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A tall ship and a star to steer her by (starwreck) wrote in valarlogs, @ 2016-09-15 17:13:00

Who: Kirk and Anne M
What: Camping trip
When: Recently
Where: Somewhere in the wilderness
status: Complete
Rating: PG-13



Kirk was making a habit of taking strange women out. To lunch, or on camping trips. This happened to be the latter. It was an hour’s hike to the spot he’d picked out. Quiet and remote, though he’d instructed Anne to make sure a friend knew roughly where they’d be and when they were supposed to return. Basic survival 101, with the added benefit of reassuring anyone concerned about running off to the woods with strangers.

Getting the tents up and a fire started was the first step, and he planted his hands on his hips to examine his handiwork. “What do you think?”

Anne had always considered herself fairly healthy. She took care of herself, did yoga, ate well, avoided coffee, never smoked and rarely drank alcohol, but going hiking with Jim Kirk washed away all illusions she had of being as healthy as she thought she was. Having finally reached their destination and set about trying to help but not having a clue what she was doing, Anne could justifiably say exactly what she thought. “I’m flat out, bone deep exhausted,” she leaned forward with her hands on her knees, head hung down between her shoulders briefly as she acknowledged how tired her body felt. “You never said I’d have to go into training for months before going camping with you,” she joked, straightening up to grin at him tiredly.

Grinning at her, Kirk shook his head. “This is the training. If you really wanted an experience then I could show you something like they do on those survival shows. There’s this one guy who does it without a camera crew, does it all on his own, even the camera work.” It was hard even with a crew around, and the man he was talking about had a rescue crew a few miles away most of the time just in case. They wouldn’t have that luxury. “Have a seat, I’ll get some grub going.”

“Oh no, my yoga barely prepared me for this, I can’t imagine the state I’d be in if it was anything like that,” Anne laughed as she straightened up, finally looking around their campsite properly for the first time. “Thanks, u, dare I ask what grub is?” she smiled, moving to sit in front of the fire.

Jim pulled out some baggies, and then threw two foil wrapped objects into the fire. “Potatoes. I also packed some steaks in a little cooler. Breakfast is going to be a lot less fancy though.” Steak seemed to be Jim’s go-to for bringing someone out into the wilderness. At least when he could get away with it, especially with pretty women.

“Wow, I wasn’t expecting steak in the middle of nowhere,” Anne grinned, watching him preparing the food. “And as for breakfast, I wasn’t expecting anything fancy anyway, I’m not some sort of queen or anything,” she teased. “Is there anything I can do to help?” she offered.

“I do try to deliver.” Jim gave her an elaborate bow. “If you want, we could use something to sit on. I couldn’t exactly pack a table and chairs. There might be some rocks nearby. But,” he winked at her. “Watch out for snakes.”

Anne started to get up to do as he suggested but stopped short. “Wait,” Anne said, looking at him worriedly. “There are snakes out here?” Being unused to them in the UK and Europe for the most part, she had forgotten to even consider that there might be some out here.

“Yes. Just step carefully.” He sounded serious this time. “Most of them are harmless, but there are a few species that are venomous, and they don’t always rattle.” Maybe he should have brought some pictures. “You aren’t likely to encounter any, but if you do just move away slowly. They don’t want to actually bite you.”

“You’re not exactly selling this,” Anne swallowed thickly as Jim spoke, eyeing their darkening surroundings carefully. “I uh...I don’t suppose you brought a torch did you?” she asked.

Smiling, Kirk pulled a small LED flashlight out of his pocket, and came over to give it to her. “Just follow the smell of delicious meats back, Anne.”

“Just follow the sounds of my screams, Jim,” Anne teased back, turning the torch on and turning to begin looking for some seats for them. “So uh...how long have you been doing this sort of thing?” she asked as she started to scrabble around in the low light.

“Since I was a teen. I got into a lot of trouble, we moved around a lot. Tried the Air Force but it didn’t really straighten me out.” He’d liked the experience, but had had a great deal of discipline issues. The strange part about his dreams was most of those issues failed to exist.

“Oh, so you’re a pilot then?” Anne asked, rolling over a rock for one seat and setting it down by the fire. “That’s amazing! Didn’t you like it then? Why did you leave?” she asked, heading back to search for another rock.

“I know how to fly. I technically have a license. But I wouldn’t call myself a pilot.” Jim had the steaks cooking now. He had to keep a close eye on them, this kind of cooking usually meant there was a fifteen second window between undercooked and being burnt to a crisp. “Couldn’t take orders very well. Got kicked out.” He sounded prouder than he actually was.

“Ah, a bit of a rebel are we?” Anne grinned as she brought the last rock to sit on over. Standing to watch him cook, she bit her lip imagining him in an Air Force uniform, not an unpleasant thought if she were honest. “So you can fly as well as cook? Well, aren’t you just the package deal?” she joked, brushing her hands on her trousers and sitting on one of the rocks.

“Yes, but I can’t fly and cook at the same time.” Unless on a starship, but there wasn’t really a kitchen on the Enterprise. That didn’t stop him from enjoying cooking when he got the chance though. Honestly something about just making eggs the old fashioned way, instead of in a replicator, was hard to beat.

“That kind of sounds like you’ve tried it Mr Kirk, are you sure that’s not the real reason you were kicked out?” Anne teased with a bright smile, watching him continue cook.

“Trying to cook while flying a fighter jet would get me killed.” Jim was grinning though, as he was envisioning what that would be like and if it would even be possible. “Could maybe do it with an MRE.”

Anne frowned at him. “What’s an MRE?” she asked, tilting her head curiously.

“Meals Ready to Eat. Military jargon for those packs of food we used to get. Most of them are self-heating.” Jim made a face. “And most of them taste terrible. But the terayaki beef wasn’t so bad.” Though it was hard to ruin terayaki anything.

Anne grinned as he spoke. He had a lovely voice to listen to and he was funny as well. “Would you tell me some more about your military life then and how you ended up here?” she asked politely, happy to be getting to know someone new.

“There isn’t too much to tell. I actually washed out during boot camp.” He flexed a little, then pulled the food off the fire. “Wasn’t a physical issue. I just couldn’t take orders. Kind of important in the military.” He had some regrets and there was a lot of the time he still felt that rebellious streak. It wasn’t as strong as it had been, especially after dreaming.

Though Captain Kirk of the USS Enterprise had a different sort of rebellious streak.

“No, I can imagine that would certainly be problematic,” Anne replied after she had listened to him speak and frowned. “Do you regret it? Would you go back if you could?” she asked curiously.

“I might have made some different choices, if I had known what I know now. Or if my father had been alive.” Jim rubbed at his chin. Alive in his dreams, George Kirk had been a walking inspiration. But dead, he’d just been a what if. “But changing the course of my life could have unexpected side effects. Something tells me it’s best to leave history in the past.”

“I’m sorry to hear about your father, do you mind if I asked what happened to him?” Anne asked gently.

“Shooting, when I was a baby. He died protecting everyone else.” Sometimes he resented it, other times he admired it. It was always a complicated thing.

“I’m sorry Jim,” Anne replied, reaching out to place a gentle, comforting hand on his arm. She cleared her throat and gesture to the food. “How’s it coming?”

“It’s all right. It was a long time ago.” Jim turned his attention back to the food, and started to fish it all out of the fire, careful to avoid burning himself. “Should be done, now. Ready for a feast, Anne?”

“Absolutely, show me what you’ve got Mr Chef,” Anne grinned.