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 Posted: Thu Oct 19, 2006 8:00 pm
They took Christmas from you... I was born to a poor christmas.
A poor Christmas? She didn't understand.
"Simon?"
The doctor breathed a sigh of relief. She was back to normal. However normal she could be, anyhow.
"Yes, River?"
"What's Christmas?"
Simon looked at her. She knew perfectly well what Christmas was... a celebration from Earth That Was. Gifts. Joy. Laughter... did she not remember? His genius sister? He looked at her face again, and saw her laughing.
"Silly Simon. I know what Christmas is."
Confused once more, Simon stood up.
"Shepard?" He looked at the grey-haired man. "Why don't we go into the kitchen...?"
River grinned and laughed. "Go tell Christmas stories." she commanded. Once they were out of the room, she sa on her bed and closed her eyes.
If you are the tall, who is the small? Can the small hear me?
---
Alice stared once more at the tall girl. How could a doll not be a toy? That's why they're made - to be played with. Like toys. Like a game.
"So they played with River Tam... like a doll? But she's not a doll?" Being very young, Alice didn't understand the complicated words her new friend was using.
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Posted: Fri Oct 20, 2006 4:25 am
The small is deaf but for her ears
Bernadette turned to Alice, only half glancing at her, not wanting to risk severing this contact with River Tam by connecting with another.
"Yes," she replied. "And now we are all River Tams."
We are here, in no-Christmas land where you were. What did they do to you? They will do it to the small. I don't know what they will do to me, I'm different.
---
"Of course," Shepard replied uncertainly, throwing one last glance at River as she crawled onto her bed.
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Posted: Fri Oct 20, 2006 7:16 am
((OOC: thoughts and psycic patterns are going to get confusing... I'm going to put ""s around psycic patterns, okay?))
Simon walked with the shepard to the kitchen and sat down, hands clamped tight together.
"I'm worried." He confessed. "Ever since the 'reader' possibility showed up, there have been more and more signs that it's correct. If I myself believe this..." he paused, closed his moth, and started again. "I have no knowlage in the area of psycics. I- I may not- be able-" he couldn't finish the sentance.
-
"... I'm different"
River considered this.
"How are you so different?" she asked. "We were all too different to be in GenEd - what makes you so special from me?" her mind flitted to the 'small'
"Hello, child. Don't worry, I am a friend... what's your name?"
---
"I'm not River Tam - I'm Alice!" the little girl protested. Riddles did not suit her, they were only confusing.
"Hello, child"
The voice inturrupted her exlimation. Alice wanted to gasp, but - the voice was not supposed to be known. She just knew that. Instead, she tried to shut the voice out of her head without letting her friend know.
"Don't worry," the voice told her. "I am a friend." Alice wasn't sure if she wanted to trust this new voice. But it was already inside her head... and it was just a voice. There was no person - no harm could be done from there.
"What's your name?" the voice asked. Alice couldn't figure out how to send a voice back. How? how, how how...
"You just think it at me" the voice laughed. It was a girl's voice, deffinatly a girl.
"Alice." The small girl tried. "I'm Alice."
((OOC: Alice still doesn't know Bernadette's name, BTW))
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Posted: Sun Oct 22, 2006 5:24 pm
"You're talking to the girl through me, aren't you? You can't do that with a normal person. They had to play with you to make you different than us. They had to tear at your mind to open it. My mind was born open."
---
Book placed a comforting hand on the doctor's shoulder, frowning.
"Simon, have you ever heard of the ship Prime Leviathan? It was the most advanced cruise ship ever created, designed to sail around the solar system in style. Fifty years ago, an unexpected failure occured, and though everyone escaped to a shuttle-pod, a third of those pods failed, killing the evacuees inside.
"That ship was built by professionals. But if you recall Noah's Ark, it was built by an amateur. Perhaps you were meant to help River as a professional could not."
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Posted: Sun Oct 22, 2006 11:17 pm
"Shepard..." Simon began. "I appriciate your... anitcdotes. But I need to help my sister, and the only way I know how to is professionally. I'm... I'm not an emotional person, I can't help others emotionally." Kaylee's face was suddenly brought to mind, but he shook it away. River was who he needed to concentrate on. Kaylee wasn't helpless. She... she could take care of herself. River couldn't.
"Sorry to bother you, Shepard. I'll... I'll go check on River now."
-
River frowned. She did not like the way this girl Bernadette was talking to her. She made herself sound superior.
"How do you know, girl? Maybe I was born open. Maybe I wasn't. Maybe you're right and I am a weakling and you could crush me. Squish! But maybe not. I could be able to kill you with my brain. Maybe I am more powerful than your imagination could handle. Maybe I just am your imagination. Maybe I don't exist and you are just thinking all of this up." She paused. And maybe, I am something you havent thought of yet. Then again, maybe... not." And she laughed.
---
"Hello, Alice." the voice replied. "I am River."
Alice gasped audibly. Was this the River Tam... the name under the desk?
"My name is under that desk there. Have you seen it there?"
"Y-yes. You are River Tam." Alice thought back. "The big girl told me you were a pretty doll they played with... but not like my dolly over there."
River laughed. "A doll? A gorram doll? That's what she called me?" And she broke off the connection.
Alice turned to her friend, eyes wide with fright. "Did River talk to you, too?" She asked.
---
Simon knocked on River's door.
"River?" He called. "River, can I come in?" He heard a crash from inside, and took that as a "yes." On the floor was a shattered plate that used to have a doll painted on it.
"River, River, what's wrong? River... RIVER!" She lurched, and he grabbed her wrists.
"Simon. Simon, they're in my head, she called me a doll. A gorram DOLL - Simon, get them out, they dont BELONG!" She flopped herself on the bed, unmoving. Simon stared at her, perplexed, until he heard soft snores.
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Posted: Tue Oct 24, 2006 4:22 am
Bernadette was about to explain herself as well as she could (her social skills, like Rivers, had been damaged, and without the aid of her teacher, she had trouble regaining them) when River threw a tantrum and shut her off.
"River is a broken toy, as we all will be," Bernadette muttered. "But, there is another who wants to fix her. Maybe he will."
She turned to look at Alice, her eyes truly focused for the first time.
"If you want to speak to her again, you'll have to do it through me. River was using me as a channel. If not, stay away, and stay out of this room. She's jealous."
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Posted: Fri Oct 27, 2006 10:38 pm
Alice wanted to talk to River Tam again. She wanted to help fix her, whatever that meant. She wanted a friend. She looked at her older friend again, and saw the anger in her eyes. She didn't get along with this River Tam.
"Okay." Alice agreed blindly. A bell tolled through the speakers.
"That means dinner," she told herself. She got up and began to wash up. "Are you going to come?" She asked the tall girl.
---
A ballpoint pen, skritch skritch skritch on the paper.
A chair, herself bound to it.
She was asleep in the chair, twitching in her artificial sleep.
A doctor was explaining something to an officer.
Needles, needles all around
That one filled with one liquid, this one with another
And those hands, the haunting hands...
BANG!
Screaming
Hands on her mouth.
"Simon, Simon, they'll come, they're comming for me, Simon don't let me go with them."
"It was only a dream, they're not here, River. It's okay, mei-mei." It was Simon. Simon, her brother. Home, He was home.
"Daddy will come get us, bring us home, Simon. It'll be better soon."
Simon remembered the last time she said that, when they had been kidnapped and River suspected as a witch. He now laughed at the memory, but it had been scary then.
"Right." he agreed with his sister out loud, but he cast his eyes downward. "Let's go back into the kitchen, River." He took her arm and led her back to the small table where Shepard was.
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Posted: Sat Oct 28, 2006 6:57 am
Bernadette sat at the dinner table, staring down at her food blandly. It looked good. It looked good. It looked as though it was prepared with love and warmth. Every chocolate cheap was a beacon of friendship, every lump of potato a cloud of comfort. But she knew better.
"That place was all about deception, Bernadette. And it's probably only grown worse since I got out. I hope you never end up there."
---
"Look, the Weaver girl. SHe's just sitting here."
"She's a natural reader, perhaps a danger to the others."
"Do you suppose she's reading them now?"
"SHe came here with distrust. That is unnormal, even for kidnapees."
"What of the child Alice beside her? The security cameras uncovered some unusual contact between them."
"We will look into it imediately.
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Posted: Sun Oct 29, 2006 7:57 am
Alice could hear the official chatter. She could always hear it, but about a year ago, she learned to tune it out. She ate her dinner like she always had: in a spacific order. The vegitable, the meat or protien thing, the carb thing, half the drink, the sweet thing, the rest of the drink. It was always the same combination of types of food. She heard her name in the dull chatter, and stopped tuning it out.
"... contact between them."
Alice almost rolled her eyes. Of course there was contect between her and other students, they were all here, wern't they? And she was bored, so she wanted to talk to other students. She was just sometimes too shy, that was all. This girl beside her was the only student she freely talked to.
Alice finished her dinner and recited the ritual "May I be excused?" to the mentours. She got permission, and walked quickly back to her new room, eager to explore more.
---
Simon sat River down at the table and told her to stay put. he walked behind the counter and stood next to shepard, and asked in a low voice
"Does your book know anything about nightmares?"
It was the last resource he could think of, and he could only hope it could help him somewhat.
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Posted: Sun Oct 29, 2006 11:35 am
Shepard leaned back and raised a quizzical eyebrow.
"That depends on your meaning of it," he replied. "You have to remember that most maladies back then were considered demons. The best path to overcoming them is, of course, believing in God and freeing your conscience and not eating too much before you sleep. But even for the most devout, that's not the best cure."
---
Bernadette watched Alice leave. Their attention followed her for a short time, before snapping back to her like a rubber band.
Angrily, she turned a glare at the instructor, who had to glance away. Satisfied, she stood and strode out of the mess hall, leaving her tray where it lay.
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Posted: Sun Oct 29, 2006 10:03 pm
Simon bit his lip, trying to keep from sighing and rolling his eyes. He forgot that he didn't know biblical jargon.
"Thanks, but with her brait, how scientific it is, faith won't help too much." He almost truend to walk away, but realized he might have hurt Shepard's feelings. He looked him in the eye and said "Thank you though. I really do appricieate you trying to help, and not just deeming her insane and letting it go." He smiled awkwardly, and turned back to River, who had occupied herself with a cup. Staring into it, she said half-to herself,
"I can see the future." SImon grabbed her shoulders
"That's great, River. Let's... let's go back to the room. We can play jacks?" he added hopefully.
---
Alice looked around her room, turning in circles. This time, she closed to door behind her and put the "Privacy" sign up. Her circles became faster and faster, until she was twirling about the room faster than she had ever before, dancing without thinking, just doing what felt right at the time. Twirls to leaps to sweeps to points, one after the other. Then she was twirling in the middle of the room as fast as she could, just twirling on one spot, everything a blur before her eyes.
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Posted: Mon Oct 30, 2006 4:19 am
Shepard sighed. Once again, Simon had just missed the entire point of what he had said. He could be so like Mal, sometimes. Say 'God', and he was gone.
---
Bernadette sat in her room, staring up at the ceiling, whitewashed, perfect. In the other room, little Alice was dancing, as though there were no other cares in the world.
She closed her eyes and sighed.
"Ian... I need you."
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Posted: Thu Nov 09, 2006 3:58 pm
River walked with her brother back to her room to play her favorite game. She stared at the little multicolored ball and contemplated it. Bouncing it once, she swiped two metal stars off the floor, and smiled as the game continued.
---
"Ian... I need you."
Alice suddenly stopped turning. She didn't know anyone named Ian...
---
"Ian... I need you."
River saw Simon swipe the last jack off the group, grinning broadly. They had tied for the first time in years - she always won. Then her head started to swim. Someone was calling for a man called Ian... and it got to her. She kept her "voice" quiet, wondering what would happen next.
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Posted: Fri Nov 10, 2006 9:53 pm
Ian's head shot up, his dark eyes wide and bloodshot.
Bernadette? Dear God, where are you? What's going on? Are you hurt? Tell me what they've done and I'll tell you how to resist."
Bernadette stumbled back against the wall, one hand clapped over her mouth. Her vision blurred with relieved tears and a knot formed in her throat, making it hard for her to breathe.
Ian... Ian, we're all dolls here. They haven't played with us yet, but they will. The little one is unpainted, but River Tam was unpainted and they painted her to look like you and me. But they polished you and they broke you and they already did it to me before they knew about me and they'll do it again-"
"Calm down, child. You say they haven't started anything yet? I can't give you much advice. Relax as much as you can, though. Clear your mind when you can, and when you can't, cling to logic. When you can't do that any longer, change the rules."
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Posted: Sat Nov 11, 2006 10:51 pm
River was again upset at the way this girl was speaking of her - as though this new girl thought herself superior!
"They did not 'paint' me!" she thought-shouted. "I was born with just as much ability as you, they- they just...." Then she couldn't comminicate any longer. The connection was still there, but her words were choked up.
---
Alice gasped at the argument going on inside her head. There was her friend (she now knew her name to be Bernadette), and River's voice, and a new voice, a worried tence one. It al almost overwhelmed little Alice. She had to sit on her bed to keep from fainting.
---
"River...?" Simon peered into his sister's face. It seemed clouded and... otherworldly.
"I'm fine Simon." She said weakly. "I just want to be alone..." she proceded to just sit there, but she motioned her brother out of the room. He slowly and reluctantly complied, closing the sliding paper door, but staying close by anyhow.
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