riverviewlogs | ( closed ) lost research

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( closed ) lost research

who: Jim Kirk, Leonard McCoy, Peggy Carter, Re-L Mayer, Shai Ebbisaryn, Sans, Dick Grayson, Scott Lang, Yuuri Katsuki, Victor Nikiforov
what: a rescue mission
when: from May 15th through to the end of the month
where: abandoned area, along the river, the delta and the waterfalls; between the first and second walls
warnings: monster attacks, probably some injuries/blood, don't expect anything more than that; add any needed warnings on your own threads as needed, please!

Despite the risks, most of the journey was a fairly quiet one. A lot of hours walking, making their way along the riverside, trekking through the woods and across small clearings. When the sun set they'd set up camp somewhere, and as soon as it rose they got back to their feet and out towards the Delta underneath the waterfalls.

Jim made sure they had all they needed; maps, compasses, whatever devices that could help them navigate the terrain. As far as supplies went, they had plenty of covers and extra clothes to make sure they didn't suffer through the colder nights, but there were no luxuries out here. If it rained, they'd be mostly unprotected, and they could only shower and wash their clothes so long as they had the time and access to the stream of the river. There was plenty of food, hopefully enough to last them the round trip, but they also had a myriad of tools and weaponry needed for any hunting and scavenging so they didn't always have to consume from the food they'd brought along for the trip.

The creatures living out here were another concern, and on a journey this long, they were bound to run into something sooner or later. They should be packing enough weaponry to keep the team safe and everyone in one piece, though.

Hopefully, it would be worth it. Jim didn't even care if they didn't get their hands on any of that research— all he cared about was that there were people possibly lost and in danger out there, and he wanted to try and save them.

[ ooc: this is a mingle log, so everyone feel free to write up your own top levels and/or tag around as much as you like! ]

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[She's spent most of her young life in the comfort of a well-kept home in Eyteri, and most of her adult life aboard a ship. Tromping through the bush is unfamiliar but not entirely unwelcome - she takes to it well and there's not a word of complaint. She's an efficient member of the team, and she works well enough alongside Jim, though she takes care not to encroach upon his authority. It's not a matter of rank but one of respect; she likes the man, and she honestly functions better as an SiC to a competent officer than the commanding officer herself.

It's late evening, they've settled in for the night and it's only just starting to rain. Too late to pull up their tents and jockey for position elsewhere, she just makes the executive decision to put a crackling dome of crisply blue energy over the camp. It's small enough it doesn't take much energy for her to maintain, and she ends it about a foot off the ground to allow oxygen transference. If anyone touches it, it will melt away under their touch in a roughly door-shaped gap to allow them through.

She gives Jim a sort of 'what can you do' shrug.]

Lovely weather we're having.

[ Jim wouldn't have guessed it by watching her as the days go by. She's fast and she doesn't complain, she seems to have no difficulties keeping up or putting up with rougher terrain or unpleasant weather, and she's got energy in spades. He'd have imagined she had some level of experience in this kind of thing, honestly. If he knew the truth, he'd definitely be a lot more impressed right now.

He is impressed enough as it is, though, especially at the neat trick she pulls out of her sleeve to keep the rain out. He doesn't spare the barrier much attention at first, busying himself with setting up a few tents and building a fire, and once the rest of the team is getting more comfortable, Jim makes his way over to the edge of the camp, stopping just a foot or two away from the barrier of bright blue energy. ]

It's beautiful. [ He is admittedly entranced by the rain hitting the surface and washing down to the floor as if it's falling against glass. He glances over and offers her a small smile. ] Guess we're lucky we've got you around.

[She laughs a bit, and reaches out to trail her fingers against the barrier. The energy crackles beneath her touch, a bit of a responsive feedback loop to the energy input. With a cheeky little smile,]

Guess we're lucky you thought I might be useful.

[Jim, she's noticed, has a habit of trying to build other people up without any credit or recognition for himself. It's not as if he's self-deprecating or sells himself short - he seems a man that knows his value - but it's almost as if he's removing himself from any equations. Standing apart.

Most leaders do it to an extent, adopt that remoteness. Be it a physical distance, a mental one or an emotional one, when you know full well you might have to order someone to their death it takes a toll. His distance, she'd guess, is mental only. He obviously cares about the folks around him, and he's generally right there in the thick of things when the danger's afoot.

It's a hard life, and he's a gentle soul. There's a part of her that hopes he can weather it well. She sways into his space and butts her shoulder up against his companionably. She's never been good at physical distance either.]

You holding up all right, Cap?

[ He smiles at her, grateful for those words even though he doesn't need them. Thing is, he doesn't need any more recognition than the one he already gets, and he likes to build up people on their strengths, focusing on those so he can hopefully help them improve in the things they're not as good at. He likes to think he's at least a little bit inspiring in that aspect; hopes that he's managed to be a good captain to his crew, someone they look up to and who makes them feel a little more confident in their own skills.

That's what leadership is, to him. To some degree, at least. It's not just about barking out orders and expecting people to follow him blindly. It takes a lot of time and effort for someone's trust to build up to that point.

It's not taken to quite the same extent out here, with these people. Sure, it takes a level head on his shoulders and a good grip on their mission for the team not to fall apart, but they're fewer, the setting isn't necessarily an overly stressful one, and so far things have gone pretty smoothly. He also expects much fewer risks, even despite the creatures populating the wild. ]

Yeah, I'm good. [ He drops his head a little, nodding faintly towards her. ] How about you? Doing alright?

[She flaps her hand in a slight gesture of dismissal. Not of him, obviously, but the concern she's sure lurking behind that question. Any chance to assuage someone's fears, and all.]

Ah, I'm always right as-- well. [A gesture outside, implying that the end of that statement would by followed by rain.] You put together a good group of people, everyone knows why they're here. Met that doctor of yours - swell fellow, seems like - and here we are.

[She's smiling - it goes wry at one corner, tugging upwards.]

I will say, can't remember the last time I was this far away from a shower, though.

[That's a bit self-deprecating. She knows exactly the last time.]

Edited 2017-05-18 20:27 (UTC)

[ He glances out to the rain, chuckling a little and nodding. He has no reason not to believe her, and she seems pretty calm and gathered right now, so he takes that at face value. ]

I've tried my best to get people who'd be both interested and capable. [ He smiles a little warmer at the mention of Bones. ] Ah, he's... keeping it surprisingly together. Granted, it's been a pretty peaceful trip so far. Should see him when things get really insane.

[ Not that Jim's expecting that to happen. If anything he hopes their whole mission goes as smoothly as these first few days have. ]

Well, you can always use the river. It's not much, but— Bones and I at least brought some soap along. Or you can just use the rain.
[ Guess who is far too used to this sort of thing. ]

[Ah, that little smile is quite telling. Anyone ever mention you wear your heart on your sleeve, Jim? She'll keep her suspicions to herself, of course - military protocol does change from universe to universe, that she's seen, but in some of them she's all too aware that dalliances among the ranks is frowned upon. But they both seem like solid fellows that deserve honest happiness. If that's what it takes to find it, she'd wish them only the best.]

The rain, he says. How ghastly.

[She's not being serious, of course. She's well used to doing what needs done, no matter the sliding scale of that necessity. She's just being theatrical for fun. Honestly, she could probably build a shower out of construct energy, anyway.]

Been meaning to ask you, Jim. You think our hosts are above board with all this?

[She has a certain... ingrained mistrust from things that claim to be transparent. Sure, she'll go along with it and pretend all is well, but the truth is, she still has a nineteen year old problem child's view of authority buried deep beneath more than a decade of military discipline. Sometimes, that problem child rears its ugly head.]

[ Well, he's nothing if not honest, and he has no particular reason to hide anything, in this case. Starfleet has always been reluctant to get involved in people's personal lives, or put limits as to whom they can get involved with. In the past, sure, but it's one of the things that has, thankfully, changed over the years. Either way, it's not the kind of thing that would stop Jim, and it's not like it would matter here one way or the other. ]

It's just a suggestion. [ He huffs a chuckle, ever amused at her dramatics. Something he's noticed she's prone to. ]

With what, specifically? This team's research, the rescue mission... something else entirely? [ She's prone to mistrust too, he's noticed that. Not that he can blame her, given their circumstances. But to him it's been easier to settle into life here, and to accept the information he finds as a sign that the people here should be trustworthy, at least to some degree. He's not above having a healthy dose of reticence and suspicion of course, but not so much that he'll question every single event or piece of information he comes into contact with. ]

[She shrugs. It's an easy come, easy go sort of gesture.]

Generally speaking. Just want to know your opinion, I suppose.

[Honestly, so long as they send her home she doesn't really care what they get up to in the interim, how shady they may or may not be. But she's still curious as to what he thinks.]

[ Jim purses his lips, shrugging at the question. ]

Yes. I think so. Haven't had any reasons to suspect otherwise so far.

[ She's not the kind to trust easily, though, he can tell. If at all. The way she talks about this place and asks about their hosts makes him wonder about the kind of place she comes from, what sorts of adversities she might've faced in the past. Granted, not that Jim hasn't had his fair share of encounters with suspicious characters, but that hasn't damaged his inherent will to believe and trust, though it has helped him in being able to tell when someone or something's shady. ]

Where I come from... it's just natural for us, to want to trust. There are always people out there who don't deserve that trust, and we're still cautious no matter what, but if someone needs our help, or someone's willingly extending a hand to help us, we accept that. It doesn't mean we trust blindly, but we don't go out of our way to find reasons not to believe someone. There has been nothing so far about this place that has made me think that our hosts are being anything but truthful. I may yet be proven wrong, as it's been known to happen in the past, but... guess I'll cross that bridge if and when I get to it.

[It's a rousing little speech. It warms her heart - honestly - to know that there are places like that out there, that can exist with that grace and goodness. The Lattice is perhaps less... ideal, but then you have people like Liranya Hal.

They'd like each other, she warrants. Something in Jim would speak to her, and she thinks it's not too presumptuous to presume that he would take a certain delight in her character and poise.

The particular way he chooses to phrase his statement gets a smile, however. Where I come from. Odd thing to say if he felt there was any overlap in optimism in their respective universes. Gone and given off a negative impression of the Lattice, has she? For shame. Sore thing, for a media liaison to posit. If she argues the point, she all but confirms it. Funny sort of checkmate.]

Anyone ever tell you you're entirely too reasonable, Jim?

[She says it with a laugh, but she's dropped the theatrical asides. It's been so long since she was her own woman, someone that existed beyond the hull of the Ephemera, the uniform of the Janes, who wasn't blinking owlishly in media res amidst a sea of reporters and politicians, she doesn't have the faintest or foggiest how to interact on the simplest, basest terms of her own humanity. Who is she, when she's not a soldier? Hmm.]

Have you always been like this? [She wouldn't ever call him naive, because being an optimist demands a certain strength of character you'd never find in a pessimistic sort, especially in the face of an unkind world. She doesn't think his life has been all that and roses too.] Keen on the uplifting sort of purview?

[ It's not naïveté, exactly. He's seen far too much, lived through far too much —died from far too much— to believe that the world, any world, can be inherently and entirely good. People are flawed, ideas are flawed, even nature itself is flawed, but that doesn't mean one can't hope for the best. Whether out of a situation, or out of a specific person or a group of people.

It's worked for him so far. Some times better than others, regrettably, but he tries not to let the bad experiences ruin his optimism or his view on life— his hope on people. Pretty sure he'd have given up on a whole lot by now if that weren't the case. ]

Couple of times. [ He grins, huffing a chuckle. ] Not always as a compliment.

[ And well, he's always been an exceptional chess player, even if it's far from his intentions right now to trap her between a rock and a hard place. But no, he doesn't think their worlds are completely similar. Or maybe they are more similar than he thinks, but the two of them, as people, aren't.

He opens his mouth, closes it again before answering. Good question there. Has him thinking back for a while, and finally he admits. ] No. I was... very jaded, growing up. Lacked purpose. Conviction. [ A pause. ] Motivation. People change, though. We have to. Thankfully so.

They do indeed.

[Sounds like their paths took an opposite trajectory, then, with perhaps some overlap in certain key formative years. She tries to imagine him young and downtrodden, angry, volatile and sharp-edged like a knife. Tricky thing, but she can see it. Life leaves its marks.

She props up one hand, her fingers trace her collarbone and rest against the hollow of her throat. The only scars she cared to have the regenerists remove were here once. The ghost of them lingers.]

If you could go back and tell yourself something of your future - what would you say?

[ He'd agree with that much— life does leave some marks, even if, in his case, they're not within view. Running a little deeper than that, memories and feelings that have lingered in one form of another, maybe a couple of them being things he should've let go by now.

But well. They all have their ghosts, he figures.

Her question prompts a thoughtful pause out of him. There's a myriad of ways he could answer that, some playful, other more serious, a couple that he wouldn't feel comfortable telling her. What he chooses in the end... isn't much of a compromise. He still feels a little too bare saying it out loud, but he says it anyway. ]

Chin up. Soldier on. It'll get better.

[It is a rather personal question. If she was being entirely honest, she expected him to deflect (it's what she would do) and that answer doesn't quite fit that narrative she'd painted.

She studies him intently for a moment. She can feel the thrum of electric current along his nervous systems, a sort of symphony only she can hear. The whole world around her is loud with it - less so out in nature than in the town - and she almost misses the way the walls would sing with the current of energy trapped behind cheap gyprock and stucco.

The heartbeat is electric. Not as many people know that as they should.]

Sage advice for any age.

[Her tone is gentle. She can recognize the concession there, and oddly enough she appreciates it.]

You never know. This place is strange enough, you might get your chance.

[ On any other occasion, Jim probably would have deflected it. Were it most anyone else, he might've too. There's a strange sort of familiarity he finds in Shai, though. He doesn't know her too well just yet, so he can't say what it is. Just that he finds a kinship of sorts in her, and it makes him ease around her. Makes him more prone to opening up about himself, too.

He smiles, glancing at her only for a moment before looking out to the rain falling just outside the barrier. ]

Not sure I'd want the chance. I'm the product of my own experiences, good and bad alike. I don't know if I'd want any of them changed. [ Huffing a soft chuckle. ] I know, that's probably a little silly of me.

[She huffs a laugh, runs a hand through her hair - which is wet and scraggly and tangled from the time she's been out in the rain. She doesn't mind it, honestly. It's a strange thing to consider it a luxury, but shipboard life doesn't lend itself well to the elements.]

It's not silly.

[She says that a bit chidingly. Her fingers straighten out her hair and she works it into a braid, something simple and efficient just to get it out of her face.]

Rare soul that can look at the circumstances of their life and own it. For good or ill.

[She's glad he didn't turn the question back on her. She's not sure she has an answer, and conjuring one would be an examination of her psyche altogether too close.]

[ All too true. Jim personally is used to different climates and environments, after being on various away missions on all sorts of planets— even if Starfleet doesn't condone the Captain taking part in those unless absolutely necessary. Jim would go crazy otherwise, though. But he's always had the luxury of being able to go back to the ship eventually, shower and change, not have to live through weeks or months without certain amenities he considers pretty basic.

They haven't done too bad, though. No one on the team has, which is even more impressive in some cases. ]

Figure that's the only way we can grow and change. For the better, I mean. Knowing yourself, recognizing the good and the bad, being able to look back to your own path and see the choices you made— the mistakes, too. Where you went wrong.

[ He doesn't turn the question on her exactly, but he does ask, ] Do you ever do that, sometimes?

[She doesn't answer right away, opting to engage her attention fully on finishing off that braid, which she then twists up and pins to the rest of her hair with a little construct of her bright blue energy. It's a frivolous use of it, but she doesn't particularly care.

There are a million ways she could answer, of course, but Jim's been honest enough with her that her pride dictates the same in return. She works her jaw off to one side, and then nods. It's a start.]

Reckon most folks do, in one capacity or other. I've had my share of misadventures, but there's no such thing as an experience you can't learn from. I try not to ruminate, though. Too much and you get lost in the mire.

[She absolutely ruminates. But she's not aware of quite how much she's prone to it, so the statement is honest as far as her own self perception goes.]

Harder to move forward when there's not much to occupy your time, though.

[A bit of a flickering, self-deprecatory smile. This place is far too quiet for her.]

[ Jim listens to her answer, nodding in agreement. She's right, of course. It's good to remember one's experiences, to learn and grow from them. Not everyone does, and even those who do don't always change in good ways. Jim's seen this far too many times, sadly, and it's... discouraging, sometimes. Tiring.

But he also believes in the best of people. He always will. Always hopes for a galaxy that's better than he could ever hope to be.

He huffs a chuckle at the last remark, smiling back at her. ]

Used to a more exciting setting than this, I take it.

[Sometimes, she wonders if the fact that Jim's gotten very good at keeping her honest is something she should provide more push-back against. But the truth is - he has no context for her world save what she tells him. That means whatever she chooses to divulge is the only truth he has of her.

Makes it easy to cherry pick, in the long run. She doesn't even have to lie, just... engineer a certain vagueness that obscures the worst of what she doesn't want to say.]

Twenty-nine planets. That's an awful lot of peace to keep. [A bit of a laugh.] Can't remember the last time I had my boots on solid earth for more than a week straight.

[ It helps that Jim's always more geared towards believing the best of people, though he's not naïve to the point of thinking anyone's ever perfect. Everyone has more negative traits, of course, whether that boils down to their personality, their habits, or their past, but he'd rather focus on the good things, and he tries to understand and not judge much when he learns about the less favorable aspects.

He feels it would be that way with Shai, at least. But she chooses carefully what to share, and Jim would rather not pressure for more. In time, maybe, she'll open up more, little by little. ]

An awful lot of stuff to do too, I know. [ He nods. There are long stretches of space travel for him in-between, but any pitstop or longer stay at a planet or starbase does tend to come with a lot of excitement that he doesn't always feel here, with his feet permanently planted on the ground. ] Sounds like we both need to get our hands on a shuttle of some kind. Just to keep things interesting.

[She laughs a bit.]

My kingdom for anything capable of space faring, darling. I'd be happy with just an hour.

[There's something to be said for the weightlessness you can achieve, the absence of sound and fury and fire. Space is comforting, in its cold, remote way. There's nothing quite like living with it a few inches away at all times.]

In any case, Jim. I won't keep you if you've got other folks to check up on. I'll hold down the fort well enough in my little corner of the world.

[She always enjoys his company, of course, but this isn't a mission on which socializing is paramount. She understands the way the chain of command works, what needs drive it. If he wants to duck out she wouldn't begrudge him that.]

Yeah, an hour would do.

[ He wouldn't even be that picky. He'd be happy enough with anything that got his feet off the ground. A shuttle or an airplane, anything at all, really. Base jumping doesn't count— even if he does enjoy that, too.

With a smile, Jim nods at her words. They are taking a break now, granted, but she's not wrong. He's got other things to check up on, people to talk to, and he wants to be sure everything's settled for the night, but that everyone's ready to respond in case of danger. Though he hopes nothing will happen. ]

I'm sure you will. I'll be back later, if you don't mind the company. [ He's not likely to get much sleep in any case, and they can talk and catch up a little more then. ]

[She wiggles her fingers.]

Not the least.

[She's a solitary creature by nature, but she rarely eschews the company of people she likes just the same. She isn't sure she'd call him a friend just yet, but he's a comfortable presence to have nearby.]

Good luck with the others.

[It's an odd little bunch to wrangle. He's up to the task, she's sure, but luck never hurt anyone. The good sort, anyway.]

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( closed ) lost research

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