#V;Closed -> Paramounticebound

[barebcnes]

Plotted, closed starter for @paramounticebound ♥

There's something surreal about the situation he's in; In fact, absolutely fucking everything is surreal about it, and yet here Leonard is, with his fingers swiping across what is essentially ancient technology, so old in fact that he had to do a proper amount of research before even attempting to put his fingers to good use.

Actually, part of him keeps wondering - why does he do this? Why the fuck did he decide to be here, right now, instead of staying somewhere nice for the duration of the Enterprise's repair? He could be literally anywhere, residing at a damn beach maybe, accompanied by a nice drink (Bourbon, definitely) and the ocean beneath his feet while recovering from the recent events.

But no, he's not. Leonard McCy is currently standing in what is most familiar to him: An Infirmary. Not just any, however, but a high-security one belonging to Starfleet, currently housing seventy-two (no, seventy-three!) frozen patients.

Soon it will be seventy-two, however, because guess what: McCoy is actually thawing one of them right now, the one that has caused a massive path of destruction (and a lot of headaches on top of that!). Perhaps he should question himself a bit more; He's absolutely fucking sober and yet here he is, having volunteered to do exactly that.

"---Gonna end up in hell, I guess.", is what he mumbles to himself as the pod opens; He's holding a data-padd in his free hand, continiously scanning the one with that familiar face, making sure he's not dying on him. Putting him back into cryosleep had been the most logical thing to do, but... dammit, he's a living being, that guy named Khan, and he deserves to get a fucking trial like everyone else would.

And, besides that, there might be more to him, actually. More to his story than what they all know by now...

Perhaps that's why Leonard is here. At least to a certain degree. He's human, he's sworn an oath, he's a doctor, all of those things have brought him where he currently is. I can handle him, he's said a few days ago, I have seen what he can do, I have studied his blood - at least a bit, I didn't have much time - and I know what he's capable of. Besides that, I'm a doctor, I have performed an emergency c-section on a damn pregnant Gorn, I know how to wake up patients from ancient cryosleep! (Not that said c-section has anything to do with handling 300 years old icicles, but still...)

Anyways - Does he know? No time to question anything - because McCoy is already here, and he cannot leave anymore. Fuck.

"---Easy.", is what he says next, as soon as he sees a spike within Khan's vitals. It must be unpleasant to wake up under such conditions - the body remains cold for a while, suspects start shivering in an attempt to warm themselves up, nausea usually appears as well as dizzyness and confusion. As much as the anger about what has happened mere days ago still boils within the doctor's core - he's just that, a doctor. He cares for his patients, even if one of them is named Khan Noonien Singh.

Who has been frozen - and thawed - twice by now, on top of it all. It must be even more unpleasant to go through that whole deal multiple times within a rather short amount of time.

"Easy, easy.", he repeats like a mantra, hazel eyes flicking back and forth, focusing on his data-padd and on the man's features. His heart-rate is quite high, which is normal, but also a bit concerning, all things considered. "---It's just cryosleep. You're waking up from it. Try to remain calm and take even, deep breaths..." Easier said than done, but still - Leonard is at least trying to comfort that Augment here.

[galaeus]

closed starter for @paramounticebound !!

The moment of truth; there are duties as a concubine -- expectations -- and she'll need to keep her mouth shut when she hears out his. There are rumors about this mysterious Emperor, but she doesn't pretend to listen. There are likely stories they've told her of him, too.

Straightforward exchanges always went this way.

When he enters the room, her chin obediently raises. "Your Majesty. I've been anticipating your company."

[vuulpecula]

✖ @paramounticebound inquired forever ago: “Because I love you!”

old meme | not accepting

Tears had already began constricting her throat long before Khan spoke the words she had wanted so desperately to hear. Despite knowing that it was wrong, that that ridiculous four letter word was more dangerous than anything else he might've done. By admitting he felt that way for her, by saying it out loud, by simply feeling it, Fox knew it was as good as a death sentence. Or worse.

"He'll kill you," she whispered, voice so soft now after the fight they had had. Her demanding to know why he cared, why he kept trying to help her, why he always acted protective, while all the while asking for nothing at all in return. "Or he will ensure that you will wish you were dead." Her eyes lifted, damp gaze meeting his. There were places deep in the woods, stones coated with ice, where a man could be locked away for the rest of his life should the family patriarch say the word. Khan was better than that, he deserved better than that.

Shaking her head, Fox returned her gaze to the ground. Watching as the colors began to blur together. "I don't love you back," she lied. Anyone who had seen the two of them together would have known as much. "Save your love for someone else."

[sanguisfulgur]

A DARKER SHADE OF MAGIC / A GATHERING OF SHADOWS by v. e. schwab sentence meme. | @paramounticebound​

“Don’t be cocky,” her mouth quirks upwards in amusement, as if telling Khan that would have any affect. He had the arrogance all augments had, a frustrating trait even if they were perfectly justified in it. But they were not infallible as they convinced themselves they were. “you’re not invincible, Khan.” 

Fingers tip-toed up his chest, balls of her feet lifting from the ground as she settled her hands on his shoulders, lips close enough to brush against his as she spoke. “I suppose I could give you one. Or you could take me along, then you really won’t need luck.” 

[barebcnes]

@paramounticebound asked: ‘ numbers do not lie. politics and poetry, promises, these are lies. numbers are as close as we get to the handwriting of god. ‘

How poetic. Yet, Leonard has long since learned that Khan tends to be exactly that - poetic, in one way or another. It makes sense; His whole existence is poetic if one were to look at it from a different perspective, and so are his chosen words from time to time.

It's funny, considering the other has just said that poetry is a lie, yet here he is, exchanging words with McCoy who almost feels a bit amused by the contradiction - and the intense sincerety Khan speaks with, as if he's ttrying to carve the word of god into slates made of pure marble.

Yet he's right with what he's said: Numbers are solid, the conclusion of many what-if's, while promises and poetry oftentimes consists of wishes, but not of fait accompli. However, it does not mean that every bit of poetry and every single spoken promise is made of lies; Perhaps, to Khan, it feels like such, considering his past and what he's gone through.

And to be honest? God, Leonard can relate. In more than just one way. While his past is disctintively different - thank fucking Jesus, Maria and Joseph - he's gone through his own fair share of promises that turned out to be false, and words of poetry that have been written onto his skin without ever having been truly meant.

It's disappointing, sad even, and that's why Leonard does not chuckle, nor allows a smirk to play along his lips from the short-lived amusement that had briefly existed within him. He merely hums a low, thoughtful tone from somewhere inside his chest; His nimble, warmed up fingers continue to press into Khan's neck, the spot where a strong jaw attaches to an equally as strong muscle, feeling for lymphatic glands during what is a routine check-up necessary for someone who's been frozen twice.

Khan, however, is here. That's almost a miracle in itself - awoken from another slumber made of the freezing cold, alive, breathing. 300 years old.

"---Seventy-two.", is what the doctor says then, after a few seconds of silence have passed between them. He inhales, then exhales, fingers applying a bit more pressure as he finds what he's searching for, deeming the shape and size of the glands perfectly normal.

"And you. Seventy-three."

Only then a pair of hazel eyes flicks up, away from a neck that should have no right to be this long, slender and durable at the same time; His gaze meets Khan's own, lingers, accompanied by a hint of a bittersweet, lopsided smile.

"It's a number. And it's a truth. You're all here, you're all alive. It might not change what has happened in the past, but... I tend to keep my promises."

The promise of not letting another soul die under his attention. No matter what's going to happen in the near future, these people are, well, exactly that: People. Leonard is a doctor. He swore to cause no harm - and he won't.

"...Okay?"

[barebcnes]

@paramounticebound asked: why me? why would you want me to know this? [Some meme I reblogged, always open]

After having spoken for a while now - allowing syllable after syllable to leave the shape of his lips - Khan's sudden spoken words are what finally make him stop, cause a moving mouth to come to a halt and a set of hazel eyes to flick up, focusing on the blues belonging to the other.

The glass feels heavy between his fingers, even though McCoy has already emptied almost all of the Bourbon it once held; Slender digits curl a bit more tightly around it, just for a brief second, while Leonard inhales a breath through his nose, then exhales it right after. He keeps looking at his unusual companion, jaw working as the thoughts inside his brain stumble, unable to form a coherent sentence to throw back at the other - perhaps he shouldn't have drank so much alcohol, should have stopped after the third glass, but well, here he is, losing himself in a pair of eyes so deep and bright that they might as well be damn stars themselves.

Resigning to himself, to Khan, to the fucking world and Universe he supposes, the doctor's eyes trail away after a while - focusing on the table between them instead, his own free hand that rests there, fingertips idly painting pictures onto the smooth surface. Circles and shapes, perhaps even words that come up every now and then, anything.

The almost empty glass is lifted back up to his mouth and Leonard nurses the edge with his lips, quietly so, just for one second longer.

"---I don't know.", is what he says then, defeated almost, like a man who keeps going day after day and at some point succumbs to the weight he carries on his shoulders. "...Maybe because you're the first to keep listenin' to the stuff I say durin' such moments."

And Khan has stayed so far, despite McCoy's obvious liking for an alcoholic beverage at this lone evening. And yes, he also has to admit that he enjoys the Augment's company, even though he knows that others would tap their forehead at him because of that - Sue him.

[barebcnes]

@paramounticebound asked: is this how you flirt with everyone? (( having a bit of writer's block today but i /had/ to at least give bones some love <3 )) [From some meme somewhere]

Before the other even manages to finish speaking out his cheeky little inquiry, McCoy's tongue is already overflowing with phrases and words that could easily be voiced into the air between them; Most of them are snarky, outright witty remarks, some are dripping with sarcasm - and a few can even be considered a bit mean, depending on who is on the receiving end of the doctor's chosen reply.

This time, however, for some odd reason, none of those perfectly prepared syllables are leaving him. They're pushed to the side instead, saved for another time - and another person, perhaps - while he continues to unpack his medical tricorder, hazel eyes taking in the sight of this and that before, at last, focusing on Khan's own.

A second passes, another follows. McCoy blinks, then cocks a brow, unable to stop his own lips from stretching into a lopsided beginning of a smirk before he takes a deep breath.

"---If I say it ain't, will you put your ass down onto the biobed so that I can take a scan of your vitals, like I've been intending to do for a while now?", is what he asks instead, a hint of amusement tugging at the corners of his voice.

[barebcnes]

‘ you promised me. ‘

"I know."

A deep sigh escapes McCoy at the three words that have been spoken into the silence existing between them; They're powerful, much more so than many other words would be, and it causes something inside his ribcage to clench uncomfortably so.

Perhaps it can be seen in his hazel eyes, how much this affects him, despite Leonard trying to remain relatively focused here - Khan has managed to drill himself deeper into his fucking existence than he had ever wanted him to, and now this shit hurts more than it usually would.

"Listen - I know I promised. And I haven't broken that promise, not at all. ---It's only going to be delayed, Khan, not erased from existence, okay?"

"I keep my damn promises, so this will be okay, at some point. Somehow we'll manage, things will be dealt with, and you'll get your fair trial. ---Humans just need longer than expected smetimes. But I'll do everything I can to make sure you'll be heard and judged fair."

...

"And, on top of all of that, I keep lookin' after your people. Make sure they'll be safe and sound within their cryotubes. I won't let anyone else do some bullshit with them - I'll try to keep the position I'm in for as long as necessary."

Another breath escapes Leonard, a slightly choked one, which he follows up with a quiet cough. He blinks, gaze resting upon the figure of the other man before he blinks, putting down his medical equiptment.

"---Come on, let me do the scan, see if you're alright, okay? We can have coffee after, if you want to. ---I brought some."

[barebcnes]

@paramounticebound asked: ‘ vengeance is like an open wound. ‘ (( so you know i'm still floating around and iluuuuu )) [Some meme I reblogged | always open] [ILU TOO 5EVER SENDING YOU ALL THE HUGS, waiting patiently for you ♥]

"---It keeps bleedin' and hurtin', keeps botherin' you - unless it, at some point, starts to heal."

Oh, McCoy knows. Vengeance is dangerous, it's eating away at every single one experiencing it, gnawing on tissue and bone from the inside out. An open wound which can appear everywhere on one's body, one's mind, like a parasite drilling through the beating walls of a steady heart to build a nest in the dead center of it.

"The thing is..."

"...Despite what it makes us think we need to do to get rid of it, to heal said wound, it is not what actually treats it. Perhaps it offers temporary relief, but... in the end, said shitty wound still exists, no matter how many of those gauzes you put onto it, no matter how many of those pills you swallow..."

Responding in kind is not the ultimate answer to get rid of the fire that burns within one - to hurt where one has been hurt, to take what has been taken away from one, to kill what has been killed inside oneself. It's easier said than done, however, Leonard is aware of that; Even he, as a doctor, who swore an oath and promised to never cause any harm, sometimes experiences that strange urge to just... do something stupid.

And Khan? He's special. It's even harder for him to not act on what he feels is necessary; As far as the doctor knows, the genetic engineering that has been performed on him in the past caused some side-effects to occur, including an increased likeliness to react with violence and aggression rather than a calm, steady nature. As much as part of McCoy hates to admit it: It's not entirely the Augment's fault.

Yes, he's actually done some research; Go figure.

That, however, does not mean that Khan cannot let the wound heal that bothers him. He's intelligent, strong, durable, a will made of iron...

A breath is being taken, exhaled - Leonard blinks, then looks up, meeting a gaze that is colder than his own and yet much more emotional than most may expect it to be. It holds a lot of things, some of which he doesn't want to see too often and others he cannot get enough of. Which is... something, definitely. A realization he's had a while ago, coming out of nowhere and settling somewhere inside his chest.

"---However, there's always a way to treat the injury. To finally take away some of the agony... and then, once the bleedin' stops, watch it close for good. A scar might remain, itchin' every now and then... but the pain it causes will become less and less, until, one day, you're ready to cover it up and not think of it so often anymore."

[barebcnes]

@paramounticebound sent: [text] This is a terrible idea. [Text Message Promps | always accepting]

[Text -> Khan] ... Ok, WHAT is a terrible idea? [Text -> Khan] You better let me know right now before I move my ass over to where you are and find out for myself [Text -> Khan] I swear to god Khan [Text -> Khan] If you set the kitchen on fire, I'll set YOU on fire!

[barebcnes]

@paramounticebound cont. [x] because I am dying over here laughing choking on my own spit

"...Yeah. Yeah, I know."

"I, as a doctor, have seen things in my life, Khan - and I truly weren't enjoyin' any of them."

Oh, McCoy has. Not only has he seen unspeakable horrors, but he'd also been asked to treat them, unfortunately so. Lucky him that no one has tried to reproduce with a vegetable on this ship yet... but who knows?

"---So, don't do it. I'll treat anything you bring into medbay - except for pumpkin inners being stuck in places they're not supposed to be in."

[vuulpecula]

Cinta was burned to the ground. Her grandmother and the rest of her family were dead. She was alone and if she was being honest, she was so very afraid. Find the witcher Khan, do not run from your destiny. Her grandmother's words meant little, for Fox did not know where to start, where to look, which way to go and so, she kept walking. Past fields and forests, through clearings littered with remnants of the war that was raging. Skirting around small villages and homesteads were corpses hung like damp clothes on a line, drying and swaying in the wind. Mostly, she hid and stole and tried to survive without shedding any tears. Steeling herself for her life ahead, should it continue. Fortunately, she came across a family who took pity upon her and she thought, briefly, perhaps she could live here instead. Forget destiny, forget the witcher, she could live simply milking cows in the morning and gathering the eggs before noon. She should have known it would not last. It could not last. Though destiny had a funny way of working as she stumbled from the house of ghosts to find him. A darkness emanating from the forest. Two swords at his back. One for monsters. One for men.

"--Khan?" His name was a choke of air in her throat, coated in all the tears she had swallowed over the past few days, weeks. "You--You found me."

✖ a little witcher themed starter for @paramounticebound

[vuulpecula]

✖ @paramounticebound nessa starter :)

“This darn air conditioner, I swear,” Nessa swore under her breath, trying again to get the thing to blast cold air from the vents. They needed a new car, one that was actually as nice as it looked on the outside, inside. Alas, they’d have to save for it and Nessa had never been very good at that. “Anyway, after we pick up your stepsister, we can go pick up some new clothes for you for school.” She grinned at her youngest, her only boy, the pride and joy of her life even if the feeling wasn’t reciprocated. It had only been a few years since she and Vitaly were given sole custody, after the unfortunate disappearance of his mother, and she thanked God every day for allowing her the gift of him.

To both of her children, she had explained that their once stepsister, Alexei’s only child, was now essentially parentless and out of the charity and love in their hearts, they were going to take her in. She had said nothing about how she was the poor girl’s actual mother nor how she was coming with a fat check from the state while her father was incarcerated. Instead, she made up some lie, sprinkled in a few half-truths, and continued to keep her cheery smile plastered on her face.

“You might not remember her,” she continued to fill the silence of the car—the radio didn’t work either. “You were both pretty young the last time we had her over—everyone knew her daddy was going to end up in prison, honestly I’m just surprised that it took him this long.” If she had made a police report, if she hadn’t found a way to extort money from the drunk, then he may have been behind bars way sooner. “I swear, sometimes I can’t believe I was foolish enough to marry that man—let that be a lesson to you, Khan, never marry your high-school sweetheart. It will only end in divorce and a whole lot of headaches.” Not that his father was much better, but at least he didn’t have as much of a wandering eye and a lust for all things violent and crude.

“To be honest, I have no idea what we’re driving into,” she admitted after a single moment of silence. It wasn’t a long drive, only twenty minutes or so. All back roads, some not even maintained enough to be classified as paved. “It’s been a long time since I’ve seen the house.” She still remembered the last time she had stood on the threshold, screaming at Alexei for how he had embarrassed her at the most recent gathering. It had stank of booze and sweat and urine and rot. There was no food in the fridge, no milk, no juice, nothing suitable for the child living there. There’d been plenty of liquor, an enormous amount of empty beer cans and bottles, some shattered on the floor. Fox had been playing with one, cutting out a paper dress out of newspapers to make her own doll ( apparently there had been an incident a few weeks after where she had brought the doll to school and still, no one looked into it. everyone knew alexei alkaev was a dirt-poor drunk, they just didn’t know what else he was ). “Just remember to be nice, okay? We’re the only family she has left on this side of the Mississippi.” She frowned, seeing the turn to the overgrown driveway. “You’ll be in the same class, so I’m relying on you to help me out, can you do that for me?” As if the daughter she was picking up was more of a puppy than a girl grown. “I can bet she picked up on some of her daddy’s bad habits.”

As she took the turn, Nessa sucked in a breath. There was a police cruiser parked in the grass by the porch, the vehicle far too old to still be in commission, but that was how this town was. Scanning for the officer, she found her leaning against the peeling porch rails. Mouth moving as if she was talking, but it wasn’t until she rounded a clump of fallen magnolias that she saw who the officer was speaking to. Fox. All arms and legs. One shoe untied. Knees dotted with bruises and band-aids, looking just as lonesome as the last time she had seen her. “Good lord,” Nessa breathed, pulling the car into park. “Give us strength.” The air had gone hot again by the time she shut off the car, giving Khan a pitying look as if they were the ones about to suffer with the added mouth to feed. “Go ahead and get the bags in the trunk, surely there are more in the house.” There weren’t. There was one suitcase and a pair of worn skates. Her backpack was hooked around her shoulders and aside from a notebook and some pencils, there wasn’t much within it.

[vuulpecula]

      “Do you like her? Mrs. Fitzgerald?” Fox asked quietly from her seat on the rusted swing-set. She had volunteered to help with an after-school program this week, to watch the kids whose parents worked and lived too far out of town to pick them up before five o’clock. They had all gone home by the time the preacher arrived, as she suspected he would. Fox had stayed, twisting herself around and around until the chains above her head groaned and her grip on them as she spun out made her hands smell like rust and blood.

      “I saw her talkin’ to you after yesterdays service.” Talking was a generous term for what Nessa Donne Alkaev Fitzgerald had been doing. It had been a caliber of flirting that had made Fox’s skin crawl. She was embarrassed and humiliated and ashamed. So much so that she had left the church immediately and returned home without saying goodbye. She kept thinking about it though, seeing the scene play out as she pressed her face into her pillow. Nessa was beautiful and she knew it. The way she leaned over, fanning her sweat-covered bosom, had turned many a head. Fox imagined she must smell sweet, like magnolias, and not like someones wild, overgrown onion patch. It was her touches that did men in, though. Her playful prodding, a suggestion of skin beneath her lace gloves. Fox had seen her set her bait against the preacher’s bicep; she didn’t want to stick around to see if it had caught.

      “She’s my mother, you know that? She doesn’t know I know, don’t want me to know, but I remember her.” Fox began to pull herself into another spin, watching above her head as the storm clouds twisted into unnameable shapes. Dizzying and grey.

      “She can’t see me anyhow, so there’s no use in trying to talk to her, before you suggest it. She looks right through me.” The last time Fox was certain that Nessa had seen her at all was the night before she moved out. Walking like a ghost through the halls to see something she wasn’t supposed to see. Nessa had looked right at her and she had thought, stupidly, that in that glance she could see her own salvation. Her mother had turned away, disappearing like a phantom into the night. Sometimes Fox wondered if she had ever been there at all.

     “You should talk to her though, she’s got a rich husband now, could be good for the church. Plus, I hear she has a thing for men who wear all black.”

✖ @paramounticebound​ ❤’d for a starter.

[vuulpecula]

There had been lessons on the planet, Ceti Alpha V, lessons and ghost stories. Wavering pictures hovering from the projector as a voice dictated the history of the rock and those that lived upon it. Fox, despite her close instruction, could not remember a single thing the landscape at that particular moment, nor what grew there, what animals roamed the surface--she could only see the reenactment of Ceti Alpha VI exploding behind her eyes as she gazed upon the man who was, allegedly from the planet that was hurled out of orbit from the event. He did not look wayward, however, he looked more like the former. Destruction in a matter of heartbeats.

"Duke Singh," her father greeted, his jaw tight. "You have traveled a long way." A brisk wind wiped at them all, but Fox had already been shivering. Her gaze having dropped to avoid making eye contact with the cataclysm that was ascending the frostbitten stairs. "It is an honor to have such a renowned sword-master in our presence." There was a shard of disdain in the Duke's voice even as he bowed his head. "And an honor further to have you as a guest." Unwelcome, hung in the air like the icicles above their heads. "Please, come inside, we will speak of why you have come."

@paramounticebound ❤'d for a starter !

[vuulpecula]

@paramounticebound​ inquired: ❛  i won't let them take you, you know that?  ❜ (( from witcher!khan ))

the witcher 3 prompts | accepting

      Fingers curled around the weather-worn railing of the barge. The wood groaned. Had she not held tightly to it, her fists would’ve been clenched at her sides. Impossibly tight. “I know that everyone who has ever said that to me has either ended up dead or wishing they were.” Her pale gaze remained on the water, unsettled by the near stillness of the current. Occasionally, they still passed evidence of the war, but she could not shake the feeling that forgotten bodies were not the only things lurking beneath the dark surface. Perhaps it was from spending too much time with her companion. It was said that witchers found monsters, yet she was beginning to wonder if it was the other way around. If monsters found witchers.

      “Who knows, maybe you’re different, special,” Fox spoke the word as if it were a curse, for was it not? “Perhaps, once you know, once you see what I am capable of, you will gladly push me toward them if only to rid yourself of--” Another monster. “Of this burden.” And she would not fault him for it.