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Quark's bar had been closed for a while at this point. The staff had wiped down all the tables and pushed all except one off to one side of the room. The last table still remaining on the floor was clean except for a single bottle of kanar and a pair of glasses, and was occupied by three men: Quark and a pair of Cardassian officers. The two officers were currently gossiping about a variety of topics, which Quark was happy to listen in on, especially since one was his personal favorite topic: updates on what the station's new investigator was up to.
Apparently, he was investigating a new case. To the officers' knowledge, there hadn't been any violent incidents recently so they guessed he was most likely investigating an issue of thefts, disappearing resources.
"I know he's new but I still have trouble buying him as an investigator," one officer, Boheeka, was saying. "He may not be a Bajoran, but he's got the same mousy, cringing air that Bajorans do."
Quark recalled his first interaction with the investigator. "He may be unassuming enough," Quark said, "but trust me, he has teeth. And guts too."
The second officer, Tajera, picked up the bottle of kanar and lightly shook it to see how much was left. "C'mon, Quark, help us finish the bottle," he urged.
Quark wasn't in the habit of drinking, but it was after hours so it didn't matter much either way. He stood and walked to the counter, picking up an empty glass that was sitting there. He wasn't sure whether it was washed or not -- he had no memory either way -- but the glass looked clean enough so he took it.
"You're sure he has a new case?" Quark asked, sitting down at the table again and pouring himself a shot. "If so, I would have thought he would have come round here by now, asking questions." It'd been over a week and a half since Quark had last seen Odo, and if he was being honest, he was a bit disappointed. He found the detective a rather interesting person and wanted to get to know him better.
Quark took a swig of kanar and then in the next instant, a confusing explosion of things happened all at once. The sharp taste of the spirit bit the back of his throat, he felt the glass jerk in his hand, and the surface of the glass warped and turned a dark gold. Then the glass was melting, changing shape in his hands, flowing out of his hands and onto the ground next to the table. Quark's fingers closed around air, and when he looked down at his hands, the glass was gone and the kanar had fallen onto the table in a pool and was now dripping off the edge into his lap.
"What the hell?" he cried out, pushing his chair back to avoid the spill -- and bumping right into the very man he and the officers had just been talking about. The new investigator. Odo. Where had he come from? It was almost like Quark's thoughts had summoned him.
Then suddenly it all clicked: Odo was a shapeshifter. The glass on the counter -- the reason he couldn't remember whether it was clean or not was because it hadn't been there before; his staff had cleaned all the glasses and put them away. And the glass melting away into gold goo -- that was it returning to its usual shape as Odo.
He stared up at the detective in confusion and then back down at his empty hand. "Wait, just now... you were... my glass?" he asked, unbelieving.
"I was, yes," Odo replied. He glanced to the side, looking miffed.
Quark had known that Odo could take on the form of objects and animals, but somehow he hadn't expected it to be quite that convincing. Quark got to his feet, placing his hands under Odo's armpits and tried to lift him up to see how much he weighed. He barely budged; he was hefty, about as heavy as you would expect a humanoid of his size and build to be, or perhaps even a bit more. "What about conservation of mass?" Quark demanded. "Or volume, or... something."
From above him, Odo did not meet his eye, but his facial expression had changed from miffed to offended. "Will you please let go of me?" he demanded, his voice almost a growl.
"Oh, uh, sorry." Quark quickly retracted his hands, his mind still trying to process how it was possible that the glass and Odo could have been the same. He'd held the glass in his hand just now and it had hardly weighed anything.
Wait. He hadn't just held the glass in his hand, Quark realized, blanching -- he'd also put it to his lips. "Uh... investigator, when you shapeshift into something, do you take on the consciousness of the thing you turn into or..."
"I have the same consciousness whatever form I take."
Odo still wouldn't meet Quark's eyes and now Quark understood why. Quark was suddenly also finding it difficult to do the same. "And don't tell me you can hear what people are saying even when you're a glass..." he ventured.
"Every word, actually. That's why I... Well, I thought it might turn up some information that might be otherwise difficult to obtain."
From Quark's left, Tajera let out a laugh. "An investigator who can turn into objects -- now that's an innovation."
Well, that explained why Odo hadn't been in to ask him any questions about who he'd talked to or what he might have seen recently. Inwardly, Quark racked his brain for conversations he had had in the past few weeks that would have been bad if someone had overheard. While the gul was aware of some of Quark's dealings, it would be very, very bad if he came to know the full extent of them. Quark mentally tallied the conversations under the categories of clandestine (read: illegal) exchanges, those containing private information, and those just being plain embarrassing. The conversation he had just been having certainly belonged to this third category -- things he would have preferred not to say in Odo's presence.
Boheeka clapped a hand collegially on Odo's shoulder. "Well, good luck with your investigation. I hope you find the information you're looking for." On their part, neither he nor Tajera seemed all too put off about being eavesdropped on. Odo was working for them, after all, and they likely would have said the same things about Odo regardless of whether he was standing right there or not.
"Also, next time, investigator, do me a favor," Quark added. "If I look like I'm about to put my lips to you, please transform back before I do that and not after?"
To his right and left, the Cardassians burst out laughing.
"Trust me, that is among the many lessons I've learned tonight," Odo said stiffly. He then turned on his heel and walked swiftly out of the bar, completely gone within seconds. Quark watched him go, feeling almost as embarrassed for the poor detective as he felt for himself.