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 Nov 17, 2020 2:50:41 GMT
Around the same time as S1M8[Cmdr. Judith Eastman(-Williams), Max Williams, Anna Eastman Williams, & Michael Eastman - Runabout Snakehead]The runabout made its smooth, steady trip towards the blue marble known as Kerelia. Max was almost amazed by just how smoothly it was moving, considering who was piloting it: his wife of nearly 20 years, a woman with more speeding tickets than most of their grandchildren could count. Her driving was an aberration, a reckless tic to an otherwise sensible person, perhaps a product of her New York upbringing; it made logical sense, even if it was counterintuitive, to Max that she was a more cautious pilot. Around the runabout, one of the grandchildren was strapped in - 6-year-old Michael Eastman, who was allowed to accompany his Grandma to Kerelia as a compensation for his parents forbidding him from touring a pirate ship[fn] Medici[/fn]. Also present was Judy and Max's youngest daughter, Anna. The six-year-old noticed, as they got close enough to start making out landforms, that the alien world wasn't entirely alien. It was, in a way, similar to his homeworld - Earth. "Does your world look like this too?"The trip had been intended as an opportunity for Judy to connect in a more informal setting with the Sivaoans, but only one had accepted the invitation - Left Ear the healer. Perhaps the idea of a day trip to the 4 acres or so of safe land on a planet filled with deadly wilderness wasn't the most crowd-pleasing idea.
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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 Nov 17, 2020 3:36:29 GMT
[ Left Ear to-Ennien - Runabout]  Left Ear's icy blue eyes darted around the small space of the runabout as Judy Eastman piloted them from the station to the surface of Kerelia. Despite her last experience there and the injuries she'd sustained, the Sivaoan was eager to return to do more exploring. It took Left Ear a moment to realize that the small child's question was directed at her and she looked over at Michael from her own seat, her long, prehensile tail flipping lightly against the deck. A little bit, she answered. There's not as much ocean there, and most of us don't live near it. Her pink and black nose wrinkled slightly as she thought about the large body of water they'd be landing near. She would have preferred to go back to the woods and see the dragon creatures, but that area was deemed too dangerous for the time being. Her fellow Sivaoans hadn't been as eager to return, so Left Ear had come alone. She was excited to get to know Judy Eastman's family. The Sivaoan loved children, having often taken care of her own younger half-siblings as well as helping with the litters of other mothers in the camp. |
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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 Nov 17, 2020 5:49:43 GMT
[Cmdr. Judith Eastman(-Williams), Max Williams, Anna Eastman Williams, & Michael Eastman - Runabout Snakehead]Michael took a moment to think. "That makes sense. The ocean is fun, but it's not that useful," he mused. "Why do humans live near the ocean?"Still focused on piloting, Judy had an answer for her grandchild - and their Sivaoan passenger. "In the early stages of human civilizations, before the Industrial Revolution, the most effective way to travel was by sea, so being on the ocean was like having your own transporter pad," she explained, knowing full well that sooner or later - preferably later - Michael would press her on why this was so. "Why was travel by sea better?" the youngster asked, as expected. "Let's let Grandma explain that when she's not busy piloting," Max gently guided Michael away from distracting Judy too much, still worried she'd start treating the sky like the streets of her hometown. "Left Ear, how do you travel long distances on your world?" Anna asked, politely curious. She was in fact puzzled by how Sivaoan society functioned at all, but she was raised better than to be so rude.
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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 Nov 18, 2020 2:29:54 GMT
[Left Ear to-Ennien - Runabout]
Left Ear's tail corkscrewed in delight at the interaction between the members of the family. She loved how the little boy asked such intelligent questions.
When Anna asked about travel on Sivao, Left Ear had to take a moment and think. Distances like far and near were relative. Since leaving her homeworld, her own paradigm had shifted about this.
Mostly we walk or ride a quickens, she began, So a long journey would comprise anywhere from seven to twelve days. We're semi-nomadic, so most of our villages, camps we call them, are semi-permanent. We have a few solid buildings where scientific work is carried out, but we live in temporary structures that can be easily disassembled when we decide to move on. Most of us rotate between a handful of camps during our lives, but much depends on what sort of work we do and where we might be needed. Most of our camps are spaced at least three-days' journey apart so as not to overload any one area with our influence. If that starts to happen, we move completely out of that area for however long it takes for nature to recover.
Since encountering Starfleet, a few of us have traveled farther. The ships that sometimes come to our world are usually accommodating if one of us asks to be deposited on another part of the planet. They think it's strange, but they do it.
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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 Nov 18, 2020 3:52:14 GMT
[Cmdr. Judith Eastman(-Williams), Max Williams, Anna Eastman Williams, & Michael Eastman - Runabout Snakehead]
Anna found this to be rather interesting. Thinking of the Sivaoans' nomadic patterns as a response to the needs of the environment made more sense than just writing it off as primitivism.
Michael had a direct question.
"So you just move around now and then? And what's a quickens?" he asked.
The runabout continued its descent, and the planet's features came into clearer view. After descending above the ocean, it began a wide turn towards the shore, an approach path calculated to minimize any disruption to flying species.
"Ladies and gentlebeings, we will be landing shortly," Judy announced.
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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 Nov 19, 2020 0:01:15 GMT
[ Left Ear to-Ennien - Runabout] We do, Left Ear said in answer to Michael's question. Usually with purpose - to return our camp for Festival, to work on a particular scientific experiment. For me, I traveled between several camps to train with different healers.
And a quickens is an animal we use to carry burdens, and sometimes ride. They look a little like your earth donkeys, but very shaggy and greenish, like moss. They can be very funny if they get startled; they run away and start hiccuping. The only bad part is if they get scared enough to run right into your tent. Left Ear's tail coiled into a tight helix. That happened once when I was little. It ran into the tent and hit the support pole, bringing the whole thing down on me and my litter-mates as it tried to climb onto the bed.Her ears pricked forward as she turned to look out the viewport as Judy announced their imminent arrival on Kerelia's surface.
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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 Nov 19, 2020 2:55:07 GMT
[Cmdr. Judith Eastman(-Williams), Max Williams, Anna Eastman Williams, & Michael Eastman - Runabout Snakehead]
Michael giggled, amused by the anecdote of the quickens acting up.
"Sometimes Grandma's dogs do things like that, but they're usually not scared. They're just hooligans," he said, with affection for the mischievous dogs who had stayed home on the station.
The runabout made its turn and came to a smooth stop on the sand, parallel to the coastline. Judy stood up from the pilot's seat and looked at the passengers.
"I hope the flight was comfortable," she said, mostly to Left Ear, and then turned to her own offspring.
"Let's rub you two down with sunscreen before we forget."
Max promptly sprang into action, retrieving a large bottle of sunscreen from their beach bag.
"I can take care of myself, Mom," Anna protested, seeing Judy standing rather close to her.
"I'll just do your back. I don't think you can reach that," Judy countered, by way of compromise.
Anna, considering this to be reasonable, stood up from her seat and took off the tie-dyed minidress she was wearing as a coverup, allowing her mother to apply a copious amount of sunblock to the young woman's back. The teenager's pale-green two-piece swimsuit left plenty of room for sunburn, and with the Eastman family's genetics, that was quite a risk.
Max, for his part, took care of Michael. The young boy didn't make any trouble about being helped by his Grandfather. He took off his t-shirt (one with the slogan, "I don't need the computer: my mother knows everything"), and tried very hard not to giggle as Grandpa gently tickled him.
"I'm sorry about the smell," Max said to Left Ear. He was used to the strong odor of sunscreen, but he suspected the Sivaoan was not.
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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 Nov 21, 2020 15:48:53 GMT
[ Left Ear to-Ennien - Runbaout --> Kerelia] Hoo-li-gans-s, Left Ear repeated, delighted with the new word. She'd ask exactly what it meant later. And then they landed and all of the humans began applying a cream to the exposed portions of their bodies. The strong smell did make her nose twitch and wrinkle a bit. Left Ear sneezed as she leaned down to grab her satchel containing a couple of usefuls, her scanner, a PADD with several books and some snacks. Left Ear thought she could deduce the purpose of the cream from the name sun-screen, but decided that it was wiser to ask rather than assume. This is some sort of skin protectant? From the sun's radiation?
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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 Nov 21, 2020 18:56:32 GMT
[Cmdr. Judith Eastman(-Williams), Max Williams, Anna Eastman Williams, & Michael Eastman - Runabout Snakehead]
"That's right," Judy answered Left Ear's question, after setting Anna loose. She trusted that her daughter would take sunburns seriously enough: after all, she had literally been burned before.
"Because we mostly don't have hair, our skin is vulnerable to getting sunburns, and the paler the human, the worse the sunburns. It correlates with where we, or our ancestors, are from," she continued her explanation.
"I come from Scotland, and Judy's ancestors mostly lived in Poland and Russia, which are very cold, cloudy regions on Earth," Max added.
"My family mostly left Europe for North America hundreds of years ago, but the genetics held on," Judy clarified, almost as an aside.
While speaking, the older couple had rubbed themselves with sunscreen, having tended to the younger generations. Now, Judy put her floral-patterned maxi dress back on over her teal bikini, Max donned his Hawaiian shirt back alongside his steel-grey swimming trunks, and both of them grabbed some equipment: Judy took a beach bag and a cooler full of food, while Max took two guitar cases.
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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 Nov 22, 2020 23:24:28 GMT
[ Left Ear to-Ennien - Kerelia] Left Ear nodded sagely, her ears laying back for a moment. Oh, yes. SilverTail uses something similar since he has no fur, but his smells a lot better. Her nose wrinkled again. We could see if his formulation would work on humans. It has a pleasant herbal scent.
Since we don't wear clothing on our feet, we do have to sometimes be careful of very hot surfaces so we don't burn our pads. She flipped her hand over to display her black-and-pink mottled palms. As they collected all of their things, the Sivaoan noticed everything Max was carrying and stepped forward with hands extended. I can help, she offered. At the same time, her extremely long tail snaked out and teasingly poked Michael in the arm, almost as if it was moving of its own volition as Left Ear didn't look at or acknowledge what her tail was doing.
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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 Nov 23, 2020 1:10:20 GMT
[Cmdr. Judith Eastman(-Williams), Max Williams, Anna Eastman Williams, & Michael Eastman - Runabout Snakehead -> LZ-2, Kerelia]
Michael reacted to the poke with a slight giggle, but didn't make much of it. Maybe it was a Sivaoan gesture of some kind, or maybe just a friendly one, he figured.
Max looked at the feline and thought about the offer for only a second.
"Thank you," he accepted, handing over the guitar case in his left hand.
Immediately, he eyed Judy, thinking to take a load off her hands now that he had one free.
"I'll get that," Anna declared, taking the cooler from her mother's loose grip before either parent could object.
The group filed out of the runabout, with both Judy and Max keeping a close eye on Michael (God forbid the precious grandson got so much as a scratch on their watch), and onto the pristine, white sand. The natural beauty of the place, the lack of structures to clutter it, was stunning.
"I have to admit, I'm a little surprised - pleasantly, of course - that you joined us, after the last trip down here," Judy said to Left Ear, while laying out a large beach blanket. Anna stepped in to lay a second one beside it.
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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 Dec 4, 2020 2:59:59 GMT
[Left Ear to-Ennien - LZ-2 - Kerelia]
Left Ear happily took some of Max's burden and followed the family out of the runabout and onto the warm sand. She inhaled deeply, opening her mouth slightly to draw the salty scent across her tongue.
The Sivaoan set the guitar case on the edge of one of the blankets after they were placed, but waited to see what the others would do before she sat. Her long tail swept across the sand and she could feel it collecting between her paw pads.
She tilted her head at Judy and considered the human's question while she waited to follow the others' lead. It was definitely bad, but I grew up less...protected than you might realize. I've fought grabfoots and slashbacks and been through a couple of disasters. I have to say that fighting an invisible enemy was the craziest thing I've done, probably. Certainly one of the strangest! Her tail lifted from the ground and corkscrewed, sending a small hail of sand flying.
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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 Dec 4, 2020 6:16:54 GMT
[Cmdr. Judith Eastman(-Williams), Max Williams, Anna Eastman Williams, & Michael Eastman - LZ-2, Kerelia]
Judy and Max sat down on the blankets, keeping very little space between them as they listened to Left Ear. Judy switched her regular glasses for a pair of prescription sunglasses she had in her bag, while Max neatly put his shirt away. Anna, too, sat down, while Michael continued to stand.
"That's certainly a... as you said, a less protected upbringing than most in the Federation have. The most fearsome thing Anna has ever fought is probably me," Judy observed, pointing out that cultural difference. Anna turned slightly red and peered over her own sunglasses.
"They mostly fight in passive-aggressive snipes. It's a sight to behold," Max pointed out, teasing both women.
Michael, meanwhile, noticed that Left Ear's tail seemed to be moving almost of its own accord.
"Does your tail have a mind of its own?" he asked.
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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 Dec 4, 2020 19:34:51 GMT
[ Left Ear to-Ennien - LZ-2 - Kerelia] Left Ear's tail coiled tighter at Judy and Max's joking, then relaxed as she shook as much sand as she could off of her feet before stepping onto the blanket and dropping onto her haunches (sitting like a cat). The tip of her tail snaked over within Michael's reach in case he wanted to touch. No, I control it, the Sivaoan explained as the tip of said appendage flicked slightly. Sometimes there are semi-involuntary actions, like when you laugh at something really funny. We use our tails to show our emotions, like humans use their faces.She pointed to her own face and wrinkled her nose, causing her whiskers to prick forward. Our faces aren't capable of making as many expressions, so we use our tails, whiskers and ears to communicate with each other.
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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 Dec 4, 2020 22:14:21 GMT
[Cmdr. Judith Eastman(-Williams), Max Williams, Anna Eastman Williams, & Michael Eastman - LZ-2, Kerelia]Michael listened intently to the explanation, keeping his eyes on the tail until a gentle nudge from his Grandma reminded him to look at the person talking to him. "That's a little like Grandma's dogs. They use their ears and their tails... not tails like yours, but these short, pom-pom tails. And they're not sentient," he observed. Judy supposed that between Michael's youth, and the Sivaoan's relative tolerance that far, she didn't need to worry about the comparison to a household pet. Anna, half-listening to the conversation, eyed the ocean. The water looked lovely, and the young woman was an avid swimmer. "I'm going to go in the water," she announced, taking off her sunglasses and dress in preparation to do so. "I'll go with you," Judy answered, before doing the same. The daughter's love of the water, like her looks, had evidently come from the mother. "Do your people swim?" the younger woman asked Left Ear, out of sincere curiosity. From what the Sivaoan had said earlier, she did expect the negative answer, but didn't want to assume.
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