Survival Of The Fittest

"Eh, don't worry about it. There's nothing wrong with being a teacher," Claire said. "My sister is a teacher, and they're very valuable."

"Anyways, the characters. There are nine main characters in the series. There's Mal, the captain, Zoe, his first mate, Jayne, the fighter, Wash, the pilot, Kaylee, the mechanic, Inara, the companion, Book, the preacher, Simon, the doctor, and River, Simon's sister. The first six are a team already aboard the Serenity, the ship the characters fly on. The first six are mostly established through their jobs, but also have some quirks with how they go about, like Wash playing with some dinosaur toys near the controls of the ship, or Kaylee sitting in a chair with her hair in buns and holding a parasol in order to get passengers to carry on the ship."

"The other three are less easily defined, but we see that Book has some issues with Inara's job being a legal and classy form of prostitution, Simon shows actual concern for his sister, but River is harder to define since she's said to have been experimented on. I'm guessing these three will be more developed as the series progresses."

"So, long story short, we're given a sense on how the first group would work together as they sail on their ship, and the new characters come in and force them to act to new situations, like when Kaylee gets shot and Simon threatens to let her die unless they protect him and River from the Alliance."

"I guess I should just write that kind of stuff down, huh?"

Gwen nodded. "Yeah, that was a great description. If you put that in, it'll make perfect sense. Maybe you could put in the villains or antagonists, too, like their apparent motives and whatnot."

She finished off her cocoa and stretched.

"And once you've got that, maybe you could do the setting. Like dates, locations and stuff. Is it all in space, or do they land on planets and stuff?"

"It's a bit of a mix. They spend time in space on their ship and also go to a few planets to do some work. Still, there is a bit of a clear mix of culture. Apparently, all of Earth's civilizations are a mix of the U.S. and China, and some of the lesser developed areas of the universe are basically like the western frontier."

Claire continued to type the details on her word document.

"That's kind of what I liked, is that they used the old west aesthetic to sort of represent the division of class in the universe, since the government often has little regulation on certain worlds. That sort of merges with the tone, since there's a lot of gung-ho characters and the western tropes add to the idea of space as a big frontier and such."

Gwen scratched her cheek, careful to avoid brushing her eyes and smearing the makeup.

"Sounds kind of interesting. Maybe I should look into it." She was genuinely curious; the idea of a futuristic western appealed to her inner rules-breaker.

Plus, just a little Chinese pride, but that was small and shriveled like a dead plant.

"So yeah, it sounds pretty neat. What do you mean by US and China? Like, have those two taken over the rest of the countries?"

A thought struck her. "Ooh, are there aliens? What kinds?" Gwen had a mild interest in aliens, especially ones that were unlike Earth life, because they could be so interesting!

"Oh, by the U.S. and China, I meant that they've taken over. According to the episode, the U.S. and China merged into one superpower called The Alliance, and all of humanity had left Earth to colonize the universe. The result of that is a clear Chinese influence on a lot of the culture. The characters will also at times use Chinese phrases mixed in with English."

Gwen's question about aliens sort of surprised her. Claire figured it made sense to ask about that since it was a science fiction series.

"I don't think there are any actual aliens in this series," Claire mentioned. "There were some monsters called Reavers that appeared in the pilot. Apparently, they're horrible creatures that rape, kill, eat, and wear the skin of their victims. The episode didn't show what they look like though, something that actually makes them kind of mysterious though, in an unpleasant 'what the fuck is this thing?' kind of way."

"But other than that, it seems that it's all just humans in the series. I need to watch the next few episodes to see if that's the case."

Gwen was mildly disappointed. "Oh, okay." She hoped for interesting aliens, not terrifying ones. Still, it was kind of unique.

"I see. Well, you've got some setting stuff right there, which is good. Uh, what else?" Gwen had to think for a second. The answer came in a flash.

"Oh yeah, tone!" She exclaimed a little bit too loudly in her triumph. "What's the tone for it; dark, funny, action-ey, or what?" Gwen was a sucker for tone; setting a tone properly was like, the most important part of a good piece of writing. Gwen liked lots of tones; cheerful, cute, occasionally dark and so on.

"Oh, the tone fluctuates. The episode opens with a war that is pretty terrible for the characters in it, but most of the time, it's a blend of dark and humorous. A lot of the characters have some pretty funny moments or lines, and a lot of them take a black comedy approach to life. Sort of their way of dealing with the universe."

"So for the most part, there are some action scenes and serious moments, but there's usually some moment or line that undercuts the drama."

Claire continued to add the notes to the word document.

"Okay, that just leaves story."

Gwen nods. As they talk, the show is rapidly sounding more and more interesting to her. She probably oughta watch it at some point, if she got the chance.

"So yeah, story's pretty simple. What happens? Are there any twists? What's the backstory?" Gwen paused. "Wait, that's probably covered in the "setting" section, right? Eh, whatever."

Gwen wishes for her cocoa, but she'd had two cups already and she didn't have the money to buy another one. Still, when Gwen wanted chocolate, she wanted chocolate.

"Hey Claire? You mind if I borrow a buck or two to buy another drink? I swear I'll pay you back ASAP."

"Well, the story of the episode is that the crew raids a ship for these nutrient bars to sell. They pick up some passengers for extra cash, but it leads to some issues as one of the passengers is a cop trying to catch Simon. Kaylee gets shot and the cop is incapacitated, so the crew has to go through with the sale while not getting in trouble with the law or the Reavers."

Gwen then asked Claire if she could have some cash for another drink.

"Huh? Oh, sure. I'll consider it your payment for your advice."

Claire quickly reached into her pants pocket and pulled out her wallet. She opened it up and fished out two dollar bills and placed them on the table.

"I'll try to get some of the writing done while you're in line."

Gwen nodded, and said, "Thank you so much! I'll pay you back, promise!" She stood, walking around the table to take the money.

She smiled, and walked back to join the queue. Claire was actually surprisingly nice, Gwen decided. She certainly wasn't as irritating as Gwen thought she was.

Gwen wondered where that notion had come from.

As Gwen waited in line, she turned back to watch Claire and see how she was doing.

((OOC: Post #700!!!))

"Hey, no probs," Claire said as Gwen left to get another drink..

Claire took another sip from her coffee and stared at her computer screen.

Alright, let's write this gorram review. First of fourteen episodes and the movie, here we go!

Claire hovered her hands over the keyboard and began typing away. She continued to look over the notes she made by talking with Gwen. Now that she had a structure to the review, it was becoming easier to write.

Hell yeah, this is something I've got to apply to all future reviews. When I finally get to see Black Swan, I might have to apply this line of thinking to it.

Gwen watched Claire type for a little bit, before being interrupted by sudden-onset end-of-the-line disorder. She ordered another cocoa, and turned back to walk over to Claire.

"So how's it coming along?" Gwen asked, taking another cursory glance at the clock.

2:54

"Crap, I need to get home!" Gwen exclaimed, realizing suddenly that she was going to get in trouble if she was out for a whole hour.

"Sorry, can you finish without me? I've gotta run!" Gwen offered a nod of goodbye before taking her cocoa (thank goodness it was in one of those paper/cardboard/magic cup things) and bolting, hoping she didn't get home too late.

[[Gwen O'Connor's story continues elsewhere]]

Claire continued typing away at her computer. She was nearing the end of the Character section and was about to move on to Setting. Gwen returned to see how it was going, before realizing that she needed to head out.

"Oh, I'll be fine," Claire said as Gwen asked if she needed anything. "Thanks again! We should hang out sometime."

Gwen hurried out of the shop. Claire smiled and turned back to her laptop.

Well that was nice. Now to see if I can actually finish this review.

She took another sip from her coffee and continued typing. She was back in the zone.

Oh yeah. I got this.

((Claire Monaghan continued elsewhere))