New Friends, Old Opinions: The Dinner Party, Part II
Posted on 01 Feb 2024 @ 7:42pm by Lieutenant Commander Maurice Rubens & Brek - Timeless Treasures Art Gallery
Edited on on 15 Feb 2024 @ 8:04am
Mission:
M4 - Falling Out
Location: Moon and Rice's Quarters
Timeline: M4 - D6 Evening
1219 words - 2.4 OF Standard Post Measure
Bong-Cha sat in an arm chair, a glass of wine barely touched hanging from her fingers, staring at the table where Brek, Sylvie, and Moon sat reviewing business documents of some sort. The girl was clearly out of her depth, as the Ferengi and Cardassian did most of the talking. She’d pipe up every now and then, but Bong-Cha was certain she was adding nothing of substance. Her daughter had never had a mind for these things.
She wasn’t about to involve herself, though. Last night, she’d realized that the best way to get Moon back to Earth was to help the girl and watch her fail utterly. Bong-Cha didn’t like watching it, to be sure. Moon wasn’t built for failure; she’d probably moan about this for the rest of her life, but Moon had left her mother no choice.
With some effort she turned away from the spectacle to address the Ferengi sitting next to her, asking stuffily, “Do you enjoy these types of affairs?”
“I enjoy everything, as long as it is free, my dear Mrs Chung,” Ara said with a slight smile, meant to be polite. “Besides, at my great age, everything is a source of entertainment. I like for instance...”, the old Ferengi woman made a pause to take a sip of wine, gorgeously red and fruity, “this interaction between you and your daughter. You do not like the choices she has made. Yet this Rubens... what an odd name, is quite charming. It is, no doubt, an affected pause. Who in their right mind would trust a diplomat?” She chuckled, as if to say ‘good luck with that, Mrs Chung’. “Am I glad that my Brek is not enamored with someone who’s inappropriate. I’m having difficulties, though, selling Kreca to him...” She gave the hewmon woman a quick glance. Perhaps that the two of them could join forces to find a solution to their current difficulties...
“Was Brek someone who has ever listened to you?”
“If it has ever happened, I’m not aware of it.” Ara said, trying to find one instance where her grandson had been pleasant. “At best he gives the impression that he is listening, but as soon as he is alone, he does what he wants. I’m of course, at a disadvantage, being ‘only’ his grandmother. What about you, Mrs Chung, do you get results when you talk to Moon? She certainly seems to listen to Ms Hardt and Brek at the moment...”
“She used to listen to me and it led her to great things. Awards and prestige. Then this relationship. Ta!” Bong-cha huffed in annoyance, “I let her know my opinion on it several months ago. I said that it was only ever going to be a fling, she’d grow bored with the diplomatic ‘lifestyle’ and he would always put her second. She agreed with me then and ended things only to run off as soon as I was off-world. This time, Moon is proving most…stubborn. I blame him.” She cocked her head over toward the couch where Rice and Kreca were conversing."
She paused, feeling something like warmth start to grow for this shorter, wrinkled Ferengi female. “And you may call me Bong-Cha. I’m ‘Mrs. Chung’ no longer, but people insist on hanging that around my neck, so you may have got the wrong impression. As if my ex-husband were the best part of my life. Your kind doesn’t treat its females with any sort of respect, so I assume you understand the feeling.”
“Of course - Bong-Cha,” Ara repeated, so as to get familiar with the name. “I still feel rather awkward when it comes to Humans’ names. They are so long, compared to naming traditions on Ferenginar. As for exes... the least said about those pitiful creatures, the better. I will nonetheless add this: none of mine, and I have had seven of them, can pretend they’ve had the better of me. They paid dearly for their behavior. Anyway, regarding young Moon, there. What does she find in this Rice? Is he particularly bright? Intelligent and clever? All I know of diplomats is that they are manipulative. I should know, my Brek used to be one of them: attentive to form and protocol but generally pliant and without force.”
Intelligent. Bong-cha grudgingly gave that to him, not that she'd say it out loud. She wishes he was pliant, but (again grudgingly) she had to admit he had a steely core. “Dae-Jung - my ex - would never allow one of his proteges to be ‘manipulative.’ Honest to a fault, I’m sure, and so he’s not especially clever. I think those are probably what draws her to him. He’s nice.”
“He is nice?” Ara echoed. She glanced at the Trill, and she didn’t bother to hide her bafflement. “Surely, he is nice only to your daughter. This is what men do when they play this ridiculous game of seduction. Beyond that, being nice, it conjures up images of door-mats and crowd-pleasers. Such people cannot be taken seriously. Yet he looks decent. I guess he chooses his battles and arguments carefully... It is your ex who made a diplomat of him, you said?”
She snorted. “Yes, Dae-Jung used to have a pack of them following him around. Puppies at his heel. Rubens was the one who he doted on the most. Dae had nine aides at one point.”
“Nine?” Ara echoed, baffled. She tried to imagine nine clones of Rubens and she shuddered. “Your husband probably used those protégés to do all his work. I would do the same, if I could find youngsters that are pleasant enough.” She took another sip of wine. “So, this Rubens, beyond being not too bright, does he have weaknesses? Maybe he is volatile or prejudiced? There must be a flaw in his impeccable appearance, that you might be able to exploit...”
Bong-cha tapped her finger on her lips thoughtfully. Yes, there might be something to that. She’d tried for speed in all her dealings with him so far. Get him out of Moon’s life as quickly as possible, but maybe there was something little, some flaw, that she could use to put a thorn in this relationship that would bloom into an infection. It may take years, but…
“You know, Ara. Until this moment I’ve never had warm feelings for Ferengi. Conniving. Liars. And the way they’ve treated their women - despicable! And women took it - even worse! I can see now that perhaps I was mistaken. Perhaps Ferenginar is just a proving ground where only the strong survive?”
“You certainly have to be strong to survive on Ferenginar, and it helps if you are male and corrupted,” Ara agreed. “This is why I live in space these days, on my own ship. This is the only way I can thrive without all the nonsense that my people impose on my gender. Should we get some wine before Rubens takes it all? The greed of men. Isn’t it just repulsive? At least when we women are excessive, we act this way for the benefit of our children.”
