captain_jtkirk | .007 - he's expecting to punched in his near future

"Just one. You will not go behind my back. If I tell you no, then that's final. No going to another Warden."

She made a mental note to simply not ask him.

"Yeah, yeah. You do realize that's implied, right? I'm a grown-up, I can work out the finer details for myself."

"I realize I need to state everything clearly with you and I'm betting that even now, you're thinking of ways to find a way around it," Kirk answered levelly. She reminded him a lot of himself most of the time and that was how he thought, so he was just going to assume the worst. Because then, he was never disappointed.

"But that's fine. I can out play this game to see who can out stubborn the other one first. Or we can be actual growns up and work together."

Edited 2010-10-03 06:43 (UTC)

Her eyes narrowed. "Look, honestly? I realized these rules were going to be an exercise in pointlessness when you decided to open the conversation with 'don't kill anybody'. I mean, come on. When was that ever an issue with me? You come out with ridiculous non-statements like that and I wonder if you've even got your memory back."

Edited 2010-10-03 10:51 (UTC)

"And therefore, it'll probably end up the only rule that doesn't get broken," Kirk retorted. "And I like some tiny measure of success in really tough problems."

Did she dislike anybody on the Barge enough to kill them, just to make a point? No, not really. Hm.

"'Really tough problems'. Uh huh. What exactly have I been doing lately that is encouraging you to be such a total pain in the ass? Oh, I remember - you don't know because you haven't been here."

"You just said that you're in exactly the same place as when I left. So I really didn't miss anything now did I? And you've been here for over a year now, so you're pretty clearly in it for the long haul."

"Way to not actually answer the question. You've said it yourself, I've got my heels dug in pretty hard here, so what's the point of you being a jerk?"

Kirk tipped his head to the side slightly. "And what exactly am I being a jerk about?"

"Well, gee. Last time you were here, you weren't such a tightass about everything. It was kind of assumed that I wouldn't go around murdering people for kicks. If I wanted to use the above-decks areas, I just had to ask nicely - heck, more often than not you dragged me up to the Enclosure yourself - and if I went with somebody else? Not a big deal. Now you're talking about me having to earn this stuff, without actually explaining how, like over a year of near-perfect conduct earns me nothing."

"Over a year of complacency earns you nothing, you're absolutely right about that," Jim answered calmly. A year ago, he didn't have a lot of experience commanding people. Now he was a lot better at refusing people things that they wanted just because they wanted it.

"I'm not coddling you anymore. You're in prison. Yes, you aren't here for more obvious reasons like some of the others, but you are here for a reason and from what I can tell, you've done very little to address that reason. So until you're prepared to work with me and actually make progress, no more privileges."

"Fine." God, she missed Banner already. Sure, he'd been mumbly and impotent and annoying but he didn't actually do a whole lot, either, and to say he had his own issues to deal with was an understatement. All the traits that had irritated her at the time were the ones she was feeling bereft of now. Why had she thought this would be a good idea, again?

She leaned back, tucking her hands behind her head.

"So. You want to work with me? Let's make a start. Right now. I've got nothing better to do."

Edited 2010-10-03 18:11 (UTC)

Probably because she was used to the old Kirk and the new Kirk has been introduced to something called responsibility.

Jim studied her for a long moment.

"You have to trust me, Shego," he said finally. "You don't have to like me. You don't have to do it today. But you do have to trust me eventually or else it won't matter what I say to you."

She gave him a completely blank look because if she did anything else she was concerned that she was going to start yelling or maybe beat him to death with a chair.

"Okay. What else?"

"That's it. That's where I want to start for right now." Jim was concerned by that blank look. Because she was never unemotional about something unless something else was going on.

"I don't expect it to be easy. Or to be a quick thing."

"Good, because it won't be. We're looking at a 'maybe months, maybe years, maybe not possible' project right there, so give me something else that I might be able to manage before Christmas. I'm a woman, I can do more than one thing at a time."

"Figure out why you can't, don't, and/or won't trust me then, and we can work on it," Kirk answered, leaning back in his chair.

"I'm serious, Shego. I can't fully trust someone who doesn't trust me."

"Duh, Captain I-promise-I'm-going-to-stick-around-no-wait-actually-I'm-gonna-leave-and-if-I'd-remembered-I-wouldn't-have-come-back? You seriously need this explaining to you?"

"I'm not giving you anything out of guilt," Kirk told her. As much as he wanted to, he didn't think it would do any good. Just teach her that he'd cave if he felt guilty about something.

"So are you going to hold a grudge against me for having amnesia?"

"Maybe. Would you have come back if you hadn't had amnesia?"

"Yes." He didn't even hesitate before responding. "I couldn't help you if I was hot mess myself. I tend to ruin lives when I get like that."

She didn't think she believed that, but let it go for the time being. She finished her coffee.

"So. If you were in my position, d'you think you would trust you? Now? Ever?"

"Now? No. I hold grudges like no one's business." He was still going for that honesty thing with her. Even if it didn't really pan out. "But if the last year's taught me anything, it's that some really great things can come out of forgiving people." And yes, he was referencing Spock. "Don't write me off because of one mistake."

Edited 2010-10-04 05:32 (UTC)

Shego didn't say anything for a while.

Her problem wasn't that she was going to hold a grudge, her problem was that she suspected she wouldn't. Some notable exceptions, sure, but on the whole she didn't bother dedicating much time or energy to hating people long-term - the low-level contempt she felt for almost everyone was another matter. So what if she just slid back into the same old habits with Kirk and then it turned out it hadn't been 'one mistake', it was just the way he was? And then the next time he 'felt trapped' (why had he left, exactly?) he'd just cut and run again.

And here and now he was asking her to trust him, like it wasn't a big deal? She'd never trusted anyone before him and look where that had got her. It felt like she was being set up to be let down all over again.

She shoved her chair back and stood up. Her face was blank again.

"I'm done here."

Jim nodded shortly. If he looked disappointed, then it was all directed at himself for putting her in this position. He didn't expect her to trust him, not easily and not for months if she ever did, and if he was being honest, he really didn't know how to prove himself to her. With his crew, it was easy. Save the whole world and the Federation and all of their lives a couple times, and people tended to stop doubting your abilities. He really didn't think that would impress Shego much, even if he had the opportunity here.

"See you around."

.007 - he's expecting to punched in his near future

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