APPLICATION: Firefly/Serenity - Kaylee Frye
This application has been ACCEPTED.
PLAYER INFO
NAME: Mochi
LOCATION/TIME ZONE: US, Central time zone.
CURRENT CHARACTERS, if any: Shidou Hikaru/Nova
CHARACTER INFO
CHARACTER NAME: Kaywinnet Lee "Kaylee" Frye
SERIES: Firefly
RESERVED: No
WISHLIST: Yes
PERSONALITY:
Kaylee Fry isn’t a paragon of cultural refinement or scholarly
intellect. Growing up on what was presumably a backwater planet in a
family of simple folk, she probably didn’t have the opportunity (or
the funds necessary) to pursue a higher education. What she is,
however, is a mechanical genius, able to work on a shoe-string budget
to keep her beloved Serenity in the sky. She’s a lively,
cheerful young woman who always tries to see the silver lining, no
matter how dark the clouds seem.
Kaylee’s cheer is a seemingly indomitable force; Mal commented that
there was likely no power in the ‘verse that could keep her from being
cheerful. While she’s been known to pipe up with oddly
inappropriate-sounding comments (like her blithe parting remark to
Inara to “have good sex”, or her infamous line about... things run on
batteries), she’s a surprisingly innocent individual who takes in the
world with a sort of wide-eyed awe not found in many of her more
cynical or jaded crewmates. She’s a sensitive soul who lights up at a
word of praise, but shuts down just as quickly when criticized or
reprimanded, and she sometimes takes offense a bit too quickly. This
is especially the case when her lifestyle, profession, or the
Serenity are the things being called into question.
Being part of a rough-and-tumble crew like Serenity’s, she
knows how to roll with the punches life constantly throws her way.
What she lacks in formal training in the realms of mechanics and
engineering she makes up for with her natural intuitive skill and
talent. As Serenity’s sole mechanic, Kaylee bears the
responsibility of keeping the ship flying, which in turn keeps food on
the table for herself and the rest of the crew. Not only that, but on
a more fundamental level, the lives of all of Serenity’s
inhabitants are in her hands. A simple malfunction in the engine could
result in the deaths of all of her friends, and that’s a fact that she
takes quite seriously. Taken a bit further, it’s possible to say that
- to some extent - a large part of Kaylee’s self-esteem and self worth
are tied in with her ability to do her job and do it above
expectation.
Not only does she manage to hold the Serenity together, but she
acts as a sort of glue for the rest of the crew as well. She becomes
obviously uncomfortable during arguments between friends, and she
often attempts to step in and intervene when tempers run high. She’s a
peacemaker at heart, and though she’ll take up arms in cases of utmost
necessity, she otherwise shies away from violence. Kaylee has
difficulty even defending herself, preferring to leave all combat in
the hands of the ship’s capable fighters. That’s not to say she isn’t
brave in her own way; even if she can’t shoot a gun for beans, she’ll
rise to the occasion when she’s called upon to be strong.
Kaylee is an average girl who aspires to live a comfortable life, but
who is always satisfied so long as she's living among people she
loves.
TIMELINE: Post “Serenity” movie.
BACKGROUND:
The name of the planet where Kaylee was born was never mentioned, and
most of what’s known about her before she joined Serenity’s crew is
that she lived with her parents and worked with them repairing
machinery whenever work was available. She met Bester, who was
Serenity’s mechanic at the time, when they were delayed by Bester’s
inability to repair the ship. After Mal caught them having sex in the
engine room, Kaylee was quickly able to fix the problem, easily
identifying that it wasn’t a broken grav boot, but a bad reg couple
instead.
Mal offered her Bester’s job on the spot, and as soon as she got
permission from her family, Kaylee became the official mechanic of the
Serenity. There’s no indication of the actual amount of time that
passes between when she was hired and when the Tams and Shepherd Book
boarded the ship, though it can’t have been more than a few years.
It was immediately obvious that Kaylee had taken a shine to doctor
Simon Tam when he came on to the Serenity as a passenger. This later
proved to be a subject of embarrassment for her when Jayne was crude
about it at dinner, mocking her for her admiration. Later that
evening, she was shot in the stomach during a conflict between Dobson
(a federal agent) and the captain. Simon refused to treat her unless
Mal fled from the Alliance, but performed surgery and removed the
bullet shortly after Mal agreed to his terms. Kaylee’s importance to
the rest of the crew -- even Jayne -- was made quite clear by their
obvious concern for her wellbeing (and willingness to shove Simon out
the airlock if she didn’t make it).
With Simon’s help, she was able to pull through, though Mal did
torment Simon by telling him that Kaylee had died. Kaylee held no
resentment toward the doctor, knowing that he’d done what he had to
protect his sister.
Mal found Kaylee later having her hair brushed by Inara, but shoo’d
her away to square away matters in the engine room. She and Simon
enjoyed some awkward interaction as they prepared for the train heist
and she explained the details of their plan. He admonishes her to just
call him by his name rather than his title. The plan was executed with
a few hitches, but Mal decided to return the stolen goods once he
learned that it was much-needed medicine for an ill population.
When the Serenity encountered a spinning, derelict ship, they stopped
to investigate and wound up being discovered by an Alliance cruiser
after Kaylee diffused the Reaver trap left to ensnare unsuspecting
passers-by. During an interview with a federal officer, Kaylee went
off on a tangent, defending Serenity’s honor after the ship had been
called a “junker.”
On a later visit to Persephone, Kaylee accompanied Mal to a ball so
they could meet a contact about a job, but not before he’d upset her
by saying she didn’t need any fancy dresses and would look like a
sheep flouncing around the engine room in the pink, floofy dress she
liked.
Kaylee’s relationship with Simon continued to flounder as the young
man was constantly driven to distraction in his endeavor to care for
River. While on Jiangyin, Simon inadvertently insulted Kaylee with a
disparaging comment about Serenity. He was then kidnapped by hill-folk
(after he was pompous and River was crazy), much to the dismay of the
entire crew, as Shepherd Book had been shot in the crossfire when a
deal went south.
After Mal accidentally got married and his blushing bride Saffron
sabotaged the ship, Kaylee and Wash had to rush to repair the damage
before they flew straight into a death trap. They ended up having to
disable the trap, since repairs took a bit longer, but were completed
once the threat of imminent death was removed.
Kaylee is later seen teasing Simon when he claims to use swear words
“like anybody else,” since he’s always so prim and proper. They spent
a good bit of time together in the town of Canton while the crew tried
to work out a deal, and were both amazed and confounded by Jayne’s
status as a local folk hero. The two wound up drinking a bit too much
and sleeping (yes, just sleeping) together, but Simon upset
Kaylee when they were awoken by Mal, and the young man implied that he
would never be intimate with her. They smoothed over their differences
later, though she continued to tease him for his love of propriety.
On Simon’s birthday, an explosion caused a fire that injured Zoe and
ruined an engine component, which then kept the engine from turning.
With the ship incapacitated and only the slimmest chance that someone
might come along and assist, the crew had to figure out how to
proceed. Kaylee believed it was her fault (since Serenity would
usually “tell” her if something were wrong) and she blamed herself for
not keeping things in perfect running order. She revealed to Mal that
the situation was worse than they’d anticipated: the broken catalyzer
meant the engine wouldn’t turn, which meant that life support was off,
and that the explosion had taken the auxiliary life support systems
out as well.
Before the oxygen could run out, Mal sent the rest of the crew out on
the ship’s two shuttles, putting Kaylee in Inara’s shuttle with Book
and Jayne. She and the others protest when he says he’s decided to
remain on the Serenity, but his decision stands firm. Although
he gets himself shot in the process, Mal managed to acquire a new
catalyzer and repair the engine, which Kaylee praised him for once the
crew had returned to the ship.
Serenity stopped on the planet Ariel when Inara needed to be
given a physical examination so her Companion Guild license could be
renewed. Since River’s symptoms were getting worse, Simon came up with
plan to get her into a hospital so he could scan her brain and see
what had been done to her. Kaylee griped to Wash about her part of the
plan (looking through trash) but still seemed to enjoy digging through
all the mechanical components. She also helped guide Mal and Zoe
through the hospital via the radio when Jayne, River, and Simon were
apprehended by the Alliance.
She later also took part in a rescue mission to retrieve Mal when he
and Wash were kidnapped by Niska, who was still bitter about the
perceived slight to his honor after the train heist. Kaylee took up
arms to help hold down the ship when the others penetrated Niska’s
base, but wasn’t able to stand her ground when armed guards began
shooting at her. She retreated into Serenity’s cargo bay to
evade the fire, and was shocked and horrified when River appeared and
shot the three men using the gun that she had dropped. River echoed
the statement Kaylee had made earlier when they were playing together,
saying that “no power in the ‘verse” could stop her. Kaylee was
noticeably more timid around her younger friend after that incident.
When Saffron came aboard the ship again with a plan to steal a famous
antique laser rifle, Kaylee was the one to devise a method for getting
it out of the high-tech manor where it was housed: by simply throwing
it into the trash and picking up the bin later. She had to place the
circuit board with the altered dump coordinates into the bin after
Jayne got zapped in the attempt, and then had to fix the ship after
Saffron sabotaged it again.
While visiting a space station for a bit of shore leave, Kaylee and
Simon had yet another misunderstanding when he cited his reasons for
liking her, and jokingly mentioned that every other girl he knows was
“either married, professional, or closely related” to him. Kaylee took
offense because it sounded to her that he liked her because she was
the only available female around. Matters weren’t helped when Kaylee
became upset after he offered to perform an autopsy on the ‘corpse’ of
a young military friend that was shipped to Zoe and Mal.
When an Alliance police opened fire on the ship, the crew found out
that the corpse, otherwise known as Tracy, was actually alive and
carrying genetically engineered internal organs worth a hefty price.
Tracy was obviously attracted to Kaylee and the two seemed to hit it
off quickly, especially since she was still feeling a bit of pique
towards Simon. Although the Serenity tried to evade Officer
Womack, they eventually decided to land and allow him to come aboard
(at Shepherd Book’s suggestion) because they realized the officer was
outside of his jurisdiction and they would be within their rights to
shoot him if he boarded the ship. Misunderstanding their intentions,
Tracy took Kaylee hostage to keep the crew from turning him in, but
was quickly shot by Mal. After he’d passed away, the crew of the
Serenity saw his body safely back to his family, which had been
the young man’s initial request when he’d been pretending to be dead.
The crew’s next adventure came when a former Companion sent a message
to Inara asking for help when a local land baron named Rance Burgess
was threatening her brothel - The Heart of Gold - and her workers.
Kaylee pointed out that they had “boy whores” as well, although Wash
and Simon didn’t seem to thrilled at the thought. Kaylee became
depressed because she felt like one of the only people without a
significant other, and went as far as asking Wash to tell her that she
was pretty, claiming it was very “restorative” when he said she was.
The crew fortified the brothel, but Kaylee and Wash were unable to
help in the inevitable fight when they found out (by nearly being
shot) that some of Rance’s men had stolen into the ship. They managed
to trap the goons in the mess hall, but inadvertently trapped
themselves as well: Wash in the engine room and Kaylee in crew
quarters. They remained trapped for the duration of the fight. The
crew left, disheartened, after funerals were held for those who had
fallen in the confrontation.
After all that, it looked like Simon and Kaylee’s relationship was
finally looking up. They were able to laugh and joke together, and
Simon told her stories of humorous (read: embarrassing) things that
had happened to him as a doctor on Osiris. When River managed to get a
hold of one of Jayne’s loaded guns, Kaylee finally told the others
about the time when River had shot the three men at Niska’s skyplex.
Simon was understandably distressed by the confession, although he
told Kaylee that he wasn’t mad at her for sharing the information. He
knew that River loved the ship and he didn’t want to see her forced to
leave. She asked him if there was nothing he was glad of aboard
Serenity, and he might have kissed her then if Book hadn’t
passed by at an inopportune moment, wishing them goodnight.
She stayed up late to work on the ship, and was spooked by sounds in
the corridor outside the engine room. A bounty hunter named Jubal
Early (who had already temporarily incapacitated Mal) then appeared
and terrified the girl with implied threats of rape and a painful
death, binding her and forcing her to tell him where River and Simon
slept, as he intended to capture them and return them to the Alliance.
Later, River spoke to her over the intercom and instructed her to cut
herself free and unlock the crew quarters which had been shut tight by
Early.
After River and Mal managed to get Early off the ship, things returned
to normal... more or less. Kaylee and River’s friendship seemed
mended, and the girls were seen laughing and playing jacks together in
the ship’s cargo bay.
A few months later, the crew had apparently resorted to raiding vaults
as an alternate source of acquiring cash, and Mal complained at Kaylee
when a piece fell off of the ship as they entered the atmosphere of a
small planet in order to carry out said raiding. He claimed that she’d
told him their problematic entry couplings would hold out for another
week, at least. She countered that it’d been six months since then,
but he maintained (somewhat lightly) that if the ship crashed it would
be her fault.
The plan to confiscate the money from the town’s vault went smoothly
until a group of Reavers arrived, attacking and killing everything in
sight. Mal, Zoe, Jayne, and River rushed back to the ship on the mule,
pursued all the way by the Reavers. They managed to escape with minor
wounds, but Simon was furious that the captain had endangered his
sister by involving her at all. Simon and the captain had a scuffle
over the issue, and the two agreed that it would be best for the young
doctor and his sister to leave the ship the next time they landed on
an inhabited planet.
As Jayne discarded pieces left by the mule and part of a Reaver skiff
crashing into Serenity’s cargo bay, he and Kaylee discussed the
Reavers and how wrong they’d gone, speculating on their origins.
Kaylee commented that the captain would eventually scare all the crew
members off, but Jayne said she was just “in a whinge” because Simon
was leaving. She had a point, though; Shepherd Book and Inara had
already disembarked the ship for good.
When they arrived at Beaumond, Kaylee offered Simon several pieces of
advise for his future travels: only speak with the captains, always
look them in the eye, never pay up front, and don’t fly in anything
with a Capissen 38 engine, since those fall right out of the sky.
She later argued with Mal as they entered a bar to meet their
contacts, saying he’d driven Simon and River away instead of making
them family like she’d hoped for, and startled him with a blunt
comment about her sexual practices (or lack thereof, as it were). Mal
was understandably shocked and appalled, though Jayne seemed eager to
hear more. Mal claimed that if he’d wanted a woman badly enough that
he would surely not let anything keep them apart, and Kaylee stormed
out after making a jab at him about his distinct lack of action in
regards to Inara.
While in the bar, River saw a commercial encoded with an Alliance
signal which made her go berserk and attack everyone after uttering
the word “Miranda,” but Simon arrived with a ‘safe word’ to put her to
sleep just before she shot Mal. Back on the ship, Simon explained a
bit more about the institute where River had been held and the
experiments performed on her. Kaylee tried to support him as best as
she could, but Jayne and Mal seemed especially displeased with the
situation.
They docked briefly at Haven, where Shepherd Book had created a refuge
camp of sorts, but they left just as quickly to rescue Inara after she
and Mal held a conversation over the comm which was suspiciously free
of arguments, and therefore a trap. At Sihnon, Mal and Inara were able
to escape the Companion training house after a short duel with the
operative that had been sent to capture River and Simon. They diverted
the Alliance by sending decoy beacons in every direction and fled back
to Haven, but when they arrived, Haven was burned to the ground and
all those who lived there were dead, killed by the Alliance.
After disguising Serenity as a Reaver ship, the crew made their
way to the planet Miranda, hoping to find out why the Alliance was so
desperate to get their hands on River, or discover what secrets they
were hiding.
They found it: everyone on Miranda was dead because the Alliance had
added chemicals to the air to try and subdue the population. The
effect was not what they had intended. Those who didn’t lay down and
die became the Reavers.
Mal took the crew to Mr. Universe’s world to relay the video they’d
discovered across every Alliance airwave, but were met with opposition
on both sides: the Alliance before and the Reavers behind. Wash flew
through the tangle of ships, but was killed by a Reaver spear when
they crash landed. Mal was able to send the signal through after
fighting with the operative a second time, but most of the others
badly wounded. Kaylee and Simon were able to come to terms with each
other, however, when Simon admitted that he’d put aside all the things
and all the people he’d wanted because he’d been so concerned
with caring for River, and that his regret was never being able to be
with her.
The operative desisted in his pursuit because the secret was out; he
was no longer necessary. Save for Wash and Book, the crew was back
together. Since River had apparently stabilized after the visit to
Miranda, Kaylee and Simon were able to consummate their relationship.
Things seemed stable now, at least for the time being, and those left
of the crew were able to live without the immediate threat of the
Alliance on their tails.
Her first stay in Edensphere wasn’t that long at all, though she tried
to keep as busy as possible, though she was always a little bit
concerned about the threat of things like giant ants and zombies.
When she hatched, she mistook Derrick for the man in her dreams, and
never really got over him being “Captain Tightpants” in her mind. She
was curious about what made the islands float, though her examinations
of them never turned up any conclusive evidence. It didn’t take long
for her to discover her mechanical inclination, so she soon got a job
working in the scrap yard and freelance-fixing things on the side.
Serenity and Qi became fast friends and it wasn’t long after that she
met Simon in the Camp Anawana Wilderness. She felt familiar with all
of them, and a certain closeness with Simon. She also made friends
with Grift when he offered protection (and guns) as the zombie
outbreak began.
She and Simon began dating but their relationship didn’t have much of
a chance to progress beyond the very early stages.
ABILITIES:
Mechanics: Kaylee is a mechanical genius. She claims that
machines “talk” to her and tell her what’s wrong with them.
Cooking: In one episode, Kaylee is shown presenting a home-made
cake to Simon, and mentions in another instance that Shepherd Book had
volunteered to assist her in preparing a meal.
Cheer: No power in the ‘verse can keep Kaylee from being cheerful.
GAME INFO
EDENSPHERE NAME: Serenity
BIRTHDAY LOG: Yes, please.
DREAM:
“Don’t talk to the barkers, talk to the captain,” Serenity said. “You
look the captain in the eye, know who you’re dealing with.” Simon was
looking at her with something like a regretful expression, and Qi was
standing nearby, all of them standing on the lowered cargo-bay door of
a small ship. Beyond them was a city illuminated with neon and
incandescent lights glowing merrily over the milling throngs of
people.
She was fiddling with a little jacket made of blue brocade, working
out all the creases.
“I wish there was--” Simon began, but whatever he’d been planning on
saying to her was cut short by Captain Tightpants walking between them
with a sour look on his face. Both of them shuffled about for a second
as he made his way down the ramp and into the crowd.
“And you shouldn’t aught’a be so clean,” Serenity continued, helping
Qi slip into the jacket and smoothing it over her shoulders. “It’s a
dead give-away you don’t belong, y’always gotta be tidy.” Simon looked
down at his pristine attire and she continued to ramble on, despite
the tremor in her voice. “Don’t pay anybody in advance! And don't ride
in anything with a Capissen thirty-eight engine, they fall
right out’a the sky.” She made a swooping gesture with her hand
to illustrate her point, unable to meet his eyes for a moment.
“Serenity...” Their eyes met for a moment. He looked like he had so
much to say, but struggled for a moment to find the words. “Ah...
Well, you're a, a kind of a genius when it comes to machines... you
always say what you mean, and your eyes are...” He began to flounder,
but she perked up at the compliments.
“Yeah? Eyes, yeah?”
“And, um... I don't know how to, um...” He rubbed at his face, but was
grinning. “Plus, every other girl I know is either married,
professional, or closely related to me, so you're more or less... you
are literally the only girl in the world.”
“Hmm. That's a hell of a thing to say.”
“I was joking!” he protested, a hint of alarm coloring his tone as he
realized he’d said what was quite obviously not funny at all, to her
at least.
“No, I get it,” she said, turning away in a huff and leaving the
siblings alone together in the hatch.
She pushed through the sea of humanity, barely noticing as the
luminous nighttime city transitioned into the Edensphere Bazaar. When
she reached the elevator, someone else had already hit the ‘down’
button, so she piled in along with the rest of them, arms crossed
under her chest.
Most of them got out at the Wilderness, but she waited until the
elevator reached the bottom floor, exiting and making her way through
the mounds of junk until she reached her own little corner. There was
a rotary engine spinning slowly, and a brightly-colored hammock
hanging up near it. She flopped down into the hammock with an
exaggerated sigh and slid a little copper gadget out of her pocket.
When she pressed the button on the face of the device, a recording
began to play. It was the voice of a young man.
“You two carried me through that war. Now I need you to carry me just
a little bit further. If you can. Tell my folks I wanted to do right
by them and that I'm at peace and all. Ah. When you can't run anymore,
you crawl, and when you can't do that... “
The speaker changed to a woman, and her rich voice finished off the message.
"You find someone to carry you."
JOURNAL SAMPLE:
Hey y’all, it’s Serenity. I don’t know how long I been gone, but I
reckon it’s been a fair spell since it’s a mite hotter now. Did
anybody salvage the junk from my room? It weren’t nothing too
important, but I had some projects I was working on. Suppose it don’t
much matter.
Simon, Qi, Bridge, y’all ain’t up and disappeared, did you? I’ll be
around to visit in the next day or so.
Bridge, you still got a job for me? Is there aught else as has changed
and I need to know it?
ASPIRATIONS: I guess you could say that Kaylee is another type
of character I want to explore. Like Nova, she’s got a lot of cheer
and happiness to share, but she’s not a super hero and she doesn’t
pretend to be. I want to see how she reacts to the sphere, and meeting
both castmates and new faces.
PLAYER INFO
NAME: Mochi
LOCATION/TIME ZONE: US, Central time zone.
CURRENT CHARACTERS, if any: Shidou Hikaru/Nova
CHARACTER INFO
CHARACTER NAME: Kaywinnet Lee "Kaylee" Frye
SERIES: Firefly
RESERVED: No
WISHLIST: Yes
PERSONALITY:
Kaylee Fry isn’t a paragon of cultural refinement or scholarly
intellect. Growing up on what was presumably a backwater planet in a
family of simple folk, she probably didn’t have the opportunity (or
the funds necessary) to pursue a higher education. What she is,
however, is a mechanical genius, able to work on a shoe-string budget
to keep her beloved Serenity in the sky. She’s a lively,
cheerful young woman who always tries to see the silver lining, no
matter how dark the clouds seem.
Kaylee’s cheer is a seemingly indomitable force; Mal commented that
there was likely no power in the ‘verse that could keep her from being
cheerful. While she’s been known to pipe up with oddly
inappropriate-sounding comments (like her blithe parting remark to
Inara to “have good sex”, or her infamous line about... things run on
batteries), she’s a surprisingly innocent individual who takes in the
world with a sort of wide-eyed awe not found in many of her more
cynical or jaded crewmates. She’s a sensitive soul who lights up at a
word of praise, but shuts down just as quickly when criticized or
reprimanded, and she sometimes takes offense a bit too quickly. This
is especially the case when her lifestyle, profession, or the
Serenity are the things being called into question.
Being part of a rough-and-tumble crew like Serenity’s, she
knows how to roll with the punches life constantly throws her way.
What she lacks in formal training in the realms of mechanics and
engineering she makes up for with her natural intuitive skill and
talent. As Serenity’s sole mechanic, Kaylee bears the
responsibility of keeping the ship flying, which in turn keeps food on
the table for herself and the rest of the crew. Not only that, but on
a more fundamental level, the lives of all of Serenity’s
inhabitants are in her hands. A simple malfunction in the engine could
result in the deaths of all of her friends, and that’s a fact that she
takes quite seriously. Taken a bit further, it’s possible to say that
- to some extent - a large part of Kaylee’s self-esteem and self worth
are tied in with her ability to do her job and do it above
expectation.
Not only does she manage to hold the Serenity together, but she
acts as a sort of glue for the rest of the crew as well. She becomes
obviously uncomfortable during arguments between friends, and she
often attempts to step in and intervene when tempers run high. She’s a
peacemaker at heart, and though she’ll take up arms in cases of utmost
necessity, she otherwise shies away from violence. Kaylee has
difficulty even defending herself, preferring to leave all combat in
the hands of the ship’s capable fighters. That’s not to say she isn’t
brave in her own way; even if she can’t shoot a gun for beans, she’ll
rise to the occasion when she’s called upon to be strong.
Kaylee is an average girl who aspires to live a comfortable life, but
who is always satisfied so long as she's living among people she
loves.
TIMELINE: Post “Serenity” movie.
BACKGROUND:
The name of the planet where Kaylee was born was never mentioned, and
most of what’s known about her before she joined Serenity’s crew is
that she lived with her parents and worked with them repairing
machinery whenever work was available. She met Bester, who was
Serenity’s mechanic at the time, when they were delayed by Bester’s
inability to repair the ship. After Mal caught them having sex in the
engine room, Kaylee was quickly able to fix the problem, easily
identifying that it wasn’t a broken grav boot, but a bad reg couple
instead.
Mal offered her Bester’s job on the spot, and as soon as she got
permission from her family, Kaylee became the official mechanic of the
Serenity. There’s no indication of the actual amount of time that
passes between when she was hired and when the Tams and Shepherd Book
boarded the ship, though it can’t have been more than a few years.
It was immediately obvious that Kaylee had taken a shine to doctor
Simon Tam when he came on to the Serenity as a passenger. This later
proved to be a subject of embarrassment for her when Jayne was crude
about it at dinner, mocking her for her admiration. Later that
evening, she was shot in the stomach during a conflict between Dobson
(a federal agent) and the captain. Simon refused to treat her unless
Mal fled from the Alliance, but performed surgery and removed the
bullet shortly after Mal agreed to his terms. Kaylee’s importance to
the rest of the crew -- even Jayne -- was made quite clear by their
obvious concern for her wellbeing (and willingness to shove Simon out
the airlock if she didn’t make it).
With Simon’s help, she was able to pull through, though Mal did
torment Simon by telling him that Kaylee had died. Kaylee held no
resentment toward the doctor, knowing that he’d done what he had to
protect his sister.
Mal found Kaylee later having her hair brushed by Inara, but shoo’d
her away to square away matters in the engine room. She and Simon
enjoyed some awkward interaction as they prepared for the train heist
and she explained the details of their plan. He admonishes her to just
call him by his name rather than his title. The plan was executed with
a few hitches, but Mal decided to return the stolen goods once he
learned that it was much-needed medicine for an ill population.
When the Serenity encountered a spinning, derelict ship, they stopped
to investigate and wound up being discovered by an Alliance cruiser
after Kaylee diffused the Reaver trap left to ensnare unsuspecting
passers-by. During an interview with a federal officer, Kaylee went
off on a tangent, defending Serenity’s honor after the ship had been
called a “junker.”
On a later visit to Persephone, Kaylee accompanied Mal to a ball so
they could meet a contact about a job, but not before he’d upset her
by saying she didn’t need any fancy dresses and would look like a
sheep flouncing around the engine room in the pink, floofy dress she
liked.
Kaylee’s relationship with Simon continued to flounder as the young
man was constantly driven to distraction in his endeavor to care for
River. While on Jiangyin, Simon inadvertently insulted Kaylee with a
disparaging comment about Serenity. He was then kidnapped by hill-folk
(after he was pompous and River was crazy), much to the dismay of the
entire crew, as Shepherd Book had been shot in the crossfire when a
deal went south.
After Mal accidentally got married and his blushing bride Saffron
sabotaged the ship, Kaylee and Wash had to rush to repair the damage
before they flew straight into a death trap. They ended up having to
disable the trap, since repairs took a bit longer, but were completed
once the threat of imminent death was removed.
Kaylee is later seen teasing Simon when he claims to use swear words
“like anybody else,” since he’s always so prim and proper. They spent
a good bit of time together in the town of Canton while the crew tried
to work out a deal, and were both amazed and confounded by Jayne’s
status as a local folk hero. The two wound up drinking a bit too much
and sleeping (yes, just sleeping) together, but Simon upset
Kaylee when they were awoken by Mal, and the young man implied that he
would never be intimate with her. They smoothed over their differences
later, though she continued to tease him for his love of propriety.
On Simon’s birthday, an explosion caused a fire that injured Zoe and
ruined an engine component, which then kept the engine from turning.
With the ship incapacitated and only the slimmest chance that someone
might come along and assist, the crew had to figure out how to
proceed. Kaylee believed it was her fault (since Serenity would
usually “tell” her if something were wrong) and she blamed herself for
not keeping things in perfect running order. She revealed to Mal that
the situation was worse than they’d anticipated: the broken catalyzer
meant the engine wouldn’t turn, which meant that life support was off,
and that the explosion had taken the auxiliary life support systems
out as well.
Before the oxygen could run out, Mal sent the rest of the crew out on
the ship’s two shuttles, putting Kaylee in Inara’s shuttle with Book
and Jayne. She and the others protest when he says he’s decided to
remain on the Serenity, but his decision stands firm. Although
he gets himself shot in the process, Mal managed to acquire a new
catalyzer and repair the engine, which Kaylee praised him for once the
crew had returned to the ship.
Serenity stopped on the planet Ariel when Inara needed to be
given a physical examination so her Companion Guild license could be
renewed. Since River’s symptoms were getting worse, Simon came up with
plan to get her into a hospital so he could scan her brain and see
what had been done to her. Kaylee griped to Wash about her part of the
plan (looking through trash) but still seemed to enjoy digging through
all the mechanical components. She also helped guide Mal and Zoe
through the hospital via the radio when Jayne, River, and Simon were
apprehended by the Alliance.
She later also took part in a rescue mission to retrieve Mal when he
and Wash were kidnapped by Niska, who was still bitter about the
perceived slight to his honor after the train heist. Kaylee took up
arms to help hold down the ship when the others penetrated Niska’s
base, but wasn’t able to stand her ground when armed guards began
shooting at her. She retreated into Serenity’s cargo bay to
evade the fire, and was shocked and horrified when River appeared and
shot the three men using the gun that she had dropped. River echoed
the statement Kaylee had made earlier when they were playing together,
saying that “no power in the ‘verse” could stop her. Kaylee was
noticeably more timid around her younger friend after that incident.
When Saffron came aboard the ship again with a plan to steal a famous
antique laser rifle, Kaylee was the one to devise a method for getting
it out of the high-tech manor where it was housed: by simply throwing
it into the trash and picking up the bin later. She had to place the
circuit board with the altered dump coordinates into the bin after
Jayne got zapped in the attempt, and then had to fix the ship after
Saffron sabotaged it again.
While visiting a space station for a bit of shore leave, Kaylee and
Simon had yet another misunderstanding when he cited his reasons for
liking her, and jokingly mentioned that every other girl he knows was
“either married, professional, or closely related” to him. Kaylee took
offense because it sounded to her that he liked her because she was
the only available female around. Matters weren’t helped when Kaylee
became upset after he offered to perform an autopsy on the ‘corpse’ of
a young military friend that was shipped to Zoe and Mal.
When an Alliance police opened fire on the ship, the crew found out
that the corpse, otherwise known as Tracy, was actually alive and
carrying genetically engineered internal organs worth a hefty price.
Tracy was obviously attracted to Kaylee and the two seemed to hit it
off quickly, especially since she was still feeling a bit of pique
towards Simon. Although the Serenity tried to evade Officer
Womack, they eventually decided to land and allow him to come aboard
(at Shepherd Book’s suggestion) because they realized the officer was
outside of his jurisdiction and they would be within their rights to
shoot him if he boarded the ship. Misunderstanding their intentions,
Tracy took Kaylee hostage to keep the crew from turning him in, but
was quickly shot by Mal. After he’d passed away, the crew of the
Serenity saw his body safely back to his family, which had been
the young man’s initial request when he’d been pretending to be dead.
The crew’s next adventure came when a former Companion sent a message
to Inara asking for help when a local land baron named Rance Burgess
was threatening her brothel - The Heart of Gold - and her workers.
Kaylee pointed out that they had “boy whores” as well, although Wash
and Simon didn’t seem to thrilled at the thought. Kaylee became
depressed because she felt like one of the only people without a
significant other, and went as far as asking Wash to tell her that she
was pretty, claiming it was very “restorative” when he said she was.
The crew fortified the brothel, but Kaylee and Wash were unable to
help in the inevitable fight when they found out (by nearly being
shot) that some of Rance’s men had stolen into the ship. They managed
to trap the goons in the mess hall, but inadvertently trapped
themselves as well: Wash in the engine room and Kaylee in crew
quarters. They remained trapped for the duration of the fight. The
crew left, disheartened, after funerals were held for those who had
fallen in the confrontation.
After all that, it looked like Simon and Kaylee’s relationship was
finally looking up. They were able to laugh and joke together, and
Simon told her stories of humorous (read: embarrassing) things that
had happened to him as a doctor on Osiris. When River managed to get a
hold of one of Jayne’s loaded guns, Kaylee finally told the others
about the time when River had shot the three men at Niska’s skyplex.
Simon was understandably distressed by the confession, although he
told Kaylee that he wasn’t mad at her for sharing the information. He
knew that River loved the ship and he didn’t want to see her forced to
leave. She asked him if there was nothing he was glad of aboard
Serenity, and he might have kissed her then if Book hadn’t
passed by at an inopportune moment, wishing them goodnight.
She stayed up late to work on the ship, and was spooked by sounds in
the corridor outside the engine room. A bounty hunter named Jubal
Early (who had already temporarily incapacitated Mal) then appeared
and terrified the girl with implied threats of rape and a painful
death, binding her and forcing her to tell him where River and Simon
slept, as he intended to capture them and return them to the Alliance.
Later, River spoke to her over the intercom and instructed her to cut
herself free and unlock the crew quarters which had been shut tight by
Early.
After River and Mal managed to get Early off the ship, things returned
to normal... more or less. Kaylee and River’s friendship seemed
mended, and the girls were seen laughing and playing jacks together in
the ship’s cargo bay.
A few months later, the crew had apparently resorted to raiding vaults
as an alternate source of acquiring cash, and Mal complained at Kaylee
when a piece fell off of the ship as they entered the atmosphere of a
small planet in order to carry out said raiding. He claimed that she’d
told him their problematic entry couplings would hold out for another
week, at least. She countered that it’d been six months since then,
but he maintained (somewhat lightly) that if the ship crashed it would
be her fault.
The plan to confiscate the money from the town’s vault went smoothly
until a group of Reavers arrived, attacking and killing everything in
sight. Mal, Zoe, Jayne, and River rushed back to the ship on the mule,
pursued all the way by the Reavers. They managed to escape with minor
wounds, but Simon was furious that the captain had endangered his
sister by involving her at all. Simon and the captain had a scuffle
over the issue, and the two agreed that it would be best for the young
doctor and his sister to leave the ship the next time they landed on
an inhabited planet.
As Jayne discarded pieces left by the mule and part of a Reaver skiff
crashing into Serenity’s cargo bay, he and Kaylee discussed the
Reavers and how wrong they’d gone, speculating on their origins.
Kaylee commented that the captain would eventually scare all the crew
members off, but Jayne said she was just “in a whinge” because Simon
was leaving. She had a point, though; Shepherd Book and Inara had
already disembarked the ship for good.
When they arrived at Beaumond, Kaylee offered Simon several pieces of
advise for his future travels: only speak with the captains, always
look them in the eye, never pay up front, and don’t fly in anything
with a Capissen 38 engine, since those fall right out of the sky.
She later argued with Mal as they entered a bar to meet their
contacts, saying he’d driven Simon and River away instead of making
them family like she’d hoped for, and startled him with a blunt
comment about her sexual practices (or lack thereof, as it were). Mal
was understandably shocked and appalled, though Jayne seemed eager to
hear more. Mal claimed that if he’d wanted a woman badly enough that
he would surely not let anything keep them apart, and Kaylee stormed
out after making a jab at him about his distinct lack of action in
regards to Inara.
While in the bar, River saw a commercial encoded with an Alliance
signal which made her go berserk and attack everyone after uttering
the word “Miranda,” but Simon arrived with a ‘safe word’ to put her to
sleep just before she shot Mal. Back on the ship, Simon explained a
bit more about the institute where River had been held and the
experiments performed on her. Kaylee tried to support him as best as
she could, but Jayne and Mal seemed especially displeased with the
situation.
They docked briefly at Haven, where Shepherd Book had created a refuge
camp of sorts, but they left just as quickly to rescue Inara after she
and Mal held a conversation over the comm which was suspiciously free
of arguments, and therefore a trap. At Sihnon, Mal and Inara were able
to escape the Companion training house after a short duel with the
operative that had been sent to capture River and Simon. They diverted
the Alliance by sending decoy beacons in every direction and fled back
to Haven, but when they arrived, Haven was burned to the ground and
all those who lived there were dead, killed by the Alliance.
After disguising Serenity as a Reaver ship, the crew made their
way to the planet Miranda, hoping to find out why the Alliance was so
desperate to get their hands on River, or discover what secrets they
were hiding.
They found it: everyone on Miranda was dead because the Alliance had
added chemicals to the air to try and subdue the population. The
effect was not what they had intended. Those who didn’t lay down and
die became the Reavers.
Mal took the crew to Mr. Universe’s world to relay the video they’d
discovered across every Alliance airwave, but were met with opposition
on both sides: the Alliance before and the Reavers behind. Wash flew
through the tangle of ships, but was killed by a Reaver spear when
they crash landed. Mal was able to send the signal through after
fighting with the operative a second time, but most of the others
badly wounded. Kaylee and Simon were able to come to terms with each
other, however, when Simon admitted that he’d put aside all the things
and all the people he’d wanted because he’d been so concerned
with caring for River, and that his regret was never being able to be
with her.
The operative desisted in his pursuit because the secret was out; he
was no longer necessary. Save for Wash and Book, the crew was back
together. Since River had apparently stabilized after the visit to
Miranda, Kaylee and Simon were able to consummate their relationship.
Things seemed stable now, at least for the time being, and those left
of the crew were able to live without the immediate threat of the
Alliance on their tails.
Her first stay in Edensphere wasn’t that long at all, though she tried
to keep as busy as possible, though she was always a little bit
concerned about the threat of things like giant ants and zombies.
When she hatched, she mistook Derrick for the man in her dreams, and
never really got over him being “Captain Tightpants” in her mind. She
was curious about what made the islands float, though her examinations
of them never turned up any conclusive evidence. It didn’t take long
for her to discover her mechanical inclination, so she soon got a job
working in the scrap yard and freelance-fixing things on the side.
Serenity and Qi became fast friends and it wasn’t long after that she
met Simon in the Camp Anawana Wilderness. She felt familiar with all
of them, and a certain closeness with Simon. She also made friends
with Grift when he offered protection (and guns) as the zombie
outbreak began.
She and Simon began dating but their relationship didn’t have much of
a chance to progress beyond the very early stages.
ABILITIES:
Mechanics: Kaylee is a mechanical genius. She claims that
machines “talk” to her and tell her what’s wrong with them.
Cooking: In one episode, Kaylee is shown presenting a home-made
cake to Simon, and mentions in another instance that Shepherd Book had
volunteered to assist her in preparing a meal.
Cheer: No power in the ‘verse can keep Kaylee from being cheerful.
GAME INFO
EDENSPHERE NAME: Serenity
BIRTHDAY LOG: Yes, please.
DREAM:
“Don’t talk to the barkers, talk to the captain,” Serenity said. “You
look the captain in the eye, know who you’re dealing with.” Simon was
looking at her with something like a regretful expression, and Qi was
standing nearby, all of them standing on the lowered cargo-bay door of
a small ship. Beyond them was a city illuminated with neon and
incandescent lights glowing merrily over the milling throngs of
people.
She was fiddling with a little jacket made of blue brocade, working
out all the creases.
“I wish there was--” Simon began, but whatever he’d been planning on
saying to her was cut short by Captain Tightpants walking between them
with a sour look on his face. Both of them shuffled about for a second
as he made his way down the ramp and into the crowd.
“And you shouldn’t aught’a be so clean,” Serenity continued, helping
Qi slip into the jacket and smoothing it over her shoulders. “It’s a
dead give-away you don’t belong, y’always gotta be tidy.” Simon looked
down at his pristine attire and she continued to ramble on, despite
the tremor in her voice. “Don’t pay anybody in advance! And don't ride
in anything with a Capissen thirty-eight engine, they fall
right out’a the sky.” She made a swooping gesture with her hand
to illustrate her point, unable to meet his eyes for a moment.
“Serenity...” Their eyes met for a moment. He looked like he had so
much to say, but struggled for a moment to find the words. “Ah...
Well, you're a, a kind of a genius when it comes to machines... you
always say what you mean, and your eyes are...” He began to flounder,
but she perked up at the compliments.
“Yeah? Eyes, yeah?”
“And, um... I don't know how to, um...” He rubbed at his face, but was
grinning. “Plus, every other girl I know is either married,
professional, or closely related to me, so you're more or less... you
are literally the only girl in the world.”
“Hmm. That's a hell of a thing to say.”
“I was joking!” he protested, a hint of alarm coloring his tone as he
realized he’d said what was quite obviously not funny at all, to her
at least.
“No, I get it,” she said, turning away in a huff and leaving the
siblings alone together in the hatch.
She pushed through the sea of humanity, barely noticing as the
luminous nighttime city transitioned into the Edensphere Bazaar. When
she reached the elevator, someone else had already hit the ‘down’
button, so she piled in along with the rest of them, arms crossed
under her chest.
Most of them got out at the Wilderness, but she waited until the
elevator reached the bottom floor, exiting and making her way through
the mounds of junk until she reached her own little corner. There was
a rotary engine spinning slowly, and a brightly-colored hammock
hanging up near it. She flopped down into the hammock with an
exaggerated sigh and slid a little copper gadget out of her pocket.
When she pressed the button on the face of the device, a recording
began to play. It was the voice of a young man.
“You two carried me through that war. Now I need you to carry me just
a little bit further. If you can. Tell my folks I wanted to do right
by them and that I'm at peace and all. Ah. When you can't run anymore,
you crawl, and when you can't do that... “
The speaker changed to a woman, and her rich voice finished off the message.
"You find someone to carry you."
JOURNAL SAMPLE:
Hey y’all, it’s Serenity. I don’t know how long I been gone, but I
reckon it’s been a fair spell since it’s a mite hotter now. Did
anybody salvage the junk from my room? It weren’t nothing too
important, but I had some projects I was working on. Suppose it don’t
much matter.
Simon, Qi, Bridge, y’all ain’t up and disappeared, did you? I’ll be
around to visit in the next day or so.
Bridge, you still got a job for me? Is there aught else as has changed
and I need to know it?
ASPIRATIONS: I guess you could say that Kaylee is another type
of character I want to explore. Like Nova, she’s got a lot of cheer
and happiness to share, but she’s not a super hero and she doesn’t
pretend to be. I want to see how she reacts to the sphere, and meeting
both castmates and new faces.