The Gathering (Carried over from old forum.)

[Ethan Talon]

"Many of these Scots are Catholics. Have you sat through a Catholic ceremony?" Aimee asked.

"I have," Ethan replied. "Mom was a Catholic." He looked around, "Let's grab something to eat. I could a little bit of a buzz as well."

[Trinity Talon]

"Ryder family is Catholic too... although the Lei's are a mixed bag of Shinto, Buddhist, and Hawaiian 'spiritual'. Dad's side had some Jewish." Trinity said with a shrug of her shoulders. "I was baptized in the Church."

[Ethan Talon]

"I think dad is more or less agnostic," Ethan said chuckling. "Grandma was Irish Catholic. I suppose that was what brought her and my Grandpa together."

He paused at the booth that was the origin of the cooking smells. "What can I get you dear?" The lady asked in thick accented Scots.


She had gotten into the spirit of the event and and was wearing woolen gown of light gray homespun. Her stays caused her breasts to look like they were about to spill over the top of her bodice in a very late 18th Century manner.

Ethan swallowed, "Uh what do you have?"

"Oh aye!" She exclaimed. "I dinnae kent you'd be liking the haggis, being sasanachs and all." She turned and went to the cook table and returned with three plates piled high with roasted venison, bannocks, "tatties" and a large pitcher of beer. "There you go dears."

Ethan reached into his pocket, "How much do I owe you?"

"Ach no! Dinnae fash yersel' laddie. Enjoy." And with that she was off to serve the next guest leaving Ethan staring down at the fragrant smell of the the roasted deer, potatoes, and flat bread.

[Trinity Talon]

"Oh yeah... I think I may need to play some of those Highlander games after this..." Trinity looked at the plate and chuckled lightly. "There are times when I kind of wish I had my great-grandmother Tess's features, she'd fit right in here." taking her plate off Ethan and handing Aimee her's she smiled slightly. "Don't want to strain that arm more than it is. These things must weigh like five pounds."

[Aimee Sandoval]

"Oh it's fine," Ethan said. "Whatever you did last time is perfect."

Aimee happily accepted her plate, and made a direct path to a nearby picnic table, and sat down. With morbid fascination she noticed that the men at the other tables were using their dirks and fingers to eat their meals.

"This is a little too authentic," she said with a grimace.

Ethan sat down across from her and hazzard a glance over his shoulder, "I do the same thing now and then when I'm out riding the ranch."

[Trinity Talon]

"Boys..." Trinity said with a dismissive shake of her head as she reached into her purse. "Mom always taught me to keep an extra set of silverware handy..." she handed Aimee a set of black carbon utensils. "I also have chopsticks in here, but this is clearly not chopstick fare... from her years of dealing with dinner parties with other cultures on other planets, usually she'll do what the native people do, but she likes having a fall back. Or you drop your set and don't want to look clumsy or eat off of alien soil."

[Ethan Talon]

"You're such a Boy Scout," Ethan teased as he accepted the aforementioned cutlery. Taking a bite of the meat he nodded, "There's something about the soil or something here on Terra Alpha. Meat just tastes better here."

[Trinity Talon]

"I agree... everything tastes so good here." Trinity said with a smile as she dug into her meal. "And I WAS a Scout... always prepared." she mused as she looked at the veggies. "I think you may be right. Everyone says our berries are juicier and more flavorful, of course I think everyone is just used to replicated nonsense... but Uncle Jack said something that there IS something in the planet that encourages growth. That and fertility."

[Ethan Talon]

"The fertility of the people... well that's a song as old as time. There's always a baby boom after a war," Ethan chuckled.

Aimee frowned, "My situation has nothing to do with the war, and a fair amount due to lack of judgment brought on by too much alcohol. And, that my brother is a 'tale as old as time' as well."

[Trinity Talon]

"Yeah but fertility in general is just off the hook right now." Trinity said with a smirk. "You've lived here long enough, supposedly birthrates were down on Earth and a lot of other Federation worlds for years now. And not because people were having less sex... "