Olive Grove

[Olivia Ryder]

"Oh bull... you can play on our level. I mean, granted dad put instruments in our hands as soon as we could hold them, but seriously... there's some natural talent there." Olivia said as she tapped her ear. "The ear knows. I've had to be stuck on bass because Angel had to take lead because our other guitar players sucked, so we had to drown it out. No offense to Jena's last husband..."

"None taken... he had other things he was better at using his fingers on." Jena said with a wiggle of her eyebrows.

"Besides, with Angel an Admiral now, she's sure as hell not going to be getting the band back together." Olivia said as she slid a padd towards Aimee. "So it's mine now. And dad did like the idea of us sort of doing the USO tour thing too, we still have ground forces and other outposts that are pretty much stuck where they are." she hummed lightly. "And they usually enjoy a few things that they can't easily get that we can bring in..."

"Ohhh like how we'd smuggle in bottles of various alcohol and treats in our cases?" Jena said as she took a nibble of her muffin. "You can fit soooo much contraband in a drum kit."

"You do realize that Angel funded a lot of things years before the Alliance, she would fabricate clothes, real underwear, all kinds of non replicated goods, smuggle them in our gear cases and we'd have credits to rival a Ferengi or Orion trader. Hey, I spent seven months on a station with only three working replimats and rations left over from the Tzenkethy War before I was born." Olivia made a face. "You forget how good things are on the main trade routes, when you're off the routes, things get dicey fast. Or you're stuck with what we called K'Rat'On. Klingon Rations. Those are ubiquitous."

[Aimee Sandoval]

"I've used a few Klingon rations from time to time. They're cheap on the market, and I've had times when the crew and I would be scammed or a trade deal would fall through or whatever, and the credits don't come in. And there you are. Eating old Starfleet rations, Klingon Rations, even a Cardassian vole or Earth rat from time to time."

[Olivia Ryder]

"Vole isn't too bad with the right seasoning and preparation." Olivia said with a half smile and a scrunch of her face. "Worst part were those eyes... bore into my soul. Kinda why I went pescatarian... I had no problems eating fish and seafood, nothing that could be a pet. Although I stopped eating anything octopai or squid based... simply because one of my best friends is an Octopus."

[Aimee Sandoval]

"Well, I wouldn't choose it if I had another option. The rat was especially distasteful. Make the K-Rats taste downright exquisite."

[Lana Ryder]

"As long as you don't try to feed those to me." Lana said with a laugh. "I had more than my fill of really bad 'don't ask' food. Oh, I got a message from some of the kids that I lived with, a few of them are going to be going to the Orphan Colony, they're a little jealous of me, that Uncle Jack kinda helped my mind match my body. I hope they get him back soon. He may be busy."

"There are other telepaths that can do it." Olivia said as she put her arm around her daughter's shoulders. "But I am sure he'd be happy to help them. When it comes to kids, my brother Jack has always had a big heart. Kinda knew he'd be the one out of all of us to kinda be the 'winner' of the most kids pool."

"Jason is going to be upset... he used to like babysitting me. Now I'm the bigger 'older' one." Lana said with a slight wince and sighed. "Aunt Aimee... you do know I'm totally down for babysitting duty. Not that I won't have my big little brother to watch."

[Aimee Sandoval]

"I don't think you know what you're getting yourself into. Us Sandovals tend to be hellions, and there's going to be two of them feeding off each other."

[Lana Ryder]

"You've met the Calhoun twins and Carly right?" Lana raised an eyebrow. "I loved when mom would drop me with them, always got into so much trouble, but since we're adorable no one minded."

[Aimee Sandoval]

"Sure," Aimee grinned. "I have. Sure, I suppose you'll do fine. Just remember quiet is definitely not a good thing."

[Olivia Ryder]

"You're expecting them to be holy terrors from birth onwards." Olivia teased. "I'm pretty sure you will have some excellent children. And you've got all of us helping you."