Fic: 5 + 1
1
2
No matter how much he tries to mask his expressions, Amanda has always been able to see right through them. Now his face looks pinched as he pokes around the kitchen fixing himself a snack. She sets her work aside and stands, smoothing out her dress and approaching the other side of the counter where he works.
His fingers are long and his hands are large speaking of height yet to be gained in his slender frame, but they make him clumsy sometimes, not clumsy clumsy but not as mechanically precise as his peers. It’s her side of the family coming through, he’s built like a gangly teenage human boy not a compact efficient sa-kan. It secretly makes her happy to see such a familiar sight like a sulky (but not really, he’s still half Vulcan) expression on Spock’s face when he folds himself into an arm chair, all elbows and knees with a bowl of fruit and a text to read.
But now he wasn’t just sulking about what trivial things his peers logically pointed out today, no he was more aggravated. She knew she had to ask about it, even if she just wanted to give him space, if Sarek saw his son with such an obvious expression on his face…
“ What happened at school today?” she asked in standard, it was comforting to her, good practice for him and also gave her an edge of superiority and control in the conversation. He glanced up at her before returning to his cutting of a root plant that looked (and tasted) like a large clod of dirt in silence.
“ Spock. Answer me.” She commanded. She didn’t like to do it but it was one useful facet of being a parent on Vulcan. Elders demanded respect and got it.
“ The usual schedule of activities was adhered to, as it is everyday.” He set his knife down to address her.
“ Nothing out of the ordinary happened in any of your lessons?” His eyes darted to his hands on the cutting surface. She could tell he was considering the idea of lying to her, she could see it whenever she asked him something he didn’t want to tell her, but he always made the same decision in the end. He looked up at last with large eyes.
“ There was an incident in my musical theorization and application course,” he said quietly as if he was afraid some one would over hear. She leaned forward onto her elbows expectantly. He straightened the knife on the counter to avoid her.
“ The lesson was paused briefly to necessitate the addressing of my particular… behavior.” He would have been muttering darkly if he could. Amanda looked at him with quizzical brows.
“ What did you do?” she fought to keep amusement out of her tone, she knew Spock didn’t like being laughed at…even though it had never actually occurred.
“ My foot was…tapping…in accompaniment to the concerto being played,” he said without meeting her gaze.
“ You were keeping time. Do they not do that in your lessons? When they play they don’t teach you to keep beat with your foot?” She asked puzzled, she could have been sure she’d seen it before…
“ I was not playing at the time.” He said sharply pressing his fingers together firmly. Amanda blinked at him. He’d been tapping his foot to the beat- of a concerto- because…he was enjoying it.
She really tried very hard not to smile but couldn’t stop it from spreading over her face. Spock glared at her, and swiftly exited the kitchen leaving his snack behind. Amanda sighed and chased after him but he was too fast, already half way to his bedroom.
“ Wait, Spock,” she reached out but he opened his door without looking at her and stepped through saying:
“ I will be meditating for the rest of the night, please inform Father. I wish not to be disturbed.” And then the door slid shut and she was alone. Turning around she headed back to her work with a sigh, at least she was assured her natural flair for dramatics would live on.
3
He could not believe what he had just done. Reject the Vulcan Science Academy? No one rejects the Vulcan Science Academy. He couldn’t face his father, his mother, random citizens on the street…he needed isolation. He truly deserved to live as a veritable hermit on Terra.
He’d been driving for hours on his bike, out into the desert; out of the city so far it was hardly a dot on the horizon. He just wanted quiet from the roaring in his ears, the redundant echo of his brash words.
He cut the power to his bike and sat for a moment in the wind, listening to the nothingness- he tilted his head. That wasn’t nothingness he was hearing, that was a tertiary beat.
He slipped off of his seat and began to walk towards the source of the vibrations, a large rock formation nearby. He surveyed the jutting red rock from every angle tilting his head this way and that trying to determine the origin of the sound. It appeared to be coming from a large crevice formed by two leaning rocks. If he wriggled he could probably slip through sideways.
Curious as always he paid no heed to his location or even his personal safety as he slipped between the rock surfaces, inching his way along until finally he broke free upon a ledge around the walls of a natural rock cavern.
The acoustics of the place were quite remarkable, and the music being played itself was unusual. The bass of the underlying beat was heavy, he didn’t so much hear it as know it was there, vibrating in his joints and bouncing off of the long stalactites causing him to grip the wall beside him for balance.
Far below, the orange rock of the cavern was lit by glowing lights that floated aimlessly knocking into the walls and each other only to wobble away undamaged. Spock could just make out the murmur of many voices over the music and the ripple of moving bodies forming a dark-haired crowd filling the floor space.
Fascinating.
He picked his way down the wall using the ledges as steps until he was setting his feet on the uneven natural rock ground of the cave. When he turned he was confronted with the sights and sounds of hundreds of moving bodies. They pressed together, their skin touching where it was indecently bared, hands moving sinuously in the air. It was practically pornographic.
“ Never been here before?” A squat man, human, asked him from behind a long counter top. He was wiping glassware clean with a white towel, his massive forearms practically out of proportion to the rest of his body.
“ I was previously unaware of this…facility’s existence.” He said his eyes darting back over to the moving crowd, looking more carefully now he saw clear features, ears, eyes, lips…Vulcans.
“ So you just stumbled out this far, hm?” The man’s Vulcan was badly accented but understandable, he was skeptical, “ Sure. I don’t care who told you about Dagora kid but you look like you’ve just seen…” he paused, “ You look emotional,” he settled instead rolling his eyes.
“ I am merely curious as to the purpose of this place,” Spock calmed his mind smoothing his features and staring down at the man who snorted.
“ It’s a club, son. One created by men far smarter than me. You Vulcans, you’re so uptight, won’t even dance unless it’s some kind of ritual. This is the place to come when you want to move to the beat, touch other people, have a drink or two…lose the logic for a night.” He said gesturing to the floor and the grouping of Spock’s people doing just that.
He would never have believed that a place like this existed without the undeniable empirical proof presented in front of him. For a culture that looked down upon him because he struggled everyday with his emotional control, his biological urges…to use such a service like this…He sat down heavily on a nearby stool drawing a deep breath in, his posture slumping. He pressed his eyes closed trying to push the betrayal, the curiosity, the elation and the frustrated rage to the edges of his mind keeping it from drowning him.
“ You okay? We get types like you some times, can’t believe your eyes. It is a shock when you first find out. Here have a glass of water- straight from Earth, pure as you can find it- on the house.” The man placed a crystal clear glass before him on the counter, Spock heard it and then saw it with forlorn eyes.
The human became distracted by a group of customers further down leaving Spock to gulp down the water (it really was one of the best glasses he’d ever had, it didn’t taste like the inside of a replicator combining exactly two hydrogen and one oxygen pseudo-atoms) and watch the room.
It wasn’t long before, lost in thought, he was approached by a female. She was older than him, fingering the neck of his sweater and commenting that he was aesthetically pleasing. Her fingers tapped to the beat of the music along his arm, he found his own doing the same on the side of the glass.
“ You have unusual eyes,” she murmured her own eyes dark, set into an oval face framed by equally dark hair. Spock tensed then, his fingers stilling. He put his glass down, extracted himself from the female, and without another word climbed back up and out the way he came in.
On the surface, Spock could just still make out the beat of the strange music below. It was dark around him and he stumbled to where his bike was waiting, a gift from his parents, his mother, Terra, Starfleet.
Even after he was several kilometers away from the rock formation the beat still pounded in his heart.
4
5
+1
The negotiations with the locals were going well. Kirk hadn’t lost his shirt, gotten in a fight, or bedded anyone -yet. The Federation was well on their way to gaining a new ally in the beta quadrant, all that was yet to be done was inspect the supply of Ferrum the Elnathites possessed as trading material, and of course attend the ceremonial celebratory dinner.
Spock quickly deduced the hills around the capitol city they were currently lodged in were full of iron for the harvesting. Indeed even the locals’ chemical composition was rife with it, their complexions ruddy, but possibly biologically viable for cross procreation with Humans.
After the dinner portion of the evening he was immersed in his findings, poking away at his tricorder while Kirk entertained the Emperor. Uhura near by spoke with the locals, picking up their idioms speech patterns vowel enunciations and other surely fascinating linguistical details Spock had no mind for at the moment. It was only when the locals started making an unusual amount of noise, their chatter becoming fevered and excited, did Spock look up at last.
Large drums and other various instruments were being positioned around the large clearing made of the town square. Uhura was dragged laughing past him by a group of young women and Kirk strolled into view with the emperor surveying the mess of people.
When the music started it was heavily based in percussion, the melody jumping and bouncing enthusiastically. The people were now moving with equal excitement and fervor.
Spock watched as Kirk and the emperor exchanged wide smiles and a few more words before separating. The emperor disappeared into the crowd and Kirk headed to where Uhura was protesting the desire for her involvement in the dance.
“ Come on, dance with me. They won’t take no for an answer it’s part of some ritual.” He leant a hand to his lieutenant and she looked at him warily before taking it. Kirk led them past Spock.
“ Don’t worry, I explained Vulcans don’t dance. They might give you a few dirty looks though.” He clapped Spock on the shoulder and then drew Uhura in to the crowd where they slipped into the ancient practice of moving with enjoyment to a rudimentary beat.
He watched from a good distance away, appreciating the music as he was always taught to do with his mind not his body. It was free and wild in a way Vulcan orchestras would never replicate, the mathematics behind the notes complex to an irrational degree.
His shifted restlessly, his boots making marks in the reddish dirt. His desire to know what moving to the music felt like was substantial. He caught his head from bobbing on three separate occasions before setting his tricorder in a safe location and approaching the masses.
He could see Kirk’s yellow shirt where he moved and slipped between the people heading in that direction. He moved fluidly, trying to stay out of the way, it was challenging, as well as exhilarating. Every time his hands bumped another’s a jolt of pure abandon was force-fed into his hippocampus. Dancing was evidently a serious and necessary practice for the Elnathites
Finally he was standing somewhat still beside where Uhura and Kirk danced, their smiles wide, and arms undulating.
“ Spock!” Kirk grinned at him before frowning and slowing his movements, “There’s nothing wrong with the ship is there?” he asked the 'serious line' between his brows made an appearance. Spock shook his head once.
“ No, there have been no reports from the Enterprise.” He said looking at Uhura and Kirk who had now stopped dancing, “ I merely wished,” he lowered his eyes briefly, “ To cut in,”
They both stared up at him for a moment before Kirk laughed and clapped him on the shoulder again.
“ You only had to ask! I’d be honored!” he said causing Spock to quickly re asses his knowledge of common turn of phrases as Kirk held out his hand.
Uhura laughed and butted Kirk out of the way.
“ He’s joking.” She smiled, “ I’ll dance with you.” she began to move into the space before him but Kirk elbowed her right back.
“ No way sister, I don’t think he knows how to dance. If you teach him he’ll end up dancing like a girl.” Spock blinked at them and they frowned at each other.
Soon they were both issuing him orders in how to move, shuffling feet first, imitating their smooth actions. It was awkward and uncomfortable and provoked them into fits of laughter. It was challenging and he found himself watching his feet and counting beats, frustratingly the humans before him seemed to pick out rhythms within the beats upon which to move to reflexively.
“ Dancing isn’t very logical if you ask me,” Kirk finally said looking at Spock dubiously.
He continued to look at their moving feet, “Promotion of interspecies cooperation between Elnathar II and Tih-Vulcan is paramount to personal preferences,” he stated absently. Uhura and Kirk both laughed and he raised an eyebrow at them.
“ Only you could rationalize dancing,” Uhura smiled widely and then the two of them proceeded to launch into an instructural lecture based upon ‘feeling the beat’ ‘moving your hips’ and ‘just relaxing’. It was highly illogical…but enjoyable.
Finally, Spock was able to forget about everything, the universe and everyone in it and dance.