Taste of Thai, Saturday Evening

[shiroi_tiger]

While the original plan had been for a night of drinking and just generally shooting the shit with Tyler and Ghanima, two things had occurred to Nathan.

First, that there were a wealth of places in town that weren't likely to be inundated with students on a Saturday evening, and that if they were going to be having an adults' night out, they might want to avoid the bar.

And second, that he was hungry, there was a place in town that served Thai cuisine, and that he'd never actually eaten Thai food.

He was feeling particularly adventurous this evening, and so he had flagged down his drinking buddies for the evening and redirected them to the Taste of Thai, where they could get just as drunk on Singha as they might have on whiskey elsewhere. Ah, multiculturalism.

"Now," he said, looking at this evening's partners in crime, "I suppose it boils down to figuring out the difference between the green and the matsamun curry..."

[For the partners in crime, though open for all of your Thai food needs.]

Comments

[atreideslioness]

"Or we can get both," Ghanima suggested as she perused the menu. "I am not adverse to ordering a dozen entrees, and just passing them around."

[tyler_gone]

"I'm good as long as I get satay and Singha," Tyler said, running his finger down the menu. "And something really hot."

[shiroi_tiger]

"I'm afraid I don't have a great deal of experience with hot foods," Nathan admitted, staring at the menu for a moment more. "I'm tempted to follow Ghanima's suggestion, actually. Every other item on the menu, and then pass it around."

A pause.

"And Singha."

That was the important part.

[atreideslioness]

"Extra Singha," Ghanima declared as she waved over a waiter. "Every other item it is, then, plus the satay. It will be a culinary adventure."

Order placed, she leaned back in her seat to regard her two companions. "We should do this more often, you know. While staff spa trips are all fine and dandy, and as much as I fear respect Principal Winchester, it's nice being out with other adults."

[tyler_gone]

"It is," Tyler agreed. "I mean, we see each other all the time, but not -- not so much socially."

[shiroi_tiger]

"All work and no play?" Nathan actually chuckled a little, nodding to the waiter as three bottles of Singha were brought their way. "I have to admit, I haven't had much in the way of a social life as of late. Work. Fight Club when I remember."

He didn't remember often, lately, too distracted with his own issues to get out of the house. He'd have to work on that.

"Perhaps we ought to consider making this a regular occurrence, then. Not necessarily here," he'd reserve judgement until he knew if the spicy food would be the death of him, "but... out, at least."

[atreideslioness]

"Out? Regularly? Careful, or the rumor might get out that we really are human beings, and not teaching machines," Ghanima laughed. She lit up as the three bottles came into her line of view. "Oh fantastic!"

"Sadly, with my stepmother now in town, I fear what ends up on the radio about my antics. I am no longer sixteen, but Irulan does the most frightening 'Ghanima I am very disappointed in you' lecture..."

[tyler_gone]

"What do you think she'd make of Fight Club?" Tyler wondered as he snagged a beer. "I tried to explain it to my dad once. He asked why I'd want to get beaten up."

[shiroi_tiger]

"It's catharsis," Nathan offered, lifting his beer and smirking. "Better a group of consenting parties than students bent on pushing our buttons. Back in my day, it was a swift paddle to the ass for misbehaving."

Back in his day. Damn, that made him sound old.

[atreideslioness]

"Old!" Ghanima teased, saluting him with her beer. "Irulan has become... accustomed to Leto and mine's eccentricities, and has spent the last few decades on Dune. You can't live with Fremen that long and not get used to our habit of hitting things until they fall down."

[tyler_gone]

"She's not Fremen herself? And can I spar your brother tomorrow?" Tyler checked. "I need to punch somebody. He's good."

[shiroi_tiger]

"You need to ask her permission to hit her brother?" Nathan couldn't help but smirk faintly at the thought. Were she the boy's mother, perhaps he could see asking, but his sister?

[atreideslioness]

"Hit him, if you can," Ghanima laughed. "No, she's not. Not by birth, anyway, although she's just as vicious as any warrior once you get her feathers riled. Otherwise she never would have survived being married to my father, or dealing with my mother."

[tyler_gone]

"I wasn't asking permission, I was -- I don't know. It's weird. I'm kind of dreading club," Tyler admitted, mostly to his beer bottle. "It'll happen either way, right?"

[shiroi_tiger]

Well, that statement certainly earned a quirk of the eyebrow.

"People will probably hit people with or without you, yes." Nathan took a mouthful of Singha before he continued. "I've got this creeping suspicion that I've managed to miss something."

[atreideslioness]

"Tyler had to play Bad Cop," Ghanima confided before taking a long pull from her own beer. "We've had some conflicts in the last few months, and he got the brunt of it this last time."

[tyler_gone]

"I am the worst human being on the face of the earth," Tyler grumbled. "I had to kick somebody out. She ... did not take it well. I don't argue with teenage girls, dammit."

[shiroi_tiger]

Nathan took a moment to seriously consider this statement.

"I've met worse human beings." It perhaps said a great deal about Nathan that he considered this to be reassuring somehow. "I can't see you removing someone from the club without good reason."

[atreideslioness]

"Attitude," Ghanima said simply. "I won't tolerate outright disrespect of anyone in the club. Everyone is there to learn, and there's no place for ego on the mat."

[tyler_gone]

"You have to have some ego if you're going to get any good," Tyler shrugged. "But -- it's pride in yourself. Not arrogance. The girl was arrogant and she kept rationalizing it, like" -- he stuck a spoon into a tofu dish. "Make me stop talking."

[shiroi_tiger]

"Stop talking, Tyler," Nathan said, grinning faintly. "We're here to enjoy ourselves. Eat your..." He squinted at the tofu. "Off-white stuff. Drink your beer."

[atreideslioness]

"What he said," Ghanima laughed, reaching for what looked to be the green curry. "Stop talking, and enjoy the food. We're here, we have beer, and we're mature adults that can socialize without bitching about the children."

"I think."

[tyler_gone]

"We're teachers," Tyler said, smiling a little despite himself. "Isn't bitching in the job description?"

He took rather more than his share of the satay.

[shiroi_tiger]

"Somewhere between rolling our eyes and pulling out our hair, I believe. I didn't read the contract as thoroughly as I perhaps should have before signing on to the job."

Not that Nathan had been pulling his hair out lately. He was taking this term off, after all.

[atreideslioness]

"You forgot the clause that says we live in our offices, and do nothing but write lesson plans," she laughed. "Oh, and try not to bang our heads into the wall when we realize our students are illiterate, poorly socialized, or insane, and the office staff forgot to warn us."