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Thoughts Colored Ugly 9
River's had a good day. Jayne... not so much.
Thoughts Colored Ugly 9/?
River/Jayne
Rated: ADULT
Warnings: Dom/sub, slavery, angst.
Previous parts
Jayne dropped the boxes on the table next to the door and eyed the room. "Ain't but one bed," he pointed out.
"Yep," River agreed without explanation, and Jayne had to roll his eyes. Girl seemed almost normal, shopping for four hours and making him carry the packages which were the sort of thing Kaylee might do, but she still wasn't explaining much.
"Ain't playing a game here. Don't like you telling me what to do without giving me no answers," Jayne growled.
River turned and looked at him for a second before she went to the bed and started unpacking a day's worth of shopping. As far as Jayne could tell, River didn't intend on leaving any of the money from the shuttle for Mal. She'd given him the roll after the first store, a knife place where she'd bought a gorram huge blade etched with Chinese characters for luck and success. And since then, Jayne'd been payin' half the shopkeeps in town enough to set them up for life as River had bought trinket after trifle. The roll was half what it had been when she'd first given it to him.
"Captain will be coming soon," she said as she pulled out a long blue dress with white lace. "Kaylee will look so pretty in this. She should have come."
"Captain's got a real firm policy on core worlds and slave worlds," Jayne pointed out. River had been holding Kaylee's dress up to her front and she stopped and looked at him.
"Like Ariel," she said, cocking her head to the side.
"Like any core world," Jayne growled. "And he don't want Kaylee anywheres near a slave world neither. Bad enough you been gettin' ideas," he said as he kicked the largest box, the one with his chains. The minute he did it, he wished he could kick himself. The last thing he needed to do was remind her of those gorram chains. River looked at him curiously for several seconds.
"Don't go gettin' any ideas," he said as he sat on the wooden chair next to the tall dresser. River'd got a good room; stealing shuttles paid well.
"Already got lots of ideas," she said as she carefully draped Kaylee's dress over the quilt rack by the window. "Lots," she said with a smile that was again making Jayne's balls consider applying for jobs as internal organs.
"Thought we had a deal. I'm here to remind you that you're a gorram lunatic when you start losing yourself, and you don't go playin' games with my head."
River had just unpacked the colognes she'd bought for Simon, but she dropped them on the bed and came over to Jayne immediately, straddling his lap and sitting on it as she rested her hands on his shoulders.
"I never said I wouldn't play games. I plan to manipulate and beguile," she announced just as easily as she might offer some stranger a casual hello. Jayne just stared at her. "I won't take what you don't offer, but I'll take everything you offer and never give it back," she whispered in his ear as she leaned forward. Jayne put his hands on her waist, only to shove her off, but her hands tightened on him until he had to hunch his shoulders against the pain. Made him think better of trying to toss her off.
"Never offered you this," Jayne pointed out.
"Offered it to anyone who would take it. Put yourself up there and waited to see who would come and claim you," she whispered, and Jayne clenched his jaw in anger.
"Went and got stupid after drinking too much gorram whiskey. Didn't put myself up anywhere. Sure as guai didn't mean to end up a slave." Jayne just about trembled with a need to hit someone, but hitting River sure wasn't a good idea.
She leaned back, holding his shoulders and studying his face. "Big and strong. Not just anyone can hold your leash."
"Not wearing a gorram leash, had this conversation once already," Jayne pointed out, and now fear started in there with the anger. River reached up and ran soft fingers down his cheek.
"See, you'd run now if you could. You can't."
"Ain't lookin' to run," Jayne immediately lied. She tilted her head at him, and just sat there, watching. Jayne could feel the fear start overcoming the anger. Right about the time he was ready to lie about something else to distract from that first lie, River tilted her head the other way.
"Captain's here. Not so happy," she said as she stood up and went back to her packages.
"Right then, should probably let him know where we are," Jayne said as he stood up as fast as he could. He edged toward the door, waiting to see how she'd take it. She was exploring the shape of Simon's cologne bottle with her fingers.
"Hurry back. Otherwise I'd have to put my chains on you," she said calmly. Gritting his teeth, Jayne just about bolted out of the room and into the hotel hallway. This was a fancy place, carpet on the floors, and a couple of people frowned at him. Yeah, he weren't looking his best after three weeks of being in a slave cage, but he had enough money in his pocket to prove he belonged as much as they did. He just sneered at the two in fancy duds as he hurried down the stairs to the lobby.
"Jayne!" Mal called out when he was halfway down the second set of stairs. "River with you?"
"Upstairs inspecting her buyings," Jayne said as he came down the last few steps. The man behind the counter muttered something and then turned to two other customers, a genteel looking couple.
"Is she…" Mal glanced up toward where Jayne had just come from.
"Seems sane enough, which is somewhat disturbing," Jayne admitted. "If this were a spell she were having, I'd be confident that it'd pass. Seeing as how she's spent four hours not doing anything gorram strange enough to get anyone's attention, and she's still ordering me around, I'm starting to get that real bad feeling."
Mal sighed and rubbed his face with his hand. "This were the stupidest thing you've ever done."
"Ain't claiming it wasn't. Didn't know River had thoughts on being a slave owner though, did I?"
"Don't think any of us could've guessed that. Did she really…" Mal didn't finish his sentence, but Jayne weren't so stupid that he couldn't figure out what had put that sour expression on the captain's face.
"Bought more chains than any one person has the right to own. And promised to put me in 'em if I didn't bring you back up quick."
"Maybe Simon will have more luck getting her pried free from this idea," Mal said as he started up the stairs.
"So, you got us passage off-world?" Jayne asked hopefully. Simon might stick him with the world's biggest gorram needle for touching River the way he'd been touching her lately, but if he could get her to give up this idea of slaving, it'd be worth it.
"Can't get us off for three days."
"Cao. Offer more money," Jayne demanded as he considered three days of River playing slave owner.
"Tried," Mal said, his voice tight and clipped in that way that suggested he was close to losing his temper. "Could get myself off, but it seems that we need papers for takin' a slave off-world."
"Then get Simon down here," Jayne said, nearly desperate now.
"Ain't that easy," Mal snapped. "Can't leave the ship with no one up there. Already have the pilot and the captain down here, ain't that enough?"
Jayne stared at Mal, gritting his teeth to keep from saying all sorts of things that ran across his thoughts. Mal sighed.
"Jayne, we're all doin' the best we know how."
"River's doing the best she knows to play slave owner. You condoning that?"
"Ain't condoning anything. Tzao gao, I'm not seeing a way out of this. Law says she has rights over you, and if I press things, I ain't so sure what she's going to do."
Jayne stopped outside of the room River had rented. Leaning against the balcony, he looked down two stories to the lobby of the hotel and struggled against the feeling of restraints sliding around him, and he wasn't talking about the chains. If Mal couldn't get him cut loose, he really might be in a gorram mess. "Ain't good at following orders, and she ain't good at giving 'em," Jayne said softly.
"She ordering you to do things you aren't comfortable with?" Mal asked, his eyes darting to the closed door before he focused on Jayne. "If she's getting too aggressive, I might talk to her again." Mal didn't even bother trying to look confident that talking would do any good.
In the lobby, the genteel looking couple was walking toward a first floor room, the man carrying a small case and a hotel employee trailing behind with two big cases. He was probably a slave. No profit in hiring help on a world that sold people's lives. "She's playin' games," Jayne finally admitted. He hated even saying that much, but he weren't getting out of this without help. "Cap, I know you can't do anything here. Slave planet ain't the place to try and slip the leash, but once we're up there, you've got to gorram help me." Jayne whispered the words so soft that even Mal, standing right next to him, had to lean in to hear them.
"Just hang in there," Mal said, not promising anything one way or the other and Jayne focused on the lobby below. "Give me a second to talk to her."
Jayne didn't move as Mal headed in to talk to River. Talk. Words weren't going to make River change her mind none, and Jayne could feel her scratching at places that he didn't rightly think she had any place scratching. Closing his eyes, he remembered the quiet in his mind when Mal had been walking away, leaving him locked in a hatch about ready to get sucked into space. He remembered that peace, and it scared the gorram hell out of him. And then she'd come along and wrapped those legs around him, and he could feel that quiet like dark waters just below, and if he lost his balance just a little bit, if even one wave rocked the boat, he'd slide into that quiet and be lost.
Gorram right he wanted to run. Could feel his guts knotting as he tried to keep his balance above those dark waters. Gorram weakness, that's what it were. Three weeks in a slave cage and he was about as ready for the bughouse as River. He weren't made to be no slave.
Jayne jerked when a warm hand rested on his back. The slight body leaning into his back told him exactly who had interrupted his private moment of panic.
"All thinking. Too much thinking," she muttered.
"Ain't never been accused of that. I know I ain't bright, but I can't figure out this game you're playing with me," Jayne said softly, the words out before his brain could rightly point out that giving her information was just playing right into her hand. She already held too much of him.
"No game. I just want you," River answered quietly as she stroked his arm, her weight still resting against his back.
"I ain't no fluffy puppy. Done things that would make you plenty sorry you ever wasted a credit on me," he said as he tried hard to keep his thoughts away from Ariel. Didn't need her gutting him for real.
"No puppy," she admitted. "Big junkyard dog. Guard dog. All teeth and growls."
"Bite just as hard as I bark," Jayne warned as he remembered the description of him at the auction. That were the kind of stuff that left a man mentally scarred for life.
"Yep," River agreed. "You broke his neck. He nearly bit through your thumb, and you didn't even make a noise, and you broke his neck. More bite than bark."
It took Jayne a second to place the reference, probably because he was trying so hard to not think of Ariel. The guard he'd killed getting them out of Alliance custody… right after he'd sold them out. Jayne flinched away from that thought as fast as he could. That were what almost drove the captain to kill him.
"Come see what I bought everyone," River asked as she pulled on his arm.
"Saw everything as you were buyin' it. Seems like you had me do the paying so you could focus on looking at damn near every trinket in town." Jayne didn't let her pull him away right away, and her grip didn't get too insistent.
"Come see it anyway," she asked.
"That an order?" Jayne looked over his shoulder at her.
She bit her lip looking uncertain as she studied him. "Just asking," she finally said. "Don't really know what I'm doing you know. Just know that I want you and I don't know how to do this. You think one thing and then you get all twisty and think another and I can't always follow."
Jayne turned, putting his back to the railing as he looked at her. "You can't figure me?" he laughed. "I'm a real simple man. As long as I get sexed regular, paid well, and have the right to say no one owns my life, I'm real happy."
River backed up a step and looked at him for a long second. Jayne could see Mal leaning against the open door behind her. "Liar," River said as she turned and headed back into the room.
"Jayne, come on in," Mal said when Jayne hesitated. River was there, poking Mal in the stomach immediately.
"Tell, don't tell, tell, don't. You always mess up. You don't tell him no more," River said fiercely, every word a poke at Mal's stomach with her finger.
"Back up there, little sister. You sure don't have cause to go poking at me, and I am the captain, if you remember. I pay your salary, and don't set the law on you when you go thievin' my gorram shuttle." Mal held up a hand, and River stopped, looking at him for long seconds.
"Come see what I bought," her mood right back to friendly in a moment. Mal gave Jayne a confused look, but Jayne didn't have any answers for him. However, standing in the hallway was giving her too much of a change to be unpredictable in public, so Jayne headed into the room and sat on the same wood chair from earlier. Mal closed the door so the three of them at least had a little privacy for whatever weirdness was coming on.
"I got Kaylee a dress and a ring. Haven't unpacked the ring yet," River said as she held up the dress for Mal's inspection.
"Real nice," Mal agreed unhappily. River looked at him for a second.
"Haven't got your present yet. Going to buy you the best shuttle," River said confidently.
"So, everyone else gets a present, and I get a replacement for what you stoled from me?" Mal asked with a little amusement.
"And Jayne back. You left him behind. You weren't supposed to leave him behind and now you have him back even if he isn't yours anymore," River said, and that were the weirdness Jayne'd been waiting for. Mal gave him another confused look, but Jayne couldn't figure even half of what the girl said.
"And this is for Simon. He hasn't had any for so long. Gave it up for me," she said as she held out the bottles that had cost more than Jayne normally made in a year.
"He'll be the best smelling fellow around when we dock," Mal agreed.
"My favorite though," River said as she held up the Chinese knife. It was a work of art, the blade gleaming, the Chinese characters etched into the first layer of metal that had been heated, stretched, folded, and stretched again. Near as Jayne could figure, the man who'd made that knife had spent months working it. River had paid enough for it to buy two more slaves.
This time Mal whistled appreciatively. "Jing tsai." He held out his hand and River handed him the knife and the tooled sheath. He walked to the window and tilted the blade in the sun.
"Could've paid less if you woulda stopped going on about how perfect it were," Jayne complained. "You ain't got no head for negotiating."
"You got him to take less," River said as she came over and plopped down in Jayne's lap. Mal gave an extra blink, and Jayne held his hands wide to show he wasn't taking advantage of the situation to do anything that might warrant castration, especially seeing as how Mal were holding a knife sharp enough to do it.
"Jayne wouldn't let me pay full price for it," River said as she draped an arm across Jayne's shoulder like sitting on him were the most natural thing in the world.
"How much you end up paying?" Mal asked.
"Eight hundred." She shrugged as if the money meant nothing to her, but then it wasn't actually her money.
Mal choked. "Credits? Eight hundred credits? For a knife?"
"Man wanted almost twice that," Jayne instantly defended his negotiating. "Could've gotten it for less if she weren't stroking it and looking at it like it were a kitten she'd lost."
"It's beautiful," River said as she got up and headed over to Mal. He slipped the blade back into its sheath and handed it over.
"It is beautiful," even Mal had to admit.
"It's for Jayne," she announced as she headed back to sit in his lap. She held out the knife and Jayne took it before his brain had even processed that. He'd lost his own knife when he lost that hand of poker, but he hadn't even considered that she might be buyin' this for him.
"Might be best to give it to Mal since it were his shuttle you stole," Jayne said slowly as he looked at Mal's face. Man still hadn't closed his mouth, and he was in danger of getting flies in there.
"Nope. I'll pay the captain back, but the knife is for you." She draped her arm around his shoulder and looked at Mal.
"Got Zoe that book she was talking about. Not many books for sale most places we stop, so I didn't think I'd get a chance to buy it anywhere else. And perfume. Zoe should have perfume," River went on. Jayne just sat with the knife in one hand and River's back in the other.
"Wasn't sure what to get you. Finally decided that I could just get you another shuttle, but one of those new ones. I thought about getting you something else besides, but I was still angry with you about messing up."
This time Mal didn't even bother with arguing the point. No matter what he said, she was going to come right back to him messing up, that was obvious. Instead he closed his mouth and looked at the largest box, the one on the floor.
"Is that…"
"I figured that was my present, not that I really wanted them," Jayne admitted as he glanced over at the box of chains and then at the carefully tooled sheath in his hand. That knife were worth more than anything he'd ever owned. River laughed.
"The chains aren't presents for you. The chains are presents for me," she said as she used his shoulder to push herself up to her feet. "You should always get people what they really want for presents," she announced. "Did you find out that Jayne doesn't have the right paperwork for travelling?" River asked Mal without even a trace of shame.
"You knew?" Mal demanded.
"It's the law. I got you the room next to ours." River went over to the high dresser and opened the top drawer, pulling out another key.
"Next to yours?" Mal asked as he looked from Jayne to River.
"Ain't no one asking me for my opinion on sleeping quarters," Jayne defended himself.
River smiled. "He's my slave. We'll sleep here and you sleep there." She extended her whole arm and pointed very regally at the south wall.
"Might be that Jayne would be more comfortable sleeping in my room," Mal said, obviously choosing every word carefully. Jayne agreed that River looked real close to going off on a spell.
"Maybe, but you messed up, captain. You messed up and then I messed up and then you messed up again, and I have to fix it," River announced as if that made any sense.
"Then give me a chance to not mess up," Mal asked. "Ain't never messed up with one of my crew on purpose, so if I messed up, I got a right to fix it."
River froze. Her hand was half way to one of the shopping bags and she just gorram froze. Slowly, her head first and then the rest of her swiveled to look at Mal. Jayne stood up, feeling the danger in that pose. Mal backed up a step and found himself against the wall. She walked quickly to Mal, putting her hand on his chest.
"Mei-mei," Mal warned in a right fatherly voice.
"Want to, but can't," she finally announced. "Jayne's mine. He sleeps with me," she declared before she turned and went back to the bed and the sorting of presents. She pulled out the old book and fingered the pages. Jayne traded a desperate look with Mal at that wording, but as long as they were on a slave world, and Jayne was a slave registered to River, there weren't much either of them could do.
"You wouldn't really cut his balls off, would you captain?" River asked as he turned to Mal.
" Lao tyen yeh," Jayne swore as he closed his eyes. "I ain't done nothing to her, captain."
"Don't figure you will if you get a choice on it," Mal agreed. "I ain't blaming you for this, least I ain't blaming you past the part where you went and got yourself sold. River, you don't go and do some things to a man… or a woman. It ain't right."
"I won't do anything that isn't right. But I won't not do things that aren't right. You messed up enough for both of us," River said, right back on her favorite topic. "You two should use the bath house. You smell like horses." She turned her back and pulled out new clothes that were Jayne's size.
"Ain't had a bath in a week. Don't figure you'd smell too good working in the sun without bathin," Jayne said with a growl as he caught the clothes. He didn't need any more reminding of his recent humiliations.
"Captain," River sat on the edge of the bed. "He's all twisty turny in his thoughts. Wants to run. Wants to run as far as he can. If he does, things will be a lot worse."
"You planning on enforcing your ownership?" Mal asked, his eyes narrowed. River looked at him calmly.
"You should have. You didn't, and he got all lost. He's mine, and I won't let him get lost, so if he runs, I won't ever let him out of the chains," she said calmly. Jayne could feel the cold run though his body. It was like the boat he were balancing on had started rocking and it was all he could do to not slide off into that quiet. Gorram right he was thinking of running.
"Jayne and me will be at the bathhouse and then come right back," Mal promised. He walked over and put a hand on Jayne's shoulder, holding it tightly enough to tell Jayne that the captain wouldn't let him go and make no more dumb mistakes, not when River was being so gorram unpredictable.
"Have fun," she said and then she was back to sorting her day's purchases without another look at them.
Jayne recognized an order when he saw one. She couldn't make him have fun, but he wasn't about to find out what happened if he didn't bathe and change clothes so he reached for the door.
"You do smell a mite," Mal said as they headed for the door.
"Shut up," Jayne answered. Behind them, River laughed.
Thoughts Colored Ugly 9/?
River/Jayne
Rated: ADULT
Warnings: Dom/sub, slavery, angst.
Previous parts
Jayne dropped the boxes on the table next to the door and eyed the room. "Ain't but one bed," he pointed out.
"Yep," River agreed without explanation, and Jayne had to roll his eyes. Girl seemed almost normal, shopping for four hours and making him carry the packages which were the sort of thing Kaylee might do, but she still wasn't explaining much.
"Ain't playing a game here. Don't like you telling me what to do without giving me no answers," Jayne growled.
River turned and looked at him for a second before she went to the bed and started unpacking a day's worth of shopping. As far as Jayne could tell, River didn't intend on leaving any of the money from the shuttle for Mal. She'd given him the roll after the first store, a knife place where she'd bought a gorram huge blade etched with Chinese characters for luck and success. And since then, Jayne'd been payin' half the shopkeeps in town enough to set them up for life as River had bought trinket after trifle. The roll was half what it had been when she'd first given it to him.
"Captain will be coming soon," she said as she pulled out a long blue dress with white lace. "Kaylee will look so pretty in this. She should have come."
"Captain's got a real firm policy on core worlds and slave worlds," Jayne pointed out. River had been holding Kaylee's dress up to her front and she stopped and looked at him.
"Like Ariel," she said, cocking her head to the side.
"Like any core world," Jayne growled. "And he don't want Kaylee anywheres near a slave world neither. Bad enough you been gettin' ideas," he said as he kicked the largest box, the one with his chains. The minute he did it, he wished he could kick himself. The last thing he needed to do was remind her of those gorram chains. River looked at him curiously for several seconds.
"Don't go gettin' any ideas," he said as he sat on the wooden chair next to the tall dresser. River'd got a good room; stealing shuttles paid well.
"Already got lots of ideas," she said as she carefully draped Kaylee's dress over the quilt rack by the window. "Lots," she said with a smile that was again making Jayne's balls consider applying for jobs as internal organs.
"Thought we had a deal. I'm here to remind you that you're a gorram lunatic when you start losing yourself, and you don't go playin' games with my head."
River had just unpacked the colognes she'd bought for Simon, but she dropped them on the bed and came over to Jayne immediately, straddling his lap and sitting on it as she rested her hands on his shoulders.
"I never said I wouldn't play games. I plan to manipulate and beguile," she announced just as easily as she might offer some stranger a casual hello. Jayne just stared at her. "I won't take what you don't offer, but I'll take everything you offer and never give it back," she whispered in his ear as she leaned forward. Jayne put his hands on her waist, only to shove her off, but her hands tightened on him until he had to hunch his shoulders against the pain. Made him think better of trying to toss her off.
"Never offered you this," Jayne pointed out.
"Offered it to anyone who would take it. Put yourself up there and waited to see who would come and claim you," she whispered, and Jayne clenched his jaw in anger.
"Went and got stupid after drinking too much gorram whiskey. Didn't put myself up anywhere. Sure as guai didn't mean to end up a slave." Jayne just about trembled with a need to hit someone, but hitting River sure wasn't a good idea.
She leaned back, holding his shoulders and studying his face. "Big and strong. Not just anyone can hold your leash."
"Not wearing a gorram leash, had this conversation once already," Jayne pointed out, and now fear started in there with the anger. River reached up and ran soft fingers down his cheek.
"See, you'd run now if you could. You can't."
"Ain't lookin' to run," Jayne immediately lied. She tilted her head at him, and just sat there, watching. Jayne could feel the fear start overcoming the anger. Right about the time he was ready to lie about something else to distract from that first lie, River tilted her head the other way.
"Captain's here. Not so happy," she said as she stood up and went back to her packages.
"Right then, should probably let him know where we are," Jayne said as he stood up as fast as he could. He edged toward the door, waiting to see how she'd take it. She was exploring the shape of Simon's cologne bottle with her fingers.
"Hurry back. Otherwise I'd have to put my chains on you," she said calmly. Gritting his teeth, Jayne just about bolted out of the room and into the hotel hallway. This was a fancy place, carpet on the floors, and a couple of people frowned at him. Yeah, he weren't looking his best after three weeks of being in a slave cage, but he had enough money in his pocket to prove he belonged as much as they did. He just sneered at the two in fancy duds as he hurried down the stairs to the lobby.
"Jayne!" Mal called out when he was halfway down the second set of stairs. "River with you?"
"Upstairs inspecting her buyings," Jayne said as he came down the last few steps. The man behind the counter muttered something and then turned to two other customers, a genteel looking couple.
"Is she…" Mal glanced up toward where Jayne had just come from.
"Seems sane enough, which is somewhat disturbing," Jayne admitted. "If this were a spell she were having, I'd be confident that it'd pass. Seeing as how she's spent four hours not doing anything gorram strange enough to get anyone's attention, and she's still ordering me around, I'm starting to get that real bad feeling."
Mal sighed and rubbed his face with his hand. "This were the stupidest thing you've ever done."
"Ain't claiming it wasn't. Didn't know River had thoughts on being a slave owner though, did I?"
"Don't think any of us could've guessed that. Did she really…" Mal didn't finish his sentence, but Jayne weren't so stupid that he couldn't figure out what had put that sour expression on the captain's face.
"Bought more chains than any one person has the right to own. And promised to put me in 'em if I didn't bring you back up quick."
"Maybe Simon will have more luck getting her pried free from this idea," Mal said as he started up the stairs.
"So, you got us passage off-world?" Jayne asked hopefully. Simon might stick him with the world's biggest gorram needle for touching River the way he'd been touching her lately, but if he could get her to give up this idea of slaving, it'd be worth it.
"Can't get us off for three days."
"Cao. Offer more money," Jayne demanded as he considered three days of River playing slave owner.
"Tried," Mal said, his voice tight and clipped in that way that suggested he was close to losing his temper. "Could get myself off, but it seems that we need papers for takin' a slave off-world."
"Then get Simon down here," Jayne said, nearly desperate now.
"Ain't that easy," Mal snapped. "Can't leave the ship with no one up there. Already have the pilot and the captain down here, ain't that enough?"
Jayne stared at Mal, gritting his teeth to keep from saying all sorts of things that ran across his thoughts. Mal sighed.
"Jayne, we're all doin' the best we know how."
"River's doing the best she knows to play slave owner. You condoning that?"
"Ain't condoning anything. Tzao gao, I'm not seeing a way out of this. Law says she has rights over you, and if I press things, I ain't so sure what she's going to do."
Jayne stopped outside of the room River had rented. Leaning against the balcony, he looked down two stories to the lobby of the hotel and struggled against the feeling of restraints sliding around him, and he wasn't talking about the chains. If Mal couldn't get him cut loose, he really might be in a gorram mess. "Ain't good at following orders, and she ain't good at giving 'em," Jayne said softly.
"She ordering you to do things you aren't comfortable with?" Mal asked, his eyes darting to the closed door before he focused on Jayne. "If she's getting too aggressive, I might talk to her again." Mal didn't even bother trying to look confident that talking would do any good.
In the lobby, the genteel looking couple was walking toward a first floor room, the man carrying a small case and a hotel employee trailing behind with two big cases. He was probably a slave. No profit in hiring help on a world that sold people's lives. "She's playin' games," Jayne finally admitted. He hated even saying that much, but he weren't getting out of this without help. "Cap, I know you can't do anything here. Slave planet ain't the place to try and slip the leash, but once we're up there, you've got to gorram help me." Jayne whispered the words so soft that even Mal, standing right next to him, had to lean in to hear them.
"Just hang in there," Mal said, not promising anything one way or the other and Jayne focused on the lobby below. "Give me a second to talk to her."
Jayne didn't move as Mal headed in to talk to River. Talk. Words weren't going to make River change her mind none, and Jayne could feel her scratching at places that he didn't rightly think she had any place scratching. Closing his eyes, he remembered the quiet in his mind when Mal had been walking away, leaving him locked in a hatch about ready to get sucked into space. He remembered that peace, and it scared the gorram hell out of him. And then she'd come along and wrapped those legs around him, and he could feel that quiet like dark waters just below, and if he lost his balance just a little bit, if even one wave rocked the boat, he'd slide into that quiet and be lost.
Gorram right he wanted to run. Could feel his guts knotting as he tried to keep his balance above those dark waters. Gorram weakness, that's what it were. Three weeks in a slave cage and he was about as ready for the bughouse as River. He weren't made to be no slave.
Jayne jerked when a warm hand rested on his back. The slight body leaning into his back told him exactly who had interrupted his private moment of panic.
"All thinking. Too much thinking," she muttered.
"Ain't never been accused of that. I know I ain't bright, but I can't figure out this game you're playing with me," Jayne said softly, the words out before his brain could rightly point out that giving her information was just playing right into her hand. She already held too much of him.
"No game. I just want you," River answered quietly as she stroked his arm, her weight still resting against his back.
"I ain't no fluffy puppy. Done things that would make you plenty sorry you ever wasted a credit on me," he said as he tried hard to keep his thoughts away from Ariel. Didn't need her gutting him for real.
"No puppy," she admitted. "Big junkyard dog. Guard dog. All teeth and growls."
"Bite just as hard as I bark," Jayne warned as he remembered the description of him at the auction. That were the kind of stuff that left a man mentally scarred for life.
"Yep," River agreed. "You broke his neck. He nearly bit through your thumb, and you didn't even make a noise, and you broke his neck. More bite than bark."
It took Jayne a second to place the reference, probably because he was trying so hard to not think of Ariel. The guard he'd killed getting them out of Alliance custody… right after he'd sold them out. Jayne flinched away from that thought as fast as he could. That were what almost drove the captain to kill him.
"Come see what I bought everyone," River asked as she pulled on his arm.
"Saw everything as you were buyin' it. Seems like you had me do the paying so you could focus on looking at damn near every trinket in town." Jayne didn't let her pull him away right away, and her grip didn't get too insistent.
"Come see it anyway," she asked.
"That an order?" Jayne looked over his shoulder at her.
She bit her lip looking uncertain as she studied him. "Just asking," she finally said. "Don't really know what I'm doing you know. Just know that I want you and I don't know how to do this. You think one thing and then you get all twisty and think another and I can't always follow."
Jayne turned, putting his back to the railing as he looked at her. "You can't figure me?" he laughed. "I'm a real simple man. As long as I get sexed regular, paid well, and have the right to say no one owns my life, I'm real happy."
River backed up a step and looked at him for a long second. Jayne could see Mal leaning against the open door behind her. "Liar," River said as she turned and headed back into the room.
"Jayne, come on in," Mal said when Jayne hesitated. River was there, poking Mal in the stomach immediately.
"Tell, don't tell, tell, don't. You always mess up. You don't tell him no more," River said fiercely, every word a poke at Mal's stomach with her finger.
"Back up there, little sister. You sure don't have cause to go poking at me, and I am the captain, if you remember. I pay your salary, and don't set the law on you when you go thievin' my gorram shuttle." Mal held up a hand, and River stopped, looking at him for long seconds.
"Come see what I bought," her mood right back to friendly in a moment. Mal gave Jayne a confused look, but Jayne didn't have any answers for him. However, standing in the hallway was giving her too much of a change to be unpredictable in public, so Jayne headed into the room and sat on the same wood chair from earlier. Mal closed the door so the three of them at least had a little privacy for whatever weirdness was coming on.
"I got Kaylee a dress and a ring. Haven't unpacked the ring yet," River said as she held up the dress for Mal's inspection.
"Real nice," Mal agreed unhappily. River looked at him for a second.
"Haven't got your present yet. Going to buy you the best shuttle," River said confidently.
"So, everyone else gets a present, and I get a replacement for what you stoled from me?" Mal asked with a little amusement.
"And Jayne back. You left him behind. You weren't supposed to leave him behind and now you have him back even if he isn't yours anymore," River said, and that were the weirdness Jayne'd been waiting for. Mal gave him another confused look, but Jayne couldn't figure even half of what the girl said.
"And this is for Simon. He hasn't had any for so long. Gave it up for me," she said as she held out the bottles that had cost more than Jayne normally made in a year.
"He'll be the best smelling fellow around when we dock," Mal agreed.
"My favorite though," River said as she held up the Chinese knife. It was a work of art, the blade gleaming, the Chinese characters etched into the first layer of metal that had been heated, stretched, folded, and stretched again. Near as Jayne could figure, the man who'd made that knife had spent months working it. River had paid enough for it to buy two more slaves.
This time Mal whistled appreciatively. "Jing tsai." He held out his hand and River handed him the knife and the tooled sheath. He walked to the window and tilted the blade in the sun.
"Could've paid less if you woulda stopped going on about how perfect it were," Jayne complained. "You ain't got no head for negotiating."
"You got him to take less," River said as she came over and plopped down in Jayne's lap. Mal gave an extra blink, and Jayne held his hands wide to show he wasn't taking advantage of the situation to do anything that might warrant castration, especially seeing as how Mal were holding a knife sharp enough to do it.
"Jayne wouldn't let me pay full price for it," River said as she draped an arm across Jayne's shoulder like sitting on him were the most natural thing in the world.
"How much you end up paying?" Mal asked.
"Eight hundred." She shrugged as if the money meant nothing to her, but then it wasn't actually her money.
Mal choked. "Credits? Eight hundred credits? For a knife?"
"Man wanted almost twice that," Jayne instantly defended his negotiating. "Could've gotten it for less if she weren't stroking it and looking at it like it were a kitten she'd lost."
"It's beautiful," River said as she got up and headed over to Mal. He slipped the blade back into its sheath and handed it over.
"It is beautiful," even Mal had to admit.
"It's for Jayne," she announced as she headed back to sit in his lap. She held out the knife and Jayne took it before his brain had even processed that. He'd lost his own knife when he lost that hand of poker, but he hadn't even considered that she might be buyin' this for him.
"Might be best to give it to Mal since it were his shuttle you stole," Jayne said slowly as he looked at Mal's face. Man still hadn't closed his mouth, and he was in danger of getting flies in there.
"Nope. I'll pay the captain back, but the knife is for you." She draped her arm around his shoulder and looked at Mal.
"Got Zoe that book she was talking about. Not many books for sale most places we stop, so I didn't think I'd get a chance to buy it anywhere else. And perfume. Zoe should have perfume," River went on. Jayne just sat with the knife in one hand and River's back in the other.
"Wasn't sure what to get you. Finally decided that I could just get you another shuttle, but one of those new ones. I thought about getting you something else besides, but I was still angry with you about messing up."
This time Mal didn't even bother with arguing the point. No matter what he said, she was going to come right back to him messing up, that was obvious. Instead he closed his mouth and looked at the largest box, the one on the floor.
"Is that…"
"I figured that was my present, not that I really wanted them," Jayne admitted as he glanced over at the box of chains and then at the carefully tooled sheath in his hand. That knife were worth more than anything he'd ever owned. River laughed.
"The chains aren't presents for you. The chains are presents for me," she said as she used his shoulder to push herself up to her feet. "You should always get people what they really want for presents," she announced. "Did you find out that Jayne doesn't have the right paperwork for travelling?" River asked Mal without even a trace of shame.
"You knew?" Mal demanded.
"It's the law. I got you the room next to ours." River went over to the high dresser and opened the top drawer, pulling out another key.
"Next to yours?" Mal asked as he looked from Jayne to River.
"Ain't no one asking me for my opinion on sleeping quarters," Jayne defended himself.
River smiled. "He's my slave. We'll sleep here and you sleep there." She extended her whole arm and pointed very regally at the south wall.
"Might be that Jayne would be more comfortable sleeping in my room," Mal said, obviously choosing every word carefully. Jayne agreed that River looked real close to going off on a spell.
"Maybe, but you messed up, captain. You messed up and then I messed up and then you messed up again, and I have to fix it," River announced as if that made any sense.
"Then give me a chance to not mess up," Mal asked. "Ain't never messed up with one of my crew on purpose, so if I messed up, I got a right to fix it."
River froze. Her hand was half way to one of the shopping bags and she just gorram froze. Slowly, her head first and then the rest of her swiveled to look at Mal. Jayne stood up, feeling the danger in that pose. Mal backed up a step and found himself against the wall. She walked quickly to Mal, putting her hand on his chest.
"Mei-mei," Mal warned in a right fatherly voice.
"Want to, but can't," she finally announced. "Jayne's mine. He sleeps with me," she declared before she turned and went back to the bed and the sorting of presents. She pulled out the old book and fingered the pages. Jayne traded a desperate look with Mal at that wording, but as long as they were on a slave world, and Jayne was a slave registered to River, there weren't much either of them could do.
"You wouldn't really cut his balls off, would you captain?" River asked as he turned to Mal.
" Lao tyen yeh," Jayne swore as he closed his eyes. "I ain't done nothing to her, captain."
"Don't figure you will if you get a choice on it," Mal agreed. "I ain't blaming you for this, least I ain't blaming you past the part where you went and got yourself sold. River, you don't go and do some things to a man… or a woman. It ain't right."
"I won't do anything that isn't right. But I won't not do things that aren't right. You messed up enough for both of us," River said, right back on her favorite topic. "You two should use the bath house. You smell like horses." She turned her back and pulled out new clothes that were Jayne's size.
"Ain't had a bath in a week. Don't figure you'd smell too good working in the sun without bathin," Jayne said with a growl as he caught the clothes. He didn't need any more reminding of his recent humiliations.
"Captain," River sat on the edge of the bed. "He's all twisty turny in his thoughts. Wants to run. Wants to run as far as he can. If he does, things will be a lot worse."
"You planning on enforcing your ownership?" Mal asked, his eyes narrowed. River looked at him calmly.
"You should have. You didn't, and he got all lost. He's mine, and I won't let him get lost, so if he runs, I won't ever let him out of the chains," she said calmly. Jayne could feel the cold run though his body. It was like the boat he were balancing on had started rocking and it was all he could do to not slide off into that quiet. Gorram right he was thinking of running.
"Jayne and me will be at the bathhouse and then come right back," Mal promised. He walked over and put a hand on Jayne's shoulder, holding it tightly enough to tell Jayne that the captain wouldn't let him go and make no more dumb mistakes, not when River was being so gorram unpredictable.
"Have fun," she said and then she was back to sorting her day's purchases without another look at them.
Jayne recognized an order when he saw one. She couldn't make him have fun, but he wasn't about to find out what happened if he didn't bathe and change clothes so he reached for the door.
"You do smell a mite," Mal said as they headed for the door.
"Shut up," Jayne answered. Behind them, River laughed.
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...and for Mal. *giggles*
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Thanks for the edit, and thanks for the kind words on Experience Curve. THat was such an epic that I am glad it is over.
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Poor Jayne, trying his best not getting himself castrated ;)
Something confused me, a reference to Ariel (can't find it to quote, sorry). Remind me? Was that the planet they were on when Jayne betrayed Simon and River (that seems to be on his mind)? Cuz I don't remember a person called Ariel.
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Laurie
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I really enjoy the insight into the dark edge of Jayne's personality that was always alluded to in the show but hardly see. My favorite part of this chapter had to be when River announced that the knife was for Jayne. It was sweet and frightening all at once.
I look forward to the next chapter.
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Again, poor Jayne...
She has to learn how to hold on lightly. Jayne's like a skittish horse. You don't control him by sawing on the reins, and if River doesn't learn that, there will be yet more trouble...
This has been one hell of a great read, and I'm really looking forward to more
Vandevere
Re: Again, poor Jayne...
Re: Again, poor Jayne...
I'm sure a Companion could give River some very helpful hints on how to deal with the problem. Of course, that would very likely piss Mal off some, but he'll have to deal with it, won't we?
Vandevere
Re: Again, poor Jayne...
Re: Again, poor Jayne...
Vandevere
Re: Again, poor Jayne...
His step-father was annoyed by Jayne's refusal to get over his father's death and turned that discipline into something that would probably be called abuse.
So, I think different people would have different answers, but I see his father's death and his step-father's asshatiness as leaving deep scars that are leading to his needs and his difficulty admitting to his needs.
Re: Again, poor Jayne...
Can River save him from that, from needing abuse-for lack of a better way to call it-to feel loved?
Remember, she's been abused too-by the Hands of Blue, and the people they work for-and her and Jayne together could very easily be the blind leading the blind.
i hope they find a path that's good for both of them...
Vandevere
Re: Again, poor Jayne...
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Great story. I look forward to more!
Thanks for sharing.
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The nice thing for me in reading this story, is seeing inside Jayne's head. I've not read much Firefly fic, but I've always felt that Jayne had a lot of potential, just never considered it being in this direction. *g*
Thoughtful Jayne is interesting so to watch.
And I loved that little interaction, when Mal came up with his best argument. *laughs*
And I have 7 chapters to catch up on? My goodness, woman, you've been busy. I've been watching the posts build all week, but 7? *is impressed*
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