How To Be Civilized, Friday, Period 3

[1000yearstoolate]

When the students arrived, they found the chairs rearranged in a half-circle and with a small table to one side. An elegant Japanese tea set was placed on it, along with a basket with gloves.

 

"So," Seivarden said when everyone was gathered. "Welcome to the class. I'm Seivarden Vendaai, and I currently live on the island. Sadly Portalocity is a wonder of technological malfunction as it has been unable to open a portal back to my own universe, but while I'm here the school decided to invite me to teach you how to be civilized."

 

There had been an... argument with the moose when Seivarden had found out she had been assigned this class.

 

"I'm Radchaai, and one thing we do when annexing other worlds is to make sure they get the benefits of civilized life and are able to take part in society without their previous limitations. Even if you're not from my universe, I'm sure you will find this useful."

 

Seivarden gestured towards Tisarwat. "My TA, whom most of you probably know, is also from the Radch, and she will be happy to answer any questions you might have."

 

"This is the first class, so let's start off easy. Put on a pair of gloves if you haven't already," she gestured at the basket, "and you," here she gestured at one of the students, "please serve everyone some tea."

 

"Yes, tea. It's a fundamental part of civilization. Now, we are all lucky here, because the tea on Earth is one of the few things that are actually up to standard here, so we will be able to try out a few different kinds during this class. For today I've chosen a rather nice Yunnan tea, not a too fancy, but it would definitely work of you wanted to have a small tea party with friends whom you value but you might not have to impress. We'll get to tea parties in a later class."

 

"Since I don't know any of you, I would like you to tell me your name and which tea you prefer and how you usually prepare it."

 

Mention tea bags and you will be judged.

Comments

Sign In

[1000yearstoolate]

Drinking tea

Re: Sign In

[lilac_eyed_lieutenant]

Tisarwat

Re: Sign In

[bookbeltof_love]

Nina Argentum

Re: Sign In

[unusual_sith]

Lana Beniko

Listen to the lecture

[1000yearstoolate]

Should you feel like you were chosen to serve tea, please go ahead. Also, Seivarden will judge you if you don't want to wear gloves.

Re: Listen to the lecture

[bookbeltof_love]

She didn't want to interrupt, she really didn't, but...

"Excuse me??????????" she ventured. "If we're already wearing gloves," she'd known enough to wear her frilly pink ones to class, "do we have to pick a pair of gloves from the basket??????????????????"

Re: Listen to the lecture

[1000yearstoolate]

Oh, the loud kid.

"Of course you should use your own," Seivarden said, offering her a nod. "I didn't expect everyone to be prepared."

Even if those gloves were terrible.

"We will discuss glove fashion in a later class."

Re: Listen to the lecture

[thishouseishaunted]

Mae hunted through the gloves on offer for the most badass pair.

She'd be at this for awhile.

Why did all of them have full fingers?!

Re: Listen to the lecture

[unusual_sith]

Lana hadn't been wearing her gloves, but she did have them with her, so she pulled them on. They were sensible, grey, and partly armoured.

Re: Listen to the lecture

[scoffs_at_tradition]

Shuri wasn't much for gloves when she wasn't welding something, but she had been trained in protocol for most of her life, so she wasn't going to make a fuss about it. She glanced at what the instructor was wearing and found a pair that looked the most like them, then slipped them on.

Introduce yourselves

[1000yearstoolate]

Name, favourite tea, how you prefer to make it.

Re: Introduce yourselves

[bookbeltof_love]

"Like, hi!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I'm Nina Argentum!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Whole leaf teas from home are probably my favourite," Nina admitted, "since, like, they're from home???????????????? But I do really appreciate a good chamomile or ginger tea………………."

Re: Introduce yourselves

[1000yearstoolate]

Gloves and no teabags. At least Seivarden couldn't claim she was a completely useless student, even if she was loud.

"Any particular kind of whole leaf tea?"

Re: Introduce yourselves

[thishouseishaunted]

"I'm Mae Borowski," Mae said, waving. (The fingers on her gloves were too long, wobbling like wacky waving inflatable arm-flailing tube men.) "Um. My mom likes the bed time tea with the sleepy bear on the box?"

That's right, she meant Celestial Seasonings. Not only was it in bags, it was herbal tea. . . .

Re: Introduce yourselves

[1000yearstoolate]

"Sleepy bear?"

Seivarden looked unimpressed and a little confused.

"Are you having a problem with the gloves."

Re: Introduce yourselves

[unusual_sith]

"Lana Beniko." She nodded. "There are several good teas back at home, but for Earth teas, I like the one they call Irish Breakfast." Bags or whole leaf, she wasn't fussed. "I'm not sure which varieties it's a mix of. And I've heard there's a smoked tea; I'd like to try that, but I haven't found it yet. I like my tea with milk and a very little sugar."

Re: Introduce yourselves

[1000yearstoolate]

"You can't have tea with milk and sugar," Seivarden said. "I know some people do, but that's just because it's exotic."

Clearly the wrong kind of exotic.

Re: Introduce yourselves

[scoffs_at_tradition]

"I'm Shuri," Shuri said with a little smile, "and when I drink tea, it's a rooibos from home, as strong as I can find it, with nothing in it to dilute the flavor."

She was more of a coffee person, but felt this wasn't the time to say so.

Talk to the TA

[1000yearstoolate]

If she's here.

Re: Talk to the TA

[lilac_eyed_lieutenant]

She was there, and, honestly, still a little bummed out about not having gotten placed into Shop Class like she'd been hoping, so there may be an occasional wistful, put-upon sigh escaping Tisarwat if you caught her just right today. Thankfully, though, the idea of Seivarden teaching a class, about Radchaai civilization, was amusing enough to distract her from her terrible misfortune a little, especially considering who else was in the class with her.

Re: Talk to the TA

[1000yearstoolate]

After class, when Tisarwat was about to leave, Seivarden whispered to Tisarwat:

"Did you say you liked those gloves Nina was wearing?"

Talk to Seivarden

[1000yearstoolate]

She will answer any questions you might have, even the stupid ones.

Re: Talk to Seivarden

[special_rabbit]

Amaya was sort of hoping that, by now, Seivarden had maybe forgotten about that whole thing about owing her a phone call in light of the kidnapped business, but she figured a follow-up, at least, would be appreciated.

Besides, it was Seivarden's first class today, so, if anything, she had a good excuse for actually stopping by, and that would be what she started with, when she headed over at the end of the period.

"So," she said by way of greeting, "looks like you survived!"

No, she didn't realize the irony in the choice of words, unfortunately.

Re: Talk to Seivarden

[1000yearstoolate]

"As did you. I asked Rosa to tell you to call me, but I assumed you had been captured by that goat... thing."

She had been worried.

OOC

[1000yearstoolate]

This is my first FH class ever. Is this weird?