See now this is one of the problem Mal's got with people who come off all sweet and caring. He's got plenty good aim and enough confidence in it that even with everything around him acting so gorram bizarre, he trusts his hand enough to keep steady and hit a ruttin' target, in this case a tree or nothing much at all and the only thing that can possibly mess him up is when folks go acting like fools sometimes thinking they can dive out of the way of what's meant just to be an arm or leg shot and end up with the bullet lodged somewhere worse, but most of the time just by going and trying to be heroes.
Yeah, well, Mal has been around in this 'verse long enough to tell you acting like a hero don't do anyone damn bit of good. Because a hero ain't really anything more than a fool who thinks he's doing something good, and not just good but good enough to be worth dying for. So he goes and puts himself in harms way and all that happens is all hell rains down on him and anyone close to him and for all his efforts he find himself either dead or worse having to watch others dying because of him. And for all the good he thinks he's doing that's always the only real change that comes from it, that at the end of it all there are a few less folks still living.
Mal is old and weathered and knows enough to see heroism for what it is; just a man's way of being selfish while feeling good about himself for it but the young ones? They don't know any better yet than to carry on being optimistic, they haven't had to look right into the worst of humanity and even if they do, well, they can't help but believe the flicker of light they see is some sort of hope or good intention when it ain't nothing of the sort. So they go on with their goodness and believing their hearts to be in the right place. Exactly the kind of shǎdàn who don't even give a second thought to just how stupid it is before, say, jumping in front of a bullet not even meant for no one.
They're just too young to know better than to play at being heroes.
A lot happens all in a flash, which happens plenty of times when you fire a gun and Mal's practiced enough to know how to react without much more than maybe a single fleeting thought, just takes it in and counters quick as a man can. Still, most of that comes from his years in the war and even back at the ranch and ever since then he's been in plenty a situation that called for a good solid grasp on fighting and gun skills so it's hard to think of a time where he's been so out of his element he's got no idea what to do once bullets have been fired. Fair to say this may just be one of those times.
Before he's even released the trigger the mountain of a bear that had been sitting before him all but disappears which Mal had been thinking about before he fired. No matter how things might look after the fact, he ain't Jayne for heaven's sake. To be certain, Mal might be a bit less gun shy than most other folks but likely they wouldn't feel the same way had they lived out his life. Mal's just more than use to being in situations where being able to protect oneself is the only way he's still left standing today against what he is sure Zoe would argue is all good reason. Mal don't just shoot for the hell of it as Jayne has been known to do; when he's not liking the situation or the person is disagreeable or its just one of those days. No, Mal don't approve of treating a serious weapon so lightly, see, 'cause once you've fired well you never can be certain what the consequences will be.
Like here.... Here Mal had felt more than right in pulling the trigger. Not even just because he's been made to feel utterly confused and there's a real weariness to this place he just can't shake but because, damnit, even if this beast ain't real or is some kind of trick he seems real enough and he's got claws easily the size of Mal's arm and he's waving them at his gorramn horse (which, no, ain't technically his, but had been traveling with him and stayed beside him this entire time and had shown to have a certain amount of trust in the captain, and when an animal is willing to give you all of that, well, you've got to take a certain responsibility for it even when these no real good reason as to why). Now you threaten what is his and of course Mal's going to make a move to protect it, in this case he figured it best to just put a little sliver of fright in the beast's heart in return for scare the stallion. That's all it's meant to be, nothing more than a warning to shake up the system and quiet people down some, giving Mal a chance to contemplate this big old mess he's in.
Would be his luck that doing so only makes more of a mess of things. You just know, too, Jayne wouldn't have put a single thought into shooting that thing straight off ages ago, and probably wouldn't have wound up with half the trouble Mal's now got on his hands.
Should have been able to see it coming, too, that's the part he hates the most in all this. Well, no, in actuality that would be the fact that Melanie is now laying out on the dirt, blood welling up under her clothes but if that weren't more than enough for Mal to feel guilt over, than add to that the fact that he should have known better than to take that shot because he should have realized she is precisely the kind of good-hearted soul who wouldn't want to see anyone hurt, even just some elaborate talking animal side show.
Tāmāde niǎo... If she'd just kept herself still no one would have gotten any more hurt than a bit of shock but of course she probably didn't even consider as much because heroes rarely ever do.
"Gāisǐ," Mal curses first because he can't think of much else to say then immediately wishing he hadn't said anything at all, particularly that, and is more than a little relieved to remember she won't understand as it's just about the most inappropriate curse Mal could have pulled out, and here he'd been worried about toning down his language for the sake of the youngster.
Duōme fēnghérìlì rì zài dìyù.... Could have prevented all of this if -- well, for starters if he'd never gotten stuck this ruttin' excuse for a civilized world in the first place, and then if someone 'round here hadn't wasted their precious time teaching their children circus tricks instead of Chinese like normal folks. Those are the first two things to come to mind and he's sure there are plenty more if he really thought on them, but at the moment Mal's brains already been working at something of a frenzied pace to keep from panicking, and it ain't even working at that.
Besides, all the excuses in the 'verse don't make up for the fact that this is his fault, after all. He's a ruttin' full grown old man and she ain't nothing more than a wisp of a child and it don't really matter if she's got some kind of trick shape bender with her, does it? Not seeing as she's still such a little thing who really hasn't been all that mean to Mal - crazy, sure, a little, but never straight out mean and now Mal's gone and given her plenty of good reasons to be seeing as he's the one who shot her and all.
Mal learned long ago that it don't matter how much of an accident it had been or what the other person had done, you shot someone and it's on your hands. And now this is in Mal's.
"Duìbuqǐ, wǒ yī bèn lǎotóur yǔ méi kē xīn," Mal apologizes before realizing that, too, wouldn't make a lick of sense to the poor girl and she surly don't need to be hearing nonsense words when she's probably already pretty good and confused. Still, there are some things that are just easier to express in Chinese. Left with only English Mal sort of stumbles trying to find the right words to say.
Then again, talking has never been his strongest quality. 'Sides, they don't really mean much next to action. Supposed he'd just been expecting a moment of silence to think things through and now all he could here is this poor child near sobbing and crying out some word Mal doesn't recognize at all, could be one of those French or Spanish languages he'd never heard of. Mal holster's his gun and starts to scramble over to her, he could at least try and stop the bleeding or - Lǎoye de wúshù tiāntáng don't do this to them. Of all the good persons to be here dealing with this... Not that Mal wants to up and leave, just for the girl's own sake seems like there must be someone better out there.
Now, on the one hand it's been a while since Mal's actually gotten around to praying much, mostly on account of God clearly all but abandoning him back when Mal believed in his holiness and kindness and all so he might be somewhat rusty on how it all works. On the other hand, do believe he would have recalled if it worked like this. Don't think even the good Shepard's prayers have ever been answered with such haste, and he's a much better man than Mal's ever been and likely with a better signal. Also, suppose he would have used it more often if every time he did it summoned some kind of wing angel directly too him.
Course that's nothing but utter nonsense running through a very frantic, already good and freaked out mind that he'd given no permission to just jump ship that way. Hardly any decent people out in the 'verse these days, never mind real and true angels. He's minds just stressed past the point of reasonablity and doesn't know what else to make of a winged man appearing out of thin air. Plus now he's got a swords. On fire.
Sort of thing that can get a man to stop dead in his tracks.
Perhaps he really is dreaming, Mal briefly considered, or perhaps - and far more likely - he's finally snapped and this is what it's like to be in River's head all the time to have things just changing shape on you and folks coming out of nowhere not looking quite right or human and using all sorts of crazy unreal weapons while sounding all kinds of real threatening. No wonder that girl can go throwing the loudest fits you ever heard. Hell, Mal's wishing he could do the same right about now.
Don't really have the time, though, least of all right this moment because with all the messed up pìhuà happening, most of which Mal ain't sure is some sort of trick or hallucination of lord only knows, there are only a couple of things left Mal knows and recognizes as being real. Things like naive young things who throw themselves in front of gunfire even when it could easily end them all to save something other than their own skin. It's the sort of ridiculous, irrational, selfless things that makes you wonder what the person was thinking and why they'd be so damn reckless?
Because they're real and human and if Mal knows anything it's that means making a whole lot of mistakes, often dangerous and usually stupid.
Which means some poor girl is bleeding out on account of Mal's own rash decision making, and could very much be in a real bit of trouble. So everything else around that talk when it ain't suppose to or appear from where there'd been nothing before, or had unnatural-like wings that don't rightly belong on them would just have to wait to the side while Mal took care of the more pressing troubles that he's far more sure of. He's had plenty of real life experience with bullet holes and how quick things can turn nasty, so as scary as it might be to go lighting some oversized knife on fire it ain't really something Mal's got any good reason to let frighten him.
'Sides which, the stubborn streak in him has failed to back down in face of a lot more far heavier armed forces, so unless he's brought the good Lord's entire fencing team, he don't see why he should be the one to back down here.
"Alright," Mal says with a bit of a nod of his head, doing his damnedest to take this all in strides. "Don't know where you came from just now or what the hell you folks 'round here do for fun." Meaning the whole act with dressing up and all the tricks they seem to be able to pull off. Hey, some worlds, he's been told, have taken up the hobby of juggling geese so as far as he's concerned this is just another weird lot of locals that he pretty well intends to never visit again. "But let me tell you something about me, you best get out of my way and let me get to that xiǎoxiǎo yī gè or so help me I will shoot you down." Mal keeps his gun holstered, but that doesn't stop him from making threats. His stance pretty much says it as well as a gun to the face, anyway, with tense shoulders, a hardened glare, and pointing right at the... well, might as well call it an angel since Mal has no gorram clue what the hell this thing is, just that he doesn't have the time to care.
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See now this is one of the problem Mal's got with people who come off all sweet and caring. He's got plenty good aim and enough confidence in it that even with everything around him acting so gorram bizarre, he trusts his hand enough to keep steady and hit a ruttin' target, in this case a tree or nothing much at all and the only thing that can possibly mess him up is when folks go acting like fools sometimes thinking they can dive out of the way of what's meant just to be an arm or leg shot and end up with the bullet lodged somewhere worse, but most of the time just by going and trying to be heroes.
Yeah, well, Mal has been around in this 'verse long enough to tell you acting like a hero don't do anyone damn bit of good. Because a hero ain't really anything more than a fool who thinks he's doing something good, and not just good but good enough to be worth dying for. So he goes and puts himself in harms way and all that happens is all hell rains down on him and anyone close to him and for all his efforts he find himself either dead or worse having to watch others dying because of him. And for all the good he thinks he's doing that's always the only real change that comes from it, that at the end of it all there are a few less folks still living.
Mal is old and weathered and knows enough to see heroism for what it is; just a man's way of being selfish while feeling good about himself for it but the young ones? They don't know any better yet than to carry on being optimistic, they haven't had to look right into the worst of humanity and even if they do, well, they can't help but believe the flicker of light they see is some sort of hope or good intention when it ain't nothing of the sort. So they go on with their goodness and believing their hearts to be in the right place. Exactly the kind of shǎdàn who don't even give a second thought to just how stupid it is before, say, jumping in front of a bullet not even meant for no one.
They're just too young to know better than to play at being heroes.
A lot happens all in a flash, which happens plenty of times when you fire a gun and Mal's practiced enough to know how to react without much more than maybe a single fleeting thought, just takes it in and counters quick as a man can. Still, most of that comes from his years in the war and even back at the ranch and ever since then he's been in plenty a situation that called for a good solid grasp on fighting and gun skills so it's hard to think of a time where he's been so out of his element he's got no idea what to do once bullets have been fired. Fair to say this may just be one of those times.
Before he's even released the trigger the mountain of a bear that had been sitting before him all but disappears which Mal had been thinking about before he fired. No matter how things might look after the fact, he ain't Jayne for heaven's sake. To be certain, Mal might be a bit less gun shy than most other folks but likely they wouldn't feel the same way had they lived out his life. Mal's just more than use to being in situations where being able to protect oneself is the only way he's still left standing today against what he is sure Zoe would argue is all good reason. Mal don't just shoot for the hell of it as Jayne has been known to do; when he's not liking the situation or the person is disagreeable or its just one of those days. No, Mal don't approve of treating a serious weapon so lightly, see, 'cause once you've fired well you never can be certain what the consequences will be.
Like here.... Here Mal had felt more than right in pulling the trigger. Not even just because he's been made to feel utterly confused and there's a real weariness to this place he just can't shake but because, damnit, even if this beast ain't real or is some kind of trick he seems real enough and he's got claws easily the size of Mal's arm and he's waving them at his gorramn horse (which, no, ain't technically his, but had been traveling with him and stayed beside him this entire time and had shown to have a certain amount of trust in the captain, and when an animal is willing to give you all of that, well, you've got to take a certain responsibility for it even when these no real good reason as to why). Now you threaten what is his and of course Mal's going to make a move to protect it, in this case he figured it best to just put a little sliver of fright in the beast's heart in return for scare the stallion. That's all it's meant to be, nothing more than a warning to shake up the system and quiet people down some, giving Mal a chance to contemplate this big old mess he's in.
Would be his luck that doing so only makes more of a mess of things. You just know, too, Jayne wouldn't have put a single thought into shooting that thing straight off ages ago, and probably wouldn't have wound up with half the trouble Mal's now got on his hands.
Should have been able to see it coming, too, that's the part he hates the most in all this. Well, no, in actuality that would be the fact that Melanie is now laying out on the dirt, blood welling up under her clothes but if that weren't more than enough for Mal to feel guilt over, than add to that the fact that he should have known better than to take that shot because he should have realized she is precisely the kind of good-hearted soul who wouldn't want to see anyone hurt, even just some elaborate talking animal side show.
Tāmāde niǎo... If she'd just kept herself still no one would have gotten any more hurt than a bit of shock but of course she probably didn't even consider as much because heroes rarely ever do.
"Gāisǐ," Mal curses first because he can't think of much else to say then immediately wishing he hadn't said anything at all, particularly that, and is more than a little relieved to remember she won't understand as it's just about the most inappropriate curse Mal could have pulled out, and here he'd been worried about toning down his language for the sake of the youngster.
Duōme fēnghérìlì rì zài dìyù.... Could have prevented all of this if -- well, for starters if he'd never gotten stuck this ruttin' excuse for a civilized world in the first place, and then if someone 'round here hadn't wasted their precious time teaching their children circus tricks instead of Chinese like normal folks. Those are the first two things to come to mind and he's sure there are plenty more if he really thought on them, but at the moment Mal's brains already been working at something of a frenzied pace to keep from panicking, and it ain't even working at that.
Besides, all the excuses in the 'verse don't make up for the fact that this is his fault, after all. He's a ruttin' full grown old man and she ain't nothing more than a wisp of a child and it don't really matter if she's got some kind of trick shape bender with her, does it? Not seeing as she's still such a little thing who really hasn't been all that mean to Mal - crazy, sure, a little, but never straight out mean and now Mal's gone and given her plenty of good reasons to be seeing as he's the one who shot her and all.
Mal learned long ago that it don't matter how much of an accident it had been or what the other person had done, you shot someone and it's on your hands. And now this is in Mal's.
"Duìbuqǐ, wǒ yī bèn lǎotóur yǔ méi kē xīn," Mal apologizes before realizing that, too, wouldn't make a lick of sense to the poor girl and she surly don't need to be hearing nonsense words when she's probably already pretty good and confused. Still, there are some things that are just easier to express in Chinese. Left with only English Mal sort of stumbles trying to find the right words to say.
Then again, talking has never been his strongest quality. 'Sides, they don't really mean much next to action. Supposed he'd just been expecting a moment of silence to think things through and now all he could here is this poor child near sobbing and crying out some word Mal doesn't recognize at all, could be one of those French or Spanish languages he'd never heard of. Mal holster's his gun and starts to scramble over to her, he could at least try and stop the bleeding or - Lǎoye de wúshù tiāntáng don't do this to them. Of all the good persons to be here dealing with this... Not that Mal wants to up and leave, just for the girl's own sake seems like there must be someone better out there.
Now, on the one hand it's been a while since Mal's actually gotten around to praying much, mostly on account of God clearly all but abandoning him back when Mal believed in his holiness and kindness and all so he might be somewhat rusty on how it all works. On the other hand, do believe he would have recalled if it worked like this. Don't think even the good Shepard's prayers have ever been answered with such haste, and he's a much better man than Mal's ever been and likely with a better signal. Also, suppose he would have used it more often if every time he did it summoned some kind of wing angel directly too him.
Course that's nothing but utter nonsense running through a very frantic, already good and freaked out mind that he'd given no permission to just jump ship that way. Hardly any decent people out in the 'verse these days, never mind real and true angels. He's minds just stressed past the point of reasonablity and doesn't know what else to make of a winged man appearing out of thin air. Plus now he's got a swords. On fire.
Sort of thing that can get a man to stop dead in his tracks.
Perhaps he really is dreaming, Mal briefly considered, or perhaps - and far more likely - he's finally snapped and this is what it's like to be in River's head all the time to have things just changing shape on you and folks coming out of nowhere not looking quite right or human and using all sorts of crazy unreal weapons while sounding all kinds of real threatening. No wonder that girl can go throwing the loudest fits you ever heard. Hell, Mal's wishing he could do the same right about now.
Don't really have the time, though, least of all right this moment because with all the messed up pìhuà happening, most of which Mal ain't sure is some sort of trick or hallucination of lord only knows, there are only a couple of things left Mal knows and recognizes as being real. Things like naive young things who throw themselves in front of gunfire even when it could easily end them all to save something other than their own skin. It's the sort of ridiculous, irrational, selfless things that makes you wonder what the person was thinking and why they'd be so damn reckless?
Because they're real and human and if Mal knows anything it's that means making a whole lot of mistakes, often dangerous and usually stupid.
Which means some poor girl is bleeding out on account of Mal's own rash decision making, and could very much be in a real bit of trouble. So everything else around that talk when it ain't suppose to or appear from where there'd been nothing before, or had unnatural-like wings that don't rightly belong on them would just have to wait to the side while Mal took care of the more pressing troubles that he's far more sure of. He's had plenty of real life experience with bullet holes and how quick things can turn nasty, so as scary as it might be to go lighting some oversized knife on fire it ain't really something Mal's got any good reason to let frighten him.
'Sides which, the stubborn streak in him has failed to back down in face of a lot more far heavier armed forces, so unless he's brought the good Lord's entire fencing team, he don't see why he should be the one to back down here.
"Alright," Mal says with a bit of a nod of his head, doing his damnedest to take this all in strides. "Don't know where you came from just now or what the hell you folks 'round here do for fun." Meaning the whole act with dressing up and all the tricks they seem to be able to pull off. Hey, some worlds, he's been told, have taken up the hobby of juggling geese so as far as he's concerned this is just another weird lot of locals that he pretty well intends to never visit again. "But let me tell you something about me, you best get out of my way and let me get to that xiǎoxiǎo yī gè or so help me I will shoot you down." Mal keeps his gun holstered, but that doesn't stop him from making threats. His stance pretty much says it as well as a gun to the face, anyway, with tense shoulders, a hardened glare, and pointing right at the... well, might as well call it an angel since Mal has no gorram clue what the hell this thing is, just that he doesn't have the time to care.