(Untitled)

[simon_doctor]

There is a doctor in the bar.

He's seated in one of the armchairs near the fireplace, drinking coffee laced with citrus liqueur and studying his datareader.

Comments

[gonna_live]

Over in her chair, Kaylee cranes her neck a little, trying to see what's on the screen.

[simon_doctor]

It's a list.

A list of names.

"I don't know," he sighs finally.

[gonna_live]

"...we got time to decide this one." She sounds a little amused. "And it might get easier if we find out what it's going to be."

[simon_doctor]

"We should be able to find that out in the next few weeks."

He taps the datareader, and the list goes dark. "It's not that, it's just that all these names sound so ... generic."

[gonna_live]

"What's wrong with generic?" Kaylee doesn't sound all that concerned. "You don't go with generic, you wind up with somethin' like Kaywinnit." Beat. "Or Hoban."

[simon_doctor]

"There must be some middle ground we can find." Amused.

[gonna_live]

"Well, if there is, we didn't find it yet."

[simon_doctor]

Simon leans back, stretching one foot out under the coffee table. "I don't even know what basis for choosing we should use. I mean, do we want a name that's significant in some way, or just one that sounds nice?"

[gonna_live]

Kaylee sobers a little. "Unless we can come up with a name that's significant that don't leave anybody out...it's gonna have to be one that sounds nice."

[simon_doctor]

"...well." Likewise a little more serious. "It doesn't have to be a, a familial significance."

[gonna_live]

"Yeah, but if not that, then what?"

They're not naming the kid Miranda.

[simon_doctor]

Or Serenity, in all likelihood.

"I don't know. Something literary?"

[gonna_live]

Kaylee eyes him. "No names out of Shakespeare."

[simon_doctor]

Mildly: "My mother's name is out of Shakespeare."

A beat.

"Though I'm not sure that's an argument in favor of, considering that it's the name of one of the two wicked sisters in Lear."

[gonna_live]

So many replies to that.

So many.

Kaylee doesn't have to be talented at politics to know that saying anything right now is a Bad Idea.

[simon_doctor]

"What about Biblical names?" It's doubtful.