Ozu Saya
Engineering/Ops
[TI19]
Posts: 878 Likes: 29
Rank: Master Chief Petty Officer
Position: CoB/Chief Engineer
Species: Vulcan-Bajoran
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Post by Ozu Saya on Mar 6, 2020 15:01:35 GMT
[Azura Restaurant - Yehuda's Camp Market - Jerusalem]
Saya smiled at Judy and gestured to Evekh innocently. My hands were occupied, she said sweetly. I couldn't hold a menu as well.
Kyo chuckled at his wife, then answered, That all sounds amazing. And water to drink for me. A quick glance at Saya got a nod from her for the same. Do we need to have Evekh's cup filled?
No, I filled it before we left, Saya said as she leaned down to retrieve the toddler's cup of juice with the spill-proof lid and set it on the tray in front of him. Evekh immediately abandoned his stuffed toy to bring the sippy cup to his mouth, bonking it against his cheek once before making it between his lips.
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Judith Eastman
Civilian
Grandma
Posts: 2,593 Likes: 84
Rank: Civilian/other
Position: Civil Servant
Species: Human
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Post by Judith Eastman on Mar 6, 2020 18:35:39 GMT
[Azura Restaurant, Yehuda's Camp Market, Jerusalem]
"We'll just have waters all around," Judy asserted, looking to her children to clarify this was a decree. These two were almost as prone to disagreeing with her as Lawrence, but they didn't act on it as much. "And, I think we'll have a bottle of wine for the table, since mini-me is a woman now, provided she's interested." "Yeah, sure, mom," Anna agreed.
Judy made eye contact with a waiter, waved him order, and then tried to remember everyone's order.
"We'll have waters all around, a bottle of red, two hummus, the Azura for the young man, the lentil soup for the young lady. Beef sofrito for this gentleman, goulash for me, the lungs for the younger young lady, and the lamb for the younger young man," she prattled off. "Did I get anything wrong?" "Am I not a young man anymore?" Max asked indignantly.
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Ozu Saya
Engineering/Ops
[TI19]
Posts: 878 Likes: 29
Rank: Master Chief Petty Officer
Position: CoB/Chief Engineer
Species: Vulcan-Bajoran
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Post by Ozu Saya on Mar 7, 2020 3:57:43 GMT
[Azura Restaurant - Yehuda's Camp Market - Jerusalem]
Mamamamama, Evekh burst out with a gurgle.
Kyo chuckled. Well, Evekh thinks you did a superb job. He can be quite the critic, you know. I appreciate being lumped in with the young ones, he added. Saya and I are probably close to the middle in this group.
Actually, Saya said matter-of-factly, given Evekh's age of seven months and Judy's of sixty-one years, the average age at the table is 30.7 years, which does put me almost exactly at the average, buy you on the elder side. While her tone was entirely deadpan, there was an amused twinkle in her eyes. She hardly ever went hard-core Vulcan anymore, but when she did, it was usually in jest.
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Judith Eastman
Civilian
Grandma
Posts: 2,593 Likes: 84
Rank: Civilian/other
Position: Civil Servant
Species: Human
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Post by Judith Eastman on Mar 7, 2020 5:53:37 GMT
[Azura Restaurant, Yehuda's Camp Market, Jerusalem]
Max chuckled, while Judy began to do the numbers in her head.
"That may be true, but you could argue that 'old' is only the top ten percent, in which case only I actually qualify as old. Not either of you, not even him."
The waiter looked around awkwardly.
"Will that be all?" he asked.
"Yes, that'll be all," she answered. "Just bring them out as they're ready."
Judy looked back to her side, to catch two pairs of angry teenaged eyes.
"Mom, dad, do you have to embarrass us in public?" Anna asked, and Tom nodded in agreement.
Judy threw her hands up in the air in an exaggerated sense of exasperation and sighed sharply. "What am I supposed to do?" she asked, a little louder than her children would've liked. "I'm either boring or I'm embarrassing, or both as the case may be. Pretty sure it's both right now." Looking back to the side, Judy saw Tom staring into his lap and Anna rolling her eyes. "I take that as a yes. What can I say? Just make sure Evekh is the biggest nerd you can make him, so he actually engages, and maybe this phase will be less miserable."
Judy's multi-purpose stand-up comedy/guilting/kvetching session was cut off by the arrival of two platters of pita bread and plentiful hummus.
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Ozu Saya
Engineering/Ops
[TI19]
Posts: 878 Likes: 29
Rank: Master Chief Petty Officer
Position: CoB/Chief Engineer
Species: Vulcan-Bajoran
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Post by Ozu Saya on Mar 10, 2020 20:56:47 GMT
[Azura Restaurant - Yehuda's Camp Market - Jerusalem]
The waters arrived on the heels of the hummus, preventing any responses for a moment while a couple of extra servers set waters in front of the diners and one opened the bottle of wine and began offering it around. Saya waved him off, but Kyo accepted a small glass.
Saya busied herself scooping up some hummus with a large piece of pita bread and putting it on a small plate. She tore off a much smaller piece of the bread, scooped up a tiny bit of hummus and offered it to Evekh. With a happy squeal, the baby reached for the food, and Saya quickly took the stuffed dog and set it out of reach so that it wouldn't get soiled with food. Evekh happily worked on getting his squished pita and hummus to his mouth.
She finally responded to the conversation after the extra waiters had cleared out. I'm not sure Evekh will need any help with becoming a 'nerd', if I understand the word correctly. He is likely going to be well steeped in engineering and music. They might have to help broaden his horizons.
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Judith Eastman
Civilian
Grandma
Posts: 2,593 Likes: 84
Rank: Civilian/other
Position: Civil Servant
Species: Human
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Post by Judith Eastman on Mar 10, 2020 22:24:43 GMT
[Azura Restaurant, Yehuda's Camp Market, Jerusalem]
Judy had to motion for the waiter to pour wine for the clearly underage Eastman-Williams kids, but it was done.
"Well, Saya, that's what we'd thought," Judy answered. "The trouble is, making them enlightened and smart, which I think they are, isn't enough to make them nerds. It's a mindset, and I only really managed to imbue Gerald with it."
"Methinks the lady doth protest too much," Max disagreed, quoting Shakespeare. "Tom and Anna are both clever, they're engaged with the world, and they still agree to cook and make music with us - they're just embarrassed by our existence."
"You don't have to dissect us when we're right here," Tom complained, before grabbing a pita and generously wiping it in the hummus plate.
"It's a good thing Evekh is so young, or you'd have to explain to him that all those good table manners he's supposed to learn don't apply to hummus," Judy quipped, taking the burden off her own children. To her side, she saw Anna sipping the wine proudly, like a sign of adulthood. Indeed, it was secondary in that role only to espresso.
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Ozu Saya
Engineering/Ops
[TI19]
Posts: 878 Likes: 29
Rank: Master Chief Petty Officer
Position: CoB/Chief Engineer
Species: Vulcan-Bajoran
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Post by Ozu Saya on Mar 11, 2020 17:58:39 GMT
[Azura Restaurant - Yehuda's Camp Market - Jerusalem]
He's not particularly burdened with good manners yet himself, Saya said wryly, watching her child smear hummus across his cheek. It took everything in her not to immediately reach over to wipe it off.
Kyo gave her a small smile, knowing how difficult it was for Saya to leave it. She hated mess, though not so much if it was engineering-related, and had struggled from the time Evekh had been born to not be constantly trying to keep him and his clothes pristine.
Tom and Anna have certainly shown themselves to be quite adult recently. We've appreciated the babysitting services. Saya offered a smile to Tom and Anna. Though we had little enough time to ourselves before Evekh was born, we have missed it.
Even if it's only enough time to take a nap, Kyo said with feeling. This little man does not like to sleep for long stretches.
Indeed, Saya agreed. We live our lives in three- or four-hour spurts the majority of the time.
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Judith Eastman
Civilian
Grandma
Posts: 2,593 Likes: 84
Rank: Civilian/other
Position: Civil Servant
Species: Human
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Post by Judith Eastman on Mar 11, 2020 18:28:33 GMT
[Azura Restaurant, Yehuda's Camp Market, Jerusalem]
Judy and Max nodded, memories coming back to them. "Yeah, that's about how that phase goes," Judy affirmed. "It gets better when you can stash them in preschool for a few hours, and then you can have a little bit of couple time." "We were lucky enough to have Lawrence and Gerald on hand to babysit the two of them, and now we're paying it forward," Max added. "The age gap definitely works in our favor, hard as it was to sit through a high school basketball game with a bun in the oven," Judy recalled, motioning at a slightly embarrassed Tom. "My point is, they're a blessing, and we're lucky to have them."
That last sentence rang extra true for this group: Judy and Max, who had run the biological clock most of the way, and Saya and Kyo, who had hybrid physiology to contend with.
"We're right here," Anna pointed out, having consumed a pita in the meantime. "We were talking about my speech earlier, right?" Judy couldn't help but smile at the insistent, irreverent, almost disrespectful attitude from her daughter. Mini-me indeed.
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Ozu Saya
Engineering/Ops
[TI19]
Posts: 878 Likes: 29
Rank: Master Chief Petty Officer
Position: CoB/Chief Engineer
Species: Vulcan-Bajoran
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Post by Ozu Saya on Mar 15, 2020 22:40:34 GMT
[Azura Restaurant - Yehuda's CAmp Market - Jerusalem]
Indeed, Saya said with a loving smile at Evekh as she handed him another piece of pita with hummus to smear around. He pounded his tray happily.
I have been...amazed at the change in my perspective since becoming pregnant. Before I met Kyo, I'd never seriously considered the thought of being a mother, and after, I thought it would take much longer for it to happen. She gave Kyo an embarrassed look; he grinned back at her. Even after over a year of marriage and having a child, she still embarrassed so easily.
After Anna's comment, Saya gave her a serious look. Your parents may embarrass you sometimes, but be grateful for it. It is far better than not having them at all.
And I would like to hear more if you have something further to say about your speech.
The serious tone was broken by the arrival of their food, brought by two waiters each carrying several plates.
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Judith Eastman
Civilian
Grandma
Posts: 2,593 Likes: 84
Rank: Civilian/other
Position: Civil Servant
Species: Human
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Post by Judith Eastman on Mar 15, 2020 23:31:59 GMT
[Azura Restaurant, Yehuda's Camp Market, Jerusalem]
Only somber nods could be offered before the food arrived. The plates weren't particularly large, or heavily ladened, but Judy had warned them all earlier about the deceptively filling food.
"Well, folks, dig in," she ordered, with a smile on her aging face. She helped herself to a spoonful of goulash, enjoying the distinctly heavy, meaty feel that was Azura's trademark. Of course, a dish with meat and potatoes could be expected to be like that.
"After we're done eating, perhaps we can go explore the market and the city," she suggested in between spoonfuls. "It's so nice and bustling, and I have an exquisite idea for dessert."
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