Thanks to Mal4Prez for beta and encouraging me to actually post, and to Guildsister for her inspirational fics. Also thanks to the various BSR authors and commenters that make this a place worth posting to!

Legally meaningless disclaimer : Firefly belongs to people not me, and this in no way represents any of them. Joss, however, has said on more than one occasion that he’s fine with fanfic, so my conscience is eased.

Dignity

“Is that what they taught you rich kids? …In them fancy core world schools?”

Mal’s question was at once incredulous and weary, with a sarcastic edge that threatened to devolve into raw anger. Simon had encountered Mal’s raw anger before, far more often than he had ever intended, and hoped to avoid another foray into that territory. Such trips ended painfully for him, more often than not.

“Well… I…” Simon struggled to clarify his initial assertion, without further raising the ire of the captain. He set the blue enameled cup of what was to have been a relaxing tea onto the counter behind him, the warmth of the steam stifling now more than soothing.

Simon marveled at his ability to place himself in these situations with this man. Never intentionally; well, not usually - and not now, at least. He had developed a better understanding of ‘their world’ - the captain’s world - this world which was now his own. His missteps were fewer, but still painfully common. There were certain things that Simon had reorganized in his brain during his time aboard Serenity, his impression of the Alliance being not the least of them. But still, some things had been so ingrained… He’d not had a chance to systematically trace through them all, to reframe them in the context of his current life. So inconsistencies continued to crop up and pop out at the most unexpected times. Things that, with just a moment of reflection, were easily identifiable as absurd, naïve, or even just…quaint.

“Yes,” he finally answered the captain, reali