Posted by Commander Shara Calloway (Chief Intelligence Officer) in Tennessee, Earth - Home Sweet Home

Posted by Civilian Micah Pikelsimer (Federation Security Agent) in Tennessee, Earth - Home Sweet Home

Posted by Commander Shara Calloway (Chief Intelligence Officer) in Tennessee, Earth - Home Sweet Home
Posted by… suppressed (2) by the Post Ghost! 👻

(snip)

Nadine’s face screwed up and she mouthed the word ‘rooster’ in confusion.

“You’re such a laugh,” Shara deadpanned as she set her mug down and gathered plates.

Nadine moved through and sound said rooster and peered inside before heating it up as instructed. “I have to say, I’m super curious about the inability to cook thing. Like I’ve met people who couldn’t put a nice meal together if they tried, but they can still do the bare minimum if they learned any cooking. But it sounds like you’re a disaster waiting to happen in the kitchen and I can’t help but feel I’m missing something. I mean, you’re incredibly intelligent, Shara, so it can’t be for lack of trying.”

Reaching for the plates, Shara all but sighed. Plates in hand, she gazed at her daughter (though she glanced once at her husband). “Anxiety. I can’t cook because when I’m standing in front of the stove, I get these huge anxiety attacks and my brain just stops working the way it needs to. I flake. I forget stuff.”

“Oh,” Nadine said quietly, but there was still curiosity there.

Inhaling deeply, Shara squared her shoulders. “After my mother died, my father’s drinking got worse and he basically did shit-all in the house. So it was up to me to feed us. Gavin could help a little but I did my best. And I wasn’t very good and my mother hadn’t been a cook at all. My father had done most of it, actually. Until he stopped. And then every meal I made, there was always something wrong. He criticized me at every turn. Yelled at me. One time he was drunk in the kitchen and he shoved past me at the stove and I got burned.” She shrugged. “I’ve gone fifty-odd years being able to eat to survive and finding others to cook for me, and I’ve been just fine. I’m okay letting this be something that isn’t for me.”

Moving past Nadine, she leaned towards Micah and kissed him on the cheek. “You can add that to our luggage pile.”

~Shara & Nadine

“Stack it in the corner, honey. I’ll get it out to the shed after breakfast.” he said with a smile. “Now you girls get the O-J and milk and coffee together and have a seat, then breakfast should be ready.”

Micah

“Ewww! Orange juice and coffee. You can keep the juice there Love,” Shara said as she set the table and Nadine finished warming the syrup (the stuff in the rooster), adding the butter as instructed.

“I like orange juice,” Nadine said with a smirk.

“Oh, I don’t mind the occasional glass, but never while I’m drinking my coffee. Ruins the flavours,” Shara said as she grabbed the stuff for coffee and transferred the rest of the pot to a carafe she happened to see in a cupboard yesterday. But after setting it all down, Shara stopped and gazed into the corner of the great room. the piano. her piano. As if pulled by a magnet, Shara found herself sitting on the bench and she brushed her fingertips along the white keys lightly, their glossy surface like silk on her skin.

It was an old kinesthetic memory and as her fingers rested in position on the keys, they just knew what to play. Arpeggios in C. She started slowly at first and then picked up pace, the music flowing in a very classic warmup. As Nadine set the rooster of warm syrup on the table, she smiled softly as she watched Shara.

And then Shara didn’t even think as she moved into a piece of music that was light and bright and airy Ludovico Einaudi’s Nuvole Bianchi. White clouds. Long far from memories invoked in the kitchen she had no need for.

Nadine commented softly to Micah. “Think you could get used to that most mornings?”

OOC: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4VR-6AS0-l4

~Shara & Nadine

Micah smiled as he flipped the last piece of breakfast in the skillet. “Kiddo, I am still surprised she went on a date with me, let alone married me. So no, I won’t.” and he glanced over his shoulder at Shara and smiled a smile of uncompromising love.

“But that don’t mean I ain’t gonna look forward to it.”

Micah

“Makes me wonder why she never went and became a musician. I mean, she’s got the talent in spades. Hell, you could hear any of the stuff she plays in a concert hall. I know many people who’d happily listen to her play.” Nadine watched from the kitchen entryway, leaning slightly on the frame. Again, seeing her play was like seeing a glimpse at some different… no, not different. A piece of her maybe? An unguarded portion of Shara that others were allowed to witness in only these moments. There was a softness to the woman that otherwise was hard to find.

Shara finished the piece and her fingers hovered over the keys as she breathed deeply. Lowering her arms, she turned on the bench and got up, only to find Nadine watching her intently. It wasn’t that she was audience adverse, but a lot of the time she had played by herself to herself and for herself. It was odd to have someone else listen again. Not bad, just… odd. “I have photos for you,” she said as she moved over to the coffee table and scooped up the loose photo and the packet.

“Oh?”

“Yeah. You can look through these and any you want I’ll make sure you have copies of to do with what you will,” Shara said as she took her seat at the table.

~Shara & Nadine

“You girls sit. Breakfast is ready.” and Micah came to the table with a plate piled high with French Toast and another with bacon. “Eat up. We have chores to do today. Larder is getting a bit low. House wasn’t set up for three people. So we have to go ‘shopping’ today.” and he grinned wickedly at no one in particular.

Micah