open post

[takestheseat]

This is the space for any and all scenarios with Jaylah. Pun intended. Please provide prompts or starters. Mark anything that's NSFW and/or contains triggering content.

Comments

[takestheseat]

Jaylah certainly isn't on this plethora of vacation, tour de galaxy that Kirk found himself enjoying, finding her life turned upside down. At first, she found difficulty in adjusting to the structured, rigorous schedule of the academy. She's used to living and learning at her own pace, in her on manners, but that's not quite the way of it in Starfleet.

Eventually, she figured it out, or at least figured out ways to relieve stress and balance her personal engineering projects with her studies. When he knocks, her music is blasting loudly into her earbuds, but the lights had shifted in color due to a sensor at the door. The setup keeps the peace between her studying habits and the sanity of her roommates, who were currently out.

She's dressed in her preferred neutral tones when she comes to the door, peering to identify her visitor before quickly pulling open the door and exclaiming her greeting loudly with a bright smile as she yanks her headphones free of her ears. "James T! You are here!"

Someone doesn't get visitors from the Enterprise very often. Or, ever.

[willrevile]

"I'm here." A friendly agreement accompanied by a wide smile-- he didn't make the bond with Jaylah that Scotty did, but she did a hell of a job for them, and he likes her. And he's the one who got her ass into the Academy, so it would be rude if he didn't check in while he's here, right?

"I don't think I can go into the female dorm rooms," he says, making a wide motion with his hands - because he is Very Well Behaved and never did such a thing as a cadet, mind - and pushing back from the door frame, "but I wanted to say hello, see how you're doing. Make sure you're not following every rule."

[takestheseat]

Hugging is far too intimate of a greeting for anyone she knows, so she holds out a fist expectantly. Not a handshake. She's requesting a fist bump lead in to a very retro combinations of hand motions. It's something she's seen in classic movies and wants to try out. If anyone will know how to do this, it's James T.

He gets a dubious look at that. She's already heard all about the Well Behaved Things that he experienced while in the academy, and that's on top of cheating big time. "You went in Jaylah's house already." She's referring to the Franklin. "So you can go here." Before he can argue, she steps further into her room, expecting him to not follow that rule as an answer to his question.

[willrevile]

And lo: Jim absolutely knows how to do the whole fist bump song and dance, zero irony involved. He's here for you, sister.

And-- well. Maybe one of those inevitably broken rules can be platonic surface fraternizing. The fact that he's a long graduated officer makes it both more okay and more skeevy at the same time, somehow. He follows her inside, quietly enjoying the tiny spike of nostalgia at being inside an Academy dorm again. "Man, I tortured Bones sharing one of these with him," he chuckles. "Can't believe he never killed me in my sleep. You liking your roommates?"

[takestheseat]

Oh this delighted her on so many levels, and she enthusiastically completes the greeting, smile threatening to actual split into a lip-separating grin. Aside from Montgomery Scotty, James T is her favorite on the Enterprise for reasons like this.

It's not something she thinks about, fraternizing in the way that makes him feel even the littlest bit skeevy. She's still innocent and young in that matter due to her isolation and growing up alone, which could be dangerous if she wasn't such a fiercely independent warrior. Her eyebrows suddenly lift at the mention of torturing the grumpy doctor, but since he laughs lightly immediately afterwards, she understands that he is making a joke. Sarcasm likely, which still isn't her strong suit, but there's some improvement from living at the academy at least. "I do not want to kill them in their sleep." She lifts her headphones with an amused expression. "Now they do not have reason to try with me. They have bad taste in music."

[willrevile]

"Their loss." That music is not only excellent, it is a part of history, and it saved the Federation.

"I didn't come just to check in, though." Sort of. He has a few less light questions, but he's going to try and ease into them. "Feel like taking a walk?"

[takestheseat]

She's of similar mind, and his words brought a knowing smugness to her smile. He understood, right down to the fist bumping.

His next series of comments intrigue her, and despite already knowing the answer to his question, she stood there and regarded him for several long moments, thoughtful. The only way to find out what he's actually here regarding required joining him, so she nodded. "I will walk with you."

[willrevile]

"Good." Smile. "Let's go."

The act of getting through the campus to the side he wants to be on veers towards an experience - people recognize him and people recognize Jaylah, her new-to-the-Federation appearance clicking into place as oh, she's That offworlder next to Captain Kirk. But he's good at slipping away politely and never stopping; even before, people recognized his face or his name as his father's. The worst kind of fame prepared him for-- well, whatever this is. The James of four years ago would be smug, he's not sure what he is now.

"Do you like rock climbing?" is perhaps something he should have asked before bringing her to the largest indoor simulated rock climbing gym in San Fransisco, but he wanted something to do while talking.

[takestheseat]

Jim handles the attention with more grace and poise than does Jaylah, who found it difficult to try and ask him questions about what's new in his life. Any updates on how the crew of the Enterprise are handling their relatively free time. Sure she texts with Montgomery Scotty quite frequently for advice on many things, but as chief engineer he's been even busier than James T. At least, that's the logical conclusion given the fact that the captain walked beside her.

His question furrows her brow because there aren't any mountains here silly human, and for a moment she glances up to the towering buildings. That sounds like a worse idea, so she appears hesitant when she answers. "I climbed a lot on Altamid." Seriously, did he remember where her house was parked?

[willrevile]

Scotty's busier than he is right now, to be sure, though maybe it's just a different kind of busy. Sometimes Jim envies the engineer, who's free to tell everyone to screw off in favor of Working On Repairs, something that relieves him of 'Fleet politics with impunity. Jim never badgers him about it, though, not after the whole.. thing.. with the other man temporarily quitting due to his captain's shit behavior.

"Good." Cheerful. Maybe due to Altamid, this won't be wholly comforting-- but that's alright, too, because not everything in this line of work is going to be comforting. When Jaylah inevitably ends up offworld on assignment (perhaps on the Enterprise, if Jim gets his way), she's going to run into plenty of planets that are going to remind her of her prison, or be thrown into situations that will step on painful memories. Better to stretch that particular muscle somewhere safe ahead of time.

Once they're inside and suited up with safety ropes alongside the giant artificial wall, rubber hand-holds scattered around the entire way up, Jim looks over at her. "Weird, right?"

[takestheseat]

She imagines it's a busier that has finite conclusions and end points, tasks that could easily be crossed off of a list in the repairs of the ship. Instead Jim had the perpetual task of shouldering the responsibilities of both his crew as well as the more daunting tasks of being political and personable to people she herself wouldn't bother her energies with unless necessary, and even then she'd need a good reason. Engineering is far more her style in regards to all aspects of the job it seems.

It's awkwardly a bit of both. Climbing had been enjoyable in the times it didn't require her to risk Krall's bees or other local scavengers seeing her in order to set her traps or hunt. Surviving had its nerve wracking moments, but the more she dealt with them the more efficient she became. Jaylah plans on applying the same sort of approach to the Academy and Starfleet, but with one major difference, this time she had a family to lean on when she needed a little help. This time, she's not in it alone.

Jaylah had taken her time suiting herself up, not because of any difficulties, but due to her analytical nature she desires to know how each piece functions so she could recreate or improve the mechanics on her own. A harness could be useful in the future, and she might need to build it from scratch or unorthodox supplies. She likes keeping her clever muscles stretched and strong. Once finished with that, her strange eyes lifted to the massive wall, and it's evident she's analyzing that as well.

"It is not the same as natural," she comments finally, quizzical gaze turning to him. It confounds her that Starfleet would spare that expense with all the technology available to them, or considering how many ships this man alone has destroyed in the name of the Fleet. "Did they not wish to make it real?"

[willrevile]

"Having the fake one serves a bunch of purposes," Jim says, getting footholds to begin the crawl upwards. "Safety is a big one. Hard to build an overhead frame over a mountain. Some people want to climb a mountain but are babies about going outside..." ...also allergies, but Jim doesn't feel like going into those. He can feel the looming spectre of his CMO/friend/nanny waiting to jab him with antihistamines.

"We've really screwed up our planet over the years, too." Huff. Up. "To make one out of real materials, we'd have to remove something natural, and Terra's still healing. Probably will be for the next ten thousand years."