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Unpacking More Than Books -

Posted March 15, 2023, 7:58 p.m. by Captain Eela Dasca (Lt. Governor) (Lindsay B)

Posted by Civilian Karilan Massat (Owner, Quill and Parchment Books) in Unpacking More Than Books -

Posted by Captain Eela Dasca (Lt. Governor) in Unpacking More Than Books -

Posted by Civilian Karilan Massat (Owner, Quill and Parchment Books) in Unpacking More Than Books -
Posted by… suppressed (2) by the Post Ghost! 👻

(snip)

Karilan looked up as if woken from a trance. “Wha-? Oh! Oh, no. Nothing for me right now. But lunch does sound lovely. Yes, please. Or there is a wonderful Bajoran public house nearby. I would be happy to treat you to lunch.”

Karilan

Conflict warred within her briefly and it had nothing to do with Karilan. Eela blew out a breath. “Okay, umm, I mean…” She laughed, feeling silly, and just smiled at them. “Yes. Lunch out sounds lovely, but other than the Tower and here, I’ve not been in public yet. And it matters that everyone now knows my personal business. I’m not so much worried about how others will act around me, but I’m a bit self-conscious about it, Karilan, even if people will tell me I’m making more of it than I need to.” It was one thing for her to issue statements but it was quite another for her personal business to have been aired so publicly. Most of her (with a few rare exceptions) Eela had managed to keep her work and public life very separate. Here it was now all blurred together and she suspected it would remain that way from now on. That was okay, hypothetically, but it meant adjusting to a new normal and she -quite simply- had feelings about it.

~Eela

Karilan paused a moment and thought. “Well… what if we go incognito?” They looked at her with an appraising gaze and said “We put your hair up and back. Sunglasses. Wear relaxed clothes. Send your security team ahead. We walk. I can almost guarantee you that no one recognizes you. And if they do? So. What. You are entitled to your life, Eela. And if that life means a meal here, fantastic. Or out, either way. But your life is yours to live. And you’ll have to go out in public at some point.” and they nodded their head in finality and went back to arranging books.

Karilan

“Well, that’s just it. Tomorrow evening is the arts showcase Dash and I are going to. And that will be a full-on public event. So… yeah, I think a little test would be great. We’ll figure it out.” This wasn’t an issue of practicality at all. Thoseshe could handle. What she wasn’t sure of yet was her own emotions. Sometimes she felt like she understood where she was at only to find out very quickly how wrong she was. But that was the whole crux of the trauma she was unravelling here, wasn’t it?

“Back in a minute, just going to make some coffee,” she said before meandering into the kitchen.

Reaching into cupboard for she felt more flexible in her back than even yesterday, though she could feel which muscles she had overworked. Since it was just her, Eela went about getting water on the boil and using her small press. She scooped some ground coffee from earlier in and tossed in a few whole spices.

Moving around the island she stood near the office doorway and eyed the hallway, with the recessed shelves that looked like they had always been there. “I’m thinking all the literature should be in the hall, expect for the most valuable ones which I want safe in the office because it’s usually locked when I’m not there.”

~Eela

“Ok!” came Karilan’s voice from the office. “Think about what kind of person you want people to see when they look at the shelves.” they said. “Classics at eye level speak to a cultured and sophisticated mind. First editions and ‘literature’ speaks to a mind that yearns for stimulation and likes to ponder deep, philosophical matters. And what I call ‘bodice rippers’ say that there is a box under your bed that would raise eyebrows if anyone ever saw it.” The last sentence was followed up with a lilting laugh.

Karilan

Eela didn’t miss a beat. “Under the bed is too inconvenient,” she said easily before moving back to the kitchen to stop the water from reaching full boil.

In the kitchen, she simply poured the water in a circle in the carafe and set the press on top to steep. Eela moved back to the hall to survey the piles of her books and gravitated towards the mix of older and newer poetry books. They would go at eye level.

~Eela


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