"Jim-" But he can't get a word in, and he expected that to some degree. All this frustration, all this fire-
And it goes hard and flat and, fuck, now he's stepped in it. Now Jim is genuinely, rightly, facing down Marcus and Khan and Nero and the Narada goddamn pissed.
Fantastic.
"You don't want that. You want to fix this. You want an answer or a solution, you don't- you do not belong here, watching me waste away, because that's what's gonna happen. I am not doing that to you- I've done it myself and it broke me." Some of the weary resignation melts away, an old, irritated fire not yet snuffed out crackling in Leonard's eyes, his voice. "You've faced down everything this fucked up galaxy has thrown at you time and again and come up swinging and like hell am I gonna be the thing that breaks you. I won't do it. So you can stay- a week, maybe two, but you gotta get back to the ship, Jim. You don't belong here. You belong out there. Exploring. Learning. Doing things no sane man has done in worlds no one's ever seen."
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And it goes hard and flat and, fuck, now he's stepped in it. Now Jim is genuinely, rightly, facing down Marcus and Khan and Nero and the Narada goddamn pissed.
Fantastic.
"You don't want that. You want to fix this. You want an answer or a solution, you don't- you do not belong here, watching me waste away, because that's what's gonna happen. I am not doing that to you- I've done it myself and it broke me."
Some of the weary resignation melts away, an old, irritated fire not yet snuffed out crackling in Leonard's eyes, his voice. "You've faced down everything this fucked up galaxy has thrown at you time and again and come up swinging and like hell am I gonna be the thing that breaks you. I won't do it. So you can stay- a week, maybe two, but you gotta get back to the ship, Jim. You don't belong here. You belong out there. Exploring. Learning. Doing things no sane man has done in worlds no one's ever seen."