Tourist ROAD TRIP (mingle)

[takingkarabusiness]

Who: Touristas and visitors
Broadcast: as needed
Action: The Tourist!
When: The month of June

[ Get bit by the June Bug and mingle to your heart's content! ]

Comments

[universal_charm]

He left me on my own with my uncle when I was twelve. I haven't seen him since.

_{[ Another shrug, because after all this time he was rather apathetic about that too. He didn't have it in him to actually be angry about it anymore - it was a waste of energy. Though if he ever actually saw him, that might change things. ]}

[takingkarabusiness]

Ah. Not what you would have preferred.

[universal_charm]

No, not really. My mom had already dumped us there, he was kind of the last bulwark between me and Uncle Frank.

But it is what it is. It stopped bothering me years ago.

[takingkarabusiness]

I appreciate you sharing it anyway.

[universal_charm]

_{[ He raised a brow. ]}

Uh - you're welcome?

_{[ He didn't necessarily try to keep it a secret, it just didn't often come up. Pike was a far more difficult thing to admit than the fact his mother and brother had abandoned him. Never mind that they're a key source of his abandonment issues. ]}

[takingkarabusiness]

Just, any of it. I like knowing about the people I live with.

[universal_charm]

Oh - well, you're welcome - again.

_{[ He had begun to tell her something at the bar on the Iskaulit, but he was glad she hadn't seemed to remember. That... that was the hardest thing to tell. Only one other person knew, and Kara was such a caring person - he didn't want her to worry about it, even though he was fully recovered now. ]}

[takingkarabusiness]

[ she certainly has not forgotten but she doesn't want to push her luck all at once ]

Is there anything you'd like to know about me?

[universal_charm]

_{[ He pursed his lips, tilting his head slightly as he considered. ]}

What was life like - on your original home planet?

_{[ He remembered she had said that she was old enough to recall her time on the planet, unlike her cousin. ]}

[takingkarabusiness]

Krypton?

Peaceful. We're a people who believe in arbitrating matters and negotiation, rather than violence or brute force, which is somewhat ironic given what I do on Earth. My mother was the grand adjudicator and my uncle was a top scientist. We lived a very placid life.

[universal_charm]

Well, to be fair, sometimes those methods don't work, no matter how much you might want them to. Force is sometimes necessary, it just shouldn't be the first option.

_{[ As a Star Fleet captain he knew this, and he did try to seek peace through words before his weapons. But reason wasn't always something to be found in those they met out in the stars. Nero had proven that, as had Khan and Marcus. ]}

What's a grand adjudicator?

[takingkarabusiness]

High judge? Like a Supreme Court Justice, only without the rest of the court.

[universal_charm]

Oh. So did she make decisions like that for your whole planet, or just a portion of it?

[takingkarabusiness]

[ don't ask the hard questions ]

She ruled on criminal matters, for the most part. For everyone. Luckily, there was a relatively low crime rate. There's a lot about what she did that I didn't understand, though.

[universal_charm]

What about your dad, then? What did he study?

[takingkarabusiness]

He was a scientist. I can't remember exactly what he focused on... maybe climatology?

Do you ever worry about what you remember of people fading?

[universal_charm]

_{[ That's a question out of left field, isn't it? But he nods quietly to her. ]}

It's been a year since Pike died, and there are nights I try and force myself to remember what he sounded like, make myself replay our last real conversation. More than his face, I don't want to forget that.

[takingkarabusiness]

Yeah...

I was 12 when I left, and I'm 24 now, but in between I spent 24 years in stasis. It's been 36 years since my planet was destroyed. It's strange to think about.

[universal_charm]

Seeing something like that... it doesn't go away, does it?

_{[ He looked down at his hands for a moment, wringing them together. ]}

I'll never forget watching Vulcan implode, after all.

[takingkarabusiness]

It doesn't ever go away. Not many other people know what it's like, thankfully.

[universal_charm]

Thankfully, and I would never wish it on anyone. It hurts, and it wasn't even my planet. I can't really imagine what it must be like for you or Spock...

[takingkarabusiness]

... We're lucky to have such good people around, mostly.

[universal_charm]

_{[ He glances at her and arches a brow with a little smile. ]}

You counting your Disappointed Dad in that?

[takingkarabusiness]

[ she smiles. it's an affectionate term, after all ]

Better than no dad at all.

[universal_charm]

You realize I am only twenty-seven, right?