Thoughts Colored Ugly
Rated ADULT for femdom, slavery, and S&M
Jayne groaned himself to life, his head throbbing from the booze from the night before. "Gou shi," he complained softly as he rolled onto his stomach. His mouth felt like it was stuffed full of cotton… cotton soaked into sheep shit. The next time Lexos asked him to go drinking, he was telling the man where to shove his head. Might even help him put it there.
Definitely hadn't landed on his bed, that's for gorram sure. Hopefully he landed on the floor of his own quarters at least. And hopefully this time he hadn't thrown up on them. Jayne never thought he'd find a crew he couldn't out drink, but the Henrietta had a real scary-ass crew.
Slowly blinking, Jayne couldn't figure out why the light was all weirdlike. By the time he could blink well enough to recognize bars, Jayne was starting to recover a few memories from the night before. A bar. Possibly a tattoo. Jayne reached up and scratched his shoulder. Okay, his shoulder didn't hurt, so either he dreamed that part or someone else went and got tattooed. Probably Rodge. Groaning, Jayne pushed himself up, curling fingers around the slave-cage bars to help himself sit straight.
"Gorram Lexos," he muttered, rubbing his hand over his face. The slave cage was a nice touch. Jayne was going to have to find a special way to repay him next time they were out drinking, at least after he slipped Lexos a knock-out pill because he was starting to think he had a cat's chance in guay to out-drink the man. Might even be starting to think he should stop trying.
"Ah, so you live. I had wondered," an overly cheerful voice declared. Jayne had long ago decided that anyone who was that gorram cheerful in the mornin' wasn't to be trusted. He glared at a middle aged man with a hanging belly and dark skin. The stranger smiled, showing his white teeth before he bent down and offered a bottle through the bars. Jayne took it with a suspicious look.
"No profit in poisoning you," he pointed out when Jayne didn't drink right away.
"No profit at all. Not a gorram slave," Jayne grumbled as he took the bottle and drank. Vitamin water. Least it would knock down the hangover. He finished it off. Holding the bars of the cage, Jayne pulled himself up and looked around. He was still planetside, but in a slaver's barn. A small slaver's barn. A small, dirty slaver's barn. Niou-se.
"I'm guessing you don't remember much," the annoyingly cheerful man said with a grimace. "I'm not good at this part."
"What part?" Jayne asked suspiciously. He was quickly starting to get a bad feeling about this. And memories floating to the top of his memory. . . memories of a big game, a huge pot, well, they weren't exactly reassuring him.
"You shouldn't gamble on a world that registers slaves," the man said as he took a step back from the bars as though expecting Jayne to reach through and throttle him. Not a bad idea.
"Da-shiang bao-tza shr duh lah doo-tze!" Jayne slammed the flat of his hand against the locked cage door. "I'll find that gorram gan ni niang and feed him his own cock," he snarled.
"Okay, maybe you need a little time to calm down, although I do give you points on creative cursing. My Chinese isn't actually that good, don't really go to the docks much, but if that means what I think that means, that elephant would make a pretty disgusting mess. Do they actually get diarrhea? I never really thought about it before, but I guess it's possible. Gross, but possible." Fat man reached up and scratched his neck as he watched with wide eyes.
Jayne gave the man his most withering look. He got at least some satisfaction when the zhu tou took another nervous step back. "The game was legal. You signed on," the fat man insisted.
"I were drunk past knowing my own name," Jayne growled as vague memories of a contract floated into his mind.
"Jayne Cobb, right?" the guy asked.
"Yeah."
"Then you knew your name because you signed Jayne Cobb. You want to see a copy?"
Jayne closed his eyes and leaned back against the bars of the cage. Well, cao. This were a special kind of all fucked up. "I suppose you offering to let me see it means it actually is legal," he sighed. "Weren't fair, but I reckon fair and legal don't always amount to the same thing."
"Can have the magistrate out for you to get it checked if you want, but I bought you off the gambling house after you lost, and the gambling houses are real careful about not making mistakes."
"Cao."
"Got a good price. Some of the slavers thought you might be a little hard to handle, and after the number of weapons they took from you, most people just quit bidding right there."
Jayne's fingers involuntarily went to his belt, his sleeve, the small of his back. He didn't even bother checking his gorram boot. Little fat man just kept right on talking.
"… but I figure if you worked on a slave ship, you probably understand… well… you know."
"I reckon I know what kind of niou-se my life just started resembling," Jayne offered.
"I wouldn't really say that. I was just going to point out that as a registered slave you can't exactly get off the planet. Or travel by yourself or buy food or get much more than two miles without setting off an alarm."
"Know that already," Jayne sighed. He was never one for planning, but this situation might take a little patience. The central slaving worlds had security that made the Alliance look like they just sat around scratching their asses all day. He wouldn't make it two miles before he got put in chains, and Jayne knew all too well what happened to slaves that had reputations for running. But if played good little boy and got sold to one of the border worlds as a worker, well, a farmer wouldn't really have a chance at holding him. The part that really pissed him off, though, was that he'd lost Vera. Had that gun a long gorram time, and losing her over something this stupid just really rubbed wrong.
Jayne slid down the bars and sat on the floor of the cage.
"Maybe I should let you recover some," the man said softly.
"Need to piss," Jayne said. He looked up and could see the uncertainty on his owner's face. "Ain't going to do nuthing stupid in the middle of a slaver world. I'm assuming I'm already chipped."
"At the gambling house."
"Shiong mao niao."
"So running really wouldn't improve things much. They'd actually make things a lot worse, and I figure you're thinking they're already pretty bad, but it's not as bad as you thing. I know—"
"Need to piss or I'll piss on your shoes," Jayne interrupted the man's pep talk as he got up again. The world tilted a bit for a second.
"Oh, um, okay." The man turned his back and pulled something off the far wall. When he came back with chains, Jayne didn't even bother arguing. He'd chained plenty of slaves when he took them out of the cages on the Henrietta. He just put his hands through the gap in the front and waited. The fat man hesitated.
"I'm not kidding about pissing on you," Jayne warned, and the man snapped the chains around Jayne's wrists.
"Just don't go thinking you can hit me," he said as he held the chain and unlocked the cage door.
Jayne pushed it open and stepped out into the barn. "I know I can hit you, little man. Could probably snap your neck like a twig." Jayne paused just long enough to see the fear in his owner's eyes. "It probably weren't worth it, not unless you annoy me real bad, anyway," Jayne shrugged.
"I. . . you—"
"Need to pee, and that need's getting plenty insistent," Jayne said as he stood next to his cage.
"You say something like that and then expect me to just. . . maybe you should get back in the cage. I'd feel better with your hands behind your back."
"Look little man, I know it ain't going to do me no good to hurt you, and I have to pee. I'd appreciate it and would consider it a mighty big favor if you could just point me at the outhouse before I pee on you." Jayne considered the man for several seconds before he gave a nervous nod that made his neck fat jiggle a bit.
"Right," he said weakly and then led Jayne out into the sun. Jayne flinched back from the light that just made his head split near down the middle.
"Cao," he snapped as he tried to shield his eyes with his chained hands. If Mal were around, the captain would have a good laugh at his gorram mess. "Can't just keep calling you little man. You got a name?" Jayne asked as he stepped farther out into the sunlight. It was a farm. . . and it was kept about as well as the slave shed.
"Killer Mann."
Jayne gave the man a disbelieving look, but he didn't seem to be funnin'. Killer glanced over and caught Jayne's expression.
"Parents were new to the territory. Thought a real tough name would help me not get walked on."
"It work?"
"Not really," Killer admitted. "Most folks call me Mann."
Jayne just snorted and went into the outhouse when Mann held the door open. The fact that the door stayed open didn't bother him, but the gorram chains made it hard for him to work his pants. He finished, wiped his hands on his pant legs and went back out to face his owner, not bothering to get cranky when Mann again grabbed the chain that dangled down between his wrists.
"Right then, what now?" Jayne asked. "I'm on the transporting end of the deal, not the processing." Jayne tried not to look worried, but not knowing was making him a little crazy.
Instead of focusing on Mann, he looked around the place. The house was passable, needed some paint. A few chickens wandered the yard, and the fence leaned drunkenly, several of the rails already on the ground. All in all, it looked like the Cobb farm the first day his step father had come. His mother had put one of those gorram ads out, widow with a farm looking for a husband. Even when the wang ba dan was trying to be charming and all friendly-like, he'd looked around their farm with disgust.
"Uh, training, but I figured you want to sleep off the hangover. There's no hurry," Mann said as he looked up. He fiddled with the chain, and Jayne could read Mann's mind about as easy as River read his. Didn't mean he were offering to kneel just because his owner was feeling mighty uncomfortable looking up at him.
"Training? I'm not a gorram dog," Jayne said darkly. That didn't get an answer, and he sighed. "What exactly do you plan on training me to do?"
"That depends on what your skills are. What did you do before?"
"Killed people," Jayne said shortly. Mann's dark skin lost a lot of its color.
"Really?" he finally asked in a shaky voice.
"Gos-se. I'm not likely to kill you seeing as how that'd put me in real trouble, but I've done my share. Usually I just get hired as muscle, sometimes I intimidate people to make 'em remember what it were important for them to remember."
"Oh, I, uh, bet you were good at your job."
"Real good," Jayne agreed.
"I don't think… I mean, there's not really much call for slaves to kill people. Not really the point. I don't suppose you have any other skills. Fixing things? Cooking?"
"My cooking generally leads right back to people being dead," Jayne admitted. "Worked a farm when I was a boy."
"Farm work. We could train you up and sell you for farm labor." Mann sounded so damn cheerful about it that Jayne thought for one second he just might be annoyed enough to break the man's neck.
"Not that… I'm sure… Shit." Mann stared off into the distance. "Are you planning on glaring at me like that the whole three weeks you're here?"
"Three weeks?" Jayne asked. He really wasn't sure that Mann would survive three weeks, chains or no chains. The little man was more annoying than Wash had ever dreamed of being. Immediately, Jayne flinched away from that memory.
"Every new slave has to train for three weeks, to make sure he knows what to do."
"I know how to do farm work, and I'm not going to gorram snap your neck, so I reckon I got the basics down."
"Let's talk in the barn."
Jayne set his feet. "I figure we can talk here," Jayne argued. Mann dropped the chain to Jayne's hands and backed away, his hand going to his pocket.
"Whoa there, little man. I ain't doing nuthin but talking." Jayne held his hands up and backed away a step himself. He could think of any number of things that might be in that there pocket, and there weren't none that he wanted to see the business end of.
"I'm really not good with slaving, truth be told, but I told you to go to the barn, and as much as I don't want to, I'll hurt you if you don't go." Mann backed off another step, and looked more ready to have a heart attack than do anyone any harm, but Jayne'd been around enough to know that scared people did stupid things. Real stupid things. It occurred to Jayne he mighta done one or two stupid things himself when scared, and he wasn't looking to back Mann into any corners.
"No problem, little man. If you want to talk in the barn, we talk in the barn." Jayne started sliding toward the barn, keeping his eyes on Mann. Felt wrong, backing down to a fat little man like this. This wasn't like backing down to Mal because the captain had proved often enough that he knew how to get their asses out of trouble better than Jayne. Wasn't even like having to back down to River. After trying to sell her to the Alliance, he figured she had a right to get in a few hits, and she was strong enough that backing down to her just felt natural-like. But this fat man?
Jayne gritted his teeth knowing he didn't have much of a choice. It'd feel more wrong if Mann called for some backup or if he had a weapon in there. Course, in other circumstances, Jayne could snap him and free himself easy enough, but on a slave world, with a slave chip, he wouldn't get far. So, since surviving was his best skill, he'd survive. Jayne only turned his back on his new owner when he went into the barn and headed for the slave cage without protest.
Staring at the far wall with his back to the cage door, Jayne waited until he heard the click of metal before he turned back around. Mann was sweating, and really looked like he might have a heart attack any second. Didn't leave Jayne feeling too good about what would happen to him if his owner went and died on him, leaving him all locked up.
"No trouble, see?" Jayne said soothingly, or at least he tried for soothing. Mann still jumped like Jayne had cursed him out in two languages. Then he started laughing weakly.
"Wife told me I had no business buying a big slave like you. Have heart problems, which is why I need the money from a good sale."
Jayne really didn't have anything good to say about that so he just leaned back against the bars of the cage and focused on ignoring his headache. Gorram mess.
"You're going to intimidate most buyers if you glare at them like that. So, part of your training has to be for you to stop looking like a hired killer."
Jayne looked at Mann blankly.
"And I'm thinking that may not be easy. You really do look dangerous, so let's start somewhere easy. You're so big that you're going to need to kneel when you're talking to your owner."
Jayne narrowed his eyes, but when Mann's hand went to his pocket, Jayne slowly sank to his knees. He'd known it was coming, so it shouldn't have felt like such a kick to the guts, but it did. Life really did hate Jayne Cobb.
Nearly three weeks later, Jayne brushed the sweat off his forehead before slipping his hat back on. Whole gorram fence was ready to fall apart. Something just felt right about pulling it up and putting the new one in. Leastwise, it was a whole lot better than sitting in the barn twiddling his thumbs doing a whole lot of nothing. He remembered being a boy and replacing a fence on their farm with his father. The old man had pulled the rotting wood from the ground and held it out for Jayne, showing him the tiny white bugs in the crumbling splinters.
Funny how working under the sun brought back memories he didn't rightly even know he still had. His father had shown him where to dig new holes to avoid the bugs, explained how a good fence could last a generation. His own father had put in the fence they were taking down. Jayne didn't have much memory of his grandfather, seemed like the Cobb men were destined to die young. Jayne felt a flash of anger.
Gorram fence hadn't lasted long after all. The part him and his father put in got tore down with what was left standing of the rotten one from his grandfather's time first settling the ranch. In fact, the gorram thing only lasted about six months longer than his gorram father who'd gone and died on them. Jayne put his shovel deep into the ground and tossed the dirt to one side as he tried to unbury the base. Whoever put this in hadn't packed the bottom with rock, made it too easy for the bugs to come in and eat the wood. Jayne had already fixed that on the first half of the fence line, and hopefully this fence would last longer than that one from his memory. Weren't nothing left of that fence after a year, not even firewood.
His step father had come with money… not enough money to buy the kind of land he wanted, but then he'd found a widow for that part. One of the first things he'd done was hire a rig to come in and rip out the wood fence and replace it with an electrical one. The neighbors had been mighty put out since it was their cows that kept showing up with electrical burns, but Jayne's step-father never had been one for caring what other people thought. The man certainly didn't think much of a cryin' child throwing a tantrum, that's for sure.
Jayne had watched that machine destroy in one day everything he'd spent weeks working at building with his father. His ma had tried to sit and explain, Jayne remembered that, but it had just seemed so gorram unfair. Cows getting into the garden didn't seem near as important as erasing something that his father had built, something Jayne's own hands had helped build. He'd held the post as his father had shoveled the rock, and now some chou ba guai machine was rippin' it out.
His step father had slapped him across the face and called him a baby, and not even that had stopped him. Jayne hadn't stopped throwing his fit until he'd seen his ma start crying. He never did stop being angry, even when he told his ma he had. Never lied to his ma before that.
Sinking the shovel into the hard ground, Jayne pried on it again, muscles straining as he tried to get the old post out. The rotted wood gave with a sharp crack and Jayne stumbled back a bit. Felt good, making something give way to him. The wood would make passable firewood once he'd corded it. He might have time for that tomorrow. He figured he'd proved himself enough to be trusted with an ax. If not, he'd leave it for Mann up by the house. The way the man wheezed when he did anything more than walk a dozen steps, the wood would rot to dust before he got around to chopping firewood, but maybe the missus could finish the job after she dropped that pup of hers.
A noise behind him meant that Mann was ready to be noticed. Jayne had given up trying to pay attention whenever the man appeared because apparently other people found it real unnatural how he knew when someone was behind him. Jayne couldn't exactly turn off that sense of danger when people were at his back, but he was getting better at ignoring it. At this point, if it got him dead, Jayne could only count that as a blessing.
He leaned the shovel against the bit of fence that was still standing and sank wearily to his knees. It were getting too easy to do that, and having to kneel for Mann had ruined most of his good bunk fantasies, but Jayne was getting used to that, too.
"I can't believe how much of the fence you have done; it's looking great. I'll go into town and get more posts." Mann held out a glass of lemonade, and Jayne reached for it, ignoring the flare of something warm at the compliment.
"Not smart, letting the wood rot. Once it gets bugs, the things will take out the good wood with the bad," Jayne said. If he couldn’t come right out and call Mann fat and little, he'd settle for getting more subtle digs in. Problem bein' that either Jayne was remarkable bad at being subtle—which very well might be the case—or Mann was unusual thick.
He just nodded with a hint of embarrassment in his smile. "Can't do the work myself, and most of the slaves I get aren't the best. I can't really afford high-quality slaves."
Jayne focused on his lemonade and not the thoughts rattling around in his brain. Fact was, this place weren't bad. The missus cooked good, and the work was satisfying. Okay, not as satisfying as seeing some wang ba dan look at him with fear in his eyes, but seeing the new fence finished along the west side gave Jayne some satisfaction.
"Are you going to be finished in three days? If you can dig out the old posts and set new ones, I should be able to handle the cross pieces, but I don't want the fence down, and with the baby coming, I can't afford a hired hand."
Jayne tipped his hat back before he finished the lemonade. "Could keep me around the place. If you had someone who weren't so sickly, you could put in some cows. That west field would take corn good," Jayne suggested slowly. A little piece of his brain kicked him… hard. He'd never slip free of the leash here on Estias, but if he went and got sold, there weren't no guarantee that he'd be sold to a border-world. Better the owner you know. And Mann was looking thoughtful.
"I really wish I could." Mann took his own hat off and nervously scratched at his turkey neck, something that always meant the man was about to say something that Jayne wasn't going to like none. "I'll never be able to afford anyone as good as you, and I'm really afraid you aren't going to bring full value at market. You have a habit of looking scary when you aren't being careful, so it seems like a good business move, keeping you around the place."
Mann sighed heavily, and Jayne could hear the 'but' in that silence. "The wife really doesn't want a slave around when the baby comes. I mean, she knows you aren't dangerous, and she really appreciates the work you've put in here at the farm. Let me tell you, she doesn't just make her strawberry-rhubarb pie in the middle of the week for no reason. But she's not really okay with slavery. She puts up with me bringing someone home for three weeks every now and then because we need the money." More neck scratching. "I even tried to talk to her about keeping… you know." Mann just sort of ran out of words, which was unusual. Most times, the man could talk until Jayne's ears was hurting.
"So, she's okay with me bein' sold to someone I don't know, but she weren't willing to even consider keeping me around?" Jayne summarized that whole awkward speech. Mann didn't answer, which was answer enough.
"I tried," Mann said unhappily as he held out his hand. Jayne handed over the lemonade glass.
"Ain't your fault," Jayne sighed. Likely it wasn't. Mann had all the spine of a jellyfish, and for all the missus' good cooking, she wouldn't never even meet Jayne. He didn't know her past a glimpse of a female face at a window. And maybe she were right, Jayne wasn't the sort you wanted around if you were going to have little 'uns running around the place.
"I need to go into town," Mann blurted.
Jayne nodded and started to stand, but Mann's hand landed on his shoulder, keeping him in place. Jayne still had to fight a gut-level need to shake off that controlling hand.
"I thought maybe I could let you work the fence while I took the cart in."
Jayne looked up in surprise. When Mann was gone, Jayne spent his time in the slave cage. He'd discovered over the last two and a half weeks that there weren't nothing in this world he hated more than having to sit still with his own thoughts, but it wasn't like anyone had asked for his opinion on the matter.
"Could work on getting the last three posts down before sunset," Jayne agreed casually.
Mann shifted nervously from one foot to the other.
"I ain't going to go and get stupid," Jayne said with a sign. There was stupid and then there was trying to run on a slave world. Jayne's stupidity ran to getting drunk and gambling with his own freedom, not getting himself tortured and broken.
"I'm just counting on the price you'll bring what with the doctor's bills, and if you run, that's the sort of thing that would go in your sale file," Mann admitted slowly, and the discussion of Jayne's price was enough to sour any warm and fuzzy feeling he'd had earlier.
"I'm a mite bit more worried about what they'd do to me when they caught up with me," Jayne pointed out, his anger barely in check. Having Mann talk about his sale like he were a cow did hit that aggravation button pretty hard.
"See, that's the expression that's not likely to inspire trust in any buyers. I know you're just cranky, but they might think you were looking 'bout ready to snap my neck like a twig." Mann gave a weak laugh that ended abruptly.
Jayne didn't answer since whatever he said was likely to get him locked in his cage again. Instead he just tried to push aside the frustration of his coming sale and focus on the nice straight fence section he'd finished as it cast a long shadow in the afternoon light. For heavy minutes, Jayne knelt and endured Mann's hand on his shoulder.
"Right then, I should go," Mann said, uncharacteristically quiet. Jayne still didn't answer. "Jayne," he said softly, "I'm real sorry. I appreciate how much you've done because no way under the sun would I ever have worked you this hard, and you been giving your everything here. Means a lot, what you've done. I know I'm not a good provider for my family, and sometimes I don't rightly know how we're going to make it through another winter, but what you've done here matters. I really am sorry."
Jayne took a deep breath. "Got your own family to worry about. I'll take care of myself, always have," Jayne said shortly. Wasn't much else to say. Mann's hand disappeared, but Jayne kept his eyes focused on this distant fence rather than Mann's awkward heavy-footed walk as he headed for the barn.
Resting on his knees, Jayne watched as Mann drove the cart up the road. Kaylee should look at that engine what with the rattling noise. Jayne shoved that thought as far back as he could. He'd turned his back on them just as sure as he'd turned his back on his ma and Matty. Weren't Matty's fault he was the offspring of that wang ba dan his ma had married, but Jayne still didn't even write him. Yeah, he was good at walking away, about as good as people were at letting him walk away.
Jayne felt an uncontrollable anger rise up that Mal had just let him leave. His anger didn't make no sense because Mal hadn't ever taken responsibility for anyone on the Serenity. If someone wanted to walk away, he just got that constipated expression of his and crossed his arms. And River hadn't even come out to see him off.
River's words drifted through his mind: he thought too loud. Never thought the crazy girl would be right about anything, but she was right about that. Gorram thoughts just kept bouncing around his head like freight no one had secured before Wash sent the ship into a roll.
Wash, River, Mal. Reaching up, Jayne fingered the blue stone around his neck. Kaylee. It was like they still colored his memories, more than his ma and that long-dead father he still hated for leavin' him, more than a decade of reveling in doing bad. He wondered if those years on Serenity would still feel shiny after a few decades of digging in the dirt because if he got sold on one of the three slave worlds, he were going to die a slave. Least, he'd be a slave until he was too old to work, and then he'd be turned out "free" to starve to death. Feeling old enough to be ready for pasture already, Jayne pushed himself up and picked up the shovel. The next post wouldn't dig itself out of the ground.
He tried to find that place where all that mattered was the shovel digging into the earth, a place where seeing his work was enough to let his mind slide away from that all-powerful fear of his yangwei future. Instead, each shovelful weighted on him, his muscles straining against the dirt and the old wood as his thoughts kept creeping back in. Gorram thoughts just weren't leaving him be.
River had said they shouted in the darkness. Jayne closed his eyes and struggled with some unnamed emotion for a moment. If it weren't for her, he'd still be back on Serenity. He wouldn't be looking at a life of being worked on some farm by some gan ni niang who could do what he pleased. Jayne wouldn't be stuck in no life where he didn't have no recourse, where he couldn’t go complaining to the captain or jumping ship when things got too hard. 'Course, if he could just get sold to some dirt farmer on some border world or some ship that hauled him out for sale on a border world, he could slip the leash, and stay gorram free as long as he avoided slaver worlds and bounty hunters. That was better than turning his life over to whatever asshole bought him at auction.
Jayne sank the shovel as deep as he could, his arm muscles straining. Had enough of bein' under someone else's power. His ma had given him over to his step-father for disciplining and look how well that worked out. Jayne could almost feel the hot strikes of the belt across his naked butt. Cao. Didn't want to think about that. Should just focus on work.
Time after time, Jayne raised the shovel and brought it down hard against the hard-packed earth. Clods flew as he attacked the ground with all the frustration he felt rising up in his chest. Hadn't felt this gorram helpless since he'd been that kid bent over a chair with his step-father's hand holding him down. Didn't want to feel that helpless now. Just couldn't stop feeling it.
Jayne only dimly noticed the base of the post leaning, the ground yielding to his furious blows. Stomping to the next post, he attacked the ground around the new post, working until his shoulders burned and his elbows ached with the force of the blows against the unyielding earth. The edge of his shovel hit the wood and split it, and Jayne cursed as he struggled to pull the thing free of the divided post. The metal screeched against the wood as he yanked it free. Struggling to catch his breath, Jayne dropped the shovel and sat heavily on the ground, resting his head against his forearms. Cao. Yeah, if Mal could see him now, the cap would have a real good laugh at how much Jayne had fucked his own life.
Closing his eyes tightly, Jayne struggled to just breathe, breathe and focus on the here and now. He couldn't control his gorram future, so he just needed to focus on the fence. Nothin' mattered but the fence. If he could just put that up nice and straight, he didn't need to think about anything else.
Jayne glanced at the distant hills on the far side of the house. A part of him wanted to run real bad. Real bad. He didn't reckon he'd get far, but it'd give him a reason to be playin' such a fucking cooperative little slave. Building Mann his fence, tryin' so hard to do it just the way his father'd shown him. He was fucking weak. Never should've knelt to a fat zhu tou like Killer Mann. If he ran, they'd send soldiers after him. Might even kill him. He could go down fighting someone who weren't fat and stupid and weak.
Jayne stood up and looked at them hills. Really looked. The curtains fluttered at the window, and Jayne could see just one eye. From here, he couldn't even see what color it were. The missus. He wondered what she saw when she looked out her window at him. Obviously wasn't anything too good. Jayne glanced back at the section he was working. One good shove and this post would give, leaving him just one last post standing.
Jayne glanced towards the hills again. He might've done it, but he was just so gorram tired. Picking up the shovel, he headed for the last post. He could get it out and stack them up by the house before dark if he hurried.
The slave market was about as embarrassing as Jayne had expected it to be. He ended up sitting on a platform raised up about two feet from the dust of the market square. If he stood next to the post where Mann had chained his leg, he'd be above the crowd and too gorram conspicuous for his own liking, so like the other slaves all on their own little platforms, he sat down and bent his legs in front of him.
Just like on the Henrietta, most of the slaves were men. Didn't need to buy whores since they sold themselves in the houses, so most of the slaves were needed for working. Every once in a while, the crowd would thin, and Jayne would catch sight of a black-haired woman almost to the other side of the square, but for the most part, the slaves were all young men who were stupid enough or desperate enough or maybe just drunk enough to make the same gorram bad decision Jayne had.
Rather than watch the buyers who wandered the square, Jayne kept his eyes closed and wrapped his arms around his bent knees. It made it easier to avoid growling at the people who walked by and poked at him. About his only chance now was looking meek enough for work on one of the border planets. Mann had already shown him the advert he'd written, and it did put Jayne in a goodly light. Funny, Jayne usually avoided work, but that advert made him sound like a regular work horse. 'Course working was better than sitting in a gorram slave cage.
Jayne snorted at his ability to lie to himself. Harder to keep up those lies when a man had too much time alone for thinking thoughts that didn't fit into the little fantasy he'd built. Weren't no drinking or whoring or turning his anger on anyone else when he was in a slave cage in the middle of the night and couldn't sleep.
Jayne had always seen himself as strong, but these last three weeks had made Jayne start rethinking that. The longer he'd lived with his step-father, the more the man's words had come true. Man had called him a worm, and Jayne had tried his best to prove he had backbone, more than anyone on the whole damn planet. Had gotten himself in a world of trouble that way, and he knew he'd started losing whatever goodness his ma and pa ever tried to fill his head with. It was like trying to prove that he weren't a worm made him into one because Jayne knew his pa would have tanned him good for some of the stunts he pulled. 'Course his step-father tanned him, but what came after… the contempt… it just made him want to go out and do worse. His step-father would have a right laugh over Jayne being on a slave post.
But it weren't just that that made him weak. Put him on the Black Darling with Rick Smith, and he'd done started down a path that would have made his ma cry… if she'd ever known just how much of a wang ba dan he'd become. Put him on the Serenity, and pretty soon he was trying to figure out how to be a better man, how to be someone worth writing a gorram song about. Put him on the Henrietta and watch him drink himself stupid and sell himself into slavery. Put him on Mann's farm, and he'd been all about fixing up some farm that weren't even his.
He was gorram weak. Right now, Jayne figured he was about the weakest yanse lang in the whole gorram 'verse. Someone stopped to read the advert on the slave next to him, and Jayne leaned his head back against the post. The guy on the next stand jerked, his ankle chain rattling, but Jayne didn't bother looking. He wondered who he'd be in ten years. If he didn't get bought by one of the ships that ran out to the border planets, he figured he'd become one of them cow-eyed slaves that don't even bother looking at the hills anymore.
Wasn't a pleasant thing to discover about himself.
"Jayne," hissed a familiar voice, and Jayne had to take stock and make sure he hadn't lost his mind before he tilted his head up and cracked open an eye.
Then he had to blink to make sure he wasn't seeing things. "This is right embarrassing," Jayne muttered as Mal stepped close. River was behind him, that head tilted to the side, and even with her being bat-shit crazy, he was still happier to see them than he'd ever been to see anyone before in his life.
"You sold yourself?" Mal asked. "You done some mighty stupid things since I knowed you, Jayne Cobb, but you sold yourself?"
"Was drunk."
"Must've been gorram good whiskey," Mal swore as he read the advert nailed to the front of Jayne's post. "And you must've buffaloed whoever wrote this something good," he added as he gave the post with the advert nailed to it a good thump. "Motivated to work." Mal gave a good snort to let it known what he thought of that.
"You here for rescuing or humiliatin' me?" Jayne asked, more than a little annoyed with what Mann had written now that Mal was reading it.
"Here to buy a slave," River announced as she watched the crowds with interest. Mal graced her with a look that suggested she hadn't been having one of her better days.
"You had to bring her?" Jayne asked. River turned and briefly smiled sweetly at him, making his blood run cold, before she went back to watching the buyers.
"Can't rightly say I brought her," Mal said dryly, and there was definitely a story in there. "You're due up for sale in two hours, so we'll get you back to the Serenity after that."
"I can still hear you thinking all loud," River said as she glanced Jayne's way.
"Captain, I'd feel better if you did the bidding and not her," Jayne said carefully. Mal glanced over.
"Don't reckon I can blame you for that. She's been a mite bit peevish since you've been gone."
"I haven't," River objected to that. "You just need to get laid."
Jayne almost snorted up a lung at that outburst. Mal gave him a nasty look.
River really looked at Jayne then, looked so close that Jayne could feel himself squirm. "The Henrietta sent your bag back to us. You listed Mal as next of kin when you signed up," she offered, and Jayne had to remind himself that asking how they'd found him was a real reasonable question, so it weren't like she was reading his mind. Hopefully. He glared at her, and that just made her smile wider. It wasn't a real comforting expression.
"Maybe we can talk 'bout this once we get back home. Don't rightly feel like having this conversation when you're chained to a post in the middle of a market," Mal pointed out, and now Jayne noticed the frown and the way Mal looked around uncomfortably. "Idiot," he felt the need to add, but Jayne wasn't disagreeing.
"Fair enough," Jayne agreed. "And captain," he said when Mal had started turning away. Mal looked back at him. "Thanks."
"You're working off every gorram credit I'm paying for you," Mal warned. "And you'd better be about as good-natured about working as that there advert says you are."
Working it off… on the Serenity. Jayne couldn't even pretend to be unhappy 'bout that. Mal gave him a sharp nod and then tugged the brim of his hat down as he hurried through the market crowd. Unfortunately, River didn't follow. She wandered closer to the short platform where he was sitting and plopped down on the edge. For a second, Jayne had a little fantasy of kicking her right off into the dust of the road, but he could just imagine how well that'd go over.
"Slave platforms are for the slaves," he said instead. She pulled one foot up under her.
"I didn't mean for you to go away."
Jayne snorted his answer to that bit of stupidity and leaned back against his post. Now that he knew Mal was here to claim him, he looked around the crowd. Wasn't sure, but it looked like a couple of Henrietta's crew were walking the rows. Jayne indulged in a nice little fantasy about Lexos wandering close enough for Jayne to break his neck. He may not remember all of that night when he'd lost his freedom, but he sure as guai remembered Lexos showing him the jackpot and explaining how a man could make a lifetime's wages in one hand of poker. Jayne'd been too gorram drunk to be foolin' with poker, but then that were just more proof of Jayne's weaknesses. Captain was right, he was an idiot.
"Ugly thoughts. Not as confusing as before, though," River said as she reached out and fingered the edge of his sleeve. Jayne pulled his arm back.
"Don't need you doing your crazy talk 'round here. Got enough problems without having to deal with you."
"I should have known that you'd run. I should've gone out there and told the captain that he couldn't let you leave." River didn't touch him again, but her fingers rubbed on the grain of the wood that made the platform. She stared at it like she could find all the answers in the universe there, and maybe in her own mind, she could. Jayne didn't even pretend to understand what went on in her head.
"You think the captain could've stopped me?" Jayne gave a laugh.
"Yes." The simple word almost whispered ended Jayne's laugh pretty quick.
"Weren't his right to be telling me what to do. I left. My decision," Jayne insisted, and right now he'd do about anything to get out of this conversation, but chained to the post, there weren't much he could do except sit there.
"He's all confused. He could stop you, but I don't think he wants to know that," River nodded slowly.
"I ain't tryin' to start a fight I'll lose, but you do know you're gorram nuts, right?" Jayne asked. "The captain ain't the one who's confused."
River looked at him, and for a half second, Jayne had visions of getting backhanded right off the platform. He wondered if anyone would try to stop her from banging up the merchandise before the sale, but that would be Mann's job, protecting him, and that would be the shortest fight in the history of the whole damn 'verse.
Instead of hitting him, she chewed her lip and looked all thoughtful for a second before she answered. "Most of the time I can hear my own thoughts clear, but sometimes other thoughts just spill over, and I can't sort 'em fast enough," River said, sounding more sane that usual. "I shouldn't have offered to take your pain until I had it all sorted out in my head what I should do, but I made that mistake. Got to fix it now." Jayne looked at her and wondered if she was sane enough to not break his arm if he kicked her off his platform. She laid her cheek down on her bent knee and looked at him.
"Cao," he swore. "Can't go hitting you when you look like some kid doing that," he complained.
"Not a kid."
"Reckon I know that. Guai, even the Reavers know that."
"Not crazy," River said in that same tone of voice. A passing customer gave her a real strange look.
"Ain't so sure on that count."
"Only as crazy as you," she said as she looked at him with another of her creepifying smiles.
"I'm about as sane as they come."
"Except the part where you sold yourself," River said in an annoyingly sane voice.
"Were drunk. And I gambled my freedom, I didn't gorram sell myself like some ji nv. Besides, I weren't the one who gutted you."
And the closest customer hurried away with her floral dress all swirling around her ankles as she nearly ran.
"Didn't gut you."
"Used a butcher knife on me."
"Just sliced a bit, is all," she argued, and for that one second, she sounded more like Kaylee than those nicely educated words of her brother. Jayne glared at her, and she slowly smiled. "I hurt you, but you can't say you weren't looking to get hurt," she shrugged. "Even then I could hear you, but there were too many voices. I didn't hear right."
"Damn well didn't hear right. Never asked for someone to gut me with a knife."
River reached out, and Jayne froze as her fingers reached under his shirt and traced the edges of the scar she'd left on him.
"I'm not bought and paid for. Should keep your hands to yourself," he said, and his guts were sending up so many emotions that Jayne couldn't even feel one before another came flashing through like a lightning storm. Fear was in there, desire and embarrassment and a flat out certainty that Mal was going to hand him his balls for letting River do this… it was all chasing through his brain.
"Yet," she said, her fingers tracing the hard line of the scar up on his stomach up and then down. "Not bought and paid for yet."
"Well, I don't think the captain will be giving you privileges," Jayne said as he finally gathered the courage to push her hand away. He wasn't intimidated by much, but knowing just what River could do, it made a man think twice about what he might be willing to just endure.
"Is that scar bigger than the one on your back?"
Jayne froze.
River's eyes drifted shut. "You think of her so often, of how she left fire on your skin and let all the loud thoughts scream themselves silent."
"Get out of my gorram thoughts," Jayne snarled, and now he were angry. River just watched him with those wide eyes of hers that reminded him of a cow, just blinking and watching.
"I shouldn't have let you leave."
"Can't tell a man what to do," Jayne said firmly. And yeah, it was a stupid thing to be saying. River reached down and trailed fingers over the cold steel locked around Jayne's leg just above his boot. "Weren't a slave then," he growled.
"Shouldn't have let you leave. Should have tied you up and kept you in my cabin until the mood passed," River said dreamily. "Got all confused, worse than the captain even." And there went Jayne's idiot cock startin' to get wrong ideas as her hand stroked his leg.
Jayne reached out to shove her off his platform once and for all, and inhumanly strong hands grabbed him, held him. One around his arm, and the other around his leg just above that shackle, and the part of Jayne that knew how to survive froze. Glancing around, he could see how people kept their backs to him, how the folks were avoiding his platform, so there weren't no help coming from anyone else, and Mal wasn't anywhere to be seen. Cao.
"Thought you promised you wouldn't be taking anything that I weren't giving," he said slowly, the prey to the predator, and it weren't a position Jayne was real good at… being the prey. River looked up at him and blinked several times. The sanity of earlier was slipping away.
"I won't take your pain," she said. "Never your pain, but I won't go letting you hurt yourself again."
"I'm not your gorram responsibility," Jayne snarled. River just smiled sweetly and put her head on his shoulder. Jayne rolled his eyes but didn't do anything else as she scooted closer. "Feel free to leave any time," he suggested.
"Not leaving you."
"Don't need a gorram babysitter. Not like I'm going anywhere," he pointed out as he jerked on the chain around his ankle.
"Shouldn't be up here by yourself."
"The whole point of the gorram platform is so that I am up here alone," he pointed out all logical-like. She ignored him.
"So strong, but all alone in the dark." She closed her eyes. "I could always hear you so much easier than the others, maybe because you were in the dark with me."
Jayne narrowed his eyes as the crazy talk really got going good. "Not in the gorram dark," he growled. She didn't answer right away.
"Even when the Reavers danced in my head, I could find you. Your pain sparkled when theirs drank in all the light. Sometimes they would pluck the light from the world so fast that it would leave streaks through my mind, and when I could feel them pulling at me, I'd see you. But then sometimes, I'd shut that door altogether and dance in my memories where the Reavers couldn't find me, and then I'd lose you, too." She shifted around so she was mostly facing him, draping one leg over Jayne's and he jerked just enough to make his chain rattle. Her eyes didn't even come open as she shifted her small body around so she was wound around Jayne and just about in his lap, her head resting against his shoulder and her eyes still closed.
That was all crazy talk, crazier than since before Book had died and she'd reclaimed some piece of her mind. Jayne looked at her, not really sure what to say to that because all the talk of Reavers was makin' his skin crawl. Fortunately, the Reaver talk made his cock think twice before going and doing something stupid and embarrassing about having a female draped over him.
River had commandeered his right arm, so Jayne had to use his left to adjust his hat to keep the rising sun off his face. Either the crazy had gone to sleep or she were faking it real good, so Jayne decided he could ignore her about as well as she was ignoring him. He just wished she hadn't decided to pick him as her bunk for a morning nap. But if she were in all out crazy-mode, he wasn't planning on arguing with anything she did.
Once River settled down and stopped saying crazy things, the crowd eventually wandered close again. The curious stares he got just made Jayne roll his eyes. When River shifted, Jayne let his hand rest on her back, and she settled down again. Girl was still loonier than bat shit, but if Mal was going to hand him his balls on a plate anyway for getting all personal with her, he might as well not make it worse by letting her go sliding off into the dirt when she was deep enough asleep to not notice.
Leaning back against his post, Jayne watched the shadows and tried figuring out the time until that two hours Mal had promised him were up.
The barker stood on the slave platform behind Jayne and gestured toward him. There was a goodly crowd, and Jayne tried his best to ignore all those eyes on him as the barker worked the crowd. "Next up is Jayne Cobb. He's a new one, only three weeks with Killer Mann, so you know he's coming with just as much spunk as he had when he signed that contract in Shiner's Gambling House." A soft laugh ran through the crowd, and Jayne crossed his arms and tried hard to not react to having so many people talking about him. The two guards that stood on either side helped a mite bit with that part.
"He worked as a ship hand on the Henrietta and a half dozen ships before that. Grew up on a farm, and Manny says he replaced the whole fence 'round the front of his property. Seeing as how Manny couldn't motivate a rabbit to reproduce, I think it's safe to say this one isn't adverse to hard work." This time the laughter was louder, and Jayne glanced over toward Manny who just laughed along with the rest of them. If that were Jayne, he'd be breaking the slave barker into little pieces for sayin' shi like that. Could be that was why most people wouldn't say something like that about Jayne.
"He looks tough, and if he replaced that whole fence on Manny's property, I'm guessing that it's fair to say he is tough, but Manny left him working the farm with Ursula there on her own, so either Jayne's not nearly as mean as he looks or Manny's a whole lot stupider than we all thought he was." That got an even bigger laugh. "Of course, ya'll saw what happened when one of the customers decided to go and take a nap on him. He may look mean as a rabid badger, but this one seems to be more bark than bite."
Jayne glared up at the barker, and would have been plenty happy to show the man just how much bite he had. Unfortunately, the guards stepped closer and the barker just laughed and gave Jayne's shoulder a friendly slap.
"Let's start with the standard 400 credits. I got anyone interested?" Several hands went up.
The barker rubbed his hands in undisguised glee, and Jayne really hated that this man would be getting a percentage of Mal's money. "Seems like we have a bit of a horserace for this one. Anyone interested at 500?"
A couple of men up front, a woman in yellow, Mal, and River all raised their hands. Even though Mal and River were standing near the back, Jayne could see the captain give River a mighty unhappy look. Might have something to do with the fact that her cuddling had convinced a number of people that Jayne weren't a dangerous sort. Drove his price right up, and if Jayne weren't anxious to get out of town, he'd be happy to disabuse the town of that belief.
"600?" the barker asked. Mal, River and a man up front still raised their hands.
"650?" This time it was only Mal and River with their hands up. Even though Jayne knew Mal would buy him, seeing the other fellow drop out of the bidding still made a wave of relief wash through. Would have sat down right in the dust of the road if there weren't so many people still staring at him.
"650!" Mal called out.
"We have 650, but come on, people. Big slave like this could do a lot of work. Manny said he even volunteered to run the Mann place, put in some cows and a cornfield. I know some of you widows could use a big strapping man who don't need supervising around the place," the barker cajoled the crowd.
"670," a woman in a blue dress called. She had a face like a horse and a half-dozen kids attached to her skirts.
"680," Mal immediately countered. The crowd fell silent as the barker scanned their faces. Whatever he saw, he decided to push a little harder.
"We can do better. Look at his muscle. And did ya'll see how quick he was to get away from that girl who went and cuddled up with him? He sure hadn't invited her to sit down, but he didn't say nothing about her falling asleep in his lap. That's a slave you don't have to worry about around your children."
"700," the woman in the blue dress called out. Another woman called out "710." Jayne was about ready to kill someone just to recover his reputation. They were making him out to be some sort of teddy bear, and even his best glare weren't slowing them down. "720," the blue dress yelled. "730," the other countered.
This were hell. Jayne had up and died and no one had bothered telling him. If story of this got out, Jayne weren't never living it down. Zoe would make those quiet-like comments that didn't sound like insults until he'd thought about it a spell and the doc would just come right out with the meanness. And with the captain and River watching, no way in guai that the rest of the crew wasn't going to hear all about it. Hell, any man here would let River do whatever she gorram wanted if they'd seen her go ripping through the Reavers, but all these folk saw it as proof that Jayne were something warm and fuzzy. And Mann…. Jayne was fighting real hard to not go over and punch that wide toothy smile of his.
"750," Mal shouted from the back. There was another pause as the crowd waited.
"Ladies?" the barker asked. First one and then the other shook her head. "Any other bidders? The stranger is getting a deal at 750. 500 gets you most standard work slaves, and Jayne here is far from standard. No supervising needed. Looks tough enough to keep most folks from messing with him, so you don't have to go rescuing your property from every teen playing a prank. My guess is that any teen playing a prank would find himself on the right end of a switch if he messed with Jayne here, but he's got a good temperament. You ain't going to find one like this again, so are you good folks really going to let a stranger walk away with the deal of the auction?" He looked around the crowd, and Jayne thought he just might have a blush going. He hadn't blushed since he was 15 and figured out just how getting sexed worked, but he could feel the heat in his face. Gorram embarrassing.
"We'll give 780," an old woman called. She was standing near another woman who looked positively ancient.
"800," Mal immediately shouted, but he weren't sounding happy about it.
"Now that's a little more fair, but he's still a bargain. Surely someone can pay the price Jayne here deserves. You know what they say, a good-natured slave is worth twice the slave price. This one is good-natured and huge. You won't find another like Jayne in a year of auctions." The barker looked around, but this time no one was meeting Mal's bid. "Last warning!"
"850!" It took Jayne a second to realize that was River's hand up in the air. Mal looked at her blankly for a second before leaning down and saying something in her ear.
"Ah, the young lady who had her nap on him earlier. I bet she felt safe sleeping around such a strapping man." Jayne couldn't contain a snort at that comment. River weren't one to ever feel unsafe. Hell, as much as he hated to admit it, if there were a fight, Jayne'd be one step behind River, close enough to cover her back and far enough way to keep clear of those blades she favored. The barker, however, was clearly ignoring Jayne's amusement. "Don't normally point this out, but for the ladies in the crowd, let me just say that Jayne was security on the Henrietta, did some gun work, so if you're feeling a need for some protection, he'd be the one to provide it. Even without a gun, he's big enough to make an imposing obstacle to anyone trying to take your property or press a courtship you aren't wanting."
That caused a few whispers in the crowd, and Mal was still whispering in River's ear. Jayne smiled. At least he didn't have to be ashamed of someone buying him for protection. Wasn't humiliating the way it was for a woman to buy him because he was warm and cuddly.
"860." Mal hadn't even finished before River was calling out her own bid. "870!" Mal had a look on his face like he might give birth to a litter of cats right there on the street as he bent down and whispered in River's ear again. Her head tilted to the side.
"Seems we still have a horserace here. Manny, I don't think you've ever done so well, have you?" the barker turned to Jayne's current owner as Mal and River did their conversating. Of course, it seemed that Mal was doing most of the actual talking.
"Nope," Mann agreed with a huge smile. "Had one who went for 600 once, but I never had one who worked as hard as Jayne or who was just so nice," Mann agreed. Jayne glared at the man. People had called him lots of things in his life, but no one ever called Jayne Cobb nice. "He has a nasty glare to him, but I just got used to that because he's the best I ever owned. Would've kept him if Ursula had let me," Mann finished happily.
"The bid is with the sleepy lady right now at 870, does anyone want to make another bid?" the barker called as he looked right at Mal and River.
"880," Mal offered.
"900," River all but shouted.
"Ching-wah tsao duh liou mahng," Mal cursed, and a huge laugh rolled through the crowd, at least those who weren't too busy being shocked.
"I think the stranger might have just been outbid by the girl. With a poker face like that, I wouldn't recommend that you visit our gambling houses unless the girl there can afford to buy you, too," the barker joked, and the crowd laughed, either because of the joke or because of the bright color Mal had turned. He was busy apologizing to the ladies standing close to him while River started weaving her way through the crowd.
"We're at 900, is anyone else going to jump in and give the sleepy girl a run for her money?" he called. Jayne gave Mal his best death glare, but the captain was too busy apologizing to some harpy to even notice that River was about to get the bid. No one answered, and this time the barker ended it quick. "Well, then, last warning. . . and sold to the young lady who had her very public nap this morning. Congratulations."
The barker gave Jayne one last pat on the shoulder as he jumped off Jayne's slave platform and walked to the next one. The guards were just pulling the young man to the ground in front of his platform, hands firmly on his arms, more because he looked ready to pass out than because he looked like he was planning to fight. The barker stopped and said a few words to him before stepping up onto the slave platform behind the boy and starting his next auction.
"Jayne, I hope you'll be okay. I really do wish I could keep you, but 900. 900, Jayne. 900." Mann looked ready to start either dancing or hyperventilating as the accountant with the record book and his own guards came walking up to them. River appeared out of the crowd which had shifted to see the new show, and immediately she rested her hand on his arm.
"He's a good man. I know no one wants to be told how to handle their slaves, but he doesn't need the whip," Mann hurried to tell her. River smiled, but it was an expression that looked almost normal, not the smile that made Jayne's balls crawl back up inside for protection.
"He's a very good man," River agreed.
Jayne opened his mouth to disagree, but her fingers dug into the soft part of his arm, so she obviously weren't feeling sane enough to leave off intimidating him.
"Now, I don't want anyone to get upset," Mal said as he finally caught up to the rest of them. It wasn't a good way to start a conversation with armed men because both guards instantly stiffened. One put his hand on the butt of his gun. "River ain't got 900 credits. Now, I'm willing to cover my last bid, and there weren't nobody else bidding against me, so I figure 880's a reasonable price."
River didn't answer, but she did pull a mighty impressive pile of credits out of her belt.
"Ai-ya," Mal breathed. "River, exactly where did you amass a pile of credits that size?" Mal asked cautiously. Jayne felt a stab of sympathy for the man because when you were dealing with River, you never did know quite what you were going to end up getting.
She calmly counted out 900, which was less than a third of the sizable stack before tucking the rest away. The accountant took 90 credits, recorded the sale and ran a scanner over the back of Jayne's arm where the chip had been injected.
"Sold the shuttle," River answered calmly.
"You…" Mal choked so bad he just stopped talking for a second. "You sold… You… Shun-sheng duh gao-wahn… You sold the shuttle you done stole from ME?" he demanded. Even Jayne backed up a step, but River just smiled sweetly up at him and there was something powerful disturbing about a girl who didn't even bat an eye at Mal's anger.
"Do we need the magistrate?" the accountant asked from behind his two guards, both had stepped up to shield their boss from any coming evisceration. Mann was behind the accountant looking ready to have that heart attack.
"NO!" Mal shouted so loud that one guard had his gun half out the holster before he realized that Mal was still directing his anger at River. Both guards looked confused at just how little River seemed to care. "Might need an undertaker here in a little while, though," Mal said, his jaw clenched. River just shrugged and turned to the slave master who stood with a key in hand to unlock Jayne's cuff. He'd kind of frozen when it looked like Mal was going to go mental.
"Are you going to unlock him? We need to get back to our ship." River smiled at the man as she put her hand back on Jayne's arm. Mal made a sound that came real close to a horse trying to belch, which weren't a healthful thing.
The slave master glanced toward Mal and then quickly unlocked the shackle from around Jayne's leg before hurrying away. The accountant and Mann were backing up just as quick the other direction.
"You sold my gorram shuttle? You sold my shuttle?" Mal demanded as his face turned red. "Bad enough you go thievin' from me, but you went and sold it?"
"Jayne's worth it," River said calmly as she started walking toward the west end of town. Jayne had to hide a smile at the look of fury on Mal's face. Girl had gotten him that angry more than once, and the captain always gave him the speech about making allowances. Seems like he wasn't in a mood to be making allowances now. The three of them reached the edge of the market, and River slipped her arm into Jayne's so they looked like a regular couple strollin' down the street.
Course, that didn't change the fact that most of the people who passed them had seen Jayne chained to the slave post and River sleeping in his lap. Jayne could only hope that no photographic evidence of that moment would ever appear, and if it did, that he had a chance to kill the owner of the evidence before it could get out.
"Jayne's worth it? That's all you gorram have to say? You went and stole my shuttle, without even a by your leave, and then you sold it, and I can't get a respectable explanation out of you?" Mal demanded just one step behind them. Jayne really was going to strain something trying not to laugh.
"Do you not think Jayne's worth a shuttle?" River asked suddenly as she stopped so sudden that she jerked Jayne's arm. She tilted her head as she looked back at Mal.
"I didn't say Jayne weren't worth it," Mal quickly answered with a concerned look toward Jayne, but for his part, he was enjoying the show too much to get offended. "I would've sold the shuttle myself if'n I thought we needed to. But I had the credit for buyin' Jayne, and you went and stole that shuttle from me."
"I didn't want you to buy him." River stopped in the middle of the street at the edge of the market.
"I reckon that since my shuttle paid his slave price, I bought him," Mal snorted. "900 gorram credits, and those are comin' out of your shares, Jayne. I figure if you give one-quarter back to the Serenity every run, you should break even about the time you turn a hundred."
River let go of Jayne's arm and planted herself in front of Mal, her head tilted to the side and her hands in fists, which wasn't never something you wanted to see on River. Even Mal backed up a step.
"I bought him. I owe you a shuttle, and I'll repay you. You didn't pay one credit for Jayne," she said fiercely. Mal looked up, trading confused looks with Jayne.
"Supposin' we ask Jayne here who'd he'd like to owe 900 credits for his bone-headed stupidity," Mal suggested. Jayne opened his mouth to agree with that, but River twirled back around and caught his arm as she started down the walk again.
"Ain't askin' Jayne. I bought him, and if you want to have me arrested for stealing the shuttle, you can captain, but that won't change the fact that I bought Jayne fair and square."
"Mei-mei, ain't right, buying a man like that," Mal tried as he followed them down the street. Jayne narrowed his eyes and watched River carefully. She was sounding all sane, but she obviously weren't giving up easy on the idea of owning him.
"Didn't buy a man, bought Jayne," River said with perfect River logic.
"I am a gorram man," Jayne snapped. River glanced up without slowing her walk a bit.
"You're a man, but not a generic man. You're Jayne. Wouldn't want to just buy a man, wanted to buy you. I shouldn't have let you walk away, but now I'm fixing that. Where do they sell chains?" River's words danced from one topic to the next so quickly that Jayne hadn't even processed the last question before River was pulling him toward a storefront on the far side of the street, "Land's Hope Smithing and Chains" painted on the front window.
"Cao," Mal swore from his spot trailing them, and Jayne agreed. Unfortunately, between River being his legal owner and River being River, he wasn't quite sure what he should do about it. Jayne glanced back toward Mal for help, and the captain could only shrug helplessly.