milliways_bar | (no subject)

(no subject)

The door opens, and River wanders in.

She looks to be in a reasonably good mood; at least, she's looking around the room, rather than staring at the floor or the air, even if her gaze doesn't quite settle quite normally. It's the tall boots today, rather than bare feet, under a loose floral skirt, and a couple of shirts in layers.

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"I do well enough, it seems." A small smile. "Though Eddie could still be a bit better. Doesn't clear leather quite fast enough."

River looks at him sidelong. "Talks too much," she says solemnly.

River likes Eddie.

"That he does. Though at least he doesn't have a hat."

She looks thoughtful.

"He could."

"So long as he isn't as tender of it as Cuthbert is his, I care not." Dry.

She tilts her head back against the chair and looks at the ceiling.

"Joanie likes it."

"Joanie," says Roland, "is a tiny elephaunt."

River nods happily.

"With water."

Everybody seems to be a fan of the elephaunt but Roland.

He regards River.

"Which would you have preferred? Cort's lessons, or Vannay's?"

Roland wasn't around when it was spraying Cuthbert with water.

She rests her chin on her knees, and studies the floor. A little warily, "Hit people."

And now he looks at River more closely.

"Have you ever used a weapon?"

She looks away.

"No touching guns."

Then, sulkily, "Only an object. They see it wrong."

Guns.

Roland is very interested in this. "How do you see it?"

A sidelong glance at him, through her hair. "Eyes."

She looks away again. "With my brain."

A very small smile, now. Quietly: "She who shoots with her gun has forgotten the face of her father. Is it not so?"

River flinches.

"I don't forget. Remember too much, and... she gets confused. I remember."

"What do you remember?"

Studying her.

"All of it. Before, and, and after, and... some of it's secrets, and... some of it's made up... Can't tell. No, no... She remembers."

Her voice is rising with agitation, and her hands come up to clutch at her head.

Quietly: "No call to be upset, River. No need."

She takes a deep breath, and some of the agitation gradually falls away. Her hands are still in her hair, but clutching less now, and she looks at him sidelong under her fingers.

After a moment, she takes another deep breath and exhales it, and her hands slide down. She stares at the ceiling, face tight.

And after another moment: "You've fired a gun. How did it feel?"

She looks at the ceiling still. Now there's the faint shadow of a smile.

"No power in the 'verse can stop me."

She looks away again. "Scared Kaylee."

Roland doesn't know who Kaylee is. Doesn't care.

He's curious.

"Would you do it again, if you could?"

"No touching guns."

Her head is still turned away from him, gaze turned somewhere across the bar.

"Says who?"