tampered | Mingle Log!

Mingle Log!

When; July 5th through July 7th!
Rating; G+
Characters; Open to ALL, 4th Wallers and Citizens!
Summary; The celebrations continue, and the Anonymous regime has summoned guests that Citizens might (not) prove very thrilled to see! As opposed to other Fourth Wall events, all visiting characters will have been invited to the City, or they must arrive here of their own will.

Mingle! Explore~!

Log;

There's so much to do and so much to see in this City of cities. From tromping through Xanadu, long walks along the shore, shopping in the Square, hunting in the forest, meeting a contact in the Underground, or getting as many answers as possible at the Welcoming Center how can anyone decide on just one. In three days time so much can be done!

Shops and restaurants are having specials. Happy hour has become happy days in some bars. This is quite the occasion! When the City decides to celebrate, it becomes contagious. Why not smile and strike up a conversation with a stranger? After all, a stranger is a friend you haven't met yet.

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[ he nods in answer to both questions, but doesn't offer the combadge up for inspection, just pins it to his chest since that cat's out of the bag. might as well. ]

I ran a scan upon my arrival for any other Federation signatures other than my own, but came up empty. But our equipment isn't exactly calibrated to pick up on those old flip-style communicators anymore. [ but he's fixing that, pulling out his tricorder and making a few modifications to the targeting scanners. ] Ah, there we go. Now I can see you... and three others.

[ frown, because something he thought he was alone in has suddenly got a hell of a lot complicated. so much for keeping his head down and snooping around when there was a blast from the past in the shape of a captain still in uniform demanding answers he didn't have and/or couldn't give. ]

Edited 2013-07-06 07:52 (UTC)

Can I get your name, maybe?

[ Old style communicators, his ass. Why is everyone from the future always so snooty about technology, it works just fine normally. ]

You're not going to be able to do much good here. We're locked in time, it's not a pocket dimension of our own alternate reality but a nexus. If you stay here much longer, you'll get stuck too.

[ he's mad, but not completely so. he would have picked up eventually, would have told him to stop being such an asshat by yelling because he's currently out in public, and perhaps listen to whatever he wanted going to say. that's always been the case between them. but things just sort of happen the way that they're not supposed to, and between nursing his own anger and dealing with jim's frustrations, spock is here, if he heard from jim is right. and then it's either by luck or chance or damn good coincidence that he stumbles upon them just as he's about to go the opposite direction.

talk about timing.

what he witnesses from a distance is something that he looks away from for the briefest moment, because it's - familiar, fragile. bones is not oblivious to jim's troubles, after all. he's had a year ahead of him.

but he walks towards them, anyway, not eager to intrude but knows that there are things to be discussed. ]

— Jim, Spock. [ his eyes flick to jim. ] I got the message.

[ tom paris is actually the least snooty when it comes to technology. yes, he loves his ship and he built the delta flyer based on a convergence of various technologies, but he's also the guy who put in a steering wheel and a joystick so he could pilot as he pleased. he's also the guy who spends his free time fixing cars on the holodeck, and thought a computer from 1996 that could barely pick up gamma emissions was actually kind of awesome. ]

It's Paris. Tom Paris.

[Days. Temporal anomaly or not, that is unacceptable. A Captain does not go anywhere without his first officer knowing, tracking every step. And Jim looks-- sick, devoid of his usual vibrance. The rest of the crew, if they are here, must not see him like this. They would lose faith. (He wonders if Scotty has lost faith, standing next to them in the engine room, and decides that is something he does not wish to know).]

[He lets Jim stay there (I'm scared--), and he quietly completes the sentence.]

You are dead.

[Then, he exhales shakily, and composes himself completely, in time to nod at Bones.]

Doctor. [To Jim:] Captain. I suggest we proceed to a private location in order to facilitate further discussion.

Edited 2013-07-06 08:09 (UTC)

[ It's like he can't touch anything with his actual hands when he hears You are dead, jaw setting and shaking in rigid denial. But that's the most clear thing about any of this weird dream where he's stuck in the past; Jesus, what if he's dying and his brain's just trying to compensate? The glass and the heat curdling his organs is far more vivid than sunshine and the conversation of passes-by. Sweating himself frozen in his skin, which makes no sense and too much. He tastes his own sickly-stale, rattling gasps again.

None of this has been allowed to even scratch the surface since his eyes reopened, now shredding its way though without a care.

Captain, I suggest ... He doesn't move.

That must be his own breathing because he can see his chest moving but his senses are wired to a don't move, don't look away, don't leave me mantra. Holy shit, I'm having a panic attack. Jim does the only thing he can think of to combat his sudden shortness of breath and grabs onto Spock's wrist. ]

[ Unfortunately for Tom, Jim isn't telepathic. If he was, he'd have loved that joystick though. ]

Ensign, Lieutenant, Commander? Maybe they don't have ranks in the future, whatever. [ Shaking his head, Jim explains. ] We're trapped here and time isn't passing back in our reality, Mr. Paris. The best thing you can do is to go back to Narnia and tell Starfleet to search for an anomaly around Earth in 2259. We're inside the damn thing.

[ you are dead. jesus. bones would have scolded him, berated his callousness and lack of understanding of the human emotion, but there it is, and between antagonizing spock for his (seeming) lack of humanity and taking care of jim when he falls, his choice has always been clear. he is there by jim's side in an instant, hands around him to support jim to keep him standing up in case he falls, forehead pressed against his temple and mouth near his ears, saying words that he hopes jim can still hear clearly (and perhaps spock as well, with his vulcan ears). ]

Breathe, Jim. You're alive. You're fine. You're alive. [ these are echoes of things he's already said, things he's confirmed. he's seen it coming a mile away; jim is strong, resilient, but he is stubborn. he never listened, and bones is tired of saying the same things over and over again but still getting the same results. he never pushed jim into admitting that he hasn't been fine since he woke up here, but he doesn't think that this was going to happen like this. ] Remember what I said. Everything's going to be fine, Jim. Trust me.

[ he turns to spock, trying not to be angry, but the heat of his gaze says enough: ] Make yourself useful, Commander. Help me take him somewhere private.

Edited 2013-07-06 08:40 (UTC)

Lieutenant.

[ he couldn't do that even if he wanted to, but he doesn't tell that to the captain. ] If I actually remember what happened in this time frame, I'll be sure to let Starfleet Command know. [ best he can do is note it in his log and hand it over whenever (and if) they get back to earth. narnia might as well be right on the money as far as the delta quadrant's concerned. ]

[There is no way for him to say no, that is incorrect, the Captain is dead without betraying how emotionally compromised he is. Scotty called him over Bones, knowing it was against protocol, and Spock honestly doesn't know why: nobody relies on Vulcans for emotional support. It was like watching his mother die all over again, both of them looking at him, the last living thing they would ever see in their lives and he can offer nothing but a complete lack of control over his own heart.]

[He is thrown into confusion again by Bones' words: he is so assured, is it possible he is from before..? Spock does not know, and he can't lie, not about this. He decides not to make any conclusions, they have been here for a few days and him, only minutes.]

Of course, Doctor. Lead the way. [Quietly:] Please.

[It is then that he moves, carefully staying near (but not touching) Jim to support him from the other side.]

[ His eyes screw shut when he hears Bones and a noise escapes him that he could never be proud of, nodding along and breathing, breathing, Breathe, Jim. Sucking in deep gouts through a flaring nose, he puffs them out and wets his lips, drawing footholds from the two people in the entire fucking universe he cares about more than any others being right there. It doesn't occur to him that Spock is also in shock; he's a little distracted. ]

I'm ... I'm good. Fuck. [ Releasing his First, he wraps a grateful arm around Bones and gives a squeeze, starting to head in the direction of the apartment they've acquired. No glass. It's hot because the sun's out. ] I should kick your ass, Spock.

[ It's a wheeze of a bitten-out joke, black humor at that, but Jim refocuses on his surroundings. With his grip firm on Bones, he keeps his head down as all three of them head off. ]

[ please. that's not a word that he hears spock say everyday, especially not directed at him in such an honest, open manner. his eyes study him for a moment as they walk toward the apartment that he and jim have holed in after their arrival, taking whatever change in him as best as his calculating eyes can. it's like the vulcan is a statue, stony-faced and quiet.

he remembers that, too. the disintegration of spock's mask and control when he finds jim's — well. you are dead should have really sounded the alarms in his head. this is unpleasant. this is more than unpleasant.

fuckdammitshit.

the apartment jim and bones are living in right now is small but cozy, furnished, somewhat devoid of life at the moment, but understandably so. he takes jim to the couch, pushing him down gently. ]

Lay down, kid. Don't make me repeat myself. [ he then motions for spock to sit down on the armchair closest to them. his voice noticeably gentler now. though still quite firm. ] And you, Spock. Sit.

[He is utterly silent the entire time it takes from the marketplace to the apartment. Spock does not even relax when they are inside, he stands to the side, feeling as though he is intruding somewhere he should not be - where he has no place being. Jim and Bones are both emotional beings and-- it's only logical they should express what Spock shouldn't, can't.]

[He does not sit immediately, he circles the armchair quizzically, as though attempting to determine if it too is a hallucination. Doctor's orders, however, are doctor's orders, and eventually he sits down, hands in his lap, his thumb pressing into his index finger, the closest he gets to fidgeting. He is cracking - he is an out of control mess and none of this (Jim is alive) is helping at all. He doubts even Bones can fix this, skilled though he may be, and that doubt persists despite evidence to the opposite conclusion (McCoy is a miracle worker, there is nothing he cannot fix. It is a fact, just like Jim being Captain was always a fact).]

[Then, he waits, as he did for the ship to crash in the atmosphere, strapping himself in with figurative seatbelts, and instinctively he looks to a different chair for Sulu, who has just disobeyed an order to leave. But Sulu is not there, it's only him, and Jim, and Bones, in a quiet apartment in a strange city.]

[ It's a weird feeling, having to let someone else he doesn't know from another time in practically another world shoulder the responsibility Jim bears, but neither of them really have a choice. They have their respective roles to fill and know the rote roads it leads down, neither of them can change the messed up physics here. (If any of this is real, that is.)

Jim claps him on the arm. ]

C'mon, Lieutenant. I'll get you a beer and you can tell me how great I am.

[Another casual shrug.]

I wasn't in it too long but I was out of uniform long enough.

[Before he ended up here. That's a shitty story to tell. He wonders what would Larry do if he saw the kid socializing with another (future) brother in blue. John Cooper being the first LAPD officer he's spoken to in years doesn't help.]

How about you? Do anything for you?

[He nods at Cooper's rank.]

[ The trip home (haha, "home") is uneventfully quiet and mired in grief that has nowhere to go but into choked throats. That's how Jim feels, at least. By the time Bones sits him down, Jim's been stealing long enough glances at Spock to see there's something significantly twisted out of place there too (misaligned) in the quiet void where there should be skipping intellect and quips and barbed replies aimed at everyone in his general vicinity. Jim looks at him at length, shifts forward to crouch in front of him over a bent knee. Bones will kill him for moving, he's sure, a concern that slips into the wayside. ]

Spock. [ A hand covers one of a pair cemented to a lap and Jim tries to reach into wherever Spock's gone. He's still perfectly aware, obviously, but. I know you. ] Spock, look at me.

[ It's his turn now to do the comforting, gesturing clumsily with his free hand at the furniture, room, everything. Blue eyes flicker like shuttering lasers when he has to blink the salt-sweat from stinging his eyes. ]

Ignore that, all of it, I'm. I'm the only thing I want you to look at, okay? You listen to your Captain.

[ he would have scolded him, yes, but he figures out what jim is doing half way through and lets him, a hand squeezing jim's shoulder to let him know that he isn't mad, that it's okay. he needs this, they need this.

( for two agonizing weeks in the future it is him and spock watching over jim as he sleeps on, and even when spock has calmed down under his watch, even when the wounds have been stitched together, they never truly heal until jim opens his eyes for the first time. and then it is bones and spock comforting jim, proving to him that he is alive, saved, and that takes a while, too.

bones has not needed his own comfort, because the only thing he needs is for them to be safe, sound, and alive. ) ]

Listen to Jim, Spock. Focus on him. [ he says, quiet but just as commanding, the doctor's voice. empathetic, knowing, gentle. his fingers trace over the edges of one of Spock's sleeve, gliding over his wrists, careful not to touch his skin. but he sees the droplets of blood on his hands, knows whose they are. what spock to know that he knows it, too. ] And listen to me, alright? Jim's alive here, and Jim will live wherever you came from. I will make sure of it. I have. You need to trust me to do my job, too.

Edited (I KEEP EDITING I'M SORRY) 2013-07-06 09:50 (UTC)

[Had he known, he would have kicked himself for being so obvious. He looks at Jim, and then at Bones, then back to Jim, looking rather than seeing, hearing rather than listening. Spock withdraws his hand from Jim, squaring his shoulders, before he fixes Bones with an expression that is sadness, confusion, and shock all at once (He disobeys his Captain's orders, for one of the few times in his life). He doesn't know if he managed to wipe the tears from his face properly, but the blood is enough. He and Bones both know whose it is, who Spock failed to bring in because he came here instead.]

Doctor. [Distant, almost plaintive:] It would be more [logical but what was logic? It couldn't save your best (and perhaps only) friend from the inevitable] practical to explain how you were able to accomplish it. Given the existence of the temporal anomaly, through our actions we may have inadvertently created another parallel universe.

[He takes refuge in the concrete, clinging to it stubbornly. People did not come back from the dead - and he knew all the symptoms of radiation poisoning, he'd seen it all happen right in front of his eyes. He mentally starts reciting the list, and he has to know.]

Edited 2013-07-06 09:55 (UTC)

[ the burden would be something of greater significance if tom weren't voyager's helmsman. during that first year, maybe the second, he would've inwardly stressed, but this many years in... must be wednesday. ]

Please tell me that's a beer with actual alcohol. I've had enough synthehol to last a lifetime.

[ He's never been more inspired to believe they could all fix each other if only they knew the right angle to hit it from. That's just how Jim works, tactics and strategies, trying to find the right solution while Spock claws at logic and Bones serves up empathy enough to fill a starship with happy, healthy people. Playing to his strengths right now involves pleading with Bones with a silent stare that switches to Spock as their friend withdraws into himself; Jim sits back on the coffee table and clasps his own hands tightly as he's forced to play a waiting game.

I did this, flickers across his mind's eye, the guilt of it stoppering any further consolations until Spock can accept them. I don't know how to help you, and I did this. ]

[ he keeps his eyes on spock, but he knows jim well enough that the one moment that their eyes are no longer looking at him, he will retreat behind his walls, carefully built. he keeps his hands on jim even as the man pushes himself back, lets his hand fall on jim's pair, fingertips brushing against his skin, thumb playing around his fingers. a reminder, a comfort, something to hold on to. anything that jim needs, he's there.

and then there's spock, who wants his goddamn logic and rules and practicality, and bones gives it to him, anyway, because conflict is not what he needs. they stand united, even through their differences. ]

Khan's blood. [ his eyes flick downward briefly before meeting spock's again. ] His genetically-engineered body also enhanced the regenerative properties in his blood. I tested the sample I took during his captivity on the dead Tribble in my office. Since it was kept in a frozen state, its brain function was still technically operational, so when it received the blood, it healed and lived again.

When I realized that, I did the same to Jim. I put him in one of the cryotubes and preserved him, and I temporarily placed the original human body in a medically-induced coma. You and Uhura brought Khan back to the Enterprise at my demand.

[ there are a lot of things that he doesn't say, for jim's sake, but he knows that spock will understand them well enough. he's just as intelligent as jim, if not more. he doesn't say that he knows what spock has done to have blood in his hands, that he knows that spock probably will not stop until he hears uhura's voice telling him that jim can be saved by bones, that khan needs to be alive. that it will take another person to make him stop, as well as the promise of jim's life, because he will see nothing but red. ]

As your concern for our temporal anomaly, Jim can tell you about that. [ look at him now, spock. he's alive. ]

Edited 2013-07-06 10:23 (UTC)

[Despite spending so much time with the crew, with the two of them, Spock is still woefully under-equipped at reading their emotions. Friendship has always been one of the things he is honestly just bad at, no matter how hard he tries - he hardly had any tact, he could not inspire confidence from the crew. (And yet, Jim'd said You are the one who knows what you're doing). Spock had only taken the chair because of Jim; Bones knows this and Spock hears it, subtly, the unspoken burden they both share, and will share as they wait for Jim to wake up.]

[Khan's blood. His eyes narrow, briefly, but he says nothing, keeps his neutral expression up. At my demand. So it would be Nyota who came to get him, to pull him back, and instantly, he tries desperately not to think of her eyes, or her touch, because she is the only one who would know exactly what to do, and she is not here for him. The rage has not dissipated, but it is significantly muted, an iceberg almost completely hidden under the surface, only noticeable when struck.]

[It would have taken a miracle to get Spock to accept that the Jim in front of him is the one from their universe, and he is alive; Bones carries the name miracle worker and he did it again. Spock lets go of a burden he did not even know he was carrying, and looks at Jim, with new eyes.]

Thank you. [A sharp nod towards Jim.] Sir. I apologise for my conduct.

[I cried.]

[ His grip on Bones' hand is unrelenting, hardly even given a thought when it clasps automatically and goes on its own personal lockdown until mid-way through the explanation of Khan's blood. It's more than a little sickening to think there's a part of that psychopath inside of him but Jim isn't going to look a gift-horse in the mouth, not when Bones is a certified genius and Jim very literally owes him every waking second he'll have from now on. For his part, Spock reels through the facts in a way that Jim doesn't feel qualified to interrupt, even if he'd give up everything all over again to save these men; this isn't as new to him as it is to his First, insisting over and over how well they work together and how good a team they are. He's still astonished every time Spock shifts gears and stalls on how to be his friend, the idiot does it all the time.

Jim laughs low and a little sad, ducking his head to rub at his eyes and keep the dampness there from overwhelming him when he looks back up to meet a steadier, surer gaze. Knowing Bones' is on them both too, any attempt at hiding how raw Jim's terror was in the decontamination chamber is going to be a futile exercise, so beyond stubbornly refusing to cry there's little that can be done. He doesn't try to pretend it was okay. ]

I was so scared and you stayed with me. You hunted that bastard down and saved my life. Why are you apologizing? [ Jim raises his chin in a similarly curt nod and bites his lower lip for a moment, expression easing on a somewhat familiar, exasperated sigh. ] Your conduct was exemplary, Spock.

[ this is the moment of reckoning, bones thinks, for the two of them. this is where jim finally admits his fears and spock lets his guard down to jim, something that's always so hard-pressed when it comes to the both of them. this is where they'll heal themselves, together, and for now, that's enough for bones, enough to know that he's done his job and saved them from themselves. they'll be fine. he'll be fine. they'll get through it, even if it takes them a year or ten.

he stands up straighter, squeezing spock's knee as he goes, a comfort for him as well. ]

I'm going to go and make us some lunch. [ his voice is loud and gruff, but the message is clear. ] Call me if you need anything.

[ he turns to look at jim, a million things in his eyes, but he squeezes his hands and ruffles his hair a bit. jim doesn't have to say anything to him because he already knows. when all is said and done, they'll have their own talk, about a lot of things. jim's fears and insecurities, and things bones never says because two broken men don't need a third burden in their midst.

and when he leaves to putter around the kitchen, it's with the knowledge that everything is going to be alright. ]

[The corner of his lip twitches slightly, the smallest of smiles, as Bones leaves. It is as close to thank you for being here as Spock will ever get to the CMO of their ship, because admitting that is still a step none of them know how to deal with.]

[He keeps his eyes on Bones' back as he disappears into the kitchen, using the distance to centre himself completely before he focuses on Jim, processes the words. He was terrified. They were both terrified, and it is the warmth of Jim's tone that throws Spock completely off, makes him think that none of that mission happened - he didn't see Marcus betray them, Khan threatening them, Jim begging for his crew's lives--]

[Calmly, quietly:] Jim. It was not. [He lost control, he saw red, what else could he say but I gave in to the need for revenge, the very mistake I cautioned you against? But enough. Enough of that. He clings to hope because it is the last thing left, and because it was Bones who gave it to him.] Perhaps it would be wiser to focus on topics more pertinent to our current situation. Are you well, here?

[Awkward talk about feelings: go.]

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Mingle Log!

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