001 | video

[jirk]

So. It's come to my attention that we are like-- [he squints off-camera for a moment] three days away from Valentine's, and I've only got two questions: Where's the party, and who's in the market for a date? For the record, I am a Capricorn with exceptional taste in music, poetry, cars and alcohol.

[-- a slight pause.]

And, I mean. Come on, look at me.

[The most ridiculous, devil-may-care grin imaginable. Hear ye, hear ye, ladies and gents, Jim Kirk has the floor. But after a moment it fades and he clears his throat, going back to 'business', so to speak.]

Name's Kirk! Friends call me Jim. I'm new, but don't worry about the welcome wagon. Got that sorted out on my own. My kingdom for a good hamburger.

[And with an airy little wave, he disconnects.]



[ooc; 4th walling info for the curious!]

Comments

[rathercommon]

[ The smile fades. She gives a little shrug. ]

Yeah. I have. Back home.

[jirk]

[Probably not a topic that bears poking at. Lot of that going around, so Jim just raises one hand and waves it in a 'fair enough' sort of gesture.]

Okay, so this place is amateur. Gotta say, though, their methods for getting people here are pretty sophisticated. High-tech.

[rathercommon]

[ A little nod. She's admittedly made a bit curious by his lack of curiosity - She wonders what he assumes about her world, that he thinks he's not allowed to ask. Or she wonders about his, that discretion would be what he adheres to first and foremost.

Or maybe he's just polite. ]

They are, yeah. Have they got anything like them in your world?

[jirk]

[She's s mart, and so far he likes her just fine, but--]

Cars, smartphones, computers, internet, that's all pretty normal. The other stuff?

[He shrugs, and lets that be his answer. He doesn't really like outright lying even to comply with Starfleet directives. What she infers from his statement, though, is something else entirely.]

[rathercommon]

[ She accepts this; she has no reason not to, and that seems to be the tendency amongst all the imPorts - cars, phones, internet, nothing more than that. ]

And world history? Did your world deal with this nonsense war against Russia?

[jirk]

[He grimaces.]

Yeah.

['And then we built supersoldiers that took over the world' but shhh.]

Yours?

[rathercommon]

[ She shakes her head. ]

We had a war with Prague - the Czechs - a few hundred years ago, but we won that. Things have been a bit tense between us and them ever since, but only because our government thought it would be healthy to have someone to hate, I expect. I mean, I grew up next door to a bunch of so-called Czech spies and they were nothing of the sort, I'm sure. Russia, though - we've never had any real conflict with them.

[ A hesitation - ]

What year is it for you?

[jirk]

[Oh, isn't that the question of the year. He hasn't told anyone outright which century he's from, and has little inclination to do so, but if meeting Verity has taught him anything it's the fact that lying can get you in just as much trouble here as telling the truth. And it's such a damned direct question he can't exactly squirm his way out of it, either, not without alerting her to doing so. She's been forthcoming enough that he doesn't want to damage his chances of working with her in the future, either, so--]

2260. January 11th, if you want specifics.

[Two months after he died. Huh. How about that.]

[rathercommon]

[ 2260? Her eyebrows go up. Two hundred fifty years in the future, and all they've got are cars and smartphones and the like, no more than what they've got here? If that's the case, then his world must be a little more like hers - lagging behind, dragging in its development. Because this world, in two hundred years, is going to be a complete marvel - she's certain of that. ]

Really. When was all of that invented? I mean - the internet, say. When did they come up with that?

[jirk]

[His mouth quirks down at one corner.]

It's complicated. There was a war, wiped a lot of technology off the map for a lot of years. We were just starting to have all that stuff-- [handwave] before. Afterwards... well. You know how it goes. Had a lot to rebuild.

[And look at that, not a word of a lie.]

[rathercommon]

[ A little flutter of her lips. She knows how it goes quite well, yeah. She lives in a backwards world because of the constant cycles of destruction and rebuilding. But - ]

What war?

[jirk]

[He drags a hand through his hair.]

A nuclear one. If it's all the same to you, I'd rather not talk about it.

[It wiped damn near half of America off the map, left a lot of the rest a desolate wasteland. Yeah. Not humanity's finest hour. Not Khan's.]

[rathercommon]

[ She opens her mouth to continue interrogating him; it's with a transparently gargantuan force of effort that she forces it closed again. Finally, a bit mumbly with painful curiosity, she allows: ]

Yeah. All right.

[ But "not talk about it" does mean "talk about things tangentially related to it, right"? ]

You had better technologies before that war, then?

[jirk]

Not really.

[Wow, she is relentless.]

Nothing to write home about, anyway. Not like some of what I've heard.

[rathercommon]

[ She picks up a fry and starts crushing it between her fingers. Some of what I've heard is a better distractor than I'd sooner not talk about it; dutifully, she asks - ]

Really? What've you heard, then?

[jirk]

[He glances at that unfortunate fry, and back at her with a faintly amused, curious expression.]

Well-- [WHERE TO BEGIN] First of all, bringing us here. That's some pretty interesting technology, and the -- teleport machines they've got? Has anyone ever taken one of those apart?

[rathercommon]

Oh.

[ She wrinkles her nose; her voice is dismissive. She'd wanted something new, Kirk. ]

You're just talking about the technology here. Yeah, it's impressive.

[jirk]

[WHY DO YOU THINK HE IS BEING MISLEADING, gosh. He shrugs.]

It's not like I've been here long enough to really ask the hard-hitting questions of other people. I mean-- where I'm from there are plenty of theories on what is or isn't possible as far as science fiction goes, but it's not like I've got a degree in 'weird futuristic stuff'.

[Ah, answering things to the spirit rather than the letter. His favourite pastime.]

[rathercommon]

Well, yeah, but usually when someone says oh, it's not like what I've heard, they're not just going to talk about what you can walk out on the street and see, you know.

[ Every once in a while, Kitty will sound very, very teenagery. This is one of those times. But anyway - ]

So your world never had the sorts of things that they've got here.