If everyone on the crew were modern day internet influencers, what sort of content would they be making?
sorry this took 5 approximate forevers! (if y’all ever see my executive dysfunctioning no you don’t)
tysm for the ask! 💕
mal: handy diy hacks and tutorials for a variety of topics. because why the fuck is he gonna pay for anything he can do himself. he will teach you how to build a bookshelf and jumpstart or hotwire a car and paint your ceiling and pasteurize your own milk you can DO IT he BELIEVES IN U. really resents that he has to take ad deals for this to be a viable venture for him.
zoe: struggled with zoe so bad i’m so sorry zoe my love. i think what i’m landing on is athletics/physical challenge videos? it starts as a form of therapy exercise but she gets kinda big online? lots of rockclimbing and hiking and soccer and trying out those “impossible workout routines”. she likes showing people modifications they can do. her comment section is heavily moderated and she is NOT afraid to turn the option off bc it’s a privilege.
wash: based on my longstanding headcanon of wash as a music guy, music reviewer type! has an impressive vinyl collection. known for listening to ever kind if music that exists and his lasting love for weird al. has collaborations with the most RANDOM people.
inara: a little bit of beauty and a little bit of wellness, i think? makeup and perfume and lotion but also candles and tea. has a side channel where she does daily yoga vlogging. has this very elusive allure where people are so utterly enamored by her that they feel very personally attached even though she never says ANYTHING about her personal life!
jayne: guns. gun safety. aim training. antique guns. latest model reviews. would y’all be mad if i said i think he is well-known in the conservative-online community
book: cooking channel! he makes his favorite recipes and tries new things that people suggest and recounts stories from his travels, occasionally getting into spirituality mode. very known for being the kind of content that’s nice/comforting to fall asleep to.
simon: this man does not know work-life balance. medicine. debunking medical myths and general public education. some of those “real doctor reacts to [xyz]” videos. does a lot of sponsorship research and refuses to promote anything that makes unsubstantiated health claims. gets in into some internet beef over it with another influencer.
river: cryptic 4+ hour video essays where she never ever shows her face but they’re known for her voice captivating people. about just about anything you can name though mythology, literature, art, philosophy, and theoretical physics and its relationship to, well, everything are all common threads.
kaylee: repair videos!!! she likes fixing cars best but she will fix anything she can get her hands on that needs it and explain the process as best she can! it’s a niche-ish area of interest but the followers she does have are the kind to watch and comment on Everything, they’re just that dedicated. she likes it but sometimes feels a little boxed in bc she has other interests!! she meets inara who encourages her to explore those and she starts a fashiony channel - some of its reviews and some of its showing stuff she embroiders! then she and inara make out
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Hi there! I'd love to know your Firefly headcanons if you want to share them!
oh god, i think i really only have one? and it's probably pretty vanilla but here you go:
shepherd book was a high-ranking military official in the alliance during the unification war. he was there at the battle of serenity valley, and because of all the carnage and death, was wracked with guilt and decided to retire (after receiving a medal for his leadership) to lead a life of atonement through god's forgiveness and spreading the good word. he "saw the light," so to speak.
the same battle where mal lost his faith, book found his.
If everyone in the crew taught a college course, what would be their discipline?
book: theology! seems obvious but like… yeah! people have a preconceived notion (because he’s fairly open about his own religion) that he’s going to primarily to focus on christianity with Maybe little nods to other faiths but he is actually very well-rounded and explores a Lot of different faiths in-depth. a very kindly man generally speaking, wakes students up after class and asks if they’re okay. so people don’t expect it when he can absolutely tear into some asshole who’s being prejudiced and cruel with that same friendly smile and somehow never crossing any potential boundaries. has office hours in which his favorite students come in and have philosophical debates with him. he adores this and serves them tea.
inara: art history! idk why i think this other than maybe the scene where she and mal talk about the mona lisa and just like. vibes. she is well-versed in many different schools and movements of art, but the baroque period is her biggest area of study. and every other semester, she also teaches an elective in calligraphy. bc she does do calligraphy in canon! idk why i love that sm but i do. she is perfectly polite and cordial to her students and welcomes any questions they have with grace but they know almost nothing about Her or her personal life. which is how she likes it. somehow word breaks out that she is, in fact, a quite notable artist herself. everyone’s a little intimidated until she snaps at them for it.
kaylee: something in mechanical engineering?? but that’s like a whole degree hm… probably some intro course in that degree, though occasionally her students have a hard time understanding because there’s some stuff she just Gets intrinsically but doesn’t always know how to explain. tends to take a very hands-on approach and encourages all of her students to Learn By Doing, to mixed results. somehow knows Everyone’s name and Everyone on campus seems to know her too. if her students ever talk about their car problems in front of her she’s like “you’re gonna pay WHAT for that” and then fixes it herself instead. they do not get that much say in the matter and the only thing they have to pay for is if a new part is needed so… win?
simon: gross anatomy and physiology. obviously something medical/for pre-med students and these made a lot of sense to me since trauma surgery (i mean all surgery and medicine obviously but as a specialty it) requires a really basic foundational understanding of the human body and its processes. i think he is a really big believed in establishing that you know the basics really really well before ANYTHING else. i also think he finds anatomy a tinyyy bit boring (important! but he likes explaining the Processes, the Why and How - “suffocation’s not exactly the most dignified way to go. the human body will — “) and so he says fine to teaching anatomy but only if they let him teach physiology too. everyone knows he’s going to be head of the department once the current head retires. in the meantime, gets mistaken by his students for a ta at first. basically every semester. and his peers like to rag him for being a Baby. (yes some of them are jealous that the Baby zipped through med school and his residency before deciding to teach, and is way way way more published than any of them). also the guy who has like three caffeine sources on him. how much of a hardass he is depends entirely on how much he thinks his students are trying. some students are scared of him. but he tutors a lot outside of class if asked and is really patient with students who are putting in the effort but struggling for one reason or another, and good at helping students figure out what path would actually suit them in a blunt-but-compassionate way.
mal: history! i think some intro courses because i think mr. “half of history’s hiding the truth” (and he’s right!) really believes in, again, teaching the foundational aspects of Knowing Your History but also the kind of things that tend to get swept under the rug. he comes off grumbly and sarcastic with his students and threatens to fail them for the most minor bs but they pick up on the fact that he’s a big ole softie really quickly and bully him for it (affectionately!) constantly. you actually have to be trying really hard to fail his class. someone definitely gives him a “world’s okayest professor” mug. Will square up with a bigoted asshole in class and narrowly avoid getting fired. he does Not have book’s restraint. (book hears about this and tries to teach him. it doesn’t go great.) sure does seem to hang around in the building where most of the pre-med classes happen… hey are he and the anatomy and physiology professor friends i thought they hated each other? hey why do they both have hickies who said that
zoe: civics? ngl i struggled. maybe seems at odds with her Independence soldier thing but. i think she is someone who understands that in order to dismantle and/or be aware of the government’s bs you have to know how it works. and i think she would lean hard not into “here’s what you have to do to be a Good Citizen and the Most Law Abiding Person Ever” but “here are the Civil Responsibilities you have To Each Other.” very very well-known to not take late work and has a glare some students can be a little intimated by. but actual class is a lot of discussion and activities students like and she finds a way to make it fun and interesting. also known as the professor to go to if you’re trying to get an on-campus job you need a letter of recommendation from a professor for (not how it works everywhere or for every job on campus but! in my experience it does for some of them) because she Gets It and if she can speak to your work ethic she will. everyone foes eventually figure out she’s besties with softie history professor, which (along w letter writing) does bring down her intimidating street cred a Little.
jayne: really really struggled with jayne. i do agree with @homosexual--mothman that a trade school would probably work better for him but i have a whole university thing going here so uhhh. intro to animal tracking is what i came up with. he is good with guns and i think is implied to have hunted? and one of the skills mal sees in him aside from that IS tracking — “found you easy enough” “yeah you did didn’t you?” i rest my case. anyway. does NOT want to be there have the time but these kids ARE gonna learn safety protocols bc it he ever runs into them out in the woods he does NOT wanna have to deal with trying to help them lmao. i think 50/50 on whether students love him or hate him — because he’s crass and inappropriate, which some students find funny and some don’t, and because he doesn’t care about latework and is kinda lax about the actual schoolwork, which sometimes students like and some don’t. does actually have lot of a good practical information. regularly scene arguing with the physiology and anatomy professor bc they ACTUALLY hate each other. no one can tell whether he and river (see below) are friends or not.
wash: flight safety and flight training in the aviation program! doesn’t like lecturing but knows the safety part is important. teaches best (and thinks students learn best) by first observing him and then having them get actual practical experience. BELOVED by students though some think his jokes are a little overrated. (wash i’m so sorry.) is really good at making things fun and engaging and being patient with any panicking students without assuming that doesn’t mean they can’t get the hang of it eventually. also! zoe doesn’t talk about her personal life at all in class. but wash does not shut tf about her. most think it’s cute! the ones in both classes only find it a little awkward. he and kaylee grab lunch a lot bc their schedules line up and buildings are pretty close.
river: existential philosophy—no, quantum physics—no, dance—no, theoretical mathematics—look river wants to teach everything and i’m going to let her. she somehow gets the university to let her teach something different every semester. she WAS a child prodigy after all, who is every bit as published as simon (who does also threaten to decline their offer, since he and river were both looking at the same time, if they don’t let her do this. river thought this was stupid. she was handling it!) they really really wanted her so… 🤷🏻♀️i also think she spends all the time she’s on campus and isn’t teaching auditing others classes. simon has to (very gently) kick her out a few times because she keeps answering before his students can. this is also how she meets book who she then goes to the office hours of to join philosphocal debate time. i think her students like her but don’t always know what to make of her her teaching methods are not bad but not always traditional, she murmurs to herself a lot, and is just generally not great at masking. most of them just roll with it because they know she’s a literal genius and she does make class interesting, though she does have a similar problem to kaylee (even moreso, probably) where because she just Gets some stuff, sometimes it’s hard to explain it. i also think anyone who’s taken a class with bother her and simon is not surprised to learn they’re siblings, even though in may ways they’re so different, because like…. it just makes sense, somehow.
If you had to assign each crew member a yearbook-style “most likely to—“, what would they be?
ty for the ask!! i couldn’t decide how silly to be but i landed on pretty silly. i am sorta thinking about this as like… what people would have said when they were in school, nit necessarily what the other crewmembers would say
mal: most likely to steal a spaceship. not buy! steal.
zoe: most likely to Be Right. just, like, about all of it
wash: most likely to come closest in their class to getting kicked out of flight school without actually getting kicked out
jayne: most likely to start a brawl he makes everyone else’s problem and leave before its over
inara: most likely to have just, like, so many candles. the best collection ever.
shepherd book: depends on the point in his life but for our purposes… most likely to just randomly have new skills you didn’t know he had but go off king??
simon: most likely to have a panic attack in the process of succeeding, which he will also do. probably.
river: most likely to stay the most cryptic shit ever. 50/50 chance on whether it’s wise/relevant or not.
edit: THANK you for pointing out i was forgetting kaylee literally how could i do this to my girl.
kaylee: most likely to make friends with literally anyone. how does she do it. the world may never know
i'm going to preface this with: if anyone disagrees with any of this that is fine and chill! we don't need to agree on everything! some of this is strongly worded bc that's how the words came out and this is an unpopular opinions post, but that doesn't mean i think You are a Bad Person if we happen to disagree on some stuff here. that being said: this is not a post that is very positive toward jayne.
so my feelings about jayne are. Complex. because on the one hand: fascinating character! more to him than meets the eye! when it comes to Appreciating His Role In The Story, i genuinely am very interested in him. he seems to come from a loving family that he at least partially helps to support and yet has found himself (and clearly has been living in a long time) in a cutthroat world working as a mercenary, which would seem to suggest (and it is my personal headcanon) that he left home fairly early in the name of finding work to support them. which automatically makes him more complicated than meets the eye on first viewing and i don't think can be discounted from his character. so like, a preface that this is not coming from, inherently, someone who outright Hates Jayne as a character...
cue readmore! mostly bc this got really long sjsoisjhuygjs
Sometimes, though, (and i am talking really broadly here! i have seen this across platforms and do genuinely feel people on tumblr are better about recognizing where the edges of fanon vs canon lie), i do think people tend to use his background to justify his many many many flaws. like, i've seen people straight up defend his behavior in ariel, which i do not see as particularly defensible. (i *understand* some of it to some degree - it makes sense, after getting slashed, that he would not feel safe with river around. but it's Not His Ship. like, if you make any ultimatum and the person doesn't meet it, then it's your responsibility to either decide if you can live with that or ~leave~. and instead jayne makes an ultimatium, doesn't get his way, and then does the most despicable thing possible in response. and frankly, it's one thing (and somewhat understandable, even tho ultimately i do still feel *fans* should have more understanding that it's complicated bc river is a traumatized teenage girl) for jayne to try and insist they should leave the tams somewhere. it's a whole other deal to actively give them up to people who want them dead and/or imprisoned/recaptured in river's case. in our current modern era for reasons i think should be obvious i am less and less interested in any discussion about it being justifiable by any stetch of the word to hand people over to the police/any government entity. so there is that.
i also see it stated a fair amount that the *real* reason jayne tries to turn the tams in is to protect the crew bc he mentions kaylee and inara. and like... this is a situation where a couple of things are true at once To Me. but i don't think that's his only motivation, and also to me... it reads much less genuine than it might to some. bc why does he mention kaylee and inara specifcially. why not say, book? or hey, if he suspects book has more combat knowledge than he's letting on to defend himself, why not wash? (could it be because he's trying to manipulate mal with two peple he thinks mal will react more emotionally to the thought of being harmed due to his well-meaning but somewhat paternalistic sensibilities?) and like. idk. if he's so concerned about crew safety, there are different things he could have done. he could have appealed to the rest of the crew. he could have appealed to mal more calmly and tried to define specific boundaries he thought were necessary for everyone to be safe. i simply think his overall points that are more affirmed by the narrative (that HE was really specifically affected and this is a form of vengeance, and also that he thinks he can get a good pay-out for him) are far more relevant to his driving motivators. some people stumble onto a not totally awful point less bc it's what they genuinely believe and more bc they think it will get them what they want. i have known this i have seen this and that is personally what i believe is happening here. that moment simply reads to me far more like jayne thinking it will motivate Mal himself than being *his* main concern.
and like... if it was... why wouldn't it come up again in the airlock scene, when he's trying to defend himself to mal. why wouldn't his big reckoning moment of honesty be that and not "i got stupid, the money was too good. don't tell the others what i did." (paraphrasing) and that's the other thing. he quite obviously knows this is not what the others would have wanted bc he has the awareness to feel some shame about it and not want them to know!!!
and even that is like... i don't inherently mind that jayne does these fucked up things or has flaws bc frankly it's very interesting!! like the total tonal shift at the end of jaynestown as he struggles to reconcile his own worldview with what happened and quite literally can't do it and notably *doesn't learn his lesson* bc doing so would mean contending with shit he is not ready to is one of my favorite endings of any episode of the show.
but i do sometimes struggle with what seems like a general broad fandom insistence that jayne like, secretly is Really Very Kind Actually, bc that's not what's shown on screen, nor is it particularly interesting to me. i think he has the capacity to care more than he lets on (with kaylee and his family, from what we see) and maybe would have grown into that more. but i think trying to reconcile the fact that he does care to some degree with the fact that he is genuinely pretty overall self-serving and outright cruel a decent amount of the time much more interesting.
in particular, i've seen it stated (maybe in reaction video comment sections in particular, which i tend to get more frustrated by than the reactions themselves lmao) that you just have to watch out for the letter scene in the message and it explains everything and justifies his every action and i'm like... i do think it's important to his motivation and yeah, it frames him in an interesting way that we didn't have knowledge of before. what it Does Not do is change everything about him for me. and sometimes when it's talked about i feel like there's an implication that like, you know nothing about him if you don't see this moment which is just flagrantly not very true. of the mains, mal, simon, jayne, and inara get the most focus. and even of those, i'd say jayne gets more overall focus than river, who gets focus/things are About Her, but not often a lot of agency before objects and the film. yes, all of the characters could have stood to not have their arcs off and get more development, but i don't particularly think jayne was underserved as a character in what we did get. (and to show i can be unbiased lol: neither was simon! they loved writing for that guy!)
and also like... i have empathy for jayne's family struggling financially and having a sick sibling. those are genuinely very hard things to have going in your life. but i do sometimes feel that the arguments made that suggest this justifies, say, betraying the tams, fall pretty flat for me... when simon also has (albeit in a different way) a sick sibling who needs his help. like that's pretty relevant to the conversation, actually. point being: most of the people on this ship have Some hard or trauamtic thing going on right now or in their past (river, simon, mal, zoe, and book and inara implied) and you'll notice that they don't do that shit and no one ever acts like them having gone through hard shit justifies doing fucked up things. (in fact, sometimes people (even if they don't mean to) will outright villainize river for, say, shooting the men and saving kaylee at niska's, when A) her knowing to do that is in one way or another directly linked to her trauma (whether you think it's linked to super secret soldier training or just her psychic/prodigious abilities being 'enhanced' at the academy) B) that was an action literally in service of protecting someone.) like it may (and i emphasize may here bc he doesn't bring it up in ariel at all) be one reason, but it's not the only reason, nor is it an excuse.
also sometimes it seems like the common fandom rhetoric around jayne on this front sort of contradicts itself... people sometimes act like bc he has lived in this cutthroat mercenary world where he's had to be selfish to survive, that justifies it all, and i'm not saying that hasn't affected him... but he also grew up in what i think is commonly believed, based on the limited info we have, in a loving family that presumably taught or tried to teach him some of the values he's foregoing. (that may be a stretch but i think there's a case to be made that if the stuff in the message is going to be treated like it's integral to his character, then there is a pretty blatant contradiction in how he seems likely to have been raised vs how he's acting now.)
and now for perhaps the biggest elephant in the room: jayne is a misogynst. i'm sorry, but he is. (i would also not be particularly surprised for him to also be homophobic considering his line about simon being a "big city dandy' i the pilot bc while he's largely referring to style and presentation re: class, there are are undeniable connotations there. and he fetishizes inara and the councilor which is a form.)
he makes a point of trying to embarass kaylee for her sexuality, he touches saffron in a very gross way (wouldn't be okay even once they do know who she is, but there's an extra ick for the fact that he believes her to be a young woman just sold off against her will???) and tries to trade mal for her, he outright says "womenfolk aren't to be trusted" and only shows Any interest in helping the heart of gold when he realizes they're 'whores', so i guess their lives only have value when he realizes he can likely sleep with them. not to mention a gross comment about river in the pilot that i'm not really able to forget/write-off as early weirdness (even tho i'd like to!) when it's overall pretty consistent with the rest of the way he treats and talks about women.
and tbc i'm all for trying to make sense of that in fanworks (i really like moth's very interesting portrayal of exploring jayne as a trans man and the above mindsets being a strategy to try to reaffirm his masculinity to himself)!!
but when it comes to analyzing the actual show, his misoygny does leave a pretty bad taste in my mouth, and doubly so when some fans just... don't seem to see or care or address it. or worse, treat it like it's fine bc it's just jayne.
and there are conversations we can and should and do have about mal's use of the word 'whore' and the way he talks to/treats inara, and to a lesser extent (there's plenty worth criticizng here but most of the conflict between simon and kaylee is more class-based) simon fucking up with kaylee. but the difference is that, however well executed you do or don't think it is (my feelings on that are Also complicated) instances of mal treating inara poorly are supposed to be seen negatively, largely. you're not supposed to be thinking he's a great guy in the pilot when he does his old two-birds one stone deal to make book and inara uncomfortable. and with simon and kaylee ... he shows authentic remorse every time says anything to hurt her, and while they have multiple conflicts about sort of related things, they're about something a little different every time bc simon Learns. so i get (and yes my bitter simon fan is going to come out for a second, sorry) remarkably annoyed and just cannot take it seriously when people act like simon's flops are so unforgivable while either not addressing jayne's shit or justifying it or glorifying him. (tbc: this is not a vague at anyone here!! i've just seen some shit other areas.)
and it's not that jayne is treated like this great guy, but most of it is pretty hand-waved. like, just jayne being jayne! and i don't have any particular belief that that's something they would have heavily addressed in his character arc. i mean, in the film (which i know, debatably canon, but working with what we have) even when they're doing some work to show he's (somewhat) less selfish, there are still moments i don't find great in that regard. jayne skeezily saying "i could stand to hear a little more" while kaylee's talking about vibrators doesn't appear to particularly bother her, so like, whatever, but the fact of the matter is that if they wanted to show him no longer ever being skeezy they could have done that.
and ig the other thing on that front is that i think sometimes people give a little too much stock to what jayne's 'redemption arc' (which is sort of a loaded term) would have been. i am inclined to believe it would have been, 'jayne is a little bit less of an asshole and a little more loyal to the crew'. that's like. basically it. it would not have been 'jayne is this suddenly amazing guy you just had to wait for'. and i don't say this bc i believe he's irredeemable (i don't believe in that, and neither does the narrative) but because this was a story not very interested in seeing things from a purely black and white perspective where the protagonists win all the time and the good never comes with bad and people are Just One Thing. i do think he would have developed like all of the characters, but i also think it would have involved a lot of regression and back and forth. and it seems like some have an idea that jayne would have been fully Transformed by the end and to each their own, but that's not really how i see it.
the last and final thought i'll say is that while jayne does not have a traditional education, i do get the sense based on little moments that he is playing up a perceived lack of intelligence as a survival tactic. i don't think he's faking struggling with reading and i do think some of his supposed to be 'dumb' moments are probably earnest, but there are little things throughout the show that make me think he's playing some of it up, which is genuinely fascinating and also makes me even less inclined to go easy on him.
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kaylee: strawberry daiquiri. (ofc!) rum, lime juice, strawberries, simple syrup. (this should mostly taste like a fruit smoothie in her ideal reality)
wash: sex on the beach (“maybe a naked beach?” this is basically canon) peach schnapps, orange juice, pineapple juice, vodka, cranberry juice, fruit garnishes.
simon: negroni. acquired taste (just like him!… i don’t like this but it’s okay i still love him) gin, campari, sweet vermouth, orange peel garnish
zoe: paloma! tequlia, freshly squeezed lime juice, fresh grapefruit juice, grapefruit soda, pinch of salt, lime wheel garnish. (good balance of sweet with a little bite)
book: sangria. (yum!) there are diff ways of doing this but. red wine, brandy, orange juice, brown sugar, chopped apples and oranges. (easy to like! unless you don’t, which is also fair.)
jayne: michaelada (lager, worcestershire sauce, tobasco or soy sauce) (why)
river: aviation (sorry wash) gin, maraschino liqueur, creme de violette, freshly squeezed lemon juice, brandied cherry. (ngl i’ve never had this i found it while doing this and it intrigues me. something special for beloved. it’s also a pretty lilac color which makes me think of her?)
Soooo.....which flower/plant do you think suits each crew member? (Either through symbolism or what you think they would like best)
LOVE this ask tysm!
a preface i do want to make on this is that (to my understanding) flower symbolismcan vary a lot based on the place, and things like the color of a flower can affect a lot too. (i only really picked a specific color if i felt pretty strongly about it though, for the most part.) there are also a lot of overlapping themes that they can and do share sometimes / so this is part symbolism, part vibes and what the flowers looks like, and all ultimately picking out what i like most for each character lmao.
book: blue bells! they are associated with humility, gratitude, and purity, which feels like it checks out - book's spirituality to me is very defined by his willingness to be humble.
kaylee: it's very hard for me to see kaylee as anything but a daisy to be honest - a yellow daisies in partiuclar. yellow daisies are commonly associated with joy, friendship, and optimism. that just feels too perfect for kaylee tbh
inara: i have two ideas for inara because she seems like she could be a good candidate for rose, ultimately i think i think orchids suit her better. associated with sex and beauty, but also mystery. very known as being graceful and standing out but also having a little bit of a shadowed side.
river: she was has hard but i think ultimately violets? violets are a little tricky because they in particular seem to have a lot of variety in interpretation. which can symbolize healing, dreams, and intuition. which feels like it works great for river. (they can also symbolize sapphic love but shh)
simon: blue hyacinths! these symbolize sincerity, devotion, and regret. one website i referenced in particular notes them as being a great symbol to let someone know you'll stick by them through hard times. enough said tbh.
wash: landed on carnation - known to stand for love, fascination, and distinction. i like how Into Things wash seems (like his dinosaurs!) and maybe it's just the shirts but i do feel he stands out a little lmao. and love ofc <3 NOT a yellow carnation, though - i have no particular ideas about what color he would be but in victorian times yellow carnations represented disappointment. so no. maybe red?
zoe: a gladiolus flower! symbolizing strength, perseverance, and remembrance. strength and perserverence obviously check out, especially given her history in the war. tbh, no matter how sad wash's death in the film makes me, i can't seem to stop associating zoe with like, both remembrance/honoring a loved one and having to move forward anyway. something something zoe meaning 'life'. (also a fun fact that the name gladiolus comes from the latin word gladius, meaning sword. bc they look kinda like swords.) not sure about color - would maybe go purple.
mal: (why did i love the hardest two last) (there is no flower to symoblize 'secret softie') okay, i'm going dandelion - often dismissed as just a weed lmao, but notably can grow, very determinedly, in many places. associated with hope, strength, and transformation. not totally sold on this one tbh, but i don’t hate it. and i mean this as such a compliment fyi. i love dandelions!
jayne: black dahlia - in literature and music in particular, there’s an association with pain, crime, and betrayal. dahlias in general though also seem to be associated with the capacity for change. (they’re also a little misnamed because i think it’s usually actually dark purple or dark red.)
In the vein of @fiollaigean, what's an underrated/underexplored interpersonal dynamic in the crew you would have been most interested in if Firefly had not been cancelled?
GETS ON MY SIMON & BOOK SOAPBOX.
i think something about this dynamic is sooo utterly subtly fascinating and while it's not the Focused relationship dynamic for either of them, they do get a really few interesting moments! we often credit (rightly!) wash with being the main defender of the 'hey let's maybe not kill the tam siblings squad' but book was also on that squad! there's also that really lovely scene where simon holds the flashlight for book while he reads over the dead in bushwhacked and i go back on forth on what i think about simon and religion, but asside from personal feelings i think he has a lot of respect for it as a cultural practice and mainly does it because he knows it's something book cares about and simon also is a big believer in not desecrating dead bodies, per the film, whether it's religious or just out of respect for them as people, so i think hearing book say "how we treat our dead is what makes us different than those who did the killing."
and simon clearly has a lot of trust in and respect for him!!! because it's implied he calms down considerably when book tells him to do what mal says at the end of the episode, is okay leaving river in his care in jaynestown, calls for his help when he sees more men coming war stories, and is utterly shocked when jubal early insinuates book is anything but a kindly shepherd (which is a bit silly bc war stories, but book has been a very good friend to the tam siblings and simon is great at compartmentalization and lying to himself lmao.)
for book's part, i do think he thinks highly of simon as particularly noted in the train job when he talks about simon being brave for it. there's also an element to it though where i think book feels (probably bc he doesn't have any defined role on the ship) like it's sort of his job to try to guide the crew morally etc with whatever they might be struggling with. i find it fascinating that he's the one who encourages (in the deleted scene) simon to look more into the history of 'serenity' and get the lay of the land. more broadly, he kind of functions as a moral compass (or at least a moral mirror) back to both jayne and mal and i think that was possibly a direction they were going with simon as well eventually? i wrote a long-ass post at one point about how book is doing some of his own philosophical probing at simon at the start of war stories in part in response to the events of ariel - he seems to express a little disapproval for simon's heisting lol? it's funny because obviously that's what they do on this ship, but the difference is that SIMON hasn't really been very involved with the crime side of things until now, and there are different measures of what he would consider moral slipping for different crew members based on what he knows there are own values are. he's known simon to be someone to care about propriety and be (y'know, other than his whole fugitive thing, which was circumstancial lol) relatively law-abiding. seeing simon get more involved in that side of things i think worries book a little, both as someone familiar with the realities of that world and violence where it can lead, and as a moral consience for the ship. and this only gets extended in the dead or alive script (shhh it's canon in my heart) where he's the one who finds simon post possibly morally ambiguous choice and simon seems a little ashamed later? like in some ways firefly is about simon tam getting corrupted lmao. and i think book is worried about it.
