“ woah— hold up you’re bleeding. ” // kirk
the planet they'd materialized upon is a humid one. subtropical - walled in by large, viridescent leaves. much akin to their earth's rain forests. and perhaps they'd even be hard to differentiate, if it weren't for the alien flora that seemed to - migrate. communicate, as though they were birds or . . . dolphins. the universal translator had eventually been able to make some sense of the language, though they seemed mostly to be guiding one another to food. too much water also seeming a legitimate concern for them. in-fact, he could not help but to note upon first inspection, that these particular notions might have delighted mister sulu, should he have been assigned to this particular landing party. kirk even remembers having caressed a petal between his fingertips, wondering whether or not he should actually send for the helmsman. perhaps in an attempt to begin some sort of planetary survey. and indeed he might have - had the advanced species populating this world not proven themselves to be quite unpredictable.
kirk was never one to sit things out - despite protocol preferring his exclusion from certain . . . risky scenarios. now typically mister spock would attempt to justify his remaining behind by reminding him that he is the most unexpendable member of their crew. and yet, while his answer might typically be that while either of them by themselves are expendable, both of them together are not - he would often take that chance, regardless. requiring his first officer, and relying upon him in ways that make his absences increasingly apparent during their admittedly rare occurrences. like now, for instance. though injured or not, kirk would rather be here - doing something - than lain up in bed, helpless. often one to find himself with scotty halfway up a jefferies tube getting his hands dirty, rather than fidgeting within his chair. shifting in an unending quest for comfort while he thinks of the one million things that could be going wrong. not that he distrusts his crew - quite the opposite, in fact. however, if he had his own way he'd have his hands in every department out of love. having made it his business to memorize every system, every post under his command. breathing alongside the groaning bulkheads, and able to notice even the slightest discrepancy in the tune of his bridge.
"am i?" the captain's mouth is ajar, tongue pushing out past his lips. blood and mud caked upon the broadness of his shoulders and chest, torn from the struggle on the planet's surface. "well, i suppose i am." his exhale is laboured, augmented by a grin. clasping the engineer on the shoulder, even if the exhale subsequent feels as if it were caving in his lacerated chest. slightly leaning his weight upon the other without necessarily intending to. "don't worry about me, lieutenant. i'll live." his amber eyes are soft, and warm. though perhaps that had something to do with the slight wooziness brought about by the slowed pace following such an injury as the one he's sustained.
"and while i'm sure doctor mccoy might have something to say about that, until then - we press on." he speaks, giving the slighter shoulder beneath his palm a reassuring squeeze before it drags a bit. eventually falling away entirely. he purses his lips, smile faltering slightly. i could use my science officer right about now, kirk thinks. and breathing hard, each heave becomes more cumbersome than the last. he can't help but lament his inability to stop the vulcan being carried off by natives, clearly surpassing the hybrid's deceptive strength. though if that were the case, what chance did any of the rest of them have? the recent memory of spock's head slumped against his chest as four of those beasts carried him off like a wheelbarrow - one limb assigned to each - currently plaguing the back-half of his attention.
"i'm worried about him too." he says a little softer, tone taking on more of a personal quality. "just keep your head, engineer. i need every man i have, and i need them at their best, is that clear?"
BLOOD RELATED PROMPTS. @eidetic187.
