[ussbansheec] Who We Are
- From: "Moria Grace" <bansheec@xxxxxxx>
- To: <ussbansheec@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Wed, 7 Sep 2005 20:27:56 -0400
"Who We Are"
Joseph Swiftwind S'Ghaladriel, Moria McEntire, Noah Ellis
Grinning at his reflection in the glass, Joseph fluffed at his long black hair
and swung out of his dorm room. "See ya, Chuck, I'm gonna bounce on over to lil
Noah's place, k?"
"Lil Noah? Man, the guy's older'n you and bigger'n you, what you talkin' 'bout
'lil Noah'?" Chuck said from his bed as he kicked his feet back and forth.
Joseph just shrugged and grinned as he sauntered out.
Sitting at his desk Noah worked quietly on his paper while turning from time to
time to look over at Moria who was asleep on his bed. He'd found her sitting
under the same tree where they'd meet the first week of school, crying. The
poor girl was still so homesick that it was hear breaking. "Poor Little
Hummingbird."
"Hey Man of the Two-by Twos, oh Ark Builder," Joseph called as he knocked once
on Noah's door and walked right in. Taking one look at Moria, he raised his
eyebrows, grinned like a fool and turned around to walk back out. "Sorry, man,
didn't know you had company."
Noah got up from his chair and in two strides was standing near Joseph. "It's
not what you think, Hawk. She's a friend who didn't want to be alone." Waving
towards the common room between his room and his roommate's he offered Joseph a
chair. "The girl's homesick, so I let her cry herself out on my bunk."
Joseph blinked ebony eyes at Noah for a moment and frowned. "Hey man, I didn't
think anything. Just didn't mean to bust in being all load and stuff when you
got some cute girl sleeping in your bed... okay," he admitted, "maybe I thought
a little but I know you too well, man. You're not the type to play around so
early, I'd have met her first."
Noah laughed. "Yes my friend you would have met her first, but this one is not
that kind of her. Not that she isn't cute, but she's just a kid, man. Barely
old enough to be whinnied from her mother's breast."
"Looks my age," Joseph said as he peered around to see the little red-head.
Then he nodded. "Yup, way too young. So... I'm bored." He chuckled, trying to
keep his voice down. "Thus, I came to pester you before Chuck murders me."
"Lucky me." Noah teased. Reaching into his mini fridge he pulled out to cans of
soda and tossed one to Joseph. "So what would like me to do to keep you
entertained?"
Shrugging as he popped open his soda and took a swing, Joseph kept glancing
sideways at the girl. "Do a dance, sing me a song, or just be your normal,
entertaining self, cuz."
"I'd pay to see him dance and sing." Came a sleep laced voice. Sitting up
slowly on the bed, Moria rubbed at her still pink and puffy eyes, then the tip
of her nose.
"Good afternoon, Little Hummingbird. How do you feel?" Noah asked as he moved
over so Moria could sit next him.
Moria padded into the common room and flopped down next to Noah, curling into
his side and drawing her legs to her chest. "Aside from the headache cause I
cried myself to sleep again? Like a bloody fool." Blinking she caught sight of
the boy sitting across from them. "Um. Hello."
"Hey you." Joseph offered her a sweet little smile that made his eyes glow.
"Name's Joseph Swiftwind S'Ghaladriel but most folks call me Hawk." Standing,
he held out his hand to her.
Moria took the young man's hand and smiled. "Moria McEntire, Mo for short,
though Wolfie here calls me Little Hummingbird. He says it's because I'm petite
and because I talk and forget to breath."
Grinning broadly, Joseph brought her hand up to his lips and kissed it softly.
"He's kinda good at the whole naming thing. Gave my lil sis hers, Morning Star,
right cuz?"
Noah nodded. "It was an honor to do so, Hawk."
Moria smiled. "Well aren't you the gentleman. I don't see that much anymore.
Even my brothers are bit on the oafish side." Taking her seat next to Noah
again she looked at Joseph carefully. He was rather handsome with a lot of the
same general features as Noah. Then his name fully clicked in her mind and she
bit her lip. She remembered her parents talking about something a few years ago
and the name Swiftwind for someone had stuck with her.
"Hey," Joseph frowned as he dropped back into the armchair and stretched his
long legs out in front of him. "What's that look for, Hummingbird?"
"Your name." She said carefully. She was fully aware of how painfully simply
bringing up a name could be. She saw it every time someone brought up her
uncle. "I remember my Mummy and Dad talking once and I'm pretty sure they were
talking of an NCO named Swiftwind."
Joseph blinked for a moment, using a stunned expression to hide the momentary
grief. "My papa was Chief Petty Officer Matthew Swiftwind." Turning dark eyes
on Noah, he silently asked his friend and adoptive cousin to change the subject
for him before it got messy.
"I was telling our Little Hummingbird that she should come with us to the
colony during the great fest, and that she should bring her paints. She's quite
the artist. I think she would enjoy meeting your Ri'nanov." Noah threw out
quickly after catching Joseph's look.
Thanking him with his eyes, Joseph nodded vigorously. "She's an artist herself,
though she prefers charcoal to paints. You should see the one she did of me and
Matthew, I mean wow! It's like us but also more fully us that any normal
picture could ever capture. She did one for Noah too. Show her the pic, cuz."
Noah nodded and walked over to his desk.
"I use charcoal as well, but I'd hardly call myself an artist. I merely do it
for fun. I'm not really any good." Moria blushed.
"Don't be fooled by her, Hawk. You should see the work in her little studio.
She's in the middle of doing a large painting for her mother." Noah called out
after picking something up off his shelf. Walking over he handed Moria a framed
charcoal sketch of himself as Noah and as Grey Wolf.
Moria gasped. "It's beautiful."
Joseph nodded and smiled. Digging out his wallet, he flipped it open and took
out an old, warn picture. In it was a stunning Romulan woman with her arms
around a tall young man and with another, slightly taller, slightly younger man
behind her, his arms around her waist. "My Ri'nanov, me and that's my brother
Matthew. She's just as beautiful now as she was in her wedding photos," he said
quietly before adding with a little more cheer, "Gotta love those Romulan
genetics."
"She's stunning." Moria agreed as she looked down at the picture. "And you and
brother are both very handsome." Somewhere on the continent her grandfather was
having a targ. Getting up she padded back over to Noah's bed and collected her
satchel. Flipping it open once she was seated again she pulled out a padd and
turned it on. She flipped through a few pictures of cousins, aunts, uncles, and
grandparents until she came to the one she was looking for. Handing it to
Joseph she beamed. "That was taken at my Mummy's Star Fleet twenty-fifth
anniversary party." The picture was of her mother sitting on her garden swing
with all five of her children around her.
"Now she's a stunner," Joseph smiled fondly at the family. "Red haired girls
and fair haired guys, you've got quite the beautiful family there,
Hummingbird." Handing the PADD back, he draped his arms over the arms of his
chair. "Not that mine ain't pretty. But we're all with the dark hair, dark
eyes. Me and my sis, we look for all the world as if we're Romulan born and
bred, my older sis, she's human and my lil bro, he looks it unless you see the
ears." Sweeping back his long hair, he flicked at the points. "Kinda hard to
mistake the heritage with these."
Moria giggled. "My Aunt Abbie use to call them elf ears." She blushed again.
"Both of my brothers look like our Dad and us three girls look like our Mum.
Victoria even more then either PJ or me. Though Vix is a little smaller then
Mummy cause she was the last one to be born."
Noah laughed as Moria got all that out in one breath. "Now do you see why she
is our Little Hummingbird, Hawk?"
Joseph let out the breath he'd been holding in sympathy and nodded. "How did
you learn to do that? It's like you breathe through your nose as speaking."
Moria laughed. "When your number three in a set of five you learn to talk fast
or risk not being able to get a word in edgewise."
Beaming broadly, Joseph held up his hand. "Hey, one of four with too many
cousins to count, I know exactly where you're coming from."
"Yes," Noah laughed, "But your Ri'nanov had all of her children one at a time.
Mo's had all of hers all at once."
"Ouch! Oh man, could you imagine the fighting, Noah? It's bad enough when me
and Jada get going, but woah, I don't think I could cope with being in that
kinda close knit thing." Laughing jovially, he tapped out a tattoo on the arm
of the chair. "Must be hard, missing them though."
Moria nodded. "We were all close but us three youngest were the closest.
Sometimes I miss them so much it's a physical pain, but having Noah around has
helped, and being able to call home whenever I need to." She smiled ever so
slightly. "And yeah we were a handful. My brother James and I alone gave our
Mum more then her share of hard days, nights, and everything inbetweens."
"Now James is definitely a name for a rascal," Joseph laughed. "But you? Na, I
don't believe it. You're too sweet a thing."
Moria could almost hear James snort at the comment. "I think my brother would
have disagreed with that right around the time I tied him in a sheet, shoved
him into a wagon, and tried pulling him to the nearest transport station where
I was going to have him beamed to Mars. I think everyone else would disagree
after the really bad day I'd had when I was nine and I ended up calling my
sister PJ.. well, lets just say what I said to her just wasn't very nice."
Chuckling, Joseph shook his head. "But those are silly things for children,
doesn't stop you being sweet now, does it?" His cheeks flushed a light jade as
he toyed with his drink. "I mean, not that I'm sure you weren't a sweet kid,
it's just that... um... okay, Two-by-Two, you get to dig me out of the hole I'm
in."
"I'm not sure I have a ladder long enough for this one, man." Noah laughed.
"It's ok, Joseph, I understand." Moria replied, offering the young man a warm
smile. "Ya know I don't think I've ever seen you on campus before. Ok, granted
it's a big campus, but I'm surprised we've never run into each other cause of
Noah."
"Thanks, cuz," Joseph shot Noah a sour look but turned his charming smile back
on Moria. "I don't go to college here, I'm training to be a pilot for
Starfleet. I just don't get much of a kick out of wearing that uniform all that
much."
Noah smiled at Joseph. "Your welcome."
Moria laughed and rolled her eyes at Noah before looking over at Joseph again.
"I swear when he first went into the academy my brother slept in his. He still
wears his uniform like a second skin. Personally after thirteen years of
wearing a school uniform I couldn't wait to chuck the whole bloody idea of
uniforms out the nearest window."
"Man, we never had to wear uniforms as such, but the damn thing itches and it
just feels wrong." Joseph shivered against the chair. "Na, I like it as I am
right now, kinda free and easy. Only reason I'm joining 'Fleet is to fly."
"That is why your our Hawk, little man." Noah beamed. "A strong and free
spirit."
Again, Joseph blushed green, this time it heightened to emerald. "Thanks, man.
I love feeling the exhilaration of shooting off into nothing. Hey," he chimed,
"I need to take you guys for a ride sometime."
Moria's eyes danced. "You can do that? My Dad use to take us on rides but Mummy
never let him take us on the fighters. I always wanted to though."
"Course I can. I'll just get you visitor's passes and we'll be off. Hell, the
speed some of those beauties go, I can have you home before you know it, you
can stay for dinner and then be back before bedtime."
Moria's eyes lit up even more. "I'd love to go home. As it is I won't be able
to until Christmas. You guys would love my folks."
"There's a three day weekend coming up." Noah informed them. "I don't know
about you, Hawk, but we don't have any classes that Friday."
"Nope," Joseph beamed, "not a single snore-a-thon. So we set? Man I can't wait
to show you my bird. Well... mine and Chuck's. He's my navigator, bit of an
asshole sometimes but he knows his way around our bird."
Noah looked over at Moria who was practically ready to explode. "Hawk, I think
you just became a Little Hummingbird's best friend."
Moria laughed, her cheeks flushing a light pink. "I'll agree to go on one
condition." Glancing down at Joseph's hand she asked, "You tell me what you've
been drawing with your finger on the arm of that chair."
"Huh?" Joseph glanced down at his dancing fingers and blushed emerald. "Damn, I
didn't even know I was doing it. Hey, Noah, you got some paper? I'll show her
and it's a damn sight more polite to draw it than to strip off and show the
original, right man?"
Getting up Noah went back over to his desk to grab a sheet of paper and a
pencil.
"You have tattoos too?" Moria asked as she watched Noah hand Joseph the paper
and pencil. "I've seen Noah's, it's so detailed and pretty."
"Glad you approve." Still blushing lightly, Joseph sketched out first the
Romulan seal, a great eagle clutching the twin worlds, and then a hawk soaring
across the page as if it were the open skies. "The twin worlds are at the base
of my spine, the hawk's across my chest. I always doodle them when I'm not
paying attention to my hands." Winking at her as he passed the paper over, he
added, "Maybe I'll show you the originals, if you're not too bashful."
Moria stared down at the paper and smiled. "You've inherited your mother's
gift." She said softly. Looking up there was a little pink still coloring the
skin under her eyes. "I grew up with two brothers, I've seen guys in their
shorts before."
Laughing loudly, Joseph inclined his head to her as he flowed to his feet and
dragged his shirt over his head. Dropping it on the floor, he did a little spin
before moving a little closer to her. "What d'you think? Nightwalker's hands
are still steady as a rock."
Noah beamed proudly. "Nightwalker is the oldest of our tribe, and yet the
strongest and most youthful at heart."
Moria traced her fingers over the intranet design and smiled brightly. "I've
never seen such work before. It's beautiful."
"Yeah, they are." Her touch was featherlight and it made him giggle. Bending
away from her as she traced his back, he said, "Hey, I'm ticklish, no fair."
Moria blushed. "Sorry."
"It's the best way to get him to agree to something." Noah laughed. "You just
tickle him until he surrenders."
"Well that hardly seems fair." She teased, as she traced the design of the
tattoo with her eyes one last time. The detail simply amazed her, They're even
better then Dad's.
"It's not fair, it's exceedingly mean and under hand," Joseph informed them
primly as he pulled his shirt back on. "And yet that one's been employing it
for years." Flopping back down on his chair, he folded his hands over his
stomach and smiled as his eyes drifted closed. "So... what are we up to for the
rest of the day? All my classes got cancelled because our lecturer came down
with something rare and virulent, commonly known as food poisoning."
Noah shrugged. "What ever you two want to do. You pick, Little Hummingbird."
Moria blinked then smiled shyly. She'd been working out a sketch in her head
and it took a moment for what Noah had said to click. "Hmm? Oh, um, I'm
starving, lets find food?"
"Food sounds deeply fine to me." Joseph stretched his legs but remained seated.
"That mean I've got to move?"
"Take out?" Moria offered.
"Thai?" Noah added.
"Mmmmm," Joseph sighed happily. Finally opening his eyes, he beamed at the pair
of them. "You order, I'm easy."
Noah just shook his head and smiled as he got up and headed for the comm. "What
about you, Hummingbird?"
"As long as it's from that place near the opera house, anything is good for
me." Moria answered. Looking back over at Joseph she asked, "How old where you
when you had it done?"
"Eighteen," he replied. "I've only had it a few months. Nightwalker refused to
do it until he thought I'd finished growing. I'm almost as tall as him," he
chuckled. "Why?"
Moria blushed again and simply shrugged. Mummy would have a kangaroo.. Wouldn't
she? "Just curious."
"They mean something, you know that, right?" He fixed her with suddenly serious
eyes, knowing exactly what she wanted. "They're sort of a pact or a promise to
be who you are all of the time and never let anyone force you to be less and
also," he added ruefully, "to never let yourself think you're better than you
are. Humility and self-worth."
Drawing her legs once again to her chest, Moria kept her eyes locked with
Joseph's. "Being who I am all of the time is part of the reason I'm here. All
my life I've been part of a set, one of five. Even though it hurts like hell to
be away from all of them, I think for the first time, I'm really getting to be
me. Humility comes with the being part of a set, but.." Her voice softened.
"The self-worth I'm still working on."
"You have to learn to separate yourself from them, you have to be who you're
supposed to be and not who everyone else expects you to be. It's hard," Joseph
said with a one shouldered shrug. "I still have trouble with that bit. Whenever
someone recognizes my name I have to remind myself that I'm not just Matthew
Swiftwind's son, as much as that makes me deeply proud on its own, but I'm also
Joseph of the House of Ghaladriel and Aenohea'eotse, Attacking Hawk of Dorvan
V." Letting a smile finally touch his lips, he added, "But mostly, I'm just
Hawk. That's who I am to me." He stared deep into her eyes and asked, "Who are
you to you?"
Moria sat there for several moments. Aside from being her parents daughter,
aside from being one of the McEntire Quints, who was she? Apart from the choice
to come to Sydney, had she really ever made a choice that didn't involve
thinking of what they would all say? "I'm just me looking for where I fit."
"And that's the problem, Little Hummingbird. You shouldn't be looking, you
should be carving. Take out your knife and hack away at the rock face until
you've got your niche all perfectly formed and you-shaped." Joseph smiled at
her as he retold the words Nightwalker had said to him before he left for Earth.
"How am I suppose to do that?" Moria asked.
"Coming here was a nice starting place." Noah finally added as he came back
over to join them. "Starting your journey can often be the most difficult
part."
"Very true, cousin." Pulling one knee up and hugging it with his arms, he kept
his dark eyes fixed on Moria's. "When you can tell Noah your Name, he'll do
your tattoo for you."
Moria chewed her lip. "How will I know what my Name is?"
Joseph kept his eyes steady as he said, "You'll know."
Moria blew a strand of hair out of her face. "You sound as cryptic as my
Mummy's Dreamtime stories." Then she nodded and smiled. "Are you sure your my
age?"
Noah roared. "He is bit of an old soul isn't he?"
To that remark, Joseph stuck out his tongue and blew them both raspberries. "Am
not, I'm just a pup, aren't I, Two-by-Two?"
"Most of the time, and always and forever in our mothers dreams." Noah replied
with a smile. "But you do tend to sound like Nightwalker at times."
"I'd like to meet him someday." Moria smiled.
"You will when you come home with us for the fest." Noah put an arm around
Moria and hugged her. "Fly boy over there can pilot the shuttle."
"Ha! That'll be fun, but if either of you say 'are we nearly there yet?' I'll
make you get out and walk, k?" Joseph said with an amused smile.
"If I have to get out and push then I take any and all goodies I can talk my
sister into making for us with me." Moria teased.
"She the one who made those cookies and send them to you?" Noah asked. Moria
nodded. "Trust me, Hawk, we gotta keep her inside man." Noah smiled as he got
up to answer the door. "Those cookies were killer."
"Seriously?" he said to Moria. "They that good?"
Moria nodded. "For as long as I can remember my Nanna Lindsey and Grandma Jo
have been battling over who's the better cook. Last year at Christmas my sister
Victoria made the whole dinner... Both the grandmothers surrendered."
Joseph laughed loudly. "Damn, she must be good to have grandmothers
surrendering. They're scary things, grandmothers."
"Try having three of them." Moria laughed. "Well, four but only three are
living, and one my Mummy butts heads with all the time. I have a really large
extended family."
"I don't do too badly on that score myself," Joseph said with a wink. "The
whole tribe is technically my family and then there's the House of Ghaladriel
and they're not small at the best of times."
"So you get how hard it is to lose yourself in your family."
"Oh yes, I definitely get it."
Moria smiled as Noah brought in the food. "This is going to be interesting."
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