Comments | hearts_andminds: Two steps forward, One step Back (OTA, Tag Inara)

birthrightgreen in hearts_andminds

Two steps forward, One step Back (OTA, Tag Inara)

Jul 07, 2009 17:06

It had been well over fourteen years since Surreal had given up her title as the highest paid whore in Terreille. After the attack on Jaenelle, she'd lost her taste for bedroom games, consigning herself to chastity for over a decade, until Falonar. After he broke her heart, she'd had little interest in jumping back in to the whirl of romance ( Read more... )

aphrodite's temple

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gracefulwoman July 8 2009, 03:34:49 UTC

Surreal had been a subject of fascination with Inara, though she was most likely unaware of it. As they had both made arrangements with the supposed goddess of love to engage in a similar occupation, well...Inara was curious as to where she came from, and why she, too, had chosen to work from the temple, rather than the brothel, the place she was sure some would say they both rightly belonged.

Bearing a small gift box of scented oils, she knocked lightly on the door to the quarters Surreal chosen.

birthrightgreen July 8 2009, 04:05:51 UTC

The knock on her door surprised Surreal. She didn't have a client engaged, and she was fairly certain that being at the temple meant no drop-ins, but she was learning that the rules were different here than Terreille and Kaeleer, and perhaps she would need to adjust her expectations. Brushing her fingers down the green dress she wore, she moved to open the door, then blinked in slight surprise to find Inara there.

After a moment, she smiled slightly at the other woman. She knew she had made a similar arrangement as she herself had, and called herself a "Companion," but that was about all she knew beyond her name.

"Hello."

gracefulwoman July 8 2009, 17:01:06 UTC

Inara gave her a warm, friendly smile of greeting and offered her hand. "Hello. I thought that I should introduce myself, since we're both to be working from the temple. My name is Inara Serra."

birthrightgreen July 8 2009, 20:19:14 UTC

Taking her hand, Surreal's smile grew a bit. "Pleased to meet you. I'm Surreal SaDiablo." Time was she wouldn't have given the last name, not wanting to alert Dorothea to her presence, or bring her father down on her. It was better to just be the anonymous street brat. But these days, she'd taken to using it under Saetan's aegis, with pride.

"Come in." She stepped back, holding the door open a bit more, watching Inara with curiosity in her green-gold eyes.

gracefulwoman July 9 2009, 04:22:27 UTC

"What a beautiful name." Inara dipped her head a little in gratitude as she was invited in, glancing about the room and how it was arranged with quiet curiosity before facing Surreal with a similarly quiet curiosity. She was lovely and, to Inara, at least, very exotic. "I brought something of a house-warming gift," she continued, holding the small lacquered box out. "I found some lovely perfumed oils in a village shop, and as I've always found dozens of uses for them, I thought you might like them as well."

birthrightgreen July 9 2009, 04:48:38 UTC

Surreal tucked her hair back behind one pointed ear, and then took the box with a smile that was both grateful and a little disconcerted that she hadn't thought to do anything similar. She'd had friendships with the other girls on occasion--Deje came to mind--but it had been a while, and she just hadn't thought. "Thank you. That's really kind of you. I wish I'd thought to get something for you..."

She glanced around the room. "Can I offer you some tea?"

gracefulwoman July 10 2009, 04:20:56 UTC

"Think nothing of it." Inara did her best to put her at ease through her voice, smile, body language. The last thing she's meant to do was make her feel even remotely uncomfortable. "Tea would be very lovely, thank you."

birthrightgreen July 12 2009, 04:16:26 UTC

Surreal relaxed some, and gave Inara a smile. With a wave of her hand, she indicated a settee tucked in the corner by a window. Some clients might like it, but mostly she thought she might like to curl up there and read between appointments. Placing the oils on the dresser she'd had brought in, she moved to where she'd put away a teapot and some tea for her own use.

There wasn't any ritual or ceremony to her movements, really. More practical efficiency and comfort as she called up witchfire to boil the water, not bothering with any cooking implements.

"Where are you from, Inara?"

gracefulwoman July 12 2009, 06:21:34 UTC

The conjured fire startled Inara more than a little, but she was controlled and composed enough that she merely blinked rather than yelp and jump. "Oh, my..."

She realized she'd been asked a question, and she managed to shift her attention back to Surreal and smile. "I was born on a planet called Sihnon, but my most recent address was a ship called Serenity."

birthrightgreen July 14 2009, 18:27:21 UTC

Surreal glanced at her, then remembered that so many here weren't capable of even basic Craft. They weren't Blood. It seemed that Inara was from a world without it, even, as the landen in both Terreille and Kaeleer were at least used to seeing simple Craft. "I'm sorry...I didn't mean to startle you."

Her eyes widened a little at Inara's answer. "A...ship? What sort of ship?"

gracefulwoman July 15 2009, 03:00:22 UTC

"It's quite all right." She smiled reassuringly, and took the indicated seat, smoothed the skirt of her coral dress primly. "After the shock of arriving here in the manner that I did, well...I don't think that there's much that could surprise me."

Inara had a feeling she was going to have to get used to such questions, and thankfully, she didn't mind repeating herself. "A star ship, a space faring vessel. A Firefly class transport ship, specifically."

birthrightgreen July 27 2009, 01:02:19 UTC

"That's probably true," Surreal said, and thus didn't bother to quench the witchfire, though she did carry the cups over to the table while the tea brewed.

She gave Inara a confused look. "A ... star ship?" The word "space" meant nothing to her in that context, but stars she knew, and she remembered her daughter and her talk of her father and their colony. "For traveling among the stars?"

gracefulwoman July 27 2009, 03:15:28 UTC

"Exactly that," Inara replied, dipping in her head in a nod, watching Surreal with quiet interest. "Do the people your world engage in such travels?"

birthrightgreen July 27 2009, 17:50:47 UTC

Surreal shook her head, giving Inara a rueful smile. "Not hardly, sugar. I don't think it's even occurred to anyone to give it a try, or to think that there'd be anything out there worth seeing."

gracefulwoman July 28 2009, 18:49:02 UTC

Inara made a soft noise of understanding and nodded; she'd expected as much. "I'm afraid my ancestors didn't have much of a choice--they exhausted our planet's resources. For the survival of our species, they had to take to the stars. They terraformed new systems, planets, and moons, and when they were inhabitable, colonized them."

birthrightgreen July 29 2009, 16:38:57 UTC

Surreal frowned at the notion of exhausting the land's resources. It sounded too much like the sickness that had taken Terreille when the Queens no longer cared for it, nurtured it as they should have. She wanted to ask if her ancestors had no Queens to care, but she'd learned enough here to know that the society of her world was very different than that of much of the others here. "That sounds fascinating--that they are able to do such things."

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