The Last Straw - Ch 3
Saturday, June 2, 2007
Ch 3: A light snack after all the sniffles from before. We get to see a lot more of Serenity's mysterious visitor. Download the full PDF <a href="http://www.valeriebean.com/writings/fireflyfic/"here</a>
CATEGORY: FICTION TIMES READ: 2856 RATING: 9.0 (G) SERIES: FIREFLY
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CHAPTER 3
Jayne woke up feeling completely exhausted, but too famished to sleep a moment longer. Kaylee was curled around his head, breathing softly, offering warmth and comfort even in her sleep. Stretching his sore muscles, Jayne sat up on the lopsided bed frame, carefully arranging Kaylee on the mattress before covering her with a blanket and leaving her to sleep. It felt, for the moment, that he was leaving his grief lying in the bed next to Kaylee, but her heart and cheer seemed capable of standing against that monster – at least long enough for him to get some chow.
When he climbed out of the bunk, he could smell someone already up and cooking. He briefly wished it was Book there, preparing a meal, ready with words of wisdom and comfort. But Book had left the ship a few weeks ago, and he had no sounding board for his grief. He stumbled into the galley, rubbing his eyes, nearly tripping over his own feet when he saw their new passenger behind the stove. He shook his head in amazement, wondering that he hardly recognized her aside from the striking similarity to her mother.
“Hey, girl, whatcha doin’?” he asked, more curious if she was going to share than anything else.
“Good morning, Mr. Cobb,” she replied coldly, but handed him a plate anyway. Some form of scrambled eggs and grits, though the color was off because she was using protein supplements. “Just making myself useful.”
“You don’t have to call me that.”
“I know,” she smirked, snidely.
“How’d you get the money?” Jayne asked, sitting at the table shoveling the food into his mouth.
“What money?”
“The money to get to Persephone? Where’d you get it?”
“You don’t think we survived all this time on that pittance you’ve been sending do you?”
Jayne felt the sting of the insult, and stopped chewing only briefly. “Girl, if you don’
“I don’t trust her, sir.”
“I was sleepin’ with one eye open, myself.”
That is good. I was very excited when I came home and saw this, too. No pressure to update quickly, but I like it! :)
;D
Gotta say though...monkeying with canon is a interesting choice to make at the best of times, valeriebean. I say this becasue I am pretty sure that Mattie is male, canonically. The letter Jayne gets from his ma in "The Message" refers to damp-lung afflicted sibling Mattie with the male pronoun "he." Still...definitely all kinds of intrigued about what exactly has caused Jayne and Mattie to be so estranged:)
BEB
Ok, before people get canon-crazy on me, let me say that I draw my canon solely from the episodes and the movie, because that's what I can hear in my head while writing on long plane rides. The male pronoun for Mattie, while in the *shooting script*, did not survive to the DVD.
And while on this rant, I should also point out that the destruction of Shadow is also not specifically mentioned in said recordings (although Mal does refer to his momma in the past tense, and calls her 'momma' which is why he does here also). I believe that bit of history came from the RPG. This isn't relevant to this story, but is to some of my others.
Sure, I'll try to be respectful of Joss's intent, but in general, if the actors didn't get a chance to show me that story on my little TV screen, then it's fair game for getting tweaked and twisted and played at.
In this case, there's always been the assumption that Mattie is his little brother, but I think what I've come up with is more fun for where I'm going... If it bothers you, change the name to one of your own choosing. Nothing ever said Jayne only had the one relative.
Please, please don't let this "canon clarification" discourage you from posting comments. I still relish and enjoy them.
...i mean, whenever it comes up, i'm sure it will be at the appropriate time and place... :)
You can't take the sky from me
And I personally don't care what gender Mattie is. I have honestly seen Mattie be a girl/woman a number of times in fanfic where Jayne goes home. Now, the larger percentage have Mattie be male, but like you said...no direct evidence = room to play;)
Concerning the status of Shadow though...I was under the impression that Joss, in the introduction/foreword to the BDM visual companion, basically indicated that Shadow had been reduced to bare rock by Alliance bombardment or something? True, the only on-screen reference to his past and home is the fact he refers to his mother in the past tense...but is Joss' written word suddenly invaldi?
;D
BEB
I'm ok with the tweaking of canon just a bit. The Mattie character was portrayed as some what ambiguous by the time it hit the screen.
Shadow black rock, though.
As to the mention of Mattie in the letter in the episode "The Message", it never mentions Mattie's sex so it is totally possible he/she is female.
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