(no subject)

[walk_ins]

After dinner is homework time, and the library closest to River Tam's dorm is filled with quiet students. They're not relaxed -- they never are -- but it's an open secret that study time is the closest the students have to free time, and there's more life now in the faces surrounding the girl who isn't River.

There are soft couches and armchairs (bolted to the floor) arranged in a loose square, and a cosily low ceiling (studded with hidden cameras), and rows and rows of gleaming SD cases, filed by number (skips and jumps; large chunks of the 700s missing). There's no fiction, unless you count the training vids. Each student has the option of a hand-held datapad, a wider-screened brand-new 'center (only the best) or an immersion pack, helmet and gloves included. For those who choose the datapads, there are lamps casting warm (sunset-gold) light over the couches and armchairs.

There are no windows.

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[anthy-rosebride.livejournal.com]

Anthy didn't miss dinner today, and she files into the library with the (other) students at the appropriate time.

Only to be confronted by a dazzling array of sleek gleaming fancy . . .

. . . thingers.

She watches the others out of the corner of her eye.

[walk_ins]

Zillah is not a terribly helpful person to watch, if you want to know how to use the aforementioned thingers. She curls up in one of the soft armchairs, stares down at her hands, and appears perfectly content.

Her lips are moving.

[walk_ins]

Trailing her hand along the spines of the cases, Mavis drifts down a row. She's not looking at the titles, only brushing her fingers across them.

After a moment she stops and picks out a disc seemingly at random, and goes to select a hand-held datapad.

[anthy-rosebride.livejournal.com]

Anthy trails after her, and cautiously lifts one of the datapads: it's neat and sleek and silver.

And off.

She manages to turn it on by copying Mavis, and then she sits on the couch by Zillah's armchair, next to Sarai. She's too intent on the datapad to remember to sit like River; her back is straight, heels tucked against the bottom of the couch, and her hands, holding the datapad, are resting in her lap.

[walk_ins]

A tall boy sits on the floor, ignoring the chairs and couches, most of his face hidden by the helmet of an immersion pack. He's absorbed in whatever it is he's watching/playing -- a training vid, by the look of his gloved gestures -- and seems calm enough.

Until his mouth, still visible, tightens as if in sudden pain.

"The eye," he whispers. It's barely audible, but students to either side of him flinch.

[anthy-rosebride.livejournal.com]

Anthy doesn't. She looks at him.

Eye?

Sideways; the others are flinching. Anthy essays a careful flinch.

Then, after a moment of thought: "Organ. Got veins in it." Why didn't Anthy pay attention when they covered anatomy? "All turns red. We'll need an eyedropper."

[walk_ins]

For some reason the phrase all turns red isn't terribly comforting to any of the students nearby -- though one boy utters a high-pitched terrified giggle, muffling it quickly with his hands.

Beth glares at her. "Isn't funny. She isn't. Counsel of mockers."

[walk_ins]

Zillah shoots AnthyRiver a warning look, before returning to her intense study of her hands. Her muttering gets louder.

"...a moon swims out of a cloud
a clock strikes midnight
a finger pulls a trigger
a bird flies into a mirror..."

[walk_ins]

Aiko's been wandering the shelves, not listening; her round face is calm as she carries a stack of SD cases back to the couches and settles on the floor in front of Anthy and Sarai.

Instead of sliding one into a datapad, she spreads them out before her on the royal blue rug. After a moment studying the effect, she adjusts the angle of one, and moves another about a centimeter sideways.

For a moment she's still, head tilted to one side. Then Aiko blows a soft breath through her teeth, and whispers, "Why are we screaming, my dear?" And in a different tone: "Throat'll get sore. Keep it quiet."

[anthy-rosebride.livejournal.com]

At Beth's glare Anthy looks down, meekly, and the SD cases wind up right in her line of vision.

The titles are utilitarian; plain descriptions of the subjects. One on the aerodynamics of bird flight. One about different classes of transport, with a focus on older models. An advanced physics text on gravity, and on the effects of the lack thereof.

She scans them all: non fiction, all.

"No stories." Startled, wondering.

[walk_ins]

"No lies." Matthias has one arm folded across his chest and gripping his opposite shoulder; his other hand makes aimless grasping motions. "Confuse things."

[walk_ins]

"See and touch. Quantifiable. No fuzzy edges." Nakomis may sound a little wistful.

Mavis croons in her sing-song voice: "She knows. Around and through. She knows."

[anthy-rosebride.livejournal.com]

Maybe it's a flash of noble inspiration that urges Anthy on. Maybe just a spark of spite.

(So why don't you leave?)

"She'll tell you one. Got to listen closely."

[walk_ins]

The students murmur, some of them disapprovingly, some with clear hope in their voices and faces. But none of them move away, and some move closer; a few of the youngest sit down cross-legged in front of (Anthy) River's chair and look up with wide eyes.

[walk_ins]

Aiko hasn't looked up; her fingertips are hovering just over the cover of the SD on gravity.

"Once upon a time. Temporal instability." A beat, and her hand moves toward the spaceship SD. "Speed of light ain't enough to account for it."

[anthy-rosebride.livejournal.com]

Anthy looks down at the ring of younger students, and blinks. Disconcerting; she doesn't like speaking in front of audiences.

She doesn't like telling stories at all. But Beth is glaring and the boy by the lamp is frowning and there are protesting voices and Anthy opens her mouth.

"It's real. It doesn't have to make sense. Reality doesn't."

Aiko frowns; Anthy smiles sweetly at her, and takes another tack.

"Keeps the little ones amused. Has a function."

[walk_ins]

There's a ripple of protest at her assertion that it doesn't have to make sense, and more scowls and murmurs at her second attempt.

"She should stop. Eyes in the black and they... they're all accountable. She should stop."

[anthy-rosebride.livejournal.com]

"Just a story," says the (Princess Rose Bride Witch) girl who is not River Tam.

Still smiling, and it's such a sweet smile. The closest River Tam's face has come to it has been when she's teasing Simon, and this smile has none of the joy of those.

"Doesn't mean what you think."

The students by her feet are still listening, hopeful faces turned to her like flowers to the sun, and after a moment Anthy takes a slow breath and says,

"Once upon a time . . ."

[walk_ins]

Avi curls in on himself, his hands clutching at the back of his neck and digging into his hair, and rocks back and forth almost imperceptibly to the rhythm of RiverAnthy's voice.

[walk_ins]

Zillah unfolds from her armchair and drops to the floor next to Avi, putting a hand on his shoulder and giving it a tiny squeeze.

She looks up at

(rose in disguise)

River Tam's face, and smiles.

[anthy-rosebride.livejournal.com]

Anthy's never told a story in her own words, before. The shadows have stories, and her brother has stories; she knows all the elements, princes and witches and casttes and roses and princess, but they're not for her to create.

But --

(don't think don't think)

But.

"Once upon a time," she says again, slowly. "There was a kingdom by the sea. The gates wouldn't open and the keys were lost."

"There was -- there were --" Faltering.

(I do not speak with my mouth)

"There were swords --"

[walk_ins]

A tiny susurrus, not even quite loud enough to be a whisper, ripples through the room.

"Swords," mutters Leon. "Gentleman's weapon."

[anthy-rosebride.livejournal.com]

"The students --" There are no students in fairy tales; princes and princesses, that's it. But Anthy keeps going. "The students were fighting together to break through the gate. The Rose Gate."

[walk_ins]

"Shouldn't fight," Mavis whispers in her habitual singsong. "Community."

[anthy-rosebride.livejournal.com]

"They were supposed to break through the gate and take the light of the world."

She's babbling: stage fright.

"Break through, and seize the power."

"That's what they thought, but really they just wanted a way out."

(there must be some way out of here)

"To break out. Break the shell --"

[walk_ins]

"Break in the sun till the sun breaks down," murmurs Zillah, barely audible.

[anthy-rosebride.livejournal.com]

"The princess was waiting for a prince."
I didn't think you'd come for me.
"She was waiting for someone to save her from the swords."
(knives in her brain)
"And . . ."
Then you're a dummy.
"Someone did."

[walk_ins]

"No one comes." Matthias has curled inward, both arms wrapped tightly around himself. He's no longer looking at River.

"Lies. Deceptions and lies. Tricks and confusion."

[anthy-rosebride.livejournal.com]

(Well, the crew of Serenity have all signed on now, especially since the demonstration. We got people working for us in the underground tracking down plans of the Academy, and we know where it is now. We got these shields, which I guess are supposed to make it so the Feds can't see their ship. We can't make any real battle plans until we know the layout and everything, but things are a lot farther than they were.)

She glances at Matthias. "That's not how the story goes. The prince comes on his white horse."
So I looked, and behold, a pale horse. And the name of he who sat on it was Death.
(Also, hopefully most of these kids want to be rescued. If they attack the rescuers, there's not much of a chance.)
shoumetsu
"And he saves the princesses. That's how the stories go."

It's a flat recitation.

[walk_ins]

"Error of basic zoology," mutters Avi to his knees. "No horses in space. They'd burn in the atmosphere."

It's half-hearted. There's a tiny thread of hope in his voice, appalled at its own daring to exist. But it's there.

[walk_ins]

"Fiction!" Hakim's voice is strident, strained. "Lies on the page for the children to laugh at. Integrate it with reality!"

[walk_ins]

There's a murmur running around the room, hope and shock and fear. And, here and there, maybe the faintest beginnings of silent belief.

"I speak to them in dreams," whispers Aiko.

And then, louder, "No princes here. It's an oligarchy."

[anthy-rosebride.livejournal.com]

(If they don't want to cooperate, I think our side'll have to just flat out retreat. The numbers are no good--especially since they probably wouldn't have any qualms about killing us)

"He's coming already."

(the sparrows are flying)
And the Spirit and the bride say, Come. And let him that heareth say, Come. And let him that is athirst come. And whosoever will, let him take the water of life freely.
"To open the gate."

Some are listening, some are hopeful; some aren't. Anthy looks at her hands, and says carelessly, "If you don't think so, why not be princes yourselves?"

[walk_ins]

Zillah's eyes are bright and fierce.

"They came like swallows and like swallows went,
And yet a woman's powerful character
Could keep a Swallow to its first intent."

Matthias tries to hush her, and she rounds on him, louder:

"And half a dozen in formation there,
That seemed to whirl upon a compass-point,
Found certainty upon the dreaming air--"

[walk_ins]

"Primogeniture," spits Beth scornfully. "The word's not neutral. Accident of birth. Gets the choicest of tombs."

[walk_ins]

"Too old for pretend," whispers Avi.

He's fourteen, and looks twelve.

"Grow up and learn the world. Find the knives."

[walk_ins]

"Found 'em all," mutters Nakomis, with a sharp jerk of her head, a twitching tic of one arm. "Count the stars. The number isn't quantifiable."

[anthy-rosebride.livejournal.com]

To hell with this.

"You can leave," Anthy says shortly. Coldly.

(the eagles are coming)
O Lord Thou pluckest me out
"There's a world outside. More than one. This isn't all there is. There's -- roses and sunlight and elephants."
For Thine is the Kingdom
(the angels are coming)
For Thine is
And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain: for the former things are passed away.
Life is
Frustrated, furious: "It doesn't have to hurt. You don't have to stay."

(Listen to the words)
There must be some way out of here
Said the joker to the thief
"I --"

[walk_ins]

Silence. Dead silence. Staring.

Some look horrified, or furious.

Some gape.

Some faces blaze with dawning hope.

Into this stillness drops Zillah's voice.

"Listen," she says, low and urgent and savagely glad, "there's a hell
of a good universe next door."

"Let's go."

[walk_ins]

They're watched.

Cameras

(eyes)

hidden, and cameras too small to need hiding.

Study hour should not be noisy.

River Tam should not be stirring up the other students.

River Tam should not be urging them to leave.

[walk_ins]

"No!" shouts Beth, shrill and urgent. "Stupid! It's stupid! Cut off your tongue, twenty gallons of blood, hands and feet and eyes!"

[walk_ins]

There's a stir, a scuffle of alarm even among some of the ones with awed hope shining in their eyes.

You don't say things like that in the Academy. You try not to even think them.

Because they're always watching. Always.

"Hopeless case!" Matthias hisses at Zillah. "Learn to diagnose!" Several students flinch at the last word.

Students are edging away now, jerking and cringing and making repetitive agitated gestures, casting about for discarded homework. Glaring at (River)Anthy and Zillah or staring at them in horror or carefully not looking at anyone.

[anthy-rosebride.livejournal.com]

Anthy closes her eyes.

It doesn't work like that. She doesn't tell the stories. The ending doesn't change.
Endings are heartless.
So she picks up an SD case, follows Zillah's lead to insert it into her datapad, and stares.
Endings are whatever you make them.
A basilisk grins at up at her from the screen.

[walk_ins]

A wary, tense silence settles.

The undercurrents are very nearly audible.

In hidden corners, the cameras are still watching. And the

(things)

people behind the lenses are conferring.

Routine is important to the students. It's a bad thing when they're unsettled.

Regrettable, one might say.

[anthy-rosebride.livejournal.com]

The next day, River Tam receives a summons to the Doctor's office.