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Lunch with Astrid and Morra

Posted Aug. 16, 2020, 9:40 p.m. by Civilian Morra (Head of Science and Terraforming) (Riley W)

Posted by Civilian Astrid Rousseau (Head of the Judicial System) in Lunch with Astrid and Morra

Posted by Civilian Morra (Head of Science and Terraforming) in Lunch with Astrid and Morra

Posted by Civilian Astrid Rousseau (Head of the Judicial System) in Lunch with Astrid and Morra
Posted by… suppressed (7) by the Post Ghost! 👻
<snip>
Morra nodded slightly. “In my culture, it is believed that each person has their own… task or profession that they are best suited to following. Raising Children is one of those tasks… but not one that the biological parents take part in. Here on Oed V it is different, because there are so few of us. I did not meet my Sire and Dam until I had lived ten winters, but Milo and Tama are being raised with theirs close-by. It is, I think, a hybridization of your method of child rearing, and our method.”

“OH!” She exclaimed, realizing what Morra had meant. The explanation of her culture was intriguing and Astrid listened intently, letting her imagination fill in the life of the types of families Morra’s culture had. In her opinion, the way they raised children was not necessarily a bad one. Not everyone who created children could be great parents.

Morra realized that what she was saying was not what Astrid was thinking, but hopefully their thoughts were close enough to make sense. “Would you tell me more about your life here? Do you have friends or family on Oed to support you or be supported by you?”

Morra, HoST

She smiled softly and nodded. “My life here is pretty relaxed outside of work. I don’t have family here. My siblings and I are close but on very different career paths. Matthieu is working at Star Fleet Command. He is my older brother and I am very proud of him. My little sister, Marguerite, is an astrophysicist in Star Fleet, having just received her commission on board the USS Endeavor. She will be joining them next month as an Ensign, having graduated from the Academy with top marks in Astrophysics and Biochemisty. I am also quite proud of her and she is just really beginning her life away from academia. The three of us have a rather contentious relationship with my father due to his wife and her son. I think we do the best we can to support each other without their involvement in our lives.”

“As for friends, well.... I am working on that.” She laughed ruefully. “It’s hard to get out there when you are working 80 hour weeks, though I am cutting back on that. And I had no prior connection to anyone here so I am completely new to everyone. I have gotten along with the head of the police and his wife as well as the Governor .... now former Governor and his family. There have been others who have moved on from OED V so I suppose you could say it is an ever evolving process.”

Astrid, HotJ

“I suppose any relationship must keep in mind the transient nature of living in such a connected universe. People live in one area, then move on to another area so often. Even I am guilty of such behaviour, despite a lack of desire to have done so,” Morra said thoughtfully. Astrid’s close relationship with her siblings intrigued the alien, and the comment regarding her father made Morra curious, but she refrained from commenting upon noticing some slight discomfort or lack of happiness in Astrid’s tone and phrasing.

“To making friends and keeping them,” Morra finally decided to say, lifting her teacup towards Astrid.

Morra, HoST

OOC: UUgh, did it again.

Astrid brightened and brought her own tea cup up to clink against Morra’s. “To making friends and keeping them.” she repeated and sipped the warm liquid. “I did pretty well making friends when I was on Earth, I just have needed a push to do it here. I suppose getting my house broken into and almost killed by two goons before I was even fully settled in was quite a deterrent for me.”

“Needless to say, security has been quite important since then.”

Rousseau, HotJ

Morra looked at Astrid with a measure of surprise at the tale of her house being broken into, before nodding quietly. “Well, if you want to ‘hang out’ as you humans call it, I would be happy to spend time with you, Mz. Rousseau.”

Morra, HoST

She laughed a bit. “Well thank you Morra. I think that certainly counts as friendship.” She set down her tea cup and ate a bite of her food. As usual, the restaurant served excellent fresh food. She ate a few bites before continuing. “What does your species call it?”

Rousseau, HotJ

“Friendship is also what we call it. While our family structures are vastly different from your own, the principles of friendship are similar enough that the differences would be difficult to find.” She had ordered a blueberry-locust muffin and was quite enjoying it.

Morra, HoST

She nodded and then happened to get a real look at the muffin Morra was eating. Was that? She squinted and then grinned. Yes it was! “Is that a bug muffin? I am curious about your species eating habits. I would imagine it adds a nice crunch.”

Rousseau, HotJ

Morra looked down at her food, then took another bite and nodded. Once she finished chewing, she answered. “Locust, actually. An earth insect with a fairly high nutritional value. My people evolved from what could be classified as an insectivorous species, and although we adapted to larger prey, we never lost our love for these small packets of protein,” she explained with a fierce grin.

Morra, HoST

Astrid grinned. “You know, on New France, chocolate covered insects were considered a delicacy. Some people thought they were incredible and would travel to a bakery near where I grew up that was famous for them. Others, especially Human children, found them to be gross. I remember a Bajoran man coming out of that shop when my friends and I were walking by. We were a gaggle of children and of course immediately noticed the bag he had in his hand full of them. I cant remember if they were locusts or not, but whatever they were, the chocolate did not hide their shape.” She laughed.

“Some of my friends started being rather loud with their awe and disgust. Not negative, just incredulous and grossed out so they laughed and said things like ‘Ew!’ and ‘Thats so gross. Oh my are you really going to eat those?’ I was personally fascinated and he was terribly amused. He took one of them out and put it in his mouth with much exaggeration and proclaimed they were yummy. He even let us hear the crunch when he bit down. I have never seen so many kids simultaneously disgusted and enraptured in all my life. I don’t think they stopped talking about that for easily a year.”

Rousseau, HotJ

Morra chuckled at the story, taking another bite of her muffin. There wasn’t much in the way of chewing for her, more of a chomp-chomp-swallow.

“Fascinating. I do not understand the human repulsion to insects. They are a perfectly good source of nutrients. And quite tasty too.”

Morra, HoST

“Yes, but often colonies can be wrought with infestations and are associated with hovels and unclean areas, thus the disgust. Also, something that crawls that way with so many legs, its creepy for some people. Fleas were the worst when I was a kid. My brother hid a stray dog in our backyard for ages, bringing him inside when my father was away at work or on a trip. My mother pretended she never heard the sounds of a puppy. Until that dog was finally officially adopted, he would bring in fleas every day and I must taste sweet because they loved biting me. I looked like I had space pox for months.”

Rousseau, HotJ

Astrid chuckled at the tale. “Family life must be so interesting. Having younger and older siblings. All of my brood were hatched in the same lunar cycle,” she commented thoughtfully. She thought of the Children. Hatchlings. Growing up so differently from the rest of them, she hoped they would not grow up to have psyches that were too different from those on Galdor. It would be difficult for them if they ever visited their planet of origin.

Morra, HoST


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