A/N: Yes, yes, it is short. I know this. Another response to a challenge over a 20weeks on lj. I know, I write entirely too many ficlets. What can I say, the bunnies are so much more cooperative without having to teach them how to play the dialogue game with the muse.

Thanks once again to luridmuse for first read. All remaining mistakes are my own.

The first detail Inara notices about a person is their hands. Many cortex appeals from potential clients fail simply because she can't see their hands. Unlike words or fashion, hands never cover up the truth with a veneer of lies.

Take Serenity's crew for example. One look at their hands and you see straight through to their core. Kaylee's are soft from hand lotion, but the nails are never clean and the skin is frequently cut. She longs to be a soft, prim woman, but she loves her work and would never let Serenity or the crew suffer out of a desire to be someone she's not.

Wash's hands are often burned from hurried repairs to the electronics, but they have fewer calluses than the rest of the crew. His work is flying and it is his life. He's never put it aside, so his hands fit the yoke of the ship perfectly and his sense of touch is sensitive to every maneuver.

Zoe and Mal – their hands tell a very similar story. Old calluses that have faded from the lives they left behind. Gun oil under the nails, the smell of graphite from frequent gunfire. And lots of scars, scars from split knuckles, knife wounds, and others whose causes are unidentifiable. Their hands show their life of danger and dirt for all to see. And if you don't like, well they'll accompany you outside to "talk" about it.

Yet their hands also point to the differences between the superior officer and his loyal follower. Mal is a worrier whose tension can be seen most visibly through his torn cuticles. Whenever the man is uncomfortable or worried, he's chewing his nails or picking at the skin. Zoe, on the other hand, rarely appears flustered. She doe