[video]

[jirk]

[Jim's sitting in his suite, wearing his command golds, looking serious as a heart attack. He's leaning forward, one hand braced against the armrest of his chair, the other fiddling with something on the console. Satisfied, he leans back more fully and nods once to the camera.]

Okay, let's get the introductions out of the way first. Name's Jim, Jim Kirk. Captain of the USS Enterprise. I serve in Starfleet in the year 2259 - Starfleet being a space-based armada focused on peaceful exploration and the discovery of new forms of life in the universe.

[There's a slight quirk to his brow, he coughs and then continues with all due charisma,]

I know there's people out there that've been here longer than I have, so I'm asking for your help - and the assistance of anyone willing. We know we're here to fight something, some of you know what and why. While I can understand the reasoning behind keeping that information to allies, I'd like to stress the fact that we're all in this together, regardless of worlds, races or creeds. This isn't something we can or should fight blind. So I'm proposing a broader alliance, a centralized repository of information, and the consideration of a unified front to face whatever's coming.

Additionally, I'm interested in the martial capabilities of the landed foreigners, any contingency plans that have been put in place to deal with the situations we're potentially facing here, and the sorts of scenarios that've been dealt with in the past.

[He exhales a little more sharply than necessary, and then he gives the camera a brief, two-fingered salute.]

Kirk out.



[and edited in after the fact, private to Kyle Rayner.]

We should talk.

Comments

text (same encryption) -> action

[imaginate]

10 minutes.

[So he's just going to knock on the door, you know, as you do.]

action

[jirk]

[Jim pulls the door open and gives Kyle a sort of a Look, and then steps back to let him in.]

Welcome to Casa del Tyler-Kirk. Make yourself at home.

[imaginate]

[A brisk nod. He's wearing dark colours today; slightly loose but comfortable shirt, sleeves hanging past his wrists, hands tucked into his pockets. He doesn't like carrying his sword or his bow, so there's a medium sized knife strapped to his right thigh, but otherwise, his body language is as unobtrusive as possible.]

Rose in? What's up?

[jirk]

[Jim rubs at the back of his neck.]

She's at the store.

[Then, without preamble.]

Look, I just wanted to make sure you were okay.

[imaginate]

[His shoulders nearly tense, and then they don't. He's just... bewildered.]

You called me all the way here to ask that?

[jirk]

[Jim folds his arms.]

You got a problem with that?

[imaginate]

No it's just— [what Guy would do, sans the sudden emergency pasta explosion or something. Kyle rubs his neck.] weird.

[jirk]

Look. Are you okay or not?

[HE MIGHT SOUND DEFENSIVE ABOUT THIS.]

[imaginate]

M'fine. [Eyebrow raise.] I was... expecting an emergency, honestly.

[Not that there isn't one, but.]

[jirk]

[Kyle, sometimes you are frustrating enough to be a member of his crew. He's never quite sure if he wants to send you on a mission into an active volcano or not. Jim reaches up to scrape his fingernail against his brow bone.]

Look, no offense? But if I had an 'emergency', you really wouldn't be my first choice. When you left the palace the other day you looked like hell, and we're friends, [he means that, he realizes. Do you know why I came back for you?] and that means you don't get to deal with all this shit by yourself.

[imaginate]

[That stings and what's worse, he can't put his finger on why. But he's learnt to be still waters, around this man, and it's to that he retreats, clamping himself down, controlling his movements. No anger. No more.]

[Then he just waits for the rest of the blow.]

[jirk]

[THE MOST FRUSTRATED LOOK. Jim lets his breath out in a rush, shaking his head.]

Look. I'm sorry.

[imaginate]

[Carefully:] What for?

[jirk]

Did you miss the part where I've been an asshole?

[rly tho.]

[imaginate]

It doesn't bother me.

[He means it. He's used to it.]

[jirk]

That doesn't give me the right.

[DON'T MAKE HIM ARGUE THIS. It's already hard enough to admit.]

[imaginate]

[In my world, people don't hit each other, period..]

[Kyle holds up both hands.]

That was your free shot. Clean slate?

[jirk]

[He laughs.]

Which slate are we on now?

[imaginate]

[A shrug. His hands go deeper into his pockets, unsure of himself, withdrawn, distant.]

No idea.

[jirk]

Look.

[He paces a short distance away. And then stops. And looks at Kyle.]

They broke my symbol too.

[imaginate]

[There's an angry roar in his ears: you didn't build it, you didn't hear it shatter, you didn't see the blood on the floor but it's far down enough that the ocean can swallow it. Kyle just nods.]

What happened?

[jirk]

I told you, we were betrayed by one of our own, a man named Alexander Marcus.

[He looks away.]

Starfleet... we're peacekeeping. We're explorers. And somebody tried to use us, use the deaths of my crew to start a war. We fight if and when we have to. Not before.

[I was never going to spare your crew.]

Everything I believe in, everything Spock believes in-- they took it away. And I'm not even going to be there to rebuild. Not in that universe.

[He and Spock have already had that discussion. Even if Jim can change the future, it's already set in stone in that reality. Another alternate universe.]

[imaginate]

[He's getting that feeling again, there is a rift of experience between them because Kyle knows he's always going to be used. By the Guardians, by his enemies, by his friends, the only difference was the people you voluntarily granted power over you because you trusted them (break my fingers, that's how you stop me), and those who simply tried to force you to give to them.]

[Because when it comes down to it, he's always had to fight. The people he protects, they either fight with him or they run. Most of them choose the former, and for that, he is always grateful, even if it costs them their lives, because it is better to die on your feet (with your boots on, standing up) than it is to do so on your knees.]

[But Jim rubs him the wrong way when he takes charge, and so, Kyle doesn't straighten up, doesn't voice what's going to sound like a lecture. He acts as he always does, a friend, a leader from behind.]

[Calm waters.]

What can I do to help fix [you] it?

[jirk]

You can't.

[He shakes his head.]

Just... look after Spock.

[He had to watch.]

[imaginate]

[Eyebrow raise.]

In my neck of the woods we call that quitter talk.