River: This isn't home.
Simon: No. No, we can't go home. If we go home they'll just send you back to the Academy. This is safer now. (cheerfully) We're on a ship.
River: Midbulk transport, standard radion-accelerator core, classcode 03-K64, "Firefly".
Mal enters the infirmary.
Mal: Well, that's something. I can't even remember all that.
Simon: I'm always amazed at what she knows. River, this is Captain Reynolds.
Mal: (to River) Mal.
River curtsies with exaggerated elegance. After a beat, Mal curtsies back awkwardly.
Simon: (amused) You bow.
Mal: What?
Simon: From the waist. (he demonstrates) The lady curtsies, the gentleman bows.
Mal: Well, I'm not overly gentle.
Firefly: 1.02 - The Train Job
River: Mal. Bad... In the Latin.
Firefly: 1.05 - Safe
River: (looking into a cow's face, murmuring) Little soul big world. Eat and sleep and eat.. Many souls. Very straight, very simple...
Jayne: (re: River) Captain! This one's in the way!
Mal: Cattle on the ship three weeks, she don't go near 'em. Suddenly, we're on Jiangyin and she's got a driving need to commune with the beasts?
River: They weren't cows inside. They were waiting to be, but they forgot. Now they see sky and they remember what they are.
Mal: Is it bad that what she just said makes perfect sense to me? (reaching for her) Come on, now. Let's move you clear of the work.
River recoils from Mal. He's not Simon.
Simon: What's going on? What are you doing?
Mal: I was fixin' to do some business. Buyers'll be along soon. I can't be herding these steers and your sister, too.
Simon: I'll keep her out of the way. But you don't need to say things like that in front of her.
Mal: Yes, I've clearly upset her.
River is looking at the ends of her hair now, completely tranquil. Jayne, still nearby, snorts.
Firefly: 1.14 - Objects in Space
River: (re: gun) It was in my hand...
Mal: Fully loaded, safety off. This here's a recipe for unpleasantness, does she understand that?
River: She understands. She doesn't comprehend.
Mal: Well, I'm glad we've made that distinction. No touching guns, okay?
River: No touching.
Firefly: 1.14 - Objects in Space
Mal: What we got here to deal with is the larger issue. And the larger issue is we got someone on board this ship might be a danger to us. It's not a question of whether we like her... some of us have grown attached... Kaylee, I know you have or you'd've spoken up sooner, which by the by you should have. I find River pleasant enough myself. But she's got an oddness to her, and it ain't just her proficiency with fire-arms. Girl knows things she shouldn't. Things she couldn't.
Firefly: 1.14 - Objects in Space
Mal: (groggy) What in the hell is going on here?
River: I need you to do me a favor, Captain.
Mal: There was a guy, he was very blurry. You gotta be careful.... how come there's a guy on board and how come you're all of a sudden the ship?
River: I know you have questions...
Mal: Yeah, that would be why I just asked them -
River: But there isn't a lot of time. Captain, I need you to trust me.
Mal: Am I dreaming?
River: We all are.
Mal rolls his eyes.
Mal: Don't make faces.
Firefly: 1.14 - Objects in Space
River: Can't be controlled. Can't be trusted. Everybody could just go on without me, not have to worry. People could be who they wanted to be, could be with the people they wanted... could live simple. No secrets. And I'll be fine. I'll be your bounty, Jubel Early. And then I'll just fade away.
Firefly: 1.14 - Objects in Space
River: Permission to come aboard?
Mal: You know, you ain't quite right.
River: It's the popular theory.
Mal: Get on in there. Give your brother a thrashing for messing up your plan.
River: He takes so much looking after...