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[theambassador]

Player Info

Name: Kristi
Age: so old
Contact: rageblackouts
Characters Already in Teleios: Augustus Waters, Tobias Eaton, Peeta Mellark, Sawyer Thomas
Reserve: Reserve

Character Basics:

Character Name: Inara Serra
Journal: theambassador
Age: 24
Fandom: Firefly
Canon Point:The very beginning of the movie, Serenity, before the Operative shows up.There's a deleted scene where Inara and another companion at the guild talk about how much the girls love Inara and the rumors about Inara and Mal that circulate. I am taking her from immediately post this deleted scene which happens before the operative shows up at the guild.
Debt:

Class A: 24 months
Class B: 150 months
Class C: 10 months
GRAND TOTAL: 15 years 4 months

Canon Character Section:

History:

Here

Personality:

On the surface, Inara might appear to be a simple character. She's elegant, graceful, beautiful, controlled and intelligent. While all of these define her, they are not the sum of her. In order to understand Inara, one has to understand that there is a public figure and there is a private figure. Very few people ever see the private figure but half the universe would claim to know her intimately. The truth is that there are perhaps two people in the entire 'verse that know her intimately and one of them doesn't understand her at all. The reason she's so difficult to know is because she uses everything she does share publicly like armor. Her mannerisms, speech, body language, dress and make up are a kind of armor that protect a more vulnerable girl than she would ever even admit is there. On a ship in the middle of no where with a scraggly gang of thieves, she maintains a level of elegance in dress and behavior that would be best at home in the core. She takes tea, plays chess, meditates and reads books. Like a knight polishing and oiling his chain mail, these are little rituals that Inara uses to maintain this armor.

Inara keeps herself at an emotional distance from most people anyway (Kaylee is the exception to this rule). Despite this emotional distance, she expects men to fall in love with her. She even fosters those emotions in her job. She's had more marriage proposals than she knows what to do with. Kaylee asks her when she returns from a job how many men proposed to her and Inara replies 'only the one. I think I'm losing my touch'. She declines them all gracefully, of course. She knows how feelings can break a person's heart and she knows the destruction passion can bring. She wants neither of those things in her life. Inara Serra does not heed the 'it's better to have loved than lost than to never have loved at all' motto. When you become a slave to emotions such as love (and this addresses her feelings toward Mal more than anything) you lose your freedom, your independence and for Inara those things are vital to the person that she is.

Independence and freedom are clearly important to Inara because she got on a ship to see the Universe. By renting a space on Mal's ship, she buys herself the freedom to conduct business with whom she wishes and how she wishes. She isn't under the watchful eye of the guild house. She repeats several times throughout canon that a companion chooses her clients. The freedom to do that is important to her. Inara doesn't want to be beholden to anyone. It sounds a bit corny to say but Inara wants to be in charge of her own destiny. It's not just Mal we see her maintaining her independence and control for and pride preventing her from what most people would consider a nice life. She has a very wealthy, affluent client that offers to put her up in a place, provide for her and keep her in the manner she's accustomed to, if she'll quit her job and be his alone. She turns him down, in part for Mal but in part because she enjoys her independence and the control she has in her life. There is another reason that Inara ran (and she did run) away from the core but that'll be addressed further down.

Strength is another core piece of her personality. It couldn't have been easy for her to leave a comfortable, safe life behind in Siohnan and yet she never looks back. We see her strength in other situations as well. More than once she saves the crew using wit, reputation and more spine than many people will ever have. She doesn't shy away from taking a stand when reavers are attacking although she'd rather escape than fight. She dives right into conflict with Saffron when she discovers they've been duped and she's the key piece in a con involving Saffron later in the series.

Inara appears confident in all things and in some ways she is. She's extremely confident in her ability to play the role that is necessary. Underneath the confidence, the dress, the make up and the elegance is a vulnerable girl that doesn't want to get her heart broken. She's afraid of being abandoned; she's afraid of dying and she's afraid of losing herself but she would never confess these things because pride is Inara's flaw. She is entirely too proud to admit that she might be in love with Mal. She's too proud to admit that she wanted him
to ask her to stay (In a deleted scene from the movie she actually asks him why he didn't ask her to stay) andshe's too proud of who she is to give that up for a space cowboy that is running from everything.

Control is of utmost importance to Inara. The more out of control she feels, the more elaborate her dress and make up are likely to be. When she feels out of control, she responds by being more rigid, more aloof and distancing herself. She likes to be in control of herself, her surroundings and if it all possible the situation she finds herself in. This is part of what attracts her and frustrates her about Mal. She can't control him. Her self control is beyond impressive though. This is telling not only in her mannerisms but in her job. She has a career in which her society as a whole would agree a woman has the power. At the risk of repeating myself, we see this yet again when she insists a couple of times that a companion chooses her clients. It's also evident when she turns down Atherton's offer. Excluding the fact that Atherton is a royal jerk, the offer he gives her would be considered a good one by most people. However, it takes away her control, her independence and her freedom. Interestingly enough she would give all of that up and take the offer to save Mal's life; a man she claims she loathes.

Inara is refined. I mentioned her elegance, grace and beauty previously but it goes beyond that. She is capable of holding her own with the elite of the Universe and even outshining them. She can be many things to many people. Inara can pull of ice queen like she wrote the book. She stops men in their tracks with an arch of her eyebrow. She exudes self assurance and confidence that she doesn't feel all of the time. She often gets her way because she expects to be given it. She can cut someone down with words and leave them bleeding without a backward glance but she can also be incredibly warm, loving and comforting. It depends on the situation and the people involved. She's often contrary, doing the exact opposite of what she wants to do because she wants so very much to do it. This is most often seen in regards to Mal. She can be snarky and witty and insulting but never base or crass.

Spirituality is also an important piece of the Inara puzzle. She's Buddhist and she is devout. She has an altar in her room and she practices Buddhism in her daily life. In fact her career is very Buddhist in nature. Physicality is part of it but she is also concerned with the psychological and emotional well being of her clients. Sexuality is a part of Inara that she embraces and even values in her life. She doesn't shy away from it and she doesn't understand why others would.

Inara is stubborn, although she would prefer the word persistent. She has willpower in spades and this is best exemplified in the way she dances around Mal. There is no doubt that she is attracted to him, even that she loves him, yet she knows what that would do to her and to him. She ostensibly denies this fact to the point that it's even a bit ridiculous. The rest of the crew clearly sees through them.

She is intelligent. Inara speaks several languages, plays chess, and can hold her own in any conversation. She is self sufficient, adept at sword play, has experience with martial arts and is rather good with a bow and arrow. She doesn't like change. She relies on structure. This is obvious when she rails at Mal for having to change her schedule because of him. It's also obvious in a deleted scene in the movie when she talks to one of the other teachers at the guild about how things have changed and how she disapproves of it.

Inara is very maternal. There is little doubt that she is the mother on the ship. This is most evident with Kaylee but she also fills this role to an extent for Simon, River and Book. During the movie, at the guild house, it is pointed out that all of the girls adore her. Her job also has a nurturing facet to it. Furthermore, she seems to enjoy teaching and the clients that are virgins that she can teach, nurture and help them come into their own person seem to be favorites of hers.

Words are Inara's best weapon. She is very persuasive. She lies with the ease of someone born doing it although she would say her lies are embellished kernels of truth. It is part of her job to tell a man what he wants to hear. She can't always do that without lying, side stepping the truth or twisting it around a bit. Mal tells her at one point 'for a woman schooled in telling a man what he wants to hear you ain't much of a liar'. This isn't true. Inara lies beautifully but she doesn't lie very well to him. This goes hand in hand with Mal being the person in the Universe that knows her intimately (not biblically) and yet he doesn't understand her at all.

She has a way of deflecting a conversation so that she reveals very little about herself, moving the focus of things toward someone else. Partially this is training, but it is also a matter of hiding herself from others. She wants to control what they know, see and even think of her if at all possible. I did mention that Inara could be termed a control freak, right? Not that she would ever use or appreciate those words.

Something that influences Inara's personality and motivations greatly is something that she may never tell anyone or reveal without a great deal of development in game. She is dying of a terminal illness. We don't know what as it was never revealed but we do know she was taking medicine for it in the series and at a convention the actress did confirm this. This affects her because it gives her an almost paralyzing fear of dying. She tried to run away from it by renting a shuttle on Serenity. When that didn't work, she went back to her old life in a teaching capacity rather than a companion capacity.

Powers/Abilities:
Speaks several languages

She is very clever

Incredible actress

The ability to read people fairly accurately

Can shoot a bow and arrow with fair accuracy

Has some intermediate skill with martial arts

Adept at sword play

The ability to talk her way out of most things.

She's a fair artist with paint

Tea Wiles (no really, it's just something Mal jokes about. She's trying to sway him with her tea wiles)

Appearance:
Inara is about 5'7 with long, dark, wavy hair and an olive complexion. She's

got brown eyes and she is fairy­tale pretty. She is played by Morena Baccarin. Here

Samples:

Actionspam Sample:
Malcolm Reynolds Different journal, same me.

Something more recent

Prose Sample:

She pulls a breath in deeply and holds it until an ache bursts in her chest, radiating outward with warmth and pain. She exhales slowly and then inhales again, never allowing herself to gasp for breath or to pant. She focuses everything inward, to that spot at her core that still aches. This is the only moment Inara has to herself, the only moment she can collect her thoughts, simmer in heartache and meander down a path of 'what if'. It is the only moment she allows herself to do so and it is when she requires the most control. She can only weather a trip down memory lane when she has this sort of rigidity.

She could have stayed on Serenity. She could have stayed with her friends, with the people she loves. She could have spent years bickering with Mal and mothering Kaylee. There were more planets to see, more stars to fly through and more clients to foot the bill. In fact, her life on Serenity made her more desired. She was something they would never be. She was free. She could have given up the life of a companion, thrown in with the thieves and taken up with Mal properly. She could have made Serenity a home and the people on it her family. She could have really lived and then finally died on that beautiful ship. She could have.

And it would have destroyed her.

Mal wouldn't have allowed himself to keep her. He hasn't believed he deserves anything good since the war and he hasn't had the will to possess anything worth keeping since the Browncoats fell. She would have invested everything in him and he would have broken her heart in return. She would have let passion and love consume her until it ate away at everything she was and everything she held dear. She would have been free, but wild, fragile and utterly out of control.

She would have.

And she would lose herself forever.

At least here, in the guild house, she knows who she is. She knows what she can expect and she controls everything; just as she controls her breathing despite her body's protest; just as she keeps her heart rate slow and even. She has lessons to distract her and clients to adore her. There is no one that will pry under her mask or strip her naked for the universe to see. She can feign intimacy and love that is almost as satisfying as the real thing and infinitely safer. She can smile and laugh, enjoy the life that she's made. She can.

And she will.

And when she dies within these walls, the girls will grieve. There will be a funeral and her portrait will go on the wall, but no one will ache and no one will destroy themselves because she's gone. No one will be afraid to hope, or love, or live. Leaving wasn't just about her survival. It was about Mal's. He won't survive another blow and she refuses to be the one thing in the universe that breaks Captain Malcolm Reynolds. This way, he's wounded but he'll crawl away, lick his wounds then get up and fight again.

Someone has to keep fighting.

At the end of her session, she relaxes and rises from the floor, limbs loose and muscles warm. The past is shut behind an air­tight door and locked with a key that only Inara holds. She might not be free or wild, but behind these walls Inara is safe from heartbreak and love. It's enough because it is her choice. She won't allow feelings to dictate her life, to guide her into a black space that will gobble her up. It's more than enough.

Or so she tells herself.