[IC] [Mask or Menace] Contact Post

[dendarii]

"This is Miles. Leave a message and I'll respond to you at my earliest convenience."

The line has gone silent; any messages sent to this name only return an error.

Comments

[dendarii]

[ Oh Jim. He makes an incredulous sort of mental noise across the link. ]

It worked out just fine. We both needed a distraction.

[overemotionally]

[That causes him to pause. His amusement dies back a bit.]

Distraction from...?

[dendarii]

[ Ah. Miles clouds mentally, unsure if he should be talking about this. It seems a bit too private... ]

Ask him, I suppose.

[overemotionally]

[His brows furrow at that. Jim thinks he has a good idea but he never thought to ask or acknowledge...Miles' reaction to the question mentally about seals it, though.]

Probably will.

[Later, when Spock comes over--a quick flash of Spock sitting across from him, they're nearly knee-to-knee and a candle burning between them.]

[dendarii]

[ Miles' turn to zero in on the unfamiliar image curiously. ]

What was that?

[overemotionally]

[Oh right, Miles didn't know. The image had been flashed somewhat unconsciously.]

That? Spock has been teaching me how to meditate. It'll help with my powers.

[A shrug here.]

[dendarii]

You're meditating with him?

[ It's not exactly helping his perception that Jim wants to sleep with the Vulcan. If anything he's already taking the word as being euphemistic in some way. ]

[overemotionally]

[Miles gets a Look, questioning but wary.]

More like guiding me through it but yeah? What about it?

[dendarii]

That seems rather intimate.

[overemotionally]

Says the one that slept with him.

...And you know Gregor is doing that too, right?

[dendarii]

[ Surprise, then ... Oh. So that's what that was. ]

... I interrupted them.

[overemotionally]

So then you already know it's not that intimate.

..."Interrupted"?

[Wait was he missing something here?]

[dendarii]

Well, mentally. Someone was invading Gregor's shields, so of course I investigated.

[overemotionally]

...So Spock was invading Gregor's shields telepathically?

[The mere thought sends a shiver through the mindscape and up Jim's spine, a huge blur of images--faster than he would be capable of producing himself--flashes past, a wave of helpless grief, not of Jim's own mind tries to cascade across the link but he quickly dams up most of it.]

[dendarii]

Yes, as training -

[ But that sudden rush of feeling bring him to a halt instantly, even mirrored across Jim's experience as it is. He turns to stare at the man, his eyes wide. ]

-- What was that?

[overemotionally]

[Jim brings a free hand up to his eyes to concentrate, shoving the rest of it behind a mental wall, dammit. When he pulls his hand down, he sees Miles' face and knows he can't wriggle out of this one. He didn't think he'd have such a strong reaction to thinking about Spock in someone else's mind. He hesitates.]

...Remember when I told you what I was going to do before I got ported here?

[dendarii]

[ Miles is - well, he backed off a little, at least, but one gets the impression of having his face pressed to the glass. ]

The ice planet. With the monsters?

[overemotionally]

[He slowly nods.]

I wasn't eaten because someone drove it off.

[He projects an image of an older Vulcan with a torch.]

[dendarii]

[ Miles cocks his head mentally, curious. ]

... Who is that? What was he doing there?

[overemotionally]

That's Spock, from the future and an alternate timeline.

[He launches into the explanation of how Prime got there, his role in the Romulans' destruction of Vulcan...]

No one in the crew has any idea how the Romulans did what they did except me. Spock told me all of this through...it was different than what we're doing. [A small chin lift to their entwined hands.] Deeper. Some emotional transfer with it because of that. [Because of Vulcan.]

[dendarii]

[ Miles' eyes just get wider and wider as Jim's story goes on. Time travel? Wormholes? Alternate versions of oneself? It's like a particularly unrealistic holovid. There's a lot to unpack here, but he starts with... ]

... You felt his pain at the planet's loss.

[overemotionally]

[Even as he's explaining it, it sounds unreal. He doesn't blame Miles' reaction.

Another hesitation. He's not meeting Miles' eyes.]

Part of it, yeah.

[dendarii]

... What aren't you telling me, Jim?

[overemotionally]

[...Fuck it. No hiding from Miles. Not after what he just told Jim.]

...I don't think it was just his pain. I think Vulcans are all vaguely telepathically linked. They all felt that. And he was the one that gave me the idea for how to get command of the ship.

[dendarii]

[ Miles turns sharply, even more alarmed now. ]

Then Spock felt it too. And - you felt it by proxy.