Looking (Firefly)

Kaylee looked out over the Eavesdown Docks, teeming with the usual swirl of busy humanity. Captain and Zoe had gone to see if they could find halfway legitimate work. She was supposed to find them some passengers. Dorms were empty now Simon had moved into her quarters and they'd cleaned out the crew bunk nobody'd been using for River. So far she hadn't seen any likely candidates.

But that changed as she watched a small group making its way up the docks. Two girls who looked about her own age, and two men. The one with the eye patch looked the same age as the girls, but the second man was old enough to be parent to one or more of the other three. Unlike most passengers, they didn’t seem to be looking at manifests or even the ships. They were evaluating the people standing in front of them. Kaylee hoped they’d make it as far as Serenity. The girls looked nice.

And then they were standing right in front of her. They looked at her, looked at Serenity, and then the girls did something she hadn’t seen them do yet: smiled like they’d found what they were looking for.