(no subject)

[gonna_live]

Kaylee is currently going fishing.

In her bowl of soup.

For alphabet letters.

Because spelling things out is fun.

She's sitting at a table near the Bar; there are words strung out on a napkin.

Maybe soon there will be a sentence.

Comments

[flybywash]

The hand falls away.

Very, very softly: "No."

Maybe a little.

"Duìbùqĭ."

[gonna_live]

It's when people apologize that it gets bad, because they say it and they say it and it never gets any better. Whether it's a black rose or a bad dream or a family that's broken.
now Jordan's banks, they're red and muddy
Sometimes a thing gets broke.
and the rolling water is wide
It's beastly hard to fix anything.
but I got no boat so I'll be good and muddy
Whether she likes it or not (not), she's crying now. Just a little bit.
when I get to the other side
Kaylee swipes at her eyes, and gives Wash a tremulous smile, and says, "You're not seein' this, right?"

[flybywash]

His lips twitch.

"What can I say. Temporary blindness. Runs in the family and pops up at the most inopportune times like, say, right now."

[gonna_live]

"Then we're shiny."
and when I pass through the pearly gates
Deep breath in. And out.
will my gown be gold instead?
Kaylee pushes her chair back and stands.
or just a red clay robe with red clay wings
"You gonna be okay in here?" She eyes the soup. "Or is it the literary community at large I should be worryin' for?"
and a red clay halo for my head?
It's a lame effort. She's trying.

[flybywash]

"Nah, I can find somebody else to restrain me from singlehandedly destroying the entire English language for a little bit."

While she's outside, crying, over her wedding.

Gŏushĭ.

He picks out an 'O', chops it into halves and one of the halves into quarters, and arranges it in the shape of a smiley face.

And then he whispers something to Bar and discreetly pushes the tiny, resulting packet of tissues in Kaylee's direction.

[gonna_live]

Way to

(And...when folks were nice to you about it, did it make you feel worse, a little?)

almost make her

(It was very hard for me to return to the bar, to make apologies. How, after all, do you apologize for something like that?)

lose it again, Wash.

Barely whispered:

"Thanks."

And then she and the tissues are gone, headed for the lake door. And then the door closes.

[flybywash]

Wash watches her go.

He chews his bottom lip.

Then, very carefully, he cuts the smiley face into eight tiny fragments before scooping them up and dumping them back into the bowl.