The Crew.

[badinlatin]

(OOM: The crew in the kitchen of the Serenity)
You don't even really need to be paying attention to notice the nine members of the Serenity coming into the Bar. What you do need to be focusing on in order to see is that Mal is mumbling something to himself, mulling over any possible outcome of what may come to pass. Shifting to the right of the Door until Inara passes through before moving toward the center of the bar, Mal walks ahead of his crew toward a corner happily unoccupied as of yet.

Comments

[simon_doctor]

"Isn't there, meimei?"

He's still holding her hands, and turns to speak to her in a lowered voice, deliberately soothing.

"The Academy? It's moved?"

[lastgunslinger]

Roland says, equally softly, "Do you say so, River?"

His eyes go to Simon for a moment.

You tell the truth under hypnosis. There's struggle, if you don't. And there wasn't any when River told him that the Academy was at a place called Setebos.

[river_meimei]

"Shift the students. Tighten the perimeter."

Her head lifts. She looks at Simon, at Roland, at Roland's hands. Then her eyes squeeze shut, and her face twists a little. Her breath starts to come faster.

"Rational course of action," she mutters.

[simon_doctor]

Simon follows River's gaze to Roland's hands, and looks up at Roland.

It's not an accusing look, not exactly.

[lastgunslinger]

Roland shakes his head nearly imperceptibly.

I don't know, either.

[honest-johns.livejournal.com]

Maybe it's because of Ted, and his unconscious facilitation; maybe somewhere, someone's attention sharpened.

At any rate, a moment ago, Alain's head went up as if listening to some faint sound inaudible to the rest of them. Now, he turns to Roland on his right, and says, quiet and urgent, "We're being watched. Someone's spying."

[anthy-rosebride.livejournal.com]

Anthy's eyes stay closed; she doesn't move.

She lets her heartbeat slow, and her breathing. And as easily, as naturally as River turned the sword, she stops thinking.

[swinging-cod.livejournal.com]

*Jayne's been sitting, listening quietly.

Sort of.

Mostly he's just been sneering and staring off into space.

But, at the mention of spies,

(hands of blue hands of blue)

he pulls an impossibly large knife that maybe only the gunslingers knew he had concealed, and maybe not even them, 'cause he's good at that, and loooks around, eyes darting systematically.

He's all business. His lips barely move when he speaks.*

You show me a spy. Last thing they'll see is my knife.

[sai_delgado]

(pink glass pink dreams Rhea everything was pink)

Susan pales abruptly. Very abruptly.

"Ye spying bitch..."

And then she remembers something else, Meg's Phantom, and glances immediately up at the rafters, trying to see a ghost.

[righthandwoman.livejournal.com]

Zoe barely listens to Jayne or Susan--at Alain's words, she tenses and casts a sharp glance around the room.

The mention of someone spying doesn't exactly do much to reassure her about a place she's still not fully at ease in.

"Maybe the main room of the bar isn't the best place for us to be discussing sensitive matters."

[lastgunslinger]

Jayne's good, yar. Bears watching. And Roland will. This much is certain.

"You say true, sai." Calm. "And in truth, there's nothing to be said or decided tonight. We've met, and we're well met, and this is enough for now, say true." Roland looks to Mal for confirmation.

He'll be interrogating Alain later. But not now.

[badinlatin]

"Shia, we got enough to think on for one night, I'm thinkin'. That is, o' course, unless anyone else's got somethin' they're needin' to bring up at the present?" Mal shoots glances at each of his crew, making sure that if they have anything they still need to get out, they do it now.

[flybywash]

He thinks of Eddie's words to him: the tale of the duel for Anthy. He thinks of Simon's plans to 'fix' her.

He thinks of an old-man-who-was-not and five days where he couldn't see the sky.

If the gunslingers are watching for it, they might notice the way Wash's hand tightens by a fraction around Zoe's; then again, they might not. At any rate, when he smiles faintly and says, "I'm shiny here, cap'n," the words are carefully neutral.

Best to save what's on his mind for another time.

[badinlatin]

"Shiny then." Mal stands from the table, facing the gunslingers in general, Roland in particular.

"We've certainly covered what needed to be said at the particular moment 'bout our little matter." Little? "We'll start gettin' together things on our end, make sure we've got what we need when the time comes for it. Meantime, we think o' questions, we know where to find ya." Could be a friendly statement. Nope, not really.

[righthandwoman.livejournal.com]

Zoe notices Wash's grip tightening--it's her hand, after all. She casts a quick sidelong glance at her husband, and his eyes meet hers for a moment, a clear message in them.

Later.

She nods fractionally, and lets it pass for now.

[river_meimei]

A sharp inhalation when Alain spoke, and River's shoulders are tighter now, and hunched. Her fingers would be plucking at each other if Simon didn't still have hold of them.

"They watch you and they monitor when you're -- shiny. We're all shiny. Everything's shiny. Time to smile."

She falls silent, staring down.

[lastgunslinger]

"You know where to find us, aye. Say thankya for your time. All of you."

He looks at all of them once more, with perhaps just a hint of a lingering glance for River.

And then Roland Deschain, dinh of the Ka-Tet of Nine, stands from the table.

"I bid you all long days and pleasant nights."

[simon_doctor]

And as the crew of Serenity begin pushing back chairs and rising from the table, Simon leans over to speak in low tones to his sister. She shakes her head sharply at first and tries to pull her hands away from his, then slowly calms.

Enough, at least, for him to help her to her feet and start guiding her towards the door, one hand on her shoulder.

[lastgunslinger]

Roland's tet begins to dissipate. Cuthbert and Susan go one way. Eddie and Susannah follow, huddled together.

Roland looks after them -- and then turns to stop Alain and Ted. "With me." There are questions he has. Questions that need answering immediately.

They go upstairs.

[anthy-rosebride.livejournal.com]

Only when they're all gone does Anthy relax.

The Academy. Not Ohtori, even though it's the same word, gakuen. Still --

Two councils, Mal and Roland the leaders. Red. And where Juri would be, the darker-skinned women. Zoe and Susannah. Orange.

She maps them out carefully; better remember as much as she can. Jayne is green: quick to violence, short-sighted, the butt of the jokes. Simon is blue: too gentle, and weaker for it. Book is darker blue: he watches, he keeps secrets in his eyes. That leaves Kaylee for yellow, and Wash doesn't fit; River is River, and claimed purple for herself.

Ted's the only one of the gunslingers' council she hasn't met. I am a psychic. And Alain: We're being watched. Someone's spying.

She'll need to be careful.

(Ye spying bitch...

Did Susan guess?)

Anthy slips away, and it's nothing important that's still turning over and over in her mind. Just something Roland said, barely needed to say --

Her brother loves her well, and wishes to see her so.