un writing meme
I am so fucking angry right now, I'm trying to think of a time I've been more angry. I was crying yesterday I was so angry, and I woke up and it's still here. Argh.
SO.
I need an outlet for my emo, and it's gonna be in drabbling. Yoinking from the ever talented syvia who did this a while back, tis the fairytale meme ( Read more... )
SO.
I need an outlet for my emo, and it's gonna be in drabbling. Yoinking from the ever talented syvia who did this a while back, tis the fairytale meme ( Read more... )
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Small Hours
Serenity has no sky and she has no ground beneath her. Steel and iron and a perfected mix of alloys and raw metals that were patented for a tidy fortune. Stars and space all the way around, the sky becomes the ground becomes the sky becomes the ground.
There is no sky or ground.
“Don’t open the coffin, Simon.”
“What? River?”
There is no sky or ground.
Swallow that down, drink it down, breathe it down through your lungs, don’t exhale. Make yourself believe. Make believe.
Make believe that the singing will guard you tight. Bird’s song, on the tree, guarding the coffin. Hum, humming. Serenity’s song, light and soft and made of a tiny bits of fireflies. The pretty parts that glow, not the elytra, mandibles, or the prothorax. Not those parts, no.
Engine hums and whistle of flight. Sometimes the song quiets, falls too quiet, but Kaylee can fix it again. Wrench and grease and smile for Simon, Kaylee brings back the singing. Little Kaylee sitting on the tree branch, making sure there’s a song. Tree by a coffin.
“Don’t open the coffin, Simon.”
“I can get her a coffin. Nail it shut myself.”
“Shut up!”
“If there’s a list for coffin nailing, you’re mighty high at the top yourself, Jayne.”
“Just don’t think this is ‘ppropriate dinner conversation, s’all.”
Apples for dinner again. Not from Ariel, med-heist, two by two. Not from there. Different world, different job, same apples. Same look, plump and red and whole. Same taste, sweet and tart and full of worms. Bite through with a knife first.
Have an apple, says her mother to Simon. Give an apple to River, your sister is hungry.
Oops!
It’s okay, Simon. Don’t feel bad. River’s head was already cut off. Just a ribbon tied tight, keeping it steady.
“You always feel bad.”
“Well that’s my job, Dummy.”
“Mom’s job. Dad’s job. They pushed my head from my shoulders.”
“No, no, meimei. Of course they didn’t.”
“Snap goes the coffin lid. She’ll die.”
“Doctor...”
“Okay, River, let’s go. Let’s go.”
“Simon-”
Prick of a needle of a spindle of a nail of a comb tied through her hair of a shard of glass in her eye of a syringe from Simon, sleep, sleep, sleep.
“Oh, Simon.” On the bed, not her bed. Bright lights and clear windows and Kaylee hovering in the doorway. “They buried my bones. By the tree.”
“River...” Simon’s hands are soft and gentle and doctor hands. Tug at her hair, at her face, but not so tight the ribbon pulls free. Simon keeps her head safe there, sews it back on. Stitches, surgeon’s thread. “If there’s a... tree, I’ll find it for you. I promise.”
Lips on her forehead. Guillotine.
The tree is hidden, deep and dark. In Mom’s heart and Dad’s pride, and you can’t ever go there again, Simon. Kaylee finds the tree just to sit and sing, can’t lead anyone there. Invisible threads tie her back, it’s okay, don’t look down to the ground (there is no ground) and see the loose earth. Don’t look for the coffin.
There is no sky or ground in Serenity. No tree to grow in her metal floor, roots digging and tearing and securing it firmly so it can take any weight. Weight of a Kaylee bird in its leaves, weight of bones buried against its skin, weight of a body hanging from its branches.
Bodies hang, twirl in the wind, swing. Feet face east, south, west, north. North of the tree is the coffin.
“Don’t open the coffin, Simon. There’s a body in there.”
“Shh. I’m going to make you better.”
“There’s a body in there.”
“Shh.”
“And it’s not mine.”
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More- loved the relationship links you showed River-Kaylee, Kaylee-Simon, Simon-River, they were all lovely, Jayne and Mal were loud and clear (and w00t for not telling us who they were, since River isn't there doesn't care (rather, she isn't paying enough attention to take note).
This was freaking *perfect*.
The first time I read it, I shivered for the creep factor. The second time I shivered and cried. :( *pets poor River*
Now I'm going back up to re-read mine XD because it's lovely, funny, silly and will make me feel better.
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Mwah, thanks hun! *snugs* You make me feel that at least I was successful in what I was trying to do, which with River-fic, is always uncertain, so... I heart you soooo much. <3<3<3<3
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