trans_9 | Aftermath [Closed]

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Aftermath [Closed]

That was entirely unfortunate.

Entirely.

Someone could have mentioned before that people arrived who looked exactly like people he knew, but weren't. And not in the method Sam would have said. It was hard to say whether it was worse learning this way than if he'd gone up and hugged a Sam-who-was-not-a-Sam. Whichever way, it made the future days like this even worse. Familiar faces wouldn't cut it (although this was the first so far).

He refused to believe he was the only one from his universe and time. He refused to believe it as fiercely as he refused to believe his universe was gone.

All-in-all, it didn't really put him in the mood to apologize to the woman...but it wasn't her fault she looked like a genocidal maniac. His better nature refused to allow him to leave it where they had. Which left him wandering and looking for the woman. Preferably without using his side arm this time.

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Inara was actually trying to put the whole situation out of her mind. The idea that there had been a crazy woman from the crazy confused man's world was just slightly, disconcerting. But she supposed in the end she understood why he'd reacted the way he did.

Though that didn't mean she was going to actively search the man out, he had after all pointed a gun at her. And it wasn't something she wanted to chance happen again. Nor did she think he'd ever search her out.

So it was more than a bit of a surprise when she saw him walking toward her in one of the hallways.

She paused for a moment, debating truning around and heading back the way she'd just come. But in the end she had too much pride to do that, and she'd merely raised her chin a fraction of an inch and took a few steps forward before offering him a pleasant smile.

"Good day."

Hey. He was not crazy. It was a perfectly reasonable reaction toward someone who'd nearly wiped out an entire galaxy and knew full-well what they were doing.

It was perfectly reasonable, in Cam's mind, for someone who'd tried to kill his teammates.

That said, he wished for pockets once more. Cam frowned slightly, and gave a slim nod. "S'much as there's day here."

She drew in a breath and nodded her head slowly. "Well according to my clock in the shuttle, it would be sometime in the A.M., so I choose to think it's morning."

She lowered her eyes for a moment, thinking if there was ever a time to wish she looked completely different...Now was the time. It was odd to have a man feel uncomfortable around her because of her looks, it wasn't something she was use to.

She slowly raised her gaze to meet his again. "Do you mind if I say something?"

He wasn't too keen on being uncomfortable, really. For the most part, he hoped to avoid the woman after he dealt with his conscience on the matter. Given that he'd threatened her with a deadly weapon, he doubted the woman would mind that path.

At her question, he gave a slim nod. "Pretty sure you've every right to."

"Thank you," she said and clasped her hands together almost primly before her. "Firstly, I'm sorry if you got into any sort of trouble over our misunderstanding. I do understand why you drew your gun. Secondly," she paused and lowered her eyes again, and her eyebrows furrowed a little.

"I just wanted you to know, that I'm nothing like the woman who looks like me from your world. I... I tend to value life and would only take one if I truly thought the life of the people I care about were in danger. I hope that you might one day be able to look at me and see me and not the woman from your world."

He waved off the first half. Really, the extent of the trouble was that he'd pretty much wasted his only opportunity to do something half-cocked. He knew how military and military-esque organizations worked well enough to realize that.

Hopefully, he'd never need another chance. If he did...well, a spotless record didn't really count for much here. He'd do what needed to be done, if it came to it.

He nodded at her second point. "I'll..." Try? Do his best to not want to reach for the nearest heavy artillery whenever she surprised him? "I don't expect you're anything like her. And I apologize for any distress my own rashness caused you." That was why he'd been looking for her. Not for awkward glances. "I'm not usually in the habit of pre-judging people."

She lifted her gaze again and flashed him a relieved smile. This was actually going better than she'd thought it would, which of course is a very good thing. "Don't worry about it, truly. As I said before I completely understand why you did what you did. You thought I was a danger, and thought you had to protect those of the crew. I find that admirable to be honest."

She unclasped her hands and tilted her head a little to the side. "Though I don't believe we had the oppurtunity to be introduced properly due the circumstances of our last meeting." She held her hand out to him. "I'm Inara."

He was honestly trying not to be creeped out. Now that he knew (believed) she wasn't Adria, he could notice the subtle differences in her voice from that of Adria's...but then again, it had been more than a year since he'd last heard it. So, the reassurance was not as strong as it could have been.

Still, he offered his hand all the same, and summoned a thin smile. "Cameron Mitchell."

Her smile faded a little and she realized that her normal charm and grace weren't going to charm the man before her. But as fast as her smile had faltered, it brightened again. "Well it's a pleasure to meet you Mister Mitchell," she informed him as she shook his hand.

She withdrew her hand from his as soon as was acceptable and once againd clasped her hands before her. "I take it that you are a solier from your world?"

Another Mister Mitchell. Really? He was going to have to tell everyone to call him Cam?

"Colonel." He flashed a brief, miniscule smile, and nodded to her question. So he wasn't comfortable with Cam in this particular case. "It's Colonel Mitchell. US Air Force."

"Very well. Colonel Mitchell," she nodded her head a little. She thought back through her lessons and her smile grew again. "Air Force? My universe hasn't heard that term in quite a long time. I once went to a museum which had an aeroplane from one of the Old Earth's air forces. Was quite intriguing.

Old Earth. That name gave a chill (mostly) unrelated to Adria or Inara's similarities.

He tilted his head and smiled anyway. He was going to have to be pleasant or he'd waste his whole apology. "Air Force outdated, huh?"

"A little," She admitted with a small shrug of her shoulders.

Her expression momentarily became almost childlike but she quickly re-schooled her features to a more exude composure. "So you know how to fly the old aeroplanes?"

Sure, don't explain. He probably didn't want to know, anyway.

He squinted at the woman a moment. "I know how to fly what's in my universe. I can't guarantee any others."

Inara's eyebrows perked up a little as she openly watched Cam's face. "Perhaps the Old Earth ships from my universe aren't that different from the ones you know how to fly," she suggested with a slight nod of her head.

"What year are you from in your universe?"

Ehh. Old Earth. He still didn't like the term. So what if he'd just come from an Earth where Santa Claus was real?

He shrugged. "Could be." At her question, he gave a vague frown. It wasn't a question that would yield any useful information if this was an elaborate tick--by Adria or by some random other force. "2009."

Inara blinks and stares at him. "That's amazing," she finally manages to say. "I come from 2518. So the Earth-That-Was... You're time hadn't used all of it's resources yet," she says but it's more like she's thinking outloud.

Five hundred years. How could someone with the same face be born hundreds of years afterward? Was that really the kind of choices and possibilities. Sam meant when she talked about alternate universes?

He took comfort in the fact that it was an alternate universe.

"I'm pretty sure it's a universe thing."

"Well, perhaps," Inara ascented with a slight shrug of her shoulders. He could be right, but he was from a time before hers and a different universe she supposed, so neither of them would ever know.

"Though if it is, I pray the people of your universe are a tad smarter than those of mine."

Well, if she wasn't Ori-spawn, then chances were, they hadn't gotten out into the galaxy by her 2009, so he figured his own world had to be doing pretty well. ~~Presuming it still existed~~.

"We can hope so."

Edited 2010-01-06 10:02 (UTC)

She stood there, serenely calm, dispite the obvious awkwardness of their conversation. "Might I ask you another question?" She was always so polite, even to men who pulled guns on her.

He didn't particularly care for the idea of another question, really.

Cam rolled his shoulders. "Yeah...sure."

"Would you have truly shot me?" She feels she has a right to know, though won't hold it against him if he doesn't feel like answering.

Morbid question to ask.

He tilted his head to the side, determining whether answering might end him in the cell again. He frowned slightly, and gave a slight nod. "If you were Adria, absolutely."

Without a second thought. No matter what that might have meant for him afterward.

"Then it's a good thing for me that I am indeed not this Adria," Inara stated with a firm nod of her head. "And perhaps for you as well," she added.

He gave a slim nod. A good thing for everyone. But if she wasn't Adria, there wasn't any point to dwell. Adria was dead and gone. "One can hope she's not the sort of people this ship selected."

He stopped short of saying 'rescued'.

"Does the ship make a habit of bringing killers onboard?" she asked, a slender eyebrow raising in question.

He shrugged. "Don't know. There're a lot of pods in that chamber."

"Well it would hardly make sense for her to do so. After all weren't we told we were brought here for a greater good? What good would it to bring someone who'd try to wipe us all out?" Inara asked, studying the Colonel's expression.

"Yeah...sure. S'pose you're right." If Stacy was telling the truth. If multiversal morals stood the same. If the skill-set of the less ethical weren't so important to this war that they decided to keep them after all.

She sighed softly, her eyebrows furrowing a little as she continued to watch Cam. There seemed no way at the moment to make the awkwardness that was between them disappear. And really, she knew the conversation was just going to continue on it's awkward course.

So she nodded her head politely at him. "Well, Colonel Mitchell, I believe I've taken enough of your time. Thank you for stopping to talk with me."

It was somewhat difficult to dissipate the awkwardness of almost shooting someone because they looked like a half-ascended genocidal maniac, yeah. It was probably a chore that would take more than polite words to accomplish.

But the politeness would still be required in some part, no doubt.

He gave a short nod. "Not a problem."

"Then I wish you a good rest of your day," Inara told him and flashed him a pleasant smile. With another nod of her head, she swept past Cam and continued on down the passage way.

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Aftermath [Closed]

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