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

[alphatar]

[Never had Korra a more uncomfortable moment than when Jim didn't respond to her right away. Each passing second that he spent trying formulate any kind of words was like a hammer that drove a nail straight into her self confidence. This wasn't something she would have asked of just anyone, even if she was rushing into it like she had always done with anything new she learned.

When he did answer, her brow lifted slowly and she hugged her knees and he dress sparkled slightly from the reflection of the party far below in the amphitheater. Accepting what had always been the case for her, being the sole exception.

'It's okay with friend's a person can trust, except Korra.'

She just nodded as she stared at the bleachers they sat on.]

[jirk]

[Whoa, no. No, that is not okay. Jim sees it in her posture and body language, that fear of rejection, and unhappiness, and he gets up and goes to sit beside her on the bench, reaching to wrap an arm around her.]

Whatever you're thinking, stop it, okay? You are beautiful, you're smart and talented and determined and totally amazing. You are going to rock somebody's world some day. It's not about you. It's me not being the right choice. I-- look. There's rules in Starfleet about not sleeping with people on your crew, because it's an abuse of the power and authority you have. It's like that here too, okay? I've got more experience, I'm older, it's just-- even if you want it, I'd feel like I was taking advantage of you, and that'd be awful for me, because of how much I care about you. If we were closer to the same age, absolutely. I'd do it in a heartbeat. You probably wouldn't even have to ask, I'd have been chasing after you from the moment I met you.

[alphatar]

[Every other teacher, instructor, mentor and master would have just relieved to get finally get some silence and acceptance from Korra. When Jim moved, it jolted her out of the usual slide she made into just giving up and doing what she was told.]

No, it's okay. I'm used to it, I know. [Mako had avoided her when they first met and she just tried to chalk that up to bad luck.

She had received similar compliments from Bolin, and even from Jim they were hard to take. Any good word that fell outside of her bending or fighting had been hard for to take, even harder to believe.

After a long pause, she finally leaned into his arm a little.]

...I can figure it out. I'm not stupid.

[jirk]

I know you aren't, why would you even say that?

[There's genuine concern in his tone, and he rubs his hand along her shoulder, aiming for comfort.]

[alphatar]

Because that's what it usually means when I'm doing something wrong. [Being stupid, charging head first into things without thinking of consequences or how other people would feel, how they would be affected by it.

She hugged her knees to her tightly.] I don't have many friends I'd feel I could trust with something like that. My boyfriend and I never even had time to be a couple, too much was going on to even think of ourselves. Now that he's here after I've been here for four months, I don't even know how to say 'hi' to him without feeling confused.

[Her stupidity at thinking she'd never seeing him again, her stupid need to kiss Jack without holding anything back, and now her stupidity at thinking she could really understand anything about sex with Jim.]

I'm used to it, I know. [She repeated quietly.]

[jirk]

So? Talk to him. The best thing for a relationship - any relationship - is just. Communication. Knowing what the other person's thinking or what they mean when they say certain things.

[He nudges her gently.]

Just give it a try, okay?

[alphatar]

You make it sound really easy. [Months of separation really made it all the more awkward, but she knew he was right. Finally she looked up at him, the nudge being the thing that got her out of that sense of rejection.]

There’s a lot we haven’t talked about yet, and I don’t think he’s going to like any of it. [And the sex part was the least of worries now that she thought about bringing Mako up to speed on what she’s been doing during her time on the turtle.]

But if you think I should, I’ll try it the next we’re alone.

[jirk]

It's not easy. But when it's over, it's over. Like-- I dunno, surgery or something. Conversational surgery.

[Because that totally makes sense, and is totally advice Jim takes for himself, right? Wrong. But hey, you can't spell Jim Kirk without 'hypocrite'. Hypokirk? Whatever.]

[alphatar]

The sex part or the communication part?

[Not a lick of sense, but she's trying to roll with it.]

[jirk]

[... Korra no.]

The conversation! Sex is way easier than talking about your feelings.

[alphatar]

I hope so, because feelings are way too complicated as it is.

[That's official since it's coming from the biggest, walking relationship disaster on the turtle.]

But sex doesn't sound that easy either. [And why did they have to be related to each other?]

[jirk]

You just have to-- you know. Get used to it.

[IT'S NOT HARD?? idk man he was younger than her when he was getting involved in that. Who remembers what it was like a decade ago? Not this asshole.]

[alphatar]

All it takes is training, right? [That may have been a partially legitimate question. She took a deep breath and looked down at the party, now dreading possibly seeing either Mako or Jack there.]

Do we have to go back there?

[jirk]

Not if you don't want to.

[He folds his arms behind his head and leans back against the bench behind him.]

Hell, we can stay up here all night.

[alphatar]

And look up at the bottom of the ocean? [Looking up at the dark blue that faded to black the higher up it went, Korra smiled and placed her elbows on the bench behind her.]

Maybe just a little longer then. I mean it's not the stars, but it'll do.

[jirk]

Everything's a new experience. You know, if you ignore space travel, the ocean used to be the final frontier on Earth. All this other stuff they knew, but they had maybe half the various species' on the ocean floor figured out.

[He holds up a hand, reaches up as if for the stars, and drops it down against his stomach.]

[alphatar]

Never really thought of it that way. [She never had to.]

What’s it like back home; being able to go anywhere you want to, do what you want to do?

[jirk]

[A laugh.]

First, that's not how it works. I mean, I have some freedom, but I get a lot of assignments, too. Go check out this planet, go study this new species, go make first contact with this warp-capable society.

[He frowns a little. Maybe this is something she needs to hear. Maybe it's something he needs to say for himself, because it was a hard lesson for him, too.]

There's no such thing as freedom without accountability. Being a captain isn't about doing whatever you want whenever you can, it's about being responsible for a thousand people under your command, being able to justify your actions and your choices. Even the ones that get people killed.

[alphatar]

Oh, is that all? [Asked lightly and playfully.]

Why would they give you an assignment that could get people killed? [She turned onto her hip so she was facing him.]

[jirk]

Because sometimes it's necessary.

[A tiny bit blunt about that.]

We're peacekeeping, Korra. That means military. We just-- put more emphasis on exploration. But our ships have weapons for a reason. Not everything out there is sunshine and rainbows.

[alphatar]

[Silence for a moment, while she figured out whether she should have asked that question or not.]

But that's not what you like about it?

[That dream didn't have the slightest hint at anything militaristic, and Jim never seemed like the military type.]

You lost people. [That was the only conclusion she could draw.]

[jirk]

No. It's not why I joined Starfleet, and it's not why I became a captain. But it's a part of it.

[Her next... statement, he supposes, makes him wish he'd had the foresight to bring a drink with him. Maybe they should go back to talking about sex or something.]

I haven't lived it yet, but yeah. Four hundred people. Because I made a bad call.

[He could say 'make'. Divorce it from his own reality. But he saw it in Spock's mind, and there's... no coming back from that.]

[alphatar]

So you saw your future in that water. [The only experience Korra had with it was getting a small bit for an emergency. For one person, just in case her healing couldn't save someone. Just one.

Not four hundred.]

Like you said, there's going to be decisions that might cause that.

[The sheer weight of his responsibility was now really hitting her, and back home the world would be placed into her care when she was fully trained.]

There's got to be a way to avoid it then. [There has to be.]

[jirk]

No. Spock, he's--

[He waves a hand.]

Vulcans are touch-telepaths. He showed me. It's. Complicated.

[He heaves a sigh and then rubs a hand over his face.]

And yeah. I think so too. But that doesn't mean that it didn't already happen out there, in one universe. It did. And even if I change what happened, there's a version of me that still has to live with the consequences.

[alphatar]

[Vulcan. That was something she would have to ask about. A time when she hadn't just offset her friend.]

You can't worry about other version of yourself. There's probably a Korra out there that got to travel the world and find her. own. teachers.

[Comprehension dawned on her in those last few words. It was very tempting to think about what could have been, or could be.]

It's not like you meant to, or going to mean to. [Talking about it was stranger than she thought it would be.] That's what's important.