Mal-Inara.
A fair amount of people have seen Malcolm Beauregard Reynolds do what he has to.
A smaller group of people have seen Mal 'Captain Mu Ji Tightpants' Reynolds remember to be kind and jovial to others, and that sometimes - sometimes - it is okay to not be 100 percent on-guard all the time.
There is only one person that gets to see Mal with purple fingernails.
"If Kaylee gets a hold o' this, I promise you---"
"Promise me what?" Inara retorts, half-smug and half just too damned gleeful for Mal's own good. "What possible recourse do you have? Threaten to take down my cat painting?"
Mal darts his eye to the somewhat faded cat picture that Kaylee had dared him to make for Inara a while back; honestly, it still surprises Mal that he did it, and that Inara was happy to see it.
Looking back down at the dark purple veneer over his permanently cracked and unkempt nails - Inara had even tried to clean them up a bit, to no avail - he laughs to himself, relaxing further into the pillow he propped behind his back against her headboard.
"What's so funny?" Inara asks, finishing his right thumbnail before moving to the left hand.
"David'd be laughin' his ruttin' pigu off at me at the moment is all."
"Well - Kaylee did tell you you look good in purple. Would David agree?"
"Probably, though I think he'd be laughing more that I let you do this in the first place."
"You didn't let me, I demanded."
"Exactly; womenfolk get their way wi' me apparently."
"Exactly, Companion Novice Thomas."
"Bi zui."
It was Inara's turn to laugh then, almost making her heavy curtains rustle with the noise.
A smaller group of people have seen Mal 'Captain Mu Ji Tightpants' Reynolds remember to be kind and jovial to others, and that sometimes - sometimes - it is okay to not be 100 percent on-guard all the time.
There is only one person that gets to see Mal with purple fingernails.
"If Kaylee gets a hold o' this, I promise you---"
"Promise me what?" Inara retorts, half-smug and half just too damned gleeful for Mal's own good. "What possible recourse do you have? Threaten to take down my cat painting?"
Mal darts his eye to the somewhat faded cat picture that Kaylee had dared him to make for Inara a while back; honestly, it still surprises Mal that he did it, and that Inara was happy to see it.
Looking back down at the dark purple veneer over his permanently cracked and unkempt nails - Inara had even tried to clean them up a bit, to no avail - he laughs to himself, relaxing further into the pillow he propped behind his back against her headboard.
"What's so funny?" Inara asks, finishing his right thumbnail before moving to the left hand.
"David'd be laughin' his ruttin' pigu off at me at the moment is all."
"Well - Kaylee did tell you you look good in purple. Would David agree?"
"Probably, though I think he'd be laughing more that I let you do this in the first place."
"You didn't let me, I demanded."
"Exactly; womenfolk get their way wi' me apparently."
"Exactly, Companion Novice Thomas."
"Bi zui."
It was Inara's turn to laugh then, almost making her heavy curtains rustle with the noise.