Sense and Serenity
Jan. 10th, 2006 07:55 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
tamcranverMan, I am just chock full of crazy. This is seriously a work in progress, but I thought I'd post it here anyway, because what the hey! To sum up: It's Pride and Prejudice, only with Firefly characters. So...yeah.
1.
It was a pretty generally accepted truth of life that any newcomers to Persephone would, sooner or later, meet one of Shepherd Book’s girls. It was more or less unavoidable.
The good Shepherd had taken a tour of the rim some years back with a pilot of rather shady reputation, and had come back seriously concerned about universal levels of sin and poverty. His response, typical to his stubbornness and sense of obligation, was to found a home for prostitutes and former prostitutes who wanted a better life. The home soon extended its shelter to single mothers, homeless young girls who were afraid to live on the streets, one veteran of the war and one ship’s mechanic.
Unfortunately, the home enjoyed limited funding and Shepherd Book—and more particularly, his business associate Badger—were always looking for some means of finding the girls jobs or other homes, if possible with husbands, boyfriends, girlfriends, or anyone else with the money to support them. Badger wasn’t picky; if a rich gentleman came by looking for a bed-warmer for when his wife was away, Badger was happy to thow one of the girls his way. It was quite frustrating for Shepherd Book.
“Oy, Preacher!” Badger said to his boss one day. “Didja hear that big mansion-type place is bein’ rented out? Just got word from a fellow of mine what works around there.”
“That so?” asked Book, currently wrapped up in writing his sermon for Sunday.
“Ain’t you goin’ to ask to who?” Without waiting for an answer, he continued: “My man says the fellow’s some rich doctor from Osiris. Came down to look at the place Monday, and he’s s’pposed to be all moved in in a few weeks.”
Book sighed. “Has this rich doctor got a name?”
“Tam. Simon Tam, I think. Hear he’s single—lives with his sister and some friend. This is great!—Real, whadayacallem, opportunity for one of the girls.”
“What do you mean?” Book asked, concern starting to edge its way into his mind. Badger had some interesting and not altogether proper ideas sometimes for how to pass the girls off to single men, and Book had the uncomfortable suspicion that he was up to his old tricks again.
“Don’t be stupid!” Badger said, clicking his tongue at the preacher. “Dress ‘em up nice, take ‘em to some party—I’ll bet we can get ‘im to marry one of ‘em!”
“Right,” Book said skeptically. “That was, of course, the whole idea of moving out here—marry a former prostitute.”
“Might not have been ‘is idea,” Badger said, “but if ‘e was to just, you know, fall in love like, ‘oo’d wonder? I mean, they’ve got all the experience—and he don’t even have to marry her to--”
“Right,” Book said loudly, before Badger could continue this line of conversation. “Well, I’ll go talk to him, I suppose, see if he has any money he feels inclined to donate. I’ll put in a word for Kaylee, in case he has any mechanical jobs that need doing.”
Badger made a rude noise. Though Kaylee Frye was a favorite with Book, who appreciated her sweet nature and enthusiasm for machines, Badger thought (as he did about most girls who refused his advances) that she was a mite too hoity-toity. And, of course, she hung around Zoe Alleyne, who had told Badger in no uncertain terms that she’d kill him if he came anywhere near her, in the most slow and painful way she could think of. Badger was of the general opinion that they’d have much better luck marrying off the whores.
2.
Book, having connections with other Shepherds in the area, was among the first to hear of the party. He was a bit hesitant to tell Badger, as he knew that the diminutive middle-man would probably begin scheming immediately.
He was going to figure it out sooner or later, though. Book figured it might as well be sooner, as that would give him more time to talk Badger out of doing anything stupid…or illegal. In the afternoon, therefore, as he watched Kaylee fiddling with a synchronizer, he said genially, “You’d better clean yourself up after you finish with that synchronizer. You’ll want to look your best at the party tonight.”
“Party? Who? What now?” Badger said, excited.
Kaylee, who liked parties and was therefore about as excited as Badger, exclaimed, “Ooh! Shiny! I love parties! Whose party is it?”
“Hoban Washburne’s.” The girls all frowned, not recognizing the name. “He’s a friend of Dr. Tam’s.” Most of the girls still didn’t know who he was talking about, but Badger’s face lit up immediately.
“Good on ya, Shepherd!” he said jovially, clapping Book warmly on the shoulder. Book tried not to cringe. Zoe, who had been sitting by Kaylee polishing a gun, raised her eyebrow and met Book’s uncomfortable gaze. She made an almost inaudible noise of amused contempt and turned her attention back to the gun.
3.
The mansion was, in fact, like its own little moon. It floated above the squalor of Persephone like a little oasis of wealth and cleanliness. Some of the former prostitutes were rather jaded about that sort of thing, but Kaylee, who had really only cultivated a familiarity with cargo ships and subsistence prarie farming, was highly impressed.
“Oh!” she squealed, grasping Zoe’s hand. Her fingers were clad in the secondhand satin gloves she’d bought and her dress was huge with what Zoe called foofaraw. Zoe had dressed much more simply, in a dark green silk dress she’d had since she was a girl back on Verona.
Both of them were enjoying themselves immensely. Their host—or hosts, rather, since Washburne was throwing the party but Tam owned the house—had been around to greet everyone, a small group of upper-class ladies close on their heels. Kaylee personally thought Dr. Tam was pretty shuai, and Zoe didn’t disagree, but he didn’t seem very sociable. Mr. Washburne, or Wash, as he’d asked them to call him, was another story altogether. He’d laughed and joked and asked Kaylee what kind of ships she liked and offered them both drinks.
They’d expected him to leave when Dr. Tam and the ladies did, but he’d hung around for quite a bit, chatting with both of them but clearly eyeing Zoe. As the band started to play an up-tempo dance tune, Wash had set his drink down and jerked his head towards the dance floor.
“Ms. Alleyne, you wanna—I mean, you wouldn’t mind—dance?” He smiled at Zoe hopefully.
She shook her head, gave Kaylee an exasperated glance, and dragged Wash out to the floor. The grin on his face made Kaylee giggle.
She watched them dance for a moment and then wandered over to the buffet table. It’d been a mighty long time since she’d had good fresh fruit, and that fancy fruit sculpture of a horse over at the buffet seemed to have strawberries for hooves.
Dr. Tam was standing by the table, eating crackers and scowling. Kaylee thought about asking him to dance, but he seemed so sour. And besides, it wasn’t every day a girl got to try actual flying fish roe. Still, might as well be friendly. She walked up and offered him a friendly smile.
“Hiya, Doctor Tam! This is one fine party!”
He blinked at her without a hint of recognition or understainding in his eyes. After a moment he seemed to remember who she was, and his lips thinned. He smiled tightly and said, “Thank you.”
“I hear you got a sister,” Kaylee said, wondering if he’d open up if she changed the subject. “Is she here?”
This obviously wasn’t the right subject, because Dr. Tam drew his dark eyebrows together and said shortly, “No.”
“Oh.” Well, there was one thing she could talk endlessly about. “I seen your Dragon parked out front. That’s a mighty fine ship.” Dr. Tam said nothing, but he wasn’t going away, so she continued. “I worked on a Dragon, once., Not for a long time, but one came to Olympus once, some business fellow’s pleasure cruiser. He’d been using the wrong fuel on it, nearly busted the engine right up. It’s amazing how folks’ll spend a million credits on the ship and not spend the couple of credits to fuel her right. It’s a damn shame to see someone’s catalyzer all mucked up for something as stupid as that.”
“I see.” Dr. Tam nodded at her and walked over to the other side of the table. Kaylee sighed. She wasn’t so good at talking to rich doctors.
She was still there as the song ended, having dioscovered that not only were there fresh strawberries, but raspberries and warm cheese bread and cute little sausages as well. She gave Wash a grin as he bounced over to his friend, and he waggled his eyebrows at her as he clapped Dr. Tam on the back.
“Come on, Simon,” he said, “don’t stand around like that. It’s a party! Dance!”
Dr. Tam glared at him. “I hate dancing. You know that. It’s even worse when it’s with a stranger. Banning and Cabbott are eating right now, and there’s really no one else I’d dance with.” Banning and Cabbott were the fancy ladies Kaylee’d met earlier. Both of them were real pretty; Kaylee wondered if one of them was his girlfriend. Maybe both of them were.
“Are you out of your mind? The place is full of attractive women!”
“Oh, like your partner?” Simon frowned. “She looks like she could kill you with one hand.”
“Yeah! Isn’t she great!” Wash said, smiling so wide it looked like his face might bust in two. He caught Kaylee’s eye over the table and said, “But, hey, she was just telling me about her friend Kaylee, and she’s standing right over there. Kaylee, I mean. She’s pretty—why don’t you dance with her?”
”Which is she?” Simon turned his head a bit and looked. “Oh, her. She’s all right, I guess, but she’s a complete redneck, and all she seems to be able to talk about is engine parts. Why don’t you stick with your Warrior Woman, and I’ll get…punch. Or something.”
Wash snorted. “Suit yourself.” He walked over to Kaylee, who was still standing by the table, shocked and not a little hurt. “Don’t…listen to him,” Wash said, his expression apologetic. “He’s not much of a party guy.”
“Guess not,” Kaylee said, trying to muster up a smile. She knew she wasn’t sophisticated like some of the ladies here, but Book and Zoe had both said she looked real nice. And she’d only been trying to be friendly. The doctor might be good-looking, but he was awfully mean.
Wash patted her hand awkwardly and said, “Hey, sounds like they’re about to do a square dance. You wanna go for it?”
“What about Zoe?” Kaylee asked. She wasn’t a poacher.
Wash bit his lip and gave Zoe a desperate look. She made her way through the crowd of people as easily as if they hadn’t been there at all, gave Kaylee a smile, and said, “All this dancing has worn me out, I don’t mind saying. I think I’m gonna sit this one out, take a look at the food.”
Kaylee and Wash were both smiling as they took to the floor, and as they danced they talked about how pretty Zoe and Kaylee’s dresses were. Kaylee forgot about the dour Dr. Tam within minutes.
1.
It was a pretty generally accepted truth of life that any newcomers to Persephone would, sooner or later, meet one of Shepherd Book’s girls. It was more or less unavoidable.
The good Shepherd had taken a tour of the rim some years back with a pilot of rather shady reputation, and had come back seriously concerned about universal levels of sin and poverty. His response, typical to his stubbornness and sense of obligation, was to found a home for prostitutes and former prostitutes who wanted a better life. The home soon extended its shelter to single mothers, homeless young girls who were afraid to live on the streets, one veteran of the war and one ship’s mechanic.
Unfortunately, the home enjoyed limited funding and Shepherd Book—and more particularly, his business associate Badger—were always looking for some means of finding the girls jobs or other homes, if possible with husbands, boyfriends, girlfriends, or anyone else with the money to support them. Badger wasn’t picky; if a rich gentleman came by looking for a bed-warmer for when his wife was away, Badger was happy to thow one of the girls his way. It was quite frustrating for Shepherd Book.
“Oy, Preacher!” Badger said to his boss one day. “Didja hear that big mansion-type place is bein’ rented out? Just got word from a fellow of mine what works around there.”
“That so?” asked Book, currently wrapped up in writing his sermon for Sunday.
“Ain’t you goin’ to ask to who?” Without waiting for an answer, he continued: “My man says the fellow’s some rich doctor from Osiris. Came down to look at the place Monday, and he’s s’pposed to be all moved in in a few weeks.”
Book sighed. “Has this rich doctor got a name?”
“Tam. Simon Tam, I think. Hear he’s single—lives with his sister and some friend. This is great!—Real, whadayacallem, opportunity for one of the girls.”
“What do you mean?” Book asked, concern starting to edge its way into his mind. Badger had some interesting and not altogether proper ideas sometimes for how to pass the girls off to single men, and Book had the uncomfortable suspicion that he was up to his old tricks again.
“Don’t be stupid!” Badger said, clicking his tongue at the preacher. “Dress ‘em up nice, take ‘em to some party—I’ll bet we can get ‘im to marry one of ‘em!”
“Right,” Book said skeptically. “That was, of course, the whole idea of moving out here—marry a former prostitute.”
“Might not have been ‘is idea,” Badger said, “but if ‘e was to just, you know, fall in love like, ‘oo’d wonder? I mean, they’ve got all the experience—and he don’t even have to marry her to--”
“Right,” Book said loudly, before Badger could continue this line of conversation. “Well, I’ll go talk to him, I suppose, see if he has any money he feels inclined to donate. I’ll put in a word for Kaylee, in case he has any mechanical jobs that need doing.”
Badger made a rude noise. Though Kaylee Frye was a favorite with Book, who appreciated her sweet nature and enthusiasm for machines, Badger thought (as he did about most girls who refused his advances) that she was a mite too hoity-toity. And, of course, she hung around Zoe Alleyne, who had told Badger in no uncertain terms that she’d kill him if he came anywhere near her, in the most slow and painful way she could think of. Badger was of the general opinion that they’d have much better luck marrying off the whores.
2.
Book, having connections with other Shepherds in the area, was among the first to hear of the party. He was a bit hesitant to tell Badger, as he knew that the diminutive middle-man would probably begin scheming immediately.
He was going to figure it out sooner or later, though. Book figured it might as well be sooner, as that would give him more time to talk Badger out of doing anything stupid…or illegal. In the afternoon, therefore, as he watched Kaylee fiddling with a synchronizer, he said genially, “You’d better clean yourself up after you finish with that synchronizer. You’ll want to look your best at the party tonight.”
“Party? Who? What now?” Badger said, excited.
Kaylee, who liked parties and was therefore about as excited as Badger, exclaimed, “Ooh! Shiny! I love parties! Whose party is it?”
“Hoban Washburne’s.” The girls all frowned, not recognizing the name. “He’s a friend of Dr. Tam’s.” Most of the girls still didn’t know who he was talking about, but Badger’s face lit up immediately.
“Good on ya, Shepherd!” he said jovially, clapping Book warmly on the shoulder. Book tried not to cringe. Zoe, who had been sitting by Kaylee polishing a gun, raised her eyebrow and met Book’s uncomfortable gaze. She made an almost inaudible noise of amused contempt and turned her attention back to the gun.
3.
The mansion was, in fact, like its own little moon. It floated above the squalor of Persephone like a little oasis of wealth and cleanliness. Some of the former prostitutes were rather jaded about that sort of thing, but Kaylee, who had really only cultivated a familiarity with cargo ships and subsistence prarie farming, was highly impressed.
“Oh!” she squealed, grasping Zoe’s hand. Her fingers were clad in the secondhand satin gloves she’d bought and her dress was huge with what Zoe called foofaraw. Zoe had dressed much more simply, in a dark green silk dress she’d had since she was a girl back on Verona.
Both of them were enjoying themselves immensely. Their host—or hosts, rather, since Washburne was throwing the party but Tam owned the house—had been around to greet everyone, a small group of upper-class ladies close on their heels. Kaylee personally thought Dr. Tam was pretty shuai, and Zoe didn’t disagree, but he didn’t seem very sociable. Mr. Washburne, or Wash, as he’d asked them to call him, was another story altogether. He’d laughed and joked and asked Kaylee what kind of ships she liked and offered them both drinks.
They’d expected him to leave when Dr. Tam and the ladies did, but he’d hung around for quite a bit, chatting with both of them but clearly eyeing Zoe. As the band started to play an up-tempo dance tune, Wash had set his drink down and jerked his head towards the dance floor.
“Ms. Alleyne, you wanna—I mean, you wouldn’t mind—dance?” He smiled at Zoe hopefully.
She shook her head, gave Kaylee an exasperated glance, and dragged Wash out to the floor. The grin on his face made Kaylee giggle.
She watched them dance for a moment and then wandered over to the buffet table. It’d been a mighty long time since she’d had good fresh fruit, and that fancy fruit sculpture of a horse over at the buffet seemed to have strawberries for hooves.
Dr. Tam was standing by the table, eating crackers and scowling. Kaylee thought about asking him to dance, but he seemed so sour. And besides, it wasn’t every day a girl got to try actual flying fish roe. Still, might as well be friendly. She walked up and offered him a friendly smile.
“Hiya, Doctor Tam! This is one fine party!”
He blinked at her without a hint of recognition or understainding in his eyes. After a moment he seemed to remember who she was, and his lips thinned. He smiled tightly and said, “Thank you.”
“I hear you got a sister,” Kaylee said, wondering if he’d open up if she changed the subject. “Is she here?”
This obviously wasn’t the right subject, because Dr. Tam drew his dark eyebrows together and said shortly, “No.”
“Oh.” Well, there was one thing she could talk endlessly about. “I seen your Dragon parked out front. That’s a mighty fine ship.” Dr. Tam said nothing, but he wasn’t going away, so she continued. “I worked on a Dragon, once., Not for a long time, but one came to Olympus once, some business fellow’s pleasure cruiser. He’d been using the wrong fuel on it, nearly busted the engine right up. It’s amazing how folks’ll spend a million credits on the ship and not spend the couple of credits to fuel her right. It’s a damn shame to see someone’s catalyzer all mucked up for something as stupid as that.”
“I see.” Dr. Tam nodded at her and walked over to the other side of the table. Kaylee sighed. She wasn’t so good at talking to rich doctors.
She was still there as the song ended, having dioscovered that not only were there fresh strawberries, but raspberries and warm cheese bread and cute little sausages as well. She gave Wash a grin as he bounced over to his friend, and he waggled his eyebrows at her as he clapped Dr. Tam on the back.
“Come on, Simon,” he said, “don’t stand around like that. It’s a party! Dance!”
Dr. Tam glared at him. “I hate dancing. You know that. It’s even worse when it’s with a stranger. Banning and Cabbott are eating right now, and there’s really no one else I’d dance with.” Banning and Cabbott were the fancy ladies Kaylee’d met earlier. Both of them were real pretty; Kaylee wondered if one of them was his girlfriend. Maybe both of them were.
“Are you out of your mind? The place is full of attractive women!”
“Oh, like your partner?” Simon frowned. “She looks like she could kill you with one hand.”
“Yeah! Isn’t she great!” Wash said, smiling so wide it looked like his face might bust in two. He caught Kaylee’s eye over the table and said, “But, hey, she was just telling me about her friend Kaylee, and she’s standing right over there. Kaylee, I mean. She’s pretty—why don’t you dance with her?”
”Which is she?” Simon turned his head a bit and looked. “Oh, her. She’s all right, I guess, but she’s a complete redneck, and all she seems to be able to talk about is engine parts. Why don’t you stick with your Warrior Woman, and I’ll get…punch. Or something.”
Wash snorted. “Suit yourself.” He walked over to Kaylee, who was still standing by the table, shocked and not a little hurt. “Don’t…listen to him,” Wash said, his expression apologetic. “He’s not much of a party guy.”
“Guess not,” Kaylee said, trying to muster up a smile. She knew she wasn’t sophisticated like some of the ladies here, but Book and Zoe had both said she looked real nice. And she’d only been trying to be friendly. The doctor might be good-looking, but he was awfully mean.
Wash patted her hand awkwardly and said, “Hey, sounds like they’re about to do a square dance. You wanna go for it?”
“What about Zoe?” Kaylee asked. She wasn’t a poacher.
Wash bit his lip and gave Zoe a desperate look. She made her way through the crowd of people as easily as if they hadn’t been there at all, gave Kaylee a smile, and said, “All this dancing has worn me out, I don’t mind saying. I think I’m gonna sit this one out, take a look at the food.”
Kaylee and Wash were both smiling as they took to the floor, and as they danced they talked about how pretty Zoe and Kaylee’s dresses were. Kaylee forgot about the dour Dr. Tam within minutes.