Goggles are pretty awesome, Billy. That's part of why River, after seeing his little accidental transmission, put on a pair of her own and crept off Serenity to go see what, exactly, he's up to.
To keep with the creeping and her growing reputation as a horrible sneaky troll that is up to no good, she very very quietly sneaks up behind him in his bubble of thoughts about math and blueprints and home and (Penny) portals.
Hello River, stop invading Billy's bubble, he's very particular about that. In the sense that he doesn't want you touching his things. Or, y'know. Him.
"Aah!" Billy squeaks, nearly dropping the gun but managing to catch it before it hits the ground. "What? I'm not-- oh. Hi River."
Sigh. She's going to tell him his math is all wrong, he just knows it.
He's actually kind of twitchy about that, fidgeting nervously at the lack of personal space, but he doesn't try to move or anything. He glances at her, adjusting his goggles.
River isn't touching. Just looking and observing through her goggles all the pieces he's putting together to form the larger picture of accomplishment and strategy and home.
"Can I help?"
She's actually asking, Billy. That means she really kind of respects you.
He appreciates her not touching. And offering to help, too, and while Billy is vaguely hesitant about that, there's a part of him that's saying to just let her. So he does, nodding.
And now, commence the touching stuff. Nothing big and important, but the plans that are there with their formulas and schematics. River's fingers are flitting over everything as she takes it in.
He's watching with a sort of fascinated interest, wondering exactly what she's doing. When she says she needs the pencil, he pulls the one he's got tucked behind his ear down and offers it to her, silent. Whatever she does, he'll keep close watch on. Not because he doesn't trust her, just because he's intensely curious.
She takes the pencil quietly and starts jotting down notes. Above, beside, around the numbers he already has down. Some are corrections. Others are filling in a blank, adding to a formula so that it can be finished when it looks only half-realized. The only time she erases and draws over something of his is where she changes a lens from concave to convex (maybe now the beam won't refract wrong, spread out and explode like before).
When River is done (and it takes a decent amount of time even though what she does is fairly minor) she stands back, one hand still ghosting over the parts she didn't take the pencil to. Pointing at them with her head tilted to the side as she looks.
"I don't know those parts."
Even a child prodigy needs to study up on her theoretical portal-making physics before proof-reading everything in a project like this.
While River works, Billy watches intently, trying to follow what she's doing. He almost protests when she erases what he's drawn, but he stops himself short, because he sees her point, sees where she's going with it. So she has good ideas, and Billy appreciates that, her actually knowing what she's doing. He can't count the number of times he's heard people try to critique his work and not know what the hell they're talking about.
When she's finished, Billy picks up the papers and looks them over more closely, nodding slowly.
"It's pretty simple, actually, you just have to know the terminology--" Billy starts, and he gives River a small explanation of the parts she's missing, gradually growing more animated as he speaks. This is his specialty, and he could talk for hours about it. He tries to keep it as simple as possible, and he hope she understands what he's talking about.
She keeps an eye on his movements as he speaks, intently memorizing them almost as much as she's memorizing what he's speaking about. Learning, letting it all fill in the gaps of her already expansive store of information. Physics as she knew them were the laws everyone had to follow, no matter who you were. The rigid and uncompromising force of movement and nature.
This whole bending them, twisting these laws to work to ones own will, smelled of both hubris and fun. Lawbreaking and mischief and slipping past the sentries to escape from one place to another took arrogance no matter how you looked at it, anyway.
Mal would probably like it, if he could understand complex physics.
When Billy finishes, River nods slowly, his own knowledge and understanding still hanging heavy around her head. "Yes." Then, slowly, she smiles a smallish kind of smile and reaches for the map. There are more gaps to fill in.
Good, she understood. Billy doesn't protest at all when she takes the papers this time, watching her with interest. He hasn't found anybody here who understands this stuff like he does, except for maybe Sylar, but Sylar had superpowers.
He smiles a little as he watches her work, adjusting his goggles and resting his head on his folded arms, which rest on his knees.
River stares at it for a minute, eyes darting between the formulas and the charts, waiting for all the pieces to make sense in her head before she starts to fiddle and rearrange them.
Then there's another few minutes, more than before though she does even less, of scribbling and note-making. Only going after the math and leaving the theoretical functions to the man who thought them up. They're his in a lot of ways, and she can't see how to bend them properly yet.
She hovers over it, pencil poised, for another minute when she's done, eyes darting now over her own work as she leans back slowly so Billy (Doctor) can have a better look.
To keep with the creeping and her growing reputation as a horrible sneaky troll that is up to no good, she very very quietly sneaks up behind him in his bubble of thoughts about math and blueprints and home and (Penny) portals.
"Where are you going?"
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"Aah!" Billy squeaks, nearly dropping the gun but managing to catch it before it hits the ground. "What? I'm not-- oh. Hi River."
Sigh. She's going to tell him his math is all wrong, he just knows it.
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She's calm and collected and looking at his things, no matter how do not want he is about the idea of her getting close to them.
"You didn't answer," she says, looking back at him.
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"Home." Is his simple reply.
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"Can I help?"
She's actually asking, Billy. That means she really kind of respects you.
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"Yeah. If you want."
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"I'll need a pencil."
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When River is done (and it takes a decent amount of time even though what she does is fairly minor) she stands back, one hand still ghosting over the parts she didn't take the pencil to. Pointing at them with her head tilted to the side as she looks.
"I don't know those parts."
Even a child prodigy needs to study up on her theoretical portal-making physics before proof-reading everything in a project like this.
Reply
When she's finished, Billy picks up the papers and looks them over more closely, nodding slowly.
"It's pretty simple, actually, you just have to know the terminology--" Billy starts, and he gives River a small explanation of the parts she's missing, gradually growing more animated as he speaks. This is his specialty, and he could talk for hours about it. He tries to keep it as simple as possible, and he hope she understands what he's talking about.
"Does that make a little more sense?"
Reply
This whole bending them, twisting these laws to work to ones own will, smelled of both hubris and fun. Lawbreaking and mischief and slipping past the sentries to escape from one place to another took arrogance no matter how you looked at it, anyway.
Mal would probably like it, if he could understand complex physics.
When Billy finishes, River nods slowly, his own knowledge and understanding still hanging heavy around her head. "Yes." Then, slowly, she smiles a smallish kind of smile and reaches for the map. There are more gaps to fill in.
Reply
He smiles a little as he watches her work, adjusting his goggles and resting his head on his folded arms, which rest on his knees.
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Then there's another few minutes, more than before though she does even less, of scribbling and note-making. Only going after the math and leaving the theoretical functions to the man who thought them up. They're his in a lot of ways, and she can't see how to bend them properly yet.
She hovers over it, pencil poised, for another minute when she's done, eyes darting now over her own work as she leans back slowly so Billy (Doctor) can have a better look.
Reply
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