[EM] RP - 23: Hometown

[big_damn_hero]

"A bit uncomfortable with it, Malcolm?"

Mal narrowed his eyes just a bit, moving his gaze towards the pickup to make sure Badger picked up on it. A little menace didn't hurt none, and for the job Badger was asking, Mal figured he was owed a little toying.

"Trip's gonna damn near exhaust my fuel cells on hand...if I'm to refuel for this little journey, I'll need compensation." he bit off tersely, folding his arms.

He watched Badger grin, and in that moment knew that the weasely little son of a bitch had to know about the significance of the job. "Now that won't be a spot of trouble, mate. Just be sure you take good care of my cargo, dong ma?"

Mal simply nodded. "Yeah...I'll contact you after the pickup, and again after the drop. See you in the world." he replied, cutting off the transmission without waiting for Badger's response. For a few long moments, he just stared at the screen, trying to figure out who in the gorram hell Badger could be working with.

Mal knew most of the folks on Shadow like the back of his hand...and wasn't too many men on that moon would deal with Badger's like, and even fewer who would be desperate enough to.

"Yep...this can't be good." he murmured to himself, finally standing from the pilot's chair and wandering off the bridge to head for the mess area, where the crew would likely be gathered.

No one was present but Inara when he arrived, and from the looks of the bits and pieces laying about, chow had just finished. Someone had been courteous enough to cover his plate...he wondered for a moment if Inara had done it.

Walking over to grab his plate, he nodded to Inara cordially. "Hope yer schedule's clear," he drawled, *knowing* for a fact it was, "'cause we got a job's gonna take us a little ways out."

Comments

[bigdamn-hero.livejournal.com]

For a long moment he didn't answer, busying himself with cleaning his dish as he tried to figure out what to say. He could play it off...play with her, make light of it and let it pass as an unremarkable thing, but it wasn't. And again...she knew him better than that.

Wuh duh ma huh tah duh fong kwong duh wai shung, if she ended up leaving his boat and leaving him twisted after all this without so much as a cozy dinner for two, he was going to shoot someone. Not her...but someone. Gorram humped-up *women*...

"Shia." he replied tersely, turning to put his plate away once he'd cleaned it off. "And if I ain't mistaken, Sihnon is yers, ain't that right? Now that we got that all outta the way..."

[companionserra.livejournal.com]

"Mal..." Inara felt her body betray her, her legs take her across the kitchen, her arm extend, her hand lay on his forearm. She felt the roughspun material against her fingertips and had to fight hard against the urge to lean in close, touch the tip of her nose to his shoulder and breathe in the scent of flesh warmed cotton. Her body had brought her here without thought, and now she was at a loss as to what to say. "...How long?" she finally asked, quietly. "How long since you've been home?"

[bigdamn-hero.livejournal.com]

Mal stilled at the touch of her hand on his arm, his gaze drawn to it for just a moment as he watched it just sit there...pale, flawless skin against his own work-roughened flesh, peppered with the light, innocuous scars of minor injury and darkened just a little...not with sunlight, but with a smudge here and there of dirt from his latest trip to the engine room to check on the heart of his mistress as Kaylee tried to explain to him the latest repairs on Serenity. Her fingers were well-manicured and soft against his own roughspun sleeve, a ghost of that perfect, silken touch that was probably one of the main sources of her income.

"Week or two shy of the War, I reckon." he replied simply, quietly, hoping to dismiss it as quickly as he could. Not that Inara would let him, he was fair certain...but gorramit, at least he tried.

Then his mind started working...lightning-quick flares of want and wishing that led to curiosity of a most insidious sort.

"How 'bout you?" he finally asked, lifting his head to meet her gaze. "When's last time you went home? I mean...you ain't been since you rented from me, I'm fair certain..."

[companionserra.livejournal.com]

The subject turned back to her, and Inara immediately lifted her hand from his arm. She didn't want to talk about herself, or Sihnon, or why she left, why she hadn't returned. "No. I'd been...travelling, for several months before I booked passage on board Serenity. I haven't been back since. There...hasn't been any need."

[bigdamn-hero.livejournal.com]

Give and take...that's what it was all about. She could read him...and in his own way, Mal had learned to read her right back. He knew an evasion when he heard it.

"Make ya a deal." he offered, turning to face her. "How 'bout nobody asks, nobody tells, dong ma? I figger it's the only way we'll survive the trip, in the end. Y'know...at least with sanity intact, 'cause be a cryin' shame if we all went home and I'd gone and turned into River 'cause you was askin' me a whole buncha questions I didn't wanna answer..."

[companionserra.livejournal.com]

Inara smiled slightly at the offer; don't ask, don't tell. Wasn't that how it usually went for them...for a short time, at least. It never lasted very long, and she doubted it would this time...but still.

"Deal," she replied, gamely sticking out her hand to shake his, sealing the agreement.