SD241808 | JL | Capt Landon Neyes, Cmdr Tristan Neyes | "Live, Love, Lie."

Posted on Sat Feb 18th, 2023 @ 9:12pm by Admiral Rochelle Ivanova & Captain Landon Neyes & Commander Tristan Neyes PhD.

985 words; about a 5 minute read

Mission: Lacuna
Timeline: BACKLOG

=/\= Earth Sally Ride Starfleet Rehabilitation Center =/\=

The dull thrum of the ventilation system lightly set the mood for Landon's quiet time. Alone, sitting in his dormitory, such as it was. The sparsely decorated living space could hardly allow one to do just that... live. A single bed with thin red sheets was neatly placed beneath a large window that encompassed the entire far wall. A luxury he was told, the window, not the bed. It wasn't like he needed sheets anyway, he hardly slept and when he did there was no keeping him from sweating through them. Nightfall had become his enemy. Keeping a step ahead of the dreams and terrors that waiting for him behind his eyes was all he could do sometimes. A cooling cup of coffee accompanied him on the small end table next to the pair of sitting chairs where he sat. Looking at the chronometer, "Any time now."

The room was normally the perfect Mise-en-scène for his meditations. Quiet, clean, void of distraction. Clean lines traced the edges of the door and bookshelves. Or shelf, really, since there was only one and only a handful of books rested on it. Not that Landon couldn't meditate anywhere, but the recent months did not lend themselves well to his concentration. Not only his dreams wandered through the comedy of errors he called his life, but his waking thoughts plagued him. Quiet thoughts nibbled at his composure and confidence, recalling his mistakes and those he'd hurt along the way. Rochelle was now a more common thought than many of his daily habits. Eating. Blinking.

Landon swore through his teeth. Waiting for Tristan had become a pastime at this point. Secretly, Neyes was certain it was some kind of tactic to wrestle out annoyance and emotion from Landon, though Tristan would never admit to such a tactic. Just as he was about to press the comms on the wall to ask where the hell he was, Tristan strolled through the door.

"Good evening, Brother," he said quietly, respecting the late hour. His hair was perfectly coiffed as always, and there was a single PADD in his hand. Though the young counselor and brother spent a great deal of time tending to Landon, he was still a Starfleet officer and counselor to more than just one man. Landon didn't begrudge his sibling for continuing to live his life and perform in his career while picking up the pieces of... whatever this was. Tristan was a brilliant man if a little too proper sometimes. It was difficult to surmise exactly what he was thinking more often than not, and that had never settled well with Landon. There was something to be said for being forthright and exact in one's choice of words, but Tristan masked his intentions in complex workarounds and questions. He was hardly a master manipulator, but the counselor was tricksy.

"You're late. Again," Landon muttered, grabbing his now-cold mug of coffee and taking a drink. The rehabilitation facility wouldn't let him have raktajino, and he knew because several plates and a glass carafe of juice had been shattered in the throws of his reaction. Too much sugar they said.

Tristan smirked, "You're not doing anything."

"True." Landon shrugged.

The counselor walked to the replicator and ordered an herbal tea, then took a seat next to his brother. It didn't take long for the silence to break as his "so let's talk" face came on. "You want to contest the legitimacy of Rochelle's divorce I hear." Tristan's brows perked up as he spoke, looking over the edge of the mug as he took a drink. "So let's hear it."

Landon sighed, "I don't want to bring any more trouble her way. And I don't want to make decisions for her," he stopped, running his finger along the edge of the coffee cup's rim. It wasn't that shame kept him from speaking, he just didn't want to be misunderstood. "But that's what she did, isn't it?"

The look on Tristan's face was surprisingly calm and agreeable, "Technically speaking yes. But there are consequences to consider if you choose this course of action, Landon. She might not be reciprocal to you unilaterally undermining her decision to break it off with you."

"We have a son. She doesn't just get to... This isn't it for us. I don't understand why this happened. I mean I do, except... I guess I don't know why she just cut ties." Landon put the mug down on the table and looked across it to his brother. "I think I can fix this."

Tristan nodded, "You didn't address my concern."

Pressing his face into his fists, Landon leaned forward and rested on his knees, "I did some reading-"

"-perfect." Tristan sighed.

Landon shot him a look, "...and under the pretext that my problem falls under a special category of mental illness or 'disease', then I was not incapacitated but sick when she signed those papers to have our marriage evaporated. I have a lot of issues, Tristan, but knowing that I love her and my son are not one of them. I do have guilt over pressing this issue, but not as much for abandoning her. If she's not willing to hear me out and believes that I can't turn this around for the better then I will let it go. Until then, I want to know I have a voice in ending literally the best thing to have ever happened to me. Can't do it until then." His eyes watered slightly, his voice breaking as he struggled to keep hold of his composure.

"If you're sure, I'll have the paperwork drawn up," Tristan sighed again as a PADD slid across the table at him from Landon.

"Already done."

=/\= END LOG =/\=

Commander Tristan Neyes
Counselor
Starfleet

Captain Landon Neyes
Retired

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