Bare These Bones
Blue Blood Immunity
Kirk and McCoy were already waiting at the front gate when she arrived and both were dressed in casual clothing for the trip to the bar. Kirk was laughing loudly, his head thrown back and his hands in his jean pockets when she turned the corner, McCoy spotting her first because of his friend's distraction. He jerked a moment in surprise before he smacked his friend in the side as she approached, gaining the Captain's attention as well.
"Good evening," she greeted with a faint smile, unable to fight the fact that she felt undeniably awkward under their stares.
"Good to see you didn't wear the uniform," Kirk finally said with a broad smile. "You look good; I was starting to wonder if you owned anything else but uniforms," he teased, missing McCoy's eye-roll behind his back at how his friend was being so open with a Commander. Honestly, he makes friends with Spock and suddenly thinks everyone's going to get along with him.
"I really don't," she admitted, watching the shock skitter across his features. "Not many outfits outside of uniform fit me too well," she explained a moment later, her hands sliding into her pockets in a stance that unconsciously mirrored the man before her. McCoy looked between them with a look that bordered on amused, since neither seemed to notice the likeness of their actions, but he said nothing and continued to watch. "Even my uniforms were specially made in order to fit me properly."
"Don't tell Uhura that, she'll abduct you for a shopping trip," Kirk teased before spinning around. "Bones! You're too quiet."
"Shut up and let's go," he nearly snapped, but Vahl'Sai could see that he wasn't truly annoyed in any way with the other man. She fell into step beside them as they made their way down the street, keeping a careful record of where they were going so that she could make her way back through the winding buildings on her own. People glanced her way as she made her way through the crowds with the two younger people alongside her, but they seemed accustomed to aliens because of the Academy being so close and so they didn't pay her more than that first glance. She was sure that most people only looked at her like she was different because of how young she appeared, yet she had white hair like that of elderly people.
Vahl'Sai found herself relaxing just by the walk over, not noticing that Kirk was aware of it and seemed to ease up in response, no longer feeding off of her negative energy. Kirk and Bones were the ones that spoke the most, but they would be sure to direct questions toward Vahl'Sai, open to whatever she had to say on whatever matter they were discussing.
It was only about a ten minute walk from the Academy to the bar that Kirk and Bones apparently went to quite often, the three of them stepping in immediately to head for the bar to get a drink. When it actually came to ordering, Vahl'Sai simply stood staring at the small menu card with a perplexed look on her face, getting a boisterous laugh from Kirk and a faint grin from the doctor that he tried to hide behind a swipe of his hand across his nose.
"Don't tell me you've never had alcohol," Kirk nearly pleaded once he had recovered, getting a look akin to sheepish from the Sahvarian as she flipped the card over to look at what else was available. "No, that will not do. Since I don't know what Sahvarians can drink, we'll start out easy." With that, he ordered for the three of them.
Beer; nothing. Vodka; nothing. Tequila; nothing. Shot after shot, Vahl'Sai knocked them back without even wincing or making a face. Once she took down at a shot of rum before glaring faintly at Kirk, clearly disliking that one. She had gained quite a bit of attention from the bartenders and a couple of other patrons. People are shouting out the names of drinks for her to try, and she takes them all back like water.
Kirk watched her with an amused, content look as she began to laugh softly as she smiled. She yet to smile broadly enough for her fangs to become apparent to those in the bar, but it was better than her skittish look that he had seen when she first rounded the corner to meet them. Her white hair was beginning to fall loose around her face, the short locks slipping from her braid as her head tipped back repeatedly from the drinks she was having.
People soon started making bets, buying the drinks for her themselves so that Kirk and Bones weren't taking directly out of their pockets; not that Kirk wouldn't be able to afford them on his new salary.
Bones is actually starting to laugh at Kirk whenever he tries something new, but it seemed that Vahl'Sai was just like a Vulcan in the aspect that they weren't affected by alcohol. When he really started to get desperate of finding a way to get her at least somewhat drunk, he ordered a Romulan Ale, sitting back and watching her intently as she drinks half of the mug in a couple of deep gulps, linking her lips with a surprisingly dextrous tongue, before she looked over to him and simply shrugged her shoulders.
Bones let out a roaring laugh as Kirk threw his hands up in defeat, the small group of people that had crowded around passing money that they had placed on bets toward her reaction. Vahl'Sai finished off the mug before asking for a glass of water.
"That one tasted terrible, and I have eaten some questionable things," she explained after downing the glass. A girl that none of them knew, but was clearly from Starfleet by the uniform she was trying to hide under her jacket, came up beside Vahl'Sai with a slight sway to her step.
"What I'm amazed about is that you don't have to pee yet!" she gasped, staring the taller woman in the eye as though she was trying to read for mind for the secret of getting a bigger bladder. Vahl'Sai did a very 'Spock gesture' and raised an eyebrow at the younger, causing her to break out into a fit of giggles and disappear into the growing crowd of the bar. As the night drew in more and more people appeared in the relatively small, comfortable bar. Kirk, though he would not admit it, timed that it was an hour longer before Vahl'Sai actually excused herself to go to the bathroom. When she had left through the crowd, he looked over to Bones and mouthed with a comically surprised face 'where does it go?'
In the bathroom of the bar, after she had finished washing her hands, Vahl'Sai felt a faint tremble to her arm muscles and paused at the sink, ignoring an annoyed woman that had wanted to use that same one while there were two others on either side of Vahl'Sai, however not as clear.
The commander pulled back the deep green sleeve of her shirt, revealing the faintest of her markings. Blinking in disbelief, she traced over one of the lines that she was sure had been black earlier that day, but now was gaining a very distinct blue tone. Pulling the sleeve back down, she clenched her first when the muscles continued to dance beneath her skin. It was something akin to a muscle spasm in her arms, but it seemed more frequent.
When she rejoined the others, the spasms had all but disappeared but her focus was centered on her own body for the remainder of the evening. Whenever there was another twitch, she would discretely look at the inside of her wrist as though she was checking the time. It was nearly midnight when Kirk finally threw in the towel, having, surprisingly, spent the night with only her and Bones and not trying to pick up a single woman in the bar.
"Are you well?" Vahl'Sai asked in concern when he had to lean on her quite heavily during the walk back, hearing Bones snicker from Kirk's other side.
"You're boney," he muttered in response, his head rolling on her shoulder which she knew had no fat on it and there was indeed a very noticeable bone at the joint. "You could be Bones 2!" he yelled with such excitement that he stumbled back and nearly fell into the street had Vahl'Sai not snatched his shirt and stopped him just before he would have stumbled off the curb.
"Good god, man. You're gunna kill yourself," McCoy muttered in exasperation, helping Vahl'Sai to right him. Draping Kirk's arm over his shoulders, Bones took on the weight of their Captain while Vahl'Sai carefully made sure they were going the right way. She didn't feel any effects from the alcohol that she had been drinking, but after stopping Kirk from tripping her arm had begun to spasm again and it was too obvious for her to look at the markings now.
Back at the Academy, Pike had been meeting late with Spock after they had met to discuss Vahl'Sai's placement on the Enterprise. As Spock was First Officer, he had some sway in the decision of who would be placed upon the ship, even if Kirk would be the one to have final say. Knowing Spock's perfectionist nature, they sat together for the majority of the evening going over the files and forms that were going to need to be submitted to the council. Since Vahl'Sai was under special circumstances at the Academy, they had to be careful in how they approached the task.
When it was beginning to near mid-night, Pike called it a night and rose on shaky legs as Spock handed him his cane. Carefully organizing the files on the individual PADD's that they had been using, the two men left them on Pike's desk for him to submit in the morning and were making their way back toward the parking lot. Spock would be returning back to his dorm, but he was persistent in making sure that he walked the still recovering Admiral to his car.
"I will be sparing with Vahl'Sai again tomorrow," Spock stated in a way to fill the silence, drawing Pike's attention fully.
"Really? Well, good luck with that. I wish I could be there to see it. I wonder what it would look like for a Vulcan and Sahvarian to fight; such different styles and techniques will be an interesting clash." Spock was nodding along, remembering that he had only faced Vahl'Sai while they were both using Starfleet regulation training techniques, with their own strengths thrown in.
"I must say that I look forward to seeing the techniques of the Sahvarian race," Spock admitted, earning a small chuckle from Pike before the man stilled with rigidity. At first, Spock thought that it was his injury that had left him in pain, but he realized that he wasn't showing any signs of pain and instead was staring toward the entrance of the Academy where three familiar forms were stumbling through.
Vahl'Sai was hauling Kirk in from his shirt as he was laughing hysterically, the woman slightly dishevelled as Bones walked behind them looking thoroughly exhausted. Kirk had a good grip on the shoulder of Vahl'Sai shirt and her hair looked like it had been pulled at some point, some strands falling free from its braid until her face was framed with tendrils of soft, white curls.
Spock noticed that she winced heavily when the Captain grabbed her arm to help straighten himself.
"Admiral! Spock!" he shouted in greeting, throwing his arms out as if he wished to greet them both with an embrace. Spock raised an eyebrow at the younger man's actions, but didn't say anything as Vahl'Sai tugged Kirk back when he nearly tripped forward, Bones helping her to keep him quiet when he tried to yell for the two men a second time.
"There are people sleeping, Jim. Would you shut up?" Bones snapped as he stopped Jim from tripping into Vahl'Sai.
The Sahvarian appeared tired as she looked between the two men she had spent the evening drinking with, but there was a shine to her eyes that Pike had not seen for a long time. She was content, for some reason or another. These two men had been able to bring her from her comfort zone and do so without her withdrawing further into her shell. Even though she was clearly watching over Kirk like someone who needed to protect a child, there was a friendship there that he had not been expecting to arise.
"Doctor McCoy, I suggest returning to your rooms for the night," Pike offered, slightly amused as Kirk just snickered drunkenly as he teased Bones for his 'mother hen' like worrying.
"Yes, Admiral," Bones answered, tugging on Kirk until the other man gave in and followed after him, shouting a rather loud farewell to Vahl'Sai as they were rounding the corner toward the dorms. The Sahvarian herself watched them leave with a friendly smile on her face, the calm smile bringing a sense of relief to the Admiral now that he knew there were people out there she knew she could get along with. It was sometimes questionable how Kirk acted, but that didn't mean he wasn't a good person, especially to others who often felt different.
"Good to see you enjoying yourself, Vahl'Sai," Pike stated as she turned her attention to him and Spock, giving the older man a nod of agreement. She felt better, aside from the strange reaction to the alcohol that she had consumed, she felt better to know that Kirk was someone she could get along with, and Bones as well. "They made you drink a lot, didn't they?"
"They began a game, the entire bar, trying to see which drink would finally affect me. Doctor McCoy was saying that I have similarities to Vulcans and Romulans because alcohol does not seem to do anything to me."
"You're eyes are huge," Pike commented in return, seeing that her pupils were so narrow they could easily be missed if someone was far enough away. The vibrancy of her green eyes made his look twice, as always. They were so catlike he found them so beautiful, the brilliant green catching in the light and appearing to glow when in the dark. Since they had a coating over their eyes that allowed them to see in the dark, they did tend to glow if light hit them a certain way.
When Vahl'Sai blinked in return to his words Pike couldn't help but to snicker because it only made them look all the bigger, even 'innocent'. "I should be returning to my room as well," she said instead of drawing out the conversation further. "Commander Spock, I will be seeing you tomorrow?"
"Affirmative," the Vulcan answered with a nod of his head.
Pike reached forward impulsively and gave Vahl'Sai a one armed embrace, feeling her head push briefly against his in a manner of returning it before she began her own trek back to her dorm. The two males watched as she disappeared into the darkness of the common, away from any of the streetlights that kept the pathways lit. The only thing that remained visible was the vibrancy of her white hair that almost appeared to glow when it was hit by a stray beam of light.
When she made it back to her dorm, Vahl'Sai immediately pulled her sleeve up to check on the markings again. Flexing her arm until the tendons in her wrist stood out, the Sahvarian frowned at the bright blue that remained over her usual black markings. They were in no pain, and aside from the colour and muscle spasms there didn't appear to be any side effects. Pulling off her green shirt and the black undershirt, she stepped in front of her floor-length mirror that covered the expanse of her closet door. The markings on her ribs were the same as on her arms, stretching around to cover her back with a new colour to match her blood.
Tracing over the swirling markings on her skin, she couldn't help but to frown deeply and rush to remove the remainder of her clothes. Jumping into the shower, she turned it to the highest temperature and stood directly under the spray. It stung for a moment before her flesh acclimated to the heat. Holding her arms up to let the water hit them directly, she watched them carefully for any sign that they were changing back to their original pallor, but there was no change.
Washing up quickly to remove the smell of bar patrons and alcohol from her person, washing her hair carefully to remove the smell of sweat from the strands, Vahl'Sai was soon standing back in the kitchen of her dorm in a pair of black jogging shorts and a tight black tank top to match. The material stretched over her skin nearly perfectly and revealed just how limber she actually was. Her thighs were strong but quite thin, allowing her to remain small when she needed to even though she was hitting six feet in height already—she was already past her fiftieth year, but that was the Sahvarian equivalent for a human in their twenties.
All of her markings were affected the same way, showing the blue tone that was on her forearms. She had seen it before, in a sense. As a natural defence their markings turned a reflective colour, nearly silver, when they were in danger and their adrenaline was pumping. Much of the time, the shining markings were a way to deflect predators because of the instinct that the markings meant a fatal poison in their blood. However, when there was a poison in their blood, like when Vahl'Sai's father had fallen ill, the markings were known to change into a deep blue. Never had she heard of it becoming such a light blue.
Making herself a modest meal, swallowing down several glasses of tea and water in the process, she tucked in for the night with several hours left for her to catch some time to sleep without worrying about overdoing it.
Waking halfway through the night, Vahl'Sai took down three more glasses of water before falling sleep once more, pulling off her light sleep clothes because of the hot, restricting feeling of them.
When she woke up in the morning she immediately had to head for the bathroom when the ten glasses of water and tea finally caught up to her, not even bothering to pull on something to wear since her washroom was attached to her dorm and was private to her as a Commander. Only after she no longer was in pain from the amount of water in her bladder did she notice that her markings were no longer a light blue but were a deep blue that was only one shade away from being black once more.
Pulling her hair back into a tight bun that she hoped wouldn't fall out while sparring with Spock, the Sahvarian considered braiding it back before she remembered that it often smacked her in a distracting way when she twisted her body and decided against it. Leisurely stretching while she was moving around her dorm, Vahl'Sai's relief of feeling no muscle spasms assured her that there was nothing else to worry about.
Since it wasn't until that evening that she was going to be meeting with Spock, the white haired woman instead dressed in her black uniform and left her dorm to grab a larger meal from the cafeteria and pass her office quickly to make sure all of her work had been passed through the system and her cadets grades were all looked over for those who needed starship assignments.
Oh My God, another chapter so soon? This is amazing! ;P
I'm on a roll, don't mind me. The next chapter will, of course, be the spar between Vahl'Sai and Spock. I would like to thank all of those who reviewed my past two updates, I always love hearing from you and it's wonderful to know that you enjoy this story so much. So, I thank you will all of my heart and hope that I can keep your interest in this story.