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[captain_jtkirk]

I seem to be missing a dog.

He's black and white and has a great love for shoes and chasing sock balls.

[ooc; McCoy is actually finding the dog but all are free to have seen him and watch him EVADE CAPTURE because that's obviously what dogs do, the little shits.]

Comments

[captain_jtkirk]

"Duly noted," Kirk answered, crossing his arms over his chest. "If I was maliciously going out of my way to hide it from you, I probably wouldn't have said anything right now."

[imaythrowuponyou]

"Yeah." He could admit to that, and it maybe took some of the heat out of what he was feeling about all of this, which was mostly just frustration. "I still probably shouldn't have heard about it from the dog first."

[captain_jtkirk]

"Probably not," Jim agreed after a moment. "I'm not really in the habit of sharing who I sleep with here. People overreact to everything. And I don't know, it wasn't that big of a deal. It's just like before but with sex."

[imaythrowuponyou]

Although McCoy still sounded vaguely pissed off, anyone who was used to him - which hopefully Jim was by now - would know he wasn't exactly mad so much as annoyed and frustrated, which was really just masking being kind of hurt to have been kept in the dark. "I'm not 'people', Jim, it's me. Hell, this is the closest thing you've had to a relationship in the entire time I've known you, I'm glad you have something consistent in your life besides getting shot at."

He was at least smart enough by now to not mention himself, Enterprise or any of the other crew members in that context, but that was something else that was going to stay locked away to feel shitty about in private.

[captain_jtkirk]

Jim made a face at that, and it had very little to do with the fact that Enterprise and his crew could be considered something stable too. But if Bones wanted to take it that way, that was fine. He wasn't going to talk about that time and no one could make him.

"Thanks, I guess."

[imaythrowuponyou]

He rolled his eyes, annoyed and grumbled "Don't mention it" before turning for the door.

"I'll see you around, Jim."

[captain_jtkirk]

"You're still mad, aren't you?"

[imaythrowuponyou]

He sighed, maybe a little huffily. "I'm not mad. I'm just-" Kind of mad. But mostly, "Frustrated."

[captain_jtkirk]

"With me?"

[imaythrowuponyou]

"With everything, Jim." Being stuck here, the garbage they were put through on at least a weekly if not daily basis, arguing with people about what was best for the Barge and for their well being and for Arya when really all he wanted to do was go home, where people actually respected his opinion and trusted him was all kind of snowballing into just wanting to get the hell out of Dodge, not that he ever would even if you kind of were an ungrateful asshole. "But yeah, kinda with you."

[captain_jtkirk]

Hey man, Kirk didn't want to be here any more than you did.

"I don't have anything else to update you on," Jim said, which was a lie because there were things but they were in the past and Bones didn't remember any of it, so why bother going there.

"If that helps."

[imaythrowuponyou]

He let out a short, humorless laugh at that. "Great. Thanks."

[captain_jtkirk]

"What else are you frustrated about?"

[imaythrowuponyou]

"It's not important." Jim Kirk and Leonard McCoy: pillars of maturity in the Barge community.

[captain_jtkirk]

"Bullshit, it's not important."

[imaythrowuponyou]

"What do you want me to say, Jim?" he said, exasperated. "I'm tired, I'm frustrated, I'm sick to death of people trying to use me as an emotional punching bag because doctors are the scum of the Earth who exist only to make their lives miserable, because I'm sorry, you're pretty damn mistaken. I've got an inmate who's only a year older than my daughter, who's the only reason I still have my hands because she killed someone in port before he could hurt me, and I've got everyone and their cousin telling me everything I'm doing wrong with her, and maybe they're right because sometimes it feels like I have no idea what the fuck I'm doing or if I'm the best person to keep an eye out for her because I don't want her to go back to her world. It's a shithole and she's probably going to get killed before she turns sixteen, but if the solution was just sticking her somewhere safer, like bringing her home with us or something, we'd be out of here by now."

[captain_jtkirk]

Jim stared at him for a moment before turning to go for his drink collection and grab a bottle of bourbon for Bones, and a couple of glasses. He poured him a drink and offered it over to him.

"She can do whatever she wants after graduating," he said. "Maybe she'll stay here. Or we'll shove her in one of the suitcases and take her with us anyway. But you know that it only sucks more as an Inmate here than it does as a Warden."

[imaythrowuponyou]

He sighed, and after a moment's hesitation - because port had still kind of kept him remembering why he didn't really enjoy getting black out drunk at thirty three as much as he might have at say, nineteen in college - accepted the glass and sat down on the couch, staring at the floor instead of at Jim. "I know."

[captain_jtkirk]

Jim poured himself a drink, setting the bottle off to the side. "I get feeling helpless about an Inmate, believe me. But if you weren't the best to help her, I don't think the Admiral would have paired you with her."

[imaythrowuponyou]

"It's not feeling helpless so much as being tired of backseat drivers." Which was mostly just Jesse right now, but still. It was frustrating. "I mean, I get it, she's a kid, people are gonna want to help her get out of here, but just seeing her as a kid isn't gonna help anything."

He was quiet for a beat. "But, thanks."

[captain_jtkirk]

"Especially since she'll try and stab you for calling her a kid," Jim remarked, trying to make a joke out of it, even if it wasn't funny at all.

[imaythrowuponyou]

"We've kinda gotten over that hurdle," he said, managing something that maybe could have passed for a smile. "I think people just have a hard time realizing she's not here just because the Admiral's a dick. She's mostly a good kid, but she's really messed up."

[captain_jtkirk]

"So you have plenty of practice with people like that." Yeah, he was talking about himself and how much of a pain in the ass he was.

[imaythrowuponyou]

"You weren't knifing people at twelve," he said, that sort of smile getting a little more honest. "To the best of my knowledge."

[captain_jtkirk]

"They wouldn't give me their lunch money, the little punks." That was a joke, Kirk hadn't knifed anybody in Iowa.