A Good Influence

Posted on Sun Dec 13th, 2020 @ 4:13pm by Lieutenant Commander Mara Ricci

Mission: S0E0: What Came Before
Location: Mara’s Office

The argument and fight of this morning was still in the back of Mara’s mind while she worked on the ongoing repairs from the damage done by the wirewolves. As such, she was a little more irritable than usual, causing one of the engineers working with her to suggest that maybe she’d just better go work on the daily report so nobody would be breathing down her neck looking for it. Doing something calm like reports didn’t really appeal to Mara, but even she had to admit that she hated being hounded for the report even more than actually doing it.

So now she was in her office, glaring at PADDs and her computer console. Not exactly her idea of a productive day, but it had to be done.

A knock on her door jam caused her to glance up, and then glare as she recognized her brother. “What do you want?” she asked curtly.

Marc winced. She was pissed and he could tell. But she was his baby sister, whom he had loved since he first laid eyes on when he was twelve years old. She was the only person to completely and totally accept him for who he was, the only person who didn’t expect anything from him that he was incapable of delivering. He had to make it up to her. “I came to appologize,” he said meekly.

Her arms crossed across her chest and she sat back in her chair. “I’m listening,” she said coldly.

He took a deep breath. He might not be terribly smart, but he was actually pretty good at reading people. He had been doing some thinking and he realized why the name he had used in reference to Spires had upset her so much. “I think I understand why I made you so angry,” he said, stepping into her office. “You feel that that particular term says more about you than it does about him.”

She bristled, but said nothing.

“I don’t think you’re the type of girl to only use a man for sex,” he promised. “And that’s not what I meant at all. And I’m so sorry that I hurt you. Please forgive me, Mara.”

She looked away from him and swallowed hard. He was right. The name had touched a nerve because she had always felt it was aimed more at the girl. Like the only way she can get a man is by sleeping with him. “That’s a start,” she said. “Do you promise to never use that term again? Like ever? Not just about Spires, but about anybody?”

“Absolutely!” He promised, making an X over his heart.

“And can you at least be civil to Spires?” she asked.

“If you mean can I refrain from punching him, yes.”

She grinned slightly. “I suppose that’s more than I can ask for,” she agreed. “Okay, forgiven.”

Relieved, Marc collapsed into the chair opposite her desk. “It’s hard for me, Mara,” he said. “You dating him, I mean. He and I… we were awful, especially about women. I think we sort of fed off one another and made each other worse. It wasn’t pretty. My SO put me in for a transfer and made it look like a really great opportunity. ‘I’ve recommended you for a position on the Lumineer. You’ll get to see a lot of new places. I envy you!’ You know the drill. It wasn’t until recently that I worked out he was just trying to separate Stephen and me. We really were terrible.”

“But you’re not like that any more,” she pointed out. “Is it really so hard to believe that he has changed, too?”

He gave her a doubtful look. “Has he?” he asked.

“Well, okay, maybe not,” she relied. “Not when I first met him anyway. But he’s changed recently. I think I may be a good influence.”

“You’ve always been a good influence,” allowed Marc. “I never told you, but before you were born, I was a troublemaker. I found school difficult and didn’t feel like trying. And I got into a lot of trouble while resisting my education. And then you came along and those tiny hands locked around my finger and… I dunno. It’s like something snapped. I had to be better all of a sudden. And I was.”

Mara smiled. She had heard stories from her brother’s childhood and had pieced a few things together to figure out that he was a bit of a hell raiser, but had never said anything to him about it. Why would she? It didn’t matter now, did it? “And Spires is better, too,” she admitted. “I didn’t want to believe him, but…. do you know how long we’ve been seeing one another? Four months! Francie pointed it out to me. We haven’t spent a night apart. Oh, don’t squirm! I’m an adult and if I want to have sex every damned night, I will. That’s not my point. My point is, how long has Spires stayed with one girl in the time you knew him?”

Marc shrugged. “Three days?” he replied. “Maybe a week?”

“Exactly,” she replied. “If I have to be perfectly honest, I don’t know how long he’ll stick around. But, I’ll let him stay as long as he wants to. Will it hurt when he eventually leaves? Yes.” She took a deep breath as she realized exactly how painful it would be. “But I’m still going to let him stay as long as he likes. Because I’m good for him. And maybe- just maybe- he’ll be better for the next girl.”

Marc was quiet for a moment, and then, grudgingly, without meeting her eyes, he asked, “does he kiss you on the forehead?”

Mara blinked. “What does that have to do with anything?” she asked.

“Does he?”

“Yes.”

Marc cringed. That’s what he was afraid of. “He’s not going anywhere,” he said.

“How can you possibly-“

“Guys only kiss two types of girl on the forehead- the ones who gave birth to them and the ones they want to keep for a very long time,” Marc interrupted.

Mara studied him for a long time. If he’d been talking about anybody else, his mannerisms would have been out of place. But about Spires, it made sense. For him anyway. He didn’t like seeing her with Spires, so the idea of Spires sticking around for a long time was distasteful to him. “Well, then,” she said. “Hopefully a lot of influence will rub off on him.”

“Please don’t use the term rub off when referring to Stephen Spires,” he replied, looking uncomfortable.

“That’s disgusting, Marc,” she said flatly. “Anyway, I have to finish these reports. Dinner later? And you can tell me all about your fancy new ship. You do have a ship to go with that rank, don’t you?”

“Of course I do!” replied Marc, feigning insult.

She grinned. “Okay. You can tell me all about it at dinner. Just you and me. No Spires, I promise.”

“Deal,” he replied, standing once more. “Don’t work too hard,” he advised as he left her office.

Mara sighed and went back to her report. Well, at least she had Marc on board with being nice. Now if she could only convince Spires to do the same.