Inara didn't have any parents coming this weekend, at least so far as she knew, nor did she have any superiors coming from Shinon.

Hopefully.

Still, it was as good an excuse as any to get some cleaning done, change over her linens, and pack away her summer clothes. After that, maybe a book.

[ooc: Door and post are open!]

Inara was doing her very best to sneak into her room, hopefully before anyone she knew saw her--not only was she covered in dried mud and fragrant with the eau de fandom pond, but her jeans (were they even hers? They didn't seem to cover very much...) were torn and her sweater didn't meet the waistband and where the hell were her room keys???

Good lord, had she hit on John? And Cal? And some poor guy named Peter, and Talyn and...she'd have to return their money to them later.

She rattled the doorknob. No luck.

Plus, it was going to make it very complicated to hide under the bed.

Inara had traded in her outfit of yesterday for one that was much more conventional, at least by her standards--a pair of low-rise jeans and a midriff-bearing sweater.

She'd done so well the night before, without even having to do actual work, that she'd decided to try her luck again.

It wasn't that cold out, but Inara couldn't help shivering. Not that she was really dressed for the weather, but it was more than that. She needed a fix badly.

Thing was, she needed the cash, first, or her dealer wouldn't let her on the block. So, here she was, working her corner, and hoping someone--anyone--would help her out.

She strolled back and forth in her high heels, looking for a likely sucker.

The wedding had been lovely, if more than a little disconcerting in certain respects, some of which Inara couldn't fully articulate. Consequently, she was sitting under a tree, debating whether she should meditate. For now, however, the birds and rush of water were pleasant, and if she dozed a bit, well, who would know? With her still recovering from the weekend before, she figured she was entitled to be lazy. Yes, she probably should have gone back to the dorms and changed her clothes, but there was nothing here that would get her that dirty, and no one to scold her for not doing so. It was its own kind of freedom.

( Unexpected people. )

[ooc: NFI, preplayed with the always amazing vkandis_son, FB]

Inara hadn't slept much the night before, for obvious reasons. The anxiety and horror were lessening to some extent, but she wanted the process of returning to normalcy to be faster.

To that end, she was sitting cross-legged on the floor of her room, surrounded on four sides by a lit candle, a bowl of water, a bonzai tree, and the open window, through which a breeze was blowing. That covered the four elements. She lit a stick of cinnamon incense (also placed by the window, out of consideration for Jaina), had soft cello music playing, a lemon hard candy in her mouth, and was seated on her softest rug. That took care of the senses.

She began to concentrate on the rhythm of her breathing, and tried to re-ground herself to the world she knew.

[ooc: Door's closed, but post is open if anyone wants.]

No more pain.

Her screaming stopped abruptly and she fought to regain her breath. Glancing down at her legs, her arms, her torso, she realized that she was no longer bleeding. Indeed, it didn't appear she ever had been.

( But it wasn't over )

When Inara opened her eyes, she didn't see the cold, dank cell she was expecting. ( On sale now! )

It was too late and dark for riding, but Inara decided to make her way over to the stables anyway, visiting with Trenor in lieu of Karal.

No offense intended to Trenor, but he was a poor substitute.

"Hello," she said quietly as she entered, smiling when she heard Trenor's whinny in response. She offered him a sugar cube, then stroked down his withers and along his mane. "Would you like to be brushed, as long as I'm here?"

Inara wasn't sure whether the head-butt to the shoulder was a yes or him searching for another sugar cube, but she got his brush and comb anyway. As she brushed the extremely patient horse the way she'd seen Karal do it (or approximating the way she'd seen Karal do it--luckily, Trenor was very, very patient), she found herself relaxing and unwinding as well.

[ooc: Stables are open, Trenor modded with permission, and it always said Wednesday. *cough*]

Inara was back in her room for the moment but was preparing to return to the cabins to hunt for her lost undergarments, unable to believe she'd either forgotten or lost all of them.

Before she left, though, she decided to try searching the room again.

[ooc: Door and post are open!]

When she awoke and discovered that they were no longer off the coast of Santorini, Inara realized that she had to move more quickly if she didn't want to miss out on the opportunities to learn more about what Earth-that-Was was like than any historian living in her time ever had.

With that in mind, she dressed quickly and walked across the causeway to Mount Saint Michel (not that she knew that was what it was called, but it seemed somehow familiar, and that was comforting) and promptly found herself inside the abbey and missing Karal quite fiercely.

He would have loved to have seen this. She would just have to try to remember everything, so she could tell him if when he returned, and then she could tell him about it. Inara did take the opportunity to say some prayers while she was there, however. Quiet, kneeling, and head bowed, she found herself giving thanks at the same time she asked for someone to keep her friends and loved ones content. And if she concentrated on one missing priest in particular, well, she figured that made sense.

Please, keep him safe.

[ooc: Open if anyone wants to prowl around the abbey, but NFB due to distance.]

Howdy all! Sorry if I've been flaky and dropping threads for the last few days, but the roomie/BFF and her husband are the proud parents of a brand new baby girl, born Saturday evening. They're bringing her home from the hospital today, so there may be more bouts of flakiness and dropped threads until we get the household back under some semblance of new and improved normalcy/routine.

Yes, those of you who know better may laugh now, but I have hopes. Let me cling to them. :D

Anyway, I'll try and keep it under control, but if I'm not around, that's why.

Oh, and this applies for ambassadorinara, lilpunkinbelly, carter_i_am, and spacepiratevala, for the newbies among us.

Inara wasn't sleeping well, so it was just as well classes were over for a bit and she didn't have to concentrate during the days. The nights had been spent in Gavin's bed, wearing the shirt she borrowed when she stayed there with him.

She was trying to read a book, but she'd read the paragraph in front of her four times and it still wasn't making any sense.

Inara had left Anya still sleeping and decided to sneak out for a walk and some desperately needed meditation for a little while before she woke up and they found Gavin and decided what to do about the rest of their time together.

In some universe, she had a child. She was a mother.

She hoped she was good at it.

Inara sat down lotus style on the slightly damp grass, breathed in the fresh air, clothed her eyes, and used birdsong, water, and squirrels to lull herself into a sense of peace.

[ooc: Open for anyone who wants to use this tiny section of the park, but for one in particular.]

It was another lazy Sunday, so after a long walk around the island and a somewhat prolonged discussion in Chinese with the machinery in the laundry room, Inara was once again reading on her bed.

Another history book. It amazed her how different Earth-that-Was's actual history was from what she'd learned in school.

[ooc: Post is for a certain priest in particular, but it's open before he gets there, if you have Inara or 313 needs. ETA: That Karal came a visiting is okay, but their topic of conversation is soooo NFB. Thanks!]

For lack of anything better to do, Inara had the radio going and was stretched out on her bed, reading a book.

The door was open.

Inara woke early and toddled over to the window, climbing up on the desk so she could move the covering out of the way. Trees, sunshine, grass, oooh, birds!

"Oooh, pretty."

That settled it. Today was an outside day.

Once she climbed down, she went to get dressed, and was most displeased by what she found in her closet. Why were they all girl clothes? You couldn't do fun stuff if you had to worry about dresses and skirts and getting dirty and ruining them.

Waaaaaaay in the back, she found a pair of jeans, a t-shirt, and a fleece sweater. Those would do, she supposed, though they still didn't look like playclothes to her. She put them on (yes, the sweater was a little backwards, and her hair was now sticking up in places, but she was dressed, and that was enough for her) and headed to the nearest common room.

A few minutes later, her pockets full of two bananas, an apple, a bunch of grapes, and some raspberries, she ran outside, then stopped in her tracks at what she found.

Ooooooo.

She looked up, and up, and up. The tree was the most beautiful thing she'd seen in a while, big and green and leafy, with lots of low, sturdy branches, and she could practically hear it calling her. Inaaaaaaaara...Inaaaaaaaara...

"I can climb that."

She wasn't supposed to climb things anymore, not after the last time, but that was something Mama had said, and Mama wasn't here. Deciding that made it okay, Inara set her sweater and fruit down next to the tree, rubbed her hands on her pants, and got to work.

[ooc: Post is open!]

Jaina was out, and Inara was thinking of taking the opportunity to write a letter to Nandi. Except for the part where if the Companion Guild heard about yesterday, they'd either laugh themselves silly at her fall, or complete it by evicting her.

Meditation was also out, for obvious reasons.

Since she had no plans to leave her room for the rest of the weekend (or possibly ever), she decided to do some cleaning instead. The windows were open and she was scrubbing everything on her side of the room and in the bathroom until it sparkled.

A faint scent of lemon, bleach, and vinegar hung in the air as she worked.

[ooc: Door is open, as is the post, if anyone feels the need to drop by.]

"So explain to me again why I don't have to put the sign on the door tonight?" Inara called from her spot on the patio. She loved having the breeze run through her hair, though the knots would be a mess later.

[ooc: For the better golfer, omg.]

Inara had no classes today, the hopes of a romantic date with Gavin tomorrow, and a public masquerade dance on Friday. The problem, of course, was that her face was blue today.

She was using various lotions and facial cleansers in an effort to remove the paint, peering periodically into the mirror and trying to tell herself that the color was at least fading.

Fong luh* religion professor, making things difficult.


[ooc: Door and post are open.]
[daughter of ooc: *Loopy in the head]