When Simon finally gets to Chicago, he's from further ahead than River. He knows more, knows Miranda, and there's a few days at first that are especially difficult to get through. The strangest part of it, though, beyond being on Earth-that-was in some kind of pocket dimension surrounded by a barrier and zombies and chaos demons, is that he has help. There are people here who know River, that have helped her even without him standing in as her advocate. No one has threatened to shoot or abandon them because of what she is or who they are. There is no Alliance waiting at the edges of the city to take her away.
It's a little eerie, considering past experience, but not unwelcome.
Eventually, after being all but glued to his sister's side for nearly a week, he goes for a walk. Without River. Another strange thing he'll have to get used to -- time to himself without having to worry that River is safe, and isn't confined to the space of a single Firefly-class ship.
The last time he was in a bar, his sister had beaten all the patrons and pointed a gun at Mal. Thankfully, the Crowbar is nothing like the Maidenhead, and Simon is able to go up to the bar and order a drink.
Seeing a young boy sitting there with his own would, under most other circumstances, be shocking. But it's been a wild week, and River has spent a lot of time between bouts of instability to tell him all about Chicago's residents.
"Oh," said after a moment of just... Awkwardly looking over at Five. "I apologize. You must be Five. River mentioned you."
He has manners enough to not say she'd mentioned him as a being a boy with an old man inside him, because seeing it now makes that phrasing far less alarming than it had been.
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When Simon finally gets to Chicago, he's from further ahead than River. He knows more, knows Miranda, and there's a few days at first that are especially difficult to get through. The strangest part of it, though, beyond being on Earth-that-was in some kind of pocket dimension surrounded by a barrier and zombies and chaos demons, is that he has help. There are people here who know River, that have helped her even without him standing in as her advocate. No one has threatened to shoot or abandon them because of what she is or who they are. There is no Alliance waiting at the edges of the city to take her away.
It's a little eerie, considering past experience, but not unwelcome.
Eventually, after being all but glued to his sister's side for nearly a week, he goes for a walk. Without River. Another strange thing he'll have to get used to -- time to himself without having to worry that River is safe, and isn't confined to the space of a single Firefly-class ship.
The last time he was in a bar, his sister had beaten all the patrons and pointed a gun at Mal. Thankfully, the Crowbar is nothing like the Maidenhead, and Simon is able to go up to the bar and order a drink.
Seeing a young boy sitting there with his own would, under most other circumstances, be shocking. But it's been a wild week, and River has spent a lot of time between bouts of instability to tell him all about Chicago's residents.
"Oh," said after a moment of just... Awkwardly looking over at Five. "I apologize. You must be Five. River mentioned you."
He has manners enough to not say she'd mentioned him as a being a boy with an old man inside him, because seeing it now makes that phrasing far less alarming than it had been.