Dancing, Drinks and Drag ((Jim, Verity)

[losthunter]

Hunter has been looking forward to this night for a long time. He has a table booked at his favorite Drag bar. He is looking forward to dressing up, and enjoying a few drinks with two of his favorite people. And he is sure that both Jim and Verity will enjoy a night out on the town.

Right now, Hunter is waiting in his New York apartment, where he is going to meet up with both Jim and Verity. It is the best place to get together, before heading out to the bar. Both Jim and Verity know his PINpoint coordinates. And besides, they don't have to navigate the Drag bar trying to find Hunter.

Tonight, Hunter is wearing a long gold dress. It is designed to show off his arms. And has a long exposed back. The look is completed with an elaborate head piece and deep, rich make-up that flatters his whole look.

He is excited to have Jim and Verity show up and to see their outfits.

[recommending a post order of Hunter/Jim/Verity]

Comments

[brave_heart_verity]

Verity seems to be following along well enough. She's in full-on chinhands mode. This, ladies and gentlemen, is how you get her to sit down and be quiet. Works every time.

"So, what blew up?" She's had an interesting life and has learned this is the point in the story when things usually go wrong, but be fair, she's not exactly off-base thinking something's going wrong at this point.

[losthunter]

Hunter is also paying close attention. This is not a story that one of Jim's crew had told him during Jim's stay at Starfleet medical.

And he waits for Jim's answer to Verity's question. Wondering how the story finished.

[boldygoing]

Jim is half-tempted to answer that with, 'Admiral Pike,' but that's going to open up a couple cans of worms he'd rather leave alone for now. "Nothing blew up right then, exactly, but there was a fair amount of running and screaming..."

Here's where the story gets weird, in hindsight. "I had Scotty reconfigure our shields for atmospheric pressure and we put the Enterprise in the ocean." Yeah, in hindsight, that is a stupid idea. "That let us kinda... submarine close enough to launch a shuttle near the volcano. Bones and I went into the natives' settlement in disguise to find some way of getting their attention. Those robes were awful and we had to cover up from head to toe so they wouldn't notice we looked different... Anyway, I found this temple thing and they were all bowing down to some kind of scroll, so I grabbed it and ran like hell. Got the whole village chasing after us, so mission accomplished, so Sulu, Uhura, and Spock were able to slip the shuttle into the caldera. I ditched the scroll in a tree a ways away from the village, and Bones and I jumped off a cliff into the water to get away."

"We swam back to the Enterprise, and that's when I found out Spock's harness had snapped and the shuttle's engines got cooked by the ash. Sulu and Uhura made it back okay, but Spock was stuck in the blast zone, and either the volcano was gonna kill him or his super ice cube would. It would've taken too long to prep another shuttle and I figured line-of-sight beaming was our only shot at saving him, so I ordered that we surface and go after him. Got him safe on board about two seconds before his gadget went off and vaporized the top layer of magma."

[brave_heart_verity]

Yeah, a joke like that wouldn't go over well in this crowd. Better to stick with the action, which is certainly riveting. Stealing a cultural artifact, jumping off cliffs, climbing around in volcanoes...

"That is one heck of a way to introduce yourselves to the natives. You think they're gonna remember you all next time someone stops by to see them?"

[losthunter]

"And did the natives see the Enterprise?" Hunter asks curiously. "Did you sort of accidentally make First Contact?"

[boldygoing]

Jim winces a little. "Maybe, probably, and maybe?" he says, with a small laugh. "There's pretty much no chance they didn't see the ship. I don't know if that was enough of a distraction in the long run that they're gonna forget the two weirdoes who came out of nowhere and ran off with their sacred scroll, but they shouldn't have seen what we looked like, I think."

[brave_heart_verity]

"Well, at least you don't have to worry about things going to your ship's head if they start worshipping it or something." Ver sits back and glances around the room briefly before sipping her water. It's a busy place, between the show and the waitstaff moving around and all the people in their sequined finery.

"How'd command take it?"

[losthunter]

Speaking of the waitstaff, their waitress does another check on their table to see if they need more drinks (it is how they make their money) and to clear any plates. But it is only a brief interruption, and the Drag Queen doesn't seem to trying to eavesdrop on anything. She is trained to ignore conversations after all.

Hunter turns his attention to Jim, wondering the same thing.

[boldygoing]

Whether or not the waitstaff is trained not to listen in, Jim doesn't say a peep about Starfleet while the waitress is around, ordering a third martini (hey, let's be fair, it's not a lot of liquid). He's still got some food left, but despite the conversation, he hasn't let that slow down his progress. There won't be a crumb left by the time he's done. If people want to assume it's because he likes the food that much, he's not going to dissuade them.

"They were furious," he answers honestly, but he doesn't want to go too far down the road of the aftermath, because tonight's supposed to be fun. "They wanted to bust me back down to cadet. Admiral Pike convinced them to just demote me to commander." Ah, there's what he wanted to avoid, that gnawing feeling in his gut whenever his mentor comes up. He pushes past it, not meeting the eyes of either other person at the table. "Unrelated events got in the way and I ended up captain again, but we should leave that for another time. It's not a happy story."

[brave_heart_verity]

No complaints from Ver about keeping mum when strangers are about. She gives the waitress a little shake of her head, in no need of anything at the moment, and waits for Jim to continue. An unhappy ending isn't her favorite kind of story, but if it's the one he needed to tell she won't complain.

"I'm sorry," she offers after a quiet moment.

[losthunter]

Hunter reaches across the table to gently squeeze Jim's hand in his own. He knows how important Admiral Pike was to Jim.

"Why did Samus think that the volcano story would be a good one to tell?" Hunter hasn't had any one-on-one conversations with Samus. But he has a gut feeling that tells him that Samus would want the story told for a reason.

[boldygoing]

Jim doesn't say 'it's okay,' because it's not, really. "Thanks."

He shrugs, when Hunter asks his question. "I'm still trying to figure that out. But as awful as everything turned out, even though we violated the Prime Directive, we saved a civilization. She told me that's nothing to feel bad about, and now that I've had time to think on it, I can't say I disagree. I don't regret what we did."

[brave_heart_verity]

She stirs her drink idly, mostly as an excuse to look down while she thinks.

"Telling the hard stories gets easier the more you do it," she suggests at length. "That's why she makes me do it, too." She takes a breath and one corner of her mouth quirks up. "And maybe she wants us to know things about each other, like that we're both willing to break the rules when it's important."

[losthunter]

Hunter knows that all of them have hard stories to tell. And it is true, that he doesn't struggle anymore, telling the story about Kendra, or how she changed his appearance.

"My two beautiful rule breakers." Hunter grins. He is going to lift Jim's hand to lightly kiss his knuckles.

[boldygoing]

"Could be it," Jim agrees, and despite the unhappy ending of his volcano story, he easily smiles fondly at Hunter. "Come on, you can't tell me you haven't done it too."

[brave_heart_verity]

They're so cute. Ver smiles into some middle ground and looks over at the stage while they have their moment. She's suddenly interested in trying to guess how many sequins are on that dress.

[losthunter]

"I have my own stories of breaking a few rules." Hunter arches his eyebrow slightly. "And you know, sometimes you just have to get out of your comfort zone."

The performance on the stage is getting close to the finale, where they invite people onto the stage. Hunter smiles. "Like tonight."

He stands, winking at Jim and then Verity, and then heads to the stage. He is quickly pulled up onto the stage, among a few others, to enjoy the last dance of this performance.

[boldygoing]

"Guess that's my cue," Jim says dryly, looking over at Verity. "You okay to watch the table for us?" He's pretty sure the answer is yes, given the don't-expect-me-up-on-stage signals she's been giving off, it just seems polite to ask.

[brave_heart_verity]

Hunter's move surprises her, but she's proud of him for being brave and gives him a thumbs-up with the smile that answers his wink. Then she gives Jim a nod and a smirk. "You kidding? How'm I gonna blackmail you two if you don't get up on stage?"

It isn't really blackmail if she doesn't post it online, right?

[losthunter]

Hunter is more than overjoyed when Jim does make his way up to the stage too. And he is able to give him a welcoming hug, before one of the Drag Queens claims him as a dancing partner. Another Drag Queen holds out her hand to Jim.

The music is nice and upbeat. Great to dance to. And there is lots of room on the stage that even with extra people up there, it is not overcrowded.

Around the restaurant, the Drag Queen waitresses are delivering fudge brownies to the tables. And extra little something, to end the night.

[boldygoing]

The better question is, is it really blackmail if at least one of the subjects has zero problems with being seen in public like this?

Jim laughs at Verity's answer, and touches two fingers to his brow in a brief salute before heading up to join the others on stage. It's been a while since he's danced, but his body hasn't forgotten how, easily tuning in to the rhythm of the music and the motions of the other danceers.

[brave_heart_verity]

Another of her dreams dashed. Life is so unfair.

Ver leans back, setting her phone to record the scene and then leaning it between some glasses so it keeps steady. They're good dancers and she doesn't mind the chance to enjoy the show. Not even fudge brownies can distract her right now.

[losthunter]

Hunter would appreciate the fact that this moment was videotaped. Not so it could be used as blackmail... but so it could be a keepsake memory.

And he just enjoys himself on the stage. Dancing like there is no one watching him, which is just nice to do again. It has been a while since he danced like this. And when the song ends, and people return to their tables, Hunter reunites with Jim. He takes Jim's hand, returning to table.

"This was a great night. Thank you. Both of you."

[boldygoing]

"Hey, I should be thanking you," Jim protests with a smile. It's been good to get out of the house and away from Starfleet, and all his worries at home. He's been through the wringer lately and it's been nice to just be able to relax and have a good time, without worrying about his duty getting in the way.

[brave_heart_verity]

Hunter will be getting a copy of the video by morning. (She's not sure how to get one to Jim.)

"Yeah, you're the one who arranged everything." Ver turns off the camera on her phone and puts it away again. "Thank you."

She sees the way they're holding hands. Time for her to give them some privacy. "Will you two be okay getting back on your own?"