leftwithmybones | (no subject)

(no subject)

This could be a very, very bad idea. Still, Bran's interested and it'll give Jim someone to talk about space with who won't freak out and have a panic attack at the memory. It's why he shows up to Bran's next appointment with an extra body in tow, with the hope that he can sit at the back and make sure Bran continues the stretches right.

"Remember," he says pointedly to Jim, giving him two prodded fingers in his side. "He's young and he's interested in space. That's no reason you get to brainwash him with space glory. Behave," he says, hoping that Jim understands the message between the lines -- that Bran's from a different world and a different time and their personal relationship doesn't have to be the main event, here.

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"Alright." He' wasn't at all sure this would work, but Bran set his hands and started to lift himself out and up. It's not smoothly done, and and on the first attempt he got up only high enough to perch on the armrest of the chair. From there he reached to pull his legs up and one more lift got him on the mattress.

I did it. Even if I didn't do it right, I still did it.. He smiled and then settled his legs so they were dangling over the side before looking at Jim. His first question was already prepared after spending an afternoon mulling it over.

"When you're flying in the sky, what do you do about the clouds? Are they more or like floating islands or big lakes?"

McCoy smiles warmly as Bran accomplishes his task, rolling his chair forward to give Bran a light squeeze on his knee. "That's it," he praises, settling back in the chair and giving Jim a warning look. "Remember, he's completely new to this."

Jim responds with a look that he hopes clearly conveys a reminder that he is an accomplished Captain, thank you very much, one extensively trained in diplomacy and bearing an actual mandate to interact with less technologically advanced cultures with aplomb.

"Islands," he says, "for a while, at least, but when you get really high, they're more like mountains and valleys stretching out below you, all in white. But we don't see them for very long in our starships. We fly those much, much higher than the sky. We fly them way out into the stars."

He couldn't feel it but the hand on his knee still made Bran smile at him proudly. Then he let out a little huff of breath and imagined how it would look to see a sky like that. Maybe there were sky people that lived up there, children who were more bird than boy who didn't even know what the ground was. Bran was wide-eyed just at the idea.

"So, the night stars are up higher than the day's sky? How close to the stars can you get?"

"Too close," is McCoy's opinion on the subject, giving a grumpy sound that gets caught in his throat. "And yet, some people like it. Jim sure as hell can't get enough of it," he points out, giving him a fond smile.

"Pretty close," Jim agrees, and where Bones' face is all dread, Jim's is all delight. "The thing about stars, though, is they only look small because they're so far away. Up close, they're...well."

Leaning forward, Jim looks at Bran. "What's the biggest thing you can imagine?"

"The Wall," Bran said after a moment. he thought of it the first time they'd seen it after cresting a hill when it'd looked far away and dull as stone and its massive expanse when standing at its foot. "It goes all the way from the Bay of Ice to Eastwatch, and it's more than a half mile high. It's the biggest thing in the world."

McCoy watches him cautiously, hoping that all this talk about space and the expansive nature of the world isn't going to get Bran overexcited. "Don't see the big fuss," he admits from his seat. "Sure, space is huge. Eternal and unending, but it's not like it's much to look at when you're in the thick of it. Now, when you're on the ground and looking up...that's something else."

"Space has many virtues," Jim is quick to interject, "and that Wall sounds huge. It must have taken forever to make. Stars are like that, too, except they're even bigger, and they take millions of years to form."

"Except what are the stars?" The exercises he was meant to be doing have been forgotten as Bran looks at them intently. "If they're not monsters' eyes that spy on you or dead kings or all the other things. What are they when they're places?"

McCoy gestures with a hand, shooting Jim a bemused look. "I'm gonna let you take this one. I'm a doctor, not an astrophysicist. To me, stars are just pretty balls of gas in the sky."

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