A Woman's Touch, Part 2

Posted on Thu 11th Jul, 2019 @ 10:53pm by Lieutenant Commander Dallas Briggs

1,619 words; about a 8 minute read

Mission: A Diplomatic Affair
Location: Deck 635, Scent of Love
Timeline: MD 4, 1115

Previously ... Victoria flowed over to look in the window and sighed happily. "Just look at those beautiful plants. I think that's an orchid, but it isn't like any I've ever seen. It looks like fire! Let's go in, Dal."

And now the actual shopping ....

Dallas followed Victoria the ghost inside and stopped at the orchid. Vicky was right, it was a very interesting plant. “Is this an orchid?” he asked out loud.

Coming toward him was a petite woman who hardly looked old enough to own a business, and behind her followed a teenager who looked much like her. "Hello, welcome to Scent of Love," the woman said. "Yes and no. It's marginally classified as a plant in the same family as Earth orchids, but there are some differences. It's from Ktaris, which is a similar environment to Earth's. I bought all a passing trader had. Miss Lantz bought several for her club, just yesterday. Do you like it?"

Dallas nodded, "Very much so, it's incredible." Dallas was amazed by the plant, it was the most beautiful and unique plant he had ever seen.

"So tell her we want it," Victoria said. "It makes me even more curious about this Jade Lantz person. And tell her we need to look at her home decor section. I don't see it."

"We'll...I mean I'll take it." Dallas said, messing up a little. "Also, would you show me your...home decor? I just transferred to the base and have nothing."

Flavia picked up the orchid and turned to hand it to her daughter. "Take the Flaming Sunset back and package it for him, Herodia, please. Don't forget the care booklet." Her smile took the sting out of the reminder, and her daughter nodded before walking away.

Turning back to the man, she said, "I'm Flavia Smith, owner of Scent of Love. Our decorative items are in the store next to us, as we've expanded, but there is an entrance right over this way, if you'd care to follow me." As she turned to walk ahead of him, she asked, "Do you have a particular type of art or a specific look you are hoping to achieve in your home?"

Victoria liked the way she called it a home, not just quarters. She knew that when she'd been XO of Ticonderoga, she'd never spent much time thinking of their living space as a home. She'd been devoted to Starfleet and Dallas in equal measure, but she realized now that she hadn't given their home much of herself.

"Go ahead, Dal, tell her what you like best," she said now.

“I don’t really know yet, but once I see it, I’ll know.” Truth was he didn’t have a clue, he was going to let Victoria pick out what she wanted. He thought she would enjoy that, now that she was ... different.

"I'm certain there will be things you like. If you don't see an actual item in the shop, we have an online catalog and can get anything you'd like to try. We also have a rental service," Flavia said, as she led them into the show room of the next shop area. "You can try a minimum of three items. You live with them for three months, and then you can either buy them, or exchange them for other things you think might work."

"Ooooh, that's a great idea! Tell her you'd like to find an eclectic mix. That will sound like we know what we're doing," Victoria giggled uncharacteristically. She felt almost heady with happiness, as if someone had injected a drug that brought joy.

"Oh, Dallas," she breathed, stopping in front of a classic painting. "I've always loved this painting. It's by Vincent Van Gogh, and I know it's only a computer generated copy, but I want this one, if we can't afford another thing!" She was certain they could buy it, because Dallas had been paid a large number of credits when she died in the explosion ... she wasn't quite sure how that had come about, but he had it and they could spend it all on this one painting, as far as she was concerned.

Flavia smiled at the look on the man's face. He was quite taken with the painting, she could tell. "I see you've found something you like," she said.

Dallas nodded, “My wife loves Van Gogh’s, loved,” he corrected. “She would have been very happy with this piece, I’ll take it.” Dallas turned to the owner, “I’d also like to see if you have an eclectic mix.”

"Scent of Love does have a little bit of everything," Flavia said, winning the battle to prevent a smile. The man almost sounded like someone who had been given a list of things by his wife, but he'd just corrected himself to the past tense, so that probably wasn't the case.

"If this painting is to your liking, let me show you something else that may fit with it," the owner said. She led him to a bookcase where one section had a tall separation between shelves. On it sat a large ceramic vase with blue and purple swirling abstract designs running around it randomly. There were a few flashes of yellow and green mixed in, as well.

"Though this vase has purples, and the painting doesn't, I think it would look nice in the same room. It's perfect for a table top, a shelf like this one," she waved at the bookcase, "or perhaps an end table. And, of course, I highly recommend flowers be placed in it often." She winked at Dallas, inviting him to laugh with her at the clear sales pitch.

"My piano was destroyed in the explosion, but I'm not ready to see one in my home right now." Dallas turned to the woman, "She really enjoyed me playing the piano." Dallas looked around for a moment. "How about a very large stone, something clear like crystal with lots of cuts. Perhaps 30 centimeters tall that can have a light on it from the ceiling." Dallas paused, "or a very nice sculpture, a Greek sculpture, perhaps."

Nodding her head, Flavia said, "The sculpture is no problem. I think we can come up with a stone. 30 centimeters ... a little taller than the vase. Now you have two pieces of artwork relatively similar in size. Do you have something on which you can put them, perhaps balancing each other from the ends, with the painting in between? Or ... well, follow me. This isn't exactly Greek, it's called The Watering Girl."

She led them to another part of the shop, toward the back, passing many beautiful statues, of all ages and types of art, until she stopped in front of a tall statue with a weathered stone look. The woman was dressed in loose flowing layers, looking more like a peasant than a Greek woman would appear. Her hands were toward her left side, holding a rounded bowl, and she was looking down toward her right, long hair tied and flowing down her back. Flavia stopped and said nothing, letting the statue speak for itself ¹.

"Ooooh, yes, Dal, good thinking. This is perfect, don't you think? Actually, what if we had this AND that table she mentioned, with the stone piece² and the vase with flowers? I can see how beautiful that would be! We could rent the table, the vase and the monolith, but I want to buy the painting and this statue, if we have enough credits. And then a plant to grow from her feet and twin around her body, perhaps? We can think about that for a while, though."

"Sounds good," Dallas said, "I would like to buy the painting and the statue now and rent the vase, table, and stone if that's okay." It was hard, but Dallas had to make a decision.

"Excellent choices," Flavia nodded. "As soon as we've taken care of payment, I'll have things wrapped up for delivery, and you can tell me when you want them and where."

"I'd give you a hug, if I could! This is going to make our place look so inviting and elegant!" Vic said, let the air flowing from the environmental vents twirl her around twice. "Next, you have to make friends and have a dinner party!"

“Sounds good to me,” Dallas said. “What form of payment is best for you?”

"Step over to my counter, and my daughter will help you," Flavia smiled, pointing the way back into the floral side of the shop. "Leave your contact information and address, and then a thumbprint to debit your account will be fine. I'm going to get started with the packing of your items. Thank you so much for doing business with Touch of Home. I look forward to helping you select new items in a few months."

Victoria wanted to tell her that she looked forward to it, too, but there was no way to do that, so she simply glided along in Dal's wake, happy with their choices.

“Thank you,” Dallas said before heading over to where her daughter was waiting for him in the floral shop. She handed him a PADD and he placed his thumb print on it to authorize the funds to be withdrawn from his account. Next he typed in his name and location of his quarters on the starbase. He smiled at the young lady before departing the shop.

---

¹Watering Girl
²Unfolding

 

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