Whistles

Danger sat on the sand, a whistle of sorts in his hands. Some would call it a penny whistle, but all he knew was that he knew how to play it. The melancholy pirate melody drifted over the silence, singing to the sea and to the seagulls. His shaggy white blonde hair was shaggier than usual, saying that he'd probably been swimming. However, his clothes were dry, as was his hair, so it had been a while.

As he played, he allowed his mind to wander over the series of events that had passed in his life since he came to SA. Everything had changed since Serenity came into his life. At first, he'd hated her for what she'd done to his ship. But now, as hard as he pretended that nothing had changed, he knew it wasn't true. Something shifted within him whenever he saw her. He was falling in love with her. He closed his eyes, stopped playing for a moment. No, he couldn't be. That just wasn't him. He never got attached. "But I am.." he spoke aloud, quietly, almost a mumble, and then he placed the whistle back in his mouth and continued to play the song.

Danger smiled up at her, and then just at her when she plopped down beside him. "The feeling's mutual." he said with a slight chuckle, brown eyes, as usual, not revealing anything that he was thinking deep inside him, though they did show his cheerfulness at seeing her, as well as his friendliness. Nothing more than that. He watched the wind move her hair, and glanced out at the sea for a moment. He wasn't supposed to notice things like that. He was thankful when she spoke again.

"What, this thing?" he held up the shimmering whistle, "It's a Whistle. Made for music," he placed the whistle in his mouth, and played a quick, piratey scale, before grinning at her. "See?"

Danger grinned a lopsided grin. "To be honest, I'm pretty sure that calling it a Whistle is like calling me O'Reilly." he shrugged, watching her listen to the 'ocean' through the shell. He grinned again when he remembered a story that the Captain had told him once.

"Do you know the legend of why shells let you 'hear' the ocean?" he cocked his head to the side, smiling eyes making him look very much like a puppy. He knew she couldn't see the control that he was exercising over himself in everything he said, every look he gave her, and somehow, that just gave him more control. Because at the moment he felt like cursing at himself, but he forced himself not to curse in the presence of a lady.

-disclaimer: This is a myth that I made up on the spot-

Danger's smile turned soft for a moment. Then he moved, making himself more comfortable. When he spoke, his voice took on the tone of a storyteller, something you learned early on a pirate ship. "Well, according to pirate lore, in the beginning of the world, there was a person for each of the living things. There was a person for the ocean, a person for the land, a person for the air, etc. They were always arguing, until the lady of the ocean fell in love with the man of the land. Ocean couldn't get over the fact that when her subjects, like the inhabitants of the shell, washed ashore, they died, so they made an agreement. Land decided to allow the shells to remain connected to the ocean by sound. So whenever you put a shell to your ear, you're listening to the very heart of the Lady of the Ocean." he smiled again, moving his head to look out at the sea. That story had amazed him when he was younger. On one hand, he hadn't understood love, but on the other hand, the prospect of listening to the heart of a Lady had seemed interesting, if not a little unnerving.

It took all of the control that Danger had not to curse as he pushed himself up from the sand in an abrupt movement. He stuck the whistle in his belt. 'You're getting in too deep, Danger...pull back. This isn't good..' he coached himself, remaining stalk still, even though he wanted to pace to remove the sudden surge of emotions within him. He muttered a curse in Russian, quietly, and not really in a way that she'd know it was a curse. But it made him feel better.