Tea, Art, and Business

Posted on Sat 25th Jul, 2026 @ 12:21am by Purulence Addams
Edited on on Sat 25th Jul, 2026 @ 9:22am

1,010 words; about a 5 minute read

Mission: [MAIN] Learning to Fly
Location: RWS Ehtevau
Timeline: Explosion + 3 days

Reality formed around Purulence Collins, atom by atom, until she stood in the Transporter Room of the Romulan ship Ehtevau. She let out the breath she had been holding while she beamed over and stepped off the platform. "Loren!" she said to the Denobulan woman who had come to meet her. "How are you?"

"I'm fine, hon. Thank you for coming to see me." They left the transporter room and headed to the small cabin that had been allotted to Loren when she'd been evacuated from Starbase 109. Loren waved Purulence to a seat, and she spoke to the replicator. "Terran English tea service for two. Black tea, hot, with sucrose cubes on the side and dessert cakes."

"Are you getting used to Romulan food, or have they adapted their replicators to serve non-Romulan guests?" Purulence asked as she seated herself.

"A little of both," Loren told her. "This is Ambassador Verelan's diplomatic ship, so it has a limited menu of foreign foods. I've been experimenting with the Romulan foods just because I'm curious about them."

The replicator chimed as a tea service appeared in the build tray. Purulence got up to help Loren move it from the replicator to a coffee table.

"Thank you, dear," Loren said as they both seated themselves, and Loren poured out. "I am so glad you came. I half thought your husband's freighter might have gone off somewhere to mine or something. I have a business proposition I want to discuss with you. You're still working out of that small studio you rent in the Garden District, aren't you?"

"Yes," Purulence said. She accepted a chocolate cake when Loren offered them and set it on her plate. "But my landlady is going to change. I'm currently renting from Mother Moksha in the District, and she's let me know that she and her granddaughter will be relocating to Betazed."

"I am curious," Loren said. "Wouldn't you like a larger studio space, and perhaps space for a gallery?"

Purulence swallowed a sip of tea and sighed. "It's something I've thought about," she admitted. "I rented the space because I hired a hand model I wanted to work with, who was on the run from something. She was afraid to leave the area around the Zodiac, for fear she'd be seen and recognized by whomever was after her. Then she disappeared.

"I asked Renato Solis to look into it, and even he couldn't find her; her trail had gone cold. I've kind of...gotten used to the place. It's comfy--and with me being in school and working with Ignatius in his business, I haven't done a lot of painting, lately. I haven't had a good excuse to look for a larger spot, much less to think about opening a gallery. Why do you ask?"

Loren sipped from her tea and dabbed at her lips with a napkin. "I've decided to retire and go home to Denobula. I wanted to offer you my studio and gallery space--only now, Mr. Krocher, who owns Olla Podrida, has decided he wants to demolish it." Loren paused for a moment and went on. "Do you know Morva of the Ferengi barge restaurants?"

She continued at Purulence's nod. "Morva is organizing some of us who own shops or eateries at the mall to buy out Mr. Krocher. We don't even know yet how much he'd be willing to sell it for or if he'd be willing to negotiate with us. Morva proposed a proportional ownership arrangement--we pool our money, and we'd each get a share proportionate to the amount we contribute to the final purchase price. Of 88 shop owners, only 10 of us came to the meeting, but most of them are not as wealthy as you, Morva, or I--and I got the distinct impression that Morva has mentally written off anyone who didn't attend the meeting. I told them I wanted to offer my studio space to you, though, if we can save the mall, and they gave me the go-ahead, so here we are."

"So you all want to form a corporate partnership?" Purulence asked.

Loren shrugged. "I suppose. Business was never my strong suit. I'm thinking of contributing money toward this, anyway, even though I'll be leaving, as it could be a useful income stream."

Purulence grinned at her. "You could be a silent partner and live as a lady of leisure."

"Maybe." Loren smiled. "I can donate about 200,000 FC to the cause. Morva is putting forward 500,000. Again, we still don't know how much Mr. Krocher could sell it for, and we're having to find out if Disney would get involved and to what extent the Starbase would be involved. Our glassblower, T'Saval, is looking into that."

Purulence thought about that. "Loren, I'm interested. I'll be graduating in a couple of months and could devote actual time to painting, then. I was always too afraid to handle the business end of my gallery back on Earth, but now that I've done the coursework for my degree, I think I could write a decent business plan now and hire the people I need. Let me talk to Ignatius tonight and see what we can work out for his company's needs. My job for him is picking the people he needs. We can hire people to do the routine HR paperwork. It really would be nice to get back to painting regularly. I just needed to prove to myself that I could earn a four-year degree. I've done that. Let's do this."

Loren's eyes sparkled at her. "Excellent!" She reached for her PADD and quickly entered information into it. "I've sent you the date and time we're supposed to meet with Morva for our next virtual meeting. I do hope you can come. Morva sets great store by people who are willing to commit."

"My Dad is that way, too," Purulence said with a nod. She raised her teacup in a mock toast. "So tell me what you plan to do after you retire, Loren. I want to hear all about it."

 

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