Room 222 | Saturday Night

[pursuedthestars]

Jim was flat on his back, staring up at the ceiling. It was as exciting as it sounded. He figured he should stay in this weekend since he was still healing up from his adventures last weekend. His face was still bruised but it looked much better than it had. He didn't look like a stupid raccoon anymore.

His torso and neck were still marked with fading yellow bruises but he could deal. He'd had worse. Despite all that, he still wasn't going to be moving much. It was a night for quiet contemplation and introspection.

...

Goddamn, Jim was bored.

[Open door/post, sure]

Comments

[whenshewasnice]

Natalie wasn't bored because bored didn't really enter into things for her anymore, not with how busy she was on a regular basis. But, she still had times where she wasn't doing anything in particular. And this was one of them.

Perfect time to check in on Jim and his injuries with a call.

[pursuedthestars]

Jim was really damn grateful for the ringing phone because it gave him something to do.

"Hello?" he asked, putting the phone to his ear. "Jim Kirk here."

[whenshewasnice]

Natalie half smiled at that greeting.

"Hello, Mr. Kirk, it's Natalie Adams' office calling," she replied, putting her best perky secretary voice. That didn't get used much.

[pursuedthestars]

"Natalie has an office now?" Jim asked, playing along. "Since when? I thought she had an apartment and a laptop with which she made collages of herself."

[whenshewasnice]

"Media coverage surveillance, Mr. Kirk, not collages," Natalie corrected easily. "She has an office for this and many other tasks."

[pursuedthestars]

"Collages," Jim insisted. "But, she sounds pretty important, huh? Why she's calling me?"

[whenshewasnice]

"I really couldn't say, that's above my clearance level." There was some blanket-ruffling in the background when Natalie flopped back on her bed. "But I do believe something about medical status check-ups was mentioned. As well as general check-ins."

[pursuedthestars]

"Do I get to talk to Natalie to give these check ups and check ins?" Jim asked. "I don't want to tell her secretary. Can I talk to her?"

[whenshewasnice]

"Of course, Mr. Kirk, please hold." For a second there, she even considered humming some hold music for him, but decided she wasn't feeling like that much of a dork, and just dropped her secretary voice for her own milder tones. "Hey, Jim."

[pursuedthestars]

"Hey, Natalie," he said, snickering. "What's your secretary's name?"

[whenshewasnice]

"Janice."

Don't ask her why.

"Nice girl, eh?"

[pursuedthestars]

"Yeah. Sounds hot," he said playfully. "Can you get me a date with her?"

[whenshewasnice]

"Of course," Natalie drawled. "I hear she puts out on the first date, but you'll have to do all the work because she's imaginary."

[justbeingbay]

Bay was almost as bored as Jim was, though not as bruise-splattered. So she was wandering the halls to see what was going on.

"Are you doing anything?" she asked from the doorway. "'Cause I am not."

[pursuedthestars]

"I really wish I was," Jim said, picking his head up and smiling over at her. "But, I'm not. I'm actually literally staring at my ceiling."

[justbeingbay]

"Scootch over and I'll stare at it with you?" Bay offered, with a grin to show she wasn't all that serious about the offer. "And we can ponder the cruel fate that led us here tonight."

[pursuedthestars]

"Welcome to the bed," Jim said, making some room for her. "I'm pretty sure I've figured out the meaning of life just by staring up at this ceiling."

[justbeingbay]

"Yeah?" Bay asked, laying down beside him. She was trying not to crowd him, but dorm beds were never exactly going to be capacious. "What is it? And I am so impressed you got it from the ceiling. All I see when I look at mine is a water spot."

[pursuedthestars]

"Hey, why would I share something as deep as the meaning of life with someone?" Jim teased, glancing over at her. "Wouldn't you keep that information and use it to your advantage? Like if you knew the location of some fountain of youth or something. It's a sacred secret."

[justbeingbay]

"You're right," Bay said, teasing right back. "I'd probably keep it secret at least until I had a book deal. You don't want to give the secret away free and, like, dilute the value."

[pursuedthestars]

"Exactly." Jim was glad they agreed on this! "Gotta be smart about having such a big secret. I'd take the secret to my grave..."

Though really, that didn't sound all that enticing. "Maybe not that extreme. I'd tell someone on my deathbed if I was able to."

[justbeingbay]

"I think I'd want people to know," Bay said, taking it halfway seriously for a minute. "I mean, why should I know the whole secret to life and nobody else? I'm not that special."

[pursuedthestars]

"I think you'd have to be careful about who you tell," Jim said, thinking about it seriously now. "Like, you'd have to really trust that person because what's stopping them from going around and using that to their advantage? Or selling you out? Stealing your credit? You'd have to really trust them not to fuck you over."

[justbeingbay]

"See, I was thinking you could write a book or put it online," Bay said, propping herself up a bit to get a better look at Jim. "But if it wasn't something that would work if everybody did it -- yeah. You tell the wrong person, and you could seriously mess things up."

[pursuedthestars]

"And then everyone would know the meaning of life and then it wouldn't be some huge, sought after secret anymore," Jim said, nodding. "It'd lose it's allure quick."

[Apologies! I passed out hardcore last night.]