A tall ship and a star to steer her by (starwreck) wrote in valarlogs, @ 2017-09-02 03:09:00 |
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Entry tags: | !complete, diana meade, james kirk |
Explosions are a part of nature.
Who: Diana & Jim
What: Learning to fight and testing an intoxication potion
When: 15 August
Where: Jim’s place
Warnings:
Status: Complete when posted
Diana had stopped for Thai food before making her way to Jim’s place. In her bag was the small bottle of intoxication potion with a dropper. She wasn’t really sure whether it was going to work or if it would just be the start of something that wasn’t quite perfect but would eventually work with more practice. She wasn’t sure whether to hope it worked or not. She just...felt like it would be a slight disappointment if it didn’t. Especially since it seemed to work. She’d just been too nervous to try it on her own.
Once she got to the door, she knocked. “Delivery!” She was going to add that it was her, but she was fairly certain that he already knew that she was coming. Hopefully Jim was able to recognize her voice by now and make an educated guess that it was her.
“Is this Avon calling?” He opened the door, grinning when he saw her. “Thai, that’s perfect. I was just having a craving and hoping that’s what you’d bring me. “You’re a lifesaver, Diana.”
“Totally. I also have your makeup in my bag.” Since admitting to Pete about her crush, Diana had done her best to keep it at bay, which really wasn’t helped by her spending time with him. Still, here she was. His smile drew out a smile from her and she shrugged. “It must be all that secret mind reading I’ve been working on.” Which was not true. She’d just hoped Thai was the right choice because she’d really wanted some. “So are you going to let me in or not?”
“Great, I’m in need of a makeover.” Jim gave her a wink as he let her inside. “My original plan was to make you wait out in the cold but since it’s summer that’ll have to wait awhile.” He took the food from her and brought it into the kitchen. His entire apartment looked relatively unlived in, though he’d added more books.
Diana laughed at that. “I didn’t want to tell you, but your makeup game is way off. It’s like you got stuck in the 90s.” There was another laugh as she walked into his apartment. “I’d say I’d pretend to be cold, but actually it’s very warm and I’m not actually dressed for pretending to be in the cold. It would throw the experience off.” She looked around the place as she walked through, noting the books. She had a few things in her bag as well that she was borrowing from Zee and the Magic Guild. She’d left the demonology books at home, though. She just wanted to have the others in case. In case of what? Well, she wasn’t sure. She guessed she could always show off some of the spells she’d managed since Saturday. She was now a candle-lighting pro.
“And here I thought my eyebrow game was on point.” He broke out the cheap plates for the Thai food. They could have used paper, but he hated paper plates when it was anything heavier than a sandwich. Call it a personal preference.
“Yeah, you seem a little underdressed for cold weather.”
“So sorry, Jim.” She shook her head, doing her best ‘poor thing’ look, but it was short lived. She smiled not too much longer after that.
He didn’t think she could do the poor thing look, but she did have a powerful pout, the kind that could get her (and him) into a lot of trouble. He held out her plate, then led the way to the couch in the living room. “Your feast, madame.”
She took the plate, following after him and taking a seat on the couch. “Thank you. I have been waiting for this day.” She took a few bites before speaking again. “It feels like just the other day I was exploding lightbulbs in my house and now I’m making potions and lighting candles.” A pause. “Okay, so I only made one potion, but that’s one more than I was making. It’s pretty exciting.” Even if it didn’t sound that exciting because there were people who could do so many other things. There was so much more. “Soon I’ll be doing magic like a pro. Or at least I hope so.”
“It’s a glorious day.” Jim sat cross legged on the couch, plate in his lap. “One potion is still better than nothing. Especially compared to exploding things.” He leaned in and whispered. “But I do like the exploding things too.”
“It really is.” She tried not to act unusually when he leaned it, but she felt herself still for a moment before she went back to eating to cover herself. “I’d at least like to explode things on purpose rather than trying to get magic to work and it working the wrong way. My dad is getting suspicious. I have gone through a lot of lightbulbs.” She glanced over at him. “Somehow I’m not surprised you like exploding things. It makes sense with everything else.”
“Explosions are a part of nature.” Jim gestured towards the big wide above. “Star are explosions. Galaxies orbit massive black holes, which are also explosions. Or implosions.”
He flashed her a grin. “Tell me about your potion, and how you made it.”
She nodded at his words. “That makes sense, actually.” And it did. You didn’t get new stars without the old ones going out. Even fireworks were explosions...and she did like fireworks. She just preferred ones that didn’t involve lightbulbs exploding and getting glass all over her room.
Diana pulled the vial out. “There’s herbs, which I had to collect and crush into a fine powder. It took a little bit of effort, but it kind of felt like I knew what I was doing anyway. I put a little water in there, so there was something to mix it with. There’s also a bit of cinnamon.” He’d be able to taste it when he tried the potion, but she didn’t really know anything about that. “And my blood. Just a little bit of it.”
She looked up at him after a moment. “I was at the Magic Guild. It says it needs blood, but it doesn’t really specify if it’s a particular person’s blood. I just wasn’t going to ask a pregnant lady to donate blood to my cause. And I’ve had worse injuries.”
“What kind of herbs are they? Dream herbs? Or just stuff you can gather anywhere?” Jim imagined her in a supermarket getting potion supplies, and grinned broadly. “Water, cinnamon, and blood.”
Well, he’d trust her to be clean, and reached for the bottle. “Yolo.”
“Just regular ones. Nothing you wouldn’t find in nature. The Meade family has a lot of notes on herbs and nature stuff in general. Earth magic.” She smiled a little. “It’s a little more than that, but I can show you the full list later.
“Just make sure not to use more than a couple drops for now.” Just in case. She didn’t need him to get hurt because of something she made. “And just tell me what you feel. If you feel nothing, tell me that, too.” She handed him the bottle, worrying her lower lip.
“I definitely want to see the list. No eye of newt?” Jim held up his finger, putting a drop on it, then sucked it off of his finger. Because of course he did. He didn’t feel anything at first, just tasted the cinnamon. And then the world got a little fuzzy, and he snicked. “Oh wow, it’s like…. Drinking but without the effort.”
Diana couldn't understand why he didn't just put the drop on his tongue like a normal person. She took in a deep breath and let it out before reminding herself why she was not paying attention to anything like that today or ever. It was a lie, but it was a lie she was going to keep telling herself. However, when he spoke, her face lit up. She'd made a potion and it worked. “I guess they don't call it an intoxication potion for nothing??”
Jim Kirk? A normal person? Hardly, he was an irrepressible flirt and he hadn’t actually thought of doing it any other way. He hadn’t even been trying to flirt, that just happened.
“Wow,” he repeated, his face flushing. He very,very carefully (in that drunk sort of careful way) handed the bottle back. It wouldn’t do to spill it. “ Wow. This is… this is kinda … nice actually.”
Diana took the bottle from him and took a look at it before looking at him. She was attempting to decide if it was a bad idea to try some of it herself. “You do seem to be experiencing the drunk side of things pretty well.” She looked away to focus on the bottle instead of him.
“Probably not fair to leave you to this on your own.” Even if she had a feeling it was a better idea to let him be on his own in this. Still, she allowed for one drop (done with the dropper and not sucked off her finger like some people). “I’m probably going to regret that later.”
“Anything else,” Jim’s words were slurring, and he grinned at her. Trying to look smooth, he leaned back on his elbow on the couch’s armrest, only to miss completely and manage to topple over onto the ground on the other side.
From the floor came laughter because that was incredibly hilarious for some reason.
Diana snorted lightly as he toppled over onto the floor. “Smooth, Jim.” She was only just starting to feel the effects of the potion, but it was definitely more than she’d expected. “I can see why the ladies love you.” She ran her fingers through her hair after putting the potion back into her bag, leaning back against the couch. She kicked off her shoes so that she could put her feet up on the couch, which she did...after poking at him with her toes first. “I don’t know why I did that,” she admitted.
"And if you said this life ain't good enough," Jim sang, off key. "I would give my world to lift you up. I could change my life to better suit your mood. Because you're so smooooooooth!"
He pulled himself up onto the couch, lifting her legs up and then dropping her feet back into his lap after doing so. “Did what?”
That made Diana dissolve into a fit of giggles. “You sing horribly. I now see you have some flaws.” Which was a relief and also incredibly obnoxious somehow. How did he manage to be the person that he was? “What song is that anyway?”
She shook her head at the question. “Nothing. I did nothing.” Which was a lie, but it didn’t really matter. She moved her feet, pointing her toes. She felt warm spread over her body. “I like this. It’s nice.”
“I’ll have you know I’m a masi.. Mast...good singer.” Jim sank deeper into the couch, and absently started to rub her feet. “You’re a damn dirty liar. But you’ve got amazing feet.”
There was a voice in the back of her mind trying to warn her that this was not good. It was ignored because Jim was definitely rubbing her feet. “You've got amazing everything.” The voice was there again. Ignored again. “Which is not fair to anyone.”
“I know.” Jim grinned at her, his eyes crinkling up and sounding like it was a secret but the best most funny and amazing secret ever. “God, I haven’t let myself go like… like this in… since before I became an Admiral.”
Whether that was dream him or waking him wasn’t clear. Though waking him and Dream 2.0 him were a lot more similar than he liked to think. The man in his first dreams he’d tried to become.
Diana could feel herself rolling her eyes before she did it. Not that it changed anything. “Shut up.” Because she didn’t know what else to say on that note. “I’m going to go with…” She trailed off for a moment before remembering she was talking. “Never let myself go like this. Probably ever.” Which wasn’t a lie. “I’m...the responsible one.” Which was true everywhere.
She scrunched up her nose, haphazardly dragging herself into a sitting position. “I think too much about everything. But no one else wants to, so someone has to.”
“You’re my Spock,” Jim assured her. Which was only really a partial truth. No one could ever be his Spock. But Diana was the responsible one. Clara sure wasn’t the Spock. Clara was more of an enabler than he was to Diana. Anne might be a good Spock too.
Jim had a lot of female friends.
“We always need people who think too much.”
“I’m worried about what that means for my future,” she said after a moment, moving to lean against the back of the couch. “I don’t know which of my friends you are. Jake maybe. Faye and Jake’s love child?” She snorted lightly. “Faye would love that.” As much as she’d probably deny it. “You’re her type.”
There was a frown. “I don’t think I know how to not think.”
“No one is.. No one is…” Jim waved his hand, then dropped it back to Diana’s foot. His foot rubbing was distracted and not up to its usual snuff at this point, but hey, he was trying. “No one is telling you not to think. There’s a difference between like...jumping out of a starship and then..always not thinking, I think.”
“Still terrifying.” Which was true. At least she thought so. It wasn’t the worst thing she’d done. Maybe. “Just doing things to cheer you up or keep you from realizing I’m a boring friend.” The foot rubs might not have been the best, but she was still distracted. “I guess magic makes me less boring, though. Win for me.”
“You’re an amazing friend.” Jim said, just as he toppled over, his head falling into Diana’s lap and his shoulder digging painfully into the couch. It wasn’t the most comfortable position ever, but it had the second or third best pillow. The best pillows were a little higher up.
“You weren’t boring before. Not boring now.”
Diana tried not to laugh, but she couldn’t help it. Just like she couldn’t help letting her fingers run through his hair. “You’re very graceful.” But she was glad that he never thought she was boring. Even if she was definitely the planner of the friendship that had to have almost everything together before she went forward.
“Your hair is soft.”
“It’s my shampoo,” Jim whispered. He repeated the word, “Shampoo. Shampoo. Shampooooo.” It was a funnier word. Probably the funniest word he’d ever heard and he said it a few more times until he got it out of his system.
“That’s some good stuff you brewed up, you sexy witch.”
Diana felt herself laughing even more. Really, it was a surprise that she hadn’t fallen off the couch. It wasn’t so much that the word was funny, but just that Jim seemed to find it so funny that he just kept saying it. It only sounded funny because of how he said it, really.
“I’m an excellent potion maker. The sexiness is just a bonus. I come by it naturally. It is good of you to notice.”
“Hard not to notice,” He told her, using his feet to push him up the couch more. This had the side effect of making it a lot harder for Diana to say on the couch without Jim ending up underneath her.
She looked down at him for a moment, not really sure what to do. Only she sort of acted before she could think about it (which was mostly to do with the fuzziness around her brain) and kissed him. “Sorry,” she said quietly. “I wasn’t supposed to do that.”
Jim reached up and patted her cheek, a sloppy grin on his face and his eyes at half mast. "S'fine. A fine thing. Really fine. It's not a crime."
She closed her eyes and slid herself off the couch onto the floor. “Need an anti-drunk. No more drunk.” And also to escape, but she probably shouldn’t drive...even if she wouldn’t test positive with a breathalyzer, she knew she couldn’t drive just now. “Your face is annoying and I should just stay here...on the floor.”
“Total eclipse of the sober,” Jim called out, rolling over and flailing a hand towards Diana. But he didn’t have the energy to do more than that. In fact, it seemed like he’d completely conked out.
Diana looked at the hand for a moment before saying his name quietly. When he didn’t respond, she closed eyes and curled up on her side. If he was sleeping, she was sleeping. Not dealing with what had just happened was totally a good idea.