Hey all. It's me, the J.D. Salinger of Firefly fanfic authors. Just so that there's something to tide you guys over, here's not one but two new chapters. They're shorter than what I had planned , but when I post the whole Big Damn Thing as one major fanfic, I'll rearrange the sections. Credit must be given to misskitten who helped me out with the first section.

Peace

BTW, the song that Johnny is singing is called "Paranoia" by Sam Roberts.

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The sun had been up for a while behind the overcast weather by the time River woke up. A beam of dull light shined through the windows of the loft, lightly illuminating the large, cluttered room. As she glanced around, she saw that Keith was laying flat on one of the ratty couches; George and Cliff were each curled up on separate recliners, and The Dude was sleeping peacefully on his cot in the corner.

She had taken up residence on another old couch, her guitar close to her like a stuffed animal. They had played for a few more hours after that first song together, establishing the dynamics of their sound, and establishing exactly what kind of a band they wanted to be. Johnny, in one of the few times he spoke, said that they should be first and foremost a political band. To “give a voice to the fucked over generation we’re a part of and say what we’ve all been wanting to say.” Keith countered that while they should have a political edge, they should also throw in some general “good times” song in there to balance out the political rhetoric. “They already know they’re being screwed over. What they need to know is that there’s something to live for.” River kept out of these debates, still unsure as to whether or not this applied to her as well. After some debates as to whether this move would be considered prematurely selling out, they resumed their impromptu rehearsals. And after a while, they decided to take a break, which lead to them sleeping off their exhaustion.

She sat up and took in the e