Day 53: Lunch

[buryyourdemons]

There was little to be said of the daily business that went on. He allowed himself to be shuffled, mind embedded too deeply in things he shouldn't be dwelling on. The night was over, the shadows had vanished, and there was little more than bad memories to be left in their stead. This was logic, pure and simple, and should have been reassuring but

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[doneinthree]

Okay, no, now Kirk was getting back to work. Really. It wasn't as if he'd deliberately set out to chat with two attractive blondes this morning - how could he, considering the damningly low number of adult women in this place, much less ones with long blonde hair and even longer legs? It was pure coincidence. Pure refreshing-change-of-pace coincidence. And... fine, maybe it hadn't been necessary for him to spend all morning talking to them, but it wasn't as if the conversations were completely unproductive either. Whatever counted as productive, anyway, when it came to Landel's Institute. How many days had he been here, and what did he have to show for it?

Don't even start, Kirk admonished himself. He couldn't think like that. The conversation with Jo at least had proven to him that he'd learned more about this place than he'd expected, even if all that he'd gleaned were random observations on how their prison worked. But nothing happened without a reason - his own life was proof enough of that, with its seemingly

[hes_deadjim]

As notes went, it wasn't very comprehensive or even long, but there wasn't much he could say outside of observations and possible theories about what happened last night. The shadows were as much of a mystery as that living statue, except at least the Doctor had some idea about those things. At least they could be sure that the angel was a natural, if bizarre, living being. Those shadows on the other hand

[doneinthree]

If dour thoughts about last night threatened to bring down his mood, the sight of Bones trying to navigate through a crowd without dropping anything picked it back up. It reminded Kirk, for the first time since he'd arrived here, of being in the mess hall back in Starfleet, with its crowds of identically-dressed on-the-go students, all preoccupied by their own business, all bearing shadows under their eyes from late night studying.

It had taken at least two weeks before Bones lost that half-incredulous, half-exasperation look he wore every time Kirk had sought him out and sat with him during mealtimes, as if he didn't know why the kid from the shuttle ride was still talking to him; and another two weeks after that before Bones started looking for him. For his part, Jim had never doubted that they'd make great friends. Was that chance, or destiny? How could so many things have changed in his timeline when the Kelvin was destroyed, but Bones still became his best friend

[hes_deadjim]

Sometimes McCoy wondered why he tried putting Jim back together when he was going to go off hours later and get himself into just as much trouble. The problem there was that McCoy would be thinking along those lines at least once a week, sometimes more, and then take one look at Jim and find himself patching up immediately. He couldn't ignore those injuries, even if sometimes letting Jim stew with a few light bruises was highly tempting. It might teach him to think before jumping in.

That was a long shot and he knew it. It was about as likely as getting Scotty to take an actual shore leave that didn't involve manuals. McCoy took care of Kirk's injuries. He always did. It wasn't a question of treating Jim, just a question of how gentle he was when he did it.

"No because that's not your job," he replied. Heaven help the Enterprise if Jim decided to take up medicine on the fly. McCoy was happier where Jim was, firmly in the Captain's chair. Anyway, other than feeling a little unfocused, he felt fine. "So who was it

[dual_worlds]

The morning had been quiet -- a contrast to last night's unfortunate events. On the other hand, it meant that little had been accomplished outside of confirming the presence of McCoy, Kirk and Uhura. Seeing as they had not lost anyone since Mr. Chekov, however, it meant they were still able to split into two groups once night fell. Provided that Landel did not subject them to further stimuli for a short while, Spock believed they could successfully investigate previously unexplored portions of the building

[doneinthree]

Another smart aleck comment was right on the tip of his tongue when Bones broke out that question, and Kirk immediately made a face. He didn't need to ask what the doctor meant - that it was Bones meant his bruises would be the choice topic, and bruises meant someone to put them there. And god knows Bones had thrown those four words at him plenty of times before, although in Kirk's defense, the answer was usually another member of his advanced combat classes. Usually.

"Do you want the long answer or the short one?" Kirk asked rhetorically. He looked around for Spock and Uhura first, wondering what could be keeping them. Maybe a stolen moment alone, touchingly filled with romantic declarations - whatever that could possibly entail with those two. Admiring each other's brain sizes, maybe? Kirk had no idea what they got up to, and the question was moot, anyway, when he spotted one half-Vulcan beelining for them. "Hey, Spock

[hes_deadjim]

Now what kind of smart-ass question was that? McCoy wanted the answer that told him the clearest and the one that was likely to make him not regret asking in the first place. Considering what Jim could get into, he didn't think that last one was possible.

Spock chose that moment to arrive. He had expected the Vulcan to beat him here, but it looked like Vulcan punctuality wasn't nearly as perfect as the rumors said. For a moment, McCoy looked at him long and hard. Spock looked the same, but after last night, McCoy was finding it harder to go accept it. This was the man who had been accused of turning on Jim and throttling him. The worst part was that Spock hadn't denied it at all. Hadn't even tried to.

Spock might look as tranquil as a lake, but that wasn't all that true, now was it? He had seen what a Vulcan could do when they lost control. Vulcans were physically much stronger than humans, and losing that restraint could easily result in killing someone if they weren't careful. And Spock had turned it on a crew member? On JimHe

[dual_worlds]

Spock took note of the curt nod from McCoy but did not necessarily think much of it. He trusted that the CMO would understand that, whatever had happened between him and Jim, they had obviously worked past it and reached an acceptable place in their working relationship

[doneinthree]

Now what was that? Kirk didn't miss that curt nod from Bones, nor the hard stare that preceded it. Had something happened last night, or was there more to it? Honestly, he wouldn't be too surprised if Bones and Spock didn't get along - if Kirk had once thought that he and Spock were like tossing oil and water together (or oil and dynamite, given the outcome of their last "argument"), his own abrasiveness was still nothing compared to Bones and his perpetually disgruntled eyebrows. But Kirk and Spock had worked things out between them, and he'd expected by now his first officer and his doctor would've done so as well, if only because of the history between... well, the history between this McCoy and the other Spock

[xenolingual]

Pizza. Of all the things. Greasy, bland, thin pizza. It wasn't that she disliked pizza in the general sense, but if she and the other crew members were going to be out late at night being chased down by shadow figures, it wasn't going to cut it as one of their three basic meals for the day. Not to mention the fact that her figure didn't look the way it did simply because she wished for it. No, it took a lot of effort to keep in shape, the kind of effort that wasn't encouraged at the hospital because heaven forbid any of the patients actually stay in top form, or-

Hm. It wasn't important. Or at least, getting frustrated over the fact wasn't going to make it any better.

Uhura took the tray of food with good grace (sort of) and was quick to find the Starfleet crew already seated together at one table. Or at least, she easily recognized the back of Spock's head, and Kirk's bruised face, but- Oh. Oh. The man sitting with them must have been Dr. McCoy. She could tell just from the look of slightly forced 'I'm not amused, I'm concerned'

[hes_deadjim]

The only one that was hostile was you. You tried to kill Jim, the doctor thought darkly, eyes flickering towards Spock when he spoke. It was a knee jerk reaction. Spock had tried to talk to him last night, but by God, some little part was thinking it anyway. Maybe it was in the past but to his mind, it didn't make it any better. Jim seemed to get along with him just fine, which was odd, because even if Jim had forgiven Spock before, actually having a friend try to kill you, really mean it, was bound to leave something. Maybe Jim had somehow managed to forgive Spock for it, but McCoy wasn't going to be so quick to

[dual_worlds]

From what Kirk was saying, it sounded as though the shadows from last night only attacked if provoked by violent action. Of course, it also sounded as though every shadow was different, depending on the individual, so some creatures were likely easier to anger than others. He and McCoy had been wise not to lash out first, unlike Kirk. Spock would have liked to have been able to say that it was unexpected for a starship captain to react in such a way, but Kirk had already proven that he was unlike others of his position

[doneinthree]

Kirk snorted at the comment about 'water off a duck's back', but as far as reproaches went, it was pretty mild. Bones was getting too used to how he operated. "Someone should've told him that. It. My shadow. The other... whatever." Not Kirk. At least... not any Kirk but himself. The fact that most of the prisoners had apparently run into an unwanted visitor last night made it clear enough that it had been some kind of monster and not the other James Kirk in any way, but it still disturbed him, the particular form his shadow had chosen to take. The natural question to ask then was why... but he already knew the answer, didn't he

[xenolingual]

Uhura, despite catching Kirk's obvious distraction tactic in the form of gaining a sudden interest in his pizza, didn't miss a beat, and took the free seat closest to her. The events from the night before hadn't changed anything, as far as her opinions on Kirk anyway, because really... She knew the shadow was meant to voice all the insecurities one had buried deep in the back of their mind, but that didn't mean they held any actual weight. And she definitely wasn't going to let some evil spawn of Kirk's subconscious to sway her opinion, not when she had all that time before arriving at Landel's to form her own. If she was being honest, maybe that was sort of the first impression that he had given her when he started at school, but after sharing a few of the same classes with him, it was actually glaringly obvious that he shouldn't be underestimated as a Starfleet cadet, or in general

[dual_worlds]

Nyota's arrival had been a brief distraction, but now it was time to discuss what had transpired last night. Spock was keenly aware that most of the attention was focused on him. His expression did not waver -- rather, he grew more stoic as he spoke