There had been no sight of the Alliance when Serenity descended into atmo about 70 miles or so away from the Training House. The hairs on the back of Mal's neck were still standing up though. He's always felt that prickling at times when others are watching.

As soon as Serenity is hidden away, Mal flies off to the Training House in Inara's old ( Read more... )

"They love you," Sheydra tells Inara, her blond hair falling off her shoulders as she gives Inara her tea with a smile. "The girls, I mean. They've learned more from you since you've been here than the rest of us could show them in two years."

Inara smiles back gracefully, accepting the tea. "They're very sweet. But they're not Companions."

A ( Read more... )

"Barry, Crichton, David, Eliott, Oscar, Trip, and Wings," Mal chants to himself a hundred times over. He's gotten so used to the sound of those seven names in his head that he can't really tell anymore whether or not he's saying them out loud.

The ship - his home, his love - is being repaired. Physically at least. Mal spent as much time as he could ( Read more... )

Mal feels like an ass.

Meg died, and all he did when talking to Lilly was flip out when she accidentally made him think about David.

"Smooth, Mal," he mutters to himself, making his way back from the cargo bay to his bunk, "The least you could've done was been a bit compassionate 'bout it. Her best friend died and you--"

Mal reaches the hatch to ( Read more... )

"Just...tell me when we get there."

No one on the boat understands, and Mal is fine with that. He just...can't believe he did it. Told Kaylee to muck up the engine, Wash and Jayne to strip hull, Zoe and Simon -- Mal can't really think of a reason why they should forgive him for ordering him to do that.

Above anything else, Mal wants to hide. Hide, ( Read more... )

Mal's right hand is still shaking. Shaking of death and Reavers and surrender and maybe he really was a kĕwù de lăo bàojūn for bringing them all out here.

He just couldn't break in front of them. Never. Not about death. This was the part they knew him for; "Mal's been through the war; he can do this part, no problem." Inara was something different ( Read more... )

Beaumonde. Home to...well, pretty much everything, in very large amounts, all mixed together like so much debris from a storm of neon lights and rice cake vendors.

Mal'd never admit it to anyone that didn't know him, but he really does like coming to The Maidenhead. Except for the fact that the management makes Mal and his crew lock up their ( Read more... )

Nobody has noticed yet, and Mal intends on keeping it that way. David was still there; for as much as he messed with Mal in life, he does all the more now ( Read more... )

Simon's soothers work really well. Mal has been able to regain at least a pretense of normal sleep patterns. Kaylee still keeps close tabs on him; so does the rest of the crew, for that matter. This is what makes his bunk so appealing. With a not-too-happy-with-life grin, Mal muses, Can't imagine that they all have the same reasons for keepin' ( Read more... )

No dreams last night.

Not that he doesn't have some tension to clear off.

This is why Mal adds another ten pounds to each side of Jayne's steel barbell and leans back for another set of reps.