[Massive Beach Party Thread!] -- [Everyone]

[kirktastic]

Communication to All

Your oh so lovely Captain has reserved an entire bar for our use for our final night on Risa! You can get the position of it from the attached file. Nice little place, tucked up on the beach and right up against the waterline, full bar with everything you can imagine! I'll be seeing you all around sunset!


[OOC: This thread can run as long as we need it too, far past the 'end' of Risa Saturday night. Feel free to post anywhere, there's no order, who gives a damn about how the thread looks, just HAVE FUN!]

Comments

Re: Scotty, still outside

[allmhadadh.livejournal.com]

"Aye." Well, he coulda done without the fainting. But his face and head feel better, even if his ribs still hurt like Hell.

Re: Scotty, still outside

[haroldlee.livejournal.com]

Woozy from the drink and coming down from the high Kirk had left him with, Harold yawned broadly. He blinked at Scotty and smiled.

Harold had no idea where Hikaru was, he realized. He hadn't looked for him once that night. He knew Hikaru would make himself known, he hadn't needed to look.

Still.

He felt himself coming to his own.

"Scotty?"

Re: Scotty, still outside

[allmhadadh.livejournal.com]

Scotty swallowed the bite he was on and glanced over. "Aye?"

Re: Scotty, still outside

[haroldlee.livejournal.com]

"I know you've been through, like, a metric crap ton of stuff this week. And you've gotta be pretty damn tired. But if I tell you something, as much of something as I can, will you tell me what you honestly think?"

This was going to be hard. No idea if he'd even want to listen.

Re: Scotty, still outside

[allmhadadh.livejournal.com]

"I... if ye want." He wasn't too good at advice and such, but he was at least good at listening.

Re: Scotty, still outside

[haroldlee.livejournal.com]

Harold told him.

He told him what he could remember, in the best order he could remember it. From the moment he met Hikaru to the second he left Pavel back at the bar. He wasn't explicit, he didn't go into gory detail, but he gave Scotty as much as he could of the situation. Everything beautiful, everything horrible, some of it Scotty already knew, from start to finish.

It took a long time.

"Please, man. Tell me what you think. If you can."

Re: Scotty, still outside

[allmhadadh.livejournal.com]

Well. That was quite a lot to absorb, wasn't it? He kept chewing the last of his dinner, thinking on it, looking off to sea with his eyes narrowed slightly. Going over it a couple times in his head. He wasn't really... qualified to give love advice. Hell, he wasn't even quite qualified to give personal advice; his own life was a mess at the moment.

But finally, he asked a question. "Do ye really want them? I mean... nae just nae bein' alone, but them, as people?"

Re: Scotty, still outside

[haroldlee.livejournal.com]

He couldn't answer.


He knew what the right answer was supposed to be. Not so sure about what he actually felt.

"I think it's more that I-- want to want them. If you get it. There's so much amazing about both of them, really there is, and I love Hikaru so, so fucking much. But this week has left me so confused about what I really want. One thing after another changes my point of view. Just want to be free, and see what's in front of me. No expectations. Move ahead."

Re: Scotty, still outside

[allmhadadh.livejournal.com]

"Ye said he was you. And ye were him. But ye're nae." Scotty frowned. "Ye havena even figured out who ye are yet; how can ye possibly figure out who ye'd want?"

Re: Scotty, still outside

[haroldlee.livejournal.com]

He let it sting for a minute, as he knew it would. It was okay. He needed the hurt.




"...I guess I don't know." He paused for a long time, processing that fact. Toying with the blank badge on his chest, the symbolism not lost on him. "You're right, I'm not him. Part of me still is, though. Mingled, or something. Who do you think I am?"

Re: Scotty, still outside

[allmhadadh.livejournal.com]

"Harold Lee, born an' raised in New Jersey; worked as an investment banker afore bein' dropped into a future where he got inta a screwed up three-way thing that paid a whole lot more pain than pleasure. A good-hearted guy who doesna have th' first clue that..." He paused, suddenly, then got to his feet, wincing when he tweaked his ribs.

That didn't stop Scotty from tweaking them again, to reach down and grab Harold's hand. "Stand up."

Re: Scotty, still outside

[haroldlee.livejournal.com]

Hand in Scotty's, he did his best to stagger through the sand.

"Where...?" Nevermind. Harold would trust him.

Re: Scotty, still outside

[allmhadadh.livejournal.com]

He grabbed a stick and dragged Harold down to the sand near where the ocean was rolling up onto the shore, then let him go. And in the sand, he drew a circle. "This is you." Very clear, clipped, officer tones. "That--" he pointed to the ocean, "--is them. A really big, sometimes beautiful, sometimes deadly thing that doesna give a good Goddamn if this--" and a particularly good wave came up and erased about half of the circle, "--happens. Still with me?"

Re: Scotty, still outside

[haroldlee.livejournal.com]

This fucking hurt to hear. Shocked as hell, he could only nod.

Re: Scotty, still outside

[allmhadadh.livejournal.com]

Nodding smartly, he pulled Harold right back up to the higher part on the beach and drew a circle there, above the high-tide marks. "This is you. This is Harold Lee, yeoman aboard th' starship Enterprise, who has a really good chance t' fill all o' this in--" And he picked up a handful of sand, letting it filter down into the circle, like he had with Harold's hand earlier. "--so long as he doesna let that wash it all away."

Re: Scotty, still outside

[haroldlee.livejournal.com]

Harold still couldn't find words. It was like being ripped apart by all the insecure seams; he'd asked, and received. No more, no less.


He nodded again, swallowing. He absorbed it. Patched the information into the makeup of his mind and stored it, so he could examine it at length.

Eventually, he sighed, and looked Scotty in the eye. Breathing. Waiting, but for what he didn't know.

Re: Scotty, still outside

[allmhadadh.livejournal.com]

Scotty squared up, tipping his chin up. "I dinna ken if ye'll listen t' me. It's nae my call, whether ye do or nae. But honest t' God, man, no matter how much ye might think that--" he pointed to the ocean again, a sharp motion, then at the circle, "--will fill this, it doesna work. It just erases. An' th' more o' yerself ye give away, the harder it's gonna be for ye to be anything at all. An' all that'll be left then isna even an outline, Harold. Nae even a memory. Dinna let that happen, no matter how beautiful it might look or how much ye wish it'd fill the empty spaces."

Re: Scotty, still outside

[haroldlee.livejournal.com]

Harold tried to match his stance, stand toe-to-toe. He didn't know yet what this meant for him, or them. It might be a while before he could figure it out. But--



"--I won't. Thank you, Scotty."

Re: Scotty, still outside

[allmhadadh.livejournal.com]

"Ye're welcome." He gave a half-nod, a formal sort of bow, then headed back to where he left his food. Giving Harold a chance to absorb what was just said.

Honestly, he wasn't sure what would happen either, but... well, he'd said his part. It wasn't his call.

Re: Scotty, still outside

[haroldlee.livejournal.com]

Harold stood for a long time, before walking back to Scotty in a daze.


He hit the ground, not feeling the jar though it should have been agony. He sat for a long time, pondering. He didn't want Scotty to go away, but couldn't find it to speak.

He laid back in the sand and stared into the night sky.