(no subject)

[plantfood]

There are days when Mathias isn't quite so sure why he does this. Every so often, building something comes naturally to him and he feels like he's picked something he's good at, but then, the rest of the time, the pieces don't quite come together or the delicate woodwork he's trying to do ends up flawed and there's a part of him that wants to scrap the whole thing.

At the very least, this rocking chair isn't meant to be a gift for anyone, just an addition to his own hut.

"Maybe I am being too ambitious," he says to Mal, leaning back a little to appraise his work. They're just outside Serenity, one of the places Mathias has found he likes best when he's not on the beach or at his place. It's familiar to him and he likes being close to an engine, likes knowing there is still something much bigger than him out there in the world.

"Maybe a nice table would be easier," he says with a laugh, wiping sweat from his forehead.

"No!" Sam says from her place nearby in the sand. "A rocking chair!"

Comments

[plantfood]

"I think my world probably needed something like that as well," Mathias admits. "Hopefully they will have figured it out before it's too late to do anything about it." Either way, that's not his world anymore. If he leaves the island, there's nowhere else to go.

[mademighty]

"If your history's my history, that you did," says Mal, hands moving methodically still as he concentrates on the task. "Out to where the Alliance could hold sway."

[plantfood]

Mathias helps where he can, though it's clear Mal knows more about this than he does. It's good, though, he appreciates the help. "River hasn't talked much about the Alliance. Enough that I know the name, but not much more."

[mademighty]

"She wouldn't," says Mal, expression grim for a moment. "Alliance hunted us halfway across the verse, after that girl. Took showin' them some things they probably didn't want to see to turn things around."

[plantfood]

Mathias shakes his head, although he's not surprised to learn that things like that still happen. That people are still hurt, still hunted. "And then she came here," he says, though he hadn't been on the island yet when she'd first arrived.

[mademighty]

"She did," says Mal, nodding and focusing on his work. "And I came with her. First me. Fathered Zoe. Haven't ever exactly had the grit to ask her how that all came about."

[plantfood]

Mathias shakes his head a little, because it isn't a story he knows. During Mal's first time here, the two of them hadn't been friends, really, though he'd known him through River. As long as Mathias had known River, though, Mal had been there.

"Do you think you will?" he asks. "Eventually." It's a hard thing to discover, he imagines.