More about sex and Inara

POSTED BY: mal4prez
UPDATED: Saturday, August 1, 2009 19:12
VIEWED: 20411
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GILLIANROSE

Saturday, June 20, 2009 4:47 PM

One of the things I love about Joss is his ability to take overused, groan worthy ideas and put them right in his stories and make them more. The surprise little sister. The baby son who in the course of one season becomes the ass-kicking teenaged hottie rebel. The robot. The inexplicable musical. The oops-I'm-married. And I really enjoy the noir aspects of Firefly as much as the Western aspects. So I bet it could be done, a Mal's Cafe Americain...maybe just AU it to the degree that Companions exist in pre-Castro Havana or Roaring 20's Chicago or the South Pacific or wherever. She comes to the bar, although she clearly doesn't belong, and Mal doesn't know why. She won't say. She brings in too many customers for him to put his foot down over whatever transgressive behavior (in his eyes) she commits. She keeps him in the black (hehee).

Here is something I just started thinking about: secret or forbidden knowledge. River has it. Book has it. In Mal's eyes, Inara has it (her wiles) and would continue to have it even if she were no longer a practicing Companion. I think of Inara as a pan-disciplinary scholar of human sexuality. There are situations in which using her knowledge is the right thing to do, the moral thing to do. More on this later, it's a fic idea I started and then an anvil fell on it. Forbidden/secret knowledge - talk amongst yourselves.

Also, what about a story of Inara retiring and regretting it?

Kaylee's not easy! I will not call anyone bitchy (it's been too much used to try to shame opinionated women) and I will say that "easy" is a cad's word. I'm not complaining, M4P, I read the affection in that sentence. Here's what Kaylee is to me: MMMMMSEX! She, unlike several people on the ship (I'm looking at you, Mal, Simon, Book, and even you, off-duty Inara, where Mal is concerned) is not in the business of pretending she doesn't have urges. She's not in the business of pretending that a sweet, hot man she meets doesn't have lips and hands and good smelling skin and yes! fun man parts. Jewel calls her a floozy who wears her heart on her sleeve. MMMMMMMSEX!

KPO

Saturday, June 20, 2009 5:09 PM

Quote:
It's not just a practical conflict, after all, it's a philosophical one, about judgment and acceptance and respect.

And willingness to share? Hmm. Still seems to me like Mal ends up being lobotomised this way.

Heads should roll

PLATONIST

Saturday, June 20, 2009 7:27 PM

What I'd really like to see is a fic where Mal and Inara start a physical relationship, Inara sticks to her job, Mal's okay with it and it's no biggy (kinda like when she left:) after all it's only business, like she says, and he needs to keep Serenity flying, and Inara is the one who is somewhat bothered by Mal's acceptance and
encouragement. I wonder how that would make her feel about his feelings for her and her job? Are they genuine or not? Would she still love him and have respect for him? How would she react to him having another, like Nandi?

Is it harder on the sex worker or the lover of the sex worker?

Talk about emotionally messy, no wonder the Guild retires Companions.

BYTEMITE

Saturday, June 20, 2009 7:52 PM

Quote:
Originally posted by kpo:
Quote:
It's not just a practical conflict, after all, it's a philosophical one, about judgment and acceptance and respect.

And willingness to share? Hmm. Still seems to me like Mal ends up being lobotomised this way.

Heads should roll

Not really...

http://www.fanfiction.net/s/2914003/1/

http://www.fanfiction.net/s/2919770/1/Repercussions

These two are the best examples I've ever seen. The two of them have compromised, but OH HOLY GRAVY, it's all hurty in the right places.

But isn't that what a relationship is? Compromise?

AGENTROUKA

Saturday, June 20, 2009 8:36 PM

Quote:
Originally posted by kpo:
Quote:
It's not just a practical conflict, after all, it's a philosophical one, about judgment and acceptance and respect.

And willingness to share? Hmm. Still seems to me like Mal ends up being lobotomised this way.

Heads should roll

I disagree. In "Heart of Gold" he was about to declare his feelings to Inara, job or not, and I doubt it was going to be followed by "But only if you quit the life you love".

Inara wouldn't ask that of Mal (and if she did, she'd be villified like nobody's business) but Mal asking it of Inara is somehow the expected thing. Because it's kinda difficult for him. Oh no. Can't have that.

It's like Mal4Prez says, she's not sleeping with her clients for physical pleasure or personal intimacy. It's her job and profession. It's not "sharing" her in those respects.

It's not a lobotomy if it's compromise. I'm sure there's a way the two could meet in the middle. Maybe fewer clients. Maybe a mutually agreed time limit. Something other than the automatic "She must quit her job".

Would it be the relationship Mal dreamed of having when he was young and imagining his future? Probably not. But it's also not what Inara imagined for her future. The two can only exist in the form of a compromise and it'd only be fair for the two of them to move toward one another, not for Inara to make one giant sacrifice and Mal... nothing.

KPO

Saturday, June 20, 2009 11:35 PM

Quote:
The two can only exist in the form of a compromise and it'd only be fair for the two of them to move toward one another, not for Inara to make one giant sacrifice and Mal... nothing.

Yeah it doesn't sound particularly fair when you put it like that. But then again companions must be prepared to retire early and move on - they're going to have to find new paths in their lives going into their 30s or 40s anyway right (or perhaps earlier if they want a family)?

I have to admit Inara is a bit of a mystery to me, why she does the job she does - if I fully understood that then I would confidently suggest other ways she could fulfil her life...

For example if she enjoys nurturing and helping people she could become a teacher of some kind. But if she just enjoys sex with different people and doesn't want to give that up - well how is that a different requirement to what we would typically all expect from someone we're entering into a relationship with - a commitment to monogamy?

You women are sensitive about 'a woman having to give up her job', but this is a special situation, it's not often that a job cuts right through the confines of a relationship like this.

I like this question that platonist posed: "Would she still love him and have respect for him?"

I guess we're asking 'is monogamy a noble instinct?' - or one we should sometimes have to transcend/rise above? Hmm.

Bytemite I'll check out those fanfics later.

Heads should roll

RIVERLOVE

Sunday, June 21, 2009 12:07 AM

Jayne was right when he said that his lifestyle is short-lived. As Mal gets older, one day perhaps after a good score, he will want to or have to leave outer space to go plant roots somewhere. Maybe a nice ranch or farm. Who better to have at your side in a new life than Inara. I think she's getting bored and dis-illusioned with her so-called glamorous life. She yearns to wear an old pair of space jeans, and to share a simple and joyous life with Mal and their kids.

GILLIANROSE

Sunday, June 21, 2009 3:28 AM

I agree that Mal's lifestyle is not one that would get easier to sustain as the years go on. And, I could see Inara leaving Sihnon due to some restlessness, some kind of wanting to explore other life possibilities. Maybe she wasn't leading a fulfilling life on Sihnon - her private reaction in the pilot when her young client is gushing about it says a lot to me. But I think leaving Serenity and settling anywhere would be a tremendously difficult step for Mal - he wants to be able to keep one step away from the Alliance, and he's already lost one home. And when I watch the episodes I see Inara yearning, yes, for Mal, but I don't see her expressing frustration or feeling constrained by her career or the attendant glamour. I think she's proud of herself and her accomplishments, and it may be the case that she enjoys dressing elegantly and surrounding herself with beauty. Some women do, and that's not an illegitimate choice, or one that speaks poorly of her character.

And yes, Inara would be a great partner to have at your side making a home and raising a family. Would Mal, the Mal Inara knows?

KPO

Sunday, June 21, 2009 4:40 AM

Quote:
http://www.fanfiction.net/s/2914003/1/

http://www.fanfiction.net/s/2919770/1/Repercussions

Very good fanfics Byte, espec. the first one. They seem quite faithful to the depth of the situation - the difficulty in this relationship isn't going to go away or solve itself. But I guess Joss wrote in that difficulty purposefully, so that it would take several tortuous series of the show to finally get to a happy ending of some sort - if we were lucky.

Quote:
Maybe fewer clients.

Maybe only women? Nah - perhaps if Mal was Wash, or Jayne (of course), that might be a mutually acceptable compromise. But he's Mal, and even if he could, we shouldn't want him to change.

"I gave her my heart, but she wanted my soul..."

Heads should roll

BYTEMITE

Sunday, June 21, 2009 4:58 AM

If you know how to write it, there is no way either Mal OR Inara can be lobotomized. Joss made sure of that, because the situation is just COMPLICATED.

I pretty much see this as the way they'll inevitably go. It's the only way that Joss can really address the issues that the Guild introduces between them. And it's also the only way they can be in a relationship and both remain in character.

However... I have no problem seeing Inara go into another career, especially if it's one that reinforces the skills and feminine power that she brings to the crew as a Companion. I've always thought that Inara could make a very good politician. Or, in the script for Trash, and hints in The Message, I see a lot of foreshadowing that Inara might actually be willing to take up a criminal lifestyle.

If Inara were to go criminal, would she take up a distraction role? Or would that betray the principles of using her sexuality for healing and good?

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