LtCmdr Jovenan – The meaning of Christmas, rewritten on Ferenginar

[Jovenan]

((Sacred Marketplace, Ferenginar))

Their latest target had proven fruitful. Not only had she and Commander Munro found the Captain a top hat to give, but Jovenan had also managed to get Munro’s promise to teach her the tricks and skills of an Ancient West adventurer – something she thought might come in handy now that she had hit her eye on something she could imagine gifting Vitor.

Munro: Nothing would give me more pleasure. Horses are easy. Trying to fire a rifle or lasso a cow while riding a horse - not so easy.

Jovenan: Sounds fun. ::to the vendor:: I’ll have similar hats too, please. That dark brown one, and the, um, beige one?

She accepted the hats from the vendor and studied them closer. Both had bands around the crown, with slightly different designs, and they were also different sizes, hopefully enough so that Vitor could use one and she herself could take the other for herself. She stretched her memory, trying to figure out what kind of environment the area of the “Wild West” had been all those centuries ago – sunny, dry and airy, right? Those were curious hats, but for the intended conditions they were perfect, she supposed. The wide brim at least protected from the sun… and made the wearer look cooler when shooting mean stares down to their opponents.

Hat vendor: Fine choices. I can see that you both have an eye for quality products. Would you like something else?

Munro: I'm good.

Jovenan shook her head as well. She was too enthusiastic about the find to remember that she was supposed to haggle, and instead she paid the full price. Maybe it didn’t matter either, it wasn’t like she’d need to use the latinum for anything else. She joggled with her purchases while the Commander paid theirs. Munro didn’t use time to haggle either, so she figured it wasn’t all that important after all.

After they stepped aside from the stall, Jovenan turned again to her companion.

Jovenan: So… westerns, cowboys and train robbers? Would you happen to have any other interests? I might need to buy a present for one more person, after all. ::smirk::

She had learnt to know the new-ish First Officer quite a lot better during the hours down on the planet, from her adoration of adorable baby clothes to her enthusiasm about Western holodeck programmes, but Jovenan didn’t yet know what to get her – one can have only so baby clothes, especially when one’s child was already an adult and living elsewhere.

Munro: :: delighted :: For me? Well my mother sends me enough plants to open my own botanical, so whatever you do don't get me any plants. You know what, Jovenan, you've already got me my gift.

Jovenan: Oh? ::looks at her purchases:: Um, all these are actually for other people. Sorry, I didn’t mean to…

Munro: :: laughs :: The pleasure of your company, of course! I've had a lot of fun and the promise of some holoadventures. I call that a good day.

Oh! That was something she could easily smile about. She wasn’t entirely sure if that aligned well with the traditional Christmas spirit of buying material presents and exchanging them, but it sure was a sentiment. Maybe that should have been the true meaning of Christmas.

Jovenan: ::chuckle:: I’ll take that deal! And thank you. I’ve enjoyed our day as well!

((Later))

((Jovenan’s quarters, Deck 3, USS Artemis))

Jovenan wrinkled her nose as she struggled to keep the cut pieces of tape from folding over into themselves and become useless. She felt increasingly silly trying to wrap up the presents herself, but she had read that was the tradition. Unlike the presents, she hadn’t gone down to the planet to buy some of the wrapping paper, instead she had just selected a repetitive design by some old Earth artist and replicated a roll. The tape was from there too, as were all the other elements. She now considered figuring out if there was a programme on the computer that could be used – or even amended – to replicate a complete wrapper around the presents so she didn’t have to finish it herself, sitting cross-legged on the floor with everything spread out in front of her.

However, all gifts were eventually fully surrounded by paper, held in place by a liberal amount of tape. They weren’t the most neat and pretty thing she had even accomplished, but she figured it was either part of the tradition, a lost art or a job she’d leave to the professionals in the future. Lastly, she wrote the names of the recipients to each of them to the top, smiled looking at them all and picked them up from the floor.

((OOC: Happy belated Christmas, lol.))

End scene
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Lieutenant Commander Jovenan
Chief Science Officer
USS Artemis-A
E239911J11