"Scipio Of Unity"
2942, 10, 8 a.d. Idus Octobribus (22nd Daas, 10)
Scipio Flavonius Of Unity
"Attribius, I and my lady friend need a place to stay for today."
He smirks. "One bed, or two? The whole planet knows what happened, Scipio. You need a lot more than a place to stay."
"Yeah, you're right. We need to get off-world, as soon as we're with Rivkah's people, father can't touch me."
"Get in." He leads us into his home. We crash in the lounge. "Well, you went big, boy. Your father has already ordered the Transit Authority to detain you." He looks at Rivkah. "He can't stop you though, Rivkah."
She looks at him. "How does that work?"
"How much has your mother taught you about internal Olinbari family structure?"
"I know the father of the family has fairly unrestricted leadership."
"Yes. Hence why he can blacklist his son, but not you." He looks at both of us. "Are you two married, or betrothed?"
I look at Rivkah. She looks back at me. I look at Attribius. "It's complicated. We aren't legally married. We eloped, with her parents permission."
He runs a hand across his chin. "Good. That means Rivkah at least can get off-world, if you were legally married he could ban both of you."
"We were going to have a matrilineal marriage. She is royalty."
"MSI doesn't recognise those."
"Life2.0 does."
He hmms. Then turns to Rivkah. "What exactly did your parents say?"
Rivkah looks at me. "They didn't really say as such. Mum was attending to Appia, but she smiled to me, and tapped her wedding ring."
Attribius looks blankly at her. "Is that... Good? Bad?"
"Good, it means she sees us as married. We just ran out of time to actually cut our hands in the Unity fashion."
"Where exactly does that leave you under Life2.0's laws?"
"Married, with an incomplete ceremony."
He looks at us. "Have you consumated your marriage yet?"
Rivkah laughs. "No."
"Go upstairs, and come back when you have. We need proof of relationship sufficient to say Scipio is under your family, otherwise we'll have to smuggle Scipio off-world."
She looks at me. "What, you want us to do... That, right now?"
He frowns. "Look Rivkah, there are requirements for proof of relationship, and I'm clutching at straws trying to find a way to help. You guys literally only met yesterday, you've got no certificate, nothing verifiable unless they recognise you, which would actually cause more problems... If you go upstairs, you can at least offer a blood-stained sheet proving he took your virginity."
She shrugs. "It's better than nothing."
"Exactly. If they recognise you Rivkah, they will realise who Scipio is and detain him, unless we can prove you are spouses."
She looks at me. "What do you think?"
Should I confess that I'm imagining her wearing a lot less? "I was thinking we'd... Get to that later."
She leans in, and nods. "I know. I was too. But... He is right. We've got nothing unless we wait for Mum and Dad to settle things over with Appia and then figure something out."
Attribius frowns. "Which given Appia is in critical care, could be dicey. Poor woman had stomach acid pour out over her internal organs."
Rivkah leans back on her chair. "What if I call my fleet and ask for a shuttlecraft?"
Attribius shakes his head. "The Transit Authority takes a very dim view of people infringing their monopoly. If Appia was out of hospital, you could make it work, but without her level of authority the TA will shoot down shuttlecraft."
"Hitch-hiking then?"
"That would have even worse consequences if caught. No, we'll have to do it legally, which means hiding from Julius. What exactly do you require to formalise your marriage under Life2.0 law?"
"A witness to say the blessings and exhortations, and a blade to cut our hands together on."
"Any restrictions on the witness? You guys don't have some sort of rule saying Olinbari can't be witnesses or something?"
"Just being of good character. We've had Olinbari as participants, as witnesses, even some as magistrates."
He looks at her confused. "Who of us could be trusted by your people to be a magistrate?"
"Valerius Albanius."
His face goes white. "Appia's formerly betrothed? The man she dumped in favour of your mother?"
"Yeah, that Valerius. He officiated at my aunt and uncle's wedding."
"I thought he was assassinated by the Ligarii?"
"His family were. He wasn't on the shuttle that day."
"Oh, I see. After the auction of his family's armaments subsidiary, I figured they had all been killed."
"No, he sold up to buy a ship and some Indentured Assets outright, and travelled to us."
He takes a moment to think. "Well, let's get you guys officiated."
I draw my parazonium. Attribius gets a bowl for the blood, while Rivkah writes down a script and the vows. I slip my arm around her waist. She smiles.
Attribius returns. Rivkah slips him the words to say. "Interesting... Ok." Rivkah positions herself with her hand over the bowl. He looks at her. "Ok, Rivkah. Just for my own peace of mind, this is legally binding on your world, right?"
She nods. "Yes."
He looks at each of us. "Ok... Right, are you both sure about this? These vows are... Pretty metal, actually."
Rivkah smiles. "Yes."
I smile. "Attribius, be honest. Do you think we are crazy?"
"Absolutely off your heads, both of you. But, she's a HaMaadimi so that's nothing new, and if you two are going to make this work, you will have to be just as nuts to fit in with her family. You can't really back out now."
Rivkah laughs.
I find myself joining her.
Attribius stops us. "Ok..." He looks at the script. "Do you, Rivkah Of Unity, take Scipio Flavonius to be your husband, to have him and to hold him from this day forward; to fight by his side whether the singer celebrates your victory, or lays down a dirge to the couple who died at each other's sides; whether in sickness or in health; to love and to cherish him, until the ending of all the worlds?"
She smiles again. "Now, and forever."
She runs her hand down my parazonium, wincing. I don't feel so good.
Attribius looks at me. "And do you, Scipio Flavonius, take Rivkah Of Unity to be your wife, to have her and to hold her from this day forward; to fight by her side whether the singer celebrates your victory, or lays down a dirge to the couple who died at each other's sides; whether in sickness or in health; to love and to cherish her, until the ending of all the worlds?"
"Now, and forever."
Oooowwwwwwww.... That stings so bad!
Attribius looks at us like we are mental.
To be fair... We probably are. I guess that means I fit in.
He shakes his head. "You may now join appendages in whatever way suits you best." Rivkah presses her tongue into my mouth. Attribius looks away. "Gods, that is gross."
Rivkah wraps her arms around me, and we follow as Attribius guides us to the master bedroom. He opens the door for us. "Here you are. Please don't break the bed. I'm going to go wash my eyes out..."
We are left alone.
She looks at me, and smiles. "So, lets discuss our plans."
I stroke her hand. "Not even a just chilling together time?"
"Well... Let me get my thoughts straight. I've got a fair amount I want to say, and sex is really awkward to talk about... So, I'm a Xenaya. We naturally only mate a few weeks a year, make babies, then give birth in spring. But... I'm also the daughter of a Human-Xenayan pair, and I know Humans and Olinbari don't work that way... You guys need it much more often. And I feel like I need to talk about sex with you, with you. As far as I am concerned, you have this side of me whenever you want; I know I don't need it, but you do, and this is one adjustment I've known I need to make for a long time - Mum and Dad aren't the only Human-Xenayan pair, and other Xenayan ladies with Human husbands tell me you can make them very happy by letting them have you whenever they want, so not knowing what species my husband would be, I've been mentally preparing for doing that. And well, I've been observing Humans for years. And I've noticed that Humans, especially men, make better decisions after sex. My uncle definitely does. And well..." She stops smiling. "Right now Scipio, I need you at your best, because we are starting life together in objectively pretty difficult circumstances, and I want to keep you happy and satisfied so that it doesn't distract you from our mission."
I kiss her cheek. She is dedicated. "I will admit, I feel a lot less distracted for having made love with you."
She smiles. "Thank you, that's my goal. So, lets focus on our immediate future. What do you think of Attribius' plan?"
"He is right. Unless we can prove we are spouses, I can't get off-world. But equally, we have other issues. My father will have frozen my accounts. And the Transit Authority charges extortionate rates for surface to orbit transport."
Her brows furrow. "But with your technologies, you guys should be able to do it for practically negligible cost? The Holocron's archive puts cost to orbit for an Earth-like world on your technology level at a dollar a kilogram or so."
"Doesn't mean the monopoly in charge of pricing drops the cost to match."
She frowns. "Oh."
"If you are on MSI business, then it is free. But we aren't, so we'll end up paying tourist rates. And they charge stupid money to put off tourists and make going to Brigantia surface more prestigious."
"How bad?"
"Fifty million Corporate scrip per person. An Indentured Asset after recent reforms earns about a hundred thousand scrip per month."
"Could we borrow it?"
"Not really. Life2.0 has little to no credit and definitely no scrip, and my assets are almost certainly frozen. And my father will have people searching for us..."
"What do we do?"
"I'm not sure. If we found somewhere safe to hide, we could wait for Appia to leave critical care. Or for your family to find us."
She frowns. "We can't wait long, the fleet will depart to deal with Septima soon, and we need to be with them."
