"Opposites" and "Pinned"

[meinterrupted]

Big Damn Table of River recs, 2/50

Claim: Firefly, River Tam
Title: Opposites
Author: Mnemosyne/literarylemming
Characters: River, Jayne
Prompt: Sex
Rating: NC-17
Length: Short
Brief summary: Mnemosyne bills this as PWP, but it's so much more than that. The sex is hot, but what gets me is her River-voice. It's spot on, and her observations of her and Jayne are perfectly IC. Her writing style is amazing; she's descriptive where she needs to be, but never overly wordy. One of my favorite Firefly stories of all time.

She feels him stir behind her, and smiles into the dark. Another way they're different: River takes hours to fall asleep, listening to the quiet nightnoises of Serenity and the roaring empty silence of space beyond the ship's hull. Jayne, on the other hand, could fall asleep standing up, propped against iron spikes. Oddly enough they can both wake up instantly at the first sign of danger, though Jayne seems better able to tell what's a true threat and what's just someone making noise. River has no filters – to her every noise is a threat. Every noise is a blessing. It's very confusing. That's why she's crazy, and he's just occasionally unhinged.

Link to the story: Opposites

Claim: Firefly, River Tam
Title: Pinned
Author: lindentree
Characters: River, Jayne
Prompt: Anger
Rating: R
Length: Short
Brief summary: This story cuts right to the heart. The writing is tight and moves the story along, and even though it's just under 700 words, the story feels complete. It's visceral in every sense of the word, and even people who don't 'ship River/Jayne should check this out.

River never turns those big eyes on him. Hers are wide, golden brown eyes; full of things Jayne don’t pretend to get. She ain’t so crazy as she was before they found Miranda, and she looks at folks when she talks to ‘em now. Not him, though. It gives him an uncomfortableness, like he can’t trust the girl even though Mal says she’s part of the crew. For all Jayne knows, she ain’t never forgot how he tried to sell her and the doc on Ariel. Maybe the girl holds grudges.

Link to the story: Pinned