Hoofing on Eggshells

Posted on Tue Dec 31st, 2019 @ 8:44am by Maica III 47 & Ensign Briaar Gavarus & Ensign Fiona O'Dell
Edited on on Tue Dec 31st, 2019 @ 11:43am

Mission: Neutral Zone Neutrality
Location: USS Hera, Deck 8, Massage Parlour
Timeline: 2396

In an odd twist, the Captain's wife was the ship's masseuse, so it left O'Dell in the unique position to call her for an emergency session for Gavarus, who had done her best to comfort her injured partner in the night by curling up on a biobed that could barely contain her, forget about the both of them. Now, as they had managed to stagger to their quarters, Gavarus' spine was in knots, and her mostly-recovered partner was having none of it.

"Aye, her back and shoulders are all knotted oop and in the mornin' I know she'll be barely able ta move. I know tis late and not a decent hour, but kin ye help? We kin get back to work in tomorrow if she can move agin, and it'll make her feel worlds better if she can fix what went wrong with the experiment yesterday. Otherwise she'll be stiff and in pain and she willnae be able to function, and 'twill joost make her a grouchy swine all day," O'Dell explained in hushed tones as Gavarus relieved herself in the reclamator.

With a soft and kind smile, Maica replied happily. "I can be at my parlour right away if you can convince her to come in. I have a tonic to start her off with and can have her a big pile of goo in no time. Have her come in pajamas so it's easier to undress for the treatment, ok?"

“Aye mum, I’ll have her in her jammies and ready ta be worked oover,” O’Dell replied, turning away from the comm station to gather some fleece pajamas out of the drawers in which they were kept. Pursuing her achy partner on the reclamator, O’Dell appeared with a bundle of comfortable pajamas and a pair of fuzzy pink-snouted pig slippers.

"Fee? Who in the hell were you talkin' too out there?" Briaar grumbled, a little confused as her somewhat sensitive hearing had picked up the quiet conversation clear in the living section of their much larger new family quarters.

“Oi! Ah made ye an appointment to see the ship’s masseuse, Briaar, so she’s waitin on ye on Deck 5. She said ye should wear yuir jammies for easy on and off, so get dressed and I’ll help ye shuffle oop there, aye?” Seeing the objection raising, she pointed her finger at the snout of her porcine partner. “Nae arguments- ye curled oop wi’me on that tiny bed and yuir back will be oota whack and yuir shoulders’n neck’ll hurt fuir days if ye dinna. So yuir goin’, and that’s the end’a that, aye?”

The tone of the Mariposian midget was clearly not one to be argued with, as she was most definitely in ‘mom mode’. Minnie couldn’t argue it and neither could Gavarus.

The portly Porcine on the potty protested as she rose from her posterior position. "I'll be fine. I'll just take some pain meds, have a beer and... GAAAHH!

Wincing as she stood up and cleaned herself off, which required bending the aforementioned spine at a less than ideal angle quieted Briaar's complaints rather quickly. "Well, that shut me right the frick up. Gimmie."

Reaching for the provided jammies and mock-sneering at the pleased expression on her pint-sized partner's face, Briaar stiffly slid on the expansive garments. The two-piece pajamas were light pink, plush felt with a pattern of cartoon strips of bacon with angel wings all over them. "Well, this is a classy look. Lead the way."

“She’s nae g’win ta joodge ye, Briaar. And dinna forget, tis the middle of the night and she agreed to meet ye right away, so tis clear she has yuir best interests at heart. So c’mon,” O’Dell hefted Minnie out of her crib and with a series of grunts got the fussy toddler into the stroller, ignoring the doctor’s orders about heavy lifting and immediately regretting it as her head pounded with the cruel beat of a Thunderchicken dancing a jig in her brain. Meanwhile, Minnie, fussy at having been awakened, was not cooperating with being strapped into her pram.

"Ach, Minerva Moo, dinna ye start wi’ me. I know yuir unhappy and I am too, but we canna joost leave ye here, and I need to help yuir momma get some help… nae, ye spit that buckle oot… OOOT… alreet, that’s better,” Fiona sighed wearily as she struggled with the fussy toddler.

Sticking her disproportionately small hooves into the provided piggie slippers, Briar rolled her eyes and cricked her neck slightly with a wince. "Minnie, be good. Listen to your mum ya' little terror. She got punched out by a Klingon and I tried sleeping on an ironing board sideways. We're all a little cranky."

The fussy little Minotaur babe tugged against the belt in the pram wobbling back and forth and making tiny little grumbly grunts as she pouted groggily in the seat. Sighing, Briaar looked around the room, picking the small white puffball of a Tribble that had been cooing in its colorful plastic habitrail. "Do you wanna play with Cueball? You like Cueball, right?"

Smiling a little more, the sleepy little baby reached out her three-fingered grabby hands towards the trilling tribble and started mumbling, "Coo... Coo." Trying to say 'Cueball', the Tribble that she had thankfully been extremely gentle with whenever she was allowed to hold it.

But when Briaar bent over to give Minnie Cueball, she locked in place and winced. "AHHHH! Oh, for F***s sake! Yeah, that's not good. Yeah, this is probably a good idea, Fee."

“Aye… alreet, lean on the pram, since ye designed it sturdy, because unless I’m g’win ta fetch the banshee, I’m nae big enough or strong enough to set yuir spine back to right. Ach, me poor dear,” Fiona darted about her larger and slower-moving partner, grabbing blankets and the diaper bag with a grunt and a groan.

“Let’s get this cripple caravan moovin’, aye?” Fiona grunted, squinting against the headache that had quite suddenly made a comeback when she had disobeyed the doctor’s orders. Patting Gavarus on the hip to indicate to her to start leaning on the pram to push it forward. O'Dell began shuffling forward as well.

"Okay, we're moving." Briaar grunted as she leaned into the heavy-duty pram and started, very slowly, into the corridor. "Fee, put that shit on the tray at the bottom. You're not supposed to be lifting shit and I can see you squinting. Just take it easy, stop lifting things and let's... shit. Where are we actually going? I don't even... who IS the ship's masseuse?"

"Accordin' ta the ship's registry, tis Deck 8, one of the inner rooms near the lifts, not one of the big ones with the nice views the senior officers get," Fiona groused as she grunted the diaper bag onto the pram as Minnie dropped Cueball's 'hamster ball' off the side of the stroller. Inside the sturdy ball, the albino Tribble just squeaked in surprise, then cooed a bit. Coming around, O'Dell bent to pick it up, then felt more blood rush to her head. Grasping the ball and rising, the puny pilot opened her eyes wide as she grimaced, then visibly took a shot at calming herself to hand back the ball to the child with the pet inside.

"Ye have ta be careful wi' Cueball, m'wee girl," the unlikely mother explained to her child. "His carrier is toough, but inside it he is not. He's a vurrah soft an' fragile creature, aye? Wee and delicate, like your mum, aye?" Holding up her fingers, Fiona spread them apart as Minnie spread her own three-fingered hand. Already her stubby hands were wide and sturdily connected to her wrists, which were not at all delicate. Whereas Fiona's hands were perhaps twice the size, but pale and thin and spidery.

In reaching out, Minnie lost her grip on Cueball and accidentally dropped him again, with a cry of dismay. But standing right there, Fiona O'Dell was ready, and as Cueball trilled in a frightened tone, the dextrous damsel caught the ball on top of her foot like a futbol player. Reaching down to take it from her foot to hand back to Minnie, she winced again, but turned it into a smile, as mothers do. "S'alreet, we'll do better, aye? Yuir mums will help ye."

Looking up at Gavarus wearily, O'Dell side-eyed the pram.

As they slowly made their way down the hall to the turbolift, O'Dell lay slumped exhaustedly over the sunshade of the pram Gavarus had engineered for their particularly challenging childrearing, as the space pig gradually eased them on their way. Looking down, in spite of the pain in her back and neck, Briar smiled at the sight of her ginger partner splayed, face down, on the canopy right under her, finally not trying to pick things up. They were ridiculous and weird and in spite of it all, the odd, makeshift family simply worked as they slowly crept to the lift and to Deck 8 

Following the instructions on which way to go, which Fiona made by pointing while lying flat across the canopy of the pram, they eventually made their way, one stiff step at a time and finally arrived at Maica's masseuse parlor. The tense Tellarite was glad that their path lead them in the opposite direction from the two VIP doors that were perpetually guarded so she wouldn't have to explain the somewhat ludicrous sight. "We're here, Fee."

As they arrived at the door, it opened and Maica poked her head out wearing nothing but a red velvet robe tied around her waist and barely concealing her prodigious 'assets' which were a match for the first officer's. "Please, come in. By the looks of it, you both need treatment."

As she helped them inside, it was as if they stepped into another world. Incense had been lit, every surface had been covered in either deep, burnished mahogany or red crush velour, and there was a pot of aromatic tea brewing just in case on the counter. The thing that was most unusual though, was that every last scrap of ship noise had been silenced as soon as they crossed the threshold. Not even the cycling of the grav-plating could be felt.

"What the effin' f***?" Briaar muttered as she looked around the room, wondering if they were still on the same ship. She moved like a woman in a full-body cast, tilting at the waist, not the neck to do so, and as she did, little Minnie took this moment to chime in with a garbled, "F**K! He he he!!"

Turning as red as Fiona's hair, the portly porcine gave an awkward grin towards the green-skinned photonic life form, "Heh! Frickin' kids, right? Heh. Sorry, we kinda couldn't get a sitter this late."

"S'alreet, Briaar," O'Dell opined as she slid off the pram and back onto her feet, only to crouch down to begin unsnapping Minnie from her safety harness. "She kin only work on one of us at a time, so ye go, I'll mind the wee one and joost relax. fetch us oop some bee- ah shite, I canna drink, doctor's orders. Phooey."

"Phooey!" Minnie mimicked, and Fiona leaned close to grin in the child's face, then stuck out her tongue. "Aye, that's reet! Phooey!"

"Phoey!" Minerva mimicked, then squealed with delight as Fiona tousled her hair, up in bows as usual. Taking the large tot onto the plush carpet with her, Fiona found a floor cushion to place beneath her bony butt, spread her spindly legs and kept the little one between them as Minnie played with Cueball and sucked on her pacifier.

Still leaning on the pram, Briaar grinned and let out a snort of a laugh as she turned to look at Fiona and Minnie, but the laugh quickly turned into a grimace. "GYAAAGH!!! Yeah, forgot not to move my frickin' neck! Shit!"

"Uh... so... I guess... what do you need me to do, uh, Doc?" Briaar knitted her eyebrows as she addressed the thinly robed woman.

"Please, just Maica is fine," the well endowed holographic woman insisted as she pulled back the curtain to the inner massage parlor, revealing the massage table, a large tank built into the wall containing two large Bolian squid, and a pair of tables full of mysterious-looking bottles. "If you'll come back here and disrobe, I'll have a relaxation tonic ready for you in just a moment, then we can get you on the table so I can work you over, ok?"

"Dis... uh... yeah, right. Okay. I can... uh... I can... uh..." Gavarus hemmed and hawed slightly as she stepped into the chamber, looking around and taking in all the unusual fixtures and details. "Yeah, and... um... disrobing. Right."

Nervously, the two-meter tall, one hundred and ninety-five-kilogram Tellarite pulled the pajamas off stiffly, tucking her arms and legs into her soft and wide middle to try and cover herself up as best as possible, self-conscious about her large body in the moment.

"No, don't be self-conscious," Maica insisted as she finished mixing the small fizzing concoction and handed it off to Gavarus. "Now drink up. It'll help relax you. And if it'll help you relax, I'll disrobe as well." Without a second thought, Maica shed her robe and tossed it aside, the red holographically generated fabric dissolving before it could hit the floor.

On the floor, O'Dell's eyes shot wide open as she took in the sight of the holographic hottie whom the pint-sized pilot did not know was actually photonic. What she did know was that a number of emotions were colliding at the same time.

Sins, to be more precise.

There was most certainly envy. Tall, lithe graceful, long of limb and perfectly formed as if a sculptor had carved her then airbrushed her green. Hair that fell in cascading waves, falling effortlessly into place even when she completely changed it's direction. A butt that literally was heart-shaped, with her tiny waspish waist which very clearly never saw a sandwich. Or a beer, the thought of which made O'Dell's stomach gurgle. making its desires known. Feeling envy confused O'Dell a bit. Fiona had seen plenty of humanoid bodies, in all manner of undress. While she might not wish to be as she was, she never really looked at others wishing for their gifts. She had hers, and by and large, she was content with her lot in life, secure in who she was.

Maica III 47, however, was no ordinary woman.

The superheroic physique she sported kindled something to which O'Dell was unaccustomed- wounded pride. She could see Gavarus was trying awfully hard not to look, but sneaking guilty glances. As she had no interest she'd offered an open relationship to Briaar, who had refused, deciding she could live with 'alone time' and wanted to be devoted solely to her sexless wee Fiona. Seeing the effect it had on her gal somehow still struck at her, and she felt jealousy for the first time in their relationship. Which was odd for her too, because she still didn't care if Briaar got her rocks off elsewhere.

Yet that pang she felt, with her envy and her wounded pride as Minnie loomed up in her vision, forgotten briefly in the little lass of the heather's contemplation of something a bit beyond her experience.

Taking the small cup, Gavarus downed it like the seasoned drinker she was as her eyes went wide and her cheeks went as red as the robe that had dissolved into nothing. Gulping the drink down it got caught up in her throat as she began to hack and cough slightly, turning towards the table to lean on it as she coughed, clearing her throat and looking anywhere but at Maica's endowments.

"*KAFF* Yeah... *KAFF COUGH COUGH* Much... much more relaxed." The ponderous porcine hacked. As she did, her small curly tail flexed up with each cough.

"Shhh... there there..." Maica rubbed Gavarus's back as she coughed, leading her over to the massage table. "Most people take it a little slower, you know. But that's ok. You'll be ok in a moment. As soon as you're ready we'll get you face down on the table and I'll start working you over, ok?"

Stiffening up slightly at Maica's touch for a moment out of nervousness, Briaar gulped loudly. The Tellarite engineer was a lesbian with a decent sex drive in a relationship with an asexual woman, and while she had more than enough means to handle her urges, she was nonetheless, not immune to Maica's attractiveness.

"Okay, Doc... Sorry, Maica. I'm... I'm good. But I don't know if that mickey of yours is gonna really have much of an effect on me. I mean, I'm... well... you can see how big I am, and I've got a pretty strong tolerance for..." Then she paused and her eyebrows raised high as a slight smile crept across her lips. "Ooooor not. Okay, I feel that. Nice. That's some good shit."

"Okay... table. got it." Gavarus, starting to feel the effects of the concoction, smirked a bit as she drug her leg up on the narrow table and slid awkwardly on to the top, dragging her belly across the surface, roughly. "Damn lower nipples. Ow."

As Maica helped Gavarus up onto the table, she explained a bit. "I'm linked into the room's scanners and took into account your height, weight... Alcohol tolerance... You should be a big rubbery, relaxed, space piggy for me."

Having gotten her porcine patient on the padded place of palpation, Maica began with slow, even circles at the top of Gavarus's neck, working her way down towards her shoulders. "And soon we'll have you right as rain with a rainbow shine."

As the green-hued masseuse worked on her porcine patient's neck, Briaar winced slightly. "Yeah, AAAAGH! That... That's the spot. Well, one of the spots. Tryin' t' sleep on that bio-bed all crooked really screwed my back up. Feel like I got hugged by the Thunderchicken all over again."

"Aw, fer crissakes," O'Dell muttered under her breath as a spark of anger lit within her. The time she'd damn near killed her partner was a weird haze of exhaustion, which was and yet was not her. Still, guilt stabbed at her whenever she thought of it, and remembering how scared she was that she'd killed Briaar. Kind of her. Whichever it had been, the guilt lived on, and the mention of it churned the esoteric ensign's emotions. Which in turn made her reach for the furry child that was a third her size now, and pull her in close hugging her like a rather adorable doll.

Nothing was missed by the holographic hottie as she studied the feed she was getting from the parlour's sensor feeds. As she cracked Gavarus's neck and realigned it, then moved on down her spine, she decided to pepper in a bit of light conversation. "I couldn't help but notice how cute little Minnie is. Enalia mentioned she's growing up fast, but I think she might be a bit more adorable than our little Moira."

"Damn Skippy! Minnie is the cutest little girl in th'... Ooh... In th' galaxy." Briaar said, slurring slightly but still with pride in her voice. "But we're biased when it comes to our little Manure machine. She's... She's jus' one's th' best things that ever happened t' me. I love that little cheeseburger so much."

It was clear that Maica's muscle relaxer was having a considerable effect on the tipsy Tellarite. "One'a the best.." she muttered, smiling and trying to look over towards where Fiona sat with Minnie, though her snout was wedged in the small opening in the table and she couldn't quite turn her head to do so as a result.

"We both have pretty amazing families, don't we? Though I'm not sure I agree with Enalia already trying to teach little Moira swordplay. I mean, it's a plastic sword, but still... Isn't that a bit much?" With a quick press and a pop, Maica realigned several of Gavarus's vertebrae before moving further down to her lower back. "Did you want a hooficure as well?"

"I dunno." Gavarus mumbled, groaning slightly as the massage felt really good. "I mean, I show Minnie when I'm working on an engine or a part in our quarters, and she plays along with her li'l blocks n' shit. An' Fee's brought her in th' simulater a couple'a times showing her how t' fly. I mean, she don' understand any of it yet, but it's a way t'... ya' know... commect an' shit."

"So, she's connecting with a toy sword. I bet the L-C'll teach her and th' chief's li'l birds how t' fight event'lly. It's all good." Gavarus had been going on, finally remembering the other question asked. As she did, she bent her knees and stuck her disproportionately small hooves in the air and wiggled the around. 

"Nah, they're fine. An' b'sides, Fee needs t' get taken care'a too. I'm feelin' much better, but she's still hurtin' more than she wants me t' know, but I saw." Gavarus muttered, a little louder, yelling through the hole in the table. "I saw you wincing! I know your head still hurts! It's yer turn, Feebers. Y' gotta g't better, too."

“Feeber? Ugh, dinna call me that,” grumbled the lilliputian lass. “Take yuir time… Doc said 24 hours til I kin return to duty innyhow, and if yuir nae able to work we canna get innything done. So get yuir hooficure, I’m foine.” As she was wont to do, Fiona lied, trying to cover for her physical infirmities. In point of fact, her head was pounding, the three breaks in her jaw the doctor had mended were still sore, and while the soft tissues had been regenerated, the discs in her upper vertebrae were still swollen with fluid, leading her to said migraine. But she didn’t want to be thought incapable, so as always she lied to pretend she was fine as she hugged the bovine babe, who was now reaching for the hamster ball containing the family pet.

"Uh... o... okay." Briaar said, suddenly noticing Fiona's mood as she tried course correcting her previous statement. "S.. sorry. I... I didn't mean a... anything, Fee... sorry... Fiona."

Immediately, the engineer on the table tensed back up as her nervous stutter kicked in. The cricks in her neck and back were gone and she wasn't in pain anymore, but a high tolerance for intoxicants meant that the groggy effects of the muscle relaxer were easy enough to shake off when she picked up on Fiona's tone. Immediately, she tried to figure out what she had done wrong, running through the last few minutes to the best of her recollections and failing to figure anything out.

Pulling her hooves back down, Briaar scooched off of the table and grabbed her pajamas and held them up in front of her as she stood behind the table. "I... I'm done. I don't need a hoofa... thingy... to work the numbers on the belt or anything. I can watch Minnie... uh... Min...Minerva. But you should probably get looked at. I'm... I'm worried about you."

For someone so large, Briaar immediately looked like the smallest person in the room, holding her pajamas up in front of her like a child afraid of making her parents angry. She didn't understand what was wrong, but she knew enough to know Fiona was upset... and upset at her. Continuing, Briaar was struggling to not make another mistake or say the wrong thing again. "I c... can see it. You're too pale and you keep squinting. I... I know what headaches and p... pain look like." 

"All right then, it's your turn, Fiona. Disrobe and I'll help you up on the table," Maica patted the table as she waited for the slightly smaller woman to comply. "I'll do what I can to help with your condition as well, unless you'd rather go to sickbay."

Looking over at the emerald-skinned bombshell and feeling acutely aware of the differences between them, compounded by Gavarus getting nervous and unsure just made Fiona that much more miserable. She had no desire to disrobe in front of the woman who was so very, VERY clearly a WOMAN, as opposed to O'Dell's pre-adolescent build. Of course, she didn't want to get yelled at by the doctor either, and possibly grounded for even longer for disobeying doctor's orders. Rising from the floor with a wince, the midget approached the buxom beauty, looking up at her from beneath her brows, trying not to stare at the nipple that was roughly eye level with her.

"Um... do I hafta take me clothes off...?" O'Dell asked, one hand crossing her body to grasp her elbow in a stunning display of self-conscious body issues. "I'm really nae comfortable wi' nekkedness..."

"It would certainly help and we're all women here..." Maica rested one hand on O'Dell's shoulder as she continued speaking. "Sweetie, I'm sorry, I know I'm a bit much to take in at times, But believe me when I say that clothed or nude, biological or photonic, it's what's in your heart that matters. My origins may have been for sex... And I won't lie, there's still a lot of those subroutines in me... But with the captain of this vessel, I've found something truly wonderful that I wouldn't give up for anything. Just having seen you a few times in passing and meeting you here and now? I think you both might know what that something is. Don't you?"

Maica then bent over just slightly so she could look the slightly shorter woman in the eye. "Now tell me if I'm wrong, but I don't think that some holographic masseuse is ever going to get in the way of that something, now is it?"

Pulling back a bit and screwing up her face, O'Dell looked confused. "Wot? Nae! Nah, noo, s'not..." Waving her hands before her and taking a step back, the pipsqueak pilot tried to qualify her feelings. Which was a process normally aided by alcohol. but in this case, it was not, and that wasn't helping. Taking a deep breath and closing her eyes as she did so, Fiona O'Dell attempted to articulate her emotions.

"Mum, if she 'twas on the table and ye offered me partner a 'happy endin', I'd be fine with it. She's got a hella sex drive, and I respect it. I dinna want ta watch, mind, but I just dinna get the bodies slappin thing. But... ah, see'in ye in the, ah, altogether and all... I think ah maaay joost have an idea what it;s supposed ta be aboot. I mean yuir... uh. Yuir like... sex that walks and talks and has it's own parlor and joost...." Looking down, O'Dell rubbed her elbow a bit more. Her headache was pounding and she felt frustrated, though she couldn't define why. Glancing back at Briaar, who was still hoofing on eggshells, Fiona offered a smile she hoped would put her partner more at ease.

"Seein ye makes m'feel like..." Mariposian maiden looked frustrated as she struggled to find the words to define what she was feeling. "Ah mean, I knoow m'not a woman s'mooch as a child, joost... mostly adult sized and in me thirties. I know I'm short and small and generally annoyin on account of me chirpy disposition and me accent which is the dogs's boolocks, I'll have ye know. But point bein', I dinna dislike meself. I know what I look like wi' me big frizzy mop and me pale skin and me knobby knees and bony elbows. I'm alreet wi'that, because s'part'a who i am, and part'a what lets me do what I do."

"But seein ye... I mean like, alla," O'Dell waved a hand in the general direction of Maica's hourglass torso and prodigious bosom, then looked up to the full ppouting lips, perfect teeth, straight nose, flawless skin and practically glowing eyes, O'Dell looked as she felt- a bit lesser. "Alla ye. Ye joost make me feel... not good aboot meself. S'not your fault, m'nae sayin that. Joost me, an'... that's all. I joost had ta get that offa me chest was all." Looking down at her bird chest then back to the twin ripe melons currently staring at her in perfect symmetry, a frazzled smile tried to settle in on the face of the leprechaun who'd been knocked out by a Klingon that morning.

"You should never compare yourself against other people." The holographic vixen couldn't help but smile warmly and pull O'Dell into a tender hug. "Especially when those other people are sculpted from the depraved minds of Ferengi and doubly so when that holographic sack of flesh you're comparing yourself to has trouble feeding her own child and doesn't have a tenth of the accomplishments you do. I'm only like a year old, after all. I can play the harp, piano, and violin perfectly... But there's no emotion in it. It took me a week to figure out the kitchenette in our quarters. I still don't understand the plumbing in the refresher. I'm still not even sure what purpose diaper rash serves or what it even is. I'm sorry I have no shame and you're uncomfortable. If you want, I'll put something on."

"It's not that ye hae na shame, mum. I mean, ye dinna, but tisn't ye, tis me, that's all. It joost... I dinna compare meself to other people but, uh, ye... help me oot, here, Briaar?" the blushing Bringloidian looked back and waved her hand in a circular motion at Gavarus.

Having listened and having fully sobered up, Briar had a more pronounced frown on her face that punctuated her wildly conflicting feelings and as she spoke, it was clear that she was becoming less frightened and more upset. She was upset that Fiona had taken her emotions out on her earlier. She was upset that, in spite of what Fiona said, Briaar knew it wasn’t the complete truth. And she was upset to see Fiona talking poorly about herself.

Stuttering at first, the panicking porcine tried to express what she was thinking and defend Fiona’s emotions at the same time. "Shit. You aren’t upset because you’re comparing yourself to her. I… I think you’re upset because you think I’M comparing you to her?” It was a frightening statement slash question for the normally emotionally guarded Tellarite to say in front of someone else and she was terrified at how Fiona was going to react. “Are… are you… jealous?”

"Nae, m'not jealous... well, s'nae true, I AM jealous," O'Dell admitted, still struggling to quantify her feelings. "Not because I think yuir comparin me ta Miss Maica, Briaar, joost... comparin' meself to her. I almost never feel self-conscious, boot... yeah, in this case it joost kinda snuck up on me. I know tisn't fair at all to ye mum, and I apologize, joost... I dunno. I got punched in the head by an angry Klingon today. S'not me best day."

The anxiety Briaar was feeling was starting to crack finally as she listened. And realizing she was still standing there naked, she quickly threw her pajamas back on awkwardly as she replied. "Well... F***. I get THAT! I mean... look at that shit."

Then she glanced over to Maica, "No offense."

"She's frickin'... well. look at her. Like she said: Ferengi programmed sex doll... no offense. She makes me feel like.. like a 200-kilogram sack a' shit too. Uh... no offense." Gavarus grimaced nervously. "But I think we're making her feel self-conscious too in a lot of ways. I mean, we all kinda feel inadequate in a bunch of ways. I'm fat and ugly and hairy and a literal pig. But you like me anyway. And I like you. And she's a program with no experience with kids and she's looking at us with Minnie and feeling like 'less than' too. I think we're all beating ourselves up here and we don't have to. And in your case, S'Rina did that damn well enough. So... it's okay. We can feel shitty sometimes."

"Yeah, no offense taken," Maica replied with a wave of her hand. "I'm custom-designed for sex so obviously I'm great at it... But the two of you, you're naturals when it comes to childcare. Don't deny it, I saw the approval for Minnie's adoption cross her desk at home. Miss Fiona, you're one of the best pilots this side of the Barzan wormhole and a woman that definitely knows who she is and what she wants. Miss Briaar, you're an engineer that could give anyone in the Federation a run for their money and you stand up for those you care about."

"So yeah, the sex hologram is saying that looks don't matter and it's what's inside that counts," Maica rested one hand on her hip jauntily, the same way Enalia did. "But you know what? It's still true. Isn't it?"

“Aye mum, that it is. I know that, it joost…” Rolling her eyes, Fiona exhaled. “I’m sorry, yuir nae catchin’ me at me best today. I guess it was joost…” the midget Mariposian gestured to Maica’s impressive physique. “Seein it in alla it’s glory kinda… aye, yuir right, mum. Tis the insides that count. Especially when it comes to me family,” O’Dell looked over at her porcine partner and smiled, a weary but happy smile. “Ah do see the beauty in ye, and tis why we’re together, aye?”

"Damn skippy. And I know you do. You... you snuggle with my legs when I've not shaved in a MONTH. You don't care that I'm all bumpy and hairy and weird. And all I see in you is beautiful, Fee." Briaar said, allowing a smile to leak out of her face. "To me... you're frickin' Perfect. I love your big, green eyes and your soft, wild hair and I love holding you when we're together. It... you make me frickin' stupid happy." Gavarus said, trying not to let herself get too emotional. "Because I can sleep on a tiny ass biobed if you're in it. Because I want to raise a frickin' BABY with you. Because I write 'Briaar O'Dell' in my notebooks in the lab like a thirteen-year-old when I think about you. I frickin' love you."

At the mention of the word 'baby', Minnie waved her arms from the floor where she was rolling Cueball's ball around gently and squealed, "B'BY!!!" Which just made Briaar blush and chuckle more.

“Aye, bebeh,” Fiona replied, bending down a bit to eye Minnie with an encouraging smile. Then she straightened up and eyed the tall Tellarite with something of a squint, as her skull reminded her of her migraine. “Briaar O’Dell, huh? I thought we were keepin' all our last names? Ye want to make it more official-like, is that what yuir tellin me…?”

Turning beat red, Gavarus glanced over to Maica for a second then back to Fiona as she swallowed, "I... I dunno. I've been... I've b... been THINKING about it since we talked to your dad and.. I dunno!"

"MAN, my back feels better. Miracle worker she is, you should let her fix you up, Fee. Yeah, magic hands and shit, because we're talking about you, not me and you can probably just keep your clothes on and she can just amp her sensors a notch and shit and right? That's a thing, right? Yeah... MasSAGE!" Briaar started rambling nervously, having not realized what she had said until Fiona tossed it back to her. And like the proverbial hot potato, the Tellarite engineer was trying to toss it back, fidgeting like a little kid. It was, quite frankly, adorable as she mugged slightly at Fiona and side-eyed Maica trying to convey that it was something she would much rather talk about later.

Picking up on her cue, Fiona O’Dell deftly changed the subject. “Aye, aye, yuir right as usual, Alreet mum, if ye dinna mind, I would like to take advantage of yuir magic hands. I got knocked out by a Klingon this mornin’ and me head hurts, me body aches and to be honest I feel like someone ran over me with a shuttlecraft. So if ye wouldnae mind, I’d vurrh mooch appreciate a bit ‘o help. Also, if, ah, ye wouldnae mind, I’d… rilly like to not get nekked. I’m… I know we’re all girls here an’ all, but… if ye kin believe it, it makes me more uncomfortable than Briaar even?”

"I can work with that," Maica replied. "But I'll have to tweak my emitters to go through them so my touch will feel a bit weird, ok? Now if you could hop up on the bed please? And at least loosen your top so I can administer some topical medicines to your neck and upper back?"

As Maica spoke, Gavarus flumped onto the deck next to Minnie, and began playing with the fuzzy toddler.

Brightening with relief, O’Dell smiled. “Aye mum, I kin do that. And I kin do this at least,” Peeling off her loose t-shirt, O’Dell was wearing a snug sports bra she clearly didn’t need beneath it. Climbing up onto the table, the skinny stunt flyer grunted a bit at the resultant discomfort, but she settled into place where indicated. “Alreet mum, work yuir magic, if ye please.”

Waving at Minnie and Briaar with the hand on that side, O’Dell tried to relax and enjoy the experience.

Maica busied herself with her work, running two fingers across every vertebrae in Fiona's body before retrieving some medicated ointment and really getting down to it. With her thumbs and fingertips, she rubbed the ointment into the back of Fiona's head and the back of her neck, the pungent and minty scent filling the room as she massaged out the excess pressure, worked out the tension in the muscles, and popped every single joint expertly on her way down. "You'll feel a bit light-headed for a bit, but that should pass relatively quickly. Doc Power is good, but he isn't a massage therapist. You really should have come to see me after he released you."

A gentle snore was Maica's reply as chakras aligned and the pain relieved, O'Dell was lightly that quickly asleep, fully able to relax. But Maica's melodious voice had roused the picayune pilot. "Hah? Wazzat? Ach, I think yuir right. Ye should deeeefinitely get worked inta that process. I'll certainly be seein ye next time I coom oota Medical. Aaaaach, that's bleedin wonnnderful... oh aye, right... zzzzzz..."

"And that's how Enalia sleeps so well at night..." Maica mumbled as she finished with Fiona's neck and shoulders and worked her way down the shorter woman's spine, popping each one back into place with relative ease and rubbing the medicated ointment in as she went.

When she was done, she left her patient on the table and took a jar of the pungent ointment over to Briaar. "If she ever has trouble sleeping, rub some of this on her neck and shoulders, ok? It works wonders on most human-type races for breathing issues, aches, and insomnia."

Taking the jar, Briar took a whiff with her snout as she replied. "Usually, she sleeps like a cat. Ya' know, except when she's been cold-cocked by a Klingon during testing." As she did, Minnie took a sniff, crinkled her fuzzy nose and let out a squeaky sneeze.

"Oop. That got right up your nose, there. Didn't it, Minnie Moo? Here, I gotcha." Without missing a beat, Gavarus bunched up the sleeve of her pajama top and wiped Minerva's nose clean with a quick swipe. "But, ya'know, thanks. Thanks for everything, Doc."

"I'm not a doctor. You can just call me Maica," she replied with a warm smile. "Now... Do you want to stay here a while and let her rest? Or dare wake her and get her back to your own bed? Or maybe try something crazy like a site to site transport?"

Getting up from the floor, Gavarus walked over to the table and pondered as Minnie wobbled behind her, grabbing her pant leg for support. "Well, a site to site would wake her up AND freak her out, probably. And staying here would have me sleeping somewhere weird and jacking my back up again. Soooo..."

Running her arms along the bottom of the pad on the top of the table, with a light grunt Briaar simply lifted the entire pad from the table, with Fiona on in, in her arms with ease. "I've carried her back to our quarters more than a few times after a fun night. D'you mind if I borrow this? And d'you think you could help me out and push Minnie in her stroller. We're just down on deck 14."

"Definitely," Maica replied with more than a little cheer as she hefted the baby minotaur and plopped her into her stroller, doing her best to buckle the horned babe in before getting behind it to follow along behind Briaar.

She then snapped her fingers, remembering something incredibly important. "I almost forgot..." Snapping her fingers again, Maica materialized her robe around herself, tying it in front so that she was at the very least no longer nude and presentable enough to be walking the corridors of the Hera. "I rarely travel via corridor, so... yeah..."

"Yeaaaaah, that will probably be better. Heh" Gavarus blushed for a moment as she whispered over her shoulder, careful to not wake Fiona, who was practically purring like the proverbial kitten as she slept in Briaar's arms. 

As they made their way into the corridor and towards the nearest turbolift, Gavarus kept whispering so as to not wake Fiona, who had begun to curl up tight towards the towering Tellarite's chest. "So, this looks perfectly normal, right. Just me carrying my sig-ot on a massage table mat down the corridor while the Captain's wife pushes our baby in her pram. Nothing court martially about anything here, right? Yeesh."

"Parents of the year, we ain't."

"Perhaps not, but we are far from the worst," Maica replied as they rounded a corridor and watched a crewman slam face first into a bulkhead at the sight. The holographic woman winced and wanted to reach out and help him, but decided that it would likely only embarrass him further. "Ah, but let's get home as quickly as possible..."

"Yeaaah, I... I think that's a good idea." Gavarus replied as, in the pram, little Minnie giggled, bouncing up and down at the crewman who walked into the bulkhead, pointing and squeaking, "A'GIN!"