Highland Games III: Yer talkin mince

Posted on Sat Jul 28th, 2018 @ 6:53pm by Captain Charybdis MacGregor & Commander Fiona McCray
Edited on on Sat Jul 28th, 2018 @ 7:29pm

0 words; about a 1 minute read

Mission: Future Tense
Location: McCray Ancestral Home, Eilean Donan, Scotland
Timeline: 2285
Tags: Scotland

"Fi had told us thet ye dinna have mooch in tha way oov family, you an' tha kitteh. So Mum and Da decided thet you were tae be McCrays. No-one should go unsung." Wallace said and there were a number of nods around the table. Everyone had gotten up and shifted around a bit leaving a couple of spaces available next to the man at the head of the table.

"That's... I'm very..." Char was deeply touched by the sentiment, and the actual welcome, and it was quite the struggle for her to retain any sort of composure. She had expected for Fiona's family to be boisterous and excitable, but she really had not expected anything like this, and she smiled a tight-lipped smile and nodded and focused on not turning into a blubbering mess.

"Wal-lace! Stop talkin' her ears off... you'll blunt 'em! Let tha puir lass sit duin and eat!" the patriarch growled and patted the seat to his right, "Sit duin.... you shuid be oot of tha blast radious if Bridey here blows," the moppet let out a loud happy squeal at the sound of her name, "Christ! shoosh! yer loud," He grumbled at her.

The infant provided exactly the distraction that Charybdis needed in that moment, and as she sat down she gingerly poked the infant and made 'kootchie' noises, to which the baby girl, possessed of the same bright red curls and brilliant eyes of her forebears blinked and chortled happily then let out an ear splitting shriek of joy. The elder McCray winced.

"Jaysus... must you?" he asked the baby crossly as Char made a wide-eyed delighted face, mouth agape and hands splayed out excitedly. "She's got two levels, sleep and air raid siren," he grumbled at Char with obvious pride. "She's the latest oov Angus' litter," he took a bite of his own cooling breakfast, "and tha first great grand."

"She's beautiful..." the curvaceous captain commented as she held out her fingers while the toddler grasped and squeezed them, and she moved gently this way and that to amuse the infant, obviously quite taken with the small loud bundle of excitable energy.

"Fine... ye like her... ye kin take her with ya when ye go. I'm gettin tae auld for these carpet monkeys," Fiona's father said sternly."I'll make ye a deal on tha lot oov them." Charybdis looked up sharply at that, both brows shooting upward trying to find her hairline before she realized that the old man was just making a joke, and she chuckled nervously.

His bushy eyebrows drew together as he sized up her expression. "Come on now... you're gaen tae have a fine big space ship... surely you need some crew tae fill it oop." There were sounds of protest mingled with a myriad of, "Can we goes?" from around the table.

The trademark half-smile spread across her face. "I see rumors travel faster than biscuits in this family... didn't call ahead indeed," she added, muttering at the end, then she raised her voice so that she could be heard over the din. "Well, I have yet to even see her for myself. BUT... I believe as the captain's prerogative I may be able to bring a tour of future Starfleet Academy cadets aboard before she launches as long as they aren't brought into any security sensitive or dangerous areas areas AND THAT INCLUDES THE ENGINE ROOM... but I think I might be able to manage it if your parents approve and they'll come chaperone."

"Tour....TOUR? oh no by God ye take em... ye have tae keep em. None of this tour nonsense. You kin stack em up... they're small... duct tape them tae tha walls if they get unruly," William McCray grumbled.

"I already took one off your hands, sir... with all due respect, how much is one woman expected to bear?" Char shot back with a grin as she jammed a sausage into her mouth before one of the wee ones could nick it off her plate.

That brought on a deep thunderous laugh from the man. "Aye... ye hae a point there. Fiona Mary is a bit oov a handful... I suppose I owe ye somethin fer thet," He clapped a warm hand on her shoulder and gave her a nod of approval.

"Never been a lick of trouble sir, and bailed my wide rear out of more trouble than you can imagine... she's by far the finest officer I've encountered in the fleet, and a truly great engineer," she said quietly where only the old man and the baby would hear, then she raised her voice so that the assemblage could hear her clearly. "But as you all know your Fiona Mary McCray so well, let me tell you a tale of one of our adventures, eh?"

This brought a swell of approval from the table, and Char shoveled in a mouthful of eggs with an upraised finger before she swallowed, chased it with a mouthful of coffee and then swallowed with a sigh of contentment. After days of Fleet food, the fare was nothing short of heavenly. She held up a finger again and shoveled more of her breakfast in to keep her audience in suspense, then swallowed apparently without chewing, smiled contentedly and delicately wiped her mouth with a napkin.

"So you see, it all started when we got approved for some shore leave on Risa... no, sorry, I misspeak. Because before that had happened there were these space pirates, you see..."

The old man was beaming his approval, "Nice tae see a girl actually eat rather than pick.." and he settled back with his coffee to listen while the other hand kept plying Bridey with breakfast. Evidently old skills remained honed.

"Pirates!? REAL Pirates?!?" One of the little boys piped up, and in a rambling and somewhat edited version, Charybdis relayed the tale of the Nausicaan pirates, whose additional treasures were accidentally discovered amongst the trash, and since she couldn't just throw it away, she had instead used it to reward her valiant friends with a deserved vacation, which led to adventures and misadventures, good deeds and danger, and eventually a happy ending for all involved.

She left out the part where they returned and took their vengeance, and how that had cost them their aunt and sister for two decades. But that one would be a tale for the adults later, perhaps... the tale of pirates and heroic sacrifices and crawls through smelly awful slimy sewers and swimming in fountains and good guys who wore Starfleet uniforms was appropriate for the youngsters.

Celts love a good story, and the McCrays were no different than any who'd gone before them. While she'd held them spellbound more family members had come in and filled in spots at the table. One somewhat grubby boy of about 3 had pretty much grafted himself to Char's side and watched her every move with wise old eyes. At one point she realized that he was there, so near the end of the story she hefted him up on her generous hip to finish out her tale. He wriggled around a bit until he got comfortable then snuggled right into her lap like he belonged there. One hand stroked her long hair while the other snitched bits of bacon and fruit off of the plates within reach.

"And with that your Aunt Fiona slid beneath the Nausicaan pirate... because as we all know, pirates aren't very bright, so that confused him. And once he was confused he lost track of her until she punched him RIGHT in the jewels!" She paused at that for the appropriate wincing, then continued. "And while he was still learning how to sing like a morning sparrow and his eyes crossed like this," she demonstrated by crossing her own eyes, "she booted him in his rear, and he fell over like a great ugly log, smacking his face right into the floor and breaking off one of his tusky teeth! And as he groaned there she fell upon him in a fury, punching and kicking- though no biting, because as everyone knows, Nausicaan pirates taste very bad because of their odious personal habits."

Looking at the wee one her hip, she bounced him gently. "That means they smell because they do not bathe or wash behind their ears!"

"Ah ha... see, Douglas?!? Do you want to be a Nausicaan Pirate?" A dark haired woman across the table asked with a grin. The tyke shook his head vehemently. "So you need to let Nurse give you your bath without fussing." She shot Char a grateful look, and the Vulcan vixen winked back subtly.

William McCray chuckled deeply, "Laird boot my Bonnie cloned herself," he muttered after taking a look around to make sure that the woman mentioned wasn't within earshot.

"And when they were all laid out on the floor with wee starships buzzing over their heads and stars and comets just like a cartoon show, your Auntie Fiona looked around and said "Well girls, I reckon we should git our uniforms, on account of soon we're aboot ta be famous!" And that was when the last Nausicaan pirate decided that he would have his revenge on all of us, and he pulled out a grenade and with a foul curse he hurled it at us!"

There were gasps in the appropriate places, and this was certainly one of those places.

"But that was when your Auntie Fiona scooped it up, cool as you please, and she tossed that foul and wicked grenade into that great swimming pool of a bathtub and she said, 'Plug your ears and cover your heads, girls, tis about to get mighty wet in here!' And with a miiiighty explosion, the sturdy marble tub protected us all, but sent allll of the water up in the air, which hit the ceiling and went everywhere, blowing out the windows and making a waterfall out of the top floor of the hotel that was the prettiest thing you ever did see, or so they tell me."

"I was busy getting my hair drenched by all of that water and trying to pull all of my fingers out of my ears!" she said, putting a fist up to her long and elegantly pointed ears for effect, which got the appropriate reaction.

"Were there fishes?!" one of the younger kids wanted to know.

He immediately got hooted down. "Nooo...there aren't fishes in a bathtub!"

"And that, my wee McCrays, is the story of how your Auntie Fiona rescued us all, and retrieved the crown jewels of a dozen worlds and became a heroine of the United Federation of Planets," she ended with a flourish of her hand, and she took the hand of her wee storytelling compatriot and they took a bow together.

"I remember it somewhat differently," came a familiar voice from the doorway of the room, "Boot... she's the Captain." Fiona stood there a moment taking in the nearly full table. She shook her head.

"Jaysus... you people need tae take oop a hobby oother than breedin," she said drily then strolled in. Her first stop was her father. She leaned in and pressed a kiss to the top of his balding head. "Halloo Da."

He cleared his throat and grumbled, "Took ye long eno..." he frowned up at her, "you lollygagged along and left poor Chary to wander into tha lions den on her own." He scowled, "Is that any way for a commander tae treat her captain?"

Fi chuckled, "I've missed you too, Da."

William harrumphed and threatened mildly, "You aren't too big fer me tae swat, cheeky." His eyes shone as he pulled his youngest child into an embrace. After a moment or two there was a muffled, "Da...can't breathe..."

He let Fi go and gave her a little shove. "Go fix yer plate." The old man looked his age for a moment as he mopped his eyes and cleared his throat. Everyone at the table and around the room seemed to find something else fascinating to look at while he regained his composure. Fiona gave him a pat on the shoulder and then went to run the gauntlet of brothers and their families, and she was introduced to what for her were newcomers. Everyone seemed to be talking at once and the Engineer looked slightly overwhelmed for a bit.

Char watched the exchange, somewhat hiding behind the youngster in her lap as internally she keened a bit, but fortunately the youngster gave her something to hug and she kissed the back of his head, and that helped her maintain her composure. She sighed, then realized she had no idea who the youngster in her lap actually was, nor to whom he belonged.

 

RSS Feed