Back Stories II: Chapter 13
Wednesday, January 9, 2008
What might have been Zoë’s first impression of Mal, back when they first met?
CATEGORY: FICTION TIMES READ: 3946 RATING: 10.0 (PG) SERIES: FIREFLY
Disclaimer: It belongs to Joss and all those business people. I'm just playing.
Many thanks: fireflyfans.net members: and for beta-reading and for the artwork. Links: Prequels: The Fish Job () (), Easy Tickets () (), and Book I () (). Timing, pairings, and canon blurbs are in my . Highgate’s second moon When Zoë awoke, it had clearly grown darker. Enough time had passed for the sun above the clouds to move on, and that made her come to her senses in a quick second, sitting up to check that Mal was still sleeping beside her. He was – peaceful as a babe. An extra blanket was spread over him, making it look like he’d had a momma to watch over him while he slept. She rubbed her eyes, then noticed that a spare blanket was spread over herself as well. The Shepherd must have placed it there, she realized, and she was grateful for it. The wind had grown a few more teeth, and the bare skin of her face was chilled already. It made her wonder exactly how much time had passed. She tugged on her boots, then wrapped her extra blanket around her shoulders and climbed to her feet
Goodduck – welcome back! Does this mean the dissertion is done? If so - yay! :)
You've done it again, another perfect chapter, both in the past and the present. Your detail is engrossing as usual, both on the moon and on Shadow and Beylix. And that's the fight you mentioned, huh? They are hard to write. I had Zoe win, too. :) I love spending this time with Zoe and seeing Mal through her eyes. Plus you are kind enough to have their rescue show up. I could learn from that. :)
"Mal backed off a step, and the defensiveness in his eyes sent a shiver up her spine."
Mine too, M4P, mine too.
Absolutely no doubt as to who would win in a brawl - Mal is the worst of the three fighters (Zoe and Jayne being the other two) when it comes to fisticuffs. Saying that, he probably enjoys the chaos more than the others (Jayne more the winning/beating others up...)
I really liked the history. Could have been there.
The Zoe/Wash moment was perfect. But my favorite line was: “I killed three this time out, near as I can tell.”
Zoë tenses at his words. It isn’t that she doesn’t understand how he’s feeling, but she knows that thinking on war the way he is can tear a soldier apart from the inside. Her own dad taught her that; there’s more to protect in battle than your body.
This explains how Mal was more devastated emotionally in the war than Zoe, and how he ended up with PTSD, and how he was so devastated by Inara. Lots of meaning behind those words.
The history was very plausible and well placed in relation to Mal's current state.
And - yay! They're finally getting off that planet! And you already know I'm dying to know about the crew's adventures while we were seeing what was going on with Mal, Zoe and Book.
This may have been my favorite chapter of this book, which is saying a great deal. The complexity of the characters in Firefly, the absolute conviction conveyed to the viewers that these folks had lives before they showed up on TV, makes the possibilities for exploring their paths so rich. And, like so much else you've done, this rings absolutely true. When things get bad, Mal gets funny, and no matter how broken he is by the war (As Katesfried said, clearly so much more broken than many), these essential aspects of his character come through. By the TV series, he almost wants to shake them off, to outrun whatever it is that draws people to him, but he can't.
Loved the image of their first meeting, the fight, and this moment of truth,
“Corporal Alleyne,” he says when he’s ready to speak, “with all due respect, I thought the point a’ all this fighting was that we don’t end up like them.”
The Wash/Zoe reunion was a bit of truly outstanding writing; all the emotions conveyed without mal4Prez *telling* any of the emotion.
and as always, the history between Mal and Zoe is believable, in character and amazingly insightful, bringing bits of the characters to light that we might otherwise ignore.
Like everyone else, the notion of Mal being so much more aware of the cost of his sharpshooting rings very true. You're doing a wonderful job of getting these characters we love to the place where we meet them.
I loved Book carving animals -- it made me think of a Noah's Ark -- a nice image for this bunch of desperadoes on a boat.
Yeah for you.
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