三 [Visual] Hallowed is the path...

[hearts_of_gold]

The visual comes on, sent to as many people as possible, and Inara's looking a bit...different-ey. Her hair is swept up into a refined, almost regal style and her expression is far harder than usual. Something in her eyes suggests that she is both very focused and very displeased about something, but when she speaks it's with a smile.

A not at all

Comments

[visual]

[skyfrome]

Well, that's different. 'Severely taken aback' would be a very mild way of describing Mal's reaction to Adria's announcement. In actual fact he's staring at the tablet with an expression of complete stupefaction.

"Inara, sweetheart, what in the gorram hell is this exceptional load of fèihuà* you're spoutin'?"

A pause, before he adds. "...and what did you do with your hair?"

*nonsense

[visual]

[hearts_of_gold]

Adria looks at the tablet's display with an utter lack of recognition...and an utter lack of reaction to being called sweetheart which would definitely not have passed by Inara's attention without comment.

"All of you keep using that name, and I'm unsure why that is," she says, bordering on being uncomfortable with the fact. She's not much used to situations that she doesn't understand. It takes her a few moments to work out what the man is saying in some sort of heavy accent and foreign language, and then she puts a hand to her hair with an openly puzzled expression.

"It was in disarray. Like this it isn't in my way."

[skyfrome]

Oh dear, that can't be good. As for the sweetheart, let's just call that Freudian and hope Inara doesn't remember any of this. Moving swiftly on, however, Mal is rapidly becoming as confused as Adria.

"Did something happen? Did you... maybe hit your head... several times?"

A serious concussion could possibly explain the lack of recognition, maybe even the nonsense spouting... though not the scary composure. Confusion is now leaning towards worry-- particularly because her answer regarding the hair is possibly one of the least Inara-like things he's ever heard. He can quite clearly see that she's still inside her shuttle, so he gets to his feet with the intention of heading there to see her face-to-face.

[hearts_of_gold]

Her focus returns to her tablet device long enough for her to stare at Mal with a look that is equal parts disdain and confusion. "No. I did not hit my head, not so far as I am aware."

A short time later, her shuttle obligingly opens itself when the hatch is all but blasted open in a burst of telekinetic energy. Because using hands to simply open it herself simply isn't showy enough. "I need to find several people. Vala Mal Doran, someone named Billy, a man named Daniel Jackson. I will likely need control of this vessel for the time being, until a more appropriate one can be located, but for now I'd like to be shown the way off."

She eyes the device again. "It would be in your best interests to assist me with these things."

[visual]

[glowingseer]

"Just when I thought this place is devoid of weird," she says, arching a brow in the process.

"So, what's the catch, lady? We get to walk with the awesome Origin, in turn you get our souls?"

[visual]

[hearts_of_gold]

"Souls? Your soul is your own affair. Origin requires only devotion, faith and dedication. The Ori need nothing from you, all we want is to share the knowledge and the power that we have with people," she says with a gesture and a smile.

[visual]

[glowingseer]

Well. Doesn't that sound too good to be true.

Which means it is.

"What's the catch?"

[visual]

[hearts_of_gold]

"The catch?" She asks entirely too innocently. "There is no catch as you say. The Ori provide these things to their devoted followers out of a wish to better the universe and make all things and all people equal and one."

[aesthetic_mojo]

Charlotte remembered the way Vala was when she changed, although she'd had other things to deal with at the time. She also knew how devastating the change could be to those nearby. She watched the display for a while, her frown deepening. She wasn't over fond of people she liked being changed and she also hated the idea of religion being used like a baseball bat.

"Well, at least you aren't subtle about it. Join up or die? Lovely." She exhaled slowly. "Don't guess you know where Inara got to."

[hearts_of_gold]

Her temper is starting to show through the thin veneer of civility that she's putting on for the tablet camera. "I do not know who this 'Inara' person is, nor do I care. And I take no joy in routing the nonbelievers, but it must be done to create a more perfect world and free people from the powers that be that would hold them in their current unevolved state of ignorance and powerlessness."

[aesthetic_mojo]

Charlotte liked this less and less. Her family practiced magics that came from every corner of the globe, so she'd been raised with a healthy respect for religion, even if she didn't particularly follow one. She really, really hated the excesses and atrocities committed in the name of religion.

"Inara Serra is the woman whose body you currently inhabit. It belongs to her, not you, so treat it well." She glared. "As for your religion, you can shove it."

[hearts_of_gold]

"It's unfortunate that that is the stance that you choose to take. I hope, for your sake, that it changes soon," she says with a grin that is just this side of unpleasant. "And tell me about this Inara person. This device seems to believe that I am her, other people do too. I look like myself to me, though."

[voice]

[biverbam]

[This call is coming from somewhere inside the house spaceship. Not Inara's shuttle, but from inside a nook somewhere nearby, close enough that Adira can probably hear the echo.]

Not her... Full of someone else's pebbles.

[Long pause.]

Give her back.

[voice]

[hearts_of_gold]

[She looks around with mild alarm, fiery power lighting up in her eyes]

Give who back? Who's there?

[voice]

[biverbam]

[That noise, Adira, is a little mouse scurrying the hell away from you and your creepy eyes.]

Inara, liáng yǒu. [Another thunk as she moves, and then quiet when she settles and River sounds frightened and about ready to jump out of her nook and run somewhere farther away.] Paguroidea but she's not yours to crawl in.

[liáng yǒu- good friend, companion]

[voice]

[hearts_of_gold]

[Her frown deepens into a scowl as people use more strange languages on her. And obscure terms. Grr!]

You make even less sense than the rest of them. I am in nobody's body but my own, or do you think that I don't recognize my own face when I see it?

[voice]

[dexmcduff]

[Oh GOD, Dexter thinks. Only not. The irony. It's just like those door-to-door people only admittedly way hotter and with creepy eyes.]

You don't actually mean destroyed do you... just one of those potential 'train at the end of the light at the end of the tunnel when you die' things?

[Video]

[hearts_of_gold]

She tosses her head a little. "What happens to the unbelievers after they are destroyed does not concern the Ori. Simply that they are destroyed, so that they will not stir rebellion and dissent against the one true path."

[dexmcduff]

So you kill anybody who doesn't follow this Origin thing. Dead? Kaput? No exceptions? But... no offence, but that's messed up.

[hearts_of_gold]

"Enemies of the Ori show no mercy in attempting to draw the faithful from the path. Why should mercy be shown in return?" For all that it sounds like a corrupt version of an already-corrupt religion and for all that Adria is being trite and snide, it's clear that she believes herself to be the victim and believes that what she's doing is right.