faderift | [ OPEN ] You'd Think I'd Know Where I'm Going

Entry tags:

[ OPEN ] You'd Think I'd Know Where I'm Going

WHO: Jim Kirk & You
WHAT: Late catch-all for late August
WHEN: Roughly August 15 - August 31 (feel free to backdate for timey-wimey necessitiy)
WHERE: Around Skyhold
NOTES: Flirting, charmingness, possible bad language, possible head-butting, possible fights, general shenanigans

After the emotional trek to Asher's home and back, Kirk found that he was rather glad to be back within the walls of Skyhold. It was familiar and comforting and he knew what he could do here to keep his mind off things. To keep his mind off the passing of a friend that could have been, keep his mind off injustices in Orelais, keep his mind off his own situation. Funny, how death brought those things to surface with startling clarity.

He can be found in the early mornings running around Skyhold's perimeter, followed quickly by moving to working on his horsemanship at the barn (which in variably also means that he will spend some quality time around the bog unicorn, which in his mind he has unofficially adopted). More often than not he is also accompanied by a small black and white cat who has something suspiciously like a mustache on its upper lip. Don't tell Anders.

From there things are a bit more difficult when it came to finding ways to fill his time, except on the days when he was teaching lessons in math, science, and hand-to-hand self-defense. That latter of which he can now join in on since he has fully recovered from his previous injuries. It meant that more people were hitting the dirt, but that's how it was supposed to be. You didn't learn if you didn't come out with a bruise or two.

Of course he usually finds his way around to the library, usually in search of another story to read since he's not much of one for the historical texts anymore, biased as they tend to be in his view. Maybe he's napping. What? It's comfortable there. But why just ready about places in the library when he can out and explore in the woods outside Skyhold? Granted, he never goes far, but it's something and for just a bit he can pretend he's Captain Kirk exploring a new and exciting planet again. Let the Rifter have his tiny fantasy. (Invariably, Leonard the Cat tends to join him on this too, complete with fashioned harness and leash to keep him from wandering to far.)

And if all else fails he makes his way to the tavern, where he can easily be convinced to share a drink, sing a song, or maybe turn the tables and convince you to play some chess.

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Anyone with eyes could see Shino's unease around the animal, and Kirk had twenty-twenty vision as far as he knew. He continued to pet Boggy, keeping his own body language relaxed. Boggy, for his part, seemed far more concerned with keeping Kirk petting than he did with the young man so warily approaching him. Or maybe he was just used to that reaction. Being a bog unicorn was a lonely life.

"Heh, right?" Kirk flashed a grin at Shino, laughing under his breath. "He scared me right off when I first saw him, but he's a sweet heart. Appearantly he followed Sam out of the swamps like a puppy." He hummed, brushing his fingers over the leathery muzzle. "I think he's lonely, more than anything else."

He actually had tears forming in the corners of his eyes, he so desperately didn't know if he wanted to be doing this. Kirk's staying calm helped; the bog unicorn's lack of reaction to Shino helped as well. As did the lack of any body parts falling off. He wouldn't have been able to handle that much.

"Lonely, huh?" Sosuke had so recently said that Shino was a person who required someone else to live for, when Kohaku had found herself on the steps of the church unable to enter. A consequence of Shino's shortsightedness, of him not understanding the wishes of others in the face of his own. He wouldn't be able to disagree with Sosuke's assessment, not when he'd admitted as much to Kohaku and himself. Loneliness would kill him in a way that he couldn't traditionally; having none of those he relied on as his touchstones for his heart, soul, and sanity, those people he was unable to convince himself to let go of, would kill him.

The fear of being alone was anthropomorphizing (unless Boggy did have a demon with sapience possessing him, as it were), but that and the possibility of not having an animal freakier than even Shino was back home had him take that final step up to the corral.

"... He doesn't feel cold, does he?"

He refused to touch anything slimy or cold like death on principle. Up close, the bog unicorn looked more mummified than slimified, but take no chances, regret no bog unicorn decisions. Or was it the other way around?

Crap, was the guy actually crying? Kirk resisted rhe urge to tell him he didn't have to come near Boggy if he was that disturbed. There was no need to torture yourself here, after all. But the guy seemed determined so he kept his teeth clamped shut, watching him approach patiently. Boggy finally seemed to take notice of him, though it is with the curious gaze of an animal, hardly anything vicious about him except for that unfortunate rusty sword through his head.

"No, not really. He's not very hot either," Kirk shrugged, shifting to the side so the other has room to come closer. "He feels like leather that's been out in the sun, mostly. Just don't touch the sword. Tetnus shots aren't a thing here, yet."

Kirk, wait until Shino feels like sobbing for real. One would think an eighteen year old would hold back, but outside of when he needed to keep himself together, Shino simply lived too much of what he felt.

Dealing with his fears was a different sort of trial on its own, but it was to mixed blessings. He was unlikely to handle a cockroach as well as he was trying to handle Boggy. Reaching out with an unsteady hand, Shino rests his fingertips against Boggy's leathery skin.

"Tetanus?" His half frozen mind sputtered along trying to place the familiarity of the word. "That's the one with muscle spasms?"

A moment after, he spreads his fingers and presses his palm flat against the animal, the tightness of fear around his chest easing even as he found himself startled into a huff of laughter. The smile he flashes at Kirk by then was bright and spontaneous, almost childish for how unrestrained it was. He rubbed the back of his other wrist at his eyes, wiping his half-formed tears away.

He was touching an animal and it was creepy and had a rusted sword through its head but it also wasn't running away. There might be hope yet that he'd get to pet a dog who wasn't Sosuke in this world! It was both a lonely and affirming thought.

"He's warm! You're right, it's like leather that's sat out in the sun. Where does he like being pet?" He probably should keep the tetanus warning in mind given Murasame's departure from his body and his plunge back into the very mortal coil, but his excitement overrides caution when for once he's not just being pulled up on someone else's horse — one that was liable to move away from him if it'd been less well trained or had a choice.

It's okay, Shino. At least you probably cry prettily. Kirk is a very ugly crier, you know, when he's really crying. He hasn't done it often in his life, but the few times he has, it's not a pretty thing. But then, he doesn't cry over pretty things, so it works out.

"Yeah, that's it," he said, giving the other a curious look. He didn't think any native here would know what tetanus was. It was a disease that been discovered and named much later in Earth history, and Thedas was nowhere close to that point yet. Which led to the hypothesis of... "Are you a Rifter?"

Quietly he watched Shino approach, letting him take his time. Boggy, for his part, was more interested in the boy now than he was Kirk, leathery ears flicking forward in the usual horse gesture of intrigue. Kirk didn't see any signs that there was imminent danger, so he said nothing while Shino reached forward to touch the undead creature.

"Under his jaw," Kirk laughed, moving his own fingers to show where he meant, just beneath the curve of the round cheekbone. "And up behind his ears if you can reach."

Considering he was managing to die prettily, crying prettily was probably also one of his useless skillsets. Considering some of what he'd cried over... how often has it been in painful relief?

He turned his head toward Kirk at the word Rifter, lips twitching into a small frown. Not for being asked, or for being figured for one so quickly: for the fact he was here in the first place, where people could ask such a question of him. "Is it that obvious?"

Shino had shed enough of his anxiety over the possessed, undead state of the horse-cum-unicorn with that question, and the animal's unerringly normal behaviour. Moving to copy Kirk's ministrations, Shino was determinedly scratching at the curve of Boggy's cheekbone. He puffed his cheeks a little at the if, shooting Kirk a look with slightly narrowed eyes. "You're not implying I'm short are you?"

The problem was he was very short in his own eyes. Why hadn't he been majestically tall once he was in his proper age body? He was over half a foot away from hitting six feet, which was patently unfair in his mind. His fingers were steady and attentive on the unicorn, regardless of his show of huffiness over what wasn't even an insult. (Sorry for this moron, Kirk, so terrible sorry...!)

Perhaps not useless. Dying ugly is less preferable than pretty, at least, and Kirk knows something about that. He always wondered what he had looked like in Death, but had never asked anyone who would have seen him. It seemed cruel, and if he was honestly to ever recover from that trauma, it was probably best not to pursue it.

"Not entirely, but you knew what tetanus was, which the people here wouldn't," he said reasonably. "Little things like that can give it away - to other Rifters, at least, if they have the same sort of advancement in their worlds."

So it wasn't a big trip-up, but it was one, and Kirk had given himself away too in using the term. He held up his hand to Shino, showing the bandages that wrapped across his palm and up his wrist. "It's not really necessary here, but when we leave Skyhold, I make sure to keep my hand wrapped, hide my shard. So far I haven't been met with violence because I'm a Rifter, but there are definitely people who aren't fond of us."

He had heard whispers now and then, seen the way people turned away sometimes, or couldn't quite look at him. He didn't let it bother him, not really. But there could be that one person, on that one day... better to hide it and only show it was necessary.

The captain had to chuckle at the huffiness, he himself being six foot tall even. He moved his own fingers up to work behind Boggy's ears to let Shino monopolize his jaw line.

"Looks like you've made a new friend, Boggy," Kirk congratulated the bog unicorn, looking back to Shino. "That's his name. I'm Kirk though - James Tiberius Kirk."

Dying pretty had still sucked. Shino definitely didn't recommend it. He might, in fact, not recommend dying at all, but he was a heavily biased audience.

To his credit, Shino actually listened to what Kirk said instead of shrugging any of it off. He knew in that uncomfortable way he didn't like that his screw ups here had no one around to catch him and keep him on task; no Rio, no Sosuke, no anyone who had a particular reason to be bothered if he burned himself failing to think through what he did. He was just self aware enough to know things would happen anyway, but some fights weren't worth inviting. He glanced at Kirk's wrapped hand, shaking his head and turning his dual-wrapped palms over, even as his fingers continued scratching along Boggy's leathery jaw. It was an odd feeling, but he appreciated it nonetheless, enjoying the tactile experience now that Boggy didn't have him wanting to cry and run. (Take that, Sosuke! When he's not possessed, a... possessed dead horse lets him pet it? That might not be winning...)

"I figured it should be a matching set. That, and gripping the swords here is a bother." All the same, practicing with live steel wasn't always the best idea, so he did try to not rely on his only sword.

"Do you think fingerless gloves would cover up the shard?" Not that walking around bandaged didn't have it's own appeal. Somehow. Bandages got dirty, though... even protecting bandages felt better than dealing with nasty bandages. He's not a stranger to boiling them clean, but he shudders thinking of having to wear dirty bandages close to his skin for any length of time.

He was slightly mollified that Kirk didn't actually call him short, diverting instead to introductions. James sounded more like a given name, and Kirk a family name, but the order's off compared to what he's used to hearing. "Inuzuka Shino. It's nice to meet you, Kirk." He could cling to using honourifics, but... he was less likely to even back home where they were well understood. "Nice to meet you too, Boggy-chan." ... Then, of course, there were those he liked. When not terrified of them. "What's it like where you're from? The medicine's more advanced, I understand that much, but what about the rest?"

Kirk pursed his lips to consider the glove aspect. He hadn't until just then, but that was mostly because having one hand wrapped worked in his favor for his style of fighting. Kirk favored hand-to-hand combat, had some training with a knife, and favored the staff and was learning the now. So far he had avoided things like swords and spears.

"If you can find a leather worker to make them, I would think so," he nodded. "There should be one here somewhere, but it may take a bit. Good leather doesn't come cheap here, and if you're like me - a money making skill set isn't as easy to come by as you think." Oh did he ever know that, but honestly he wasn't to upset by it. It gave him time to pursue other things.

He watched Shino pet the admittedly terrifying creature and smiled, glad that someone else could keep the poor thing company now and then. The question has him raising his eyebrows and chuckling, because that was always something of a loaded question. Either people believed him or they didn't, and both had their issues.

"My world is quite advanced - as in space travel advanced. I'm the captain of a star ship back home, working for an organization called Star Fleet. My job was to explore the universe," he explained, going for concise first to gauge the others reaction.

Shino gave Boggy a blank stare, figuring that was easier than giving Kirk the exact same blank stare. "I've never actually worked for money," he admits after a half second of thought; worked, yes, to different degrees, and had tasks to accomplish, but the expectations a world had for a thirteen year old were different than an eighteen year old. Sosuke had admittedly done more of the heavy lifting. Shino did his own investigating, but... usually with Sosuke in tow.

None of that really translated well into having practical, saleable skills. Maybe he could find castoffs... he sighed inwardly. Did they have wards of the Chantry in the same sense as the Church had?

He was effectively derailed out of considering his own lack of marketability (no one's going to ask him to hunt down beads here, and how in the world does one get hired for jobs instead of just told what to do and given lodging and food as compensation... while the Church picked up the rest of the bills) by the pronouncement that Kirk has been where no one other than mythological figures has been before: space.

Sure he could doubt it, and for a moment he looks sideways at Kirk like he was deciding on belief or not. It only took three seconds before he smiled, laughing and giving both himself and Boggy a mild scare. "Space? Hah, that's incredible! What's it even like out there? What've you seen?"

Childish enthusiasm wins out. Of all the cruddy news he'd dealt with in arriving here, he could enjoy and leap at the chance for happier escapism. The stars? Were as removed as their own homes. In a way, they were just as tantalizing — and spelled out less doom and gloom than Rifts and Corypheus The Missing and all the rest of the nonsense passing for his second-life on Thedas.

Kirk doesn't give the other a judging look, merely curious, at that statement. He wouldn't be surprised if someone of Shino's age hadn't worked before, usually for something like going to school. He had when he was younger, but mostly it was to earn his own cash and to get away from his uncle's house. And working as a space ship captain... well, it was work, but it wasn't at the same time. He earned money and it was deposited into his accounts, but rarely had need of it except for those few occasions on shore leave, and he had no family he had to support back on Earth or any colony. It meant he actually had quite a bit stored up.

Not that it helped him here.

"I'm sure we can find something for you to do. Honestly, I started out here just running errands for the market shops," he shrugged. "It didn't earn much, but it's honest work and it builds a good reputation if you work hard. If you can read and write, you might be able to find work as a tutor, potentially, though the people that need it most can't offer much. Or there's always joining up with the Inquisition itself." His tone on that last one suggested that it was not his favorite option, but it was one.

Laughter broke out of him at the other's exuberance, pleased with it. He so often got met with disbelief that this made for a nice change.

"Oh, a lot of things. I've been to a lot of different planets and met a lot of different alien races," he smiled. "I work with quite a few too, on my ship. There's a lot to see, so it's hard to know where to start when I explain it all, really."

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[ OPEN ] You'd Think I'd Know Where I'm Going

Haha, I noticed from the icons. I am almost done watching the series!

Oh boy, the whole series is a trip - how functional is Sosuke right now? /laughs

Relatively? I'm at the Garudas/Tengus right now

Oh no, Shinobu... I admit that arc hurt for family feelings

/holds everyone in this series and pets them

if only they could ever catch a break really

poor, poor darlings

if it only didn't keep getting worse

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