maskormenace | 001 ⌘ VOICE;

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001 ⌘ VOICE;

[ River's voice is slightly wandering, but thoughtful. ]

A hero is an imperfect idea, full of good intentions and bad decisions, too many questions and not enough answers. Good people, bad people, it only depends on what side you're on. But I can tell which is which, I've always been able to. There are people here that aren't as good as they say they are, but also those who aren't as bad at they think.

No one really knows who they are. No one wants to.

[ There's a pause. ]

This place seems good for finding out who they are. Absence of evidence is not evidence of absence.

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I'm sorry.

[And he genuinely sounds like he means it. He can't see her, but she sounds young, despite the big words.]

That happens sometimes. But it can change too. This place grabbed my sister months before it decided to snatch me too. Which... I'm honestly pretty pissed off about. George shouldn't have been stuck here on her own.

You have a name, Simon's sister?

[ There's something in the way that Shaun apologizes that tells her the words aren't empty, that in fact they're more weighted than she would have expected. ]

I think he'd like it here.

[ Actually, she thinks he'd like it quite a lot. It's more civilized than deep space, where she always knows that he feels like an outsider. ]

River. I'm River.

It's really not so bad here. I mean, it has some fucked up moments, but it's not bad. I kinda like it.

[Shaun is so extremely biased on this point though, since what this world has that his world no longer does is his sister alive, so he's kind of a huge fan of this world. But that doesn't make it entirely untrue, biased or not.]

Good to meet you, River. I'm Shaun.

That's every place in the 'Verse. And outside it.

[ and then, because she's feels it's important for him to know: ]

You're good to talk to.

Tell me about it. My world is full of zombies.

[But that wasn't always the worst thing in the world. Hell sometimes it was even fun.

He's not expecting that, however, and he can't quite hold back a laugh, clearly pleased.]

Thanks. You're pretty good to talk to yourself, River.

Zombies?

[ She knows what they are, at least, from stories. How many times as a child did she stagger around pretending to be one while Simon feigned terror and ran from her? Long, long days before Reavers became the chosen nightmare to dread.

But Shaun's remark surprises her; most people don't think she's nice to talk to anymore. ]

I am?

Zombies. Walking undead infected who just want to eat and bite and turn all us living folks into more zombies.

[Home sweet home. It makes this place very strange to get used to. No blood tests at every turn to check for viral amplification.

But he can hear that surprise in her voice. It may not be visible, but he smiles.]

You are. I mean, I'm really sure you're smarter than me, but that's pretty cool.

Like... Reavers.

[ There's something strange and flat in her voice when she says it, like the word has pulled everything out of her. She struggles for a moment to pull it all back, so she can answer his confirmation. ]

... thank you. People... don't say that to me.

[The way she says it, it sounds like something real, something she knows from first hand experience and not some term from her universe's version of horror movies.

He's curious, but something in her tone has him hesitating to ask.]

You're welcome. [Though he is going to ask about that now,] Why's that?

I'm different. I know things that people don't know.

Can't know.

It scares them.

Scares, huh? People are scared of a lot of things, usually stuff they don't understand as far as I can tell.

[He's just come from unraveling a conspiracy to keep an entire country afraid and compliant, so he may have... opinions on this.]

Anyway, I made a living poking zombies with sticks for fun, so I like scary.

[ He makes her smile again with that. You definitely can't poke Reavers with sticks. ]

I'd like to hear about it later.

Any time, River. Good luck settling in.

[Though hopefully she won't need the luck.]

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