Thanks for the shiny comments ;)
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The crew, was assembled in the living room.
“Lilac Syndrome?” Inara was confused, as she looked at Simon, the apparent speaker of their mini convention who stood in front of them all, warm window light illuminating the left side of his face. “But isn’t that…”
The front door blew open, heads swiveling to see Jayne tromp in with a winter’s worth of beard and a hungry gleam in his mercenary eye.
“Don’t mind me none.” He supplied, making a lumbering beeline to the old refrigerator. “Ran outta supplies, need ta snag some and have a decent meal.”
“Actually, it’s best you hear this too.” Mal announced, whilst the others listening to Simon were seated, he was standing in back as a contrapposto statue. Face stoic like a starless night, arms crossed firmly against his chest. “Come over here and listen.”
“Lemme get somethin’ ta eat first.” Opening the door to the fridge, Jayne’s gaze sparkled at leftovers. “Oo.”
“No Jayne. Now.”
“Gorramit just give me a sec! Damn near starvin’ over here!” He grabbed a tupperware of what looked to be stir fry. Slamming the door, he grabbed a fork from the drain board, then moved over and plopped himself down on a chair. Shoveling a mouthful in, his words came out muffed. “K, so wuf’s up?”
“Lilac Syndrome.” Simon exhaled.
“Huh?” Jayne scoffed, a piece of rice escaping his maw. “Daf’s id?”
“Lilac Syndrome, a pathogenic virus originated on the moon Lilac as an after affect of terra forming. Airborne, the virus settles in the lungs, but quickly manifests the rest of the body. Beginning symptoms are high fever, sores, wheezing, inflammation of the joints. Symptoms become increasingly worse in a matter of days; build up of fluid in the lungs, reduced circulation to the extremities, swelling of the brain, ocular degeneration.” River spat the information out like an electronic encyclopedia. “Death often occurs from lungs drowning in fluid, or gangrene poisoning due to poor circulation, or br