OPEN // december catch-all log

[winscenario]

CHARACTERS: James T. Kirk & you!
LOCATION: around the station; training room & the nearest doorframe for your convenience for the time being
DATE: throughout December
CONTENT: mistletoe shenanigans because I'm a sucker for it; some sparring action; more things to be added eventually
WARNINGS: sex in two threads

➢ MISTLETOE MISCHIEF
➢ TRAINING DAY

Comments

[cruelyethuman]

[He can taste the smile on Jim's lips, the curve of his mouth and the heat of his hand seeping through the coat. It's a short kiss, no tongue but the Darkling's lips nip at the edge of Jim's.

Waiting.

The call of his amplifier going on unanswered. There is no rising ring of a bell struck, no pull of Small Science or magic gathering under Jim's skin, and he pulls back with a smile.]

I'm going to hold you to that.

[winscenario]

[ It's over too soon, as far as Jim is concerned. But then he's not seeking the same from the kiss as Kirigan is, what he feels from it is pleasant enough on its own as it has always been. The touch of lips leaves a tingling feeling behind, and he lets out a small sigh, eyes closed for a moment longer. ]

You know that doesn't scare me in the slightest.

[ Jim's used to expectations by now, not that he always cares about living up to them. But he does know he'll never stop showing kindness— whatever Kirigan means by it this time. ]

[cruelyethuman]

I didn't mean for it to be a threat.

[Watching Jim; his eyes closed and his face relaxed, a small smile still tugging at the corner of his mouth. It had tasted just as sweet as he had imagined. A little like winter, as well. The coldness of the sunlight room that seeps in to everything for as long as the snow blankets the ground.]

Bad luck avoided. For now.

[winscenario]

Good. It'd be a poor one, at that.

[ His fingers run slowly along the collar of Kirigan's coat, tugging a little. He licks his own lips, gaze daring and smile unsurprisingly shameless as he shoots back. ]

I don't know. Wouldn't do any harm to really make sure.

[cruelyethuman]

I wouldn't want to do anything poorly.

[An impish smile flickers across his lips, fast- barely there before it's gone, replaced by the more controlled version of one.]

Are you trying to seduce me, captain Jim?

[winscenario]

[ Well, he could go with that whole 'it depends' speech, but let's be real, Jim's never been given to hints or subtlety. Plus, he likes the brief smile on Kirigan's lips, his thumbs sliding along the inside of his collar, brushing against skin. ]

Yes. Is it working?

[cruelyethuman]

[Kindness, like food and clean water, is a rarity in Ravka. It has been bred or beaten out of everyone over the age of five. Knowing how the world works, knowing that to show kindness is to show them weakness and allowing it to be exploited.

Every want is a weakness, just waiting for someone to find it, pressing against it with Grisha steel or Fjerdan guns.

It's funny, in a way that doesn't make him want to laugh, how this kindness doesn't seem like a weakness in Jim. He folds his fingers around Jim's, pulling his hand away from his collar slowly.]

I didn't think that it would, but now I'm not so sure. What is it about you?

[winscenario]

[ Jim wasn't always like this, much as that might surprise Kirigan. At a time in his life, kindness and compassion felt like a weakness too, letting anyone too close would just lead to him getting hurt in the end. Easier to just build walls around himself, even if it meant being on his own and having no one to rely on.

It was also painfully lonely. Not knowing what a true friend was until his twenties, until the Academy and until Bones came into his life. He's learned a lot about what kinds of things make someone strong, and what makes them weak. Being kind and compassionate was a learning process, showing openness or honesty has never made him feel weak, even if it might be met with rejection.

What won't kill him. Something like that. Not that he actually believes that saying. ]

I don't know. Maybe it's just something about me, [ He offers with a small shrug, a quieter smile. His other hand also retreats, resting over Kirigan's briefly. ] Sorry. I'll stop.

[cruelyethuman]

Maybe it is.

[That Jim would show as much kindness to this face, as lovely as he knows it to be, as he would to a pale monster lurking in the dark. Just waiting for Jim to turn his back, and he remembers, that urge to pounce and rend flesh from bones. The yearning that came with it, to drink the warm blood from the fragile-looking neck that Jim had so readily bared to him.

And Jim had not turned away.

He smiles, still keeping Jim's hand in his for a moment longer. Fingers lingering against his wrist.]

I never asked you to stop. [His eyes roving Jim's face, searching for the solution to a puzzle that he can't solve. An equation that doesn't quite tally.

Leaning in, this kiss is more of a testing peck to the edge of Jim's mouth before the Darkling is pulling back, taking a step away from Jim and his greenery.] I wish you all the luck this season, Jim.

[winscenario]

[ Danger has never changed his kindness; maybe it's stupidity, maybe it's recklessness, but that monster that Kirigan was when they met still was deserving of equal treatment, and despite of his instincts, he hadn't actually harmed Jim, no matter how badly he wanted to. He's here now, whole and unharmed, as proof of that.

His eyes are fixed on Kirigan all the while he watches him, studies him intently, his arm relaxed and pliant to Kirigan's hold on his wrist. But if he's looking for any magical spark, he's definitely not going to find it in Jim. He's got nothing but himself to offer.

He tilts his head up and closes his eyes briefly at the gentler peck, smiling again once Kirigan pulls away. His hand lowers to his own side, and he steps aside to give him enough room to walk past him. ]

And to you, Kirigan. Hopefully we'll still see each other around.

[cruelyethuman]

It's not that big a station.

[That curious smile still held on his face, blinking against the bright lights bouncing off the piles of snow. Winter sunlight and his breath billowing out in a plume of fog from the cold.] I'm sure we'll see each other again.

Maybe without the threat of bad luck hanging over our heads.

[And he's gone, striding through the false memory of a snowy landscape and back towards the cold, clinical walls of the station.]