The First Snow of Winter - Part Three

Posted on Wed Nov 30th, 2022 @ 6:11am by Grand Admiral April Yamaguchi

Mission: Mission 116: All Along the Watchtowers - Part One
Location: Various Locations - Starbase 12
Timeline: 1725Hrs - December 11th, 2393

Yamaguchi paused before she resumed her comment. "Besides, the others tend to look up to you so... You tend to lead by example rather than have me nag you..." she smiled. "It's such a relief to not have to nag everyone else for stuff to get done... Because you've already done it." she knew that she didn't need to enforce anything as he did it himself considering her younger children listened to Raymond because he was bigger than they were and he could also enforce their compliance with his rules more often than April could and louder then April could.

"I do what I can," Raymond answered quietly. "It helps that I seem to be the cool older sibling..."

April sighed softly, she knew what he was going to say next. "Until Kimora threw it in your face the other day..."

"Yup," Raymond answered. "She thought she had me dead to rights with that argument. Yelling at her wouldn't do any good so I decided to get Franklin involved and let him tend to matters..."

April regarded the man before her as she decided to tell him what was on her mind. "I was expecting you to hit her."

Raymond knew what April was saying and what she wasn't saying either. He let out a long breathe of air. "To be honest... I knew what she wanted. She wanted me to hit her so she could manipulate others against me..." He then shrugged. "It would have resolved nothing anyway. Kimora already didn't respect me so I decided to call in someone who could deal with her... She thinks even more poorly of me but... Then she doesn't think well of anyone anyway..." Raymond regarded April in silence for a moment. "Besides she is only nine years old." he then shrugged as if to say that the child's opinion about him did not matter overly much. "She will learn in time... or... She won't."

"Exactly," Yamaguchi answered. She knew of how her daughter thought and operated. Kimora tended to be the more obnoxious of her various children. She had been the eldest and her primacy as such had been usurped by Raymond now being much older than she was. April was not happy with Kimora and it showed a lot these days. What made things worse was that Torilla was usually better behaved and so was Daniel. Haiyan and Braeden were still only infants and had no idea of what sort of personalities either would have as of yet. Ramond and April both knew that would change in the days and years to come.

Yamaguchi regarded Raymond. "How's your homework coming?" she knew that Raymond's patience with young children was never great at the best of times and today was anything but the best of days.

"It's almost finished. Just an essay about the history of Deneva in one thousand words," he added. "I've finished a rough draft and I'm looking to add to it, but it's close to two thousand words."

"You could condense it a little... Nothing wrong with rough drafts, it'll let you edit in and out as needed." April smiled as she regarded the PADD next to him. "I take it that's your essay?"

"Yeah... I wanted a few minutes so I could think about it before you showed up." Raymond explained.

"Ahh..." Yamaguchi answered. She did not ask if she could read it. "Just make sure the computer fixed your typos and the like... Sometimes the spellchecker doesn't always catch everything." she paused. "Will you be having dinner with us?"

"Yes," Raymond answered a little too quickly. He knew of April's preference that she prefered the family eat dinner together, as a family should. "Yeah... I'll eat dinner with you guys. I've been at this for hours... I could use a long break."

"All work and no play makes me a dull girl." April smiled. "Franklin finds me dull company when I'm mentally exhausted from meetings and poking and prodding various Admirals for whatever it is I need..." she paused. "I'll talk to Kimora... It's time I dealt with her once and for all." April sighed. "I was hoping that my brat of a child would come around and figure it out on her own." she then shook her head.

Raymond knew why April wanted to deal with Kimora and he also knew that protesting would serve no useful purpose. "When will you talk to her.?" he inquired as he knew that the woman before him would eventually want to deal with the problem that was present.

"Now." April then rose to her feet as she quickly brushed off her skirt. She then went into the next room as Raymond put the matter out of his mind while he quickly saved his work. He suspected that mom would bring Kimora in here and force her and Raymond to resolve their issues between them.