Saffron arched an eyebrow when Xander ignored her question, but let it go for the time being in favor of the explanation he was likely owed at that point. She wasn't about to drop it, though.
"Humans, technically," she replied. "They were just a myth in a lot of places, but those of us who'd been out to the border moons and planets knew they're about as real as it gets. The story was that Reavers were men who'd seen the edge of space and gone crazy, but the truth was they'd been part of a terraforming experiment gone terrible wrong."
She took a breath, thinking back on what she'd seen in that vid. Movie. "There was a planet, Miranda, where the Alliance - our government - tried out a drug called Pax, which was supposed to calm the population, make peaceful living easier. Problem was, it worked too well. People just stopped caring about anything, everything, literally stopped eating and the like. And eventually they just laid down where they were and died. But one tenth of one percent of the people on Miranda were affected the opposite way. They were pure rage, animal instinct, they cut on themselves and didn't just kill whoever they came in contact with, they raped and maimed and sewed the skins of their victims into their clothes. They became Reavers."
She paused again, her eyes hot with the sting of the tears she was trying to force back. "Do you remember that Halloween a few years back? Where people's worst fears were coming to life? Mine was Reavers. River and I had to fight them off; we ended up getting picked up by my ex and his crew." She refused to say 'rescued'. "That fight was how I got these scars." She gestured vaguely at her arm and left side, knowing Xander had seen them up close and would realize what she was talking about.
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"Humans, technically," she replied. "They were just a myth in a lot of places, but those of us who'd been out to the border moons and planets knew they're about as real as it gets. The story was that Reavers were men who'd seen the edge of space and gone crazy, but the truth was they'd been part of a terraforming experiment gone terrible wrong."
She took a breath, thinking back on what she'd seen in that vid. Movie. "There was a planet, Miranda, where the Alliance - our government - tried out a drug called Pax, which was supposed to calm the population, make peaceful living easier. Problem was, it worked too well. People just stopped caring about anything, everything, literally stopped eating and the like. And eventually they just laid down where they were and died. But one tenth of one percent of the people on Miranda were affected the opposite way. They were pure rage, animal instinct, they cut on themselves and didn't just kill whoever they came in contact with, they raped and maimed and sewed the skins of their victims into their clothes. They became Reavers."
She paused again, her eyes hot with the sting of the tears she was trying to force back. "Do you remember that Halloween a few years back? Where people's worst fears were coming to life? Mine was Reavers. River and I had to fight them off; we ended up getting picked up by my ex and his crew." She refused to say 'rescued'. "That fight was how I got these scars." She gestured vaguely at her arm and left side, knowing Xander had seen them up close and would realize what she was talking about.