Tea, Romans, and Incontinence.

Posted on Sat Feb 18th, 2012 @ 9:49am by
Edited on on Sat Feb 18th, 2012 @ 10:03am

671 words; about a 3 minute read

Mission: Orbital Yard Project Athena I
Location: Oriental Tea Room

Aeshia was pleased, with the results of the Admiral lady sending T'Yuna lady, and the tight-lipped lady in green clothes, away, on some mission, or another. Engineering, down two staff members, or a full percent of their listed crew roster, was so busy, mean Atwood lady had not bothered to come, and harass Aeshia, in the tea rooms.

Her husband did, but he was afraid of both Aeshia, and Atwood. When they were apart, he did his best to refrain angering the one, or the other, because the other wasn't there to rip the first one's head off, with nasty words.

Such a mean lady, and a nice guy.

As she wiped the last used table off, and made sure it was clean, and reflective, a rather imposing, and yet diminutive presence entered the Tea room. It was never hard to tell, when the Admiral in charge of the S.C.E. entered a business, on the promenade. For some reason, most of the shop owners treated the Admiral like she was a customs official, and all of the questionable wares disappeared.

Of course, the tea room didn't have questionable wares. Aeshia sold tea, and cookies, and salad. The mean japanese guy that mean Atwood lady hired sold sushi. Nothing questionable.

"Green tea, please." Ongaku-Chi said, nodding to Aeshia. She spoke in perfect, unaccented Japanese. Aeshia liked that about the Admiral. She spoke a great many languages, and had taken the time, to learn to speak each one, without an accent.

"House blend, yes?" Aeshia asked, knowing full well, that the Admiral drank the same tea Aeshia drank, despite the fact the 94 different varieties of green tea were available.

"One does best, in a tea shop, to drink from the same pot, as one's host." Ongaku-Chi said, with a nod.

Aeshia had asked this question, every time the Admiral had entered, and every time, it was the same answer. Aeshia nodded, and began pouring a cup out of her tea-pot.

The Admiral suddenly scowled.

Aeshia knew why. It was always the same flow of events, and the sound of flowing water was not something the Admiral appreciated.

Which was precisely why the Admiral made a sudden dash for the lady's room.

Aeshia looked up, to see a man, in a strange outfit, enter her tea room. He spoke in a language, which the translator down-right refused to render into grammar-appropriate Japanese.

"I'm sorry. You speak standard here, or Japanese, or you go get served elsewhere!" Aeshia exclaimed.

The man paid Aeshia not one lick of attention, and walked towards the washrooms.

"Hey! Washrooms for customers only! Public washrooms outside, in center of promenade!" Aeshia yelled. This time, in standard.

Again, the man paid no attention, and walked through the door of the ladies washroom.

"PARDON ME, YOUNG MAN!" Came an exclamation from the washroom, and Aeshia burst through the door.

And, yet, there was no one there, except an Admiral, on the toilet, covering her legs with the Japanese edition of the local news pamphlets that Aeshia stocked the bathrooms with every day.

"Where did the strange man go?" Aeshia asked, in Japanese.

"I do not know, he just vanished into thin air." Ongaku-Chi said, with a scowl.

"What was he wearing?" Aeshia asked. "It looked like a warrior's robe."

"It was. Well, not a robe, but Roman armor. Very authentic looking." Ongaku-Chi said, with a scowl.

"He spoke oddly." Aeshia added.

"I'll say. I think I'll skip the tea, today. I've got to figure out what, precisely, that was all about." Ongaku-Chi said, quickly getting up, washing her hands, and leaving.

Aeshia walked out of the washrooms, after Ongaku-Chi. The Tea Rooms were silent.

Aeshia stopped, and looked back at Ongaku-Chi's table.

The tea that Ongaku-Chi had requested, and Aeshia had poured, had vanished.

Aeshia shrugged, and brushed it off, as the Admiral grabbing it in a rush.

----------------

Aeshia Dew
Tea Lady
Oriental Tea Rooms

And

Admiral Ongaku-Chi
SCE Dispatching Officer
Starfleet Corps of Engineers

RSS Feed