☤ 005

[mintjulep]

Where the hell did all these people come from?

For god's sake, no one get hurt.

((ooc: Open to fourth wall! Everyone welcome~))

Comments

[mintjulep]

I'm not so sure I will. Timeline's been altered.

[ Which is definitely something to be surly about.

There's a nod, and he starts walking. ]

They won't have too much from anywhere that's not Earth, but we might get lucky.

[countrydoctor]

Then let me tell you now: don't ever stop mistrusting those damn transporters.

[He follows. McCoy has great faith in himself to find a good place to drink.]

I'd drink anything right about now--Saurian brandy, blood wine, Romulan ale, burbon. Hell, I'd give vodka a chance.

[mintjulep]

Scotty still insisting he can get the damn things to make miracles? I was half convinced that was what landed me here, despite the fact that I was on the bridge.

[ He's had help, not that he'll admit it. ]

Bourbon we can do. No luck on the Saurian brandy or the Romulan ale yet. Haven't even tried looking for blood wine.

[countrydoctor]

He'll go to his grave thinking those deathtraps are the greatest thing since warp drive. [This is said with some fondness. Scotty keeps the ship from killing them and McCoy appreciates that.]

Just as well. You know what goes with blood wine? Klingons.

[mintjulep]

I don't doubt that. You know what his reaction was when he showed up and watched Spock try an' strangle Jim? That he likes the ship because it's exciting.

[ Despite the fact that this McCoy may not know about that... well, it's a bit like talking to himself. Easy enough to grumble. ]

More worried about time-traveling Romulans, if we're bein' honest.

[countrydoctor]

That sounds like Scotty. Mind telling me why Spock was trying to kill Jim?

[He would be surprised if this wasn't so ridiculous.]

Yeah? I'd take a Romulan over a Klingon any day.

[mintjulep]

Jim was trying to emotionally compromise him. It sure as hell worked.

[ Sigh. ]

It's a long story.

[countrydoctor]

Good for Jim. He wouldn't believe me--not that he ever does--but I think Spock could do with more displays of emotion. Get in touch with that human side of his that Jim keeps saying exists.

Sounds like the kind of story you don't want to talk about and I don't want to hear.

[mintjulep]

I think I've seen enough displays of emotion out of him for a while.

[ A long while. ]

'course, I haven't worked with him long.

[countrydoctor]

You sure we're talking about the same half-Vulcan here? I do my damnedest to provoke that green-blooded devil and the most I get is an eyebrow, mostly.

No? Hell, I wasn't with Starfleet when I was your age; I don't know why anything's surprising me.

[mintjulep]

[ It's that story he doesn't want to here, but-- ]

Those time traveling Romulans I mentioned? Killed Jim's father, altered the timeline. Twenty-seven years later, they forced our entire graduating class into space, blew each ship but the Enterprise to hell and back, then did the same to Vulcan. Nearly did the same to Earth. Killed the hobgoblin's mother. Turns out that's enough.

We just shipped out for five years. I've got plenty of time to deal with him coming up, provided I ever get back there.

[countrydoctor]

[McCoy doesn't think he should be hearing this without a bottle in hand.]

That's quite the story. [And it's a lot to take in all at once, but he doesn't disbelieve... himself.] Selfish as it is, I'm glad it's your story and not mine.

Is everyone else as young as you?

[mintjulep]

[ Probably not, but here's the Blue Light, and in his younger self goes. ]

I don't blame you there.

[ To a table, then. ]

Yeah. Chekov's seventeen and everything.

[countrydoctor]

[The Blue Light isn't exactly McCoy's speed, but he's in no position to be picky.]

You better brush up on your psychology. Sounds like your whole crew should be in counseling.

...Seventeen? Here I thought twenty-two was too young to send 'em into space. And how old's Sulu? Don't tell me you've got a twenty year-old in the driver's seat. [The mere thought is enough to make McCoy nervous. He goes to flag down a staff member, but--]

What kind of currency do these people use? Pebbles?

[mintjulep]

There was a bit of it, afterward, but who knows how well that went over. We had time, though; Enterprise had to be patched up, plus Jim was on academic suspension and shouldn't have even been on the ship. I smuggled him on so he'd stop lookin' pathetic.

Seventeen and I still can't keep up with his physics. [ And he's just. Going to nod, because yeah, Sulu is pretty damn young, too. ]

Rainbow coins.

[countrydoctor]

[He almost smiles when he hears that Jim was on academic suspension. Seems like all Jims across the universes like to get into trouble.]

I never knew Jim when he was real young, but I figured he was trouble. What I don't get is what you were doing at the Academy.

Physics? Chekov?

[He'll just... shake his head. At everything. Ever.]

Rainbow coins.

[mintjulep]

Was he ever. If he were here, I could probably identify every scar he wouldn't sit still long enough for me to heal and tell you what year it was from.

Starfleet'd been after me for a while. Ex-wife took the whole damn planet in the divorce, so off I went.

[ He's found that that's a good solution around these parts. ]

Rainbow coins. [ Here are a few. ] I'll cover you. Least I can do for a familiar face.

[countrydoctor]

Your Jim doesn't sound any better than mine. If it wasn't unethical, I'd sedate him every time he needs to be fixed up.

I didn't think to go right to space after that fiasco. Across the country, sure, but the old lady didn't exile me from the planet.

[He doesn't trust this rainbow money. Fortunately, he does still trust himself.]

I'll pay you back sooner or later. You having anything?

[McCoy gets the attention of a pretty girl who looks like she works there and requests a bottle of bourbon. They are so far beyond mere glasses.]

[mintjulep]

Yours have the allergy problem too?

They'd been after me for a while. Things were a little more stressful in my timeline, what with time-traveling Romulans blowing the shit out of the Kelvin and then disappearing.

[ If you can't trust yourself, who can you trust? ]

The same.

[ It's both an answer and his own order. ]

[countrydoctor]

What allergy problem?

Your timeline... [gets another exasperated headshake.] It's a wonder you're alive. Time traveling Romulans, adolescents steering the ship, planets getting blown to bits...

[That booze had better get here quickly.]

And now you're stuck here. You've got some luck and not a lick of it's good.

[mintjulep]

Don't ever give him a vaccine to protect against viral infection from Melvaran mud fleas. His reaction ain't pretty.

Trust me, I've got no idea how the hell I've made it this far in one piece. The next five years'll be interesting.

[ Considering how grumpy they look, it probably will. ]

This last weekend, the place convinced me that a sixteen-year-old from Victorian times was my daughter.

[countrydoctor]

I'll remember that one.

They'll be interesting after you live through 'em.

[Oh, look. Their combined grumpiness did encourage quick service. Thank the maker for that. He pays the woman with that rainbow money, slides younger-him a bottle, and wastes no time in starting in on his own.]

Was she anything like Jo?

[mintjulep]

Like I said to him while I was chasing his fool self all over the ship -- I haven't seen a reaction that bad since medschool.

Have you been through them already, then?

[ He's having a hard time telling just how much older this McCoy is, probably because... well, he's never been this McCoy. ]

We never did have kids.

[ And that hurt, really, because he'd wanted to. ]

[countrydoctor]

If it comes up, he can take his chances with the virus. He'd prefer that, anyway.

Three out of five and I'm still kickin'. Seems my timeline's a safer place than yours; I'm not too worried about myself.

[This McCoy can't figure out why this other McCoy isn't where he was when he was that age. It's easier to drink.]

Could be for the best. Leaving Joanna with that mother of hers... that hurt like nothing else ever will.

She'd be coming on twenty, my Jo. She's off studying medicine on Cerberus.

[mintjulep]

I had to get him on the ship somehow. Giving him the symptoms worked out until he had the reaction. Luckily we were on the ship by then.

[ A lot of things were lucky, really, no matter how much bad luck he and this other McCoy know he has.

Twenty. Goddamn. He's only 31, and this other him is three years into a five year mission and has a daughter. There's a low whistle, appreciative, before he takes a drink. ]

She sounds like a smart one.