(Untitled)

[crazyspacegirl]

As much as River loved her home and her crew, Serenity was a tense place to be just lately. Mal and Simon seemed always on the verge of beating each other to a pulp again; River knew it was because of her, and she didn't know how to stop it

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[thecompanyman]

It was the numbers that caught his attention. While Bennet hadn't primarily been oriented in mathematics, statistics always interested him for their larger picture. But she looked young, so he was going to have to do some legwork. "Homework?" he began, pitching his voice into a non-threatening tone.

[crazyspacegirl]

River glanced up from her work, tapping the end of her pencil thoughtfully against the page.

"No. Just curiousity."

Learning, to River, wasn't a thing to be done just for an assignment.

[thecompanyman]

Curiosity. Well, that appealed to Bennet in its familiarity and a smile slowly twisted onto his face. "What sort of curiosity are you applying? I always liked algorithms."

[crazyspacegirl]

"Gravity, mainly," answered River. She felt as though there was some elusive, yet basic, concept that she just hadn't thought of yet that would explain the whole thing. "There are people here who insist that the world they come from is flat. I'm trying to figure out how that can work."

[mr_vera]

Jayne wasn't happy neither about what was going down on Serenity. Having Simon here was bad enough, but him scrapping with the Captain all the time was even worse. And then there was the business with Mal and River gettin' it on or something. Which just made his gorram brain hurt.

But if it was, it just proved his long-held theory that the Tams - both of 'em - were nothing but trouble, and Mal never should've gotten involved with them. Which was kinda too bad, 'cos he was actually starting to think River was all right, but apparently he was wrong about that too.

"Hey," he said sullenly, when he saw her sitting around reading some sort of crazy numbers stuff. "Ain't you hangin' 'round the Cap'n no more?"

[crazyspacegirl]

"Not right this minute, unless you think he's hiding in a tree."

Jayne hadn't really done anything to annoy her lately, but she didn't miss the way he looked at her sometimes, since Simon had returned, as though she offended him just by being around and being a Tam.

"He's not much into physics, anyway. He's probably doing something more interesting to him just now."

As long as she could find him if she needed him and whatever he was doing wasn't getting into another scuffle with her brother, Mal was free to do whatever he liked, as far as River was concerned.

[mr_vera]

"Well, hell, what could be more interestin' than sexin' up a crazy girl half his age? Don't tell me he's actually got some legitimate business hereabouts."

Jayne was hoping she'd react with outrage to his suggestion that she was sleeping with the Captain, because he was really hoping he was wrong about the whole thing. Maybe that whole fight with Mal and Simon had been about something else. Maybe she just... liked Mal a lot. Yeah, that was it. That had to be it.

[crazyspacegirl]

"I just told you. He's not here right now, so he doesn't have any business around here at all at the moment. And I'm nineteen. If I was half Mal's age, he'd be several years older than he is." She gave Jayne a pitying sort of look. "I suppose math isn't your strong suit."

[neptune_sleuth]

Veronica tilted her head to the side, looking at the contents of River's notebook as if a new angle might make the numbers come clearer to her. "Practicing to become the island's first accountant?" she suggested, eyebrow arching.

[crazyspacegirl]

River jumped at Veronica's approach, but quickly relaxed when she realized who it was.

"No. Jim's friend Angela, from Scranton, already claimed that job. I don't really care about money, anyway. I'm trying to figure out how gravity works on flat worlds like William's."

[neptune_sleuth]

Up went the other eyebrow, Veronica staring off into the middle distance for a moment as she considered that. "Please tell me you're making progress," she said, "'cause now I'm gonna be thinking about that."

[crazyspacegirl]

"I think maybe I am. I'm just having a slight difficulty in overcoming my preconceived notions of planets being round. None of the formulas work unless I replace the constant of revolution with something else. I'm just not sure quite what yet, though. I'm working on it."

River enjoyed the puzzle, but it still bothered her that no one from the flat world could explain it. It seemed to her that people ought to understand how their own world worked.

[branbach]

It's Cof first, bounding over to greet her, and Cafall after, and River will know he's coming long before Bran ever gets close enough to say hello. "What are you working on?"

[crazyspacegirl]

Suddenly being engulfed in Dog made River regret having left Simon Chicago home with Mal. He'd miss playing with his friends.

"Trying to figure out how gravity works on a flat planet," she explained, hugging both dogs and smiling up at Bran. "Do you have any theories I should be incorporating?"

[branbach]

Bran blinks, flopping down under the tree next to her, dropping Veterinary guide for animal owners onto the sand. "I haven't actually given it much thought," he admits, "though I suppose I should have."

[crazyspacegirl]

"I don't think a lot of people give it much thought." River scratched Cof's ears and smiled when she was licked. "Gravity just is, unless you wonder why. I always wondered, and it's easy to understand when the planet is round. A flat works presents all kinds of new challenges."

[dogbitesman]

It always made William happy to see someone busy working on something. It didn't even matter what it was, as long as their brain was clearly engaged.

Of course, it not mattering was no obstacle to his asking; William was if nothing else fundamentally nosy. "Hello, Miss Tam," he said easily. "What's that you're working on?"

[crazyspacegirl]

"Hi, William." River smiled up at him, glad to see him. She wasn't sure he'd be able to help her with this subject any more than he ever had before, but maybe he'd have some insight River lacked.

"I'm working out the details of how your world works. The math of it."

[dogbitesman]

William raised his eyebrows, a little surprised anyone would want to spend time working out the maths of a world they weren't on.

Then again, it wasn't as if there was much else to do. And he did like to see someone taking an interest in other worlds. It didn't happen nearly enough, in his opinion.

"I can't imagine that's easy, not having the world in question to test anything out on," he said. "Did you ever speak to Professor Stibbons, while he was still here?"

[crazyspacegirl]

"There was a professor? From your world? And I never got to talk to him?" River was extremely disappointed to hear that. "No, I didn't," she sighed. "And it really isn't easy. I'm working on it, though. It's interesting, even if I'm not sure yet how to test out my theories."