tampered | (no subject)

Current Mood: pleased

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When; Early Evening
Rating; R (Priestly has a bit of a mouth on him)
Characters; Inara

onlyfell and Priestly

notverypriestly
Summary; Priestly stops by to have tea with Inara
Log;

Inara had just finished serving tea for one client when the hostess informed her that she had another waiting in one of the tea rooms. She expected it to be Priestly as he had said he was going to stop by. She'd only been working at the tea room a week or so but enjoyed it thus far. Between that and meeting her end of her agreement with Chuck, she was busy but that was precisely how Inara liked it. She was kept from lingering too long over her longing for Serenity and it's crew.

Inara smoothed her hair back, making sure that stray strands had not escaped the chopsticks she'd twisted it up into and then ran her hands over the black silk kimono she was wearing. Once she was certain she was impeccable, she stepped into the tea room, her smile widening as she saw it was indeed Priestly. She half bowed to him then moved to sit down at the table across from him.

"Priestly, it is a pleasure to finally see you."

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He was good at levity sometimes! Priestly couldn't believe that she was actually allowing him to hug her as a result of it, but that wasn't something to dwell on when a woman way out of your league was hugging you. So he enclosed her in his arms and gave a firm squeeze.

"Well there is a two for one special today." If he'd only know what her profession really was, this might be playing out much differently.

"I'm a lucky woman then," Inara said, her voice muffled against Priestly. She pulled away after a minute to keep things from getting entirely too awkward. Before she sat down she placed a kiss against his cheek, leaving a red lipstick mark there.

"Your 'medal' because you're right. You're very good at those."

He totally got kissed. Okay, it was on the cheek, but Inara's hotness factor meant that a cheek kiss from her was akin to tonsil hockey. Once Priestly found it safe to walk again, he returned to his seat and scoffed.

"Pfft, trust me if anyone's lucky here it's me." Priestly believed that wholly, because how the hell did he get here? The alien theory was beginning to sound accurate again.

If she hadn't thought so before, he had definitely sealed the deal. Priestly was too adorable. She poured him some more tea then sat the pot back down.

"What's your favorite thing to do when you've got free time?"

"Normal shit. Play bad guitar, listen to music. Go to a concert if there's anything that isn't completely asstastic." He listed off his hobbies without much emotion behind them. They were all things that passed the time.

He started to fold his napkin in half, and then again. "It's probably obvious but I like to read weird stuff too. Books, news, internet conspiracy theories." Priestly was feeling comfortable enough to ramble away about himself, unfortunately without much regard toward asking Inara the same question. He had gotten onto the topic of describing what a mosh pit was, when he realized this oversight.

"Oh, shit, I'm being a fucking douchebag. You gotta tell me what you like, too. Other than tea, meditation and nails," he specified. Because now that they'd actually spoken? Priestly realized he had no idea what type of person Inara was, and that was incredible.

Inara listened interested to what Priestly was saying, occasionally nodding and mmmmhmmming or tossing a tell me more in there. She liked listening to people and Priestly represented a type of person she'd never encountered before.

"Do you make your own theories or just adopt others?" she asked. It was interesting and it indicated an intelligent person if possibly paranoid. She didn't really think Priestly was paranoid though, more bored and searching for something interesting.

"No, you're fine," she assured him with a laugh. She rolled one shoulder in a shrug at his question. "I like to read and I'm fairly varied in my interests. I like classics, poetry, probably authors and poets you've heard of before. Vonnegut, Byron, Bronte, Austen, McCarthy and Wells are some of my of my current favorites. I'm fascinated with history and art. write calligraphy. I enjoy organizing which I'm sure is very boring. I like helping people. I like making someone smile. I enjoy watching sports although I don't often participate. I paint moderately well. I love fencing but I don't get to it very often and archery. I play chess." She tilted her head and tried to think of the other things she could do and enjoyed. The guild had made certain she was varied in her interests.

"I'm thinking about taking up singing. Jazz from your era...or a few generations back."

Priestly chuckled and shrugged. "Sometimes I mix and match. Throw it all up on the wall and see what sticks. Don't tell anyone but sometimes I say shit I don't actually believe, too, just to play devil's advocate."

He returned the favor of an open ear, marveling at the list of her hobbies, complimenting her on her good taste in authors, but he found her newest one the most interesting. "Jazz, huh?" He picture her in a Chicago-like get up, finally nodding his approval once the image worked for him. "I could see it. Going retro."

"Do you enjoy the confrontation or do you just like to make people think?" Inara asked. She was betting on the second one but sometimes people surprised her.

If Inara was going to do it of course she'd do it right. There was little reason to do things only half way. "Very, very retro for me. Any special requests?"

He had to consider her question for a moment. Usually no one wanted to know what motivation if any, was behind Priestly's antagonistic spewings. They were content to label him as whatever they thought fit and move on. That, or they were just as obnoxious as he was. "You can't really make people think, especially when most of them don't want to. It can't hurt to try though, right? Sometimes you'll get someone that's on the same wavelength." Priestly gestured toward Inara. "Okay, sometimes it's just cause I'm bored, too. Confrontation is fun."

He had no idea about jazz. Priestly wasn't even sure he could sufficiently fake it, but he was pretty sure that really popular song that stuck out in his head was technically jazz, so he pretended to think hard and hope her future chronological home helped him with his attempt at bullshit. "Oh, Fever, definitely. Fits you, you know? All that...feveriness."

Inara laughed softly at his comment about being bored. "Indeed on occasion confrontation can be entertaining particularly if the confrontation is with someone you feel comfortable with." She missed fighting with Mal. Their confrontation had usually been the safe, comfortable kind. "Where I come from, the Alliance would argue that making people think the way you do is wrong and for a while I agreed. Eventually I came to realize that allowing people to think is a way of allowing and encouraging independence and individuality."

She sipped at her tea, searching to remember the song Priestly was speaking about. She wasn't terribly familiar with Jazz at the moment but she'd recently begun acquainting herself with it. After a moment she started humming it and nodded. "I'll keep that in mind if I decide to perform."

"Sure, that makes sense. If the Alliance is anything like some governments I know, it's not surprising that they wouldn't want independent and unique thinkers. Kind of puts them in danger of being corrected when they do something they shouldn't." It made sense to him now, that Inara was more familiar with the way Priestly acted than he's previously thought. He smiled to himself a little at the fact that she was fairly similar to him, even with the glaring outward between them.

"Good, and you better invite me when you do sing. I suck at it which means I have a duty to support anyone who doesn't," he pointed out. As if he's miss Inara dressed up and crooning.

"Precisely," Inara nodded. "I actually voted for unification. I'm not certain I'd vote the same way again. They've got so much power now." She took a sip of her tea. "The government probably isn't much different in your time though."

She dipped her head with a smile and nodded. "I fully expect to see you front row and center. After all, I've never performed in that capacity before. I'll need someone I trust not to laugh at me to sing to."

"Unfortunately history always repeats itself," Priestly agreed. Even a hundred years before his time, people still felt the same way about how the government handled itself. "But it's pointless saying you'd vote differently. If you had voted the opposite side, you'd find things that you'd be upset with anyway, and want to vote the original way you did."

He nodded enthusiastically. "Are you kidding? I'll totally laugh at you, I will point and guffaw until you don't care anymore. What are friends for if not repeat public humiliation?"

"You're probably correct. This sort of thing does end to be rather cyclic and there's the syndrome of the grass is always greener on the other side of the fence," Inara agreed. "I know more now about the independent's side than I once did."

She couldn't help smirking at him and shook her head. "I'm glad I can count on you for that."

"It's like a bad show in syndication that you can't help but watch because everything else that's on is even worse. But the whole time you're watching, you're wondering why the hell the girl keeps letting the guy cheat on her, and getting annoyed at how cheap and fake the special effects are." Priestly rambled for a bit, as that particular phenomenon had happened to him way too many times. Television sucked.

"Totally! In fact, I'll even bring tomatoes and just bomb you with them. There's no room for embarrassment when you're just so full of rage at the blue mohawked dude pelting you with fruit."

Inara listened with a smile. At least television in their time had improved somewhat. "We subscribe to shows and download them so there's never anything to watch unless you've pre-ordered and downloaded it." Inara's guilty pleasure was soap operas.

"Now wait a minute. Bomb me if you like but I assure you the dress I will be attired in will not deserve that sort of reception. I'll simply give you the dress to clean for me," she teased him.

"Aww," he groaned, chuckling at her reaction. "You're such a girl, all worried about your clothes over you being humiliated." He was completely joking; he'd probably actually react much the same to his very cheaper, second hand crappy wardrobe. But he couldn't help it. Teasing girls was fun, and Inara was actually being an awesome sport.

"Well naturally," Inara chastised him teasingly. "I can bathe and get clean relatively easily. The acidity of the fruit is even good for my skin. However, I can't say the same for silk."

Sorry Priestly, for the most part she was absolutely 100% girl in every way possible.

"Okay, I'll give you that one, then." A man had to know when he was beat. Priestly had just about drained his cup, and glanced at his watch at the same time. About an hour before he had to get to work, and even though he hadn't been at the Blue Light long, he kind of wished he could blow it off.

"On that note, I should probably get going. I unfortunately have work soon," he said. If it were up to him, he'd just hang out with Inara all day.

Inara nodded and stood up. She bowed slightly to him with a smile. "Priestly it was a pleasure to have tea with you. I do hope we can do so again soon."

She really had enjoyed the afternoon. Priestly was interesting, entertaining and entirely too sweet.

He got up as well, and scoffed at her mini!bow, choosing instead to grab her in another hug, even pick her up in it a little. Priestly knew she might flail a little but Inara looked like the kind of girl who just should be hugged a lot.

"Definitely agreed, there aren't a lot of smart people worth talking to, so we gotta stick together. I'll give you a call, or video. You like the video thing better, right?" He had noticed she didn't really use the voice function so much as the video.

Priestly had no idea how right he was about the hugs but most people never got past the perfect exterior to realize that she needed hugs. The hug surprised her, taking her a bit off guard but she put her arms around his neck and laughed, relaxing into it after a moment. When he set her down, she took a half step back, still maintaining a close, personal space.

"I do prefer video. I think voice alone is impersonal. However, if you'd prefer a voice call from time to time for one reason or another, I won't ignore the call," she assured him.

"Aww you're just saying that." He joked, and began to turn to make his way to the exit. "If I figure you're screening me, I'll just get someone else's communicator is all. Stalking 101."

Priestly tapped his head a few times as he made his way to the door. "Totally joking. Seriously. I'll catch you later."

"I don't screen my calls," she assured him with a soft laugh as she walked with him to the door, holding it open for him. "However, if you call me too early in the morning you'd better just show up with tea. Have a good evening, Priestly."

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