Still Flying

[Lauren]

The day passed quickly with the crew of Serenity on land, the Captain going over their plans time and time again in the bar with his first mate, Kaylee and Simon continuing their chatter while on the look out for new passengers.

As day was turning to dusk, Hunter Finley strolled through the streets of Beaumonde. He hand a suitcase in each hand, and a bag slung over one shoulder. He had short brown hair and bright blue eyes, wearing a dusty shirt and jeans. He walked along the docking bays, checking out the names of each ship as he walked past. He was looking for a Firefly class named Serenity. Before he could see the name of the last ship in the long line, a cheerful girl ran up to him, twirling a bright umbrella over her shoulder. "Hi," She said with a large grin. "Where are you heading?" She asked.

"Um.." Hunter said, taking another step forward, enough to reveal the plaque 'Serenity'. Gotcha. "I'm actually looking for something a bit more ... permanent,"

Kaylee looked back to Simon with a smile, after all day of 'selling' Serenity to people, maybe they'd actually got a 'sale'. "We have a shuttle to rent. And Serenity is the finest ship you'll find around here. I'm Kaylee," She introduced herself, holding out her hand to shake.

"Hunter," Hunter returned the introduction, shaking her hand with a smile. "That's my name, not rank or occupation," He joked.

Kaylee laughed, looking him over, not imagining him capable of hunting anything. "And this is Simon, our resident doctor," She said, putting her hand lightly on Simon's forearm to introduce him to the newcomer.

[Lyz]

Simon looked at Kaylee's hand, now resting on his forearm. His gaze traveled to Kaylee and from there back to the Hunter. "Ehm.. yes.. how do you do" he said as he extended his other arm to shake Hunter's hand.

[Lauren]

"Nice to meet you," Hunter said with a polite smile. He looked back to Kaylee. "Are you the Captain?"

"Me? No! No ... Captain Reynold is in town on business, he'll be back shortly, you can meet him then," Kaylee smiled.

At the same time, Mal, Jayne and Zoe were making their way back through the town, back to Serenity, back to get their mission on it's way.

[Lyz]

Zoe was the first to spot the newcomer as they slowly approached the ship. "What do you think, Sir", she said with a nod in the direction of Kaylee, Simon and the unknown man, "has Kaylee finally found us a decent person to occupy the empty shuttle?" She glanced at her Captain. It had been quite a while since Inara left them, but so far Mal had not seem very keen to rent out her pod yet. Perhaps he was just being careful - or even plain picky - about who to grant permission to their ship, Zoe thought, but she also suspected that he perhaps secretly hoped Inara would change her mind and come back to them. "We can always use the extra money," Zoe said, "especially if we'll have to lay low for a while after ripping off the Alliance the way we plan to".

[Lauren]

Mal met Zoe's gaze. He knew, rationally, that she was right. But deep down in his heart, he still hoped that Inara would come back to Serenity ... come home. He looked the newcomer over, and he thought, rationally, they did need the money, fuel and food was getting dangerously low, and if ...if Inara ever wanted to come home, he could just throw this guy into deep space and give Inara her shuttle back. He gave Zoe a slight smirk at his own thoughts before he approached the new guy.

"Captain!" Kaylee said cheerfully when she saw them approach. "This is Mister. Hunter. He's like to rent the shuttle. Mister. Hunter, this is Captain Malcolm Reynolds and his first mate Zoe,"

"Actually, Hunter's my first--," Hunter tried to correct the girl.

"You got money?" Mal asked.

"Yes, I --" Hunter reached into his pocket and pulled out a wad of notes, he seperated enough for the first wad.

Mal snatched the whole wad from the guy's fingers and strode into the ship. "Come along. I'll show you to your shuttle." He said shortly. The whole 'giving Inara's shuttle away' thing was still annoying him, even if ... rationally ... he imagined leaving this guy to the Reavers eventually.

Kaylee looked to Simon with a grin while Hunter followed Mal inside with his bags. "What do you think?"

[Lyz]

"I think that besides being a good judge of character, the Captain apparently also is a quick one" Simon replied half in thoughts as he watched Hunter follow Mal, Zoe and Jayne onto the ship.

He had to admit though that on first glance Hunter seemed like a decent guy. Just an average, polite, seemingly bright, young man who he - so to say - could have known from his days on the Alliance's good side. And he seemed to have enough money too, so thus far, Simon had to admit, Hunter seemed to be perfectly suitable as their new companion in travel (not to confuse with the Companion that previously occupied the shuttle ). Although, why would a guy like Hunter want to travel on a ship like Serenity then? Of all the ships available to him?

Simon shook away his thoughts. He wasn't the one to judge. He had been on that side of the deal. They all had their own reasons for boarding Serenity, and Hunter probably has one as well.

Simon looked back at Kaylee. “Come on,” he said as he stepped aside to let her go in first, “let's find out what the Captain has to report.”

[Lauren]

Mal took a reluctant step inside the shuttle. He hated being in here now, décor stripped to the bare metal walls, instead of Inara's plush curtains and throws, it just made him feel depressed about the whole situation. "This will be yours," He told Hunter. "You're welcome to share the communal areas with the crew and you can separate from Serenity at any time," He explained briefly. "Enjoy your stay, Mr Hunter,"

"Uh, my name's Finley," Hunter explained what Kaylee wouldn't let him earlier. "Hunter Finley." He said, looking over his shoulder to see Mal already walking away. He rolled his eyes and took his cases into the shuttle, shutting and locking the door behind him.

"I think he seems nice," Kaylee said cheerily as she walked back into the ship with Simon. "I trust my Captain's judgement,"

"Appreciated, Kaylee," Mal said with a smirk as he joined up with them in the ship's lounge-area.

"STINK!" River shouted, clutching her head. "Stink. Lies. Cheat. Filth." She sunk down onto the sofa with a groan, pulling her knees up to her chest.

[Lyz]

"River!" Simon hurried over to his baby sister, and knelt in front of her. He tried to get eye contact, but River was staring blankly into the distance and rocked softly back and forwards. "What's wrong?"

He looked around to see if he could find anything but didn't notice anything out of the ordinary.

[Lauren]

River reached a shaky hand out, gently touching her brother's cheek, but she didn't answer his question.

"People," Mal 'announced', mostly directed at River and her outbursts. "We have some work to do. Fanty and Mingo have ... commissioned us to remove some property from the possession of some Alliance ships,"

[Lyz]

Simon placed his hand over his sister's and looked at her with a frown. It hurt him to see his sister like this. She had always been a troubled child, but The Academy had really messed her up.

Zoe walked up to Wash, who had seated himself around the large table waiting for Mal to start explaining their next job. She placed her hands on his shoulders as she stood behind him and kissed him on the cheek. "I hope you're listening carefully, honey, because there is a lot of skillful flying involved once we board their cargo." She tapped him on the shoulder in encouragement and grabbed an apple from the bowl on the table. She took out her knife and started to cut it in pieces.