Teaser gift for Autumnxchild
Hi autumnxchild! Your teaser ficlet is behind the cut!
Notes: This is set right after the BDM, but is a bit of an AU. Wash didn't die, but was very hurt, which is why River is learning to pilot. The main story will be about six months post-BDM. The only pairings will be Zoë/Wash and Simon/Kaylee, though it is River-centric.
Title: River's School
River loved to learn. It was one of her defining characteristics. It was the reason she wound up at the Academy in the first place. She had outstripped her fellow students in the regular education program on Osiris, and then those in the gifted program, and the instructors had nothing new to teach her. The Academy program was like a gift from above, finally a place where she could learn, a place where she would not upset people just for being the way she was. However, the things she learned there were things no one should ever learn. Then Simon rescued her, and brought her to Serenity. She learned new things. She learned about love, freedom, and insanity. Everyone loved something. The similarities and differences between these loves were a lesson that took her longer to understand than anything she had learned before. The search for freedom was the entire reason they were all on Serenity. Insanity was her own personal demon, and a very specialized lesson. Then, she brought them to Miranda, and there was an entirely new set of lessons. About grief, pain, and loss. About hope, strength, and the cost of freedom. They lost Book. They almost lost Wash; they almost lost everything. She finally purged the secret that had been weighing so heavily on her that it had prevented her from learning how to live with what the scientists at the Academy did to her. Now it was time to get back to Serenity and her lessons, old and new. Practical lessons in piloting, engineering, crime, and nursing were new. However, she still had a lot to learn about love and family. Serenity was turning out to be the best school she could have gone to.
Notes: This is set right after the BDM, but is a bit of an AU. Wash didn't die, but was very hurt, which is why River is learning to pilot. The main story will be about six months post-BDM. The only pairings will be Zoë/Wash and Simon/Kaylee, though it is River-centric.
Title: River's School
River loved to learn. It was one of her defining characteristics. It was the reason she wound up at the Academy in the first place. She had outstripped her fellow students in the regular education program on Osiris, and then those in the gifted program, and the instructors had nothing new to teach her. The Academy program was like a gift from above, finally a place where she could learn, a place where she would not upset people just for being the way she was. However, the things she learned there were things no one should ever learn. Then Simon rescued her, and brought her to Serenity. She learned new things. She learned about love, freedom, and insanity. Everyone loved something. The similarities and differences between these loves were a lesson that took her longer to understand than anything she had learned before. The search for freedom was the entire reason they were all on Serenity. Insanity was her own personal demon, and a very specialized lesson. Then, she brought them to Miranda, and there was an entirely new set of lessons. About grief, pain, and loss. About hope, strength, and the cost of freedom. They lost Book. They almost lost Wash; they almost lost everything. She finally purged the secret that had been weighing so heavily on her that it had prevented her from learning how to live with what the scientists at the Academy did to her. Now it was time to get back to Serenity and her lessons, old and new. Practical lessons in piloting, engineering, crime, and nursing were new. However, she still had a lot to learn about love and family. Serenity was turning out to be the best school she could have gone to.