The Laws Of Men

Posted on Mon Mar 23rd, 2020 @ 10:37am by Ensign Briaar Gavarus & Ensign Fiona O'Dell
Edited on on Mon Mar 23rd, 2020 @ 4:05pm

Mission: Back Down the Long Ladder
Location: Planet Mariposa, the O'Dell Estate, St. Mary's Church
Timeline: 2397

Mariposa: Now.


A lovely church, a home for God
Bedecked with linen fine,
Where over the white Gospel page
The Gospel candles shine.

~St. Manchan of Offaly



Slowly, the unlikely family made their way across the green grass of the family cemetery. Plots with markers with many a name on them peppered the landscape as a cool breeze blew across them. Waddling hand in hand with her mothers, little Minerva didn't fully understand what was wrong. She simply knew her mothers were sadder than she had ever seen them and that made her sad. So she shuffled her tiny hooves as they worked their way to the simple stone church on the edge of the property.

It wasn't overly ostentatious, with few of the ornate trappings of similar Catholic churches back on Earth, but it served its purpose. Or, at least, it would have had Angus O'Dell been buried properly as he had wished. Stepping up the short, stone steps, Fiona O'Dell had questions and she wanted answers. And the priest inside was the last place she was going to go for answers… but this trip was all about a lot of things she didn’t want to do, yet was doing so for her family.

For her father and mother, and the spirit in which they raised her, she amended.

Entering the iron bound oaken doors into the small church which could likely seat 60 parishioners at best, the pews were all orderly, the stained glass windows depicting the various stations of the cross were there in all their glory, and up at the front of the church were the three steps up to the alter, one to represent the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost. A crimson cloth was laid across the altar, and while it was flanked by smoking incense braziers on both sides, seated atop the center of the altar was a rather large and ostentatious cross, even while another one adorned the back wall, the image of a lean bearded human with haggard sad eyes nailed to a crucifix looked out mournfully at those who entered.

“Allays cheerful,” Fiona muttered as she helped Minnie over the threshold. Leaving Briaar and Minnie to take seats in the rear pews, Fiona made her way to the front of the church. “Halloo the church? Innyone aboot?”

To her surprise, a middle-aged clergyman, dressed all in black save for the tab of white at the collar, stepped out of the back, and her eyes lit up. “MALCOLM?!?”

“Well, we take a new name when we join the priesthood, Fee, so these days I’m Father Thomas,” he explained, even as he was tackled in a hug by the diminutive daredevil. “Briaar, come bring Minnie. Tisn’t who I expected at all, tis me own brother!”

Having expected to have to face an old priest with whom she had decidedly bad blood, Fiona had been dreading this confrontation. But in the here and now, finding the youngest of her brothers minding the church was a delightful surprise, and a load off her mind. “So what happened to the drunken bastard who the diocese refused to retire?”

“Father Donald had a heart attack about a month or so ago, and he was called home,” Father Thomas explained quietly as Briaar and Minnie approached. His own brogue was barely a lilt, less than Fiona managed on her best day. “So I was called in to hold the parish until a new priest is permanently assigned to this chapel. So who are these two, then?”

More than a little self-conscious at the sound that their two sets of hooves made as they echoed through the stone and wood structure with a repetitive 'click-clack', Briaar led little Minnie by the hand. Although seeing the happiness on her Mum's face and hearing joy in her Mum's voice created much the same in the miniature Minotaur who had begun to smile and giggle as she started to pull on Briaar to go faster. And even for as little as she was, she was getting strong enough to notice when she pulled, which surprised the two-meter tall Tellarite.

"Whoa there, little Minnie Moo! Don't pull my arm off here." Briaar chuckled as she picked up the pace to meet Fiona and Father Thomas at the front of the church. Unable to contain herself, Minnie yanked her little, three-fingered hand free of Briaar's and wrapped her arms around Fiona, making that familiar sound that was somewhere between a cow's moo and a cat's purr as she squeaked out, "MUM!"

"Uh, hey there. So... uh... the little wriggler is Minerva. And I'm Briaar. Briaar Gavarus. I'm... uh..." Suddenly realizing they were a lesbian, inter/species couple with an adopted magical minotaur child in a VERY Catholic church, Briaar blushed slightly and grinned awkwardly. "I'm Fiona's partner. And Minnie here... Minnie's our little girl."

This brought a smile to the face of the young handsome man, perhaps in his late thirties or early forties. Grey had not yet moved in yet, and his hair was still the same peat brown color as his eyes, and his somewhat lighter neatly trimmed beard. His white teeth were uneven, but his smile was genuine as he squatted down to Minnie’s level. “Aye… Dad was quite excited by your little family here, Fiona. Hello, Miss Minerva O’Dell. I’m Father Thomas… I’m your mum’s brother, which makes me your uncle. It’s very nice to meet you.”

Watching the black-clad clergy approach, Minnie was a bit shy about him. But as he spoke, she looked up at her redheaded mum, who nodded and smiled, confirming what the priest had said to her. With a shy smile, she detached herself from her mother’s legs, and slowly stepped forward, until she stepped in and hugged the catholic priest, who seemed to be in no hurry to condemn her.

“Oh my, such a big girl!” Father Thomas remarked as he hugged the small furry babe, patting her back before holding her out from himself a bit to get a good look at her. “And so pretty, look at you! Pretty as the heather on the lochs in bloom in springtime, aye?” Looking up to Fiona and Briaar in turn, Minnie moved back in for the hug again, and he accepted it from the affectionate child. Picking her up as he stood, with a surprised grunt of exertion, he supported the hefty toddler as she clung to him.

“After your call a few months back, Dad went on and on. He was so proud of you, Fiona… a family and a career. He said he’d seen the same fire in your eyes that Mum had when she was defending her boys when you talked about these two.” Shifting Minnie’s weight to free up a hand, he held it out to Briaar. “Hello, Briaar. I’m Father Thomas, and I suppose in a familial sense, I’m your… ah, unwed, are we? Alright, partner it is. I’m Fiona’s older brother… it’s nice to meet you.”

The lack of judgment and condemnation from the staunchly conservative religion's representative was confusing, to say the least.

Taking the offered hand, Briaar returned the shake. "Yeah. Nice to meet you too, which... I gotta admit is kinda a surprise, all things considered. No offense. I mean, generally the first reaction I get from everyone who hears Fee an' me are a couple is for them to look at her an' say something like 'but she's a pig!?'."

That got her a deep-throated chuckle from the clergyman. “Well, I will admit the thought was there. But Dad was actually pretty clear about how he wanted you two treated… he said you’d be coming home soon, and he was dead excited about it. He said ‘Fiona’s girl’s to be treated as inny other suitorrr, unless they get married, in which case she’ll be treated like an in-law. As fuir wee Minerva, she’s one of ours, and she’ll be treated like inny of the grandbabies, and I’ll her n’more of it!’ You know how he… was.” While he had done a dead-on impression of the old man, at the end, stumbling over the remembrance of his recently deceased father, the priest fought to hold back tears, until his wee sister stepped over to hug him.

“I know, Malcom… I know. Da was allays lookin oot fuir me…. Nice to know he was lookin oot for me family as well. Ah joost… we were coming, ye know? We joost…” Fiona’s words trailed off as they both shed a few ears for the patriarch of their clan, as Minnie traced the tracks of the tears on the rugged face.

It was clear to Briaar that whatever Duncan O'Dell might have said to them about Fiona being 'Banished', Malcom... or Father Thomas... clearly didn't share those feelings. It made the portly porcine happy to see as she stood on the periphery awkwardly.

"I mean... the Church has come a long ways, but... they still don't recognize a lot of relationships," Father Thomas admitted. "But I have my doubts about just what should and shouldn't be allowed in a book that was written as an inspirational guide centuries before we even knew there was life out there amongst the stars, aye?" Looking at Minerva, who smiled and giggled before kissing the priest on the cheek, the priest's eyes warmed. "But I can't imagine that He didn't mean for His word to include all of His children... right, Miss Minerva?"

The collared clergyman grinned at that, and Minnie clapped and squealed, even as he lowered her to the floor, tugging down her dress and making her presentable as he did so. "You are quite the handful, little one. I see why Da was so taken with her- she really is adorable."

"Aye... she's a special one, she is." Sitting down in a pew, Fiona patted the seat beside her, and Minnie toddled over to start clambering up onto the wooden bench. Then she patted the other side, looking up at Briaar. "Coom an' sit, love. Mal- Father Thomas isnae g'win cast us oot."

"Well..." Briaar sat, her prodigious paunch causing the old wooden pew to groan in protest at her weight. "He can try, buy he'll need a grav-sled. Still... I can't imagine you going against your big brother's wishes is going to go over good at the next family reunion?"

"I'm a priest. I don't answer to the laws of men, so I don't have to listen to the 'Laird of the O'Dell's'. This is church ground- the cemetery and the chapel too. He can try to banish you from his own household, but he holds no sway in the house of God. Besides," reaching over to tousle Fiona mop of unruly crimson curls, the padre grinned mischievously. "We're the closest in age, Fee and me. Only seven years apart. Dad thought he was done having children, but then the Exodus, and the Mariposan bride dowry, and he was at it again."

"Fiona was the only one, though. So much went wrong when Elisabeth Vallis was pregnant, and wee Fiona had to struggle so hard to cling to life for so much of her infancy." Shaking his head, the priest smiled ruefully. "She and Dad stopped trying after little miss here, and they weren't alone. There's not many who tried past one with the original colonists. The next generation, wrought from our influx of genetic material, made the Mariposans much more viable, and our societies have grown as a result. The generation after Fiona's will be a great one, we hope. Not that you aren't... Fee, what's wrong?"

Being here, in this place, being reminded of how sickly she had been as a child, of the times she had spent here, on her knees, uncomfortably praying, and praying for escape. Of how powerless and hopeless it had made her feel, and how sick what she had done in this place still made her. Bolting up from the pew, her face ashen, Fiona vaulted off the bench and bolted for the door.

Looking back to Father Thomas, Briaar scooped up the now confused Minnie as her expression shifted to a more upset one. "Crap. Well, the last asshole that was in here didn't answer to the laws of men either, and Fee suffered for it. Duncan's basically a piece of shit. Where were you when that all went down, Tommy?" As she spoke, the towering Tellarite bolted up and followed after her love, not waiting for an answer from the priest.

Behind her, the handsome priest’s eyes saddened, and he turned toward the altar, lowered himself to his knees, and began to pray.

Outside, Fiona O’Dell was also on her knees, in the lush emerald grass, her hair blowing in her face as her small hands dug into the earth as she wrestled with her emotions. Finally, in pure frustration and rage, she screamed at the sky. She screamed in frustration over the past that could not be changed. She screamed in guilt over not being there for her father, and for not getting here to let him meet her family in person before it was too late. She screamed in her grief, the loss of both parents in such a short time tearing at her heart. She screamed over the violations she had known that her family had swept aside, and of the unfairness of it all.

Screaming her rage and pain and hurt at the sky, Fiona let it out until she was hoarse, left sobbing on the ground as the cold winds whipped about her. Until the three-fingered hand the size of her head had settled on her back, so was unaware of her family there beside her, even as her furry daughter embraced her, hugging her with a surprising strength. It was as if she thought she might be able to squeeze the sadness from her pixie parent, even as she sobbed and worked to compose herself.

Kneeling at Fiona's side, Briaar simply ran her calloused hand down Fiona’s back, sniffling back her own tears as she leaned in close to the two people that were the most important to her in the universe. It tore her heart out to not be able to do more in the moment, as her engineer's instincts simply wanted to know how to fix things. But there was no simple fix for a shattered heart. Instead, there was love, and the tiny hand of a furry little minotaur who looked up and put her hand on Fiona's cheeks.

With tears in her own big, brown eyes, little Minnie looked deep into her mother's own tear-filled eyes and bit her bottom lip as she did something slightly unexpected and said a little more than the single words she had managed up until now. "No... no sad mum. No sad."

Despite herself, the grief-stricken woman couldn’t help but smile at her daughter. From what she had read, Minotaurs were Zeus’ revenge on the universe, his mutant offspring that Hera had once weaponized in her rage and fury at her husband and the galaxy. But in little Minerva, there was no evil, no malice, no rage. Instead, the bouncing bovine babe was all heart and care, her gentle nature a reflection not of her birthright, but of the loving environment which was all she had known for her entire life. That of the two mismatched aliens who had raised her as their own, their hearts filled with love for one another, and perhaps twice as much for their wee mutant child.

“Sorry, mah wee one. Mum’s joost… well, sad, that’s all. I’ll be alreet, I promise.” Scooping up the furry child in a hug, Fiona patted her back reassuringly as she strove to dry her eyes and put on a brave face. Looking up at her concerned partner, Fiona managed a wry smile. “I suppose we should go get kicked oot of the big house next, eh?”

"That we ain't doin' alone. I think the Captain and Paris are on their way to meet us there." Briaar said, helping Fiona to her feet with Minnie in her arms, which was no easy feat for the miniature Mariposian. "Between them and us, That's a lot of very insistent assholes for him to try and kick out."