The Losing Side, chapter 33
Monday, January 8, 2007
Mal remembers better days on Shadow and grieves for his family. Continuation of the post-war POW drama. Thank you all so much for your feedback on my last chapter!
CATEGORY: FICTION TIMES READ: 2803 RATING: 10.0 (PG13) SERIES: FIREFLY
The light was beginning to fall, and with it the temperature, a slight chill filling the air. Mal tried to ignore it; he didn’t want to lose the pleasant, warm days to winter’s cold inhospitality. Despite the coolness, Mal was relaxed; he preferred being out here to the confining chill of the powered-down housing unit that felt so much more like a real prison with the little comforts of life gone. He closed his eyes and leaned back against the fence, feeling the cool breeze play across his face. It was pleasant, a quiet reminder of places and times he’d loved.
He opened his eyes, his body still relaxed as he heard slow footsteps approaching. He knew it was Wash without looking.
“Interrupting anything?” asked Wash.
Mal gave the pilot a grin. “Nothing serious, just my plot to overthrow the world. It can wait.”
Wash feigned a look of anger. “Hey, just one minute there, buddy,” he said, planting his fists on his hips. “I got here first, and my plot is significantly more fiendish and evil and brilliant than yours, so just - back off!”
Mal sighed and stretched, closing his eyes again. “Okay, okay. World domination always did strike me as an awful overabundance of work.”
Wash gave a triumphant grin and sat down beside Mal, his face sobering as he looked at his friend. “Do they hurt?” he asked.
“Huh –what?” responded Mal intelligently.
Wash nodded at Mal’s ankles. “Those – things. Do they hurt you?”
“Only when I try to do something crazy and impulsive, like walkin,” said Mal dryly. “Nah, my pride is howling pathetically, but that’d be about the only thing they hurt,” he assured the sympathetic pilot.
“I’m sorry,” said Wash gently. “I’ve been givin’ you a hard time about it, but-“
“I’d rather have a spot of fun with it than mope, believe me,” said Mal. He considered for a minute, then asked, his own voice equally gentle, “How does a guy like you know how it feels to be beat up and chained to a gate? Been nagging at me a trifle.”
Wash looked away. Finally he
There are so many lines I loved, I'd have to damn near copy and paste the whole thing.
The characterisations, background, descriptions - everything is just so real and immersive.
Looking forward to the next chapter.
"I love my captain."
You can't take the sky from me
Mal was well done in this, as was Wash, and their interaction. I could feel the core instability in Mal coming a bit to the surface.
I wondered about the chain link fences. I've been picturing solid walls surrounding their enclosure as you've never mentioned people in adjoining yards, nor being able to see other yards and other enclosures, nor hear sounds from them. I saw this housing unit--all the housing units--as each being isolated. Otherwise, wouldn't they be talking and shouting to each other?
Basically: Chain link around the yard, some distance, a solid barrier, some distance, and then the chain link on the next yard, so you don't have people climbing the fence from one yard into the next or tossing things between yards.
I dunno....never wrote it down, but that's always what I kind of had in my mind. I always envisioned a seperation between the yards, but also that they could see out a bit and weren't completely surrounded by, say, concrete walls.
The solid barriers were probably erected as an afterthought - later in the story we'll see that security wasn't nearly as strict in the past.
One can only hope Joss & crew would have done a quarter as brilliantly had they been given the chance to delve into Mal's past first hand;D
BEB
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