driftfleet | Tourist ROAD TRIP (mingle)

_{[ Kirk gives him a soft smile, a sad one of his own - because he would miss Winn too. He would miss everyone here whom had been kind to him, whom he called a friend. Winn, he thought, perhaps more than most - the brother he should have had in his life.

Kirk took up the journal, opening it to a blank page and tearing it out. When he found a writing utensil, he began to write, scratching against the paper for a minute or two before he handed the paper over to Winn. Written on it, in neat, legible hand writing -

I, Captain James Tiberius Kirk, of the U.S.S. Enterprise, to hereby declare Winn an honorary member of the Enterprise crew, and to receive such rights and obligations herein, until my relief of captaincy.

Beneath that was a series of numbers, followed by another short message -

If you ever find yourself in a time where there is a Star Fleet, use this - it's the Enterprises' personal hailing frequency. I'll come for you. ]}

[ winn watches with quiet curiosity as jim writes. he's not sure what to expect of it, it seems an odd reaction to everything that's been going on and he hopes with all his might that this isn't going to be anything like what he's given jim.

it isn't. it's as far from it as it can possibly be, and winn's breath catches as he reads the inscription, the personal frequency he's being trusted with, and the note at the bottom. he can't help but imagine what it would be like - he doesn't know much about kirk's world he realizes now and he really should ask more questions - but even so he tries to imagine life on the enterprise, space adventures without an augment, without the atroma, without all this fear hanging over his head (just the regular holy shit I'm in space fear).

he wants to go home, but damn, he wants to make a pit-stop on the enterprise. or annual visits.

nope. this can be held off no longer, jim gets pulled into a silent, awed, grateful hug. ]

_{[ Kirk knew there wasn't much chance of Winn ever ending up in his world, his specific world. But that wasn't the point, was it? The point was to show he cared about him, that no matter the separation of worlds he would believe in him and be with him in some manner. He could frame the paper or keep it always in his wallet - just something for Winn to remember him by.

The hug surprises him - or well, maybe it doesn't. Winn and Kara seem like huggers, and that's fine. He huffs and wraps his arms around Winn in a return hug, patting his back in brotherly comfort, letting Winn take his time. ]}

[ winn hasn't had a whole lot of that in his life - people who care and believe in him. he knows how unlikely it is that he'll ever put this note to use, but he'll treasure it for the rest of his life all the same, just as he'll treasure jim. it doesn't matter if his head will remember him or not - he's sure his heart could never forget.

he smiles when jim pats his back, and when he pulls away, that smile is still there, a complete turn around from the mood jim found him in. he doesn't care if it's sappy, he's a little sappy! he doesn't have anything to reciprocate here with, and he needs jim to know how much he cares, too. ]

I was always jealous of Kara and her sister. [ he shakes his head ever so slightly. ] I don't have anything to be jealous of anymore. [ to him, jim is his brother, and there's nothing in the world he wouldn't do for him. ]

_{[ It takes a second for Kirk to realize what Winn meant, and he is struck by the magnitude of that. His own sibling had been a disappointment in his life, abandoning him when he had needed him most. He had never thought what it might be like to have another, or to be in the role of big brother - that was what he was, wasn't it? As he was the one being the comforter. That was what big brother's were supposed to do.

So he reached out and clapped Win on the shoulder gently. ]}

You'll be okay, Winn. It'll all be okay - somehow.

[ he's already been designated a part of the family, but at least big brother sounds a little better than disapproving dad? either way, once he's won over, winn is loyal to a fault, and to the end. jim has one brother now who would never abandon him.

optimism is much more in his nature than pessimism, but the fleet seems to be trying to beat that tendency out of him. it's not the first time a place has tried to do that to him; it's very much the way the orphanage treated him. he made it through that, though, and he didn't have someone like jim to help him that time. the fleet may have upped the stakes - but it also gave him a support system, one he's incredibly grateful for. ]

Just gotta invent that how, right?

Or find it. You'd be surprised at what you can come across in space.

_{[ He smiled a little, thankful that Winn was seeming more himself now and perking up. Winn didn't seem the type of person on whom worry and paranoia sat well, and he would rather see him optimistically productive than in a dangers, downward spiral. ]}

I'm so ready for some happy surprises. Even, if they mean spacewalking.

[ actually, now that he's starting to get used to space, that might even be kinda cool. he returns the smile for a moment, before turning serious again. ]

Can I ask you a favor, though? I'm really glad you agreed to teach self defense to everyone and I'm working on the room to do that in it's still gonna happen don't worry I forget nothing but -- do you think you can teach me? One on one?

[ he's afraid of hurting others, yes, that doesn't mean he doesn't realize that it's a lot more likely that others will hurt him. he'll never be able to deal with an attacker like winter and he doesn't want to either - that'll just make him even more dangerous if he snaps. he just wants to survive long enough to get away, or for help to arrive. ]

_{[ He is surprised by the request simply because Winn had seemed to
want to avoid any form of intense physical stress. He was pleased, though,
that the other was taking his own safety into consideration now. His mouth
twitched into a little smile and he put his hands on his hips, regarding
Winn critically. ]}

You realize part of my training involves cardio, right? If you want to learn you're going to have to follow my instructions - and that includes running when I say run.

_{[ So it's a yes, but he's going to tease you about first. ]}

As long as you don't make me call you sir, yes sir while I'm doing it.

[ winn tilts his head in reply. he knows he's going to have to work for this, that it'll be hard, and humiliating most likely - so very humiliating. but it'll be worth it if, when the time comes, he'll manage to get away. he doesn't want to die. if that means cardio, then so be it.

besides, he's starting to like it. a little bit. secretly. don't tell jim. ]

_{[ Kirk doesn't aim to humiliate. That didn't teach anyone anything,
and was just a cruel tactic by those letting power go to their heads. Would
Winn end up on his ass and other body parts a lot at first? Yes. Yes he
would, and with more than a few bruises besides. But that was part of the
process. Kirk had been the same way. ]}

Heh, don't worry, I'm not quite that strict. But if you're serious about learning, I'll teach you. We can start as soon as you're ready.

_{[ Meaning Kitty was well and you weren't fretting over her every
second. ]}

[ he thinks of everything he's seen on the iskaulit; all the blood, all the injuries, he thinks of kitty...how much worse she could have been hurt if he happened to be there and she felt she had to protect him because he couldn't even manage to get away on his own. his determination steels. ]

I'm serious. [ he nods. he's dead serious about not wanting to die. ] I'll do what you say. Thanks, Jim.

[ he'll probably be fretting over kitty every second for a while, but he's more able to leave her now. she's on the mend, and when she's properly healed - he'll report for lessons. ]

_{[ He smiles and nods, clapping his shoulder and fully rising from the bed. He crouches to scoop up more of the papers and holds them out to Winn. ]}

Right, well, I'll leave you to your projects then. Don't stress to much over them, though, or I'll come back and make you start your cardio early.

[ winn takes the papers, quietly organizing them neatly. ]

You're gonna have to define 'too much' for that to count.

[ he smiles a little in return; they both know he's always going to be intense about them, and especially now. he's not going to stop worrying, it's not in his programming. but he'll try to get 6 hours of sleep, he really will. ]

As in don't forget you need sleep.

_{[ Six hours he would accept though it wasn't ideal. He didn't want
Winn to stop worrying or stop caring. He just didn't want him worrying and
caring himself sick was all. ]}

I promise to remember.

[ he's not gonna promise to get it because he can't really control himself properly in that department. he wants to sleep, his brain says NO. ]

All right. Good enough. Let me know if you need anything okay?

I will.

[ he nods ]

Thanks, Jim.

Tourist ROAD TRIP (mingle)

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