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[mouth_breather]

'You've reached the voice mail of Jim Kirk. If this is an emergency, hit the pound key to deliver your message via the speaker. As long as I've got my comm with me, I'll hear it. If this is about a class assignment, press one. If this is regarding the location of any of my crew, press two.

If this is Spock questioning my orders to relax every once in a while, wait for exactly 43 seconds, press your thumb to the screen, and speak the secret passwords: 'It's okay to relax every now and then because I trust my captain, as a friend, to know what's good for me.'

...

Did you do it? Now just press 2, it would have got you the same results.'

BEEP!

Comments

Text - Dec 3

[vulcanyounot]

Hey, I'm having a guest over for dinner tonight and would appreciate it if you could find yourself elsewhere.

It's a girl.

[mouth_breather]

[Kirk reads the text. He blinks hard, and reads it again. His eyes are not playing tricks on him. After a moment or two while his brain tries to digest the message, he taps out a reply.]

Looks like you're getting the hang of these 'human pranks' after all.

Unless you're serious. Are you serious?

[vulcanyounot]

Yeah, Jim, because I joke about bringing women home all the time.

Seriously, though, I think she's really into me.

[mouth_breather]

[Spock doesn't use sarcasm. He doesn't say 'yeah' either. Give Kirk a second to use his advanced tech to verify a few things, like ensuring the comm badge and communicator are in the same proximity, or ensuring that Spock's vitals are still good, because he's starting to worry.]

[But once he's got some tech to back him up, he grins. Swiping his hand over his mouth doesn't erase the grin either. Well hot damn, Spock has a date. He doesn't really get any of this, but you know what? As long as Spock isn't in danger, he can figure out what's going on later. Let the man have a good time for a change.]

No kidding! What's her name? What's she like?

And are you kicking me out for the whole night, or just a few hours?

[The tactful way to ask 'are you going to bang.']

Look at that, he's finally relaxing! And it only took him being raised human!

[vulcanyounot]

[Spock's usually not one to dish, but maybe that's because he's never really had the chance to.]

Her name is Winter. I met her in Fayren a couple of weeks ago - you know, the night I got back really late. We had a bit of a rough start but she's very intelligent and has rather impressive combat skills. We bumped into each other at the store and she seemed flirty so I asked her out.

[ He honestly has no idea what's going to happen tonight but he's not going to force his friend to get a room. ]

You don't have to stay out the whole night - we have a big house. Just could you maybe come in through the garage in case we're still hanging out in the living room?

It's so simple!

[mouth_breather]

I need to go over next week's coursework, so I'll be in my room for the night. You can contact me if you need advice or if you need an excuse to cut the night short for whatever reason.

[Holy hell, is this real? Spock doesn't need a wingman, he's fine on his own, right? ...Okay, he's a little flattered. This is legitimate friendship bonding.]

I'll make sure the place is clean. Are you with her right now?

We should have thought of it weeks ago!

[vulcanyounot]

[Wait, won't he get hungry if he's in there all night?

Eh, he's a captain, he'll definitely plan ahead, right?]

Thanks, you're a real bro.

Nah, we just parted ways. I'll be home soon but I have to change and get dinner going.

[ There's a delay between those messages and the next. ]

Could you teach me how to talk to her, maybe? Like without sounding like an idiot? You're so much better at it than I am.

[mouth_breather]

[Kirk is laughing his ass off over here. It's a good thing this is all done via text. It's as if Christmas came early! Still, at least he's making sure the house looks nice. Neither of them are all that messy to begin with, but he'll be a little more thorough, wiping down the fridge and the inside of the microwave, making sure the toilet seat is down and all that.]

If she's already agreed to have dinner with you, at your place, it would throw her off if you started talking like me, trust me.

[But since he called him a 'real bro' (which still makes him start snickering wildly), he'll try to include some generic tips.]

Tell her she looks nice when you first meet. But don't dwell solely on her looks for compliments, mix it up. Say what you like about her when it seems natural. If she cooks something decent, tell her she's a good cook. If she judo throws you over the couch, tell her she's a mighty warrior.

Just be confident and relaxed. The calmer you are, the more comfortable she'll be around you.

[vulcanyounot]

She's deceptively strong. She probably could judo throw me over a couch. She nearly won when we fought each other.

But really, just compliment her? That's all it takes?

Text - Saturday December 16

[vulcanyounot]

I will not be coming home tonight as I will be performing an overnight experiment with the Genessia Scientific Research Foundation. I expect to be back tomorrow afternoon.

[mouth_breather]

['I will not be coming home tonight...']

[All right, looks like he and Winter are moving at lightning speed again--]

['...because I need to do some science mumbo jumbo.']

[Figures.]

Thanks for the heads up. What's it about?

ahahaha he went running back to the science after that date auction

[vulcanyounot]

I am currently not able to discuss it with you; I signed a non-disclosure agreement. I will inform you as soon as I am at liberty to do so.

CAN'T BLAME HIM.

[mouth_breather]

[What the hell...?]

What kind of science requires an NDA?

[vulcanyounot]

That is confidential.

[He shouldn't say more, but this is Jim, so...]

It is of utmost importance that it remains a secret for public safety reasons.

[There. That'll satiate him and not leave him with more questions, right?]

[mouth_breather]

Okay. So you can't tell me what the experiment is. Can you tell me what you guys think will happen if the public finds out?

[vulcanyounot]

[Hm. It will take a moment for Kirk to get a response as Spock tries to toe the line.]

The experiment itself is not the concern, but rather the information which we are utilizing as the basis for our experiment. We are uncertain if simply being aware of the information is dangerous as it was discovered accidentally by another individual.

It is also a concern that in order to study this particular phenomenon, it would ordinarily require rather serious physical harm to a person, so it is possible that a less stable minded individual might go to such lengths and drastically harm another individual to obtain results.

[Is it obvious that the experiment has something to do with death yet?]

My experiment will cause no such harm if all goes according to the plan.

[mouth_breather]

Let me guess. You're the subject of the experiment.

voice; after https://genessia.dreamwidth.org/1079641.html goes south

[whiteas]

To confirm, this is Spock's emergency contact Jim Kirk?

[ Just. You know. In case there are multiple Jims. There are a lot of Davids she has to check.

Not that the need to use an emergency contact is an indicator of good news. ]

voice

[mouth_breather]

[That's not something anyone wants to hear. Not about their friends, not about their crew. His brow furrows. It's a good thing there's no class on the weekends so it's not hard for him to get some privacy.]

Speaking.

[He sits down on the couch, because that's what you do when you know bad news is coming.]

What is it, what happened?

voice

[whiteas]

In an effort to assist the GSRF, Spock concocted a solution which he claimed would not kill him but would feign the appearance of death so that the GSRF could study what happens after a person dies here. He assured us, through the question of multiple people, that it was a well-tested and functioning solution. Reality had something else in mind, and Spock was killed by his own solution earlier today. He will be back shortly after making a sacrifice, but I wanted to make sure you were informed and could be there for him when he wakes up. Dying, as much as it is a surmountable problem here, isn't.. pleasant, nor lacking in traumas. I'm sorry.

voice

[mouth_breather]

[Spock's dead.]

[He knows it's not permanent, knows he's coming back, but dammit if his stomach didn't drop just the same. Despite his earlier resolution to sit down, he's up on his feet and stalking the living room. Give him a few seconds to answer, Weiss, because he's mouthing curses without voicing them, and raising a fist like he's going to take a swing at the wall.]

[He almost does it, too.]

[But he's a captain now, not a dumb kid with a rank thrown at him through sheer circumstance alone.]

How would feigning death help you study what happens after a person dies? It's fake.

[And what kind of price is Spock going to pay? He knows she probably can't answer that but he's already trying to find solutions and actions.]

voice

[whiteas]

We recently came across information that upon death, how it was handled changed. Bodies of those with pendants used to disappear after a couple of hours, so we wouldn't have to worry about it. At some point, that changed. Guardian Vakarian shared with me that he tracked the body snatchers back to the Bay, but was unable to follow them from there. There's a location underneath the Bay, and we were attempting to alert them and... we still will be, so at least Spock's passing isn't wasted. We've been keeping it quiet to avoid the inevitable attempts of less scrupulous people to kill someone in order to find a way out. We all agreed to keep it a secret until we had solid information so there wasn't a need for anyone to try to intentionally make dead bodies to see what they could find.

voice

[mouth_breather]

Okay. That explains the NDA and why Spock didn't go into a lot of detail.

[But all the same, dammit! It's not like he can get mad at Weiss, or even Spock, because they took every precaution they possibly could. And if anyone's going to get data on something they don't know about, it'd have to be the experienced science officer.]

So what now? We wait?

voice

[whiteas]

Until someone comes for him, yes.

[ SHe pauses. ] You're.. welcome to come wait with us, if you'd like, though I wouldn't ask you to watch your friend's lifeless body if you aren't up to that.

voice

[mouth_breather]

[He's not thrilled about it. That's probably obvious from the extended pause, followed by an unsteady sigh.]

I think I'll see what happens. He died for that information.

[So while he hates the thought of standing by and watching Spock's corpse get carted off, the Vulcan must have been aware that was a legitimate risk. He'd gone through with it anyway, so this is probably important.]

Where do I need to be?