we're gonna party like it's 1920 in New Orleans ( OPEN )

[ethnobotany]

The holodeck party had been designed as a funeral-type gathering, originally for Fatima and Beverly to let go of some of the trauma they had incurred at the hands of COMPASS. It had evolved since then, turning into a larger party without losing its original purpose. Spread mostly by word of mouth, the party ended up being larger than Beverly had expected, but likely just what Fatima had wanted. All were welcome, as long as they didn't cause trouble.

The setting was the streets of New Orleans in the 1920's. In the middle of one large street was where the party would be held. There were tables with all manner of replicated food. Annie had offered to find out what would be good to set up and they had used her information to find something that nearly everyone would like. Drinks were the same. Plenty of Earth varieties and plenty of others. Surely everyone could find something to enjoy.

There were plenty of holographic people around as well, dressed to the '20's fashions, or as close as this far in the future could get. Some of them introduced the music and the dance floor. It was more of a dance street than anything, but it counted. Everyone was welcome to join them and the party turned into a bit of celebration amidst everything else. The music itself kept changing, rotating through what the Enterprise systems had on file. One minute it might be classical. The next it was something entirely different. Everything imaginable would probably have played by the night's end.

Or whenever the party actually ended.

A little bit away from the main drag, the holodeck had been programmed to create an alley between two brick-walled buildings. Unrealistically, the alley was clean and dry. Illuminating it were three trash cans along one of the walls, filled with kindling and crackling with golden flames. Holographic flames, of course, as much as Fatima had wanted to use the real thing. By the cans was a small table, with slips of stiff parchment and pens in every possible color there was.

It had taken some doing, but Fatima had programmed the holodeck to include a chalk drawing on the wall over the cans. It was a swirling pink and purple and blue rendering of the Milky Way galaxy. In yellow stars, a simple message was written out:

Write the names of those you left behind…
Cast them into the fire to say goodbye…

The party had been originally been conceived as a funeral, after all. A way to let go of the past and face the future, no matter how uncertain. There wouldn’t be any bodies, but there was still a place to say goodbye.

Comments

[hasopinions]

"It's never simple." At least the young woman had gotten as far as figuring out what she was trying to let go of. Ishka wasn't even sure about that.

Call it a species trait. Ferengi lived their lives focused on acquisition. This is more... liquidation. And no one like a liquidator.

She glances around at the crowd. Coming and going from this spot. "Seems a common problem." No one else seems quite stuck on what they're even letting go of.

[dust_of_life]

The stranger's voice surprised Fatima. She'd been expecting...what? Definitely not someone who sounded so ordinary and female. She should have been used to surprises. Should have been better at controlling her expectations. But she was feeling especially vulnerable, so she had to forgive herself.

Or something.

"No," she agreed, watching the piece of paper crinkle and brown. "Guess I figured a symbolic gesture would just be a good way to get started."

She paused. And frowned. "Not working so well so far."

[hasopinions]

"You've gotten farther than I have." She gestures at the blank parchment. So much has happened and surely she should be doing something here. And yet.

"Q picked a strange time." The war was over. Ferenginar was improving. Ferenginar was in the best hands she could imagine. And now she was here.

[dust_of_life]

Fatima glanced at the parchment and nodded, offering the stranger a wry smile. "I've never really known an omnipotent trickster to be all that user-friendly." It was only half a quip. Between home and Zelien, she'd known more than her fair share of omnipotent or seemingly omnipotent monsters.

Still. A strange time wasn't necessarily bad. And not that Fatima knew a damn thing about this woman's race, but she didn't exactly seem...broken. Not in the same way that some other people she'd met were.

Politely, Fatima extended a hand. "Fatima Merali. Earth, 2009."

[hasopinions]

Ishka recognized the gesture. Very different from how Ferengi greet each other but then, obviously the young woman wasn't a Ferengi. And using their greeting set new customers at ease.

She wasn't sure what business she was going to want customers for yet, but there would be one. So she shook the hand. "Ishka. Ferenginar, stardate 52902. Was supposed to be retiring on Risa right now."

[dust_of_life]

The name 'Ishka' struck Fatima as strangely funny. It was a human name. Yiddish or Hebrew (she always mixed those two up) for 'princess.' She was pretty sure there were a few historical Cainites by that name.

Thus proving that the mutliverse had a weird sense of humor.

Fatima shook her hand. She had a firm handshake. Liam had always told her that no one respected a woman with a soft hand. "It's nice to meet you. I wish I knew what Ferenginar or Risa were. I think I'm still kinda playing catch-up here."

[hasopinions]

"Risa's a pleasure planet. Nice place to retire, especially after a life in Ferengi business when no one wanted me in business. I'm not keen to stop by Ferenginar in this time." Once was enough. More than enough, really. Maybe that was what she needed to let go of. That was over. Well and truly over, with Rom in charge.

[dust_of_life]

Fatima decided to make the leap and believe that Ishka was a 'Ferengi.' It was a word she'd heard thrown about a few times, although she honestly hadn't been paying that much attention. But it somehow made sense that Ferengi came from Ferenginar. In the same way that Earthlings came from Earth.

Although she was slowly learning that wasn't a foregone conclusion here.

"Why didn't they want you in business?" she asked.

[hasopinions]

"Females weren't supposed to. It was foolish. Keeping half the population from earning profit is no way to run an economy." She could got on extensively about the exact reasons why. She has in the past.

"Zekky had just changed all that though." Not that it had actually stopped her before. But it was better for it to be legal. It should have never been the way it was.

[dust_of_life]

Being a modern girl, Fatima had a hard time imagining a world which excluded females in any way. Of course, she knew better. She knew world history and she knew where her family came from.

Still. It was weird to think of aliens being as stupid as humans.

"Well, 'Zekky' sounds pretty rad," she said.

Look who found her late old tags...

[hasopinions]

Being removed from the time that was common slang in both time and space, Ishka has to guess at that from context. But it's pretty clear what the statement means. "He is. He was a good Nagus, but it was time for change."

And Risa. It was time for Risa.

[dust_of_life]

Fatima smiled faintly. "I have this crazy auntie back home. Diana. And she likes 'change.' She'll go on and on and on for hours, if you let her, talking about how important it is. She says it's the most significant and critical quality that human beings possess. I guess that's true for Ferengi too."

[hasopinions]

"The 45th rule of acquisition is expand or die." Important information for any person to have. "You can't do that for very long without changing. Even if some areas change harder than others." And look, they changed and they vastly expanded every business's customer base.

[dust_of_life]

"Expand or die." It was a little hard to take a mantra like that so seriously, since it sounded like something a villain in a movie about Wall Street would say, but Fatima wanted to be respectful of her culture.

And even if it sounded a little hackneyed, it did sort of have the same sentiment behind it.

"How many rules are there?"

[hasopinions]

"Two hundred and eighty five. Some of them are in dire need of revisions." Her personal copy is thoroughly annotated. "I think Rom will do it, too." He didn't have the lobes for business, really. But that was why he needed to revise them to consider more than just profit.

[dust_of_life]

Two hundred and eighty five. It figured. "You've got it tougher than we do," she muttered. "There's only ten or so where I come from." Most of them, in her opinion, somewhat self evident. Give or take.

She shook her head. "You'll have to teach me some of the others sometime."

[hasopinions]

"I taught both my boys. My copy's a lot more annotated than Quark's is, though. Never could get through to him the places they needed work." Oh, he learned them better than Rom, no arguing with that. But he didn't think about them as much as she'd like.

[dust_of_life]

"I'm good with annotations," she said. After all, all the texts that she pored over in the name of research back home were filled with notes, both by the authors and interpreters.

A few of her own too.