Firefly: The Next Generation (IC)

[celestialdragon]

Wash laughed and she placed them around the cockpit, like she remembered they were on Serenity. "You bet I am Kylar," she said, smiling. "'Course, only when there's lulls in action." She stood up after steering the ship slightly, before hugging Kylar happily. "I haven't been this happy since the day the war ended," she said softly.

 

[GentleValkyrie]

Mike had changed into a tank top and loose cargo pants, stripping out of her boots and jacket. The weapons they usually concealed were left with the heavier clothing. She was working through the flowing forms in order, using two weighted sticks instead of live steel.

She whirled around at the man's voice, dropping into a defensive posture by reflex before recognizing him as the younger man Jayne Cobb had been roughhousing with. She stood up, letting her arms fall to her sides and catching her breath.

"Hello."

She tucked a wisp of hair, escaped from her braid, back behind her ear. "I... Kylar said I could practice back here..." She glanced quickly at the pile of boots and jacket, feeling exposed without the weight of her knives. "I don't mean to be in the way."

 

[CaramelLuv]

Amaya paused as she heard the knocking, and tucked some of her items into a compartment. Really, it was imperative that certain "tools of the trade" remain hidden. She moved to open the door, her skirt swishing about her ankles, then stepped back with a smile as she opened it and saw Joseph there.

"Hey, you. Come on in. Can I offer you something?" She stepped aside to let him pass.

 

[AuraSphere]

Jesse shook his head slightly as he waved away her concern. "Oh no. No no no. You're not in the way. Just saw you practicing and it peaked my interest is all. You seem to be pretty good." He held out his hand. "Name's Jesse. And you are?"

 

[creampieu444]

xxxxx

 

[CaramelLuv]

Amaya shook her head as she took a seat across from him. "Thanks, it is still a work in progress, but if Kylar lets me sign on, I will be able to make it better. "

Reaching out to touch his hand, she squeezed gently whike pulling one from his face. "I am the last person to whom you need to apologize. I have been and will always be your Amaya. I don't hold a grudge against you for following your path. Perhaps there were days when I wished I knew where you were, how you were, but the war made strangers of many of us. I just want to know that you won't up and leave without a proper goodbye next time."

She gave him a small smile.

 

[creampieu444]

xxxxx

 

[GentleValkyrie]

She ducked her head and blushed a bit at the compliment, folding the practice sticks into one hand and slipping her hands behind her body, shifting her weight.

"I'm Mike, Mikaela, but ... I'd rather you called me Mike."

She nodded toward the cleared space, "I know a few things. I try to take care of myself, you know? It's just forms, by myself... hard to do more alone."

She looked back at him and raised an eyebrow with the beginning of a grin, "Do you... practice?"

 

[AuraSphere]

"In a sense," Jesse smiled, gesturing to the speed bag in his other hand. "I've been a mixed-martial-arts cage-fighter for three-and-a-half years. Pretty brutal."

He gestured to her practice sticks. "I prefer fighting hand-to-hand, so I don't have all that much experience with...what are those, batons? I mean, I'm not ABOVE using weapons. Tell you the truth, I'm always packing." He rolled up his jacket sleeves, revealing a sleeve gun on his right arm and a sleeve dagger on his left. "Yeah, I'm a bit paranoid that way. But I prefer fighting hand-to-hand. It's much more honorable, and frankly, more fun."

 

[CaramelLuv]

Amaya let herself be tugged into his embrace and held on to him tightly, finding comfort in his touch. She rested her head on his shoulder, being somewhat shorter than he is. She let out a humming sigh of contentment, trying to memorize the feeling of his arms around her. She knew despite his assertions, she may very well lose him tomorrow or the next day.

At his release she kissed his cheek gently. "I'm glad you're here. Just so you know... your father might need a sedative at some point. Mistress Inara will be able to help with meditating her feelings, but I'm not sure Mr. Mal will find it easy to let go of Ms. Zoe."

 

[creampieu444]

xxxxx

 

[The Jeffinator]

"I'll be happier once the funeral is over," Kylar replied slowly after Alexa hugged him. "I'm really glad to have you here with me, though. You and Joe are the closest I have to siblings. You're the only family I have left now..." his eyes started to water up, but a moment later, they were dry again and he forced a smile.

"Once we're on Haven, let's go for a walk to the old house where River used to teach us," he said after a moment. "It'll do us good to reflect on good memories."

 

[celestialdragon]

Wash grinned. "Yes, it will. And once we're on our own, flyin' and the like, you'll be better. You were always better when we were in the black." She kissed his cheek and smiled. "We can tease Joseph about the time he attempted to sneak up on River and she kicked his ass."

 

[GentleValkyrie]

Mike went still as Jesse talked about fighting for entertainment.

"Brutal. Yes." She smiled softly, "Practice for blade work, The Concept."

"I know several people who would argue about your ideas of honor." Her smile faded, "Though I may prefer yours." She set the practice blades down with her jacket.

"I don't do much work without weapons. Mass is so important in hand to hand, I'm at a disadvantage." She smiled again, "I like learning fun things."

She took a few steps backward and opened her hands, inviting him into the cleared space, her space. "Show me your idea of fun?"

 

[AuraSphere]

Jesse set down his speed bag on a nearby crate. "Size doesn't really matter all that much if you know how to take care of yourself." He took off his jacket and set it next to the bag. "Some of my more memorable fights were with guys that were twice my size. Humiliating them was so much fun! And the harder it is to win, the greater you feel when you do." He removed his sleeve weapons, setting them with the rest of his stuff.

Jesse moved so he was directly facing her from a way's away and took a stance. "I hope you're ready for this," he chuckled.

 

[CaramelLuv]

Amaya chuckled and reached out to take his arm. "I haven't actually. I've been too busy seeing up her. And I'd never pass up the opportunity to walk on the arm of a handsome man," she winked at him as she spoke. "Come on, let's get some exercise, Doctor. "

 

[GentleValkyrie]

Mike shifted into a defensive stance, "Probably not, if I'm not armed, mostly I run." She shook her head, releasing what she was thinking about and focusing on him.

She smiled, "Come."

 

[creampieu444]

xxxxx

 

[AuraSphere]

Seconds passed before either of them made a move, but the tension made it feel like several minutes. The pair's sly grins gave way to serious expressions as each tried to anticipate what the other would do. Finally, Jesse was the first to make a move. He charged at her in a swift motion, right arm preparing to strike as he approached. However, instead of thrusting his arm forward, like any rational person would assume, he threw his fist toward the ground along with his other arm, using the momentum to go into a cartwheel kick.

The punch was a feint. And his foot was coming down toward Mike fast.

 

[GentleValkyrie]

She was fast. She was really fast. She slipped past his attacks, blocking just enough to deflect the energy away from her, not trying to stop him, only push aside and reorient herself. They danced around the space, she trading in her own feints and tests but not pushing back. Not hard anyway.

Until she did.

The intensity and pace ramped up. She could handle the speed, but not the strength.

 

[CaramelLuv]

Amaya nodded as she watched the two curiously. She didn't say much, but then she didn't know either of these two. She couldn't read either them.

(Sorry short post is crap)

 

[AuraSphere]

Jesse didn't show it, but he was thoroughly surprised. This Mike girl was much faster and agile than he'd expected--and he'd already predicted her to be pretty fast.

The two went at each other, each of them blocking, dodging, and deflecting every one of other's strikes, neither of them landing a single hit. The speed at which they fought kept rapidly increasing. Sweat started forming on their brows.

Jesse was actually working to keep pace. It been a long time since he'd faced someone as agile as him. Strong and skilled, yes--but not as swift. He had to resist cracking a smile. This was..****...

 

[The Jeffinator]

Kylar conversed sparingly with everyone on the ride to the moon -- he wanted to get the funeral done and over with. After their eighteen-day trip, they reached their destination, and before long everyone was wearing dark dress clothes and laying Zoe to rest. They each said a few words, then they all stood in a moment of silence. Kylar was rushing through it in his head, he wanted to be done with it and moving on.

In what seemed like no time at all, they were back on Warlock and heading towards Haven, a trip that only took half a day due to it being relatively close by in its orbit. While the ship was being refueled, Kylar slipped away into the nearby woods, sitting down on a large rock near a stream. He stared into the moving water, then looked up and saw a leaf floating in the light breeze.

"I'm a leaf on the wind... watch how I soar..." he muttered softly as his voice started to break. Those were the last words of his father, told to him again and again by his mother, who was now dead as well. As he pictured them together again, tears started to roll down his cheeks, a sharp pain in his chest. And then the full force of his emotion came forward. He slid off the rock to his knees, stared up at the sky, and screamed. He balled his fists and let the tears pour like a waterfall. He fell forward, punching the ground over and over again with one hand while he buried his face in his other arm, openly weeping in his solitude.

 

[celestialdragon]

Wash began to look for Kylar, the ship was fueled and supplied for a few weeks, and he wasn't anywhere near the ship.

She heard crying, and she stopped a bit away from Kylar, letting him grieve in peace. Her heart went out to him, but she knew she couldn't understand what he was going through. Both Kaylee and Simon were pretty good health, and it helped that Simon was a doctor.

After a few minutes, when he had composed himself, she came closer. "Kylar?" she asked softly. "It's me. Warlock's ready to soar. You need another minute or two?"

 

[The Jeffinator]

"No, no," he said, standing to his feet and making sure his face was dry before turning to face Alexa. "I'm ready. Did you want to check out the old house before we go?" Before heading back to the ship, Kylar and Alexa walked by the house River had taught them in while their parents made the run that saw Serenity destroyed. There were a lot of good memories there, and it lightened his mood considerably. Before long, they were walking back to Warlock.

"Alright, we all set?" he asked the crew, and soon they were on course for Persephone. In the cockpit, Kylar turned to Alexa. "Thanks for being there for me," he said and hugged her tightly.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

After another eighteen days, they were back at the spaceport on Persephone. After saying goodbyes, the older generation left, leaving only Kylar, Alexa, Joseph, Amaya, Jesse, and Mikaela. The six of them all agreed to travel together for a while and take on various jobs like the old crew, but first they stayed on the planet for a few days so Kylar could sell his mother's house and get everything taken care of.

"Alright, we're all set and ready to go. Warlock's all loaded up and --" he stopped mid-sentence. They were all standing by the ramp to the ship when three men approached them. Two of them looked like henchmen, and to one in the middle looked about Kylar's age and had blonde hair slicked back and cold, blue eyes.

"I'm here to collect my sister, Washburne," he said in an icy tone. "Turn her over at once and I might be inclined to grant you and your companions a quick death."

"Is there any version of this where we walk out alive?" asked Kylar with a grim face.

"You insult me, Washburne!" he said with a laugh. "We're Niskas -- of course you're going to die. The question is how much pain will we inflict on you before death occurs?"

"Damn..." Kylar said with a sigh, and then a moment later he whipped out two pistols from his belt, one in each hand. In the blink of an eye, he shot both henchmen right between the eyes, and then brought the guns together to shoot both of Niska's shoulders so that he couldn't use his firearms. He dropped to his knees screaming as Kylar closed the distance between them, knocking him unconscious with a blow to the head from the butt of his gun.

"If you weren't Mike's brother, you'd be dead," he said with angry eyes before turning back towards the ship and walking up the ramp as he put his guns back in their holsters. "We need to put some distance between us and civilized space -- fast. Mike, I don't want to kill your family, but they may leave us no choice. If they threaten my crew again, they will not live to try it a third time -- I need to know you're with me on this."