001 ✫ Video

[useofaswhat]

Afternoon, folks. – Evenin', now. [The man on screen clears his throat and nods in greeting, a little awkwardly. (And no, he's not actually wearing a floral bonnet. Today.)] This Admiral fella wanted a handful o' help and thought I was the man to give it so wǒ zài zhèlǐ. Name's Captain Reynolds, Mal if you ain't one to stand on ceremony. I'm sure it's fine to meet you all, and if it ain't, you go ahead an' let me know. [There's a smile purely for the sake of decorum, which drops off his face almost immediately as his eyes rake over something off-screen, as if reading.]

Let's see what we got here, then... Prison ship, eight levels and two additional restricted areas, complete with library, common rooms, medbay, an' my personal favorite, fully stocked kitchen. Probably serves better'n protein too. Laundry services, showers, art therapy facilities, and gardens included. Now that don't sound like any prison I ever been to. Hell, y'all even got a bar? Got quite a slick operation here, real nice 'n cozy.

But it still ain't as good as my boat.

Comments

[inhistorybooks]

Nothin's better than your own ship. What's yours like?

[Video]

[slayage]

[.. Okay, so he looks like Caleb, and apart from the weird mystery language there, he sounds like Caleb too. She gives him a very, very suspicious look.]

Welcome aboard, Mal. [WATCHING YOU VERY CAREFULLY CALEB-CLONE. She relaxes somewhat.] Where are you from?

[useofaswhat]

Glad to see the folk here talk sense. She's a Firefly, ain't the fanciest vessel out there but she's a tough old bird an' my pilot can fly her like one.

[inhistorybooks]

Never heard of a Firefly before. She a transport?

[Video]

[useofaswhat]

[Ah, less-than-enthusiastic greeting the first. Mal anticipates several of these, though he's not sure what he owes this one to. The girl doesn't look familiar; it isn't likely she's got standing trouble with him.]

Thanks.

Kinda from all over, truth be told. Who's askin' me?

[useofaswhat]

Never heard of a Firefly? Now what make are you flyin' in?

Sure is, best transport ship ever built.

[Video]

[slayage]

[She's actually tilting her head a little for a second there, looking closely. Buffy logically knows that he can't be Caleb himself, but instinct says watch out for this one. She blinks and sits up straight.]

Buffy. Is my name. You, uh, wouldn't happen to have heard about a place called Sunnydale, would you? Or, y'know, been there.

THE RACE TO DEMOTION BEGINS

[yeahscience]

There's a pool table, too.

And a shark.

Voice

[breakingmyheart]

[There is a gigantic amount of keyboardsmashy flailing you don't get to see and then voice because there's too many feelings occurring for video:]

'Your boat' being Serenity?

[inhistorybooks]

The NX-01. Enterprise. It's Earth's first warp five capable starship, and I'm guessin' if I've never heard of a Firefly and you've never heard of the Enterprise, we're talkin' different timelines at the least, but I'd say different universes is probably more likely.

[Useless comment]

[scentbombed]

[This is interesting, because Mal certainly seems human, but Buffy is acting unusually... someone's going to be watching this exchange.]

[Video]

[useofaswhat]

[Mal, for his part, can't shake the feeling that he's going to have to watch out for this one himself. Something about her, her skepticism, sounds like trouble.]

Buffy? That short for somethin', or is Buffy all there is to it?

Never heard of Sunnydale, what world's it on?

[Warden Filter]

[scentbombed]

Welcome aboard, Captain Reynolds. I'm Captain von Uberwald -- Angua will do. You're a... naval captain? Is that right? Where are you from? [And after seeing Buffy's response, she dearly wants to ask, what are you?, but she refrains for now.]

AND THEY'RE OFF!

[useofaswhat]

Why you got a shark?

[persuadeyou]

Mandarin? [Sup Mal, you just became interesting.]

[Video]

[slayage]

..Just Buffy. [Why does everyone think her name is weird :c] Buffy Summers.

Earth. California, USA. [Blink.] So that's a big no, then.

[And she believes him. Buffy takes a second, smiles a little and sighs.] Sorry, you just look- Well, exactly like someone I- [Sliced in half.] Knew.

Voice

[useofaswhat]

[And cue the suspicion; he's damn sure he didn't mention her name.] How'd you know?

Voice

[breakingmyheart]

One of your crew was on board, approximately two years ago. She mentioned your name.

[yeahscience]

Dunno. Someone asked for one, I guess.

[Warden Filter]

[useofaswhat]

Thank you, Captain. Angua. I don't fly with no navy, I just got myself a ship and a crew. We're transport, we run cargo where it needs to go. Ain't really "from" nowhere.

Judgin' by that question, I'm gonna go ahead an' guess you're a different kind of captain yourself.

[useofaswhat]

What about it?

[useofaswhat]

[Pause for puzzlement.] ...Well you got that part right. Enterprise sounds like one of them Alliance space stations. Where're you on the timeline? Where I stepped out of it's 2517.

[inhistorybooks]

2154 for me, but I can't say I've ever heard of the Alliance.

[Warden Filter]

[scentbombed]

['Smugglers,' she translates this automatically in her head. But smugglers aren't so bad, really. They tend to be polite to her and they pay their fines when she inevitably sniffs out their cargo.] Police, actually. [But she tries to convey that she's one of the nicer ones, maybe, even though she's really not.]

[Video]

[useofaswhat]

Huh. Okay then, Buffy.

You're from Earth? [Now that's one he's never heard before. He laughs, disbelieving.] You mean Earth-that-Was? Gorram! When they say all times'n places, they mean it.

No need for sorry, honest mistake. Think I had ancestors in the USA, way back when. Could be you met my great-great-great-great-great granddaddy.