Title: "Coffee, Tea, or Me"
Author's
Note: This is set just before the opening of "Jaynestown".
Chinese:
Mei-mei – "Little sister"
Shuh mu? – "I'm sorry?" or "What?"
"I just don't know what to make of him, is all." Kaylee cradled the porcelain cup in both hands and sipped cautiously. The tea Inara had prepared was still just a touch on the painfully hot side, but she liked the feel of the warmth against her fingers and palms. "He's nice, and friendly, and he saved my life. I want to get to, you know, know him better, but there's this distance he's got to him that I don't know how to bridge."
Inara smiled gently at the young mechanic. "Perhaps, to him, it's like the difference between coffee and tea."
"Shuh mu?" Kaylee wrinkled her brow.
"In many of the Core worlds, tea is considered the beverage of the cultured. There are entire plantations dedicated to the breeding and preparation of particular lines of teas that are highly valued. And on many of those worlds, coffee is considered an acquired, and often not as desirable, taste. On the border worlds, though, coffee is widely thought of as a better drink than tea – it's easier to grow on most of the newly terraformed worlds, it keeps its drinker more alert for a longer time, and so forth. Out here, tea is often looked down on as effete or even snooty."
"I don't understand."
"Simon grew up on Osiris, didn't he?"
"Ye-e-esss…" Kaylee drew out the sound of her reply, uncertain as to where the Companion's words were leading.
"So, from his upbringing in the Core, he was raised to enjoy the taste of tea over coffee. And it may be that Simon was also raised to believe that certain traits are more attractive than others in the give and take of courtship."
Kaylee dropped her gaze, looking down at the dirt and grime on her forearms and the backs of her hands. "So… you're saying I should change myself to be more like what he'd expect from a girl brought up in the Core?"
"No, mei-mei, not at all," Inara said with concern. "Don't ever change who you are just to try to impress a man." She laid a comforting hand on Kaylee's arm, then went on. "What I mean is that you have to subtly convince him that the behavior and beauty that makes you who you are can be just as appealing as the tastes and habits that are his cup of tea. Encourage him to stretch the boundaries of what he's used to. Soon enough he'll realize that you're both more desirable and more available than any woman from the life he left behind could be."
"Come on, admit it, it's true," Kaylee gently teased Simon as they stood in the corridor to the passenger dorms.
He tried to protest politely. "No, I won't, because it's not. I use swear-words, like anybody else."
"Oh really?" She arched a coy eyebrow, smiling. "See, I've never heard you. So when is it that you do all this cussing? After I go to bed, or—"
"I swear…" For a second, she could see the first hints of a blush on his cheeks. "…when it's appropriate."
"Simon! The whole point of swearin' is that it ain't appropriate."
Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Inara headed towards the stairs that climbed into the corridor between the kitchen and the engine room. "Hey there, 'Nara. Heading off for some glamorous romance?"
Inara smiled down at the sight of the two of them together, tipping Kaylee a sly, subtle wink. "Let's hope so. Don't let Mal get you into too much trouble while I'm gone."
Kaylee threw a happy sideways glance at Simon as Inara continued up the staircase, then looked back to wish the Companion good luck. "Bye now! Have good sex!"
Turning around, the shocked expression on Simon's face caught her completely by surprise. Oops. "… what?"
