OOM: Christmas dinner with Pyrrha and Egil

[ostro_goth]

[[Ctd. from here.]]

Teja opens the door, laden as he is.

His usually comfortable, creatively untidy room is still that -- there is even Ferdinand the cat, sprawling all over Teja's bed, fast asleep. There are simply two new doors, one of them leading to a kitchen that provides all the modern comforts and appliances as well as a space to comfortably sit and eat, the other leading to Egil's room in Loki's apartment on the 12th floor.

One better should not think about how that works.

Comments

[ostro_goth]

"He is," Teja says.

The table is all set now. The bar has added everything one needs to Teja's kitchen.

[scarred_grin]

Egil gets a kiss on the forehead, and then Pyrrha turns her attention to pouring the drinks--a nice vanilla horchata.

"Do we want candles?" she asks. "We do candlelight dinners sometimes when it's fancy."

[ostro_goth]

"Yes, if you think Egil would not try an touch the flames?" Teja says.

[scarred_grin]

"I'd be more worried about the cats," she says. "Just put them out of his reach, and he'll be fine. He can't get out of his chair by himself, not in this shape anyway."

[ostro_goth]

Teja lights the candles, sits at the table, and looks at his drink. "It looks a little like milk," he says.

[scarred_grin]

"It's better, though," she says. "Toro's aunt Gabriela makes it better than anybody else I have ever met--mine's not as good as hers, but it's still pretty good."

She may be a little biased, though. The flavors of home are always good.

"That everything? I feel like I'm forgetting something."

[ostro_goth]

"Food, drink, light," Teja says. "Egil, Ferdinand, you and I. Cups, plates, cutlery. Sweets will come later."

[scarred_grin]

"And presents," she says with a grin, as she settles into her own chair. "And... other stuff, probably, much later."

Hey, it counts as celebrating too.

She sets about serving the food.

[ostro_goth]

"Presents," Teja repeats. "He does not know that word yet?"

[scarred_grin]

"Nah, it's the first time it's come up," she says. "Not something he experiences regularly--and you know, people give him stuff a lot, and he outgrows clothes and needs new things, and he can't really unwrap things, so it's probably not that big a deal for him. I did make him some things, though."

[ostro_goth]

"Of course you did," Teja says, "and so did I. It is a pleasure to just see him handle the things he is given."

[scarred_grin]

"I don't want him to be one of those kids with like a billion toys floating around, all forgotten bits of plastic that you step on in the middle of the night when you're going to get a glass of water," she says. "He can have toys, but I want them to be creative kinds of toys, you know? Not ones that do all the playing for you."

[ostro_goth]

"Those tend to be irksome and make very irritating noises," Teja agrees. "Also, stepping on them is a bad thing. I believe that I have heard 'Step on a Lego!' as an ill wish one modern was invoking upon another."

[scarred_grin]

"Stepping on 'em is bad, and accidentally kneeling on 'em is even worse," she says, with a sympathetic wince. "He can have all the art supplies he could want, he can make all the toys he wants for himself, but we're not gonna bribe him with cheap plastic things."

[ostro_goth]

"No," Teja agrees, firmly. "I am very much opposed to those, also."

[scarred_grin]

"I've seen a lot of kids who just end up spoiled. They cry until they get some toy, and five minutes later they've forgotten about it and they're crying for some other toy. Their whole lives, they're not gonna be happy. You can't be happy if you're always wanting something else."

She settles in to eat. It's good.

[ostro_goth]

Teja takes a sip of his drink first.

"This is good!" he says, almost astonished. "What is it made of?"

[scarred_grin]

"Sesame seeds," she says. "Almonds, milk, some cinnamon, some vanilla. You need to make it ahead of time, though, the seeds have to soak overnight. Which is why I don't make it that often."

Planning ahead isn't always her strong point.

[ostro_goth]

"So it is brewed, in a way, with the seeds and the milk reacting?" he says.

[scarred_grin]

"Something like that, yeah," she says. "Some people use rice instead of the seeds, or other things--everywhere's got their local ingredients, and every family's got their recipe. I ordered it at the bar once and it was really different."

[ostro_goth]

"So she did no know what you really wished for?" Teja says. "That is rare. It must be a very special drink, then."

He takes another sip, then starts to eat.

[scarred_grin]

"I think I got the Mexican kind," she says. "Which is still really good, but it's different. Now I specify Puerto Rican and this is what I get."

It's less common, that's all. And she still likes the homemade kind better.

"How's your dinner?"

[ostro_goth]

"It is very good," Teja says. "Plantains are very pleasant food; I have not had them before. How do they grow?"

[scarred_grin]

"On trees, like bananas," she says. "You can do all kinds of things with them, but you have to cook them. Make 'em sweet, make 'em salty, they go with everything."

And Egil likes them fried and cut up. He continues eating.

[ostro_goth]

And even cats will like it; at least the stranger sort of cats. Which are, in all honesty, almost all cats. Ferdinand, in any case, is being joined by Myrrh who looks hopeful.

"What are they like uncooked?" Teja asks.