Gravity Is Not Responsible for Your Fall by vivfic (NC-17)

[musesfool.livejournal.com]

Fandom: FIREFLY
Pairing: Mal/Inara
Author on LJ: vivfic
Author Website: LJ memories
Why this must be read:

The story takes place in the time we see the crew repairing Serenity, as Inara attempts to come to terms with the events of the movie -- not just what they learned about the Alliance and the Reavers, but what happened in that final battle and its aftermath, and how it’s changed all of them, but especially how it’s changed her relationship with Mal. They give and take comfort in each other, and Inara’s not sure what’s going to happen next.

I like that uncertainty, that feeling that no one else can quite understand what they’ve been through, but they’re not sure even what they have in common is enough to see them through into something more. It feels true to who they are. The writing is lyrical and spare and lovely, and the characterization works.

A quote:

She opened the cabinet to put the cans away, and shards of pottery fell out, scattering over the counter and the tops of her feet. She wondered briefly what those fragments had been - a plate? A mug? Like so much else, they were no longer recognizable as the object they had been. It was one more unnumbered loss against so many others. Almost without thinking, she vacuumed up the dust and scraps, consigning them to their own oblivion. The cabinet had other purposes than to serve as a tomb for dead pottery.

She had just finished putting the cans away when Mal wandered in. As had happened so often lately, he stopped on seeing her, an odd confusion swimming briefly in his eyes, as though he hadn't expected to find her there. It was, she thought, an honest confusion. The few times she'd looked in a mirror lately, she wasn't sure she recognized herself anymore.

*

Gravity Is Not Responsible for Your Fall by vivfic

*

If you enjoy the story, please let the author know!

*