trans_9 | Conversing over tea

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Conversing over tea

Tea. It is an agricultural product of the leaves, leaf buds, and internodes of the Carmellia sinensis plant, prepared and cured by various methods. The most widely consumed beverage in all the known worlds. Earth hadn't been the only planet to discover tea. In fact, each planet had a method in going about making tea.

On Stacy, Nura makes her tea from scratch, following what she knows from memory and data books she had scoured back home. She transforms the sensorium into a friendly room, equipped with comfy hovering plush chairs, end tables, potted plants, and a large dome above that looked out into space.

She hopes Wanda, and whoever else may join them, will approve.

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Ben was not having good luck with the sensorium. Every time he'd entered, there'd been someone already there, with the place transformed into a vengeful planet or a training sim.

This time, the place was also occupied... but it didn't look anything like Ben's last attempts. The whole place looked plush and comfortable, and Ben could see -- "Is that a teapot?"

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The woman occupying the room is no older than eighteen or nineteen or somewhere in between, at least. She smiles warmly at Ben, waving her hand at the newcomer.

"Hey, ho, there. Yes. It is tea. I just made it myself." She gestured to the pot. "Would you like some?"

"It's food that isn't goo," he said, flopping into one of the hoverchairs. "Of course I want some!"

"Well, food that isn't goo is always preferred," she says with a smile and a brief giggle. She bends over the coffee table, white hair sliding and spilling over her shoulders, and picks up the kettle and tilts the spout into one of the teacups.

Steam rises from the liquid with the scent of jasmine and herbal as Nura sets the teacup on a small plate and then holds it out for Ben to take.

"Here you are. I hope that it isn't too bitter."

He took a sip. It smelled a little floral, and the taste was clean, without any oversteeped bitterness. “Tastes fines to me,” he grinned.

"Oh good. Then I can make this on a regular basis then, since you like it so much." She pours herself her own cup of tea and then settles with it on the couch adjacent from Ben's.

"Tell me," she curls her legs beneath her, "are you a new arrival to the ship? I heard that there was another podpop, but I was too preoccupied to say 'hey, ho' to everyone."

"New," he said, rolling his eyes and taking another sip of tea. "And not happy about it."

Nura smiles apologetically over her cup of tea. "I can't imagine you would be. Did you see anyone familiar to you on the Obs Deck?"

"A few of them. Well, sort of."

"Hello." Wanda smiled brightly as she entered. She had her cape gathered around her body but it fell back when she walked. Hello curves. "I didn't know we had a guest. My name's Wanda."

"Ben Skywalker," he said, putting down his cup and offering a hand. "Sorry I crashed your party."

"Oh no, the more the merrier." Wanda replied, shaking his hand.

"Do people come in here for food a lot?" he asked. "I mean, food that doesn't taste like goo."

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While Wanda and Ben had greeted one another, Nura had taken it upon herself to pour a cup of tea for Wanda. She holds it out on its little fine, China-like plate. "Here you are, Wanda. Fresh tea. Not at all too bitter."

She then turns her attention to Ben. "To answer your question: the sensoriums have this wonderful ability to disguise the taste of the...sustenance...in the Mess Hall. But there is also a source of real food on the ship, though people wisely ration it."

"Let me guess: no midnight snacks."

"Thank you." Wanda nodded to Nura and took the cup. "No midnight snacks. Savor every bite." She paused before taking a sip. "And eat here often."

"Maybe I should just live in here."

Nura sips from her cup, savoring the warm taste as it goes down her throat. "Hmm, while the sensoriums are useful, they can also cause some hysteria if you are within them too long. If you start to become too attached to the sensoriums, you risk tilting your perception of reality."

"You know, this place makes it really hard to be a hungry teenager."

"Don't worry, you still have plenty of food to eat." Wanda smiled. It was, of course, hard to complain about the choice of food given how she spent her adolescence. "I usually come in here just to eat."

He grinned. "And everyone who wants to use it as a simulator is okay with that?"

"There are multiple Sensoriums, actually," a husky alto voice contributed, it's owner pushing the door open. "And if anyone wants to be alone, I believe the doors lock."

Jeka smiled shyly at the three assembled bipeds. "Is this a private party? I've been craving company." Anyone would be, if they'd spent as long as Jeka had under GLaDOS' 'care'.

Giles was investigating things more now, wanting to familiarize himself with as many areas as he could. He'd wanted to see what the sensorium was all about, but it was not always easy to get time in one.

He was quite happy, though, to see what appeared to be tea.

"Would it trouble you greatly if I joined you?" he asked. "I've been hoping there was a method of obtaining a decent drink of tea somewhere. Especially after seeing what the food consists of."

Ben scooted his poofy chair a little further away from the table, making room for the newcomers. "You're stuck eating nutrigoo and the drink you wanted most is tea?"

"Tea is nutrients," Nura says, pouring two cups of tea for Giles and Jeka. She sets the kettle back down and comes over to the two newcomers to the tea party with a warm smile. "Here you two go," she hands them their cups. "Have a seat on the couches, put your feet up..."

Two beanbag chairs materialized in the cirle of couches. "...or in your case, Sensor...your tail?"

Wanda waved hello to the newcomers. "Never underestimate the appeal of good tea."

"Thank you, Nura," Jeka says, clasping the tea cup in her hands and curling up on one of the beanbags. She's not entirely sure if her digestive system is equipped to handle tea -- Orandians were strictly carnivorous, and she hadn't cared to experiment after her transfiguration -- but it was warm and clearly a requisite for the particular gathering, so she had no objections.

"For those who don't know me, my name is Jeka Wynzorr," she introduced herself politely. "I'm on Security."

"Pleased to meet you. I'm Wanda. I am in the Magic department, although I think I should ask Mr Kennedy about the Security department."

Nura has returned to her seat on one of the couches with her own cup of tea and little plate balanced on her lap with her hands holding the sides of the plate to keep it from tipping. She has brought her feet up and behind her and is leaning against a two plump pillows of intricate needlepoint design.

"Do you have an interest in Security, Wanda?" she casually asks.

"We can always use the help," Jeka says. Stacy is a very large ship, and there's only so much ground that they can cover. Granted, Stacy tends to break up fights more often than not, but there are still gaps in her surveillance, and the last thing anyone wants is something sneaking aboard to harm the crew or those still asleep in the pods.

"I am an Avenger. I didn't join when I came here because there was a greater threat from the Nightmare King and I wanted to focus my efforts there."

Nura lifts her her head in interest. "What is the Magic department like?"

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Conversing over tea

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