Buying time is one thing that Kirks do best, not that Jim would ever put it in those words, for obvious reasons. He lines up a shot on the solid he didn't sink earlier, and it sails smoothly into the pocket, damn near followed by the cue ball from the amount of force he put into it.

"I had a kind of... gap in real school after I was twelve," he admits, looking over the table to decide on his next move. "I basically roamed around doing odd jobs from fourteen to twenty-two. Did some time as a deckhand on a cargo cruiser, waited tables, did exotic dancing, spent a season helping out on a ranch in Australia. Ended up in jail a couple times, mostly for stupid reasons. Got recruited into Starfleet four years ago, graduated last year." She already knows he's on day one here in the Nexus, so he doesn't bother to tell her again.