Uhura was the closest to the main hallway, and the one who would've made it out here first, if she was going out at all. Kirk turned the corner towards the female block, moving his flashlight to cover all points ahead and behind him. A few girls passed him (literally girls, he noted with some surprise, with none of them looking any older than their teens) on their way out, and he kept to the side, letting them go without obstruction.
Kirk looked over his shoulder again at the last of the girls, and was still watching her when he stepped through the doorway of the F-block-
See, there was the problem with trying to keep her head down, literally, and not attract any attention. She should have known she would inevitably bump right the hell into someone and nearly drop her flashlight and fall on her ass all in one big moment of suck, if she hadn't managed to grab his arm in time. Right about now would be when she would deploy her well-practiced Squint of Judgement and try to pass the fault onto the offending bumper, but instead she just felt her eyes start to burn with tears and her face flushed dark red and her stomach sank and
Oh God, what has she done?
"I am so sorry." She gripped his arms with both hands to steady herself then, him as well, and let her flashlight fall to the floor without thinking twice about it because she collided with him for no good reason and she could have hurt him, and then what? And then what? "I didn't mean to just- I didn't even see you coming, but I should have been more careful and I'm really sorry."
"Whoa! Excuse me, are you...?" Kirk reached out the same moment she did, turning his hand up to grab her elbow after she grabbed his arm. Way to be clumsy, Jim. That was really his fault for not watching where he was going, but he looked now. His mouth curved into a smile as he took in the pretty features of the woman in front of him - features which immediately broke into an expression of heartbreak.
The woman's flashlight clattered loudly to the ground, spinning out an arc of light. Kirk blinked. "Uh..." As far he could tell, this was just a little bump, no big deal. He smiled again, trying to be reassuring. "It's alright! I'm alright. It was my fault anyway." He disentangled one of his arms from her grip and straightened up, to show her that he was fine. His other hand stayed at her elbow, though. "I'm sorry about that, Miss...?"
"Wichita. Where-- Where are you from?" That was important to get out, yes, because she didn't want a name. She felt so terrible about all of this, but he was so kind, putting on a brave face for her. If only she could do the same! She felt even worse, thinking about how weak she was being, adding to the misfortune of this tragedy. (No really, some part of her did realize she was overreacting, but she just couldn't stop herself.)
After looking him over again, just to make sure he was really okay, she slowly pulls herself away and turns her face, not wanting to further burden him with her grief.
"I'm so sorry, I'm not usually this--" Like a light switch being flicked off, her worry vanished. Really, just like that. She still sniffed a bit, holding back the tears that built up so quickly, but then she was bringing her hands up to press against her eyes and breathing heavily because what the hell"I'm not usually like that." Which was clear, especially because her voice sounded completely different. Normal, no longer strained with
( ... )
"Wichita?" he echoed, feeling his smile widen into a grin despite the weirdness of the situation. Kirk had pinned the feisty author on the bulletin as female earlier, but handwriting couldn't predict a well-formed five-feet-six-inches with lovely, albeit tear-filled, green eyes. Which... not how he expected this meeting to go. Kirk desperately racked his brain for other ways to calm her down (would flirting be too gauche? A little bit of Jim Kirk charm usually solved most problems-) when Wichita pulled away from him. "Hey
( ... )
And her first reaction, because Wichita was the queen of eloquence, "No way." 'Riverside' was easy enough to recall from the bulletin posts, yeah. Which meant he was actually Jim Kirk, which meant she really need to lock up whatever weird emotional breakdown she was having. She didn't mean to, but her eyes moved to actually take in his shirt, which of course stood out against the sea of blue uniforms she was getting used to seeing everyone wear, but this was different. Gold. It had been years since she watched anything to do with Star Trek, but the color stood out, and the little Starfleet symbol stood out, and she couldn't stop grinning.
This was abso-fucking-lutely ridiculous. She just cried in front of Captain Kirk. A younger, fitter, alright-he's-pretty-much-gorgeous Kirk than she knew from television. Which right now was mortifying, but in the long run it was pretty awesome
( ... )
Kirk laughed. Wichita had shot him down when he'd suggested on the bulletin board that she was another "fan" of his, so he'd been hoping for surprise at most, not... well. No complaints here. It had been entirely too long since the last time a woman had looked at him like that, even if half the reason might have to do more with his name and rank than actual reserves of devastating charm. But why fuss over the details? Ladies love a man in uniform, his mother had joked once, on one of those occasions before she'd given up on trying to get him to join Starfleet. And these things - his name, his rank - were part-and-parcel of who he was now
( ... )
The shift in the way he held himself was noticeable, but maybe only because she looked for those sort of things. It made her smile anyway, knowing she caused it, bringing up his title and being able to recognize him as more than just another patient here. And hey, brightening someone's day wasn't usually something she went out of her way to do, actually, she usually managed to effortlessly accomplish the exact opposite, but she didn't mind it this time.
"Sure, sure." No sarcasm there, mostly just a weird sort of fascination. It was wild thinking about not just Captain Kirk, but the rest of the Enterprise crew there at the Institute too. Like, she could only ever picture them on the set of the television show. Rather, the bridge of the ship. From the future. Yeah, man, this place must have seemed like an even bigger downer for them than it did for her. They had a lot more differences to adjust to, that sort of thing. Kind of. Actually, the more she thought about it, the less ..cool it seemed, that they were here.
Kirk noticed the little hesitation, because he was standing there, watching her smile, letting himself linger in this pleasant moment in between creepy intercom messages and blood and screaming. He had business to attend to, he knew that. Night-time was the only time they could get anything done, and he needed to gather his crew and assess where they were in their fight to take down the Institute. He'd been A.W.O.L. for over twelve hours, Bones was further fracturing with every passing day, Spock was probably trying his best to keep things together, and Uhura... who knew what was going on with Uhura? Probably thinking to herself how better off they all were with Spock as captain, while secretly worrying about Jim underneath that shell of steely competence
( ... )
Uhura was the closest to the main hallway, and the one who would've made it out here first, if she was going out at all. Kirk turned the corner towards the female block, moving his flashlight to cover all points ahead and behind him. A few girls passed him (literally girls, he noted with some surprise, with none of them looking any older than their teens) on their way out, and he kept to the side, letting them go without obstruction.
Kirk looked over his shoulder again at the last of the girls, and was still watching her when he stepped through the doorway of the F-block-
-and crashed straight into someone.
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At least with a t-shirt, she wouldn't have to--
"oof!"
See, there was the problem with trying to keep her head down, literally, and not attract any attention. She should have known she would inevitably bump right the hell into someone and nearly drop her flashlight and fall on her ass all in one big moment of suck, if she hadn't managed to grab his arm in time. Right about now would be when she would deploy her well-practiced Squint of Judgement and try to pass the fault onto the offending bumper, but instead she just felt her eyes start to burn with tears and her face flushed dark red and her stomach sank and
Oh God, what has she done?
"I am so sorry." She gripped his arms with both hands to steady herself then, him as well, and let her flashlight fall to the floor without thinking twice about it because she collided with him for no good reason and she could have hurt him, and then what? And then what? "I didn't mean to just- I didn't even see you coming, but I should have been more careful and I'm really sorry."
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The woman's flashlight clattered loudly to the ground, spinning out an arc of light. Kirk blinked. "Uh..." As far he could tell, this was just a little bump, no big deal. He smiled again, trying to be reassuring. "It's alright! I'm alright. It was my fault anyway." He disentangled one of his arms from her grip and straightened up, to show her that he was fine. His other hand stayed at her elbow, though. "I'm sorry about that, Miss...?"
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After looking him over again, just to make sure he was really okay, she slowly pulls herself away and turns her face, not wanting to further burden him with her grief.
"I'm so sorry, I'm not usually this--" Like a light switch being flicked off, her worry vanished. Really, just like that. She still sniffed a bit, holding back the tears that built up so quickly, but then she was bringing her hands up to press against her eyes and breathing heavily because what the hell"I'm not usually like that." Which was clear, especially because her voice sounded completely different. Normal, no longer strained with ( ... )
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This was abso-fucking-lutely ridiculous. She just cried in front of Captain Kirk. A younger, fitter, alright-he's-pretty-much-gorgeous Kirk than she knew from television. Which right now was mortifying, but in the long run it was pretty awesome ( ... )
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"Sure, sure." No sarcasm there, mostly just a weird sort of fascination. It was wild thinking about not just Captain Kirk, but the rest of the Enterprise crew there at the Institute too. Like, she could only ever picture them on the set of the television show. Rather, the bridge of the ship. From the future. Yeah, man, this place must have seemed like an even bigger downer for them than it did for her. They had a lot more differences to adjust to, that sort of thing. Kind of. Actually, the more she thought about it, the less ..cool it seemed, that they were here.
That any of them ( ... )
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