05-13-2024, 02:08 AM
Opening the door to her friend in a full dress uniform caught Art by surprise. She was in uniform herself, but aside from it being a brand new uniform (along with her not-brand-new official title), she almost paled in comparison to the First Officer.
“Welcome!” She said brightly, grinning at him. One of us is going to have to change! It was a half-joking thought, and she wondered if putting on some Klingon armor would be too much. It was just tea, after all, no matter the ritual. It wasn’t that she didn’t consider it important; she was more thinking how hard it might be to drink said tea with plated armor on.
He thanked her for inviting him, and his tone was solemn. It was so enlightening to Artemis to see Peter so humbled and emotionally vulnerable. She could count on one half-hand how many times she had even called him by his first name; they had always managed to stay professional, even in their familiarity. Asking this human to partake in the Klingon Tea Ceremony was an almost-unheard of honor, and Jensen certainly understood that.
To anyone uneducated, it would be educational to know that by participating in this ritual, Peter Jensen was taking a great risk. Even with an antidote, the poison tea was not kind to one’s system. “Well,” Art started, “we start by sitting down, and acknowledging the plainness of the pot and cups.” She moved the cups more towards each chair, and explained why they did so. Surprisingly, she found her voice shaking, if just a little. “Life, like the cups, starts out plain…” she motioned to the tea pot full of steaming water, her voice steadying as she continued, “and it’s what you put into it that makes it matter.”
Once they were both seated, she continued, “The vine in front of us is to be stripped of its thorns -which represent the initial pain of battle- and placed into the pot of water. Then the other takes the petals off of the flowers of the vine, and places them in each of the cups.”
She stopped, not wanting to get ahead of herself. Taking a deep breath, she stopped to look at Peter, to see how he was taking this all in.
==I suddenly feel like I’m doing Passover dinner!
==
“Welcome!” She said brightly, grinning at him. One of us is going to have to change! It was a half-joking thought, and she wondered if putting on some Klingon armor would be too much. It was just tea, after all, no matter the ritual. It wasn’t that she didn’t consider it important; she was more thinking how hard it might be to drink said tea with plated armor on.
He thanked her for inviting him, and his tone was solemn. It was so enlightening to Artemis to see Peter so humbled and emotionally vulnerable. She could count on one half-hand how many times she had even called him by his first name; they had always managed to stay professional, even in their familiarity. Asking this human to partake in the Klingon Tea Ceremony was an almost-unheard of honor, and Jensen certainly understood that.
To anyone uneducated, it would be educational to know that by participating in this ritual, Peter Jensen was taking a great risk. Even with an antidote, the poison tea was not kind to one’s system. “Well,” Art started, “we start by sitting down, and acknowledging the plainness of the pot and cups.” She moved the cups more towards each chair, and explained why they did so. Surprisingly, she found her voice shaking, if just a little. “Life, like the cups, starts out plain…” she motioned to the tea pot full of steaming water, her voice steadying as she continued, “and it’s what you put into it that makes it matter.”
Once they were both seated, she continued, “The vine in front of us is to be stripped of its thorns -which represent the initial pain of battle- and placed into the pot of water. Then the other takes the petals off of the flowers of the vine, and places them in each of the cups.”
She stopped, not wanting to get ahead of herself. Taking a deep breath, she stopped to look at Peter, to see how he was taking this all in.
==I suddenly feel like I’m doing Passover dinner!
==