Up above the world so high...

[crazyspacegirl]

Meeting with other people who had traveled in space hadn't done much but make River miss the stars even more than usual. Being stuck on the ground was just not any fun at all, when she missed the rush of flight and the bright pinpoints of life in the darkness that the stars represented, though she knew full well that most of them were

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[yoursarahjane]

Sarah Jane couldn't help wandering, even if she was beginning to feel quite under the weather. But it was only her nose being stuffed up! That was nothing. She heard the soft singing and smiled to herself, biting her lip before replying with, "...little star, how I wonder what you are."

[crazyspacegirl]

"Thermonuclear fusion releasing gases from balls of plasma, mostly," replied River matter-of-factly, though of course she knew that stars were much more than that. "Awful pretty, aren't they? Even if they're far away from here."

[yoursarahjane]

Sarah Jane blinked at the response, clearing her throat (mostly to continue to announce her presence) as she wandered closer. "You sound very much like someone I know, right down to the 'balls of plasma' bit."

[crazyspacegirl]

"Really? Not many people sound like me, I don't think. At least, that's what I gather from reactions sometimes," said River, surprised. "Nice to know other people know what they're really looking at. Some of it's just junk, though. And planets and moons. Not stars at all, except by association."

[chad_theshyone]

"Twinkies?" Chad says brightly, wide eyes shooting upward, not altogether sure why. Maybe, if he stared hard enough, it would rain Twinkies. This place was weird; it could totally happen.

He misses Twinkies.

[crazyspacegirl]

"Shen me?" River's attention diverted from the sky, she turned to the newcomer to her bit of beach. "What does that mean?"

Shen me?: Pardon?

[chad_theshyone]

"Bless you?" When in doubt, be polite. When you don't know what someone said, assume it was a sneeze. "You don't know what a Twinkie is? It means... only the best snack food ever!"

[crazyspacegirl]

"Thank you?" River was already confused by this conversation; even Shepherd Book didn't randomly go around blessing people. "Better than Fruity Oaty Bars?" Not that Oaty Bars were very good, but they had been popular, where River was from.

[heir_of_l4]

Quatre knew that song--the one Twinkle, twinkle went to. One of the first songs you ever learned, if you were a colony child.

He lifted his violin, just quickly, and drew out of few of the notes. Up above the world so high...

And then put it down again, because that was being a bit silly.

[crazyspacegirl]

River was surprised to hear a violin out there on the beach. She turned from her viewing of the sky to see where it was coming from.

"Don't stop," she said. "I haven't heard anyone play in a long, long time."

[heir_of_l4]

"Really?" Quatre paused, the violin barely touching his chin. "I can do better than that song, I think, if you really want to hear something."

[crazyspacegirl]

"I'd love to, if you want to play. I miss hearing it. There's not really an orchestra or anything around here." Not that River didn't enjoy and appreciate the music that there was, but she missed the more classical sounds she was familiar with from her childhood. "We used to go, when I was little. I always liked the string instruments best, because it looks like a dance, when the bows are all moving together."

[tightpantscapn]

River came n' went on Serenity whene'er it pleased her. Most o' the time Mal didn't mind n' didn't bother t' come lookin' for her; albatross 'lways came home t' her cap'n.

But t'night 'twas diff'rent. If'n a body asked Mal t' 'xplain why, he wouldn't nor could he. He jus' got the feelin', plain as day, that he ought t' go out t' the beach n' there he'd find River.

Such as 'twas.

His boots sunk down int' the sand as he stopped jus' 'hind her. "Y' makin' a wish?" he asked curious-like, his breath stirrin' the shock o' hair streamin' down her shoulder.

[crazyspacegirl]

River didn't even have to look to see who was coming toward her. She knew Mal's footsteps in the sand and the sound of his breathing as well as her own.

"Wishing on all the stars in the sky," she admitted. "Do you think that's better than just the wishing star, or an I overdoing it?"

She lifted her head from the telescope to look out at the wider view of stars with her own eyes, more of them from here but further away, and she missed them all over again.

"Do you want to look?" she asked. "If you forget you're standing on the sand, it's almost just like looking out a window out in the black."

She figured Mal could do with a moment or two of pretending to be home, too.

[tightpantscapn]

Tippin' his head back, Mal stared up at the stars he would've been e'er so close t' if'n Serenity was flyin'. They seemed so far 'way, far 'nough 'way that it nearly tore up his gorram heart all o' a sudden.

"I don't think you're o'erdoin' it, l'il one. Wishin' on one's powerful 'nough as 'tis, so's wishin' on all o' 'em's all the more powerful."

Suddenly Mal was oercome with jus' how much he did want t' look n' see 'em closer.

A lump rose in his throat and he nodded, a grunt o' affirmation all he could manage.

[crazyspacegirl]

She nodded thoughtfully. "It's a powerful wish I've got, though it seems a little bit selfish to be making wishes instead of appreciating what I've already got. I'm just missing the black more than usual just now."

River stepped aside so Mal could look though the lens. "You just look through here, and there you are. In your own little section of sky."