[HALLOWEEN PARTY!] -- [Open to ALL PLAYERS!] -- [IC Event!]

[kirktastic]

It had gone out as an announcement over a month ago, sent to every padd and station by one very excited Captain. A Halloween party! Must come in costume, must have fun!

Despite the hell that had been going on for the last few days, Kirk was determined that it still would happen. After a long discussion with the ship's quartermaster, along with a small army of crewmen who wanted to help, the largest rec room was decorated.

A huge buffet table had been prepared by the galley and sat spread out, all in Halloween theme. Green punch with floating eyeballs, cake decorated to look like a gravestone, a huge bowl of candy, a holographic severed hand that was scurrying around on the table top. There was even a bar set up with quite an expanse of liquor that had been secured on Risa.

There was a small seating area off to one corner, a huge dance floor, tables spread out for a real meal, and a small corner set up for music.

(OOC: Just like the thread with Risa... this is a party that's 'open' from now until Sunday night at midnight! Go nuts! This IS supposed to be IC, like the Risa party, so keep that in mind!)

Comments

[rn-chapel.livejournal.com]

"Thank you." Tina batted her eyelashes dramatically. "I'm glad I finally have an excuse to wear this gown, and Nyota and I had a lot of fun doing hair and makeup before the party. You look very nice, yourself."

[original-fine.livejournal.com]

He took her hands in his and spread them to the sides, as if to display her more properly. "You should hardly need an excuse," he said. "Or maybe you should make more of them." He grinned. "I have a feeling I'll look even better before the night is out, but thank you."

[rn-chapel.livejournal.com]

Tina grinned. "I always feel awkward enough when I get called back to work too quickly to change out of my civvies and I'm just in shorts and a t-shirt. I think an evening gown would be far worse."

[original-fine.livejournal.com]

"I don't know," Jim chuckled. "I think it might bring something to sickbay. Morale, for one, would go through the roof. And you would never have to worry about being lonely."

[rn-chapel.livejournal.com]

Tina shook her head. "You know it's never that simple with either morale or loneliness. Anyway, I'm sure the laundry facilities on board aren't equipped to deal with sequins on a regular basis. Better to keep the special dress for special occasions."

[original-fine.livejournal.com]

"Maybe you're right," Jim shrugged. "I just wish they weren't so far between, sometimes. How have you been? Since I saw you."

[rn-chapel.livejournal.com]

"I've been how I always am, for the most part, though I have had some exciting moments," Tina said. "I now know two good reasons never to grab an excited Vulcan's hand, for example."

[original-fine.livejournal.com]

Jim's eyebrows rose. Because his Vulcan wasn't even on board, and that meant...

"Is this a story better left for the bedroom, or can you tell me now?"

[rn-chapel.livejournal.com]

"I can tell you now, but I should warn you that the first part of the story is a little on the disgusting side. The second part is that he delicately informed me afterward that I had been unintentionally grasping an erogenous zone."

[original-fine.livejournal.com]

Jim was well aware that if the Spock in question was of the less-smooth variety, "disgusting" was probably a light term for it. But still--they were at a party.

"That," he said, "sounds like the set up for every good story I've ever heard. You can't avoid it now."

[rn-chapel.livejournal.com]

"On your head be it, then," Tina said. "I've been getting to know the most recently-arrived of our Spocks, and he was in sickbay with me when Dr. McCoy startled him. I knew that he had some reason to fear the sickbay of his own universe, and I could see that he was agitated, so I touched his hand and... Ended up with some unexpected and seriously unwanted memories."

She grimaced, before continuing the story in as light a tone as she could manage. "At least I know why he doesn't like sickbay, now. Oh, and I threw up on my boss, which is the sort of thing one very rarely gets the chance to do in life."

[original-fine.livejournal.com]

Jim's face immediately held all the sympathy he felt. It wasn't easy, getting a memory-dump of all sorts of unwanted thoughts. Bad enough when it's expected, agreed to. He reached out instinctively, pulling Tina closer with one arm.

He was picking something up from her tone and choice of words, something he hadn't quite expected. "That... likely wasn't at all intentional," he said. He looked down, watching her. "But you know that, don't you?"

Like the Narada being here, Spock and Pike being still at large would be on his head if it went wrong. He trusted his instincts, but that didn't mean he couldn't imagine being wrong.

[rn-chapel.livejournal.com]

"It was an accident," Tina confirmed. "And he... Well, I won't say that he felt as bad about as I did, because I was sick for half a day which is pretty bad, but he was concerned and apologetic."

She leaned into Jim, steadied by his arm around her. "He assumed that I wouldn't want to be his friend anymore," she added, more quietly. "Which, after seeing those memories, which are just a fraction of what he's experienced in the life he's lived... It's very sad."

[original-fine.livejournal.com]

There was such a thing as being too sympathetic, Jim thought, if it did one harm. And Tina being ill from the images certainly triggered his protective instincts not only as a man but as a captain, even if he wasn't hers.

And then she spoke again, and he stiffened slightly, though he didn't let go. It was more the stillness of surprise.

"Friend?" he repeated. "He--and you--used that word?"

[rn-chapel.livejournal.com]

Tina blinked. "Yes. I'm pretty sure that I said it first, but he has, too. Am I missing something?"

[original-fine.livejournal.com]

He forced himself to relax.

"No," he said, breathing out. "No, I don't... I wouldn't discourage it." He frowned slightly, in thought. "In fact, it might be incredibly useful, and I say that personally, not as a matter of tactics. I very much doubt if he's ever had anything like a friend. Certainly not one like you. And I've been hoping against hope the two of them might find something in this universe that they consider worthwhile. Just be careful, Tina. I've seen some of their world, too, and I'm uncomfortably aware of what they're both capable of. If you've gotten through to him, I can only congratulate you."

[rn-chapel.livejournal.com]

"McCoy seemed to be pretty sure that he was going to kill me later that night," she said, with one of her wry smiles. "But he's had more than enough opportunity to hurt me somehow, and he hasn't done it. I'm not sure that anyone has ever just trusted him not to, before."

[canadianbill.livejournal.com]

Bill noticed that Jim now seemed to be deep in conversation with Tina. He smiled. Maybe they were arranging their briefing now.

[original-fine.livejournal.com]

Jim was liking Tina more and more as the moments passed. His protective nature wasn't enough to quell the kinship he found with others who held to their convictions--especially when they dovetailed with his own. Though he could understand McCoy's concern. He nodded.

"He's not a foolish man--neither is Pike. Whatever their background, they know where they are now. And I've been trusting that they'll realize that not only should their responses be different, but they don't have to be the same men they have to be in their world." He shrugged. "It's a gamble. But I've always thought that you can't gain anyone's trust without giving some of your own."

[rn-chapel.livejournal.com]

"I agree," Tina said. She shook her head a little, bemusedly. "I hope I'm not bringing down the tone of your evening with all of this. I'm not exactly managing carefree frivolity, am I?"

[original-fine.livejournal.com]

Jim chuckled gently. "Maybe not," he said. "But you've already promised to raise it pretty significantly later on, so I'll give you a pass." He touched Tina's hand. "There's no rule about what people need to unwind. And I'm not so easily discouraged."

He smiled widely, to put some levity back into the conversation.

"That said, it's a shame for you to waste that pretty dress on morbid speculation. You should be making all the boys and girls jealous."

His eyes suggested he could help with that.

[rn-chapel.livejournal.com]

"Oh I should, should I? Is there a method for this other than just standing around and looking wonderful?"

[original-fine.livejournal.com]

"There are many," Jim nodded. "That's the aloof, 'you're never getting this' method. Then there's being an outright flirt, like my friend Bill over there who thinks he's amazingly clever. That works, but it's fairly exhausting. Then there's the two-for-one, where anyone watching has the choice of being jealous of, or for, you."

His smile deepened into a smirk, leaving no doubt that he might be the other half of that equation.

"Then again, you have to deal with rumor, speculation, and the privacy of your carefully constructed assignations becomes seriously in doubt."

[rn-chapel.livejournal.com]

Tina laughed. "We live on a sentient ship full of dedicated gossips. Privacy is an illusion, even before overzealous friends with medical override codes come into the equation. Tell me more about this 'two-for-one' method."

[original-fine.livejournal.com]

"Well," Jim drew out the word, "it involves a deliberate sexual display between two attractive people, such that the viewer has the choice of wishing to be either party or in between them."