Reverse Housewarming: Money's Worth
Posted on 14 Jan 2024 @ 3:24pm by Commander Calliope Zahn & Brek - Timeless Treasures Art Gallery
Edited on on 06 Feb 2024 @ 10:06pm
Mission:
M4 - Falling Out
Location: OC, Zahn's Quarters
Timeline: M4 D9 (all day, whenever)
1580 words - 3.2 OF Standard Post Measure
Brek had left Nyasha in charge of his gallery for a few hours. Something phenomenal, and as far as he knew unheard of, was happening: today from morning to evening, Commander Zhan - no less - was having an open house party. One of those events where everyone can go. He had heard of it from someone who had heard something (in his lowly position, he couldn’t afford to ignore the glorious grapevine). This particular OHP offered free food (translation: eat as much as you can buffet), the possibility to make new connections, and apparently, the opportunity to bag as many freebies as you want. It would, then, be a grave sin to ignore the event.
Although usually inclined to bring some worthless clutter with him; knick knack that he would introduce as a rare present form his homeworld; this time the Ferengi, (dressed in a dark brown shirt and trouser - his idea of camouflage) entered the party empty handed. He had even left behind the large rucksack that he had first intended to put on his shoulders. It was important to him to pretend that what had dragged him here today was the illustrious presence of the Commander, and not the stuff she was giving away.
The first thing he heard when he entered was a name. Zuzal. One of those people he knew without knowing. Young Kyrill had mentioned her, once. A medic and a cat person, he remembered. And then he noticed, at his feet, a cardboard crammed with what looked like sport equipment - a fancy word for instruments of torture really. Had he been alone, he would have kicked the box. There is junk, and then there is absolute and hopeless garbage that not even the most enterprising Ferengi can rescue. He noticed, however, something odd protruding from that stuff and he knelt down to retrieve it. Square and more flat than a five page book, it was something that nobody used anymore. What is known as a vinyl (an analog sound storage medium). Classical music from Earth. He knew five collectors who would pay good latinum for such a rare item. With trembling fingers and feverish eyes, he checked the publishing date. ... And didn’t find it. The small prints on the album cover were too eroded to decipher. Still it was a rare find. A vintage beauty, and he decided to take it.
“Hey! Greedy gremlin!” Calliope suddenly yelled over the music. She looked stern as she pushed through some guests and started marching in Brek’s direction. “I told you I don’t want to see your puckered little face until morning!”
Brek froze, his new possession firmly tucked under his arm. The vinyl was now his and he wasn’t prepared to give it back. Not without a verbal fight about false advertisement regarding this open house party. This event was about giving items away, or it was not. And so he looked, puzzled, at the Commander.
Calliope marched right past Brek and to the door behind him where another Ferengi stood with two associates.
“The invitation said open house! Is it not as advertised, Commander?” The other Ferengi intoned the rank as if mocking her. He was wearing a cheap snot-green suit with a quilted plastic look to it and his fingers were covered in rings.
Calliope wasn’t stirred by the implication she was being duplicitous. It was clear he was guilty of his own accusations and just projecting. “I’m not entertaining any more offers on my goods until my friends have had their pick. Don’t make me call security, Pog!”
Pog flashed his sharpened teeth at her in a predatory smile and she matched ugly looks with him until he backed out of the doorway and into the corridor again.
“Shifty Orions, always backing out on a deal!” Pog could be heard complaining to his hirelings down the hall, striking one of them backhandedly in his frustration.
Calliope let her hackles fall again and shook her head as she looked to Brek and sighed as if shaking off an unpleasant chill. “Can you believe the chutzpah on him? He’ll probably try slipping in again within the hour.”
Brek, who had observed the scene with a good dose of consternation, breathed more easily when it became clear that he was not in the same category as Mr Pog, a Ferengi who obviously didn’t have any notion of refinement. He was brutal, loud, and ought to be avoided at all cost. “The audacity, and the lack of style of such people...” he agreed. “To get rid of him was the right thing to do. I assume you’ve already had the displeasure of meeting this Pog?”
“Just yesterday! I hauled all of this down to his shop to try and get a fair price and he told me it was all personal junk and it would cost him more to sift through it than it was actually worth in resale! He told me I could pay him to take it off my hands. Do I look like that big of a sucker to you?”
“Not in the least, Commander,” Brek said. Thanks to his years in diplomacy he managed to keep a straight face. Besides, a Ferengi, no matter how eager to make a profit, who didn’t respect a Commander, was not very bright. Overt greed, that’s what always gave his people a bad reputation.
“So I called his bluff, I told him fine, I’d give it away. Then he started talking positive numbers, but I decided it was too late. Now I think he’s stalking the hallway trying to see what everyone is leaving with and calculating his lost potential profits.” Calliope looked pleased with herself. “So I make some friends and lighten my inventory and get to watch that little mouthbreather suffer. Seems like I get my money’s worth.”
“You found the perfect way to ruin his day, Commander. I would have done the same.” Brek added with a quick smile. “Except that I’m unable to give anything for free. It’s a... little eccentricity I share with my people.”
She took another drink of her wine, and then motioned at the album he had found. “Mm! Do you like Magnesium Fyre? They’re great. The lyrics are great, such earworms too. Broken Limit is probably my favorite album of theirs. There’s a whole stack of my old vinyls. Here.” She turned and twisted around trying to place where she had set them exactly. “Somewhere.”
Brek glanced at the item under his arm. “Oh, I can’t say I do, exactly. As far as music goes, I listen strictly to that Terran musician of old called Beethoven. This vinyl here, is for a friend who is fond of old technology. He relates those with better times. Obviously he is not well versed in History. Anyway, since you have more vinyls, I’ll make sure to find them. There’s nothing like a little treasure hunt to brighten a day.”
The Ferengi almost left, but then he remembered he had forgotten something absolutely crucial. “My name is Brek,” he added, “and it is a great privilege to meet you Commander Zahn. I run an art gallery on the Promenade. “Timeless Treasures”, you may have heard of it?”
“Timeless Treasures,” She echoed. “No, I don’t think I’ve been in there. You must have opened within the last month. I need to have a fresh look around since I was deployed off base.”
“In any case, if you ever need new posters or paintings to decorate your quarters, I might be able to help you. Thanks to my contacts I can find almost anything. Also, unlike Mister Pog, my trading methods, and my prices, are friendly.” He grinned, for even he wasn’t sure that this statement was true.
Calliope smirked. “I am sure they are. Well. Make yourself at home here, Brek! Get some food. Make some friends. And—” She reached out and dumped all the sports equipment— roller blades, springball rackets, resistance bands, small weights, and a scuba mask— on the floor under the table, passing him the container. “Take this for your finds. The more that goes the better. I’m ready to turn a new chapter in my life without all this. Besides,” she leaned in and whispered, “the more Pog sees I gave you, the more it’ll make his lobes burn with lost profit.”
Brek looked at those sport items with disdain and he grabbed the container. One could, indeed, put a lot of stuff in that box. “You are very generous, Commander! As for Pog, I don’t think he’ll be able to forget this poor day.” He grinned, as he couldn’t care less for Pog and his misfortune. “Well, since you want to get rid of as many things as possible, I’d better go back to my search. All you have here is quality stuff, and I can see that some of it will go super fast...”
Those words said, Brek moved on to a table where a few colorful scarves were on display. He took two of them. They looked expensive and he decided to give them to Ara and Kreca. Gifts that cost zero latinum, nothing could beat that.
