Family Dinner

                            By:

                         Fox Cutter

04/20/99:

Oria was standing in the door way to the twins' room. Both
were already down, sleeping soundly. Oria was relaxed,
watching them as they slept, her tail flicking back and
forth behind her in a long, slow arc. Her tail-tuft almost
touching the floor.

She was dressed casually, but nicely in a long dress that
almost reached to her ankles. The multi-hued pattern of
light tans and reds, mixed as she moved so that I couldn't
tell the precise color. Her hair was up, and she wore the
blue gem hair clips I had given her a few years before,
twinkling softly in the light.

I slipped behind her, wrapping my arms around her waist.
"Hello, love," I whispered into her ear, clasping my hands
over her belly.

She turned her head slightly, a smile playing over her
muzzle. "Hello, yourself," she responded, her tail flicking
against my leg. "Are you ready to go?"

I nodded, nuzzling her cheek, looking past her to the pair
of cribs. Both were white with some splashes of color in the
way of small pictures. In one lay Romana, and in the other
Adric, quietly sleeping. Adric was already sucking his
thumb. "I'm ready," I answered.

She wiggled out of my grasp, taking my hand, and pulling me
into the light of the hallway so she might look me over. I
was dressed as nicely as I could be; black slacks and a long
sleeve shirt, a gray vest over that, closed down the front.
My pendent was hidden under my shirt, and my hair in it's
now usual pigtail was lying against my collar.

"Very nice," she told me, brushing a few wrinkles out of my
shirt. "It's nice to know that I won't have to dress you for
these kinds of things."

I smirked. "Yes, nice," I reached up, tweaking her whiskers
gently. "Should I turn on my translator for this, or hope
I'm competent enough at Ral'lari to carry on a
conversation?"

She tilted her head, ears flicking and muzzle wrinkled
slightly in thought. She spoke a quick phrase in her
language, long and complex and she said it lightning fast.
It took me a few moments to work out what she had said.

It was the equivalent of 'Rubber baby buggy bumpers' but
longer. I would write it down here, but as all tongue
twisters, it relies on the language itself to make them hard
to say. I fear it would seem to be a senseless jumble of
words if I related it here.

I did repeat it back to her, not as fast as she had said it,
and not as well, but I did get every word.

She smiled. "Your accent is still thick, but passable. My
family will understand."

I nodded, yes _her_ family. Her parents had invited the
three of us, Oria, Rhea, and I, to dinner, so they could
meet us all. Rhea, of course, could not attend. Officially
she was watching the kids, who were still too small to
travel. Unofficially, that job would fall to Kalie, and
Sora, whenever she got back home.

Leaning forward, I wrapped my arms around her shoulders,
pulling her in for a deep kiss. Something we had been doing
more often now that there wasn't as much in the way. We
stood there, embracing for what seemed like hours.
Reluctantly it had to end, but both of us were purring.

I turned her around, pulling her back to my chest, and
looking down over her shoulder at the twins. "I still can't
believe that we're parents."

She let out a low murring sound as she nuzzled my cheek. "I
can't either, but we are. Amazing as it may seem, we are."

"And I wouldn't have it any other way," I told her, kissing
her cheek in return. "Now, you once mentioned a blessing.
When are we going to be doing that?"

She spun around to stare at me, an open-mouthed look of
shock on her face. "Fox, are you serious? I thought you
couldn't stand the idea!"

I smiled. "I am serious, I don't think I should stand in
your way for what you believe is the proper education for
the kids. I'll even take part in it, if you need me."

She gave me a wary look. "But you're not going to be
directly involved, are you?" she spoke the words in a sad
tone of voice.

I nodded. "No, I'm not. I will neither help you to teach
them, nor discount what you teach. If they come to me for
another opinion, I'll tell them what I think. I'll make sure
they know it is what _I_ think, and I will not try and force
my views on them. They can choose."

She sighed, shaking her head slightly. "You're really trying
here! This is the best you can do, isn't it?"

"I'm afraid so," I answered, reaching out to stroke the side
of her muzzle with my fingers.

She twitched her whiskers, ears flicking as well. "I guess
that will have to do, then." Her tone was one of acceptance,
because there was no other option.

"I'm sorry I can't take part as much as you want." I told
her, stilling petting her fur.

She shook her head. "No, don't be sorry. I can understand
how you feel. Just allowing this, even the occasional
participation, must be hard for you to accept."

Stepping forward, I took her head in my hands, pulled her
close, and kissed her nose. "It's harder for me to refuse
you," I told her, smiling slightly.

"I see," she answered, a sly grin playing across her face
and ears. I think I was going to end up regretting that
statement. Oh well, so what if I do?

She glanced down at the metal bands that wrapped around her
wrists. The narrow silver strip of her wedding band, with
it's three small bloodstones, shone against the darker gray
of her right wristband, one of a match set, the other on her
left wrist. Flipping open the cover plate on the larger
band, she let out a small squeak. "We're going to be late!"

I checked my own watch, which told me the same thing. "We
had better get going, then," I said to her, closing the door
to the twins' room so it was almost all the way shut. Then I
took her paw in my hand, and started down the hallway.

"You had better turn the Matrix chip on," Oria warned as we
walked past the living room. Kalie was already there,
relaxed on the couch, reading a PADD, and blushing slightly.
I suddenly realized that probably all of Oria's and my
conversation had been broadcast to her over the baby
monitor.

"You going to be O.K. here?" I asked the otteress.

She nodded, adjusting herself on the couch. "We'll be fine
Fox. Now go, before you're late."

This time Oria grabbed my hand, and pulled me along. "I'll
worry about the Fold," she told me, fishing into her
hand-bag. I hadn't even noticed she had it till then. "You
just put on your disguise. We don't need you flashing your
skin to my parents," she concluded this by pulling the
portal controller out of her bag.

"Right," I responded as we came to the room with the Fold in
it. I had half expected Ravindar to be waiting for us at the
door, or inside. I had told him that he wasn't going to be
able to come, but was worried that he might not listen to my
advice.

As Oria started to open the fold, I activated the Matrix
chip. There was a flash of light over my eyes, which echoed
over the room, as the system activated. A few thousand
tightly packed shields now wrapped around my body, giving me
the appearance of a male Lidr'ra, and enough fake feedback
from my extended extremities (such as the tail I now had, or
the muzzle I could see when I crossed my eyes) to act the
part convincingly.

I stretched my arms out, flexing my fingers, watching the
costume paws move in the same fashion. "I love this gizmo,"
I commented, extending my claws out, then back in.

The fold flickered open, producing the familiar bright
colors. But the feel of the fold was not familiar . It was
almost what I had expected, but off just enough to make me
curious. "Where are we going?" I asked Oria.

She smiled, putting the controller back into her handbag.
"My parents live on the other side of the country from me.
We can't exactly take the fold by the House. Luckily I was
able to track one down only a dozen miles away, so we won't
have to travel to far."

"Ah, good," I answered, adjusting my shirt sleeves. "That's
a good thing." I walked to her, placing my arm on her
shoulder.

She gave me a quick, knowing smile, then stepped through the
fold. I was a half-step behind her.

We came out in a brightly lit hallway. Painted a muted
white, with light fixtures every few feet. Doors lined the
hallway every fifteen feet or so, with a red carpet that
seemed to glow in the white light.

"Where is this?" I asked as the fold snapped shut behind us.
I stepped to the closest door, noticing a small plaque on
its face.

"The Grand Tri'naes Hotel," she proclaimed with a slight
smile, putting her arm around my waist. "It's so expensive
that this is as close as we'll ever get to having a room.
Come on, let's get to the lobby."

Walking along with her as we moved down the hallway, I
blinked in sight surprise. I had never thought about a fold
being in the hallway of a five star hotel before. Glad it
wasn't in one of the rooms, or else we might have caused a
fuss.

Oria led me through the hotel, skipping the elevators in
favor of the stairs. It was a concession to me, because of
my fear of the damn things. In the lobby, we waved at the
desk clerk, walked with sure stride to the door man, who
called us a cab. We tipped him well, and started my for
in-laws' home.

In the cab, I gave a soft laugh.

"Something funny?" Oria asked, leaning closer, with a look
on her face that said that she wanted to know what it was
that I thought was funny enough to laugh at.

I smiled, kissing her cheek. "Just thinking of what my
family will do when they meet you," I told her. "Of course,
I'll have to tell them we're married first, then they'll
want to know why they weren't invited to the wedding."

She giggled, which sounded strange coming from her. She
would chuckle or laugh, but she hardly ever giggled. I
kissed her on the cheek again.

"My family will wonder the same thing," she answered,
leaning her head onto my shoulder. "Being married in the
Temple will be enough reason for them as to why they
weren't. They might suggest that we hold a public ceremony
for friends and family. Something Mother Tamra would be
proud of."

I smiled, petting her shoulder. "Don't worry, we'll work
things out. I think we should do something like that on
Prid, so it's officially official there, and we can have all
of our friends there as well."

She laughed, "Oh now, that's just sure-footed optimism!"

I smirked. "Of course," was my answer, still petting her
shoulder as her head rested on mine. We stayed that way for
the next forty-five minutes.

It wasn't until the cab had come to a full stop that I had
realized the type of neighborhood we were in. The house we
had been dropped off at was large. Nothing like my once
mansion on Prid, but big none the less. Four floors up, it
had dozens of windows along the front, facing the long,
curving driveway. The front had some kind of decoration
along it, that I couldn't properly see in the dim light, but
I'm sure it was impressive in full daylight.

"How big is this place?" I asked as the cab pulled away
behind us.

Oria took my hand in her paw, holding it tight. "I kind of
forgot to mention that Dad's rich," she answered as we
started walking up the front steps.

"I see," I answered her, pulling her a bit closer. "I didn't
know that when I married you, so I don't mind that much.
Anyway, with the shipyards, I'm not exactly broke myself."

She laughed, raising the large brass knocker that was
centered on the door. She let it fall, causing a
reverberant, basso profundo thump sound that I felt in my
legs. She followed it with two more knocks, before she
stepped back to stand next to me.

The front door opened wide, light flooding out, causing me
to blink for a few seconds. Quickly my eyes adjusted to find
a regal lioness standing in the doorway. She was dressed in
a long, flowing dressed that hid her feet. The softly draped
silver and white material sparkled slightly in the welcoming
light. Her long black hair cascaded down her back past, her
shoulders and her tail tuft was black as well.

"Oriana," she said with a slight gasp, stepping through the
door, and wrapping her daughter in a tight hug.

She returned it, just as tightly. "Mother Varna," she
responded in the same tone of voice. Happy, with an edge of
something else under it.

I just stood back, watching this reunion as they kept
hugging. Both were purring loudly enough that I could hear
them from a few feet away.

It was Varna who broke it off, stepping back at arm's length
to look at her daughter. "You have grown since I saw you
last," she said, running a finger over Oria's chin. "You no
longer look like a child."

Oria blushed deeply in her ears, turning her head away
slightly. "Thank you, Mother," she said in a softer than
usual voice.

Varna let out a surprised gasp, "And here I ignore your new
husband," she said with tone of shock in her voice. She
turned to face me, looking me up and down. "Handsome
husband," she finally commented.

Now it was my turn to blush. "Thank you," I answered, not
sure of the proper title for her.

She was suddenly hugging me! It was unexpected, but I
quickly started to return it to her. After all she was my
mother-in-law now; I had to treat her nicely, didn't I? This
hug didn't last as long as the one with Oria. When it broke
up, Varna was smiling.

"Fox, correct?" she asked, leaning forward slightly.

I nodded, "That is correct," I answered, "and you must be
Varna."

"I must be," she answered with a slight smile. "Fox is a
strange name, it matches your accent. Please, come in,
everyone else is just dying to meet you."

She led Oria and me inside, closing the door, and ushering
us through a short hallway. It came out into a large sitting
room with three big windows stretching along one wall. There
were three large, well stuffed chairs, four couches, and a
pair of desks (one of each end of the room). A dozen
pictures of different family members hung along the wall.

Instantly we were surrounded by family. Two more lovely
ladies, and two men. Both of the males had thick, heavy
manes. Their hair wasn't just on their heads. It ran down
under their faces, and over their shoulders from the looks
of their clothing. Under the chin and the front of the neck
the mane was thinner, but the rest of it was huge. Oria
later explained to me that about three-eighths of the male
population had manes. It was just that none of the men I had
ever talked to had them, so I just never remembered seeing
them before.

I was introduced to Tamra, a slightly older looking lady, a
few wrinkles showing around her eyes, and a few white hairs
in her fur. Dressed just as elegantly as Varna, she was
Oriana's mother, not just one of her mothers, but her Birth
Mother. Which was important.

The other was Jasni, a young lioness, very young actually.
She looked to be in that awkward stage all tom-boys seem to
go through when they're growing up. Tall and a bit thin, she
was clearly uncomfortable in her dress. She was Oria's
younger sister.

Her father was an imposing man, standing taller than anyone
else in the room. He had a deep, dark brown mane that was
almost black, shot through with occasional light wisps of
hair. We all shook hands politely, and he introduced himself
as Draxs.

The last was Oria's older brother, Drekra. He was slightly
thin looking and wore, of all things, glasses. He had that
same bright look in his eyes that I always had. He looked
like the kind of person you would see on TV talking about an
earthquake or something. I suspected he was a very bright
man.

I, of course, was the center of attention as. Oria's new
husband, and father of her children. They all had questions
to ask, and in the process I found out about each one.

Draxs was interested in what kind of business I ran. When he
found out it was a shipyard, he started asking me about how
much it made, and how much I was worth. It was explained to
me that he was a venture capitalist. He helped small
businesses to get off the ground, and start running
profitably, and eventually to go public on the local stock
market.

Varna was a lawyer, and interested in how Oria and I had
met. She thanked me for how (before my exile which they knew
nothing of) I had talked Oria into working at the House, and
not on a street corner. She was also thankful that I had
later gotten her out of the House, and made an honest women
of her. Of course, we didn't tell her that Rose, Varna's
birth-daughter, had taken over. That was best left unsaid.

Drekra was quiet, asking only a few questions thought out
the night. Occasionally his ears perked when I dropped
tidbits about the different sciences that related to what
they knew about my shipyard. His questions were always the
most difficult to answer, and the ones I most enjoyed.

It was Tamra, though, that came the closest to getting me to
flub my cover. She was a doctor, and was trying to find out
more about my eyes. The Matrix chip hadn't done anything to
hide their ice-blue color, and she was fascinated by them. I
was more than willing to help, so much so that I nearly
answered a question I shouldn't have. I managed to stammer
out a fixed answer, but that was it.

It wasn't until almost all the way through dinner that Jasni
finally asked me a question. She wanted to know what my
favorite sport was. All three of her parents tried to shush
her, telling her that was an inappropriate question.

I answered her, telling her that I really didn't have a
favorite sport. Then I asked her about what her favorite
was. She quickly explained that she played every one she
could. Most had no Earth equivalent, but they did have
something like football. My first call on her was right, she
was a tom-boy.

This seemed to break some of the tension, and we all started
to relax, people stopped asking questions of me, and of
Oria, and started to talk.

As dinner neared its end, the conversation started to drift
into Draxs' business. He was concerned that I was going to
be bored by it, but I told him to keep going. I didn't mind
really, I was interested in it.

He started talking about the trouble he was having with his
current clients. There were a small manufacturing firm who
had retained him to try and help their stock problems. The
prices had fallen and now they couldn't get out of a low
price, no matter what they did.

It was when he whimsically said that he thought they should
never have gone public in the first place that I blew it.

With a fork full of food halfway to my mouth, I just said
the first thing that came to mind. "Why not do an L.B.O.?"

There was a stunned silence over the table. Everything had
stopped, even Oria had a slight look of surprise on her
face. I just finished eating the piece of steak that was on
my fork.

"What is an L.B.O.?" Draxs asked, a slight gleam in his eye.

It was then that I suddenly realized what I had done. I was
not qualified to give Oria's father any kind of advice in
his business, but it was already too late. I tried to carry
it through, hoping I hadn't done something too wrong.

"I'm sorry," I apologized, setting my fork down, "The
abbreviation is different, I suspect. A leveraged buy out."
He scrunched up his eyebrows, looking puzzled. "It's where a
company buys back its stock, and becomes private again."

His eyes just started to shine, his mouth dropping wide
open. "I don't think that's ever been done before," he said,
picking up his napkin, and wiping his muzzle off.

Oops! That was NOT what I wanted to hear. I did not need to
be giving them ideas without any backing. How could I save
this situation before it turned too bad?

"Well--" I tried to explain.

He would have none of it. Sliding his chair out from the
table, he rose to his full six plus feet of height. "Come
with me, we need to talk. If this can be done, it will be
brilliant."

I gave Oriana a worried look, but followed Draxs out of the
dinning room, and into what looked like a private office. He
closed the door behind himself, then settled down into a
large leather-backed chair, looking at me. There was no
other place to sit in the office, forcing me to stand.

"I've been wanting to get you alone," he told me, "though
this L.B.O. idea of yours has perked my ears."

I nodded. "Well, I can explain about that--" I started.

"First," he said, cutting me off, his voice suddenly quite
serious, "we have other business to attend to."

"O.K." I said, a more than a little worried, I wasn't sure
where this was going, and not at all sure I liked it.

He leaned forward, clasping his paws together in front of
his face. "Rose has told me a lot about you," he said,
smiling. "More than she's told anyone else for that matter."

"Oh?" I said, testing the waters.

He smiled, a very dangerous smile, with many sharp and
pointy teeth. "Yes, she's told me that you're furless,
tailless, and muzzleless. I believe the word she used was
'human'." He produced the word almost right, dragging out
the 'an' in the wrong way.

"I see," I responded, fidgeting slightly. "Should I try and
explain myself, or do you wish to gut me now?"

To my utter surprise, and shock, he threw his head back and
laughed. A smile spread over his face, his ears perking
right up. "Yes," he said, when he calmed himself down. "I
can see why my little flower likes you."

"Thank you," I answered with a smile.

He settled back in his chair, folding his paws into his lap.
"No, I am not going to gut you, or hurt you for that matter.
You made my daughter respectable again, and have given her
children. So, for now, I just wish to see my son-in-law,
without the fur."

I chuckled, smiling as well. "You sure? Could be a bit of a
shock."

He gave a sharp nod of his head. "I am sure."

"Don't say I didn't warn you," I told him, then turned the
Matrix chip off. He didn't react to the light show produced
when the system shut down. When he gave me a long look after
it was done, _then_ he looked surprised.

"Told you," I said, crossing my arms over my chest and
grinning slightly.

He shook his head in amazement, his mane fluffing out as he
did so. "You are a strange one, aren't you? I would ask
where you are from, but as Rose explains it, it's not worth
my time to understand. I have many questions, which I feel
aren't worthy of asking right now. Save one: Rhea, my
daughter's wife, is she like you as well?

I smiled. "Rhea is a lioness, and Lidr'ra, don't worry about
that. She's as normal as anyone else in our family is." I
saw the look on his face, and anticipated his next question.
"Yes, you will get to meet her, in person. I think we can
arrange for all three of us, Oria, Rhea and I, to come by
some time in the next few weeks. So she can meet everyone."

"Very good, I can't wait to meet her," he answered, a
relieved looking smile crossing his face. "For now, though,
could you put your disguise back on, in case any of the
family should wander in?"

That was something I agreed with, though I suspected that my
appearance was actually a bit disturbing to him. I had that
effect on people, so I turned the Matrix back on, and
settled into a relaxed stance.

Draxs smiled as the system wrapped around me. He opened up a
lap-top sized computer that was on the corner of his
uncluttered desk. "Now, tell me more about this leveraged
buy out idea of yours."

So it went from there. I told him as much as I knew about
the process, and how it was done back on Earth. It wasn't
much, half was guessed, the other half was from a few books
I had read.

He listened intently, making notes as we went. Sometimes he
stopped me to ask questions, half of which I didn't have the
answer for. He was understanding, letting me guess in
places, and sometimes making suggestions for himself. He had
a gleam in his eye that told me he was loving this idea.

Once we got into the financing part of this, then he started
to get excited. We were talking about a lot of money, and
raising it wouldn't be easy. He himself suggested the
somewhat infamous junk bonds before I could mention them.
They hadn't been exploited yet on Hr'raal, and he thought he
could do something with it.

It was an hour and a half after we had left dinner when he
had finally finished picking my brain. He showed me his
notes, and was surprised to find that I was illiterate in
the language. I explained that Oria hadn't started to teach
me that yet, but in the next few months it would be started.

There was a bit of new respect for me as we came out of his
office, and rejoined the rest of the group. Draxs praised me
to the others, saying that thanks to me, his problems were
solved. I wasn't too sure of that myself, but it was nice to
have the praise.

We all gathered back in the sitting room, and talked for a
few hours more. My Ral'lari was getting progressively worse
as the night wore on. I was still unused to talking in the
language for so long.

Eventually, well after midnight, we finally decided to get
back home. I had started to slip back into Prid Standard,
with Oria translating for me, and it was beginning to get a
bit embarrassing.

Bowing out, we called a cab, and started back towards the
fold. Once inside the vehicle, Oria let out a long yawn and
relaxed down onto my shoulder.

"My dad is impressed by you," she said. "That's not easy to
do."

I petted the side of her face, my thumb rubbing the back of
her ear. "It wasn't easy to do. I was worried that I had
really screwed up back there, but he took it in stride. I
suspect he sees a way to make more money."

Oria let out a soft purr, her voice starting to fade. "I
suspect so, too, but there's more than that. I think he's
proud to have you as part of his family."

I smiled, kissing the top of her head. "I'm proud to be a
part of your family, Oria." I tickled the base of her ear.
"Just as proud as I am to have you."

She didn't say a word, just cuddled up closer to me as we
moved on into the night, heading for the fold, and home.
Family.

-----

This story is copyright 2000 by Fox Cutter, hardcopy
reprints limited to one per person, all other rights
reserved. This story may not be distributed for a fee except
by permission of the author, and this copyright notice may
not be removed.