Captain Malcolm Reynolds (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
useofaswhat) wrote2012-07-06 12:56 pm
useofaswhat) wrote2012-07-06 12:56 pm
Entry tags:
TLV application (WIP)
User Name/Nick: Shankill
User DW:
AIM/IM: mintyfreshevil
E-mail: whiskeybythepint@gmail.com
Other Characters: Beatrix Kiddo
Character Name: Captain Malcolm "Mal" Reynolds
Series: Firefly/Serenity
Age: 31
From When?: Immediately following Objects in Space.
Inmate/Warden: Warden. Sure, Mal may be a criminal and he lives on the fringe of society, but he's got a sense of nobility and honor that he conforms to and expects everyone else to as well. Due to his military background as a sergeant and his current role as a captain he's got experience whipping troops into shape, and given his background of crime he may have a significant amount of sympathy for the inmates. Which is not to say he's a pushover – any love he'd give would definitely be of the "tough" variety.
Item: A newtech Encyclopedia.
Abilities/Powers: In terms of anything superhuman, none. That said, he's a capable leader, a pretty damn good hand-to-hand fighter, and fairly lethal with a gun of any type. As is normal for characters in the Firefly universe he also speaks Mandarin, though most often only while swearing.
Personality: Mal somewhat wryly identifies himself as a "great man... Guess I'm just a good man. Well, I'm all right." Inara Serra describes his "idiotic sense of nobility," continuing on with "he thinks he's this hard-hearted criminal, and he can be unrelenting. But there's a side to him that is so..." A good ending to that sentence might be "compassionate", although "contradictory" would work just as well. He's an interesting mix of criminal and honorable, friendly and violent, sympathetic and unyielding.
Given his past and his current job, some might speculate that Mal is a bitter and violent man with a deep grudge against the Alliance he fought against. This is accurate, but it's scratching the surface. Gruff, prickly, street-smart, and secretly kind of a softie at heart, he is a very capable captain and a clever man, able to think quickly on his feet and remain calm in times of danger. Selfishly or selflessly, depending on how you look at it, his ship and crew (or regiment, or friends, or family) remain his first priorities and he's not burdened with scruples over silly things like "legality" providing it means them getting ahead. Stealing, lying, and killing are things he has no issue with – well, most of the time.
Although Mal is a criminal, he is a moral man at heart and has not lost his soldier's sense of honor. If a job involves harm to a community or to innocent people, he will refuse it, even if it means making himself a target. He summed himself up very well when reassuring Simon Tam he wouldn't kill him in his sleep: "You don't know me, son, so let me explain this to you once. If I ever kill you, you'll be awake, you'll be facing me, and you'll be armed." As a captain and an authority figure, he tends to be just, clever, creative, and compassionate, although unyielding in his morals and his approach. Ultimately, he's a bit of a gamble – his tactics work about fifty percent of the time, usually brilliantly or disastrously. Always thinking, he often takes into account factors that would escape others' attention and works around them well (such as when Serenity boarded a ravaged ship and Mal successfully retained calm and disarmed a Reaver booby-trap). However, this doesn't always work how he anticipates – a plan to discourage a rogue Alliance team from arresting an old war buddy, Tracey, turned into a tragedy when Tracey failed to trust him, panicked, and took one of the crew hostage at gunpoint.
Trustworthy but not easily trusted, Mal ultimately makes good decisions although they may be less than savory or, strictly speaking, sane. Even Zoe, his first mate and compatriot in the war, has told him: "Sir, I think you have a problem with your brain being missing." True, he has a daredevil streak, but he also retains a surprising amount of luck. Given his rather lax standards of success (as long as they're still flying, they win), it usually pays off. Still, not everyone is satisfied with his tactics or attitude or operation and he has a knack for making enemies. He tends to think he's better than other criminals ("just the ones I'm better than"), and isn't afraid to retaliate in a fight ("Someone tries to kill you, you try to kill 'em right back!"). Due to his history with the Alliance he also hates governments of all kinds, taking every opportunity to flaunt the law or make government agents look "all kinds of stupid". Nearly every foray he's taken into proper society has backfired on him, in every way from his accidentally accepting a duel to the death to simply irritating respectable people (like Inara!) and turning them against him.
He can, however, quickly accept kindred spirits, and once someone's been taken under his wing and proven themselves trustworthy he'll easily take on an almost familial role with them – such as with Kaylee, whom he's referred to as his "mei-mei" or little sister. Get inducted into his "crew" and you're good as well. Even the crew members he doesn't personally get along with he still respects and will defend with his life, viewing them as just as valuable and important as he is. Petty criminal career aside, Mal's loyalty and willingness to fight for the ideas and people he holds dear might just be his best attribute. Add his ranch-raised cowboy childhood to his time spent fighting in an interplanetary war and you get a soldier with a surprising amount of humanity and sympathy, although no lack of determination to do what's necessary and right.
Path to Redemption: Not applicable.
History:
Born on the recently-terraformed border planet Shadow sometime around 2468 (canon's a little shaky on this point, and Mal's sewn false info about his birthdate) Mal was raised on his mother's cattle ranch, growing up surrounded by a slew of ranch-hands that may as well have been family. When the Unification War broke out in between the Alliance of Planets and the Independents in 2506, Mal was settled distinctly on the Independent (or "Browncoat") side, enlisting to resist Unification and eventually achieving the rank of Sergeant. It was during this war that he first met his comrade-in-arms and future first mate, Zoe, and at the decisive battle of Serenity Valley on the planet Hera he took over as commanding officer of his platoon given that everyone with a higher rank had been killed.
He might have preferred that over the Alliance winning the war.
Bitter and defeated, he bought an old Firefly-class transport ship, christened her Serenity after the war's final battle, and installed Zoe as first mate. Their aim was to take any shipping or smuggling job they could get, using their resources to stay just a little out of the Alliance's reach. Within time, the crew grew to include Hoban "Wash" Washburne as pilot (and eventually Zoe's husband), Kaylee Frye as ship's mechanic, and Jayne Cobb as a tracker and hired gun – or, as Mal claims, "public relations". Inara Serra, a registered Companion, is a tenant on his ship. Although Mal doesn't respect her profession at all (frequently referring to her as a "whore," despite his obvious fondness for and attraction to the woman), he's well aware that her high-class status can get him into planets and places they'd never have a chance going otherwise. In addition, a couple of passengers he took on purely for the extra cash ended up grafting onto the crew – notably, fugitive Dr. Simon Tam as medic and Shepherd Derrial Book as chaplain (against the nonreligious captain's wishes). River Tam, Simon's brilliant but horribly damaged sister, remained on board as a passenger and Simon's primary patient.
All together, they formed a motley crew that Mal led both as a captain and something of a father figure. Very little of their workload ended up being legal – a good deal of the cargo they shipped from planet to planet was illicit property, everything from stolen drugs to stolen weapons to bobble-headed dolls to cattle. While some of their shipments went through without a hitch, a major amount of jobs caused Mal and the crew a little trouble. Making connections in backwater bars and establishments throughout the universe, they took what they could get and their yield was just as impressive as their standards would permit. From their very first shipment of cargo in the series (stolen processed protein for settlers on recently-inhabited worlds) to their last (the body of Mal and Zoe's war buddy, Tracey), Mal had his hands full managing the crew, their cargo, and the enemies who threatened them both.
In some regards, Mal and the crew were successful in their crimes, even managing to steal the prototype for modern laser weapons, the Lassiter, from a prolific collector of antiquated weaponry despite the apparent impossibility of the job. He also showed a softer side upon realizing that a shipment of stolen medicine from the town of Paradiso was necessary to prevent the villagers from suffering Bowden's Malady, a degenerative disease caused by the air on that moon. He ordered the crew to return the money to their sadistic employer and returned the drugs, earning a few brownie points with the sheriff of Paradiso in the process. Of course, that was lessened a bit by his booting the henchman of their employer through the engine of Serenity. Not all their adventures were quite so successful, however: a good deal of them led to nothing but trouble. Mal has had to work through every imaginable difficulty, from Jayne being celebrated as a folk hero on a primitive planet to dealing with an unexpected marriage.
A few exploits led them to encounters that were less lucrative, however. A good example was the kidnapping of Simon and River Tam by settlers on a world called Jiangyin, where Serenity landed in order to sell cattle. Due to River's psychic abilities, the townspeople declared her a witch and set out to burn her, only stopping when Mal and the crew came into town heavily armed and demanded they set her free. Despite his disgust for the Alliance, he has also been known to aid them in certain ways: after scavenging on a ship attacked by Reavers, a class of rage-driven space cannibals, he killed the surviving passenger who had become psychotic and violent in order to save an Alliance commander who had arrested the crew as smugglers. They also rid a settlers' community of bandits, an exploit that involved Mal both in drag and accidentally getting married to a con artist who attempted to kill the crew and steal the ship. Further jobs led them to other endeavors, from swordfighting in a duel with a rich man to defending a whorehouse run by a friend of Inara's to robbing a hospital for medicines; however, for Mal, the most notable developments were between him and his crew.
A notable development, for instance, was the tension between Mal and Wash over Zoe. Wash's insecurity over the couple's marital problems led to him endangering both himself and Mal, leading to them being captured and tortured by an employer-turned-enemy. This was, thankfully, settled fairly easily when Mal offered to sleep with Zoe, and their obvious awkwardness at attempting to kiss was deemed "downright unsettling". Despite his intense dissatisfaction with Simon Tam sneaking River on board, he allowed him to stay on the ship as a medic (providing he kept River in check). Mal's dislike of Simon never entirely went away, although he was perfectly willing to put this aside in order to protect both him and River (who has referred to him as "Daddy" at least once). After Jayne was tempted by the possibility of selling the Tams out to the Alliance, Mal threatened to kill him for betraying him: "You turn on anyone in my crew, you turn on me." Jayne, being sensible if not intelligent, repented for his betrayal and was accepted back into the crew. The cementation of the bond between River and Mal was finally shown after a bounty hunter invaded Serenity intent on capturing River; with the girl's guidance, Mal was able to jettison the man off the ship's hull and welcome her back on board.
Sample Journal Entry:
Seems I spent enough time bracin' myself for a bit o' weirdness and oughtta get to facin' it already. Name's Captain Reynolds, Mal if you ain't one to stand on formality. I'm gonna go ahead and say it's a pleasure t'meet all you, and if it ain't, you go ahead an' prove me wrong.
Let's see what we got here, then... [There's a ruffle of paper and he looks down, as if he's reading from an off-screen list.] Prison ship, eight levels and two additional restricted areas, complete with library, common room, medbay, an' my personal favorite, fully stocked kitchen. Probably serves better'n protein too. Laundry services, showers, art therapy facilities, and gardens included. Now that don't sound like any prison I ever been to. Got quite a slick operation here, real nice 'n cozy.
But it still ain't as good as my boat.
Sample RP:
Naked, stranded, beaten, humiliated, and still victorious, Mal Reynolds squinted his eyes to shield them from the scorching Bellerophon sun. The sweep of his bangs over his eyes barely provided a thatching of shade, and already he could feel his bare shoulders and back starting to redden and burn just like everything else in this desert. Leaning forward, he shaded the more delicate parts of his anatomy from the sunlight and looked up, giving Inara Serra a squinty smile. "Yeah... that went well."
"You call this 'going well'?"
"We got the loot, didn't we?" he countered.
"Yes, but–"
Again, the captain flashed a smile. They'd figured out Saffron's game, relieved Durran of the most exorbitantly valuable cargo they'd ever gotten their hands on, reprogrammed the refuse disposal unit, escaped the feds, recovered the shuttle Saffron had stolen, fixed Serenity after her sabotage attempts, recovered the Lassiter, and encased 'YoSaffBridge' in the rerouted dumpster. "Then I call it a win. What's the problem?" He stood up casually and began meandering back toward his ship's cargo hold, ignoring the hot sand's sting on the soles of his feet.
Inara did her best not to glance down at him. "Should I start with the part where you're stranded in the middle of nowhere or the part where you have no clothes?"
"All according to the plan," he replied, brushing off her opinion easily.
"Really? I thought the plan was for me to act as a failsafe in case everything else went wrong. Like, for instance, if Saffron disabled Serenity and left you for dead."
Oh, he could just hear the amusement in her voice. "Nonsense." He stopped and turned to her, hands rather precariously on his hips, not at all showing off. "You had a key role to play in this. How sad would you have been if you hadn't gotten to play it?"
"Heartbroken."
"See? All according to plan." Making his way up the ramp, Mal began to order about the crew standing by. "Wash, take us out of the world. Zoe, contact Brenner and Ellison, see if they'd be interested in fencing a priceless artifact for us." Grinning, he turned to his pilot and first mate, noticing the slightly incredulous looks on their faces. "What?"
A few muttered excuses and they went to work, wisely choosing to say nothing. Kaylee stood by with her ever-present cheery smile, taking no notice of the captain's nakedness and merely beaming up to his face. "Good work, cap'n."
"Thank you, Kaylee." As she scurried off to attend to the engine room, Mal turned to cast another look over the bare wilderness he'd meant to be trapped in. Crossing his arms behind his head, he inhaled a deep breath of desert air and hit the button to raise the ramp. Again, he smiled. "Good day."
Special Notes: Mal uses Mandarin pretty frequently, and speaks it fluently. I, however, do not, so I rely on the less-than-perfect Google Translate software for my Chinese dialogue. I would just like to apologize in advance to any Mandarin-speakers who stumble across my Mal. I do not mean to butcher your language.
User DW:
AIM/IM: mintyfreshevil
E-mail: whiskeybythepint@gmail.com
Other Characters: Beatrix Kiddo
Character Name: Captain Malcolm "Mal" Reynolds
Series: Firefly/Serenity
Age: 31
From When?: Immediately following Objects in Space.
Inmate/Warden: Warden. Sure, Mal may be a criminal and he lives on the fringe of society, but he's got a sense of nobility and honor that he conforms to and expects everyone else to as well. Due to his military background as a sergeant and his current role as a captain he's got experience whipping troops into shape, and given his background of crime he may have a significant amount of sympathy for the inmates. Which is not to say he's a pushover – any love he'd give would definitely be of the "tough" variety.
Item: A newtech Encyclopedia.
Abilities/Powers: In terms of anything superhuman, none. That said, he's a capable leader, a pretty damn good hand-to-hand fighter, and fairly lethal with a gun of any type. As is normal for characters in the Firefly universe he also speaks Mandarin, though most often only while swearing.
Personality: Mal somewhat wryly identifies himself as a "great man... Guess I'm just a good man. Well, I'm all right." Inara Serra describes his "idiotic sense of nobility," continuing on with "he thinks he's this hard-hearted criminal, and he can be unrelenting. But there's a side to him that is so..." A good ending to that sentence might be "compassionate", although "contradictory" would work just as well. He's an interesting mix of criminal and honorable, friendly and violent, sympathetic and unyielding.
Given his past and his current job, some might speculate that Mal is a bitter and violent man with a deep grudge against the Alliance he fought against. This is accurate, but it's scratching the surface. Gruff, prickly, street-smart, and secretly kind of a softie at heart, he is a very capable captain and a clever man, able to think quickly on his feet and remain calm in times of danger. Selfishly or selflessly, depending on how you look at it, his ship and crew (or regiment, or friends, or family) remain his first priorities and he's not burdened with scruples over silly things like "legality" providing it means them getting ahead. Stealing, lying, and killing are things he has no issue with – well, most of the time.
Although Mal is a criminal, he is a moral man at heart and has not lost his soldier's sense of honor. If a job involves harm to a community or to innocent people, he will refuse it, even if it means making himself a target. He summed himself up very well when reassuring Simon Tam he wouldn't kill him in his sleep: "You don't know me, son, so let me explain this to you once. If I ever kill you, you'll be awake, you'll be facing me, and you'll be armed." As a captain and an authority figure, he tends to be just, clever, creative, and compassionate, although unyielding in his morals and his approach. Ultimately, he's a bit of a gamble – his tactics work about fifty percent of the time, usually brilliantly or disastrously. Always thinking, he often takes into account factors that would escape others' attention and works around them well (such as when Serenity boarded a ravaged ship and Mal successfully retained calm and disarmed a Reaver booby-trap). However, this doesn't always work how he anticipates – a plan to discourage a rogue Alliance team from arresting an old war buddy, Tracey, turned into a tragedy when Tracey failed to trust him, panicked, and took one of the crew hostage at gunpoint.
Trustworthy but not easily trusted, Mal ultimately makes good decisions although they may be less than savory or, strictly speaking, sane. Even Zoe, his first mate and compatriot in the war, has told him: "Sir, I think you have a problem with your brain being missing." True, he has a daredevil streak, but he also retains a surprising amount of luck. Given his rather lax standards of success (as long as they're still flying, they win), it usually pays off. Still, not everyone is satisfied with his tactics or attitude or operation and he has a knack for making enemies. He tends to think he's better than other criminals ("just the ones I'm better than"), and isn't afraid to retaliate in a fight ("Someone tries to kill you, you try to kill 'em right back!"). Due to his history with the Alliance he also hates governments of all kinds, taking every opportunity to flaunt the law or make government agents look "all kinds of stupid". Nearly every foray he's taken into proper society has backfired on him, in every way from his accidentally accepting a duel to the death to simply irritating respectable people (like Inara!) and turning them against him.
He can, however, quickly accept kindred spirits, and once someone's been taken under his wing and proven themselves trustworthy he'll easily take on an almost familial role with them – such as with Kaylee, whom he's referred to as his "mei-mei" or little sister. Get inducted into his "crew" and you're good as well. Even the crew members he doesn't personally get along with he still respects and will defend with his life, viewing them as just as valuable and important as he is. Petty criminal career aside, Mal's loyalty and willingness to fight for the ideas and people he holds dear might just be his best attribute. Add his ranch-raised cowboy childhood to his time spent fighting in an interplanetary war and you get a soldier with a surprising amount of humanity and sympathy, although no lack of determination to do what's necessary and right.
Path to Redemption: Not applicable.
History:
Born on the recently-terraformed border planet Shadow sometime around 2468 (canon's a little shaky on this point, and Mal's sewn false info about his birthdate) Mal was raised on his mother's cattle ranch, growing up surrounded by a slew of ranch-hands that may as well have been family. When the Unification War broke out in between the Alliance of Planets and the Independents in 2506, Mal was settled distinctly on the Independent (or "Browncoat") side, enlisting to resist Unification and eventually achieving the rank of Sergeant. It was during this war that he first met his comrade-in-arms and future first mate, Zoe, and at the decisive battle of Serenity Valley on the planet Hera he took over as commanding officer of his platoon given that everyone with a higher rank had been killed.
He might have preferred that over the Alliance winning the war.
Bitter and defeated, he bought an old Firefly-class transport ship, christened her Serenity after the war's final battle, and installed Zoe as first mate. Their aim was to take any shipping or smuggling job they could get, using their resources to stay just a little out of the Alliance's reach. Within time, the crew grew to include Hoban "Wash" Washburne as pilot (and eventually Zoe's husband), Kaylee Frye as ship's mechanic, and Jayne Cobb as a tracker and hired gun – or, as Mal claims, "public relations". Inara Serra, a registered Companion, is a tenant on his ship. Although Mal doesn't respect her profession at all (frequently referring to her as a "whore," despite his obvious fondness for and attraction to the woman), he's well aware that her high-class status can get him into planets and places they'd never have a chance going otherwise. In addition, a couple of passengers he took on purely for the extra cash ended up grafting onto the crew – notably, fugitive Dr. Simon Tam as medic and Shepherd Derrial Book as chaplain (against the nonreligious captain's wishes). River Tam, Simon's brilliant but horribly damaged sister, remained on board as a passenger and Simon's primary patient.
All together, they formed a motley crew that Mal led both as a captain and something of a father figure. Very little of their workload ended up being legal – a good deal of the cargo they shipped from planet to planet was illicit property, everything from stolen drugs to stolen weapons to bobble-headed dolls to cattle. While some of their shipments went through without a hitch, a major amount of jobs caused Mal and the crew a little trouble. Making connections in backwater bars and establishments throughout the universe, they took what they could get and their yield was just as impressive as their standards would permit. From their very first shipment of cargo in the series (stolen processed protein for settlers on recently-inhabited worlds) to their last (the body of Mal and Zoe's war buddy, Tracey), Mal had his hands full managing the crew, their cargo, and the enemies who threatened them both.
In some regards, Mal and the crew were successful in their crimes, even managing to steal the prototype for modern laser weapons, the Lassiter, from a prolific collector of antiquated weaponry despite the apparent impossibility of the job. He also showed a softer side upon realizing that a shipment of stolen medicine from the town of Paradiso was necessary to prevent the villagers from suffering Bowden's Malady, a degenerative disease caused by the air on that moon. He ordered the crew to return the money to their sadistic employer and returned the drugs, earning a few brownie points with the sheriff of Paradiso in the process. Of course, that was lessened a bit by his booting the henchman of their employer through the engine of Serenity. Not all their adventures were quite so successful, however: a good deal of them led to nothing but trouble. Mal has had to work through every imaginable difficulty, from Jayne being celebrated as a folk hero on a primitive planet to dealing with an unexpected marriage.
A few exploits led them to encounters that were less lucrative, however. A good example was the kidnapping of Simon and River Tam by settlers on a world called Jiangyin, where Serenity landed in order to sell cattle. Due to River's psychic abilities, the townspeople declared her a witch and set out to burn her, only stopping when Mal and the crew came into town heavily armed and demanded they set her free. Despite his disgust for the Alliance, he has also been known to aid them in certain ways: after scavenging on a ship attacked by Reavers, a class of rage-driven space cannibals, he killed the surviving passenger who had become psychotic and violent in order to save an Alliance commander who had arrested the crew as smugglers. They also rid a settlers' community of bandits, an exploit that involved Mal both in drag and accidentally getting married to a con artist who attempted to kill the crew and steal the ship. Further jobs led them to other endeavors, from swordfighting in a duel with a rich man to defending a whorehouse run by a friend of Inara's to robbing a hospital for medicines; however, for Mal, the most notable developments were between him and his crew.
A notable development, for instance, was the tension between Mal and Wash over Zoe. Wash's insecurity over the couple's marital problems led to him endangering both himself and Mal, leading to them being captured and tortured by an employer-turned-enemy. This was, thankfully, settled fairly easily when Mal offered to sleep with Zoe, and their obvious awkwardness at attempting to kiss was deemed "downright unsettling". Despite his intense dissatisfaction with Simon Tam sneaking River on board, he allowed him to stay on the ship as a medic (providing he kept River in check). Mal's dislike of Simon never entirely went away, although he was perfectly willing to put this aside in order to protect both him and River (who has referred to him as "Daddy" at least once). After Jayne was tempted by the possibility of selling the Tams out to the Alliance, Mal threatened to kill him for betraying him: "You turn on anyone in my crew, you turn on me." Jayne, being sensible if not intelligent, repented for his betrayal and was accepted back into the crew. The cementation of the bond between River and Mal was finally shown after a bounty hunter invaded Serenity intent on capturing River; with the girl's guidance, Mal was able to jettison the man off the ship's hull and welcome her back on board.
Sample Journal Entry:
Seems I spent enough time bracin' myself for a bit o' weirdness and oughtta get to facin' it already. Name's Captain Reynolds, Mal if you ain't one to stand on formality. I'm gonna go ahead and say it's a pleasure t'meet all you, and if it ain't, you go ahead an' prove me wrong.
Let's see what we got here, then... [There's a ruffle of paper and he looks down, as if he's reading from an off-screen list.] Prison ship, eight levels and two additional restricted areas, complete with library, common room, medbay, an' my personal favorite, fully stocked kitchen. Probably serves better'n protein too. Laundry services, showers, art therapy facilities, and gardens included. Now that don't sound like any prison I ever been to. Got quite a slick operation here, real nice 'n cozy.
But it still ain't as good as my boat.
Sample RP:
Naked, stranded, beaten, humiliated, and still victorious, Mal Reynolds squinted his eyes to shield them from the scorching Bellerophon sun. The sweep of his bangs over his eyes barely provided a thatching of shade, and already he could feel his bare shoulders and back starting to redden and burn just like everything else in this desert. Leaning forward, he shaded the more delicate parts of his anatomy from the sunlight and looked up, giving Inara Serra a squinty smile. "Yeah... that went well."
"You call this 'going well'?"
"We got the loot, didn't we?" he countered.
"Yes, but–"
Again, the captain flashed a smile. They'd figured out Saffron's game, relieved Durran of the most exorbitantly valuable cargo they'd ever gotten their hands on, reprogrammed the refuse disposal unit, escaped the feds, recovered the shuttle Saffron had stolen, fixed Serenity after her sabotage attempts, recovered the Lassiter, and encased 'YoSaffBridge' in the rerouted dumpster. "Then I call it a win. What's the problem?" He stood up casually and began meandering back toward his ship's cargo hold, ignoring the hot sand's sting on the soles of his feet.
Inara did her best not to glance down at him. "Should I start with the part where you're stranded in the middle of nowhere or the part where you have no clothes?"
"All according to the plan," he replied, brushing off her opinion easily.
"Really? I thought the plan was for me to act as a failsafe in case everything else went wrong. Like, for instance, if Saffron disabled Serenity and left you for dead."
Oh, he could just hear the amusement in her voice. "Nonsense." He stopped and turned to her, hands rather precariously on his hips, not at all showing off. "You had a key role to play in this. How sad would you have been if you hadn't gotten to play it?"
"Heartbroken."
"See? All according to plan." Making his way up the ramp, Mal began to order about the crew standing by. "Wash, take us out of the world. Zoe, contact Brenner and Ellison, see if they'd be interested in fencing a priceless artifact for us." Grinning, he turned to his pilot and first mate, noticing the slightly incredulous looks on their faces. "What?"
A few muttered excuses and they went to work, wisely choosing to say nothing. Kaylee stood by with her ever-present cheery smile, taking no notice of the captain's nakedness and merely beaming up to his face. "Good work, cap'n."
"Thank you, Kaylee." As she scurried off to attend to the engine room, Mal turned to cast another look over the bare wilderness he'd meant to be trapped in. Crossing his arms behind his head, he inhaled a deep breath of desert air and hit the button to raise the ramp. Again, he smiled. "Good day."
Special Notes: Mal uses Mandarin pretty frequently, and speaks it fluently. I, however, do not, so I rely on the less-than-perfect Google Translate software for my Chinese dialogue. I would just like to apologize in advance to any Mandarin-speakers who stumble across my Mal. I do not mean to butcher your language.