ic The Family You Choose

[April]

"Well I know it," Min said, smiling at Josephine. "I have had to 'learn and adapt' with the rise and fall of civilization many times over. But some habits do have a tendency to stick, and my husband's family as well as your daughter are kind enough to humor me."

Min brushed back a length of her exceptionally long hair, tucking it behind a tapered ear. "I consider myself fortunate for having met them." She grinned, amber eyes dancing with amusement at the memory, "If I had not picked that tree to sleep in on one stormy night it's unlikely I never would have."

[Fox]

"I believe more and more that fate is not so random," Josephine admitted, spreading her hands helplessly. Her tone remained light and friendly, but she had apparently given it quite a bit of thought. "Perhaps not to the levels of a conspiracy, of course! But the more one watches events unfold, the stranger the odds seem to get. A charming woman happens to pick just the right tree, or someone is dragged across time and space to a date and location that are just so. It causes one to wonder."

[Gizmo]

"Oh, we're getting philosophical, hmm?" Gina observed with some wryness, folding her hands over her lap. "Listen, speaking as the only one here with the decency to get old, fate only gets you so far. I'll go out on a limb and guess you've slept in plenty of trees, Min--" With sudden realization she raised a hand to pinch the bridge of her nose. "Ay Dios, puns. They're getting to me. Anyway. Lots of trees, lots of people and maybe part of it is the right person at the right time but you still make that connection, take that step. You do that, you see?" The former policewoman emphasized the statement by pointing to her daughter-in-law. Turning to Josephine she continued, "And if I understand things well enough, if not for some rather remarkable efforts by your Mara, well. Forgive my phrasing but which time period you bleed to death in seems a bit academic. It's effort and work and affecting other people and letting them affect you. They say you can't choose your family but you choose what family means to you, I think."
 

-----

"One hand, huh?" Erik grinned, swatting Chris' hand away amicably. "I think we've got our after dinner show. Speaking of which..." Finishing up what he was doing, he handed a pair of bowls to the younger man and directed where to put them on the table before leaning out of the kitchen doorway. "Alright ladies, the proverbial soup is on! Also the literal soup."

[Ecalsneerg]

"Oh," dismissed Liz, waving a hand. "It's not all as bad as it sounds, we rerouted the cooling duct elsewhere, and it's only under the reactor in terms of geography. And anyway, we've not noticed anything too remiss. If anything, he needs to stop flying it like it's a jet. I designed it more like a helicopter, I can't actually fly it anything near how he can. They're very..." She paused to think of an appropriate word. "Co-dependent."

 

She burst out laughing at Yolanda's forthrightness. "Oh, honey, when you're our age... Heh. But the design's actually got a reason, The shape's so that in radar, instead of it picking up where the ship is, the rays sort of... slide over it. Like on those non-stick frying pans."

 

----

 

"After dinner show?" whined Chris. "Come on, we'll both be like half a turkey heavier. I'd need to get the wishbone to lift you and a week's worth of food." He peered into a pot. "What's proverbial soup anyway? Is that some sort of French cuisine thing?"