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The original was posted on /r/hfy by /u/KamchatkasRevenge on 2025-08-11 20:13:34+00:00.

Marian stands there for a moment like her feet are nailed to the deck, trying to fully process what she just heard. 

"Yep. Your new Mom by galactic terms, but Scott tells me in Human terms back on Earth I'd be a stepmom. Not sure I'd bother clarifying, personally, especially with a biggun like you. Not like you need much mothering when you're an all fired badass with a daughter of your own!"

Ishana laughs, a loud booming noise which echoes off the walls of the hangar bay slightly. 

"So let's see... I bet I can do my own introductions." She points at Avia. 

"You're my granddaughter, Avia, Synth or no I can smell it on you."

Her clawed finger moves to Tyler. 

"Which I bet makes you my grandson-in-law from how she’s holding your hand. So the rest of you cute little things are my granddaughters-in-law! Oh, you're all adorable for how damn lethal you all are. Some of the best combat footage I've seen in years with that last video you sent Marian! Can't wait to spoil some of those babies you've probably got on the way."

The claw moves again and settles on Boone. 

"Which leaves you. The extra biggun. Just off the scent, you got Marian's perfume in your fur pretty strongly, so... son-in-law?"

Marian's blood drains from her face. It really is all over the place today. Just like her emotions. She has to introduce her own damn fiancé or she wouldn't be able to live with herself! 

"...Y-Yes. Dad, Scotty, Cannidor lady who is apparently my new stepmom and I'm still processing that. This is Boone, he's my fiancé. He uh. Has a decent sized family. They're preparing a welcoming meal for you all." 

Boone steps forward. his hand returning to Marian's back, the warmth strengthening her somehow as she tries to figure out just how weird her life has actually gotten. 

"I've already messaged my first wife so we can get another place setting ready for Ishana. Patriarch, Matriarch of Clan Le Fae, be welcome among us, of Clan Bonrak, for we are bonded by oath and by blood, and are most glad to have you join us." 

"Oooh! So polite! Marian caught a good one!" Ishana coos. "I reckon my last kiddo's about your age. She lacks the grace and manners you're showing us sadly. Went and became a Crimsonhewer, which did not help her poor table manners."

Boone laughs as he turns to face Scott Junior. "They really do make a bit of a mess, don't they?" He extends his hand in the Human 'fist bump' style before asking; 

"Brother?"

Scott Junior marvels at the size of Boone's fist for a moment before meeting him knuckle to knuckle. 

"Brother. I always said there wasn't a man on Earth that could convince Marian to settle down. Guess I was right." 

When the laughter dies down, Marian's finally ready to talk.

"Dad... I'm still trying to process. So how did... y'know. This happen?"

Scott Senior gives Marian that knowing look that suggested she was asking a silly question, and if they weren't in mixed company would have earned her a sarcastic answer. 

"The same way anything happens. After your mother... I wasn't exactly looking, but Scotty and I were wandering around on Centris and well. Ishana and I met and everything just clicked." 

"Right. Right. That makes sense." 

Marian takes a breath. 

"Okay. I'm good. Any other surprises. Scotty? I'm not seeing any wives. Don't tell me my handsome big brother managed to get all the way out here single." 

Scotty grins, the goofy little smile he got when he was a bit embarrassed. 

"Nah. No wives... but I did meet this really amazing girl. She's one of those girls who look like models with a dragon tail and horns." Scotty looks over at his new nieces in law, asking; "The Apuk?" and getting three nods in return. "Yeah, the Apuk. She introduced herself, we went on a few dates, but she didn't... y'know. Propose or anything. She's working on something so she just gave me her number, asked me to keep in touch, and told me to make sure to let her know if I do get a wife or two."

Ishana nods sagely. "She's a smart cookie, that one. Dari'Kemsa, that's her name, right, Scotty boy?"

"Yeah, that's her name. Dari." 

"She's scouting Scotty out. She's an industrious girl, a commoner if I understand Apuk clan names correctly." Ishana muses. "But she was wearing some very nice things. So whatever she does, she’s raking in the credits and can't just up and drop everything even for a cutie like Scotty. I've seen this pattern before. She'll keep in touch, flirt, talk, and see what kind of sisters Scotty might seduce for her while he's out here. Considering the way Cannidor apparently like Le Fae men and women, I can just take a guess." 

Marian facepalms. Her Dad loves dry humor like that, and a lot of his dad jokes are similar... Just from that she can tell Ishana’s an almost annoyingly good match. 

Which probably meant she'd have half siblings soon. 

She'd need to deal with that particular thought later. Much later. For now all that matters is the simple question, Is Dad happy? He seems happy enough, but there’s something in his eyes... a sadness that seems to leak through during certain parts of the conversation. He isn't quite over Jenny Le Fae, if Marian could hazard a guess; they had been together for a long time, after all, and little moments could remind him of her, or what she might say. Ishana couldn't replace that in a thousand years, never mind a couple weeks. 

Not that Marian is going to blame him for not looking a gift shark in the mouth when he'd been going into old age alone. It isn't a competition or anything, like Ishana had to 'beat' Jenny Le Fae.

He'd had nothing left to lose. His daughter was out here. His son was ready to go. Why not leave it all behind and take another chance at life? 

So the best thing she can do... is support everyone. 

"Well. Shit. This ended up being a little more complicated of a reunion that I was even freaking out about and we're still standing in the hangar bay. Come on, let's go eat. We can get your gear to your lodgings or whatever later."

The whole crew starts moving, the marching order somewhere behind Boone and Marian for the most part, before Scotty darts out front a bit and takes a few pictures. That’s her brother: he'd always been a shutter bug when he was a kid and Quantico didn't change someone that much! 

"So, Boone," Scotty starts, still looking around. "Your name's pretty Human sounding. Is that a call sign or something? Are you in the military like Marian and Avia?"

"Ah." Boone's voice hitches for half a second as Scotty accidentally touches on a sensitive subject. "I am not a warrior, though many of my wives are. I was a teacher and a househusband primarily until... an incident happened. I hope to return to my trade some day, but there's not much call for the type of teaching I did on this ship yet, and I have a fairly large number of young daughters at home, so my family needs me more than anything else. My birth name was Makua, I had the fortune to come into contact with the Undaunted and some of the Marines gave me the nickname Boone. I liked it... and it was time for a change, so I took it as my own."

Marian glances back at Ishana; from this angle she can't get a great look at the much taller woman's face, but something told her that her new step mother had picked up the Canndior cultural subtext about renaming after a significant dishonor, tragedy or similar event. 

Thankfully Ishana doesn't push it, steering the conversation to something more casual with an expert's gentle hand. She’s clearly an experienced mother, and experienced in general. She'd make an interesting guide for Scott Senior as he carves his path into the galaxy. 

Scott Junior, on the other hand, is still walking backwards in front of the group, a skill he'd practiced extensively for certain kinds of drill and ceremony in the Marine Corps. Still, no skill could prepare Scotty, or Marian, for what comes next: just a flash of reddish gold fur and strawberry blonde hair out of the corner of Marian's eye and suddenly Scotty's on the ground in a tangle with... a Golden Retriever? 

Marian blinks, refocusing her eyes. No, not a Golden Retriever. A... Koiran! If she remembered right. One of the more reasonably sized bipedal canine species Humans had run into, compared to the massive and theoretically four legged Lopen. 

"Oh gosh, I'm sorry, miss, are you okay?"

"Oh, no, it was my fault I-"

Scotty and the woman he'd run into keep trying to talk, cutting each other off until they both start to laugh and Scotty manages to regain his feet, offering the young woman a hand up... and looking into her big, dark eyes. 

Marian can practically hear music swelling as she stands there, and resists face palming again lest she start putting a dent in her forehead. Scotty had always said he liked dogs better than most people, well here was a girl who damn near looked like one of his favorite breeds, if you turned her into a person and gave her huge boobs. 

Because what didn't have huge boobs in this galaxy besides Human women? Hell, if Avia set her chassis by galactic norms comparable to the Tret instead of her comparatively modest jaw dropping curves, about half way between a normal Earth born Human and a Tret, even the damn fighter jets would have huge boobs! The surreal moment keeps Marian's mouth shut as Scotty and the mysterious canine woman go through a very stilted series of introductions, exchanging names, that sort of thing. 

Finally, her brother drops a line. O...

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