Form of Art, Part 2
Posted on Thu 15th Jul, 2021 @ 4:41pm by Voareth Darqaron & Purulence Addams
1,089 words; about a 5 minute read
Mission:
Waging Peace
Location: Tivoli Gardens, Riverwalk
Timeline: MD-4, 1405 hours
Previously, on Starbase 109...
In a start, the Ferengi turned to look in Voareth’s direction. She in turn flicked a lock of her blowing hair behind her, rubbed at her neck, allowing herself to fall backward into a sitting position on the ground and continued to enjoy the beauty of the park.
I'll be darned! She doesn't want to look as if she's looking at the Ferengi guy, Purulence thought. Could she be sweet on him? No, Purulence decided. This woman didn't have the embarrassed look that women got when they didn't want their crushes to know they were drooling over them. From the way the woman's attention was now totally focused on flowers and her other surroundings, Purulence got the distinct impression that this woman didn't want the Ferengi to notice her at all. But she noticed him, even now.
Purulence sketched the rest of the scene, adding in little details, like a folded paper boat floating on the water, and someone's puppy digging at a clump of grass. She continued sketching for another couple of minutes before she realized that, save for the woman and the Ferengi, the rest of the scene just did not interest her all that much.
With a sigh, Purulence named the riverbank sketch Noticed and then closed it. She opened a half-finished sketch of Six talking to a pair of ravens and worked on it, occasionally glancing at the mystery woman who was pretending to admire the scenery. Only when the Ferengi disappeared from view did she close her SketchPADD and casually walk by the Ferengi Watcher.
Voareth noticed the dark-skinned woman strolling by. Everything about her (skin, hair, eyes) was dark colored. She felt a brief moment of envy understanding that would give her an advantage during her hunts, especially at night. The dark woman had a beauty about her. On top of that, as their eyes connected ever so briefly, Voareth noticed, or felt she had noticed, a sense that this was someone who could take in details quickly. Very little would escape her vision. Her attire was casual; these bluish pants she Voareth had seen around a lot already as well as a comical shirt.
‘T. Rex Hates Push-Ups,' Voareth read. There was a design of an animal attempting to push itself off the ground but its arms were much too short to perform the act.
Such attire, Voareth understood, was normally worn by those who enjoyed being comical or simply wanted a break from the norm of always appearing formal and/or refined. It was a semi-rebellious trait many possessed. Also, it was a tactic used by many who sought to draw the eye away from the fact that the wearer was looking intently and taking in every detail.
The dark beauty had stepped by and was gone before Voareth could make a real determination. Also, there were too many minds and feelings about the area for her to pinpoint which belonged to whom. Voareth did, however, get a strong feeling of suspicion as well as curiosity which diminished as she passed by.
Voareth certainly did not have the intention of pouncing upon her prey just yet anyway, and decided it was best to call it a day in tracking and following the Ferengi. He was already jumpy enough, seeing Voareth in too many places in one day would only make him more cautious.
Standing from her place along the bank of the river, Voareth turned and watched as the dark woman strolled away. As she was nearly out of sight, Voareth started in that direction. She wanted to, through close proximity, verify the feelings she had picked up and to see if Miss ‘T. Rex’ seemed to have any knowledge of Voareth or if she was simply curious.
"Hey, Juana!" Purulence called out as she approached the Vargas Tamales y Mas food cart.
"Ébana! ¿Cómo estás?" (1)
"I'm doing very well, now that I'm here!" Purulence said. Juana refused to call her Purulencia. She had wrinkled her nose when Purulence had first introduced herself several months before and said, "Why? It means pus! No, no, no, no. I call you Ébana. Is beautiful wood."
Today she waved at Purulence. "¡Espero que tengas hambre!" (2)
"I'm always hungry when I come by your cart!" Purulence said. "Me gusto seis tamales de puerco, por favor." (3)
Juana giggled and spoke the correct phrase back at her, slowly. "Me gustaria seis tamales de puerco." (4)
"Me gustaria...." Purulence repeated the phrase. "I always forget the conjugations."
"You'll learn them," Juana assured Purulence as she dropped six foil-wrapped tamales into a bag. "Hola!" she said, waving at another customer. Purulence glanced toward the person being waved to, only mildly interested, until she saw that it was the lady who had been watching the Ferengi from the riverbank.
"Hi," Purulence said, smiling. "I saw you looking at the roses earlier. Gorgeous, aren't they?"
“Oh yes,” said Voareth with a well-rehearsed smile. She could feel the interest and the curiosity emanating from the dark-skinned woman. Now she needed only to know the subject of that interest and curiosity. “It is so beautiful here.” Voareth looked around as she spoke. “Real thing too. No holograms, I mean. It is quite a grand station you have here.”
"I was pretty surprised by it, myself, when I first came here," Purulence said and moved away from the food cart so other customers could approach. "I have never seen a starbase with a waterfall. I always wondered who came up with that idea and what possessed them to actually build it." She shrugged. "I'm curious to know if it was a case of, 'I wonder if I can?' or someone saying, 'I'll bet you can't.'"
Voareth followed Purulence. “In my travels, I have seen such things but never to such detail as that,” she said as she tossed her hair back and even looked back at the scene. The Ferengi was gone. “I would say this is due to someone wondering if they can. If I may,” she gave her attention to Purulence, “how far travelled are you? From where do you hail?”
(To be continued...)
Translations
(1) "Ebony! How are you?"
(2) "I hope you're hungry!"
(3) "I like six pork tamales, please."
(4) "I would like six pork tamales."
"Hola!" = "Hello!"
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