It'd be easy to let himself indulge in a moment of being, mentally, somewhere else. Thinking of Romulus, and Vulcan, and Ambassador Spock. But that's something he's put away-- it's not his place to get emotional about it.
"I think it'd be great. Klingons in uniform." That's either a joke about Klingons looking funny, or him being very inclusive. Hard to tell. Jim's got a lot of very strong opinions about the warrior culture, some of which are unfair, but some of which are oddly charitable. And then with a sigh, "Romulans..." Jim just shakes his head. "Maybe someday." A beat. "I'm not keeping you from anything, am I?"
"I, er. No, sir. I plan on visiting a few old haunts while I'm in town, but I haven't anything scheduled right now. My intent was to sit in on your lecture, introduce myself, and...well. I wasn't anticipating drinks. Not that I'm ungrateful for the time you've taken, sir." They'll get to know each other and their styles and their irritating eccentricities and habits of extreme self-sacrifice/suicidal tendencies soon enough. "I'm...not keeping you, I hope."
"What you're saying is I've completely Shanghaied you." Jim sounds amused. "No, you're not. I've just got about.. uh, four hundred official comms to get back to, and about a year's worth of paperwork. So I do appreciate you humoring me for a little while, Lieutenant."
Jim is in no hurry to get back to all that, obviously, but he does have to. Alas.
Maybe you should've thought of that before accepting the captaincy, Jim.
"I have no problems keeping you from work you don't want to do." Until they're actually both on duty and on the ship and have things that need done. By got that armoury is going to be spit and polish clean before it's even done being built. "Unfortunately, duty does call. Part and parcel of the job."
He was warned about the paperwork, but dear god, it's just so much worse than he thought.
"Sure is." Jim sounds wry, but there's obvious fondness, too. He wouldn't be doing this if he didn't want to. And he does want to. Moment of uncertainty aside-- this is who he is. He's not a climber; he's never going to go into politics despite all his ingrained knowledge of it. He doesn't have to live his father's life, or Christopher's. It's okay to live for himself.
He stands up and gives Malcolm's shoulder a bracing touch that's firmer than an awkward pat but not quite an over-friendly slap. Is there a word for that. There should be.
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
no subject
"I think it'd be great. Klingons in uniform." That's either a joke about Klingons looking funny, or him being very inclusive. Hard to tell. Jim's got a lot of very strong opinions about the warrior culture, some of which are unfair, but some of which are oddly charitable. And then with a sigh, "Romulans..." Jim just shakes his head. "Maybe someday." A beat. "I'm not keeping you from anything, am I?"
no subject
and habits of extreme self-sacrifice/suicidal tendenciessoon enough. "I'm...not keeping you, I hope."no subject
Jim is in no hurry to get back to all that, obviously, but he does have to. Alas.
no subject
"I have no problems keeping you from work you don't want to do." Until they're actually both on duty and on the ship and have things that need done. By got that armoury is going to be spit and polish clean before it's even done being built. "Unfortunately, duty does call. Part and parcel of the job."
no subject
"Sure is." Jim sounds wry, but there's obvious fondness, too. He wouldn't be doing this if he didn't want to. And he does want to. Moment of uncertainty aside-- this is who he is. He's not a climber; he's never going to go into politics despite all his ingrained knowledge of it. He doesn't have to live his father's life, or Christopher's. It's okay to live for himself.
He stands up and gives Malcolm's shoulder a bracing touch that's firmer than an awkward pat but not quite an over-friendly slap. Is there a word for that. There should be.
"I'll see you in a month, Reed."