Event | Sinbrilee | Bacchanal

[ironwood]

Characters: Any and all!
Date: August 24 - 30th
Location: Sinbrilee
Situation: An ancient festival of an ancient city, all are welcome at the Bacchanal!
Warnings/Rating: Please label threads as appropriate.

Death and destruction cannot curtail the single most important festival celebrated by the denizens of Sinbrilee: The Bacchanal! The ghosts in and about the city have begun to gossip about high fashion and festivities, sending any that inquire to the Amphitheatre -- a grand, circular structure nestled in the west side of the city.

This structure bore the fall of Sinbrilee and the wear of time with dignity, having lost handfuls of archways and one long stretch of wall to crumbling decay. Despite this, it is obvious that the amphitheatre once hosted many a display and every more festivities than the mind can grasp. This was their solace and safety; here is where the people of Sinbrilee came to find the mind's escape from all that threatened them and their great turtle.

Ghosts have been busy throughout the week, clearing paths through debris and hanging great cloth banners of soft blues and greens to disguise the more blatant signs of its decline. Many hundreds of them shimmer and slid through the area, providing for tables upon tables of food, offering drink, and overseeing competition of sport and skill (some even denying death's non-corporeal curse to enter).

Here, well... Here is where the party begins!

Food & Drink | Music, Discussions, & Dancing | Wrestling & Competitions

Comments

[jirk]

[Jim grimaces to hear it, both the words and the bitterness laced beneath them. They're still a little too public to rely on touch, so he doesn't, but his brow furrows.

He's at an impasse, a crossroads. He doesn't know whether to defend Clara or make excuses for her, or to just set the conversation down a different road. Each consideration feels like a chess move he doesn't take - not played against Kyle, but with himself.

He lets a breath out after a moment, reaches out and grazes his knuckles gently against Kyle's chin, tilting his head up.]

You want me to talk to her?

[imaginate]

[He meets Jim's eyes, searching, and he knows it's not coming from a place of arrogance, that Jim genuinely is concerned (and angry, maybe, or it's disappointment and Kyle hasn't seen enough of it from him), but he honestly doesn't know. He takes his problems in his own stride, solves them by himself because (his heart stops, for a moment) there's no one else.]

[All of a sudden he misses Guy with an ache that's piercing and the corner of his mouth turns downwards.]

Thanks. Uh. [long pause.] It's okay, it's not necessary.

[Therein lies Feelings Land and he's not very good at going there, not because he doesn't want to, but he's simply so unused to being asked about it.]

[jirk]

You want my honest opinion?

[He doesn't wait for an answer, he just plows ahead. Because it's the Kirk thing to do, and he's smiling a little, crooked.]

You've got all the charm you'll ever need. It just sneaks up on a guy.

[imaginate]

[Kyle returns the smile, though his appears forced, it's entirely genuine.]

I also happen to be drop-dead gorgeous, hm?

[jirk]

Beautiful.

[He clears his throat and ducks his head, grinning.]

You're beautiful.

[imaginate]

[It doesn't matter how many times Jim says things like this, to Kyle, it always feels like the first, because the sentiment is so honest. He ducks his head, and tries not to blush, tries not to ask Jim to dance with him right now.]

You'll say anything to score with me, won't you.

[jirk]

[He puts his hands up in surrender, wiggling his fingers.]

You caught me.

[imaginate]

[He runs a hand through his hair, and looks away for a moment, and when he looks back, he's more serious, but calmer than he was.]

You looked like you were having fun out there.

[jirk]

Yeah?

[Jim grins, shakes his head wryly.]

I missed this. People. Parties. I didn't realize how much, until-- you know. It's not like we rolled out the red carpets after the Gorn.

[He leans against one piece of the crumbling wall, locking his knees so he doesn't really have to concentrate on remaining upright. He's been drinking too, even if he wears it well.]

Met that friend of yours. Shayera, with the wings?

[imaginate]

[Kyle didn't do parties the way Jim did (and he suspected there was a lot more of that, given the whole jock thing he shared with Guy), he'd just been lucky to have Dick around.]

[But Jim'd needed the fun.]

More like the cranky older sister I never had.

[He leaves the statement open-ended, for Jim to contribute his own opinions; Kyle can always count on him to be brutally honest where it matters. He can take it.]

[jirk]

[Jim opens his mouth. Closes it again. Tilts his head to one side.]

There's an 'and' there I'm not getting.

[imaginate]

And... she could kick your ass. How're your lessons going?

[What do you think of her? He looks surprised the thought crosses his mind. Approval isn't something he cares to admit he wants, but Jim's matters to him.]

[jirk]

Painfully. She's got a mean right hook.

[But there's more to it, that Kyle's not asking. He wants Jim's honest opinion, and Jim has no idea why. He folds his arms, suddenly a little uncertain, like he's being pushed into a test he's not sure he'll pass. Or that he wants to.]

She's great. Great woman, good dancer. Love the wings. And she cares a lot about you.

[imaginate]

School of hard knocks. She does that.

[He smiles fondly, and fidgets. Two of his favourite people on the turtle were getting along. He hadn't expected Shayera to force her way into his heart like she had, but she had, she was there, and she was looking at all of his demons, unflinching.]

[Including one that wasn't even his: she came from the universe where the Corps wasn't destroyed and Kyle didn't know how to tell her, or even if he should.]

[And then there was Jenny's ghost, weighing on his mind from his earlier conversation, but he doesn't want to ruin Jim's good mood with his own doom and gloom. He's well aware there's just too much pain in his life, and it often makes Jim hurt for him, which he doesn't like seeing.]

[jirk]

[Jim looks at him, actually looks, and his mouth quirks downward into a frown. There's something else here in the ruins with them and he can't quite see it or grasp it, it's like one of those spatial anomalies that you can only see if you cock your head thirty degrees and stand on one foot.

It's the alcohol, screwing with his perception, and he takes a moment to pull the sobriety to the surface. Willpower. Right.

And then he pushes himself away from the rubble and reaches out to take Kyle's wrist.]

Angel.

[He still doesn't know when it stopped being a title, and he clears his throat a little.]

What's on your mind?

[imaginate]

Jenny.

[He shocks himself with the raw honesty and speed of his answer, and inhales sharply.]

It. Uh. She'd have loved [waves a hand towards the party] this.

[jirk]

[Jim tilts his head faintly. Jenny. Not a name he's heard, but the way Kyle says her name, and the past-tense-- Jim's jaw tightens incrementally. He knows, now, the elephant in the room was a window into Kyle's pain, that he wasn't sure he wanted to share.

Jim has no idea if he pushed him into it, or if Kyle's bringing it up because he actually wants to, and he thinks about it for a moment. Finally decides that although there's things he could do to manipulate Kyle if he had to, there aren't many people out there who could get him to do something against his will. Thinking he could be one of those people isn't flattery, it's horrifying. So he doesn't go there. This is something given, and Jim nods, careful.]

What happened?

[imaginate]

[He doesn't usually talk about ex-girlfriends, never. He barely discussed Alex with Donna or Donna with Jenny and he's certain he hasn't spoken about any of them to Sora, but he's opened the floodgates now. It doesn't scare him, how easily Jim can make him open up - he's only worried about the constant river of hurt and suffering that Kyle's had to poured on him, willing him to take it, ease it, fix it. To make him better.]

[Not okay, but better.]

[He coughs, a half-laugh, at the question. Too much like Shayera's own What happened. So much. He was going to be a father, and he'd walked home to find - whatever that guy's name was - in the shower and he hadn't even felt angry, just hurt. So hurt.]

[Playing space cop. He shudders.]

What didn't happen?

[He rubs his palms together.]

She left, what else is new.

[jirk]

[He doesn't know what to say, so for a moment he defaults to nothing at all. There's more to it, Kyle's downplaying the worst. Typical Rayner, and Jim fights down a flare of irritation. Not his problem, not his pain. He knows how Kyle copes, and being needled doesn't work for him. His fingers flex against Kyle's wrist, and he lets him go, drops his hand against his thigh instead.]

Okay, let me--

[He reaches up with his free hand, pinches the bridge of his nose.]

How much do you want me to know?

[imaginate]

[Jim's irritated. Because of his terseness? He doesn't know. It's habit to downplay everything, it's not as bad as it looks, there's been worse, partly because it's the honest truth and partly because he doesn't know how to convey its full horror without suffering a mental breakdown.]

[And all he's been here is just broken. He nearly reaches for Jim, but doesn't. They're still in public.]

How much - do you want to take?

[Giving has to be of his own free will, but so does taking.]

[jirk]

[That earns a faintly incredulous look, an upward cant of his brows.]

You have to ask that question? I want everything. But I'll stop at what you want to give.

[imaginate]

[It's because he can't believe it, and has to keep checking it's real. Kyle purses his lips, brushes his fingers lightly over Jim's wrist before putting his hand in his pocket and drawing out a small green gem.]

This is a memory crystal. It has other uses, but mainly, it works like being in the Dream plane, but smaller. Specific doors, if you will.

[He holds it out to Jim.]

Hold it and squeeze it hard, open your mind. This one will only work for you.

[jirk]

[Um. Okay then. Jim stares at the crystal briefly, and then reaches out to take it. He'll worry about the implication of Kyle giving him things later, and he does as he's bid.]

Okay. Now what?

[imaginate]

[Kyle furrows his brow at the expression on Jim's face - shock, too much of it.]

[He adds:] It'll also call me in case of emergencies. You know. If you can't get to the consoles or your communicator.

[A practical asset, not a gift in the strictest sense of the word, if that makes it less difficult. Jim's like Damian, he needs to name things for himself before he accepts them.]

[Then, he hovers his hand uncertainly, over it.]

Ready?

[jirk]

[Oh, he's onto you, pretty boy. But Jim doesn't protest or argue, he's too focused on the task at hand.]

Yeah. Let's do it.