ｔｈｅｒｅ'ｓ ａ ｂａｄ ｍｏｏｎ ｏｎ ｔｈｅ ｒｉｓｅ

[exastris_scientia]

t e r r o r must be maintained.

a mirrorverse open post





1. pick a character and tag them in the subject line.
2. post pictures, starters, whatevs
3. profit!

Comments

[thousandeyes]

[There hadn't been much happiness in his life, before he met Jim and Thomas. Even though they'd met as they did.

He doesn't often relax around other people. To do so now is the greatest sign of trust he can offer.]

She's magnificent. Imposing and vicious. It's fitting, really.

[victoris]

[ Well, before then he'd been a slave. Jim and Thomas had been two half-dead children he found in the ruins of the Tarsus colony. By rights Julian could have left them there and earned no retribution from anyone for it. The weak don't survive in this world of theirs.

If Jim were one to believe in fate, he'd say this was it.

The fact that they can both relax around each other is amazing. He doesn't even really relax so much around Bones. ]

That's not the only amazing thing about her. The crew isn't just human, or the usual Empire sort. [ Because he knows about them thanks to Julian. He's the man who told him the stories when they were on that wretched world. ]

They're mostly Augments. [ A wide, manic smile. ] From the Botany Bay.

[thousandeyes]

[He could have. He very nearly did. But Jim's will to survive had been admirable, and he'd only thought to help him so he could help himself--at first. But that had, quite obviously, changed.

They'd seen each other at their worst and their weakest, so there was nothing to hide between them.

Jim's words strike deep--Julian had told him and Thomas the stories himself, that older Augment slaves had told him. Their old tales about the men and women who'd taken Earth by fury and fire, held it for years until they'd been forced to leave. The stories were practically religion.]

You're joking.

[He sounds incredulous, looks the same. No one had found the Botany Bay, not for centuries, and not for lack of looking.]

[victoris]

[ Julian knows every weakness Jim has. Maybe even more than Jim himself is aware of, and he can easily say the same for Julian. He would never think to turn them against his friend, and that's what makes them as close as they are.

Jim's smile only grows, and he shifts, more to lean down on a bent knee to clasp at one of Julian's hands and look up at him. He shakes his head. ]

You know I'd never lie to you, old friend.

[ He grips one of the other man's hands tight, excitement plain on his face. ]

I rescued them from Spock after he found them first. It took time, and it wasn't easy---but we did it. I couldn't leave them to a Vulcan who isn't much more than a mindless automaton after what you did for me all those years ago.

Do you want to meet them?

[thousandeyes]

[They're really quite well matched, aren't they?

Julian leans in, smiling widely--Jim's excitement is contagious, and aside from seeing his friend again this is an amazing surprise.]

Showing me this beautiful ship, introducing me to the crew of the Botany Bay...I'm beginning to feel sorry that I stayed away so long.

[You're spoiling him, all these wonderful things at once.]

[victoris]

Like I said, it wasn't easy.

[ He'll tell his friend later of how his own arrogance and temper cost him his life, and that it was only thanks to Khan that he's standing here to greet him now. He's not quite sure how to tell him that he and Khan are also---well. ]

So don't be sorry about that. Just come on, there's a lot to see.

[ Jim tugs at his hand, insistence in the gesture that he stand so he can take him out of there. And hugs his old friend properly again. He finally pulls back, and heads for the doors. ]

Hurry up, old man.

[thousandeyes]

[Perhaps that was another reason he should have been there. But while Jim worked his way up the ranks in the Terran Empire's fleet, there was no place there for someone like Julian. He would have been caught out somehow. Safer, then, for the both of them that he stay away, he'd thought.]

I'm not that much older than you.

[He grumbles good-naturedly. The beard makes him look older.]

[victoris]

[ Jim would have never been able to swallow anything happening to Julian after Tarsus. He remembers how long it took to get the collar off of him. He remembers how uncomfortable and painful it was to get off after literally being there all of his life. He'd never wish that on his dear friend again. ]

It's the beard, you've got some salt and pepper in there, don't you?

[ He chuckles and heads down the ramp. ] Where to first?

[thousandeyes]

[He frowns, but his eyes are glittering bright.]

If I do, it's from dealing with your nonsense.

[The shuttle bay is dimly lit with greenish lights. Apparently the Romulans had something against seeing where they were going. That means there's places for people to hide, and unlike when he's alone with Jim, Julian's guard is instantly up. He doesnt look stressed, or afraid, but he is certainly watchful.

Juat because Jim is in command doesn't mean that someone might get ideas.]

Well, what is your favorite part of the ship?

[victoris]

[ Jim can see it when he tenses and puts a little bit more distance between them, eyes sharp as the daggers he carries on his person. He's very watchful himself, and usually his entourage of Augments never strays far from him unless he insists. He'd insisted now.

He knows he can't trust the whole crew, but that's only the Humans. The Augments he knows he can trust. ]

Oh, the bridge of course. I waited years to be called captain.

[thousandeyes]

[With his hands tucked in his robe sleeves, he's the very picture of aloof non-chalance. But there's easy access, then, to the throwing knives he keeps there.]

I hope starting there wouldn't be too forward, then.

[He knows it isn't. He can get away with quite a lot, where Jim is concerned.]

[victoris]

[ Were Jim anyone else he might actually fall for the feigned non-chalance that the other man invokes in his stance. What Jim didn't learn from his own mother, he learned well from Julian in playing a part in order to survive. He knows what Julian hides in the sleeves of his robes.

He's interested to see if he's found any new and exotic poisons from the outer reaches of their little stretch of space. ]

You know it wouldn't be.

[ Julian is the only person, aside from Thomas, and perhaps now Khan who can tout being able to get away with so much. ]