Star Trek: Eventide 777 - poppy′s-antiques

[D] Some mercs entered the antique store hoping to find some valuables, but the only thing they found was empty shelves and cabinets. Looks like it must’ve been cleared out in a hurry.

[D] Poppy had returned after the attack and found her shop in surprisingly good shape, all things considered. A few empty glass cabinets had been thrown about the place and broken during the attack, and there was a bit of damage from fighting, but thanks to her removing her antiques as she evacuated nothing was actually missing. She went about fixing the place up again with the help of Ops and put her antiques back on the shelves and in their places.

Jack had finally gotten himself some down time. He had read earlier in the promenade post about an antique store and figured it could be quite interesting. He was looking around mainly for antiques from Earth. He gave a little knock on the door and entered. "hello."

Poppy, having been fiddling with something on a shelf, turned to face the newcomer with a smile. "Hello! Welcome to Poppy's Antiques. How can I help you?"

He took a second to think about how he would respond. "I heard about your store in the post and I figured it might be a pretty cool place to check out. I'm really interested in Human history specifically."

"Oh, well in that case the Earth antiques are over there." She said, gesturing to an entire wall filled with various items, and even some larger items sitting on the floor, with the ages of the items spanning from the 21st century to the 23rd. "Feel free to browse. Every antique has a label explaining what it is, when it's from, and how much it costs should you wish to buy it!" She said cheerfully.

He walked over to the wall and eyed up every part of it finding a lot of cool stuff. He had a look of cheer in his eyes reading up on the history of everything.

[D] There were all sorts of items, from furniture, to jewellery, to collectible figures, to baseball cards, and even some old(ish) handheld hologame consoles from the early 23rd century. Everything that could fit in one was behind the locked glass door of a cabinet to keep them clean and safe.

Jack waved over poppy with a grin on his face. He gestured towards one of the figures that he figured looked a little bit like him. "How much for this one?"

Poppy walked over and looked at the figure in question, before giving an answer. "Oooh, that's a nice one. That figure would be 80 slips of Latinum, but since you're a first-time customer, I'm willing to drop it to 70." She said with a smile.

He thought for a second before deciding the price was fair enough. "that works for me, can you break a strip?"

"That I can! Is it for yourself or is it a gift?" She asked as she walked back over to the counter to grab her keys. She walked back with a genuine set of metal keys and unlocked the cabinet's door to retrieve the figure.

He pulled a strip out of his pocket "Its for me..." He laughed for a second. "I think it kinda looks like me wouldn't you say?"

She looked back and fourth between the figure and the customer as she took it out the cabinet, before grinning. "It does, doesn't it?" She said, before locking the cabinet again and taking the strip off McLellan. She took the Latinum, her keys, and the figure back over to her counter and carefully set them all down. She carefully packaged the figure up in plain grey tissue paper and put it in a Poppy's Antiques branded box along with a piece of paper with product care instructions printed on it, before placing it in a Poppy's Antiques branded tote bag. After which, she opened her till and exchanged the strip for the corresponding change, which she then neatly put on the counter next to the tote bag. "Here you go!" She said with a smile.

He took the bag and his change then he smiled back. "Thanks a ton, I'm sure you'll see more of me. I love antiques."

"It's no problem at all! Have a nice day!" She said, maintaining her smile as she did.

He left the shop bag in hand.

[D] As PACT Galactica 2412 Poppy had been busy getting her shop ready for the onslaught of greedy Ferengis looking for a good deal. It was with this in mind that she had set up PACT-themed decorations throughout her shop and in its windows to entice new customers in.

From the promenade, Heinrich stepped into the small shop, the door swooshing open as the man stepped through them. He looked around, it seemed like a nice shop. Antiques were something he liked and if he was going to find SOMETHING to give Odessa it was probably here. Thing was he had never given Genesis a ring, he had lied right to Odessa's face and felt quite bad about it. He had never had a ring before at all, so it felt weird on his hand, so when he stepped into the shop, he took it off and put it in his pocket.

A woman popped up from behind the counter, having been completely out of sight up until now. She greeted the newcomer with a friendly smile. "Hi there! Welcome to Poppy's Antiques! Can I help you at all?"

Heinrich looked over at the shopkeeper, that must be Poppy, or the owner. "Uhh...yes, I hope. I was hoping you had some specific antiques, maybe something from old earth."

"Well, I have a selection of items from pre and post-world war earth over there if you'd like to take a look!" The woman said, gesturing to a shelving unit as she did. Straight away the shelves looked like they were filled with all sorts of old earth items. Baseball cards, action figures, clocks, vases, and pretty much anything else that might have somehow survived the war. They were all locked behind transparent aluminium cabinet doors as they were clearly very valuable. (edited)

"I see..." Heinrich approached the cabinet, looking inside. Baseball cards and action figures weren't his type, neither were clocks, the vase wasn't such a bad idea. He looked for a few moments. "What about rings? Earth rings. Maybe something like this?" Heinrich took the ring Odessa had given him out of his pocket holding it out.

"Rings, you say? Well we have a lovely selection of jewellery in that cabinet over there!" She said, gesturing to another cabinet. "All the items have their dates and planet of origin written next to them."

"Ja..thank you..." Heinrich made his way over to the other cabinet, they sure had a lot of rings, and Poppy was correct, the dates and planet of origin were written next to them. He made an inspection of each ring, they all seemed nice, well for the most part, some of them he didn't fully understand, but they were from other cultures. Though one did meet his eyes, probably the closest he could get to what he wanted. A silver ring, dated back to 2259, origin was earth. He picked it up, it wasn't that bad looking, had some shine to it. Heinrich took the ring over to Poppy, setting it down gently on the counter.

The woman eyed the the ring with a smile. "That's a lovely one! 21st century Earth if I remember correctly. I think it dates back to the 2000s, from The Netherlands! Are you interested in purchasing this item? It'd be one bar of Latinum." (edited)

"Yes, I would." By now Heinrich had gotten good with the distinction between slips and bars, so he reached into his pocket, pulling a bar out and placing it on the counter. "Is there any chance it can be gift wrapped or well..something of that sorts?"

"I'll do you one better!" The woman said with a grin as she took the bar, before reaching down below the counter and pulling out a ring box, which she carefully put the ring in. She then went about gift wrapping the box with some nice floral paper and a pretty little ribbon. The wrapping was both occasion-neutral and gender-neutral. How was she meant to know who the ring was for. She then put it in a little paper bag branded "Poppy's Antiques, Promenade, Starbase 777" and handed it to Heinrich. "Are you aware of our return policy?"

"Uh...no."

"Well you can return any item in the condition you purchased it within the next week, and you'll get your Latinum back!" She said with a smile. "If it's damaged you can still return it, but you won't get a full refund."

"Oh well..I see..." Heinrich thought to himself 'why the hell would i be returning it' but he at least understood the policy. "One final question I have, but uh...what do you have in terms of Eugenics wars?"

"Oh, well..." The woman thought for a moment. That was certainly a weird question. "I have a few items from that time period, but they're not really associated with the wars. More just, happened to be there at the time. Mainly furniture, to be perfectly honest."

"Oh." Heinrich said with a rather saddened tone. "I see...well I guess I can't blame you, a lot of what came from that era was destroyed either way."

"Yeah... But I could add you to our mailing list if you like! You'll be one of the first to know if we get anything else from that era in!" The woman said with a smile.

"Um...no thank you." Heinrich said as he picked up the bag with the ring box in it. "Thank you for the ring though." He said as he turned to walk towards the door. (edited)

"You're welcome! Have a nice day!" The woman called out as the man left.

Of course this was his second shop visit after Delta Delights during one of his rare breaks. If there was anything better than trinkets, it was old trinkets. Mo browsed the various antiques, looking for nice furniture for his quarters or small desk decorations, using his keen Ferengi-but-not-Ferengi eye to analyse the monetary worth of everything he saw. Some were under or overpriced, but it seemed like the owner of this shop knew how to value their antiques pretty well. He hummed a space shanty as he stared at an old, chipped China set, though with his face, it looked more like he was glaring at it.

He entered Poppy’s antiques, awestricken by the strange construction of the older products. It was almost like being in a different time period all together, a much simpler, less…. Complicated, time period. He noticed Mo, surprised to see the captain here, but also at the same time, not really “Oh… Oh hello Captain…!”

Mo looked over to Two. "Oh, hey, kid, I haven't seen y'in a while. I hope the number of cats in your quarters hasn't increased too much since we last spoke. I was just doin' some retail therapy." The form of therapy with the Ferengi stamp of approval. Putting more money into the economy cures your depression? Sounds great! Truly the Great Material Continuum at work.

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Two did one of his small spoken laugh things “Don’t worry, I still don’t have a cat quartet, not planning to take over the starbase at the moment.” He still thought that any amount of cats over there was some sort of overpowered evil force or something, instead of just, you know, too much.

"Well, y'can get one or two, if you want. I actually have one called Bandit. Maybe you'll see 'er sometime." She was very well-trained. He could even bring her to the park. "Tell me if anythin' in here catches your eye. I'm stuck between all these options."

It was at this moment that a human woman appeared from the back room of the shop with a smile, approaching the two potential customers. "Welcome to Poppy's Antiques! Can I help either of you with anything?" She asked, sounding more than entirely liked a skilled Ferengi businesswoman trying to win over customers.

He picked up an CMY cube, which originated from a time hundreds of years prior. He shifted it around to look at it from different angles, confused and amazed all at once “This… This thing… How is it… So many…. So many colours? Yet… Only three?! How did the people…. Of that period… How…?”

"Trick o' the light, also known as photon physics," Mo replied, with an eyebrow raise both fond and amused. Then he addressed Poppy. "I'm lookin' for anythin' good for desks or bedrooms."

"Well we have quite a large selection of display pieces and furniture from lots of time periods and cultures for you to browse, so you're certainly in the right place!" The woman replied with a smile.

”Light is cool! And colors! And random cube colour thingy? Is this for sale? I’d buy it, it’s cool!” Two kept flipping it around in his hand, despite the explanation it still made absolutely zero sense to him.

"If it's lyin' around here, it probably is," Mo said, looking over to Poppy for confirmation, "As long as you have your Starfleet spendin' money."

”Uh, well I…? Maybe I have enough?” Two hoped he did, he wanted to study the physics behind this object further.

Poppy nodded in response with a smile. "That'd be 3 strips." She said politely. (edited)

"If you don't have enough, I can pay," Mo said, secretly hoping that Two did have enough. Every metaphorical Ferengi bone in his body hated what he'd just said, but he wasn't just Ferengi, he was Federation, damnit. "I'd also like to know 'bout that rocking chair over there, uh, Poppy. And, outta curiousity, where you source this stuff." His cat would love the chair.

He dug around in his satchel, pulling out three strips. He has quite a lot saved up since he didn’t require food or most commodities individuals needed “Oooh yeah, that’s a good question the captain asked! This is all so old and so interesting!”

The woman smiled and took the Latinum strips from Two, quickly pocketing them, before answering the question. "I have my sources." She answered with a wink. "I buy a fair bunch of items from auctions. Some come from elderly people when they go into homes or pass away, and the family either don't know what to do with the items, don't have a need for them or Latinum, or the original owner simply didn't have any family left, so we claimed the items we assess as having value, thus preventing them from being recycled and lost to time. As for that chair, it's hand-carved oak from Earth, from 2216 I believe." (edited)

”Wow! So all of these come from so many different diverse places? With so many different stories!” The excitement on his face was obvious “What is the oldest thing you have? Where is it from? What’s it’s story?”

"Auctions. That actually sounds pretty fun." Despite his stern expression, he really meant it. Auctions were legally a sport on Ferenginar. "And yeah, all those questions."

The woman took a second to think before responding. "I have a vase in a storage unit from the mid 20th century. Vulcan, if I remember correctly. It's not on this station for fairly obvious fragility concerns." She said with a chuckle. "I'm not sure if I have anything older than that right now. I usually auction off the more expensive items, rather than keep them in a shop. I'm not sure about it's story, but I know it's hand-made."

”Ooooh that’s old! Like…. Older then…. Uh… Everyone here!” Two nodded as he said this, pleased with his example for some reason.

"I kinda wanna know what you keep for y'self, though. Or at least, what your favourite thing in here is." Mo gestured to the menagerie of items lying around.

"Well, I must admit, my house and quarters are rather... Eccentrically decorated. I'm a collector at heart." She said with a slight chuckle. "As for my favourite thing here... Honestly, I'm not sure I can decide. But I do quite like some of the old toys and collectables. Like trading cards, or action figures."

”Action… Figures…? Do they move?” Two didn’t really know if he was part of this conversation, but in his mind, every conversation was everyone’s conversation.

"Action figures are like, uh, little models of people that have joints in the elbows and knees so you can pose 'em," Mo explained to Two, who was definitely included in the conversation. "And tradin' cards are... I'm not sure, actually. Business cards, maybe." He was about as familiar with that Earth thing as Two was.

"Trading cards usually have characters on them of some sort, like characters or sports players, and they have statistics so you can play battle strategy games with them, or just collect them for fun!" Poppy said with a smile.

”That seems like an… Intriguing idea. What is the psychological value of collecting large amounts of said cards?” Two had two types of speech, unnecessarily difficult to understand and lacking in brain. Currently it was the prior.

Mo, on the other hand, was intrigued, and looked around to see if he could spot any of these not-business cards. "I enjoy collectin' things. It's the magpie impulse. The appeal of watchin' a collection of nice things grow over time, I guess."

"Well, people like collecting things!" She said with a smile, before noticing Mo was looking around. She gestured over to a cabinet full of different trading cards. "Feel free to go and take a look!"

Mo did, indeed, go and take a look. There were some that had pictures of Earth sportspeople on them. Ha, no. There were some that had wizards on them. Magic: the Hoarding, or something. But the ones that intrigued him most were the ones with little cartoon creatures on them. "Pocket Monsters..."

Two looked at the pocket monsters thing Mo was looking at, frowning “Those don’t look particularly… Scary or monstrous”

“Well they’re originally from some form of children’s entertainment, but plenty of adults enjoyed them too!” She said with a smile as she stood behind the two.

”Interesting, although it makes quite a lot of sense. Back then they most likely didn’t have access to the vast amounts of knowledge the federation possesses as a source of… Fun” He didn’t really understand how having a lot of one thing could cause joy, but he knew some species and people enjoyed that, so maybe he was the weird one in this situation.

Mo rubbed his beard sagely. "Well, even with all the advanced stuff we have today, Two, people still appreciate the classics. S'why people still read books and watch movies even though we have holo-programs." Mo wondered if Two had consumed any of those forms of media, then addressed Poppy. "I... Will take the 'Pocket Monster' cards. And the chair."

”Oooh books! I read books! They’re so booky! Have you read lots of books? Which one was the bookiest?” Ah yes, turning non-adjective words into them, the best form of explaining oneself.

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"Sure thing! The cards are 15 strips for the set due to their biodegradability causing them to be hard to find. Would you like the cards to be wrapped? It's a free service!" She said with a smile. "The chair is 10 strips." She then turned her attention to Two. "We have a wide selection of genuine paper books you could look at if you like!"

”Oooooh more books! Yes! I would love to see the books! I wonder what antique books look like, ooh do they feel different? Smell different?” Two started jumping up and down out of excitement, books were so cool! They had so much knowledge yet it wasn’t electronic based!

"They do smell different. Musty, but in a good way. I think I can see 'em over there." Mo pointed to a bookshelf full of old, worn tomes. Then he looked over to Poppy and did the calculations in his head. Haggling 101: start at half price, then keep the back and forth going until you get to 75%. (10+15)÷2=12.5. No, that was lower than the cost of one of the items - she'd find that insulting. Change tactics. 75%, stop at 90% at maximum. 3/4s of 25 was 18.75. Round it down for frugality. "18 strips for the lot."

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The woman all but smirked at the haggling. Was this guy raised on Ferenginar or something? "22, and I'll throw in a free Poppy's Antiques badge."

”Ooooh yay!” He ran over to the bookshelf, looking at the blurb of each and every one. He was making what was probably supposed to be excited noises, but the monotone kinda messed it up.

90% of 25 was 22.5. So this was actually slightly lower than that. Plus, gifts to spice up the offer! It was almost Ferengi of her. Mo actually grinned as he said his favourite phrase: "It's a deal." He looked over at where Two stood. "But I don't know how the hell I get the chair outta here." *Weren't Borgs naturally strong? No, that would be weird. Maybe it was just a matter of transporting it. But wow, did he really looked like an excited kid over there. Indecisive, too. Luckily, though the rest of his body was a train wreck, Mo had good enough eyesight to read the spines. "Two, if you need any help over there, I'm an old geezer who likes old books." He was, after all, chronologically 54 chronologically. But mentally he was 38. And physically, he was going grey already.

”Well in that case, which one do you think I should get?” He held up two books, both related to tales and history of different planets “Or maybe both? I’m not good at financial stuff really, money makes no sense because I never really used currency or trading before now so it’s really cool and new and stuff!”

He didn't understand money? What a deprived Borg he was. Even if you didn't use it, it was still good to understand how it worked. He doubted Mo's Accounting and Economy Class would be something Two found very entertaining, though. "I would say History of Romulus. They'd be real impressed if y'read up on them." People probably didn't bother as much since the whole planet blew up. "But the other one, History of Qo'nos, might be a pretty entertaining read, if you're not squeamish."

"Splendid!" Poppy responded as she took payment, before going to the cabinet and getting out the cards. She then proceeded to take them over to the counter and wrap them carefully, putting them in a bag, along with a little metal Poppy's Antiques pin. She then brought it over to Mo and handed it to him, before going and taking the price tag off the chair he wanted. "I can get Operations to transport the chair to your quarters or office if you'd like!"

”Aaaaaahhhh I gotta get both because well… Yes! That’s why! That’s a valid reason right?” He placed the books on the counter, and began digging through his bag “How much will that be? I hope I have enough or else that’d be bad because then I won’t have it and yeah I won’t.”

"Yeah, that'd be good; I don't think I could lug that to my quarters." Mo took his things and then looked over at Two as he asked his question. He probably had no idea how to haggle. "Very valid."

”Hey captain, you are smart! Could you help me figure out how to money right because I don’t wanna get scanned or scammed or whatever it’s called and you are smart!” Two hoped he said yes, because if he did he would get to learn another individual thing! And he definitely needed to know that probably, or Starfleet would never accept him! Maybe?

"Those two books? 2 strips!" The woman responded.

”Only two? Oh that’s my number! Cool!” He seemed rather delighted by random coincidences that meant absolutely nothing as he took out the strips “Do you read many of the books you get before you shelve them? I would!”

Mo let out a short breath of amusement at Two's delight over a number. Then again, most Ferengi spent a lot of time delighted about numbers. Squiggly lines, too. They called it the stock market. "Two strips is a good price. Not over or under-charged. But I assure you, any lesson I could teach you about fiscal responsibility would be very borin'." (edited)

He was utterly shocked by this statement, how narrow minded! “Nothing is boring! Nothing. At. All.”

Mo raised an eyebrow. "Untrue. I'm quite boring. That's why I gave myself such an interestin' first name. Surely there must be somethin' you don't like in the universe."

He pondered that for a few moments, searching his mind for every bit of information he had “Uh nope, got nothing.”

The woman gladly took payment for the books. “I make sure all of the books get scanned for archival purposes before I put them up for sale, but I must admit I can’t always stop myself from taking one or two to read.” She said with a chuckle. “Would you like them wrapped or in a bag?”

”Wrapping is fun! It’s paper but ‘meant’ to be ripped!” Two decided rather quickly. Interesting, maybe there were more people then he originally assumed who read paper books!

Good lord. There really wasn't anything this guy disliked. Give Mo a slice of that enthusiasm-for-life pie, please. Maybe he really would be entertained by some financial TED talk. He watched as Poppy (presumably) wrapped up Two's books, bag of Pocket Monster cards in hand. He had no goddamn idea what he was gonna do with those, but to be fair, you don't usually with retail therapy trinkets. The point was the thrill of the purchase. "Good haul, kid. It was nice catchin' up with ya after our last conversation. Keep that spirit up."

”Goodbye captain and owner of cool store person!” Two did a small wave thing at both of them.

"Next time I see you, I'll teach you money stuff," Mo replied, then left on a journey to Acquire Them All.

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