Right. Stupid question. You probably know more about it than I do.”
She set the gun down on her folded dress where it lay on the floor next to the bed, stretching her form invitingly in order to reach far enough. Jayne moved to touch her when she sat back up but she pointed behind him. “Could I have my sketchbook, please?” she asked.
Jayne couldn’t wrap his head around what she’d said at first, really not doing too well on the plan not to stare. He shook his head, trying to pay attention. “What’d you say? Oh.” He grabbed the book and handed it to her, watched her flip it open. Again, he thought, what in the sphincter of hell does she need with that book?
She must have been reading his mind, not too much of a surprise. “I need you to be prepared to fight, to know what’s coming.” She found the page she needed and handed the book back to him. “The shadows.”
The sketch at the top of the page was a familiar image, the very picture of the Bloodstone they’d found on the cortex, reproduced almost exactly with rough penciling. Would have been almost pretty if he didn’t know what it was. Beneath it was a drawing of things for which Jayne had no words, just a gut instinct that they were evil things and seeing them first hand would be nightmarish. “Qingwa cào de liúmáng! Shouldn’t you show these to all the rest? Let ‘em know what we’re up against?”
River answered quietly. “Inara saw them already. I could hear her.” She pointed at her head. “Decided they were my imagination and closed the book, the right choice for her. Won’t help for any of them to know, just cause panic. It’s best to keep running, hoping we never get caught in the butterfly net.” She snatched the book out of his hand and threw it on the floor. “But you needed to know so you can keep your head when it matters. Sleep on it.”
Nothing could have distracted Jayne from the monstrous images he’d just seen. Nothing except a mostly naked girl in his bed, that was. “Sleep? With you?” Well, that came out all manner of wrong, Jayne winced. “I didn’t mean anything bad by that. I mean, I can’t shake this feeling they’re gonna realize you’re in here and come yank you out back to your own room.”
River climbed under the covers. “All traces and possibilities of duplicity are gone. Objections have been raised but were summarily dismissed.” She waited but a second before automatically explaining for Jayne’s benefit. “They know. We’re not sneaking anything. You’re not in trouble. Now, come on, get in bed. It’s cold all by myself.” She burrowed deeply into the cover. Maybe she truly was cold, just like the night before when he warmed her. Or, maybe she was just using that as an excuse to get him in the bed.
Oh. He thought he got it but Jayne’s head was still stuck on the one thing about this situation that bothered him in a bad way, that whole part where Mal was sure to space him. “Sure, they let you stay in here without killing me over it but you’re all nekkid…”
She smiled a smile that was far beyond her eighteen years, giving Jayne all sorts of ideas he thought were liable to get him killed later. “I almost forgot. Shirt, please.” River said with a light tone. The ideas came to a dead end. “I’m cold. My dress was too cumbersome. I could use one of your shirts to sleep more comfortably. The one you’re wearing should suffice.”
Jayne’s hands itched with the need to touch all that pale skin he’d just spent the last few minutes seeing. The thought of her covering it all back up without his feeling it under his hands ached in his stomach miserably. There she was, though, looking all trustingly at him with those great big eyes of hers. Jayne had no idea why she’d ever put any faith in him but the fact that she seemed to do just that made him happier than he’d ever let on. He pushed his needs back, pulled off his t-shirt, and held it out for her to take.
She smiled again, broader and friendlier than he’d ever seen anyone else smile at him, giving him the instant feeling he’d done the right thing, which was starting to become a habit with her. “Thank you. I don’t need it.” River said quickly.
Now she didn’t want it anymore? Just when he thought he was starting to understand the way her nutty brain worked, she threw him for a loop again. “What? Then why’d you go and ask me for it?” Jayne asked, being perplexed also becoming a habit when she was involved.
River came back to a sitting position, the cover falling to pool over her legs, reached toward Jayne, and pried the shirt out of his tight grip, letting it fall where it may. She shuffled around and made herself as tall as possible for a little thing kneeling on a bed to look up into his eyes. “I knew I could trust you but you weren’t sure I could. Now you know, too.”
Jayne was a touch angry. Okay, he was more than a touch angry, not that it took much to get the better of his temper but still, angry. “You testing me, little girl? Seems to me that ain’t fair, you getting’ in my head and playing me like that.”
River shook her head and placed her hand on his shoulder, tugging at him. She managed to pull hard enough he was forced to sit on the edge of the bed as she rocked back to sit on her feet. Damn, she was stronger than she looked, impressively so. “No, not testing you, Jayne, letting you test yourself. I already knew the answer to that question. My test would have asked you how long you’ve been in this room without kissing me again. The answer is four minutes and eleven seconds, by the way. Far too long.”
With an answer like that, how was a guy supposed to stay mad? Jayne smirked at her. “Four minutes and eleven seconds? Is that all? Say, you got all the numbers running around in that busy head of yours that’ll tell you how long it’s been since we was kissing this morning?”
River answered with a little pout. “Don’t tease.” She ordered and wrapped her arms around his neck to pull him closer, gasping when their chests made their first skin on skin contact. Jayne figured that was a better answer to get than getting to hear all the hours, minutes and seconds, anyway and took advantage of her open mouthed breathing to lean in to her for a deep kiss, running his tongue along the roof of her mouth.
River whined into Jayne’s mouth, pressing herself closer still to him and swaying back and forth ever so slightly, rubbing her chest across his so he could feel it changing as she grew aroused, softness hardening and pushing points into his flesh. She put her hands on his cheeks and held him steady to move her own face far enough away to talk. “Sensations heighten exponentially with the removal of clothing. The books I’ve read didn’t really explain that. Perhaps more study is warranted.”
Jayne turned his head in her hands to lay a kiss on one of her palms, lick up the palm to the tip of her index finger, and suck the tip into his mouth, releasing it only after she moaned. “River,” her name still felt strange but came out a little smoother every time he said it. “You said you trust me, right?” He waited for her to nod. “Then do us both a favor. Shut it about the books for a bit. There’s things you can’t learn by reading about ‘em. I’ll show you. Okay?” He waited again for another nod.
Seeing River was willing to let him lead, Jayne went back to kissing her with more vigor than before. He clutched at her back with one hand, holding her tight against him, and stretched his other hand to the mattress for support. Slowly laying them down and making sure to keep his weight off her, he basked in the warmth of her mouth as it gave way to his searching all the while until they sank into the bed together. He left her mouth then to place wet kisses, tongue fluttering out to taste her, along her chin and down her throat, sucking hungrily at her pulse point when he felt how fast her heart beat.
River’s voice didn’t but barely sound like her from the breathy quality it held. “Will you show me whatever I want?” She asked.
Jayne chuckled. “Anything you want.”
I’ve decided you should know the main curse words by now but…
*Help with the new Chinese, just in case:
qingwa cào de liúmáng - frog-humping son of a bitch
**River’s sketches live HERE. (Images from Subspecies, altered.)