Cultural Differences (pt. 1)
Posted on November 11th, 2015 by T'Lira

“Hey, ‘Pela, you’ve got a message here from your sister!”

T’Pela looked up from her current assignment and offered the Andorian a slightly reproachful glance.

“I am aware, Zsava, I have simply not answered it yet.”

“It’s marked as important,” Zsava protested, her antennae twitching in irritation.

“That, I was not aware of. I will look over it.”

Zsava harrumped and walked off, clearly annoyed. The more emotional species tended to be difficult to understand.

T’Pela stood and walked over to the commpanel to open the message. It took three times reading the message for it to sink in.

“This is very unexpected,” she said aloud to no one in particular. The only other sentient being in the house lifted his head and then settled back down, rolling over to display his rather large midsection. Clearly, Zsava was still feeding him scraps from the table.

The cat seemed to sense her thoughts and looked straight at her, offering a meow.

“He says he’s hungry.”

“Felines do not speak the same language we do.”

“True. But I understand him. He always does that when he wants food. Anyway, how is your sister? And when am I going to meet your dreaded family? Might as well get it over with.”

“My family has declined my offer to introduce you to them at this time. As for my sister, it would appear that…,” T’Pela paused, mulling over how to state this properly, “It would appear that she was quite busy over her recent shore leave.”

“Okay, quit with the nervous tiptoeing around sensitive topics. Uzaveh, Vulcans can be such prudes. Maybe not you, but it’s a cultural thing.”

“Andorians have such tendencies as well.”

“And I’m a rare Andorian who isn’t remotely interested in anyone of a masculine gender. Just spit it out.”

“You read the message.”

“It’s funnier to get you to say it. You didn’t even know quite how to tell me that your family is a flock of assholes, save for your little sister. C’mon…”

T’Pela lifted her eyebrow and sighed, “Very well. I believe I will be an aunt soon.”

“Close enough,” Zsava frowned, “Now, we will proceed to work on your culinary skills.”

“My culinary skills are adequate.”

“Then how come I found a burned lump of pasta in the disposal unit just now. I know I certainly didn’t and I don’t think Charlie could do that without opposable thumbs.”

“Very well. It was one time.”

“Yeah, one time today. Now c’mon, let’s teach you how to cook pasta. How about something easy, like vegetarian meatballs and spaghetti. You gotta admit, humans have some good ideas.”

As Zsava continued to chatter on, T’Pela made up her mind to contact her sister as soon as possible. It was clearly necessary to catch up, as it were.