More Than Who We Were
Posted on 27 Apr 2025 @ 6:04pm by Chief Petty Officer Ibis Xeri & Major Porter Wallace
Mission:
M4 - Falling Out
Location: OC, Environmental Deck
Timeline: Immediately following Capturing the Moment
1581 words - 3.2 OF Standard Post Measure
After photos, Ibis’ parents and brother had fallen into more of the same. While her family was having their own mini drama— complete with a string section playing in the background, no less— Ibis slid her hand into Wallace’s. She looked up at him, concern in her eyes.
For once he wished she still could read his thoughts. This wasn’t exactly the place to have a long drawn out conversation about his sudden realization, but it also wasn’t something that could exactly wait. She’d thought this evening was going to be splendid; instead, she got shocked. So, he did what he could, mouthing ‘Marcus,’ and pointing up at his father’s installation. Then he mouthed ‘should be here.’
And so she didn’t feel bad, he then tried pantomiming what he thought was a good ‘can you believe that shit?’ movement, but only succeeded in looking a little deranged. Acting had never been a strong suit. Neither had charades.
Marcus? Ibis felt confused. Her face flushed and she covered half of it with a hand. She had been the one to make the invitations, of course. And she’d been sure that Porter wouldn’t have wanted Marcus there. Not after… And now he looked… angry? She looked more distressed by the moment. She’d meant to have an engagement party to announce their happy news and to give Porter the best engagement gift that she could imagine, but she’d only succeeded in upsetting the man she was marrying, and she couldn’t understand why...
Still nearby and observing the miscommunication underway between his daughter and her betrothed, Irwin cleared his throat and leaned closer to his daughter. Only his empathic ability made Wallace’s poor attempt at miming make sense. “He’s trying to say,” Irwin whispered, “that he can’t believe he’s even thinking this, but Marcus— his brother, I take it? — should’ve been here for this. He’s using more colorful language, of course.”
He wanted Marcus there? “Oh.” She bit her lip and looked at her feet, not sure how she had misunderstood his feelings about his brother. Maybe because she had felt relief at thinking Porter probably didn’t want her to extend Marcus an invitation. Deep down, neither did she. But maybe she’d done the wrong thing.
Ibis had a thought. “What time is it?” She whispered, prompting Wallace to check his new (old?) pocket watch. As he lifted it up and she got a glance at the time. “It’s not too late.” The party should go for a couple of hours, at least.” She felt herself trembling at what she was about to suggest, sensing a tripwire she was tiptoeing close to. “You could… call him.”
“And say what? ‘Hey, bro, come on down so we can look at some of Dad’s art. Afterwards, I can beat the crap out of you.’”
~He’s very conflicted.~ Irwin narrated for his daughter.
It wasn’t possible for him to have told her anything more obvious. Ibis exhaled and lowered her gaze, giving her father a warning look. Read this, Dad the look dared him, as if she were a petulant teen all over again.
“Talk about colorful.” Using bemusement to try and diffuse the awkward moment, Irwin rocked back on his heels and folded his hands looking for all the world as if he was completely unaffected by the multiple layers of telepathic turmoil roiling all around him. “Wallace, I believe Ibis thinks you should talk about this later.”
Wallace glanced at Irwin, then at Ibis. He groaned. “We’ve hit some new low. We’re having a conversation via your dad.” With a yank on her arm, he urged her along with him across the lawn and behind the sculpture, hidden for a moment from the throngs. “What do you think? Should I…I can’t believe I’m even…should I invite him?”
With a couple feet of marble between themselves and their company, Ibis felt the cool of the stone on its rough, uncut side. She sensed her nerves buzzing, and grabbed Porter’s other hand, as if to complete a broken circuit and ground herself. “I… I want to meet him. Even if… I don’t know. I mean, he can’t take Ikemba, not here. We have a lawyer. He can’t actually do anything.”
“There’s plenty he can do. Upset me. Upset you.”
She shook her head, thinking about Timoleon being himself now, her mother’s wailing over this whole engagement, her father’s pushy peacemaking. Being upset by family seemed to be the rule. “It’s family. He’s your family. Why wouldn’t–”
“We got in a fist fight at Dad’s funeral,” Wallace suddenly blurted. “I was on leave. I was also pretty drunk. It’s all a little hazy, but I know I called him a coward for sitting out the war. He called me a ‘blood-crazed lunatic.’ It was the last conversation we had.”
Ibis grimmaced a little. That was awful. “That was a long time ago. Maybe… maybe he’s thought about it too.” Even as she said it she wasn’t sure. Porter seemed to think that Marcus specifically took the case for the Childresses and Omeleyes to get to him. For all she knew, he was right. Maybe it really was a way to get back at his brother. She’d been a kid during the Dominion war. She knew she couldn’t really understand what fighting on the ground had done to Porter. But she doubted Marcus was wrong in his feelings at the time either.
“I don’t think either of us said anything that wasn’t true. I still he think he was cowardly. He was still pretty athletic at the time. Smart. He could’ve pitched in. And I was - seriously, Ibis, first time we met you must have thought I was…” Wallace’s mind went through a cascade of synonyms for ‘crazy,’ and ‘murderous,’ unable to choose just one.
She chuckled in retrospect, but it was an awkward, almost pained laugh. Up until that point, she’d never met someone with as dark of a psych as Wallace had projected. Trying to touch his mind back then– even just casually as any Betazoid might in polite company with a stranger– it was like being inside an iceberg and a volcano at the same time. She’d reacted internally like pulling her hand away from a fire and learned very quickly not to go there. Yet, for her, the dread of him had always been mixed with a kind of morbid curiosity, the same kind that came with getting too close to the edge of a towering cliff side, needing to peer down over it.
“You were never gentle with your opinions then.” She tried to sugar coat it, but even she couldn’t maintain the veneer for him, and instead decided to be honest. “But I do remember…”
Ibis let a twinkle into her eye, mixing memory of his hellish terror with her own mischievous penchant. In her small voice, Ibis launched into her attempt at mocking him, something she’d always been careful to do out of his earshot. “ ‘You don’t qualify to hold a fork much less a phaser’, ‘You should get the hell out of an active training area’, ‘Learn to fucking read’. Mmm, my favorite… ‘You ought to turn around and trip yourself out of a goddamn airlock, Crewpuke. Except with arms that weak you’d need help with the fucking valve.’”
Porter’s eyes dodged hers as he heard the memory of him speaking through her. That hurt, angry Marine was still there, she knew, but he was so much more than just his pain now.
“Honestly,” She continued, “I probably needed all of those push ups. You were right about me back then, too.” She let her lips twist in a thoughtful smile. At a time when he’d stopped talking to his brother, he’d only begun talking to her. She’d had the chance to get to know him, while his relationship with Marcus had been frozen in the same bitter place. “You were the scariest son-of-a-gun I’d ever met. But,” she shrugged one shoulder to her ear, trying to downplay it. “I was only eighteen. I’ve met a few more since.”
“None of them have managed to sweep you off your feet, though.” Wallace paused dramatically. “Right?”
Ibis looked up at him through dark eyes and shook her head, no. “You are my favorite vicious, ruthless, hard-assed, hopeless bastard.” She tucked herself inside of his arms, placing her small hand over his chest where his natural heart used to be. The place where he’d drawn the names of his family. “Just heartless.”
He leaned down and deeply kissed her.
Working against her own growing desire, Ibis broke off the passionate kiss with a little gasp for air. “Hey, this is a family friendly event, Major.” She slapped his ass before unwinding herself and twisting away, spiraling as if he had spun her around before letting go of his hand.
Ibis looked back at him once, trusting in whatever decision he might make.
When they parted he looked at the back of the sculpture and sighed. “Goddamn it. Computer, contact Marcus Wallace…”
