Here's the thing: Mal is confused, he's lost, and he's armed. Which, generally speaking, ain't a good state for anyone to be in, 'specially not a grumpy, mean old captain with practice aim and a tendency to be a bit too bullheaded for anyone's good. Didn't at all help that, hell, as far as he is concerned that had been he he'd spent the whole of his day so far, his frustration over the whole matter increasing with every second ticking by. And that had all been well before this little show or whatever the hell you'd prefer to call it, the only purpose of which seems to be exasperating the captain's already thin patients with this whole situation.
This time can't be much mistake to what he's seeing. Mal keeps his eyes set right on the creature as it starts moving around, running it's mouth the whole time and continuously shifting from the body of one monstrosity to another. What he really needs is Kaylee or Wash here right now with their curious way of looking at things and figurin' out how they go about working. Mal's got no doubt there is some form of trickery behind this and he just ain't smart enough to see through it. Hell, he'd even take the good doctor. Wouldn't guess it watching him at a local tavern or actually any situation that called on him interacting with folks 'less he's got a scalpel in hand but the boy was clever as all get up. Normally it ain't a quality Mal would go encouraging him to exercise and show off. Terrible as it might sound, truth is Mal does get a kick out of Simon clearly having not a gorramn clue what to do with himself and so mayhaps on a couple of occasions pushes him into circumstances knowing he'll come out looking tún, but part of that is just that as far as Mal's concerned there is just too more core-breed properness to him (which ain't doing anyone no favors when he's on the run and endangering every one of Serenity's crew crew in the process, so as long as no harm comes from it Mal's actually doing him something of a kindness in forcing him to get more familiar with how regular human beings act when they ain't being cut open) and he's got a strong enough head on his shoulders to be able to stand up to some teasing 'specially since if it comes down to trouble the boy has wits enough to keep himself mostly out of danger and if situations were ever reversed and they found themselves out in the corner Mal knows how quick their roles would switch 'round. Can't help but find it somewhat annoying, putting him in something of a disagreeable position with the two Tams. Have the feeling that either one of them in any given moment has worlds worth of knowledge more than has even been through Mal's head. Now River, well, at least she's crazy enough that the thought of what all she might know is only ever terrifying. With Simon... Well, Mal would never go as far as to call the boy intimidating exactly, but can't help finding something about him dònghè. Can't help feeling at times that he just knows too much, and while the fanciness of his appearance and strange mix of stumbling stiffness make it hard to get a fix on at times, the boy has a hell of a backbone and at the very least the smarts to back it up. It's one thing for the mechanic and pilot to know more about wires and engines, ships and navigation than Mal - after all, that's what he went and hired them for - but Simon is a different matter, a man in a much more desperate situation and that's reasoning enough to keep Mal weary.
By far, though, this strange little playing being put on all supposedly for Mal's own benefit leaves him feeling far more wearisome. That ain't precisely the appropriate word, and neither is frightened though he could surely see how many man would be. Could be the only thing keeping Mal from feeling threatened is he's finding it far too perplexing to bother being properly scared out of his wits, even if they aren't much help to him right at that moment. Got to be a trick, short of straight out weirdness well beyond what Mal is prepared to deal with it's the best excuse he could manage and it's not much of one at that.
What doesn't help his mood none is the creature going and taking on a shape that's almost more of a horse than a bear, but one look at his claws really clarifies that point well enough. No if it is just something of an illusion doubting it's a strangely solid one. Then it goes making a threatening gesture at the stallion that Mal had picked up and, well, like he'd said it ain't really his so to speak but he don't take to kindly towards people... or things making threats at it and surely seems to startle the bronco more than anything so far had done, although not enough to chase the boy off. Enough, though, that his frightening sounding neighing is enough that Mal's nerves, already on edge, end up bubbling all over the surface.
It's not meant to kill the beast or whatever it was, not even to really hit it proper though Mal suspects it can't really be alive what ever it is. Still, his wits aren't so much frayed that he don't think this through and so ends up firing off nothing more than a warning shot, aiming it just past the giant's side where it shouldn't strike nothing more than a tree and maybe shock it enough that Mal can get some silence and slow his heart down, didn't even notice when that had started beating so fiercely, and give him time to properly think about all this insanity that seems so determined to go and drag him in.
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This time can't be much mistake to what he's seeing. Mal keeps his eyes set right on the creature as it starts moving around, running it's mouth the whole time and continuously shifting from the body of one monstrosity to another. What he really needs is Kaylee or Wash here right now with their curious way of looking at things and figurin' out how they go about working. Mal's got no doubt there is some form of trickery behind this and he just ain't smart enough to see through it. Hell, he'd even take the good doctor. Wouldn't guess it watching him at a local tavern or actually any situation that called on him interacting with folks 'less he's got a scalpel in hand but the boy was clever as all get up. Normally it ain't a quality Mal would go encouraging him to exercise and show off. Terrible as it might sound, truth is Mal does get a kick out of Simon clearly having not a gorramn clue what to do with himself and so mayhaps on a couple of occasions pushes him into circumstances knowing he'll come out looking tún, but part of that is just that as far as Mal's concerned there is just too more core-breed properness to him (which ain't doing anyone no favors when he's on the run and endangering every one of Serenity's crew crew in the process, so as long as no harm comes from it Mal's actually doing him something of a kindness in forcing him to get more familiar with how regular human beings act when they ain't being cut open) and he's got a strong enough head on his shoulders to be able to stand up to some teasing 'specially since if it comes down to trouble the boy has wits enough to keep himself mostly out of danger and if situations were ever reversed and they found themselves out in the corner Mal knows how quick their roles would switch 'round. Can't help but find it somewhat annoying, putting him in something of a disagreeable position with the two Tams. Have the feeling that either one of them in any given moment has worlds worth of knowledge more than has even been through Mal's head. Now River, well, at least she's crazy enough that the thought of what all she might know is only ever terrifying. With Simon... Well, Mal would never go as far as to call the boy intimidating exactly, but can't help finding something about him dònghè. Can't help feeling at times that he just knows too much, and while the fanciness of his appearance and strange mix of stumbling stiffness make it hard to get a fix on at times, the boy has a hell of a backbone and at the very least the smarts to back it up. It's one thing for the mechanic and pilot to know more about wires and engines, ships and navigation than Mal - after all, that's what he went and hired them for - but Simon is a different matter, a man in a much more desperate situation and that's reasoning enough to keep Mal weary.
By far, though, this strange little playing being put on all supposedly for Mal's own benefit leaves him feeling far more wearisome. That ain't precisely the appropriate word, and neither is frightened though he could surely see how many man would be. Could be the only thing keeping Mal from feeling threatened is he's finding it far too perplexing to bother being properly scared out of his wits, even if they aren't much help to him right at that moment. Got to be a trick, short of straight out weirdness well beyond what Mal is prepared to deal with it's the best excuse he could manage and it's not much of one at that.
What doesn't help his mood none is the creature going and taking on a shape that's almost more of a horse than a bear, but one look at his claws really clarifies that point well enough. No if it is just something of an illusion doubting it's a strangely solid one. Then it goes making a threatening gesture at the stallion that Mal had picked up and, well, like he'd said it ain't really his so to speak but he don't take to kindly towards people... or things making threats at it and surely seems to startle the bronco more than anything so far had done, although not enough to chase the boy off. Enough, though, that his frightening sounding neighing is enough that Mal's nerves, already on edge, end up bubbling all over the surface.
It's not meant to kill the beast or whatever it was, not even to really hit it proper though Mal suspects it can't really be alive what ever it is. Still, his wits aren't so much frayed that he don't think this through and so ends up firing off nothing more than a warning shot, aiming it just past the giant's side where it shouldn't strike nothing more than a tree and maybe shock it enough that Mal can get some silence and slow his heart down, didn't even notice when that had started beating so fiercely, and give him time to properly think about all this insanity that seems so determined to go and drag him in.