fandomtownies | After the Hallowe'en Ball, outside the White Star

After the Hallowe'en Ball, outside the White Star

Ivanova is almost staggering as she approaches the White Star. Her eyes are drooping, her Golden Lasso of Justice is limp in her hand, her tiara is crooked, and an overly large, orante jacket is draped over her shoulders. All she wants to do is fall into bed and sleep for a ridiculous amount of hours. Preferably continuously. She tapped at the control panel to get in sleepily, blinking awake when it flashed sullen purple at her. She frowned. Purple wasn't good. She tried the code again, carefully punching in the sequence and then pressing her thumb against the biometric pad. Again with the purple. And a third time.

Her eyes narrowed, Ivanova tries to access the door overrides. Nothing. Every password and control code she tried yielded the same result: a flashing purple light and an obstinately closed door. She slumped against the smooth surface of the hull. There wouldn't be any conveniently unlocked windows. She was well and truly locked out. She wanted to sit down and cry. It was cold. She was locked out. And she was wearing nothing but a smudged Wonder Woman costume. She sighed. She couldn't think of anywhere to go. She began to trudge towards the park. Maybe if she fell asleep on a park bench people would think she just passed out drunk and it wouldn't be nearly as embarrasing.

[[If you want to rescue Ivanova from her fate, we can slowplay in the morning. Okay, later. *is going to bed*]]

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Inara passed through her park on the way back from Efferton Manor and spotted the woman lying on the park bench.

She approached cautiously, recognising her by her costume. "Uh, hello? Are you okay?"

Ivanova sits upright, embarrassed. "Ah, I'm fine, I just am somehow locked out of my ship. I can't get back in without some tools, daylight, and probably a lot of swearing."

[[*sings 'Jesus Was a Cowboy'* - she's staying at the whorehouse, but no one understaaaands . . .]]

Inara hides a smile. "You're welcome to stay at the Apple rather than the park bench. It might be a brothel, but at least the beds are comfortable!"

"Really?" Ivanova looks like she might cry with relief. "Thank you! And about, well, the nature of the establishment . . . I've seen too many things to pass judgement." She gets up and adjusts the over-sized prince's jacket. ". . . which still means I don't know where it is."

Inara laughs. "Well, walk this way. I'm Inara, by the way. Inara Serra. I saw you at the Ball."

Ivanova smiles at her. "Ah, Ivanova. Susan Ivanova. I think I saw you, too - dancing with Chewbacca."

"That was me. It was a good party. A very unusual house."

Ivanova rolls her eyes, hugging the coat closer. "You're telling me. I ran across two ghosts, then had to fight off some animated skeletons. And that was just in the cellars. I don't even want to think about what would have happened in the rest of the house."

"I didn't stray much from the ballroom," Inara admits. "Although I took a look at the den. I think that was enough for me."

"I think I should have done the same." Ivanova considers. "Then again, dancing the night away has never really been my idea of a good time."

"Well, it wasn't mine at first!" She grins thinking of her partners. "I got asked a few times. Possibly they didn't want to speak to me - or couldn't - and dancing was a socially acceptable option."

Inara looks Ivanova over, "So, I guess in spite of the ghosts, you were okay?"

She shrugs. "I'm fine. Just cold. And locked out, which is both annoying and frightening. It would take a really good hacker to crack the White Star's systems; an even better one to actually change any settings, seeing as they're all in Minbari. I've been studying the language for three years and 'brickbat lingerie' is as far as I've gotten."

"Brickbats have lingerie?" Inara asks, laughingly. "So, how will you get back into the ship in the morning?"

Ivanova scratches the back of her head. "Well, if I can get into the control panel I should be able to rewire the access codes to let me in, at least temporarily. If that doesn't work, I can pry open a waste hatch or something. If I can't do it, I'll see if Han or MacGyver can help."

"You'd go through the waste hatch?" Inara makes a face, then laughs at her own prissiness. "It's useful having all these people around the town," she says. "They have all kinds of unusual skills."

"That's a bit of an understatement," Ivanova rolls her eyes. "If I were planning a coup or an uprising, there's no where I'd rather recruit than Fandom."

"I understand there were some incidents back in the early days - maybe not so much in the town, but up at the school?" She shakes her head. "You have to be impressed with the principal and staff: the school's still standing!"

Ivanova nods emphatically. "I'm from a place called Babylon 5. We thought it was hard to keep several alien races from open hostilities in a controlled, heavily policed area. I think we can learn something from Fandom High." She grins. "If I could bring back Rover with me, I would."

Inara's smile fades as she thinks of her own 'verse. "It's not the alien races my universe is worrying about - it's humans. The usual division of mindset."

Ivanova nods. "Oh, we have our share of those. The government, the telepaths, the anti-telepaths, the anti-aliens, the religious extremists . . . sometimes I wonder why we think we can get along with the rest of the universe when we can't get along with ourselves."

"Sheer stubborn human nature?" Inara offers. "You have readers - telepaths? And aliens?"

Ivanova nods. "Aliens, yes, several races. You might have seen a Narn running around town. He was hear as my guardian. They look a bit like lizards, or dinosaurs. The Centauri, the Minbari, the Drazi, the Pak'Mara, dozens of others." She smiles softly. "And telepaths, we have those. Every race does, except the Narn. Only every telepath has to join the PsiCorps, or take drugs to supress their abilities." Her mouth twists in anger and bitterness. "Most of those on the sleepers commit suicide. Those who refuse both routes are hunted down and killed for the safety of society."

"I can see why you wouldn't want readers running free - under no authority at all," Inara admits. "There are rumours of readers every now and then in my 'verse, but much of that falls in with common superstition - things that can't be proved: astrologer's predictions and the like."

She looks at Ivanova. "I'm guessing that telepaths don't like the suppression drugs?"

"My mother was found by the PsiCorps and put on the sleepers so she could stay with our family. She died." Ivanova says this shortly, very clearly not wanting to discuss it any longer. "What is your, ah, 'verse like?"

[[Hee! It's NaNoWriMo! *is typing away like mad*]]

"Ah." So it was personal then. Inara answered the question. "Many worlds, a central government - well, they're working on that right now, people of all types and kinds."

She grimaces slightly. "It's hard to describe what you consider 'normal' when your only way of definiting it seems to be by describing what is not normal."

Ivanova shrugs. "I think most people encounter that problem in Fandom. How to describe what you think is normal to someone whose idea of normal includes . . . flying broomsticks, or Middle English." She smiles. "I'm genuinely grateful for you offer of a room, and I hope you don't mind me asking, but . . . what made you chose your, ah, line of work?"

"In my 'verse, a Companion isn't just a whore. It's an honourable profession - one of the oldest in the world as we like to say.

"We get to choose our clients, so it's our choice as much as theirs. And we're trained in many things other than bedroom skills - politics, art, poetry, literature - some girls learn martial arts, others take up other skills. For some girls, it's a chance to be educated beyond their means. For others, it's a glamourous life."

Inara pauses. "In my case, it was a bit of both. I wanted something beyond what my family could offer me in our social realm, and wanted to be something ...different. Something challenging in its own right." She smiles as they reach the Apple. "And I don't mind you asking."

Ivanova's mouth quirks into a smile. "Sounds like more or less the same reasons I joined EarthForce." She looks up at the Apple. "Ah, so this is it. I do know where it is, after all. I guess I just never noticed before."

"It doesn't exactly scream 'brothel' does it?" Inara says with a smile. "That's one of the reasons I decided to work here. It has a touch of class to it - and if y'ain't got class, honey, y'ain't got nothin'!"

With a slightly embarrassed look, she adds, "Sorry. I figured I might as well bring out the accent one more time. Let's go in and find you a room."

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After the Hallowe'en Ball, outside the White Star

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