naive_sister (naive_sister) wrote in valarlogs, @ 2016-09-10 22:20:00 |
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Entry tags: | hannah washington, james kirk |
Who: James Kirk & Hannah Washington
When: August sometime
Where: The desert
What: Explorations and steak dinners
Rating/Warnings: PG?
Status: Complete
Kirk had given Hannah a location to park, giving her the chance to arrive on her own time in her own vehicle. It was meant to just be a single night, so he packed light. But he had promised steaks, so there were steaks. And a telescope. It wasn’t full survival mode, but he planned to show her a few survival tricks. After all, he’d promised her a teaching experience.
He leaned against his corvette as he waited for Hannah to show up. If she actually showed up. Going out into the desert overnight with a strange man? If Jim Kirk wasn’t Jim Kirk he’d be worried about her.
Hannah was nervous. It was less about where she was going and the fact that she didn’t really know how to be around boys, much less boys she didn’t really know. Which probably should have made this more of a problem, but she had things in her pack to keep herself safe if she had to. She was also prepared to call Josh, but she wasn’t really sure if there’d be cell service in the desert either.
The car Hannah drove wasn’t really flashy. Not that she couldn’t have had a flashy car, but she chose not to. It was reliable and safe, which was what she needed in a car. She drove into the location that he’d given her and parked the car before getting out. After getting what she’d packed out of the car, she made her way over to where Jim was, smoothing her shirt down. “Um. Hey. Have you been waiting long? I got a little lost on the way, but my gps figured out what it was doing eventually.”
Where they were going, there wouldn’t really be cell service. The hike itself wasn’t the worse hike in the world, but with warmer than average temperatures it would still be a little bit of a trip. At night though, the temperature would drop below seventy. Closer to sixty where they’d set up camp. He held his hand out to greet her. “Only been here a little while. Let's make this formal. I’m Jim, and it's nice to meet you.”
Hannah felt her cheeks heat up a little bit as she shook hands with him. “Hannah. It’s nice to meet you, too.” As someone who spent more than enough time out in the heat, Hannah was pretty much always prepared with water. You couldn’t just wander out into the desert without being at least somewhat prepared. So she made a point to dress appropriately and have some supplies in her bag. She’d done a little research. She hoped she didn’t come off as a weird nerd and that he didn’t think she was hideously boring.
“You look lovely.” He gestured with his head towards the trail. “I’ve already left a message with some friends. Standard precaution. That way if we don’t return by tomorrow evening, they’ll know to come looking for us.” Kirk wanted to reassure her, in case she was nervous. “We’re going to go easy, so I can point out some of the plants that could be useful. Or dangerous.” He started down it, taking a leisurely pace. Aside from his pack, he had a cooler slung over one shoulder. “Honestly, one of the more difficult parts to remember, is taking everything back with us, and leaving it the way we found it.”
Hannah’s blush deepened and she looked down at the ground. “Thank you.” She didn’t know that she believed him, though. She was pretty sure being dressed in clothes that she wore when she was out for the field parts of schooling that were old made her look lovely. She’d figured if you were going in the desert that wearing clothes you didn’t mind making a mess out of was the way to go. “That sounds like a pretty sensible thing to do. I told Sam.” She hoped that Sam would alert the masses if she didn’t turn up afterward. “Plants are not my strong point, so that’s probably for the best.” She followed after him, doing her best to keep up with him. “I can see how that would be a problem. I’m sure we’ll make a point to bring everything back.” If only because it would go against her decision to be an environmental geologist to leave it messier than it was when she got there.
Any number of things could happen out there. A formal gown or tux was probably not the best way to go. “Good.” He slowed down a little, trying to gauge her capabilities before he ended up exhausting her before they got to do anything fun. He gestured at a rock outcropping. “What kind of formation is that?”
Hannah’s eyes narrowed as she studied the rocks. It was difficult to tell from where she was what exactly it was. It would probably be easier up closer. “I can’t be sure. Maybe once we’re a little closer. I haven’t studied this rock formation.” At least not directly. She’d studied all manner of things in the OC, but she couldn’t claim to have studied everything in the state of California. “It’s really interesting, though.”
“It really is.” There was a vague sense of familiarity about it, but Jim shrugged it off. There was a small gap, and he jumped over the gap to the other side. It was only a little dangerous. It wasn’t that big a fall, or that big a gap. “If you want, there’s a smaller gap a bit over that way.” He pointed it out.
Hannah eyed the gap before looking over at Jim. Her mind’s warning signals were firing off, but she also didn’t want to look like as much of a fraidy cat in front of Jim. He just did things. He didn’t seem to think about it. He just did it. Hannah was almost certain she would never be like that. She didn’t know if she trusted him enough not to let her fall if she didn’t die, though, so she quietly made her way a little further down and hopped the gap. Once she had, she made her way over to him again and ran her fingers through her hair. “Less terrifying over there. Then again, this was probably not as terrifying as my mind told me it was.”
It was only a few feet, but Kirk didn’t seem to judge her for it. “Sometimes you have to take the little steps before you can make the big leaps. I don’t always do it in that order though. I’m probably not the best example.”
She smiled, feeling a little nervous. “Maybe I’ll try next time.” If there was a next time. “But I guess it’s pretty difficult to be you. Just being able to jump into things without being afraid of them. You just think the scary things are exciting.” She wondered if she’d ever find the scary things exciting or if she’d find them just as scary as ever. “Hopefully I won’t make this too boring for you. I promise to at least attempt to be adventurous at some point.”
“The scary things can be exciting. But they can also be scary. Being afraid helps us remember that we’re only human.” He grinned at her. “I’ll try not to set up camp on top of any rattlesnake dens.”
Was he serious? Maybe Jim was being serious. There could be rattlesnakes. They could be anywhere. Waiting. Coiled up. Ready to strike.
Her eyes widened a touch. “Please tell me we’re not going to get surprise attacked by snakes. I’m not any good with snakes.” Then again, she wasn’t all that great with most animals that were not other people’s cats and dogs. Maybe small lizards. “I will hope for small lizards instead. I do not feel like anything less dangerous than that.”
“Plenty of those. Some chipmunks too.” The desert was more lively than many people gave it credit for. One part of Jim’s job was making other people see the same beauty in nature that he did. “If we’re really lucky we may see bighorn sheep, or deer.”
Hannah considered it. If those were the things she’d run into, she was okay with it. As long as they didn’t suddenly attack her or something. She could live with that. “I don’t think I’ve ever seen a bighorn sheep. At least not in person. So I guess that would be pretty cool.” She’d seen deer, but she was certain that she’d be okay if she ran into one. “I will hope for all of that and not any rattlesnakes.”
“There was one in my boot once,” Jim said, eyeing her out of the side of his eye, his voice light and teasing. “The trick is not to spook it and give it room to get away. They’d rather not waste their venom on something they can’t eat, and they’re about as scared of us as we are of it.”
He couldn’t help but add, “Tastes really good, too.”
Hannah couldn’t help the shudder that accompanied the information. She was not of the belief that it mattered if an animal was more scared of her than she was it. She was pretty sure that she was plenty scared. Pretty sure. Knowing they were scared did not make it less scary. “I’m pretty sure I’d involuntarily scream, so I don’t know if I’m very good at not spooking anything.”
She was definitely not made for the whole ~surviving in the wilds~ thing. She was now much more certain than she had been before. She liked being outdoors and hiking and exploring places, but she did not want to eat snakes. “I’ll just pack my weight in hummus instead.”
“I’ll protect you,” he said, only half joking. “Lucky for you, I did pack those steaks I promised. Also some trail mix and energy bars for breakfast. Probably don’t need to be hiking back on too heavy a stomach.” Though he’d done that once or twice, it had been after getting some much needed protein after three days without food.
“Good, because I don’t really know how to protect myself from snakes. I know how to collect rocks and identify minerals.” She smiled a little. “And that’s probably for the best. I’ll trust your judgment about the trail mix bars considering I don’t know that much about what is best to eat pre hike. I usually know to make sure you have plenty of water and snacks, but then I guess I’ll know a bit more after this.” She wondered idly if there was a preferred brand of snack bar. She glanced down as they walked. “So have you ever been to Joshua Tree National Park? There’s a lot of interesting geological formations around there. There’s also a lot of things in the Santa Ana Mountains.”
“Once,” Jim said. “But I’d like to see more, it wasn’t long enough. It was part of a trip elsewhere, a little diversion.” He pointed out a few plants as they walked, explaining which ones were safe and which ones weren’t, and which ones could be used on wounds.
“Anything I should look out for next time?”
Hannah carefully paid attention to the plants, She wasn’t sure that she would remember everything, but she would try. She figured the most important things to remember where the ones that she shouldn’t go near. She might pick up a book on plants, though. Just to have something she could teach herself and maybe Kira, too. She added it to her mental list of things to look into.
“The rocks are all monzogranite. From what we know...or I guess from what geologists know about it, they were formed about 100 million years ago from cooling magma underneath the ground. Then the groundwater shaped them into the more rounded rocks that you see there today. So that’s the story about that. I’m not sure it was particularly interesting, but...when you understand the geology of a place, you can sort of understand a lot of other things about it. Especially how that geology affects groundwater and various other things. But it’s really interesting to see how everything formed. How it got from one thing to another.”
“I like to think that’s the way of anything. Learning about it. Understanding it. It makes you appreciate it more.” Kirk gestured to the sky. “When the stars come out tonight, they’re just distant points of light to us. But we understand what elements makes up each one of them, and in how many quantities, even though most of them are as far away as civilization is old. And in knowing that, you can learn more about how the universe works.”
“They study space more in geoscience or earth science majors than they do in geology. But it’s probably the same idea, yes.” Hannah nodded at that. “Admittedly, I don’t know as much about the stars or anything in space as I do about minerals and different rocks on Earth. I’m also not as well versed in oceanography as someone who studies geoscience and earth science. We do learn a lot, though.” She smiled some, fidgeting for a moment with a strand of her hair. “But it’s amazing that so much is connected.”
Kirk nodded. “The best part of science isn’t always what you know. It’s how we know what we know. The processes and the way information is learned are almost always as interesting as that knowledge.” That had been the point he’d mostly been trying to make. He nodded his head. “Just another two miles and we’ll be there. It’s a nice shaded area, kind of like an oasis. Good for camping.”
Hannah considered that for a minute. “You mean how our brain learns or just the way we manage to learn new things?” Which probably sounded like the same thing, but humans as a general population learned things in interesting ways. She remembered reading once about how the mold necessary to make penicillin had been found around the corner from the lab where they were working on it. After they’d had moldy foods sent from all over the world. “That’s not too bad.” She was used to just wandering around to look for things, so it wasn’t really too bad. It was warm, but it could be worse. “That sounds really nice, though. I probably wouldn’t have known it was out there otherwise.”
“The way we learn new things,” Kirk explained. He tried to think of a way to elaborate on his point. “Take Helium. It’s a major element, but it was only discovered a hundred and fifty years ago, when an astronomer was examining the sun. It wasn’t discovered on earth for another twenty years. What he found was an unusual mark in the spectrum of the sun, an element no one had seen before. And using that same technique, we can look at a star a thousand light years away, and know not just the elements that make it up, but how much of each element there is.”
Sometimes the best discoveries were happy accidents. “The shade will be a little welcome.”
Hannah listened as Kirk spoke, taking in the information as she did. “That’s definitely an interesting tid bit. I didn’t know that.” She wondered what else there was out there. “Did you know that the mold they needed for penicillin was found on a cantaloupe in a dumpster around the corner from the lab? They had mold sent in from all over the world and that’s where they found it.” She smiled. “It’s outside of my geology information, but I try to find fun facts for my brother’s boyfriend’s sister’s daughter. I’ll have to remember to tell her about that.” She wondered if she should take a course over summer or something next year to learn more about space. It would at least add to her general knowledge.
“Shade is usually welcome when it’s hot.” She was quiet for a moment before she said, “You really like space, don’t you?”
Kirk grinned at her. “Wasn’t silly putty a happy accident too?” They were almost there now, and he’d be happy to take the load off of his back and shoulders. Not that he could rest set - setting up camp was important. If they were lucky, there would be a fire pit from a previous camper they could take advantage of.
“I really do like space. It’s probably my first love.”
“I don’t know. Maybe?” She smiled back, tucking a loose strand of hair behind her ear. She didn’t really mind the heavy load because she usually had a backpack full of books and various other things, but she wouldn’t mind not having to carry it either. She found herself scanning the area as she went along, hoping that she wasn’t going to suddenly stumble on any snakes, however.
“I think my first love was my ez bake oven,” she said with a laugh. “But then I liked those things that made glow in the dark bugs, too. I liked them mostly because of the fact that they glowed in the dark.”
“Ez bake oven. Now that brings back memories.” Mostly of melted GI-Joes but little Kirk had baked a mean cupcake once. “Ever have glow in the dark stickers for your ceiling? Stars and planets, or animals?”
“Good memories or bad ones?” She shook her head at the question. “Nope. Never had them. My parents weren’t really big about letting us mess up the house with stickers. Why? Do you know a good place to get glow in the dark stickers? My roommate might be a lot more forgiving about that sort of thing.”
“Good ones.” Jim flashed a grin in her direction. “Except the time I almost burned down the house torturing one of my GI-Joes.” He turned the steaks over, using a stick to avoid getting burned. “There’s a little store, I can show you it. Everything from glow in the dark stars to a naughty adults only section.”
That made her laugh. “Your parents must have been very forgiving.” She couldn’t remember ever almost setting anything on fire, but then she was sure she made enough trouble as a kid anyway. She’d been about to say that it sounded like a plan before he finished the sentence. By the end of it, her face was hot and she hoped he’d think it was related to the fact that they were in the desert and near hot things. “I’ll stick to the stars.”
“Not really, but that didn’t stop me. We traveled a lot, my mom more than me or my brother. Our step-dad was a jerk, but all stepdads are I think.” He nodded at her, grinning to himself. “Probably for the best. Stars you can show to anyone.”
“Oh. I don’t know much about stepdads. Our parents…” She shrugged slightly. “Well, it doesn’t really matter, I guess. I’ll take your word on stepdads, though.” She tucked a strand of hair behind her ear. “Maybe you can suggest a couple constellations? To make it more interesting than just stars all over.”
Something about her made him want to give her a hug. He came over, and put his arm around her shoulder. “Sorry about the parents thing.” He’d at least had his mother, despite their disagreements. He turned to look up at the sky, then pointed one out and traced it with his fingers. “Lyra. That bright star there is Vega, and that’s in the handle. It’s one of the brightest stars in the sky. Number five, I think.. Lyra is also home to a nebula, which we’ll be able to see through the telescope.”
Hannah smiled at the arm around her. She didn’t really get a lot of hugs from people outside of her brother, Beth, and Sam, but she appreciated them whenever she did. “It’s okay. I was lucky to have my siblings.” She was sad about her parents, but she’d learned not to expect too much from them. It was easier to just accept that they’d be terrible parents than to hope they might get better. But it was nice to have something else to focus on. “What is a nebula? I feel like I should know, but I don’t.”
Kirk thought about his older brother. They’d been close, but George had been the one to end up with a family. “Siblings are that complicated sort of good and bad.” He grinned and squeezed her shoulder. “I’m not my First Officer in my dreams, but I’ll give it a shot. A nebula is a cloud of interstellar gas. They’re often formed from the remains of dying stars, and over time gravity will pull the elements together, forming new stars, and even planets. That’s where the Earth came from. We’re both made of stardust, Hannah.”
“More good than bad in my experience.” She loved Josh and Beth more than anyone else. They were the two that had been there for her through everything. “But everyone has different experiences.” She wondered for a moment who his First Officer was and what they had to do with explaining things. “Oh. That sounds...a little sad. I mean very interesting, but sad.” She couldn’t help but smile a little at that, even as she asked, “Did you get that from a young adult book?”
“I don’t think that’s very sad. It just means that every death can have meaning, whether it’s a star, or something else.” He smiled at her. “Cosmos, both the newer one and the original, I’m pretty sure.”
“It’s a little less sad when you put it that way,” she agreed. “It definitely sounded like a young adult book. Like that one with the girl that has cancer, but...I guess not that one exactly?” She shrugged. “I guess Cosmos makes more sense.”
“It’s a science thing.” Jim had to think a moment about what Hannah was talking about - he was well read but some books faded pretty quickly for him. “But it does sound a little like something from that kind of book.”
She nodded. “Makes sense. I just didn’t expect it to seem so poetic.” She looked up at the stars again, wondering idly if she could spot any constellations on her own. It was a lot easier to see stars out here considering there weren’t any bright lights out here. “I don’t think I’ve ever seen this many stars before. It’s beautiful.”
“There’s so much out there to see. Not just up there but here on earth. Even so, I feel like what should be waiting for me is among those flickering lights.” Jim squeezed the arm around her again. “This is nice.”
She nodded. “That’s how I feel, only less when I look at space and more when I’m looking at new minerals or trying to figure out something else. Have you taken any astronomy classes?” She leaned against him just a little, testing out the way it felt. She figured it was okay. “It is. Thanks for inviting me.”
“I’ve taken a few.” He grinned broadly, turning his attention back up to the sky. “No problem. I’ll take almost any excuse to come out here, especially with a pretty lady.”
“I think I sort of expected that answer.” It made sense. She’d never taken any, but she was considering it now. Even as she felt her face heating up. She decided not to argue with the idea of her being a pretty lady. “I guess that’s as good an excuse as any other.”
“Of course, the other excuse is what we’re going to have for dinner. I should have brought something for dessert though.” Jim winked and as corny as that could be it seemed to come natural for him, rather than being awkward.
“Can’t think of everything. At least there’s dinner. I think I’ll survive without dessert.” She wanted to make a joke about how if she didn’t make it through the night, she was going to assume it was because there was no dessert, but she decided against it at the last minute. “It’s everything else I’m worried about.” The wink made her blush. It wasn’t even particularly charming, it was just a side effect of attractive men paying attention to her. Anyone paying attention to her, really. Maybe she was just as ridiculous as the version of herself in the dreams, but she wanted to think she might not be.
“Come on, it should all be done now.” He let his arm fall off of her shoulders, and walked back to the camp fire. “If we’re lucky they won’t be overcooked. You’ve been distracting me.” He crouched in front of the fire, grinning up at her. The firelight gave him a devilish glint.
Hannah wasn’t sure if it was possible to blush more than she was currently. She really hoped it wasn’t too obvious. “Sorry. I hope they’re not overcooked.” She stepped closer to the fire, fidgeting with the hem of her shirt.
The fidgeting was adorable and even with the firelight it was obvious she was blushing. He gestured at a conveniently placed rock. “Have a seat, I already checked it for snakes.”
She couldn’t help but check for herself that there were no snakes before sitting down. She smiled as she leaned her elbows on her knees. “Thanks for checking. Even if it was only a joke.” She peered over at the steak. “So how does it look? Okay?”
“Little crispy on the outside, but it's cooked through. Probably more well done than I’d like, but I’ll only blame you a little.” He’d packed some knifes so they could actually cut through the steak, and he handed her her plate and the knife handle first. “Enjoy!”
“I guess I can accept my small fraction of blame.” She had asked him questions and distracted him, so it was only fair. She took the plate and knife, carefully cutting the steak so that she could eat it. “It’s still pretty good, so I guess I can’t be too mad at myself.”
He laughed, taking a seat across from her. “Better than most people would. I’m a little relieved it’s still edible. That could have been embarrassing. Me talking up my steak skills and all.”
It was difficult not to laugh in response, so Hannah covered her mouth in an effort to muffle it slightly. “I probably would have forgiven you. More embarrassing things than poorly cooked food. At least as far as I can tell there is. Unless it ended in vomiting. Then there might have been a bit of a problem.”
“Lets not talk about vomit over dinner,” Jim suggested, his face growing gravely serious. “Otherwise neither of us might make it through this meal.”
Hannah blushed for an entirely different reason now. She was definitely embarrassed. “Sorry. I guess I’m used to talking about a lot of things like that. Won’t happen again. I promise.”
“You spend a lot of time with your siblings,” Jim pointed out. “Siblings tend to get gross together.” And he wasn’t going to attribute it to just her brother. From many of the women he’d known, girls could be just as gross.
“That’s true.” They made gross jokes, but a lot of their jokes were also about the parties that their parents threw for them. Even if she did accept that they were a good way to see people you didn’t normally see. She just preferred to stand off to the side and make jokes rather than deal with all the people. “We are around each other a lot. But I guess I can do a better job of not being gross around other people.”
“Strike a balance between being you and making other people uncomfortable.” Jim nodded at her. “But to be fair, it would take a lot to really gross me out.”
“Being me usually involves being very awkward and rambling on for hours about rocks and minerals.” She shrugged slightly. “But then you’ve never had to come to our family events. I prefer when it’s something for Josh because he gets most of the attention and I can sort of stay in the background. Or bore people with useless facts about rocks and minerals until they go away.” A pause. “Well, they aren’t useless to me, but to other people. And we’re back to me being awkward again.” So she decided to stop talking and eat more.
“I know a few people who’d happily talk to you for hours about rocks and minerals.” While it was interesting to Jim, hours was probably pushing it. He’d rather be doing something, actively participating, than listening.
“There’s usually a few people.” She could both talk and listen for hours when it came to the subject. But she had to admit that it was more fun looking for what she was talking about than it was to talk about it. “I’ll tell you what. Sometime we’re going to adventure somewhere where there’s something interesting geologically speaking and I can talk while we also walk around. I have places I want to explore.”
Finished with his steak, Kirk put the plate and utensils in a plastic bag. “It’s a deal. Just let me know when and where, and I’ll be there with hiking bells on.”
It was only a couple minutes before Hannah finished her food, following suit. “I’ll have to sit down and consider my options, but the moment that I know, you’ll know. There’s a lot of choices.” Which wasn’t a lie. There were a lot of choices. “So it might take me a minute.” She pulled out her phone, opening it to the new contact part, and held it out. “Probably easier than Valarnet, right?”
He took her phone and put in his details. “That or texting. Whatever you’re comfortable with.” He didn’t even ask her for her phone number, leaving it up to her to contact him. Some people were more comfortable that way then giving up their number.
“Thanks.” She noticed that he didn’t ask for her number and she wasn’t sure if that was because he didn’t want it or if it was just him trying to give her an out if she didn’t want to go forward with it. Either way, she was fine considering where to go. “I hope whatever I think up ends up being interesting for you. I haven’t gone a lot of places with people who don’t already understand what I’m talking about. But I’m sure it will be fine.”
It was definitely the latter. Jim wanted to leave the ball in her court. “I’ll do some studying up, but it’s always a lot more interesting when explained by someone who’s passionate about their field.”
“Okay. Sounds like a plan then. I’ll pick somewhere good.” She would figure it out and maybe drag Sam into helping her pick somewhere. She’d do her best to make it interesting, but she’d make sure that it was somewhere she’d have fun with either way.