Star Trek: Starbase 777 - lt-k′tann﹢lt-jg-za′ari

When he got his new quarters assignment, Nalas was ecstatic to be rooming with his boyfriend! He had a lot of things things transport, a lot of things. Thankfully he could request transport of most of his stuff, but there were some items he had to handle himself. He tossed together a box of important things, his alter pieces, his dioramas, plushies, etc and carried them into his new quarters. He was a bit disappointed he never got to meet his previous roommate, but now he was living with his boyfriend. There was a small bit of doubt in his mind about living with Eshen. He had stayed over multiple times, however he had never lived together. He was mostly worried about being a good roommate. Honestly, he was loud. Very loud. He listened to a lot of radio broadcasts, liked to argue with himself out loud (Cardassian to the core), and worst of all he recorded the weirdest personal logs. He stepped into his quarters and plopped his box of stuff for their mutual space by the wall. The box was messily labeled "S̸͇͝h̴̞̅á̵̩r̴̮̔e̴̲͂ḏ̶̌ ̴̫̋D̶͔͗ȩ̷̋c̴̤͠ȯ̴̹r̵̲̔à̴̳t̶̻͛ỉ̷̺o̸͎̕n̵͖͘s̴͕͛" in what had to be the worst Standard handwriting. There was also a second label, this time in (very neat) Cardassian with an itemised list of everything in the box. He could be organised when he tried. For real.

Truth be told, Eshen was also ecstatic, but worried. Firstly, him actually rooming with someone meant they would see him before he got changed: no makeup, no fit, no stylin', just Eshen. He actually didn't look all that different, to be honest, except that the concealer under his eyes had been doing a great job single-handedly hiding how tired he'd been over the past few weeks. What's more, as well as imperfect, Nalas would see him when he was vulnerable. Days when he was sick, couldn't sleep, or when the pain was too much, Eshen would be in the room next door. Eshen could be snappy on those days and he never wanted to say a mean word to his boyfriend, ever. And finally, there were the people he brought over sometimes. It hadn't mattered previously because Heinrich was never home. Nalas knew he slept with other people, but would it be weird when he was doing it the next room over? On the other hand, the sappy part of his mind that now took up 25% of his brainpower at all times was already scheming on how they could make the most of this. Maybe when Nalas was sick, Eshen could make him soup? Maybe he could get Nalas' first opinion on his fits for the day? Maybe they could sing and play violin together? Maybe he could learn Nalas' schedule and greet him with food when he came home? Wow. What are we, a 1950s Earth housewife? His internal voice said. Fortunately for Eshen, the sappy part of his brain was muffling its dialogue with 80s gay bar eurobeat. Eshen had transferred most of his stuff over: knicknacks, books, plants (including Dolly, Oscar and Freddie), his overstuffed wardrobe. But Eshen was bringing over the real VIP himself: mini Eshen. He stepped into their new room in some fit that would unfortunately make this post too long, but was undoubtedly glamourous, and smiled at the sight of Nalas' eldritch Standard handwriting. "Bring anything heavy for me to help you lift? I could use the ego boost." (edited)

His face lit up when he saw Eshen walk into the room and immediately dropped everything to greet him. This roommate situation was either going to be amazing or really terrible, and he wasn't sure which one he was more afraid of. "Eshen!" He grinned from ear to ear, his eyes absolutely glowing with excitement. "Mmm can you help me with my dioramas? They're kinda heavy," Nalas pointed to his box, he really made a scale model of Deep Space Nine and Starbase 777, it was pretty intense, made from metal too.

Despite his doubts, Eshen couldn't help but feel his heart warm when Nalas dropped everything to greet him with that smile on his face. If he could come home every day to that, maybe this would all be worth it. Eshen quickly got to work lifting the dioramas, though once he'd put them to wherever he was directed he got distracted by the details. "I still can't believe you made these. They're so intricate!" Eshen said in French, for some reason. Maybe this was a French speaking household.* "I adore this side of you - creative, with a passion for life."

He instructed Eshen where to put the different parts. Recreating all the details. The model of Deep Space Nine was beautifully crafted, he even had a model of the wormhole as well. As for the model of 777, he also included some planets and shuttlecraft. "Thank you! This is what I usually do when I'm off duty and not on dates with you," He said back in French with the cutest smile on his face. Were they going to speak French now? He didn't mind, it was his second strongest language after all. It was the one language aside from Cardassian that he felt like he was good enough to speak on a daily basis. "Do you need help with moving anything? You're free to add something to the diorama too, I would love additions!"

"I already transported most of my things over. I'm afraid I don't actually do much in the way of three-dimensional art, my dear, but I left my sketchbook on the coffee table over there if you want to take a look at it. Let me know if you ever make something like a Greek statue, though, you know I've studied them enough to be an expert." The sketchbook, if Nalas should investigate, would be filled with watercolour landscapes, anatomy studies, fashion illustrations (some of which Nalas would recognise from past date fits), colourful cats committing war crimes, and sketches of various people Eshen knew - Sauk, Adill, T'Lenar, Melul, Aella, and smaller doodles of pretty much anyone Eshen's met more than once or thought was hot - and, of course, Nalas himself.

"A Greek statue? Maybe I'll make a guy throwing a disc and you can model for it," The idea to sculpt Eshen was certainly not new, in fact he had been meaning to create more art of his boyfriend. The mention of a sketchbook immediately caught Nalas' attention and he quickly shuffled to the coffee table to investigate. With excitement in his eyes, Nalas began to flip through the sketchbook. The pages were filled with various landscapes, some studies, and-- some familiar faces! He immediately recognised himself and some of the others on the station. "Eshen-- these drawings are beautiful! And this, this is us?" He asked as he showed Eshen one of the pages.

"Oh, I'd love to! Of course, to really capture the nature of a Greek statue, I'd have to be nude." Eshen winked, then breezed on past as though he hadn't just said such a thing - and in French, too. "Would be fitting, considering I've been thinking about going by Adonis or Dionysius for a while. Although I have to say, being an art model isn't very romantic. It's a lot of staring at someone trying desperately not to sneeze or itch while you swear bloody murder at their left pinky finger for being so hard to draw. I've been on both sides. Oh, and yes, that's us in those outfits we wore on that first little date we went on."

"Naked-- Yes, Eshen, well I think I can sculpt fast," Nalas giggled at the thought of his boyfriend posing for some artwork. Eshen had the body for it and if he was willing to sit still maybe he would consider it. They were roommates too, so they had all the time in the world-- oh that reminded him he had a terrible sleep schedule. Sorry in advanced Eshen. He looked back at the drawing and then at Eshen. His boyfriend really captured his essence. Silly, soft features everything. "It's a really nice drawing. Between the two of us combined we could make a lot of good work," Art collaboration? He hoped so. He put the sketchbook down and went back over to his box to continue unpacking things. There a lot of things.

"We should put on a show. With our talents combined, we could make something extremely fashionable and hot... Well, that's just us already. Turns out the real art was the gays who made it along the way." Eshen walked over to the box beside Nalas and started poking at things, asking where he should put this and that, and asking questions about any items the other roleplayer would like to describe. "While we're doing this, I suppose now is a good time as any to establish some ground rules. Like, please don't play anything loud between six to seven AM - that's my meditation time. And, er... How do you feel about me bringing people over?"

"Gays? I suppose the terran term fits for us," He honestly never thought about sexuality, but according to the terran customs he supposed homosexual was a good label. It wasn't like there was a Bajoran or Cardassian term for it. He shrugged and went back to rummaging through his box. He handed Eshen some plushies he made. Mostly of earth animals, but he had some people. He had a plush of Legate Damar, a couple characters from Tey'ma's stories. "Huh Ground rules? Oh yeah I guess so," There goes the bachelor life, he thought. Barnes was an amazing non-existent roommate, this new rooming situation was going to be much different. "Ok I'll be quiet-- and you can have people over. Ummm... i record personal logs at night and i like to listen to cardassian radio, I'll keep it down but if it bothers you tell me."

"If it's in your own room, that should be muffled enough for my Vulcan ears. I'll keep my guests quiet too." Eshen patted one of the plushies on the head (even the one of Damar was cute; he wasn't sure how to feel about that) as he wondered if Nalas even understood what he'd meant. Oh well. He'd find out. "I'll do the cleaning of my quarters and the shared space, but keep your own room clean, please. How do you feel about cats?"

Nalas smiled when he saw Eshen patting little Damar on the head. That was one of his favourite plushies after all. Despite Damar being incredibly spacist during his whole time as Legate, he was a hero to the Cardassian people and Nalas still idolised him quite a bit. "Mini Damar thanks you for head pats," Nalas said as he grabbed mini Damar's little hand and made him wave at Eshen. "I don't mind noise, I'm Cardassian, remember?" He chuckled as he put a couple more decorations on his shelf. "Mmm, okay that seems fair-- wait my room. You're not gonna check, right?" Nalas thought his room was passable. Alright maybe it was terrible, but that was how he lived! "Also, cats are fine!"

"I mean, I might be in there sometimes and I'll see it, and if it's dirty, I'll have no choice but to clean the whole place to calm my delicate sensibilities." Eshen put Damar down and looked at the Earth animals. He remembered that time he'd asked Nalas to teach him how to sew these little plushies. He'd learned a few tricks from him since then; some skills from his fixing up clothes to accommodate some of his bulkier proportions were fairly transferable, but his talents still remained firmly in the two-dimensional scope of things. "One of these days I've got to have you help me sew together a peacock plushie. Speaking of which, how do you feel about birds?"

"Okay okay, I'll try and keep it clean but uhh no promises. I'm a scientist, Eshen! I work best with clutter!" Nalas said as if that had anything to do with it. He put the items he was holding down and threw his arms around his boyfriend. It was hugging time now apparently. He caught Eshen looked at his earth animals, wondering what he was thinking about. He also remembered giving Eshen some sewing tips, but the other seemed to gravitate towards other art forms. "I would love to do that for you!" He said, excited for another activity with his boyfriend. "Mmm birds are okay-- wait Eshen you're not thinking of having a menagerie here, are you?"

Eshen lifted Nalas a little, as he often did when he held him. Show-off. Then he glanced at the box. Was that all the things? "Perhaps. I'm either going to get a bird or a cat. And I'm going to give myself a pseudonym out of Dionysius, Adonis, Jade and Oberon, and I dearly hope you have an opinions on which animal and name I should choose because I'm apparently incapable of making decisions by myself." That's what living in a cage does to you. Although in some ways, he was quite independent, such as with cleaning the shared quarters because he'd grown up managing a lonely house, and taking the initiative in most of the relationships he'd had, outright picking between options was hard for him at times. Hopefully he'd get better at it and that might help him move his way up Command. He was a diplomat, so right now he was mostly just handling other people's decisions regarding trade and politics, but if he ever hoped to be like Kirk, Janeway or Mona, decisiveness was something he'd have to learn.

Nalas let Eshen lift him, letting his body go limp like a cat being picked up by the scruff of the neck. He liked it when Eshen lifted him, he felt like he was floating. Also he liked being doted on by a strong and handsome Klingon-Vulcan man. the forehead ridges, the pointed ears, yes, he loved aliens all aliens. Well, except Bajorans, he still had some spacism in him. "I can help you! I love naming things!" Nalas said with excitement. "Mmmm I want a bird-- one that can talk. Oh wait no, did you hear that story.. Oh Legate Damar-- it was this bird on earth that was in the witness protection programme," He frowned when he thought about that whole situation. Don't ask, he loved quirky earth history. "Ummm maybe a non-talking bird or a cat! The fluffy kind! Oh name it something crazy and long."

"I meant choose my name, silly. But sure, maybe we can get a cat and call it catzalcoatlus." Inspired by when he'd heard the Captain scurrying down the corridor mumbling dinosaur names as though possessed by some fleeing cretaceous prey animal. Though he'd heard the Captain had a cat; maybe he'd taken the name already. "Is that all of your things?" Eshen asked, putting Nalas down but still holding him close with one arm, running his fingers through Nalas' hair with his free hand. "And did you want to rearrange any of the stuff I transported in?"

"Catzal... cata-- what?" Nalas looked at Eshen like the man had two heads. He had no idea what sort of name that was or what alien race it came from. He ended up laughing anyway, relaxing in his boyfriend's embrace. "Yeah it's everything! I want to help you now too! Show me any we can get started!"

"Alright. Well, first, let me introduce you to Freddie, Dolly and Oscar, named after..." [D] And so they settled in.

She chimed the door and waited for Eshen's reply. She held her PADD tightly in her hands and her eyes twinkled with hopes and dreams.

Eshen opened the door. No fancy fit today, just a suspiciously tight uniform, but he had his blue-gold eyeshadow look on, which enhanced his gold eyes and matched the blue-dyed ends of his silky locks. "Aella - waiyau! What brings you to our humble abode?" (edited)

"Zhimata, are you really lounging around in that uniform?" Aella gave Eshen a slightly judgemental look at she examined him for head to toe. Not only that, he was wearing eyeshadow and had dyed his hair? Was this normal for solids? "Well.... I wanted to invite you to my quarters. I am preparing a dinner for us and Founder Kronos will be there-- on video, not actually there. The Founders are not coming to the station, sadly. This is my performance review."

Eshen tilted his head. "The... Starfleet uniform? What, does it look bad?" It was the same as everyone else's, just closely tailored. "I would be delighted to, though if you'd like me to dress to impress you'll have to give me a minute or ten."

"It looks like you have it a couple sizes too small," Aella said, clearly not understanding what Eshen was trying to do. She shrugged but she was just happy to see her partner doing so well. "Mmm please dress to impress! I am cooking some new foods that-- Wait, your quarters, it says K'Tann and Za'ari-- are you living with that Cardassian boy? Oh, Zhimata, you should have moved in with me!!" Her expression quickly turned to shock when she realised Eshen's new roommate situation. Honestly when they switched around the rooms she was thankful to be a civilian who didn't have to share quarters. She could only imagine the anxiety Starfleet officers had to go through when they found out their matches. (edited)

"Size isn't everything." His uniform was precisely how he wanted to it be; he always dressed with intent. Eshen smiled amusedly, as though he was thinking of some joke she wouldn't understand. "Well, I did ask you once, and you declined. I believe you said something about it being inappropriate for a gentleman to house with a lady? And a Federation and Dominion one at that?"

Aella laugherd out loud at the comment. Maybe Eshen thought it would go over her head, but she knew a thing or two about crude solid humor. She covered her face with her PADD and shook her head. "Mmmhmm, well I like this flashy style, keep it up," She winked at him and gave him a thumbs up. "Ah, that is true. Well-- anyway, will you come to my quarters for dinner? My call is at 1900, Founder Kronos would love to see you again. You know, i got the feeling he liked you."

Oh? She understood that? Well, that unlocked a whole new branch of humour he could use around her. Not too much, though. Crude humour was best used sparingly. Besides, despite his tight attire, Eshen was a sophisticated (bougie) gentleman. "You know, I did as well. See you there. Unless you wanted to watch me change." Eshen winked, then went to his room to deal with his fancy wardrobe before she could answer. Considering her and Nalas disliked one another (much as he hoped for the opposite one day), it would actually be a bad idea for her to stick around that long.

Oh, was Eshen inviting her into his quarters? She pondered the thought for a moment before skipping inside the room. Of course she wanted to see what her Zhimata was going to wear! Even if it did mean she would have to see that irrelevant Cardassian man. "I wanna see your quarters, Waiyau," Before Eshen could do anything, Aella was darting around the room touching everything.

Oh, she actually came inside. Well, Nalas was off looking at amoebas or something like that, so hopefully it would be fine. She'd seen the shared room before, but not his room. There were just as many plants and books, but also his violin, and a half-painted easel... All of which she touched. He didn't mind, though he did say, "It's mostly dry, but mind the paint." He opened up the 'drobe door and started rummaging through his vast collection. In fact, it almost seemed too vast. This wardrobe was from Narnia. "Well, today I'm wearing a lot of blue and gold, with some jade accents, so... Something royal and peacock-y? I've got that peacock shirt, and a lot of gold accessories in that drawer over there if you'd like to pick out something nice." They'd been studying aesthetics lately, so perhaps she'd be up to a little test.

(he went into his room where his wardrobe is, not the shared quarters - I assumed they were already in there to talk or else the RP would've been in middle habitat corridor)

She hopped around Eshen's room, continuig to touch everything. She pulled her hand away from the painting as soon as Eshen gave her the warning though. Oh, she was not going to mess anything up! "Hmmm royal peacock? Oh those colours is greens and gold and--" Aella shuffled over to the drawer and began rummaging through the accessories. "What sort of accessories do you want? Umm bracelets, necklaces, hair clips? Zhimata, you would look lovely with some matching hair clips-- maybe one with feathers, do you have one?"

"I do, T'hy'la! I love feather accessories. They're a little gaudy, but a splash of that can be necessary sometimes if you want to stand out. Should be in the little sparkly blue box." A lot of the accessories were in neat little boxes - and labelled. The rest of the room was organised and squeaky-clean, too. Eshen the neat freak. "Though that matching with the shirt is a lot going on, so for the rest of the outfit we'll need to be fairly minimalistic, to balance it all out." Eshen looked in his wardrobe and threw a plain black tight pair of trousers and a skirt with cut edges to expose the tights. Either option meant little would be left to the imagination when it came to his thighs, which was good, because he'd been going ham on the gym equipment every leg day recently, and who was he to deny others the sight of the fruits of his labour? As for the shoes, he picked out and examined some shiny black laced riding boots with a decently chunky heel. The way they extended up his shapely calves would compliment the way his black opera gloves went up to his elbows.

"Ohh hmm," Aella looked through the accessories. She really had no idea what she was looking at, but she did remember Eshen's rules of aesthetics. It was a bit difficult though, thankfully everything was labelled. After looking through the drawer and finding nothing she thought suited the rule, she turned around to look at her Zhimata. Tight and revealing clothes yet again? She didn't really have any opinions on if it looked 'good' or not, but she definitely didn't dislike it. "Maybe some simple gold hair clips? I don't really know what I'm supposed to be looking at, you have a lot of accessories, Zhimata."

"I do. That drawer is worth more than a hundred hypothetical salaries." He was exaggerating, but man - his childhood may have been impoverished in some ways, but certainly not material wealth, and it showed. If his home life hadn't been so dysfunctional, he would have never known hardship. But if he'd never known hardship, he would never have strayed from the life path they'd built for him and met his significant others and all his other friends on the station, so perhaps it was meant to be this way. "And as I said, the feathers are fine - in fact, it's good to match clothes and accessories - we just need to work with it." He walked over to the drawer and took out the sparkly blue box. In it was a single peacock feather hairclip that he used to pin one side of his hair-curtains behind his pointy ear. It was like the kind of plume you'd pin onto the side of a fancy cavalier hat - something a renaissance man or medieval bard would wear. He was planning on a fishtail braid, though, and you don't cover up a braid with a hat. "See, the feather pattern on the shirt and the feather hairclip are the centrepiece of the outfit - drawing attention elsewhere confuses the eyes, so no loud patterns or elaborate layers elsewhere. Trousers or skirt, do you think?"

She shrugged when Eshen mentioned 'salaries'. Actually she had no idea what those were. It sounded expensive though, but she didn't know money. Aella observed Eshen closely as he walked over and grabbed the feather clip. She nodded slowly as he explained the reasoning for it. Eshen was trying to explain the rules of aesthetics, but all the Vorta could focus on was how graceful his fingers moved when he clipped his hair back. Eshen's pointy ears and a feathery hair clip, he really did look like a bird. She covered her mouth as she giggled, taking a step back so she could see her Zhimata's whole fit. "I like it-- hmmm actually maybe you should go trousers since I'm going skirt?" Aella remembered that although matching outfits had their place, a couple was meant to compliment each other not be clones. She put a finger to her chin as she debated over the decision. "Also... maybe Founder Kronos would think the tighter trousers were umm, more visually appealing?" She honestly didn't know what the Founders found 'hot'. It wasn't like they reproduced or found mates like other species did.

"Oh, would he? Interesting. And good thought - trousers it is. You're learning well." Eshen would make a joke about the padawan soon becoming the master, but that would be a reference to the wrong franchise. As Eshen started pulling the shirt of his uniform off and undoing his belt, he said," If you wish, you may scurry off to the waiting room now, Zhimata." Whether she did or not, Eshen stripped down, then donned the whole fit - riding boots, tight black trousers, peacock-patterned shirt, and the gold Bajoran-style earrings that looped from the piercings on his lobes to the cuff atop his pointy ears, a style he'd become rather fond of. Now all that was left to do was braid his hair. He wondered if she'd help him with that if he asked, but he wasn't sure she knew how. Besides, he didn't want to get so relaxed he fell asleep before they met with Kronos.

"Okay, I'll be right out here!" Aella nodded and shuffled off to the waiting room so Eshen could change. In the shared quarters space she also took it upon herself to touch anything and everything. Including Nalas' little diorama. She picked up soft Damar and hugged him, cradling him like a child. She plopped down on one of the chairs and waited for Eshen to return. Despite touching everything in sight, Aella surprisingly did not make a mess. In fact everything was still in its rightful place. Moved slightly but for the most part things were as they were left.

Eshen, the neat freak, immediately noticed everything was slightly moved. He walked around the room, moving a few things (including Nalas' diorama) back into their place, before plopping down next to Aella, one leg folder over the other towards her, and got started on braiding his hair. "I'm getting oddly jealous of Damar, you know. There's a mini-me right over there."

Her frilly ears immediately picked up on the sound of Eshen entering the room and moving things around. She didn't think she moved that many things out of place. As he moved things she squeeze little Damar's head and made him do a little jig because why not. "Oh! Mini zhimata?" Aella perked up when Eshen mentioned him. She dropped Damar on the ground and rushed to grab the Eshen doll. "He's praising the sun! That Cardassian boy made me a doll too even though I told him he was irrelevant."

Eshen perked up, and so did his ears, minutely. A combination of his boyfriend's talents and his girlfriend's(?) countenance? Best possible thing in the world. "Nalas made you a mini-Aella? Oh, I would love to see it! Where is it?" He also stopped braiding his, picked up the Damar doll and gently put him back in place. Then he sat back down on the sofa and resumed his braiding.

"Oh umm it's in my quarters. I am sure you'll see her. It was an apology gift for all the tests we had to do together," She explained as she put mini Eshen on the couch next to her. She noticed the other had picked up the little Cardassian plush and returned him to his spot. He was a funky little man, she almost wished she could take him with her, but her and Nalas were already on thin ice as it was. She watched Eshen resume braiding his hair, almost mesmorised by it. "Do you need help, Zhimata? I have been practicing new hairstyles, I could try to braid your hair," Aella's smile was bright and she was eager to help!

He did not need help. He'd done this a thousand times without a mirror. "Absolutely," he replied, patting mini-Eshen's head. "Although, er... Shall I just sit in front of you? You won't be able to reach very well if we stand up." (edited)

Aella smiled at mini Eshen and then looked at life sized Eshen. That Cardassian kid was quite good at making dolls, even if they did look a little cursed. "yes please!" Aella said with a bright smile as she repositioned herself so she was sitting on her knees. Eshen was was much taller than her, nearly a foot taller to be exact. "Sit and I'll try my best!"

"...It honestly might have been better for you to stay on the sofa," Eshen said, but sat down in front of her nonetheless. He really hoped she would be good at this. Under normal circumstances he wouldn't mind, but they were literally going to meet a Founder. He knew his diplomatic history - a sloppy braid could cause a war!

"I got this, I swear!" Aella said as she began to braid. This could turn out horribly or amazingly, but thankfully it was the latter. She worked neatly, her fingers delicately weaving Eshen's hair into a braid. Her hands were gentle as she worked so she wouldn't hurt he beloved Zhimata. "Mmm i think I did a good job! Please check. I think the Founders will be really happy to see you looking so nice."

It took Eshen a moment to respond. He was already entering sleep mode. This little experience reminded him of all the Girls' Nights he'd been invited to when he was at the Academy. He was very much a man, but apparently he got an Honorary Pass when it came to those sorts of things. He considered it an accomplishment. "Hmmm? Oh, right." He stopped almost leaning right back into her, got up, and went to check his hair out in the mirror. Phew! War averted. "You did well! Alright, that should be everything, unless you have any other suggestions. 1900, you said?"

As she worked she noticed Eshen had fallen silent for some reason. That strange gap of silence between when she was done and when Eshen finally responded reminded her of that last time she touched his hair. Was this a mistake? Maybe she shouldn't have touched his hair. When Eshen spoke again she stood back and clasped her hands together. Ahh, he didn't fall asleep. "That's it! You are going to impress Founder Kronos! I'll see you then," Aella grabbed her PADD, ready to head out and prepare herself for the meeting.

He popped his head out of the room and scurried out into the corridor.

After a rather exciting meeting with a new friend! Nalas hopped back into his quarters. Eshen still wasn't back, which was worrying but he kept his PADD with him for updates. The Eventide was deployed, which meant some serious business was going down. Nalas zoomed into his private quarters and immediately kicked his shoes off and flopped on the bed. "Computer, radio please, Cardassia Prime government station," He said, and the broadcast began to play. With Eshen gone he could listen to the wonderful bickering of Cardassian pundits on full blast without worrying about disturbing him.

To: Nalas Za'ari The light of my life, baby Nalas. I am writing to tell you that your father and I will be getting married once again!

The ceremony will be held at our new vacation home in Culat, family only though (but Tey'ma is coming!). Tell Eshen and your other friends they are free to send flowers or gifts in lieu of attendance. Love you so much, I can't wait to see you again! Your mother who loves you more than the universe

The shy ensign... or maybe charismatic... he didn't really know who he was anymore, knocked on the door. His first task was just to deliver a small box to anouther Ensign. Was he going to be the mailman here? Atleast it would be a chance for him to meet new people. He quickly straightened up his hair and pull out an invisible leather jacket (something he had done for a confidence boost since he was Dassault)

Nalas was chilling in his new Starfleet shorts™️ listening to his favourite conservative Cardassian radio station when he heard a knock at the door. His first instinct was to check his PADD, fearing that he had missed an appointment or something. No messages, nothing. "Computer, lower volume, 10%," He said as he stood up and walked over to the door to see who could possibly be there. Eshen? No, the away team wasn't back and Eshen wouldn't knock to enter his own quarters. He opened the door to see someone he had never seen before. A trill? The science ensign's face was blank as he stared at the man with the box in his hand. "Hello, may I help you?" He asked, his French accent particularly strong that day.

He looked over at the man. Was that a French accent, why did he know that was a French accent... oh yeah Insley went to France that one time. Why did this dude have a French accent? It didn't really matter anyhow so he simply smiled with Rainiers patented confident smile in an attempt to hid his shyness. "I've got this here package for you, technically it's my first assignment so I'd hope that it's important."

First assignment? Yeah, he must be new. Nalas made it a point to read the updated roster each day to gather intel on the new transfers, but he did not remember a Trill on the list. Or maybe he did, but the files in his brain were working. He took the package from the man and gave him an awkward smile in return. "I don't remember ordering anything," Nalas did what anyone would do and shook the box, a metal rattling sound could be heard. Perhaps it was a chain? Jewellry? "Is there a sender?" He asked as he examined the whole box, but only his name 'Nalas Za'ari' was on the box. The sender was in fact his own mother, Ellara Za'ari, but there was no indication of that on the box.

He took a step into the room and then leaned back upon the wall. "I'm afraid I don't have a sender for you, all I know is the box had your name on it." He asked the man infront of him "Would you mind if I use your replicator real quick? I could really use a nice cup of coffee." He brashly just walked over anyways without asking. It had been a while since he'd been on a ship and the Captain Rainier part of him was acting like he owned the place.

Woah woah woah! Nalas took a big step back when the guy entered his quarters. He didn't even know this guy, why was the delivery man walking over to his replicator?!! His and Eshen's shared quarters was completely decked out with funky decorations, Nalas had his little diorama of the station on the table. He also had a wall of plushies of various people, Damar, Dukat, Moset, ahh mostly Cardassians (war criminals). The rest he had given away to friends. "Umm-- I-I guess but hey, I don't even know your name and you gotta take off your shoes," He raised his voice as he walked up right next to the man, no one was going to come into his quarters-- and with their shoes on. He may have been Cardassian raised, but the shoes thing, that was one Bajoran custom he upheld at all times.

"Oh shit..." He said to himself. "Oh this is really awkward isn't it." He quickly made an effort to take his shoes off and then he quickly made his way back to the doorway. "Agh Rainier took over on auto pilot again I'm so sorry." He thought about how exactly to explain that he had basically had 5 other personalities inside of him. Taking back over the shy man put his head in his hands. "I'm really really sorry, whenever I get on ships or even stations Rainier kinda takes control sometimes. It's been forever since I've actually lived in space."

Rainier? Ahh, so this guy was a joined Trill. That would explain a lot. Nalas suddenly felt stupid for assuming this guy was just being a wanker when in fact he was just a confused man with many personalities swimming in his mind. "Uh, it's alright," He watched the man put his head in his hands, quite the contrast from the confident smile he received earlier. Nalas shook his head and sighed, there was no way he could stay mad. "I know a bit about Trill, I'm an exobiologist. Don't worry about it man," He walked over to Del and gave him a reassuring smile. "If you still want that coffee I can get it for you," He offered, trying to be polite. As someone who also had recently dealt with an identity crisis (albiet not nearly as crazy as having a million different lives like a Trill), he was sympathetic to the new ensign.

He lifted his head from his hands and slowly nodded. He was back in control of himself, though that also meant he was back to being his nervous self. Insley had warned him about how hard it could be took keep the others under control but he just wasn't ready for this all. "Oh... yes thank you. Again I'm sorry that I came off as crazy. I just got joined..." He counted it out on fingers. "5 months ago. I just have a lot of very strong personalities inside me."

Ah, and there was the answer. He nodded and put his package down on the sofa before going to the replicator to get this confused Trill some coffee. He walked back over to him and held out the mug for him to take. "5 months, yeah, that sounds stressful," He was thankful the only identity crisis he had to dael with was his own, he couldn't imagine having the trauma of other people on top of that. "You're not crazy at all , you just have a lot to deal with and that's okay."

He took the coffee cup and both hands and began to sip on it slowly. "Thank you, would you mind if I have a seat? I wouldn't want to be invasive again." He was still speaking shyly, internally hoping that Insley would lend him some of his charisma to help him make a friend. "And I really appreciate that you for being cool about this."

Now that he knew this guy was recently joined and currently grappling with a million things at once, the picture was clear to him. He nodded and cleared off one side of the sofa so the nice OPS ensign could have a seat. "It's all cool man," He said as he grabbed his package and sat down as well. "I mean, I think I am one of the best choices of people to freak out at," He chuckled as he shook his package again. "Since you were chosen to be joined I think things will turn out alright. Did you just come from the academy?" He took note of the other's shy body language and wondered if this was his true personality or if one of his former hosts was talking. He seemed genuine, but it was always a struggle to read joined Trill.

He nodded. "Well yeah kind of... it's been a bit of a whole weird process. I actually did most of my time at the academy before I got joined, heck I wasn't even with Ops at first." He laughed a little bit as he cheerily told his story, thinking of how Insley had seen him, and putting himself in Insleys head space. Luckily for him that yielded a slight confidence boost for him aswell. "I took a month long break after 3 and a half years at the academy and Insley found me when I most needed help." He added on. "Inslee was the host before me." He chuckled. "It really has been a bit of an odd pairing though. All of the past hosts were charismatic and confident but then you get me and I'm well... I've always been a bit shy." His confidence boost from thinking about Inslee faded and he switched back to being shy again.

He listened closely to what the Trill was saying, finding the whole story fascinating. Honestly he never really met any joined Trill, a couple spoke as lecturers at the academy, but they were all in high ranking positions. It was the first time he got to speak with a newly joined one and the experience was similar to what he had expected. The man's small laugh and tone mixed with the sudden changes between confidence and shyness. Like a man who was running through halls opening doors and shutting them, hoping to find the right one. "What did you want to do before switching to OPS?" He inquired, tilting his head ever so slightly.

He smiled. "Oh well I was trying to go into command. I was mostly just analyzing stuff and sorting through data for command. Really it was never anything actually interesting. Then when I got joined Rainier and Dassault who both worked a lot with systems kinda guided me towards Ops. Honestly though... even without them I'm pretty sure I like Ops more... sometimes it's kinda hard for me to know what I think." He cut himself off and began sipping on his coffee some more.

"Command sees a lot of action, but honestly I think OPS is more interesting," Nalas shrugged and gave the Trill another kind smile. It felt like he was having a conversation with multiple different people, but he didn't mind. In fact, it made things more intersting. "Yeah yeah, you have so many voices, I kinda can understand that a little. Not like a Trill, but I grew up bicultural and sometimes I feel like I got two sides of myself fighting," He said sympathetically, somehow managing not to make a fool of himself as he spoke his (most likely) whack Standard to this poor Trill. He gave the man another curious look as he watched him sip his coffee. "Do you need anything else? I know you wanted coffee but I can get you a snack or something if you wanna take it with you. I don't know how long your shift is today."

He shook his head to signal that he was fine. "No, no I don't need anything more, but thank you for the coffee. Today is just a more relaxed shift, I only just got in today but they wanted me to give you that there box." He paused for a second as he curiously looked at the box. Kenmore tried to figure out what was inside while Rainier was just really wanted to see what was in there. Tacome listened and tried to see if he could take a look inside. Pretty much every piece of him wanted to see what was in the box. Dassault told him to play things cool. "Its kinda cool carrying the boxes though, I mean really if you think about it each one is a mystery in itself." The normal part of him placed his eyes upon the box as an almost pleading signal for Nalas to open it.

He nodded in acknowledgement and sat back on the sofa, his eyes wandering to look off into the distance. That's when the other ensign brought up the topic of the box-- oh did he want to see what was inside? Well, seeing how Nalas had no idea what was in it the contents probably weren't anything embarrassing or overly private. He picked up the box again and gave it a good shake. His gaze drifted back to the Trill as he made another attempt to read the man's facial expressions. It was just so damn hard to descern the current man sitting in front of him from all of his past lives-- lives that Nalas had no idea about other than the couple of details the ensign had given to him. "Okay, well then I guess we can solve this mystery," Nalas said as he tore the box open. There was a card and then a single earring in a bag. He held up the card in front of him, it was his mother's handwriting, neat and clean like painting. But there was something very wrong, something that made his eyes widen and mouth hang open. "It's from my mother... But uhh," Nalas stared at the letter and blinked a couple times, a huge wave of shock washing over him. "This letter is written in Cardassian," He said before realising the nice stranger beside him had absolute no context for that statemnt. "I mean, my mother is Bajoran and my father is Cardassian-- but last time I checked my mother could barely speak a full sentence in Cardassian."

He shifted his head at the man. He tried to run through his past experiences to see if he could maybe give any words of wisdom. Insley had maybe something but it was more cliche then anything, the rest of them remained mostly silent. "Well that's got to be a struggle, I'm sure things will look up soon for you, son." Did he just call the other Ensign son? "Dangit Insley, he really liked to call people son for some reason." The Trill laughed slightly at his social awkwardness. He shoved off his other personalities and tried to speak genuinely to Nalas. "Being split between cultures like that must've made for a very tought childhood. My parents were never really there for me that much but, it sounds kinds chaotic to be divided in your own house. Why is your mother writing to you in cardassian?" He for once had been able to speek as himself for the first time in a while and... it felt good, even if he was still supported by the others, was this what he was meant to be doing all the time?

Nalas turned to the Trill and furrowed his brows when he was called son. Thankfully the other ensign cleared up the misunderstanding quickly, but he had a feeling the other was just switching between hosts. It was definitely a different experience to say the least, but he let that weird slip of the tongue slide, the man was struggling clearly. "It's okay," He said before turning his attention back to the letter his mother had so neatly written fo him. He took a deep breath as he listened to the Trill continue to speak. "Ehh, I wouldn't really say my house was divided moreso than one culture was oppressing the other-- Bajoran and Cardassian, I am sure you can guess who was doing the oppressing," He shook his head as he held the earring in one hand and the letter in the other. "My parents are getting remarried, it's a trainwreck. Anyway, it seems like she made me a new earring," Nalas turned his head to the side so the Trill could see his current one. A Bajoran style earring, but the shapes and symbols were clearly Cardassian, the Obsidian Order logo with a large emerald gem hanging from it. "Yeah, this probably seems really weird to you, I'm sorry this is like a whole saga. I'm sorry to here you didn't really have your parents' support. The people on this station are pretty nice though-- you can consider me on you side ensign-- what was your name?"

He smiled up at Nalas. "Del, Ensign Tacoma Del. Do me a favour and call me by my full name though, it makes things a little easier for me that way. As far as your family goes... I hope all is well. By the way you make it sound, I certainly hope your father hasn't been abusing your mother." He looked up at Nalas, hoping desperately that his assumption was just a silly misconception, that Kenmore's observational support was off today.

"Ensign Tacoma Del, alright I can call you by your full name," Nalas said with a kind smile. He was willing to do whatever he needed to help this Trill boy! New friend! Someone who also understood the struggles of identity crisis even if the nature of said crisis was different. "You can just call me Nalas, but I think you saw my name on the package anyway," He chuckled before taking the earring out to examine it. Unlike his own earring, this one looked closer to the traditional Bajoran one. Silver chains, beautiful sculpting, although the earring did also have an emerald hanging from it. "No, it's much worse than that. He has gotten my mother to fall in love with him again. Honestly, the fact that she's going through with this willingly is scarier than if she was being threatened," Nalas sighed and put the earring and letter back in the box. He would read it in more detail later.

He looked over the Earing for a moment before it was returned to the box. "That's a beautifully designed earing, I certainly hope it isn't your mother's... unless it's good that she is giving it to you?" He hoped that the mans mother wasn't about to give up on her culture. He personally couldn't imagine ever being cut off from his Trill culture. "Oh And, it's very nice to meet you Mr. Nalas."

"She designed a new one.. For my father and for me so we can all have the same earring-- it's a sign of family amongst Bajorans," He explained as he closed the box and held it in his hands. "We're the same rank, just Nalas will do. Yeah, my family is uhh... Complex, I grew up on Cardassia Prime, aside from my mother, my whole family is Cardassian like-- very very Cardassian," He explained, waving his hands around as he spoke, it was a Cardassian thing, they all loved dramatics. "I guess you just grew up on-- Trill right? Tacoma Del?"

The man took a second to look over the earing, the traditionally bajoran piece of jewelry clearly sticked out to him as cardassian, it even looked almost out of place. "Yes I did grow up on Trill though I haven't found a chance to return back home since I was joined. Though Del has spent the last 3 lifetimes pretty much exclusively on Trill so I figure some time in space is refreshing."

"Well it seems like you are already a good host, 3 lifetimes on Trill? Man if I could be joined I'd be taking my symbiont everywhere. The French alps, Luna, the Great Link, everywhere," He chuckled at the image of him as a Trill. Despite his (still ongoing) identity crisis, seriously speaking Nalas couldn't imagine himself as anything but Bajoran. Well, maybe spots down his body would be kinda cool. "Anything in particular you wanna try? I can't say I've had a lot of experiences outside of well Cardassia and France on earth, but I'm always looking to try new stuff."

He squinted at the cardassian slightly as he thought about what he actually wanted, really he didn't even know. "Eh, nothing immediately comes to mind. I've always kinda liked going off and exploring on my own. It's always just more entertaining that way for me."

"I totally agree, being in space is all about--- sarah dippy teeth," Nalas was clearly looking for the word 'serendipity', but to no one's surprise his Standard was truly not the best. It was a shock he even made it through the academy. "If you ever think of something I'd love to join you. Like-- I kinda wanna visit New Romulus, that sorta thing."

"Sarah dippy teeth? I've been on Trill for a while so I'm not familiar with that phrase." He paused for a moment as he got back on track. "There are so many planets that I need to visit but I'll probably just have to settle for the holodeck for most of them, it really is a shame."

"Serendipity," Nalas decided to stop trying to speak Standard and just to let the universal translator do all the work for him. He slipped back into Cardassian, it was much easier for him anyway and saved him a bit of embarrassment. "Yeah true, but we do have a lot of away missions-- You can request to go on away missions! What's your job exactly? It's not just delivering packages, is it?"

"I am just a general operations officer right now so I go where they tell me. I figure I'll mostly be running maintenance and repairs which I actually quite enjoy doing. How about you?" The Trill smiled at Nalas.

"Exobiology! I am studying the Vorta! They're kinda like Trill but they stay one person the whole time and they're clones that supposedly just carry out their predecessor's work. Not all the time though," There he goes waving his hands again. Especially now that he could speak freely in Cardassian and let the machines do all the hard work. Nalas' face lit up when he spoke, he was passionate about his studies. "Except our Vorta, she actually switched genders in the middle of her lifetime, that's so cool! Well-- I guess to a Trill that's normal, you guys literally live multiple different lives. Anyone cool inside you, Tacoma Del?"

He looked a little sideways as the man explained the Vorta. They may have lived over and over again but it didn't seem like they were all stuffed up and confused like he was or maybe they were, maybe he should try and meet one at some point. "Well... I've got 5 people inside me. Dassault was my first host and he's pretty cool, he was a pilot and a pretty great engineer. He was also always pretty chill. Then I had Rainier who is probably my coolest host atleast in opinion. He was a captain of a ship in the early years of Trill exploration. He's also the last host to spend a lot of time in space so it's been a bit confusing for me. Then Kenmore was pretty cool, she was a buisnesswoman and kinda a total girlboss..." He paused for a second after Kenmore... a twinge of him was sparked by Kitsaps sadism for a moment. All that was shown on his face though was a light twitch of the lip. "And then there was Insley who is the only one who I've actually met. He was the governor in the region I grew up in but eventually he retired to a cabin. I made the journey to meet him and he decided to give me a second chance at life, he gave me Del. Which leads on to my favourite host..." He waved his hands excitedly. "Tacoma! Which is me, I just hope that I can live up to the rest of them."

The Bajoran boy leaned forward as the other spoke. It was another Cardassian habit he couldn't break. Cardassians had terrible hearing, but maybe to other it seemed like he was just getting awkwardly close. 5 hosts, well that would explain all the craziness. A pilot, captain, business woman-- Nalas caught the brief change in expression before the Trill continued. What was that? Ah, Insley the last host before himself. Nalas took his eyes off Del for a moment and looked off at something else in the room, staring would only make him more nervous. Maybe that was it? "5 lives, that sounds crazy but also fun. I'm sure you can live up to it, i mean you're already doing a good job here. You got me my package after all!" He gave the other a reassuring smile.

He smiled and laughed a little. "I suppose you could say I had a good day of work today, I didn't even mess up at all!" He stood up slightly and stretched his back. "It certainly is an adventure, and I can remember everything about all my hosts lives. Every triumph and every low point. I suppose just like Rainier I'll have to work my way up, maybe I can even be like him one day!"

"Yeah definitely!" Nalas stood up as well and stretched his arms. He wanted to ask more about Del's hosts, especially when he had noticed that change of expression. Was one of his hosts not friendly with the other? That's what he assumed at least. "Yep, I'll give you a good review-- er if anyone ever asks," Probably not, but he would totally talk up Del if the topic ever came up. "Really thank you for the package by the way."

He nodded. "I'm glad to have you on my side then, if you do need anything else you can comm me... or maybe comm my boss I might be doing something for them." He laughed slightly at his own joke.

"Yeah will do! Oh and if you're on the chatroom, I always have that open!" Nalas nodded, he made a new friend! Eshen would be happy to know he was getting along with people. "I should let you get back to work, I liked chatting with you Tacoma Del! I like hearing about your past lives too, that's so cool!"

He nodded. "One perk of being a joined Trill is that all of us have great stories to tell." He joked, then he walked towards the door. "I'll see you around man, I hope everything ends up well with your family."

“Yeah, me too, sorry about all of the craziness," Nalas said before scurrying off to his private room to read the letter more closely. He had to know why his mother would be writing a letter to him in full Cardassian, what was his father making her do?

To: Nalas Za'ari Kiba'avzayn (greetings)!!! To the sun to my moon, baby Nalas. Are you surprised I'm writing in Cardăsda? I had your father help me, I thought it would be easier to communicate with you like this. I have made you a new earring so you can match me and your father. I know you love your current one which is why I tried to incorporate elements of it into this new one. You don't have to wear it all the time, but it would be nice to have you wear it to the wedding. I miss you and I can't wait to see you again, tell Eshen I wish him well too. - Your forever loving mother.

At the bottom of the letter was a much messier Bajoran script, a bit strange, but it was still her handwriting.

PS. Tey'ma is going to take me to Bajor to say goodbye to my former colleagues in Musilla Province. Eshen is welcome to visit too.

Nalas stared at the letter, absolutely dumbfounded as to why his mother would honestly be going along with this. Still, she seemed really happy and Tey'ma hadn't said anything to make him believe otherwise. He looked at the envelope to see his name written on the back in what was probably the most beautiful Cardassian script he had ever seen. And that's when he saw the end of the letter. Tey'ma was taking his mother to Bajor, but why? Something was definitely off if Tey'ma was going to be traveling with her. He was a well known author on Cardassia, taking an interplanetary trip, even to a planet close by like Bajor, was not something he could do on a whim. Nalas took a look at the earring once again, it was similar to his own but looked distinctly more Bajoran. He had a couple more letters to write.

Unfortunately he didn't have much time to think about what was going on with his parents or Tey'ma because he had to go to work. He quickly got changed into his uniform and combed his hair. It was getting long, but he didn't have any time to get it cut. Maybe he would go full Cardassian and start wearing it pulled back? He checked himself in the mirror and then looked over at the new earring sitting on his desk. The thought of changing up his earring had never occured to him until that moment. He still wasn't fond of his father wearing the same earring, but he also liked the idea of being one family. One day. He'll try it for a single day. Nalas switched up his earring, struggling with the chains that seemed to keep getting tangled. He was glad his mother decided to keep the Cardassian green emerald, but the cuff part was quite heavy. He looked at himself in the mirror once again before grabbing his PADD and headed out.

[D] After the trials and tribulations of getting stranded in space, the first thing Eshen did was beeline his way back to Aella, who he'd abandoned mid-date, and eat a lot of cheese, among other things. Now full of brie, stilton, camambert and relief that his time floating in the void was over, he made his way back to his room, intending to just... Chill there for a while 'til Nalas came back. He collapsed on the sofa, pulling his hair out of the practical ponytail it'd been in, and sighed as he sprawled across the cushions. (edited)

Rushing back to his quarters, the doors opened and little Nalas was standing there. The boy was still in his uniform, but his hair was noticeably a lot messier than when he left. He looked the same as when Eshen had left-- although he had a new earring this time. No more sacrilegious Obsidian Order earring anymore, but it was clear there were some Cardassian influences. The head of the Cardassian logo was still the main feature, but the tail was twisted, swirling around a thin chain that held the large jade-coloured stone. The cuff was noticeably more Bajoran as well, a standard green gem with two long chains. It was still Cardassian inspired, but much more tasteful. "Eshen you're back!" Nalas said as he rushed to greet his boyfriend on the sofa. He tossed his PADD down onto the table so he could greet Eshen.

As soon as Nalas came in, Eshen looked up from where he'd been lounging on the sofa chatting on his PADD, bright-eyed, then leapt towards Nalas and dragged him onto the sofa so he could kiss and hug the living daylights out of him. Once that gay display was over, he gently grasped Nalas by the chin with his thumb and forefinger and moved his head slightly sideways so he could see his new earring. "Nalas, your earring is beautiful. You're beautiful. I missed you so much."

He was greeted with much enthusiasm, falling onto the sofa with Eshen and enjoying every moment. Despite all the stress from work (losing his poor baby Rippleberry seeds) he seemed to still have enough energy for some gay times™️. Of course Eshen would be the first one to notice his new earring, making Nalas blush and giggle with excitement. "Mmmhm, Marnah sent it so I could match her and Yadik," He explained, his eyes returning to look into Eshen's. "I missed you too, how was the mission? I heard some stuff went down, is everyone alright?" He asked, being deeply worried for not just his boyfriend, but everyone else.

Eshen winced. "I was lucky enough to be on the ship that didn't crash onto the planet. My friends Renakir and Sauk were absolute MVPs; I just pinched a pilot, saw a sea of corpses, and vanquished some vomit. Other than that, not much happened 'til we got rescued and went down to help the others and..." Ugh. He still smelled blood. "A few other friends of mine were badly hurt. In fact, everyone was. I might check on them to see how they're doing... The ones I think would be amenable to that, anyway. To be short: it did not go well. But it's over now - what's this about Yadik?"

He listened closely to Eshen tell about the mission. His boyfriend was quite the storyteller, he could make anything sound exciting even if he was just vibing on a ship. He was glad that his boyfriend didn't end up getting stranded especially since it sounded like the stranded crew got quite the beating. "I am glad it's over, I was watching the news closely," Nalas said, the worry still in his voice. Away missions always made him nervous, but he understood they were some of the best ways to get promotions. Nalas was just a simple exobiologist after all. But maybe after his project he could at least be up for consideration for the next promotion. He sighed and hugged Eshen, laying his head on his chest. "Mmm.. My parents are going to.. Get remarried. That's why Marnah made us all new earrings. It feels weird... I am finally getting the united family I had always wanted but it just feels... Funky."

"Funky indeed." Eshen had the same feeling as Nalas. He didn't know all the details, but for this to happen out of nowhere... As he talked, he ran his hand through Nalas' hair. Lying on Eshen's chest, Nalas could probably hear Eshen's rapid Vulcan heartbeat. "Did she send you letters with the earring? Did anything... Stand out? Is Tey'ma there with them?" (edited)

Nalas closed his eyes and listened to Eshen's heartbeat. As an exobiologist he knew a thing or two about aliens, but it was different observing it in real life. He breathed in slowly, relaxing as he felt Eshen's fingers through his messy hair. He probably looked like a mess but clearly Eshen didn't mind. "Well... She wrote me a letter.. .In Cardassian," He spoke slowly, his words getting a little muddled as he realised it was a little hard to breathe in his current position. He turned his body to the side, making sure not to crush his only working lung. "But she wrote in Bajoran at the bottom... She said Tey'ma is taking her to Bajor and we're both invited to meet up with them. Apparently she is going to say goodbye to the other Renjens from her temple, but I don't know."

Eshen's brow furrowed in concern, though he wasn't so distracted he couldn't casually kiss Nalas on the temple. He felt like he hadn't held him for a week. "She's uprooting her whole life and career just like that? And she knows Cardassian now? That's all so... Sudden. Despite the circumstances, going to Bajor sounds fun, though."

He couldn't help but smile when Eshen kissed him again, it was nice to be able to snuggle his boyfriend. It really did feel like forever. Too many things had happened in his life over the past few days. "She seems happy about it all too... Yadik helped her write the letter," Nalas explained. "Yeah, Yadik said he wants the wedding to be private so no friends, just immediate family-- and Tey'ma, but Tey'ma is Yadik's friend technically so I guess he's allowed," Nalas sighed once more and looked up at Eshen. "They're going to get married in Culat Province, I don't really want to go back there and see my grandparents."

"So Yadik -" No. His name was Giyon, right? Eshen would freely call Nalas' Marnah his Marnah as though they were in-laws, but no way was he giving his father the same respect. "Giyon came into her life and just started changing things up, is what it sounds like. Wait..." If Nalas was still in a position to do so, he'd feel Eshen's heartbeat speed up, though for Vulcans that almost sounded like a hum. "He wants you to go to Culat province... Alone?"

He noticed Eshen referring to his father as Yadik as well before he quickly corrected himself. It was clear that his boyfriend had no respect for his father and honestly Nalas agreed with him. Yadik had given him nothing but years of brainwashing and abuse. There was still a part of him who wished he could have taken a different name. Maybe Antana? Would Tey'ma adopt him? "Me, Yadik, Marnah, my grandparents, and Tey'ma, yes he wants me to go there alone," Nalas said, realising just how messed up that sounded. "My family loves Tey'ma so I don't think anything would happen with him there, but he wouldn't stay long. He promised to watch out for Marnah, but there is only so much he could do," Nalas spoke softly as he listened to Eshen's quickening heartbeat. "I wish I knew the real reason why Tey'ma was taking Marnah to Bajor..."

"Maybe he's trying to help? To give us a chance to visit and find out what's going on? To persuade her? I don't know..." And suddenly, the events of the last few [insert measurement of time]s combined and compounded in his mind, and Eshen took a sharp breath. The sea of corpses, the smell of blood, the endless waiting, not knowing if he would ever see Nalas or Aella or Adill or anyone again... If Nalas left, would he be waiting for him forever? But he didn't Surak those things away. Instead, despite his father's voice in his head telling him to do otherwise, Eshen allowed himself to feel - to fear - and wrapped his arms around Nalas tightly. "I'm afraid if you go there, you won't come back."

He listened closely to Eshen's words, staring into his eyes before feeling the other's arms hold him a little bit tighter. For some reason he could feel the start of tears forming in his eyes as Eshen spoke. You won't come back, funny that Eshen would say that because that is exactly what went through Nalas' mind when he heard the announcement on the comms about the two ships. "I'll always come back, Eshen," He tried to reassure him, although he knew if things did go south he would be powerless. Nalas had a strong will, but passion alone couldn't break a lock on a closet door. "Let's meet Marnah and Tey'ma on Bajor. Tey'ma is Bajoran-- actually. Like I am Cardassian. He has a Bajoran family, they're very nice, I have a feeling that's where we would stay."

It took Eshen a moment to reply. Turns out allowing yourself to feel fear when you usually keep that emotion locked in its own little closet means your mind and body had never had a chance to build up a tolerance. He squeezed his eyes shut, calmed his humming heart, stilled his shaky breathing, and Surak'd it away. But the closet door bent a little from the weight of all behind it. It's crowded in here, you know, his internal voice said. Like the shuttle. "It sounds lovely. I'd love to meet Tey'ma, too. I've been reading his poetry. But if you don't come back... I'm a Klingon, I'll come down there and fight my way to you."

Nalas noticed the brief silence between him and Eshen after he spoke. He didn't want his boyfriend to worry, but he also had a feeling the away mission was still weighing on Eshen's mind. Although he had only read logs, from his boyfriend's recollection and the station news, it sounded like something that was not going to be easy to forget. He didn't want to add his own family craziness to the long list of things Eshen had to think about. "I know you would, but I'll be okay. We can see Marnah and Tey'ma on Bajor and maybe get some answers. I'm glad you like my new earring though, I guess this means I graduated from being Cardassia's number one apologist?"

Eshen was calm now. He was calm talking to the Borg, he was calm on the ship; he would be fine. It's just that Nalas made him feel so safe he got a little closer to having a normal scope of emotion around him instead of just picking and choosing the ones he liked. The temptation to experience the full palette of feeling grew ever stronger. "As the number one Nalas apologist, I can verify, yes. You don't think people would think we're married or I'm a follower of the prophets if I ever got one too, would you? Would that even be appropriate?"

Nalas had to think about Eshen's question a little bit. As much as he liked to think he had learned about Bajoran culture, there were still some things he did not completely understand. It was his own culture, but he still felt like an alien when asked about it. "Nalas apologist? Eshen that's not a good thing," He let out a soft chuckle. He appreciated that his boyfriend was on his side, but there was still a part of him that thought he didn't deserve such love. He had said some pretty bad things about Bajorans and the occupation, there was a good reason he had made more enemies than friends through his years in Starfleet. "Ummm.. The earring is only for family members," Nalas said, his voice with a hint of uncertainty. "However Bajorans do have like.. Promise bracelets. It just means a couple is in love," He was just going off of what he remembered from his studies, he did not have any experience with Bajoran dating practices at all. "I could make a pair for us, you know I love making jewellry."

Ah... 'a couple is in love'. Well, that's fine. It's not like he was saying anything out loud. "I would love that! In return, I... Well, in Klingon society we give one another daggers and other weapons as part of courtship. It's supposed to represent our desire to keep you safe but also our respect for your own ability to do so. I don't know how you feel about knives, though."

Eshen's reaction was good! Nalas knew how his boyfriend was about romantic feelings, which is why he never proposed the idea to begin with. That and the fact that Nalas was actually pretty terrible with courtship and dating outside of some holonovels. Hearing about Klingons gifting their lover knives well-- that was certainly on brand for Klingons. "I would love a... Courtship knife," He said, not quite sure what to call it. "As long as we don't have to fight with the knives, if you wanna do fighting we can do it with the safeties on in the holodeck," Nalas was not a fighter, however holodeck fighting didn't sound too bad, it wasn't like they could actually get hurt.

"Don't worry, it's ornamental. I mean, still beautiful and dangerous, like me in some ways, and too big to be flaunting around the station, considering Starfleet's stance on non-standard weaponry, which is why I keep my Bat'leth tucked away in here -" Eshen gestured to the family Bat'leth on the wall - "But it's for pretty purposes, not practical. But as much as it sounds fun to fight you, Nalas, you don't come from that kind of... Culture of violent love. Like Klingons. Or Romulans, even. Would you understand my expression of it? Putting yourself in an environment where the other person may harm you and trusting them not to do it, or to do it right? After all, the knife is also a serious sign of trust: 'I am giving you a tool that enables my potential destruction at your hand'. Besides, I can think of several other more interesting things we could do, together in a holodeck." Then again, isn't that what love is? Giving someone a piece of your heart and trusting them not to break it? That's what True Names must be. Or even knowing that they will eventually, but it'll be worth it? As the quote goes: 'someone has to leave first. This is a very old story. There is no other version of this story.' Or, in other words, 'til death do us part, or miscellaneous circumstances. It was a commitment to an experience that would one day end because the journey was worth the destination. It sounded nice... But then he remembered his parents had once made that commitment. They had loved one another, once. And the way that had ended up couldn't possibly be worth whatever they'd had when they were young. It wasn't even worth him.

Nalas looked to the wall to see the Bat'leth hanging there. He was well aware of the violence of Klingon culture and it didn't bother him. Cardassians could be violent too, but more sneaky violence or mental violence. In many ways Nalas was a little upset Cardassian culture was so focused on mental state. At least a wound leaves a cool scar, Cardassian violence just leaves ugly trauma and fear of turbolifts. He nodded as Eshen spoke, his lips curling into a smile when the other mentioned holodecks. "No fighting then-- Hmmm, more heists, mmm romantic dinners in France?" Yes those were things they could do together! "Oh and more arguing, that's hot," Nalas couldn't help but laugh. Eshen had Klingon violence and Nalas had fierce debates. Not even debates about meaninful subjects, sure there were arguments about politics or actual issues, but he revelled in arguments about litreally anything like, "I remember arguing about what order to pour milk and cereal. It was at the academy, I thought the guy was into me but actually he just went around telling everyone I was crazy. Milk comes before cereal, by the way."

Eshen's train inner crisis regarding his parents' not-divorce was broken by Nalas' absurd statement, and he laughed and gasped dramatically. "Milk? Before cereal? I rescind my knife offer. My heart is broken and my disappointment immeasurable." Then he gave Nalas a kiss on the cheek just to make sure he knew he wasn't being serious. "And oh, my sweet darling, I meant something significantly more salacious than that, but sure. Arguments, thievery and romantic dinner dates all sounds fantastic after the weird week I've been having, frankly."

Nalas was happy he could get such a reaction out of Eshen and it showed by the way he giggled before Eshen kissed him. "Oh come on Eshen! I was literally an Occupation apologist but the milk before cereal is the deal breaker?" He was full on laughing now, this was too funny. He hugged Eshen tight and rested his head on the other's chest once again. "Something more salacious? I don't get what is more salacious than mischief, but I'll try anything as long as I am with you~" He said, closing his eyes and listening to Eshen's heartbeat once again.

Did... Did the word salacious not translate properly? Sometimes he was never sure if Nalas understood what he meant or not. Would Eshen have to be crude about this? He preferred not to. Eshen was a flirt, but he was a romantic flirt, as much as this contradicted his difficulty with love, despite his best efforts. Not that he wasn't incredibly romantically attracted to Nalas right now. And, you know, the other one. Ah, fuck it. He reluctantly pushed Nalas away from him so he could lean beside his ear and whisper precisely all the things he wanted to do with him, and to him, on the holodeck.

A bright red blush crept across Nalas's face when Eshen whispered in his ear. Scandalous! Actually, Nalas was an adult, very much an adult, even if he didn't seem like it. Oh and he was Tey'ma Antana's biggest fan and Tey'ma's works were definitely not for children. Violence, hot blooded passion, sometimes war crimes (but no glorifying them, they were horrible). "You got yourself a deal, Mr. K'Tann," Nalas squeezed his eyes shut as he laughed again before suddenly gasping for air midway through. He managed to catch his breath, but man it was hard with just one lung.

Ah, good. That test of the waters went well. Perhaps one day soon they could even... Touch fingers. Gloves off. Raw hand-to-hand contact. Eshen blushed at the very thought. "I don't suppose you want to go to the holodeck right now? I could use the de-stress. Otherwise, we can schedule it for a later date, and I'll go get some shorts. Also, are you okay, my dear?"

He nodded and took another gasp of air. "Yeah yeah, arggh Dukat it sucks having one lung," Nalas said as he laid in starfish position on top of Eshen, finally able to breathe steadily. "Get shorts, I got some shorts too-- I gotta write a letter to Tey'ma anyway," As much as he wanted to go off and so salacious things with his boyfriend, each second that passed meant one second closer to his parent's wedding and there was still too many questions unanswered.

"Alright. I'll be off for a bit, then. Might go the utility or environmental first to chill a bit before or afterwards, so I'll be there if you need me. But send me a pic in those shorts! I need it. For historical preservation." There was no understating the cultural relevance of pictures of a guy's butt. Eshen didn't leave immediately. He just closed his eyes and held Nalas for a few minutes. It still felt like an era since he'd last touched him. But soon he dragged himself away, changed into some fancy fit, gave Nalas the Goodbye Kiss, then left.

After his unplanned nap, Nalas woke up and realised-- it was his day off! He decided to dress casually today, long blue skirt with a white t-shirt. He put on a sun hat too, couldn't be too careful. He popped out of his room and headed to the corridor.

He headed into his quarters and went straight to his bedroom so he could change into his Starfleet Shorts™️ and a comfortable t-shirt. Eshen wasn't home, but he didn't mind. It just meant he could sing and dance and make as much noise as he wanted. He headed over to his work station and pressed a few buttons before walking over to his little alter and beginning to set it up. Perhaps Eshen knew, or maybe he didn't, but Nalas was serious about trying to be a better Bajoran which included daily prayers and offerings to the Prophets of course. He was still very new to the whole concept and was definitely using the 25the century equivalent to 'Bajoran Faith for Dummies' book to get started.

He was in the middle of his prayer when a sound played through the comms. What was-- Nalas furrowed his brows as he tried to make sense of what was playing. His translator was struggling with the words as well, Rick Astley didn't sound too bad in Cardassian , he thought. Nalas put out his candles and grabbed his PADD, immediately going to check the chatroom to see if anyone had any information on what was going on. And he had the chatroom up for a split second and then it was gone. Confused he tapped his COMM badge to see if he could contact Eshen. [Comms] "Eshen, are you hearing this?"

Nalas' message did not go through, there was no response.

Nalas blinked a few times, trying to think of a reason why Eshen wouldn't be answering him. He tapped his comm badge again, this time trying to reach Aella, the Vorta. Maybe she knew. Still, no response. He was beginning to panic, why weren't communications working? Fear. He was alone, completely alone.

[Comms] "Hey Ratman, what is it? Are you enjoying the music too?"

[Comms] "Aella!! I thought the comms were down?"

[Comms] "If you're trying to change up the playlist that's not gonna happen. Sorry, stinky

He never thought he'd be happy to hear the voice of a Vorta, he thought. He breathed a sigh of relief, maybe it just took a little bit for his comms to come back online. He couldn't even enjoy the music, he was too shook to think about sounds right now.

Unfortunately, he didn't have that much time alone with his thoughts because it was time for work. There went all hopes of trying to pray once again. Nalas got changed into his uniform and combed his hair. He wasn't going to wear make up today, he was too sleepy. He headed out of his quarters!

He arrived back at his quarters and rushed to his bedroom so he could change into something more comfortable. Starfleet Shots™️ and a long t-shirt. He was sleepy so he plopped onto his bed and closed his eyes, what a good lad.

[PADD] From: Sauk To: Nalas

Hey, Nalas, I was wondering, did you want to come over to my quarters sometime soon and sleep over? I think it could be really fun! -Sauk

[PADD] To: Sauk From: Nalas

YEAH! Oh I have a Kotra board if u wanna play? It's a Cardassian game. OH and I also can bring some stuffed kids, they love sleepovers! - Nalas

[PADD] From: Sauk To: Nalas

Stuffed kids and board games? That sounds like so much fun! I’ll tell Shoe to get ready for visitors! -Sauk

[PADD] To: Sauk From: Nalas

Hmmm can I come over after my shift tomorrow? I got swing shift tonight till midnight, but tomorrow I got day shift wooo so I can be there at 1700? - Nalas

[PADD] To: Nalas From: Sauk

Sounds perfect! I’ll get some jumja for us. Not replicated, too! Can’t wait :) -Sauk

[D] Eshen ~~teleported~~ entered the room from where he'd escorted Aella from the hospital ring earlier and dropped her off.

Nalas was chilling at the work station in his quarters when he heard a rustling sound coming from Eshen's room. As far as he knew Eshen was out, right? He tried to ignore it, thinking he was just hearing things. He had a report to write after all and was certainly not going to go into the other's room without permission. He swung his legs as he worked, tapping buttons and doing his best to focus. The rustling only got louder and at first Nalas thought maybe Eshen had a pet? Or was he secretly home? "Eshen? Is that you?" He called out towards the door.

It was not Eshen in the room, in fact it was Miss Vara'toran Aella Five who walked through the door. She was wrapped up in a long blanket and shuffling into the common area towards the replicator. "Nope, not Eshen, stinky," She turned to Nalas and stuck out her tongue. "Computer, Raktajino," She ordered and the replicator popped out a mug of warm Klingon coffee. He picked it up and walked over to where Nalas was sitting. "Writing about me? You can cross this off your list by the way," She said, raising the mug.

Nalas furrowed his brows, clearly not happy with being called stinky AND being distracted. He needed to focus on his report, not bicker with the resident Vorta. He shook his head and waved his hand. "Not now, Aella, I gotta work. And don't call me stinky," He frowned and gave a soft sigh.

"Okay Ratman, I'll let you go back to your work. I gotta write my own report anyway," Aella said as she turned on her heel and headed out of the room, raktajino in hand.

Eshen entered. "Honey, I'm home! Weather today was awful, don't you think?"

His ears twitched when he heard the familiar voice as the doors opened. It was Eshen! "ESHEN!" Nalas stood up and rushed to Eshen to give him a hug and kiss in greeting. He was worried about his boyfriend, especially after hearing about the epohhs. Oh, he had to mention that to Eshen too, they may have had a Tal Shiar plot to stop. "I missed you, how are you? Are the epohhs ok?"

Eshen gave Nalas his usual Lifting Hug. "I'm alright! Captain Mo called me Ensign Winky Face, and I adopted a child. His name is Anklebiter Burrito. Did you have any little storm adventures?"

"WHAT!? Anklebiter Burrito? Wait you NAMED the epohh?" Nalas was happily lifted, but looked at Eshen when he mentioned the name. Oh this poor Bajoran boy stared at his boyfriend with a wide-eyed expression. He had to warn him! "Eshen, Eshen, the epohhs-- they're a Tal Shiar plot or-- well a Romulan plot, I'm serious!" He realised he totally sounded like a paranoid Cardassian at that very moment, but he could not forget what Saren had (jokingly) told him back in the bioscience lab just a few days ago.

Eshen raised an eyebrow. A Tal-Shiar plot? What a conclusion to jump to with no solid evidence. Who would ever do that? (He felt a sudden urge to go apologise to Alizati.) "Really? And what led you to believe that?" Eshen said, walking over to the sofa and patting the spot next to him. And his lap. "They're far too cute and fluffy for the Tal-Shiar, surely?"

"Well it's just... They belong to that Romulan scientist, he's my desk neighbour actually. He does xenobiology and I do exobiology, I know so similar, right?" Nalas took a step back so he could talk with his hands. Animated as ever, Nalas had theories to explain. "I asked him what his project was and he told me about the epohhs. You know, casually I asked why join Starfleet if you're gonna study Romulan animals and he said.." Nalas straightened his posture and pulled his fringe back. "But how else am I gonna do my shady superior's evil bidding and unleash them on the station, after they're made into venomous supercarnivores and pumped full with testosterone and adrenaline?" He frowned and then crossed his arms. Having photographic memory was good and bad, but this was certainly one of the better uses for his abilities. "Exactly that. He said he was joking but... Eshen I don't know. I told him my dad used to be in the Obsidian Order, I think he sees me as a threat."

Eshen laughed as though he could comprehend how xenobiology and exobiology weren't the same thing. Maybe That Romulan Scientist specialised more in animals? The closest Eshen had to scientific skill was that he knew the Latin names of most Earth flora. "That does sound like he was joking to me, but maybe I could sus him out for you. You know me; I'm good at telling when people are lying." He didn't want to enable Nalas' fantasy, but he didn't want to make it seem like he was belittling his fears, either. "I've become quite accustomed to Romulan ways, actually."

Nalas' face lit up when Eshen offered to help him. Yes, this is why he was so in love, Eshen was good at reading people and a master of diplomacy of course. He nodded and clasped his hands together. "Please do!" But then he paused when Eshen said his last sentence. "Wait. You didn't get any hints from those Romulans in negotiations, right? Or that senator you talked to? I'm actually kinda worried, what if you're in danger now too?"

"Ah, I doubt it. Those Romulan senators? Low key kind of bad at being Romulan. I mean, they had no verbal finesse, no social grace - it was like playing with children." Eshen leaned on the arm of the sofa. "Besides, don't worry - I'm not at a level of fame and social wealth where I need to be checking my food for poison. Not yet. Now sit down with me, or on me, whatever - I'm lonely over here!"

"Well you're the master after all," Nalas shuffled over to the couch and sat beside Eshen. Despite being in their quarters all day working, he was still in his uniform but the jacket was open and his hair was a bit of a mess. What he didn't tell Eshen is that he hadn't been back in the research ring since the storm. He spent the past day in his quarters at his work station. "Maybe you should start checking, you never know. So... Don't tell anyone, but I heard a few weeks ago two Romulans were chatting in the mess hall and one threatened to commit murder to help the other. Sounds like a plot to me."

Eshen recalled That Conversation with Renakir. "Oh, don't worry - that's just how Romulans express affection. Like with Cardassians and their arguing." Wait. No. Cardassian arguing was flirtatious. Well, not always, right? He hoped he hadn't just accidentally implied these two random Romulans were a thing. Oh well. Not like he knew either of them. "Except platonically. Or not. I don't know about the love lives of everyone on the station. I mean, not all of them." Eshen, the gossip king. He wore grape earrings often because his ears were always tuned into the grapevine. "I make most of my own food, anyway." Eshen put his arm around Nalas. "Speaking of, what do you want for dinner, my dear?"

"Arguing is fine, I mean we do some name calling but we never threaten to hurt other people," Nalas frowned and shook his head. ”And arguing can be platonic too. My family argues a lot, well, not Marnah. She doesn't like arguing," He said as he snuggled against Eshen when the man put his arm around him. "Hmmm... Can we have... I want bread. Maybe.. Egg sandwiches? Those are good, with paprika and spices. Terran food," Nalas had honestly been living off of taspar eggs this whole time so literally anything sounded good.

"Sounds good to me. You know what? I'll go make it right now. Be right back." Eshen went off to go make the food in the kitchen, although I'm not sure if the rooms have kitchens. Is he booking a quick holodeck? Is he popping out to use Men's kitchen? Who knows how he does it. He returned imminently with two egg sandwiches, chopped hard-boiled eggs salted, peppered and paprika'd, crispy romaine lettuce, chopped green onions and chives, a mayonnaise made of egg, groundnut oil, white wine vinegar and Yamok Sauce to bind everything together, all cushioned between two slices of sesame-crusted bread. Trust this man to go overboard on a sandwich. He handed Nalas his sandwich. "You know, Klingons flirt by fighting and poetry. Vulcans flirt by... They don't, really. You just get a mate picked for you. You should come watch me fight sometime."

"Okay, I'll wait!" Nalas said, eyes twinkling with excitement. He waited patiently on the couch, sitting with his legs up and his body upside down. It was comfortable, all the blood rushing to his head. He also took his jacket off so now he was just tight black undershirt and trousers. When Eshen returned, the silly little Bajoran boy quickly readjusted his posture to sit up, hands folded in his lap. "Thank you Eshen!" He took the plate and examined the sandwich. "Eggs, lettuce and-- Eshen you put yamok sauce on this too?" The smell was unmistakable. The sweet mustard-like sauce had a unique thickness to it with hints of Cardassian spice. "And yeah I wanna see you fight, maybe you can teach me some stuff too," He was a lover not a fighter, but that didn't mean he wasn't interested in learning some moves.

Eshen paused in his munching. "You want me to teach you Mok'bara? That might be a good idea, actually. It's built for people naturally stronger than you - no offense, just, you know, Klingons are swole - but there are some very good moves in there for self-defense that work even for non-Klingons. I could teach you some Suus Manha as well."

"Mok-- yeah that!" Nalas said, his monolingual Cardassian brain was struggling with the Klingon words. Aside from Cardassian the only other language he could communicate in decently was French. Thankfully Eshen also spoke French, but still, this boy was struggling with the Klingon words. "No it's ok. I don't really do a lot of physical activities because well," Nalas patted his chest. "One lung," He chuckled. He was thankful that medicine had become pretty advanced by the 25th century so he wasn't too limited. He did wish he could have enjoyed sports and things like the other kids though. He picked up his sandwich and began munching, enjoying the complex flavours with each bite.

Eshen leaned sideways a little so he was shoulder-to-shoulder with Nalas ate he ate. It was nice that they were the same height, even though Eshen lifted him like they weren't. "Are you sure? It would be nice to know you had a way to defend yourself if you were ever in danger. And I wouldn't teach you the strenuous ones - just the ones that involve using your opponent's momentum and weight against them. You don't need any strength or stamina to do that."

"Mmm yeah-- I mean I'm just a science officer, but even I had to go through the basic training at the academy. I was never good at it," Nalas said before taking another bite of his sandwich. He was a surprisingly fast eater, especially when he was hungry, He was nearly done with his sandwich already. "You know, about the one lung... I wonder what would have happened if I didn't kill my twin in the womb. Maybe we would have both ended up in Starfleet or dated you? Actually no that sounds terrible, we don't need two of me."

"Nalas, don't say that. If there were two of you, I'd love you both." Eshen froze, went green, stuffed the rest of his sandwich down his throat, then stood up. "A-anyway, I need to go meditate before bed, so, um, I'll see you tomorrow?"

Nalas blinked and watched Eshen shove the rest of his sandwich into his mouth. Did he say something bad? He stayed seated, still munching the remainder of his sandwich. ".. Okay? Bye Eshen," He didn't press the matter, but he did wonder if Eshen thought differently of him knowing that he killed his own twin in the womb. Well, it wasn't like Nalas had any idea what he was doing, he wasn't even born yet and even if he was, he'd never actually hurt anyone. Eshen knew that, right?

Eshen, still very green, nodded and then rushed into his room to meditate upon the fact that he'd just slipped and said he loved his boyfriend for the first time while eating a fucking egg sandwich. That was not how he wanted that to happen. He mentally went through all his feelings for an hour, as well his usual routine of breathing calmly and rhythmically and letting his eternal anger flow through him and evaporate out of every breath like steam, and came to a conclusion: the next time he said it, it would be with intent.

Nalas finished up his sandwich went over to the replicator to recycle the plate. He was still very confused what just happened. Being the smooth brained boy that he was, he was still convinced his boyfriend thought he was a murderer or something. Maybe he sounded too Cardassian when he spoke French? Was that it? Eshen was a master of perception, he could have read his body language wrong? Well, it wasn't the time to dwell on it, he had to finish his report on the Vorta before his shift, he was already in trouble enough as it was. He shuffled over to his work station and resumed his report.

[PADD] To: Eshen From: Renakir

Are you free? I need to speak with you. Urgently. And... I may need some sweets if you can make them. Sugary, please.

[PADD]

Oh? Damn, must be bad. Alright. I'll also bring some very strong Romulan Ale but it's only if I feel like getting as drunk as you, do NOT combine sugar and Romulan Ale, you will die. - Eshen

[PADD]

Bring Romulan ale too, I will have both. My place then? I have some things to share with you about my father's latest communications as well. - Renakir, #FreeRemans rennieglasses

[PADD]

Didn't you see what I said? No Vulcanoid has the constitution to deal with sugar AND Romulan Ale! - Eshen, #RightsForRemansButNotToGetAlcoholPoisoning

[PADD]

Good thing i am Reman so I can handle it. I won't die, I need mind altering substances right now. I will await. - Renakir, #FreeRemans rennieglasses

I do not trust someone who says 'I need mind altering substances right now' to consume that many mind altering substances. I will bring ONLY some brownies. See you in half an hour! - Eshen, #ResponsibleFriend

[PADD] To: Ensign Eshen K'Tann of Starbase 777 From: Ensign T'Lenar of the USS Bright

Eshen, Greetings. It has, as some would say, been a while. I have been constantly badgered by Melul to surrender your COMM codes, and so rather than allowing them to bother you with messages during work shifts, I wondered if you would rather video call with them. All the best, T'Lenar

@Mo┊Eshen┊Men the gal,,,the she)

[PADD] To: Ensign T'Lenar of the USS Bright From: Ensign Eshen K'Tann of Starbase 777

T'Lenar, Greetings

. It has indeed been a while. I would enjoy a call with Melul, but do you not want to join? Your friend, Eshen

[PADD] To : Ensign Eshen K'Tann From: Ensign T'Lenar

I do not think Melul would be very happy if I was there for the entirety of the call, but I would enjoy some 'catching up' for some amount of time, yes. T'Lenar

[PADD] To: Ensign T'Lenar From: Ensign Eshen K'Tann

Perfect. I could do a quick half-hour call at 1900, maybe? - Eshen

[PADD] To: Ensign Eshen K'Tann From: Ensign T'Lenar

That works well. I shall see you then.

Eshen set up the video call on SpaceTime relatively quickly. He often called friends from back in the Academy or old flames he'd broken up (amicably) with, as well as Grandma, and on a rare occasion, his parents. Mostly his mother. His father found it illogical to contact him unless he had something specific to talk about, so his mother called Eshen sometimes just to spite him. She'd mostly just criticised his decision to join Starfleet in the first place. It was odd having parents that were simultaneously neglectful and controlling. Will his roleplayer ever write out those interactions? Maybe. "Can you hear me, Melul, T'Lenar?"

T'Lenar sat on the other end of the screen in her quarters on the USS Bright, her face neutral aside from a small smile as Melul bounced up and down behind her, anxious to see her friend 'Mr. Eshen'. "I can, yes. Thank you for agreeing to this call. Melul would not speak to me for an entire week because I 'did not let them say goodbye'. Highly illogical, but these feelings do exist when friends are involved," T'Lenar glanced at their teenaged sibling.

"Mr. Eshen! Hello! I can hear you!" Said the bouncing fourteen year old Vulcan, trying to see around their sister's big head.

Eshen waved at the excitable Melul. "Is it illogical? Friends enrich our lives with their skills and knowledge. We become accustomed to their presence; they become a part of us, like a limb, so of course we miss them when they are gone. What do you think, Melul?"

"I agree. Ko-kai, you are the illogical one. Now may I please have a chair? You are in the way," Melul said, still doing their funky little hopping dance, trying to see Eshen's face better. For Surak's sake, why was T'Lenar so frustrating sometimes?

"Yes. Go get one from your quarters," T'Lenar instructed, hoping the child would take be distracted momentarily by this task. They were not, and returned with a chair not thirty seconds later, shoved T'Lenar over, and sat down beside her.

Melul's eagerness filled his heart with that foolish warmth that made him want to have kids himself someday, enough that he couldn't help but smile warmly. "Pontification on the nature of friendship aside, how are things on the USS Bright?"

"They are...lonely, for the most part. I have two good friends, but otherwise, I am isolated. But of course, I always have Melul," T'Lenar answered honestly. "It is a good ship, and a challenge to work on with so many human officers. The Bright has the most humans I've seen on a starship to date,"

"Boring. All T'Lenar does is work and talk to her stupid girlfriend; she never has time for me," Melul complained. "And they don't have a pool. So I can't play noodle tag with any of my friends! It's really quite frustrating," They said, no longer caring about being a perfect Vulcan- they were on a ship crawling with humans.

"Holodeck pool? Alternatively, depending on where I'm going, shore leave is coming up soon so maybe you could visit! I might have a thing to do with my boyfriend, though. Speaking of homosexuality -" Eshen leaned forward. "Girlfriend?"

T'Lenar glared at Melul, but it was clear she wasn't upset. She sighed. "Yes, girlfriend. Her name is Quinn Hixleia; she is an engineer," And for Eshen's roleplayer's information, Quinn Hixliea was a human name and a Betazoid surname. "And I do not spend all my time working and talking to her. Just last night I watched a movie with Melul, I believe it was an old earth movie,"

A betazoid? He wondered how that affected their relationship. Considering how oblivious Vulcans were, he wouldn't be surprised if she'd sensed any feelings T'Lenar'd had before even knew she had them. "How did you meet? And what was the movie?"

"I met her through work. As I said, we're in the same division, and we were assigned a task together. Shortly after she asked me on a date, and the relationship built from there," T'Lenar stated.

Melul could handle the second question. "We watched Into The Woods. I know all the songs," Melul said, butting in just as T'Lenar inhaled to answer. "She doesn't, and she's the singer," They teased.

"I can't believe there's an old Earth musical that you've seen and I haven't. Well, I'm legally obliged to watch it now. So, T'Lenar - have you ever been in a relationship before?" Eshen paused, then added, "Oh, and I'd love to hear you sing some time. And Melul."

"I have. I was betrothed to a Vulcan man, but we split after he and I sat down and both confessed our preferences for the same sex. We are still friends," T'Lenar said like this was perfectly normal-- and maybe it was on Vulcan.

"It's very good. Maybe you should watch it with your boyfriend!" Melul suggested. "Does he like musicals? Oh, have I met him? Who is your boyfriend?" Clearly, Melul had been able to figure out how to express themself a lot more, because they no longer seemed hindered by fear of conforming with the Vulcan normal.

"My boyfriend is Nalas. He does like musicals! And a lot of things. He's very enthusiastic; you'd like him, I think. We met when he gave me a plushie of myself. I can show it to you, if you'd like." Eshen was well-acquainted with Vulcan marriage customs. In fact, he was more surprised by, "Wait, hold on. Your family just - let you end the marriage?" Her extended family, that is. Not her parents, who were very dead, which he clearly remembered. (edited)

"Yes, they did. He had already found someone he wished to bond with, so the logical course of action would be to end the marriage and allow him to be bonded," T'Lenar nodded. She glanced at Melul, who seemed quite bored of all of this talk of romance.

They were; they found romantic attraction rather illogical. And gender. "A Mr. Eshen Plushie? That's so cool- I wanna meet him, he sounds nice," They said, swinging their legs as they tilted their head thoughtfully. They couldn't even begin to picture what their friend would look like in plush form.

"Hmmm. Maybe that kind of lenience is common practice in whatever region your family is from." Lenience he certainly never got. Like the air of the pebbled beaches of Southend-on-Sea, he was a little salty. "Hold on a second." Eshen got up and grabbed the plushie from the shelf it shared with his plants, Dolly, Oscar, and Freddie. "It's mini-me, you see?" (edited)

"Oh my gosh, that's perfect!" Melul grinned. "He's super good at that...did he really just walk up to you and hand you that?" They asked. They didn't know much about social rules, sure, but that was maybe just a little weird.

"It was a little weird, but I like that he's a little weird. Besides, it's hard to fluster me," especially back then, when his emotional capacity was lower, "So when someone does manage it, I'm quite impressed."

"Huh. That's weird," Melul said, raising an eyebrow. Romantic relationships really made no sense. They shrugged, leaning over to T'Lenar and pointing at it. "Look- he's praising the sun," They whispered, giggling.

T'Lenar nodded and rolled her eyes affectionatley. "How has the station been? I've seen quite a few news articles about rumors regarding Section 31, and I came home one afternoon to Melul watching a livestreamed press conference," That had certainly been odd, that someone let a streamer in the conference.

"Ah, yes. There was an... Incident. Tried to rescue my friends' boss from a journalist, because they're everywhere, apparently, but we didn't succeed. I mean, Alizati lived, but the journalist got away." Eshen had watched the normal broadcast of the press conference, not the stream, so he had little to comment on that except, "I wouldn't recommend you watch Dewitt's streams, Melul. His FortCraft playthroughs are good, but he is a legitimate crime reporter, so he posts some nasty stuff sometimes. Anyway, other than that, all the Sec 31 stuff honestly hasn't impacted my life that much. You know what has? This restaurant called Surak Snacks. Both of you would've liked it - it's very quiet and the food is good and it's easier for Vulcans to make friends there."

Melul frowned. All of their friends watched Dewitt's streams- they loved FortCraft, so why couldn't they watch it? Plus, it wasn't like Eshen was their dad or something. Whatever. They tuned out most of that story, because it was a lot, and they didn't have the brain capacity to take it all in.

"I see. That is a lot," T'Lenar observed astutely. "Surak Snacks sounds...quaint? Is that the word? It sounds like a lovely place," She said with the tiniest of smiles. "Perhaps, if we do visit, we will go to this restaurant. It would seem to be a good place for Melul," Knowing their sibling had volume issues, a quiet restaurant would be revolutionary.

"It probably would be. I think the owner has some auditory processing issues as well, so he keeps everything very quiet apart from a few ambient touches, like the Lyre. Do you play?" Eshen asked, knowing it was a traditional Vulcan instrument many of them were taught in order to improve their concentration, discipline and memory, a long-standing excuse to do something fun in their daily lives. "I do, though not often."

[D] A message appeared on Eshen's PADD.

To: Ensign Eshen K'Tann From: Fleet Admiral Xaav'ax Aisut Subject: Meeting Ensign, Please come to the conference room on the Operations Ring at your earliest convenience. - Fleet Admiral Xaav'ax Aisut, Head of Security, Starfleet

[D] Eshen received the message in time bubble outside of the current RP. [PADD]

To: Fleet Admiral Xaav'ax Aisut From: Ensign Eshen K'Tann RE: Meeting Admiral, I'll be there in a jiffy, sir! Best, - Ensign Eshen K'Tann, Diplomatic Attaché, Starfleet

@Ensign Eshen K'Tann | CMD (@Mo┊Eshen┊Men) - jump In response to Eshen’s question, T’Lenar shook her head. “I do not. I took voice lessons from a young age, and I have found I am more skilled with my voice than with an instrument,” she replied.

Melul seemed interested by this bit of information given about the owner of this ‘Surak Snacks’ place. “Can we go, ko-kai?” They asked in a low voice. It would be so wonderful to visit the station again…

"Well, if you do visit, we can duet. Your voice, my lyre." If Eshen could manage to get over his stage fright by then. New mission: speedrun that character development in time for T'Lenar and Melul's potential visit. "What do you say, ko-kai?"

“It sounds ideal. Perhaps I can talk Quinn into coming, as well, though I doubt she would choose such a dull place like a Starbase for her shore leave,” T’Lenar agreed, partly because she knew Melul would never forgive her if she said no.

“Yes!” Melul cheered. “Er, I mean, thank you, ko-kai. I am grateful for the opportunity to spend time with my friend again,” They said.

[D] Having totally forgotten about the roleplay above but not having much more to say in it, Eshen's roleplayer declared it over. After having a nice chat with his platonic long-distance co-parent and his nibling, Eshen had made curry and was sitting with it divided onto two plates, with a bottle of bloodwine in the middle. He'd reverse engineered Men's recipe for Redspice curry, which used andorionions, ginger-spice and some kind of garlic, Terran bell peppers and carrots, Trevit milk, and sugar, but removed the kale because he didn't like kale. The curry was a stark contrast to the white rice, and the steam and scent smelled spicy, but relaxing. The bloodwine was strong, but sweet, and smelled like iron - he wondered if Allan had ever tried it before. He was wearing his uniform with the new pips proudly.

Allan arrived at Eshen's quarters soon enough, wearing another floral print button up t-shirt with his shorts today, less see-through than the last, so he wore it mostly open to make up for it - perhaps Alizati's fashion sense was getting through to him with these Hawaiian shirts. The last time Allan had seen Eshen was when he was half asl- no, no, it was when him and Maggie... yeah, that. It had certainly been a while since he had Vulcan curry, so he was rather excited to knock on the door when he did arrive.

"Computer, open door! Come in, dear!" Eshen said, sitting cross-legged on the sofa opposite the coffee table. When Allan entered, he would have seen a communal area full of Nalas' stuffed plushies and miniature dioramas, as well as plenty of Eshen's (named) plants, a bookshelf with a few kitschy items on it (and books), and a few paintings, some of beautiful landscapes (he'd painted a few), some more art deco, with a few replicas of some pieces by Gustav Klimt. Cottagecore art gallery was the vibe. "Nice shirt! Sorry I didn't dress to the nines, I just got off a shift and I was very hungry. By the way, I should've asked this before, but what's your spice tolerance and are you vegetarian or vegan?"

Allan walked into the room, taking in... literally everything as he did so, looking around at all the decor, being reminded yet again that yes, he needed to decorate his own quarters. With something. Anything. Literally anything other than blank wall would be fantastic, honestly. There were plenty of ideas to draw from in here alone. Plants, books (well, no - not books, Allan would never read a single one), and art. "Oh, I can take whatever, you're totally fine, I've just been chilling ever since that trainwreck of a press confer..." he began to say, before noticing the pips on Eshen's uniform and suddenly the placement of the room made sense now. "Yo, you got...?" He smiled at the other as he reached up to his own collar to indicate what he meant.

"I did!" Eshen said, getting up and hugging Allan in celebration. "I'm telling everyone on the ship, one by one. Perhaps someday I'll be Captain of a diplomatic vessel and you can be my chief of engineering!" Not likely considering that's not how Starfleet worked, but let him dream. He relinquished Allan, mostly, though he kissed him before he sat back down again because he was happy and he felt like it. "The curry is spicy-sweet, and the bloodwine, er, has blood in it. Have you ever had bloodwine before? Or Klingon food at all?" (edited)

Allan hugged Eshen right back, laughing as he made the suggestion about being Captain and him being CEO. What a ship that would be, huh. "Hostia puta," Allan said, not noticing he was saying holy shit in Spanish really but the translator probably picked it up just fine, "that's...amazing!? You're doing amazing, oh my God," he kissed him back, before sitting at the table and truly being able to smell the curry. "Well, I mean, the curry is something I've had before, but it's been... a really long time, it smells amazing, but the bloodwine.." he looked over at it, then back at Eshen with a grin, "It's actually got blood in it? I've had like, the blood pie, but that doesn'... well, they told me it didn't have blood in it, at least. As far as other Klingon foods, I've had the pipius claw before, think that might've been most of it. Or what I can remember, I guess... a lot of stuff from the Academy is kinda a blur."

"It's Klingon food. If someone tells you it's vegetarian, they're lying. I mean, unless it's replicated, I suppose, but then it still has replicated blood in it, however that works - you'd have more of an idea than me." Eshen gestured for Allan to start eating the hot curry and poured them two glasses of bloodwine. "We're obligate carnivores. I mean, we can eat vegetables and such, and they're good for us, but if we don't eat meat we'll suffer nutritionally. I'm a bit better about it since I'm 'half'," Eshen did air-quotes, "Klingon, but still. By the way, I'm feeling Eshen right now, but that might change later in the night."

"Lying? Interesting," he said, wondering about that now, "because they told me the blood pie didn't actually have blood because it's a dessert, and by then it's just assumed you had a lot of meat already anyways, but..." he leaned back, thinking about it for a moment. "That's interesting for sure. Replicated blood is still the components of blood, yeah, just... nothing was actually harmed in the process, really," he began to eat the hot curry after giving it a light blow of air to avoid, you know, burning his tongue or anything like that. "Oh my gosh this is... this is really, really good," the engineer said, immediately eating more without caring for if he burned his tongue or not. It reminded him of a lot of things, but strangely enough, it reminded him of a very distinct feeling of home, and comfort.

"Thanks! I do try. Are you feeling kind of relaxed and nostalgic? Redspice tends to do that. No idea why; some kind of chemical reaction, perhaps. Sometimes people start thinking of childhood memories. Anything interesting come to mind?" Eshen asked. He was interested in learning more about Allan's background. "Also, they were definitely lying - we call it blood pie for a reason. Just because it's sweet doesn't mean it's not meat. You'd be genuinely surprised how dessert-y Klingons can make some meat taste."

"Huh," Allan said as he learned both that the time he had blood pie he had been lied to, which made somewhat of sense, and that redspice made -everyone- feel this feelings. "Two very different things, yeah. The uh- oh, well I told you before about T'alea, this was a favorite of hers, although I think she added... ah, was it kale? It's really good without it, too, though," he said, eating more of it. Yeah, definitely still amazing. Almost more so, dare he say it. "And then for no specific reason, it reminds me of my mom's place she had back on Earth. It might just be the red color that reminds me of the flowers we'd pick and put in her hair, I dunno." He shrugged. (edited)

"I hate very few things or people in all the quadrants, and kale is one of them. It's bland and soggy - might as well eat a dishtowel. Frankly, I've no idea how you romanced a Vulcan, let alone the type of Vulcan who likes Kale." Eshen was to kale as Sauk was to tomatoes - its mortal enemy. "Your mother sounds nice. You're from a Spanish-speaking country, right? I know a decent amount. Me gustaría verte con flores en el pelo."

The engineer shrugged. "A lot of shit went down at the Academy, okay? That's where I met Brokuk and Chadrix too, and like... everybody else I know, although when I worked in the shipyards I met a lot of people too. Often would just a hitch a ride with strangers when I felt like it, worked out pretty well most of the time." Some of those strangers turned out to be great friends, some turned out to want to kill him, some turned out to want to seduce him, sometimes a bit of both! Fun times. Most of the time. "Eres totalmente bienvenido a hacerlo si gustas [you're totally welcome to do it if you'd like]," Allan said with a smile, delighted but not completely surprised that Eshen the diplomat knew a bit of Spanish. "We grew up in Puerto Rico, yeah."

"Who are Brokuk and Chadrix?" And why did they sound like he should be spotting them in the gym? "Hold on, let me just -" Obviously, Eshen had a ton of flowers in here, most from Books and Blooms, so he wandered around his room gathering an assortment from vases and such, trying to find as many red ones as he could, then sat back down and started weaving the stems together. Flower crown time. As he wove, he asked, "What was it like, growing up in Puerto Rico, and then going to the Academy?"

"Oh! Yeah, sorry, forgot to explain that," he said, "basically, do you know Starline? It was basically this chat, advice line that Chadrix and Brokuk ran, and I did a lot of work for it over the years. Pretty fun stuff, we had a lot of parties outside of that. A lot of crazy shit at their vacation home on Mol'Rihan, too." He remembered when he explained that to Renakir and Renakir had asked him if he was still alive. What an interesting question, but a reasonable one. "Just as hot and humid, that's for sure," he laughed, taking a sip of the bloodwine finally. It was, in fact, very strong, but he'd had Romulan ale before, so it wasn't all too shocking of a sensation, though still pretty different. "This is... it's good, for one, but I do wonder, what kind of blood's this?"

"Depends on the brand. This one's Targ. It's a boar-like creature from Qo'nos that bigger and uglier as it ages; I fought a Dire Targ when I was about ten with my mother. Great fun. I have a megafauna-hunting holosim, but most humans find it a bit... Unpalatable, these days. You know, since most people eat meat from a replicator." Eshen ate some of his curry. Most of the memories he called were baking with Grandma, helping her do chores, reaching things on tall shelves for her. Not too many good memories with his blood family. "I don't think I know Starline, though it sounds fun. You should tell Renakir about them; I think he needs some more Reman friends, even if he won't admit it. By the way, I've just remembered, there's something I'd like to talk to you about."

"Ohhhh," Allan nodded in understanding as he took another sip of it. Interesting stuff. "It was fun! We basically gave advice and stuff to people who would call in, it was fun and helpful at the same time, really. I did tell Renakir about them the other day, I was working in the tubes on this idea I came up with in the brig, and he asked me if I was still alive when I told him about them. Dunno why," Allan shrugged. "And then he wiggled his fingers at me in an attempt at a joke? Fun guy. What's up, though?"

Eshen had no idea what the fuck Allan was talking about regarding the stuff with Renakir, so didn't comment on it. "We should start a talk radio show. That'd be fun. Could promo our song on there when it's done, too. But that's not what I wanted to talk about. I never got to hear the full story after I found you in that turbolift, because a bunch of things got in the way, so..." Eshen leaned forward and put a hand on Allan's leg. " I just wanted to check in with you, regarding the incident in the brig, and in general. How've you been recently?"

"Oh my God, funnily enough," he laughed, "I actually thought a lot about our song in the brig and ways we could promote it. That's a great idea, and I came up with another one that I think we could maybe combine somehow, but.." Oh, Eshen had never heard the full story after he found him in the turbolift. Right. How -was- he? "Um, ups and downs, you know? Like, the whole brig thing was a total mess, didn't get to sleep for long before the storm hit and I had to try and help out a stab victim, but the up there is that I got out early cause of that! The down is that uh, right after I had to help the engineering room stop from overheating and boiling us all to death. The up to that though was I met this guy Wheatley who seems chill." He'd have to meet up with that guy again. Perhaps to make something crazy. "In -general-, I've been dealing with Ali- I've... been dealing with some... personal matters of Alizati's that are really putting a weird bug on my moral conscience or something, but I get to play Kal-toh with Bir, Ikki, and Yuch so..." he shrugged. "Overall, like? I'm going, you know?"

"Hmmm. 'Going'. That's... Inconclusive. Is there anything I can do to make things go well? Other than bless you with my delectable cooking and presence, of course." Eshen winked, hand squeezing Allan's thigh in a gesture intended to be both comforting and flirtatious, then leaning back again so he wasn't blocking Allan from eating his curry. "Maybe you can tell me what the bug is without telling me? I'm reasonably good at giving advice. Usually relationship advice, and that usually either boils down to 'communicate your needs better' or 'dump him', but still."

Allan chuckled softly, closing his eyes for a brief moment as he did so before smiling and looking up for a moment. "Umm? Not... oh, well!" He grinned as he actually remembered that Alizati had already told Eshen about this and had told Allan that Eshen knew about this. "Alizati told me he did actually tell you some of it, it's the whole stuff with Dzharok and the memories and all, it's just... he keeps going back and forth on it? And aside from you know, the wasted hours of work, it's just leaving a bit of a, uh, bad taste. Like, something feels wrong about it all and I can't ... quite tell what."

"Yes, he did tell me some things about it. That he has a guy living in his head and subsequent identity issues because of it. As a person who also has a guy living in his head and subsequently has identity issues because of it, bizarrely, I can relate." He wouldn't usually tell someone about that, but... Well, if Allan didn't judge Alizati for his issues, maybe he wouldn't judge Eshen either? Eshen folded his hands in his lap and looked away. "Please... Please don't think I'm a total nutcase for the things I'm about to say, but it's important to me that you understand how Alizati feels, and to an extent, me. I can't claim to know the psyche of an android with the ghost of a dead man in him, but..." Eshen sipped his bloodwine. "Our past selves influence our current selves. We often flip between wanting to acknowledge them because they're who made us who we are, and denying them because we are no longer them for a good reason. It's hard to discern how much of us is them, and what would happen if we tried too hard to separate ourselves. Perhaps we would become our own person, or perhaps we would lose part of our identity. To an extent, it is impossible to ever truly get rid of them." He ate a few mouthfuls of curry, then washed it down with some more wine. "Back when I was in therapy, we eventually included that the best thing for me to do with the the guy that lives in my head was to embrace him, because thinking of my past self so negatively was only causing it to manifest negatively. The difference, of course, is Dzharok could delete his past self, literally, but... I mean, I used to want that, but now I don't, because that would feel like a condemnation of someone who never really did anything wrong, just stuck around longer than he was supposed to." (edited)

Allan, who had finished his curry already, simply nodded along as he listened to Eshen explain these things, occasionally taking a sip of bloodwine as he did so. He was more concentrated than he usually was, almost as if he was taking notes in his head - and in a way, he was, noting different things Eshen would say to keep in his mind for later. Past selves influencing the current selves, et cetera... it all seemed super important to understanding Alizati, and in a more personal sense, Eshen, and it -was-. He still couldn't be clear exactly what Eshen meant, but he was starting to get more of a concrete idea of it, that was for sure. It might have been something he would try to web map later, to try and make more sense of it in more technical terms. "The past self is... really important to the current self, yes, and it ... doesn't normally make any sense to remove them, no," he agreed. "But I think with Alizati, the difference really is the ghost of a dead man part, he's... told me multiple times it was done without either of their consents, and that if Dzharok knew his condition he would object to it." He took another sip of the bloodwine. "Of course, the way he's coded makes it more... complicated, of course, but the way he phrased it to me at first made it seem like it wasn't his past self, but a completely different guy stuck inside him against either of their wills." And then there was, of course, the whole suspicious thing and all, but that was really aside from any of this... for now.

"Yes, that does make things suspect. But the additional thing about that is... Regardless of consent, it's already done. It's like any traumatic event, which a forcible imposition of identity is; you can't make it not happen." Eshen Surak'd away some guilt, knowing a 'forcible imposition of identity' is what he, his current self, had more or less done to his past self. But what could he do about it now? Repent? Go to therapy about it was probably the correct answer, actually, but that was easier said than done. "Sure, he could try and delete Dzharok, but it sounds like the guy is... Deeply intertwined in his code, or however it works, like the roots of a tree through the soil it grows in; if I were him, I wouldn't want to risk uprooting my identity entirely. Surak knows the psyche of any intelligent being is already complex enough that when a cog gets knocked out of place it can throw off the whole system, let alone if you delete half of that machine. Strange mix of organic and inorganic metaphors there, but then again, so is the nature of Alizati." Seeing Allan had speedily finished his curry, Eshen finished his, too. "What he can change is how he deals with the effects of it. Whether that includes deleting Dzharok or not is his perogative, but I wouldn't."

Allan nodded. "That is how it works, from what I understand from the code I've seen at least... it's like most artificial intelligence, his program draws upon the memories of Dzharok to create new memories for himself, so they do... intertwine in that manner, yeah, I wouldn't advocate for deleting it under any circumstances, but," he leaned his chin against his hand as he thought about it, looking across at Eshen. "I'm just worried it might become more of a parasite to his code than a codependent sort of thing." Another thought came to his head. "Speaking of, did you see the press conference by chance?"

"Honestly, the safest form of mental rewiring I can think of that might increase or decrease Alizati's connection with Dzharok without messing with his code is... Therapy," Eshen said, picking his half-finished flower crown up and resuming his weaving. "And yes, I did. Lots of talk of... Oh, were not allowed to talk about it any more, right? Funnily enough, you know I've got an ear on the grapevine, and since then I think people've been talking about... triginta unus even more."

"Mhm," Allan agreed simply in response. Therapy, right. Maybe he could suggest that next time he talked with Alizati about it. He laughed when Eshen said triginta unus, he had no idea what that meant to be honest but he could put together context clues pretty well and assume that was some way of saying the one thing they weren't supposed to be talking about. "Yeah, honestly? I'm the one who was literally told that they uh, definitely did all this shit before I went into the brig, so... I was kinda surprised that they went the whole denial route. But not too surprised, I guess."

"Yeah. I mean, censorship just makes people talk about things more behind closed doors. I mean, half-censorship. I get that they want to prevent it getting out, but the press know, so I think the Targ's out of the trap." Eshen finished up his weaving and set a crown of red, white, and yellow flowers upon Allan's head." There you go! You look wonderful. Now, did you have a specific point with regards to triginta unus you wanted to discuss, or do you want to talk some more about your day in the brig? Because we meant to talk about you, always a riveting topic, but we needed up talking about Alizati instead."

Allan gasped, looking up at his own head when the crown was put atop it, for some reason he wasn't expecting that even though he had absolutely seen Eshen gather the flowers and whatnot. "Oh hey! They're beautiful, wow," he said with a soft smile, but then he thought about The Brig Incident again and how that guy really just stabbed that woman and said he was right to have stayed quiet and do nothing. "You know how I asked in the chatroom a bit ago asking if anyone knew how to fight people ten times your size with a gauntlet stabbing mechanism or whatever? That obviously wasn't just asking for a friend, it was. For me. Obviously."

"I surmised. I don't remember if I replied, but - there absolutely are ways to fight people ten times your size, among Klingons. As I'm sure you've gathered from our megafauna-hunting, we enjoy picking fights with opponents much bigger than us. Call it a cultural passtime." Eshen leaned over and patted Allan's shoulder. "If you'd like, I could teach you some moves. Ones good for fighting, but also, ones good for getting away. Would that help you feel more prepared in case something like this ever happens again?"

"Yes! You did, I think we both just got busy," strangely enough, part of getting busy was with each other and Maggie, but hey, what else do you do with little time? Certainly not learn how to fight. "That," he put a hand on Eshen's shoulder with a look of... honestly, relief, "would be really great, actually. And I'd be more than willing to repay you in ... whatever way you see fit, honestly." He said with a smile.

"Oh, you don't have to repay me," Eshen said, smiling softly, and seeing as there was a lot of it going on, put both his hands on both of Allan's shoulders, "I'm a diplomat; I'm always up for cultural exchange. But if you want to, I'm sure I can think of a few things... Like rigging my replicator to make real alcohol instead of synthohol." Eshen paused, kissed Allan on the cheek cheekily, then leaned back. "Just kidding! You know what I want. Although, actually, if it's in your ballpark, a few of the holosims I've made have glitches I can't seem to fix. So - should we schedule a time for a training session? Could get some gym time in, too." Eshen, local prep-jock.

Allan looked up and to the side when Eshen mentioned rigging the replicator to make real alcohol instead of synthohol, hand on his chin. "Well, funnily enough," he chuckled, looking down before looking back at Eshen with a grin, "maybe I've already done that one too many times elsewhere." He winked. "Luckily, all of the above are in my ballpark, so, I'd say so. Lately I've just been running around the forest trails and canoeing the Captain around for exercise. Aside from, well. The usual things I'm up to." He was actually in pretty great shape, especially his core! He just had no idea how to use that in a dangerous situation aside from the basic training. (edited)

"Oh, but isn't rigging the replicators illegal or something? Plus, as I've demonstrated," Eshen gestured to the bottle of bloodwine, then poured some more for them both, "I already have my own ways obtaining the real thing. But sure. Let's meet up, say, the day after tomorrow, 1700, fitness suite? I'll show you some moves and some glitches. By the way, weird question, but do you want to get a little drunk tonight? Because I'll have to drink at least three times more bloodwine than you if I want to get drunk with you." Vulcan metabolism and Klingon tolerance was a blessing and a curse.

Allan dropped the smile and blinked straight ahead for a moment, before smiling a bit nervously as he put a hand across his forehead, almost Debby Ryan-style but looking up at Eshen instead of down. "Um... yeah? It's uh, called a joke, obviously, I haven't..." he wondered for a split moment how likely Eshen would be to rat him out on this. Shit. "1700 day after tomorrow works great," he said immediately, without even considering his schedule in his head. He'd find a way around whatever was blocking it. He knew more than enough about Alizati to be able to get out of work at this point. "Tonight? I'm down for whatever, although if we plan on getting drunk we might want to uh," he thought for a moment how to phrase it, "plan things out just a tad. We could do something before we get drunk at all and then just whatever, but," he shrugged, waving a hand dismissively in the air. He'd done this way too many times to have a preference on how they decided things. "I'll leave it up to you, mostly."

"Oh, so it's like one of those minor illegal things everyone but me does?" Said Eshen, seeing through Allan's 'hahaha, just kidding' act. He was a diplomat; he could see through most ruses. He probably wouldn't rat Allan out, but he was still a law-abiding lad, the lawful gay to oppose Allan's chaotic gay. If he lived in the modern era, he'd be the kind of person that'd never jaywalked or pirated a movie. "I'm not sure what you mean by planning things. Do you have some schedule of fun drunk activities hidden somewhere?"

Allan crossed his arms, nodding his head to the side as he shrugged. "More like I'm just a programmer who hacks anything he's able to," he admitted, absolutely the chaotic gay here. "I meant more along the lines of consent and all that, it'd be easier to just get things out of the way before we're not sober, yeah?"

"Oh! Sorry, I've been hanging out in Surak Snacks lately; I was thinking scandalously innocent thoughts, like... Drinking games, or drunk karaoke. I might be able to sing when I'm drunk! Badly, as opposed to sober, but that's more fun. Anyway, yes, we should probably plan things. Though if you're down for doing something both before and after, I'm down too." He said that pretty casually, assuming Allan could probably take it twice in one night again, even without being hyped on God-Killer Raktajino. What would happen if you mixed that with alcohol, he wondered? Bad things, probably. "I have a list of drunk and sober yesses and nos somewhere," He said, searching it up on his PADD and showing it to Allan as the camera conveniently switched to an angle by which the audience could not see the screen. "As always, no hand-holding."

A -list-! Now that was smart, Allan thought as he read over the list, carefully noting each one in his head. Allan also had a list, but he'd never thought to write it down. "A written list is such a good idea, what the fuck?" He said, proceeding to type his out on his PADD and show Eshen also on a convenient angle off screen. "Drunk games and especially drunk karaoke also sound amazing, though. Before and after's fine with me, as is about anything else you could think of," that wasn't on the no list previously established, of course. Maybe they had Rick Astley on karaoke. Maybe this would be the night he admitted to Eshen he was the one that made that song play. Or, maybe not. Only time would tell.

Eshen just admitted he had a whole 'nother guy in his head. Allan could probably afford to be a little honest in return. "Of course it is. Just because I'm a bit of a whore doesn't mean I'm not very organised. Whoreganised." Eshen grabbed his cup and sipped some bloodwine. "I can't remember what drinking games there are, though, since I was usually drunk when I played them. I think I played drunk jenga once, actually, that was fun. You drank after you pulled a tile, and I think the loser owed the winner something? Don't remember what." Eshen started looking up karaoke videos on SpaceTube, keeping the screen facing Allan so he could pick songs. "By the way, could you switch to Dion?"

"Whoreganised," he repeated with a laugh, writing that down too before putting his PADD back. "I've... drunk jenga is fun, but drunk Kal-toh is actually a whole 'nother thing on its own," he said, taking a swig of bloodwine as well as he looked over the karaoke videos on the screen. "Mhm," Allan nodded, although he did wonder for a split moment if Dion was the whole other guy in the head deal. He had no clue, and to be honest, right now he didn't care to analyze that. He was focused on what the best drunk karaoke song would be, although he was still pretty sober at the moment. For the time being.

Dion was not the guy in the head. Dion was a whole new guy. Kind of. "Drunk Kal-Toh! Oh, that sounds mind-bending, we have to try it." Pending any song suggestions, Dion scrolled through a bunch of meme songs, party anthems, and timeless bangers 'til Rick Astley's face came up on screen. "Oh, damn, this guy again. I can't believe this song survived WW3. That's the power of internet prank memes, I suppose. Hey, programmer who hacks anything he's able to, that wasn't you who pranked the whole station, was it? Admiral Aisut did mention a Starfleet Officer hacking Comms back on and playing that music for 'testing', and the only engineer or ops guy I know - and I know a lot of guys - with the skills, earth meme literacy, and irreverent sense of humour to do that is you." (edited)

"Oh yeah, it's wild," he said, watching as Dion scrolled through the songs and did in fact come across Rick Astley. He laughed it off, or attempted to do so, because Dion kept going with the words coming from his mouth as he asked Allan directly if it was him who had pranked the whole station while people were getting assassination attempts done on them. He hadn't told another living soul about this other than Alizati, who had reassured him he would only tell Starfleet Command - hence, Admiral Aisut's mention. "What?" He asked, to save himself some time, some split seconds in his head to decide if he'd lie to Dion after having told him he didn't lie about who he was, or to admit something that was surely far more illegal than hacking a replicator. The problem was, he cared too much about Dion. And so, he laughed after his question, nodding with a slight blush on his face. Nervous, somehow. "Yeah, you've ... you've got me there, but could you promise to keep it between us? I don't think anyone knows it was me but the Admiral and the guy who told the Admiral."

Dion listened patiently, laughed, then smiled and shook his head. "Oh, Allan, you silly little mischief-maker," he said, putting the PADD down on the table and getting up from his sofa and sitting next to Allan (if they were on chairs before, no they weren't) and wrapping an arm around him. "I did tell you that song helped me, didn't I? Why in the name of Kah'less' perfect pectorals would I tell on you? I assure you: I may not be fond of breaking laws, but as a diplomat, I'm great at keeping secrets, especially for friends I quite adore. You look cute when you blush, you know."

Yeah, it was all hitting now. The direct question putting him into a vulnerable spot, the teasing, the phrase 'Kah'less' perfect pectorals', and all of the bloodwine in this flower-crowned man's system began to hit all at once when Dion said he looked cute when he blushed. Normally, Allan would probably just smirk and say something witty in response but in this oh-so-flustered moment he had nothing much to do other than blush more and turn some to face Dion a bit better. "I am - it - it did? Yeah, wait, you did... you did tell me that, you did," he said, that day all really was such a blur from the moment he entered the brig to the moment Dion had tucked him into bed. "It... I didn't mean to play it when I did, it was um, unfortunate timing, really, being queued up to go before the comms were hacked by uh, trigonometry unus or whatever you said, and so it was... the first thing to go when they went back up."

"I see, I see, so the timing wasn't your fault. Still, it's a very you thing to do, isn't it? Here's me, having a mental breakdown on a biobed, and there's you, breaking me out of it, helping me without even knowing it with your unlawful actions." Dion put his gloved, clawed forefinger under Allan's chin. Perhaps it was the bloodwine, or perhaps it was because Dion could be... Dominant, but he was feeling quite forward all of a sudden. "Although, right now, you're not very you, are you? Or you are, but it's a different side of you. But oh, I like you like this, Allan. Not that I don't like you the rest of the time, but like I said, it's cute... And somehow, it reminds me of the day we met." Dion relinquished Allan from his hold, picked up the bottle of bloodwine and spent a few moments just chugging the contents. Seemed excessive, but there was half left and he wanted to make sure he was on Allan's level. He finished with a gasp, then said, "I'm suddenly in the mood for 'before'."

Allan couldn't help but smile at that, it was always nice to know if you helped someone out of a mental breakdown, especially if it was completely coincidental. It was a totally bonus win, and he was so here for that. He was almost into a smirk, almost about to say something in response, when Dion put a finger under his chin and spoke, and Allan.exe failed all over again. The engineer gasped slightly, blinking in an attempt to regain his composure but it was a really lost cause at this point. He'd gotten flustered around Dion before, sure, as he just pointed out the day they met, but... this was so much worse. Dion's words were just hitting him in an exact point that it seemed impossible to recover from at this point, really. His brain kept searching for ways to do so, but it kept coming up short this time. "Y-you..." He stuttered like a schoolboy in a manga or some shit. Honestly, Dion just telling him he liked him like this was a whole thing in and of itself. "I'm.. um." He blinked a few more times, taking a deep breath as he looked up again only to see Dion chugging the bloodwine. Somehow just watching him do that made Allan feel all sorts of feelings he didn't know were possible at such a moment, so of course he said, "Oh, yeah. Fuck - fuck yeah." He would normally gently grab someone's hand at this moment, but this was Dion, so he put a hand on Dion's shoulder instead before kissing him, and despite the strong taste of the bloodwine it was still as excellent as ever.

There was no 'despite' the bloodwine for Dion. Instead, the iron tang of blood in his mouth made him feel fucking feral. Ancient Klingon carnivorous instincts, or pre-awakening Vulcan passion - he wasn't sure which was to blame. He let Allan kiss him for a bit, then moved in front of Allan so he could grab him by both the shoulders, push him against the back of the sofa and lead the kiss in a manner best described as 'ferocious', though even through this strange mania that had overtaken him, his Vulcan ears were still listening out for a safeword (also written on the yes-and-nos) or any kind of non-verbal sign of non-consent, and he broke away a few times to check it wasn't too much. "I feel like I drank God-Killer Raktajino all of a sudden. Bedroom, before it wears off." And assuming Allan agreed, Dion picked him up and carried him through the door to his room to work off this sudden energy.

[PADD] To: Eshen From: Renakir

Hey, you got a promotion? Couldn't find your comms for a moment. Anyway I was wondering if you cut hair. - Renakir

To: Handsome Reman From: Tenakruvek

Darn, I was going to come over and tell you that myself, with treats! But yes, I cut hair. Are you asking me to help you with that? It usually involves touching the head a bit... - Eshen

(edited)

To: Tenakruvek?? From: Rena-dear

I wouldn't trust anyone else with my head. It's alright, this is a calculated risk. Also my hair is getting really long. - Renakir rennie

To: My disciple From: The sixth coming

Alright! You want to do it right now? And should I come or you come? - Eshen

To: The sixth coming From: Shinzon, but not the bad one

I come now. See you in a bit. - Renakir rennieglasses

And just like he said, Renakir appeared at Eshen's quarters which were now conveniently next to his own. He chimed the bell and waited. For his fit today he was casual, wearing a long beige cardigan with some culottes, very loose and breezy. No shirt, he didn't care and he had a cardigan which counted, right? For his shoes he just had some plain black flip flops.

Eshen opened the door (by pressing a button or something) wearing an unbuttoned (as though he'd be able to button one of Allan's shirts over his chest anyway) rose-patterned black hawaiian shirt that he stole from Allan, and... Not much else, actually. Well, some tight jeans he pulled on and some socks and gloves, but that was it. He wasn't even particularly made up today. Allan was still sleeping in his room. "What's up, stranger?"

Renakir stepped into the room as soon as the doors opened. His little flip flops made a soft slapping noise as he walked, like a frog walking on tile flooring. The lights, oh, he kept forgetting other species needed light to function, well it was a good thing he had his sunglasses and he also had his contacts in. He assumed for the hair cut he would need to take off his glasses. "Jolan tru," He greeted awkwardly. not entirely sure how to react to his friend's fit. He had seen outfits like that on earth, but the shirt was... Truly something. "So you are the sixth coming of Tenakruvek now?" He said with a light chuckle. "It is an honour to have you cut my hair."

"Thanks a lot! This is actually a pretty big deal among us Klingons." They weren't sneaky about their murders, but they were still wary of letting people behind them with sharp implements. It was one of the reasons they kept their hair long. Their word for 'hairdresser', jIb-chIp, or Jib-Chipper if you wanted to anglicise it for some reason, was also a term of endearment and trust. "I've come again, and bearing gifts." Eshen went over to the sofa and picked up a cardboard bag with the Surak Snacks brand on it. "Open it! And if you want to get started, sit in front of the sofa while I get all the implements."

If he had known maybe he would have asked Eshen to do this sooner. Hair cutting did not have any significance in Romulan culture, but he could see how Klingons would take it seriously. Renakir considered Eshen as not just a friend, daelhen, but also someone he could depend on. The man was not only handsome, but also a diplomat, something that he had always admired. In contrast, Renakir had little to no diplomat skills, he always wondered how Eshen, also from a warrior race, could achieve such a feat. He took the cardboard bag from Eshen and walked over to the sofa. He took a seat in front and opened the bag. "Oh, biscuits?" He looked at Eshen curiously. "They're the same ones my mother used to make when I lived on Remus," He said softly as he took out one of the biscuits and inspected it. It was brown and looked beautifully crafted, clean edges too. Eshen couldn't see his eyes through his sunglasses, but Renakir was Romulan and he showed his emotions with all of his face. Staring at the biscuit he seemed sad and felt a bit of homesickness. Not for New Romulus, but for Remus. "Tiravurik made these, didn't he?"

Eshen nodded, sitting behind Renakir on the sofa and taking his gloves off for a better grip with the scissors. It was weird being thoroughly within stabbing distance with sharp tools right next to him, gloveless and makeupless, like they'd crossed several boundaries at once. "He misses you a lot. Seems like a nice guy. I know the situation is complicated, and I don't want to pressure you into anything, but if you don't visit him soon, I will steal him from you and reverse-adopt him as my new, non-terrible dad." Eshen laughed softly. "Now, do you have any idea of what kind of cut you want? Any pictures?" (edited)

The tiny hairs on the back of his neck stood on end when he heard the sounds of Eshen shuffling behind him. He trusted he fellow brother of two worlds, however his Romulan paranoia was not something that always worked in tandem with the logic in his mind. He took a deep breath and put the biscuit back in the bag and placed it to the side. Eshen was not going to murder him or anything, no way. They were daelhen. "Reverse adopt him?" Renakir laughed when he heard that as he reached into his bag he totally had with him and pulled out his PADD. "I know he does, it's just umm.. I am not trying to sound ungrateful but well, I'm still Romulan and I guess I feel some guilt that whilst he fought for his life on some derelict Romulan space station I lived in a fancy mansion guarded by Tal Shiar warbirds," He explained, not sure if Eshen really knew what Rator III was like. Yes, Renakir did struggled on that planet, however he also never knew hunger or really what it meant to struggle. He attended private school with the best teachers, fought the strongest kids in his class, it was a whole thing. "Yeah, I was thinking like... I don't know if you can do something like this? I wanted a shorter style because it's hot everywhere all the time. And this eyebrow thing is cool too, I don't know what it's called," Renakir handed Eshen the PADD with the photos. An asymmetrical undercut and one eyebrow shaved in two spots. He thought it would look cool, especially because unlike humans his eyebrows were already slanted so all Eshen could have to do was shave one.

"Yeah, I've done cuts like that before, no problem. You'll look like a superstar when I'm done. Super-Solait." Eshen put a blanket around Renakir's shoulders to catch the cut hairs, then took a pair of scissors and started cutting Renakir's hair at the tips, starting quite cautiously. "If it helps any, I think he cares far more about you than any privilege you might have. Besides, I he's at Surak Snacks now, living it up. They get paid well and we don't even really need money these days." Delicately, he put both his hands on the sides of Renakir's head above the ears so he could turn him to face exactly where he needed to be.

"Super Solait? I like that," Renakir said, intrigued by yet another nickname given to him by Eshen. At first he was confused why one needed to assign others nicknames when people had perfectly fine names, but now he actually enjoyed it. Ever since enlisting in Starfleet he had been shy about his Romulan-Reman heritage but now? It was actually pretty fun having an alien name. Renakir remembered his glasses and quickly took them off before Eshen began to clip away. He was smart to wear his contacts that day. "I know, but... It's weird being a Reman of privilege. I mean, I was oppressed and it was terrible, but I also lived a much better life than even some Federation citizens, money wise. Society wise it was terrible as you know," Renakir let Eshen turn his head as he clipped. He closed his eyes and tried not to think about the scissors close to his head, Eshen was not going to murder him. No, Eshen was trusted, he was a friend. "I take it Tiravurik is serving Reman food at Snacks now? Did you try any?"

"I haven't yet, since I was helping my girlfriend test out certain kinds of flavours, but maybe we could go there sometime and I could try it!" Eshen said, trimming away. "I get that it's weird, but we all have different levels of privilege; it's not a sliding scale. I never had to worry about going hungry growing up, because we always had food in, but I also had to cook that food because I didn't have the luxury of nice parents. Then on Klingon my disadvantage was my Vulcan blood, and on Vulcan my disadvantage was my Klingon blood. It's all very relative, and I'm pretty sure Tiravurik understands that. He sounds... Experienced." Eshen moved Renakir's head again so he could cut the other side of his hair. The room was fairly quiet save for the sound of slow snip-snips. Maybe they should watch something on their PADD. What did Renakir even watch on SpaceTube? "Besides, it's a little ironic you're denying him the privilege of your company, isn't it? You can't get rid of oppression or privilege, generally, but you can stand together despite it." Wow. Now he really did sound like Tenakruvek, or Surak, or some kind of philosopher. Tenasurak.

"Your.. Girlfriend? Ah yes, I think I understand that term," He said as he tried not to move his head as Eshen was cutting away, although it was tempting. It was less of a shock that Eshen had a girlfriend, but more of a confusion about the term. As everyone knew Romulans had no problem with polyamory or sleeping around, however the term girlfriend was odd to him. He listened closely as Eshen spoke about privilege, but he still felt distant. It wasn't that Renakir thought his home life and money situation were perfect, but when Eshen said luxury of nice parents it struck him. He had that too. Money, nice parents-- well Cerrub was nice. * "He was a Reman commander who fought against the Tal Shiar after the supernova. Curious how the Tal Shiar always seemed to know where the Reman refugees were," *Renakir explained, furrowing his brows ever so slightly. Renakir was surprisingly cooperative with letting Eshen move and turn his head as he wished. The soft sounds of scissors clipping was quite nice too, haircut asmr? "I already saw him once. He gave me my new sunglasses. And I don't really want to go to a restaurant. You know, I'm umm.. Reman."

"A woman I'm intimately involved with, emotionally, romantically, and physically," Eshen explained as he cut. His surprisingly low, smooth voice definitely added to the ASMR vibes of the situation. "So not even with me? Aw. If it helps any, Remans and Romulans are both welcome in Surak Snacks. Its main brand is Vulcan, but Men's made it clear through his actions, particularly his staffing and menu choices, that other Vulcanoids are welcome too. Also, the booths are pretty enclosed and they have stone cups and metal straws now."

"I see,“ Renakir had nothing else to say about the term girlfriend. He had long since accepted that he was never going to fully understand alien cultures and that was okay. Eshen seemed happy about the arrangement and that was all that mattered. ”Perhaps I would go with you," He replied with a hesitant tone. He wasn't going to say no, but at the same time he was still not completely comfortable with the idea. "Stone cups and metal straws... Because I ruined the nice clay ones they had," He said, immediately thinking the worst and gave a soft sigh. It was because of him, wasn't it? Of course it was him, his stupid sharp teeth ruining everything. "I wonder how Tiravurik does it... He's not scared of being too Reman."

"Ruined? I mean, if you want to think about it that way. What I think that means is they saw you were having difficulty because of an element of your Reman biology and then went out of their way to accept and accommodate you and people like you." He picked up a razor and started on the undercut. It was a conveniently quiet razor, so they'd still be able to talk. "I'm curious. Would you say the things you say about yourself to other Remans? If I had sharp teeth, like a lot of Klingons do, would you say those things about me?"

Renakir closed his eyes when he heard the noise of the razor. He was expecting a much louder noise, but was delightfully surprised when the razor made just a soft hum. It seemed like his daelhen had thought of everything. Not unlike him at all, in fact the other's attention to detail was one thing that drew Renakir to him and why he trusted him so much. "I... No I wouldn't," Renakir paused for a moment as he pondered Eshen's statement. "Because Remans are Reman and you-- you're beautiful. I guess I just feel... I've lived my whole life being told I was undesirable and that Romulans and Remans weren't meant to mix, like I lost the genetic lottery," He folded his hands in his lap and kept his posture straight. "Not you or anyone at Starfleet... Mostly-- Valleka. We were actually friends for most of our lives even if we never met face to face. We wrote letters, it was nice to have someone my age who also knew I was Reman to chat with. Looking back on it, it was pretty toxic. I really believed she was the only one I could trust because anyone else wouldn't want to be friends with a Reman."

The more he heard about Valleka the less enthusiastic he felt about ever seeing her again, even though it would be advantageous to. "Well, you didn't. Beauty standards are different among different cultures and even individuals. Even Klingons find my weak ridges unattractive, and humans find them too strong, though I'm aware I have the privilege of being conventionally attractive in many other ways. If Valleka or any Romuland judge you by their standards as though they were objectively true and universal, they are being illogical," Eshen said as he buzzed, turning very Vulcan for a second, humming a tune he'd usually play on the Lyre along with the humming of the razor between moments of dialogue.

Renakir was flattered by Eshen's words, but the other man couldn't see his expression and the blush that was quickly forming on his cheeks. His eyes were staring off at the wall, remaining perfectly still. "You are very attractive, Eshen, you're a beautiful blend of genes from two races," Renakir stated as he closed his eyes again. The sound of the razor was getting a little louder and now mixed with Eshen's humming he needed to lower the amount of stimuli. "Thankfully Starfleet is a very intergalactic organisation, although in the academy I definitely got stares for being a mix of two former Federation enemy races. You should have seen the look on my classmates' faces when we talked about the Earth Romulan war. But, you probably got that a lot too, right?"

"I did, mostly at my ridges, but it is how it is. I'd say I simply charmed all the stares into different stares, but in my early years of the Academy I was... A very different person. But nowadays I know how to talk to people, I have confidence, I look after myself, and present myself well, which are honestly more important than genetics when it comes to being attractive. I mean, do you think I would be beautiful if I was a miserable, unfashionable slob? No." Eshen laughed as the haircut came into shape. He moved Renakir's head down forwards so he could shave the back of his neck. Halfway done, he would say. "Maybe after this haircut I could dress you up and little and teach you how to carry yourself with confidence. Then we'll see what wanker tries to talk rubbish about lotteries." There was also another matter he wanted to take care of after the haircut, but he didn't want to tell Renakir about that 'til he was done. (edited)

"You do carry yourself well. I suppose that's why you're a diplomat and I'm a transporter officer," Renakir stated as he let Eshen move his head. This was oddly soothing, not uncomfortable at all. He thought he would be scared to have someone with sharp objects near his head, but his daelhen was doing a fantastic job. Renakir was also good at remaining still, it was something he had learned on Remus. Although with Eshen the risk was significantly less. A tiny cut wasn't anything to fear, not like the eyes of a Romulan guard who would throw young Renakir to the halls of Erebus if he was discovered. “I would like that. I want to be more confident. It's ironic, Romulans are some of the most egotistical races in the galaxy. Did you know in our lore there is even a belief that somehow we are the true owners of the galaxy? That's why the Star Empire did what it did-- like a space manifest destiny. Very messed up, to believe that your whole race was somehow the most superior in the universe," Renakir couldn't move his head so instead he just made a very soft tsk tsk sound against his teeth. ”Our ego was our downfall. I am happy I didn't inherit that messed up ideology, but some confidence would help."

"Messed up, but not surprising." And Eshen had little else to say on the subject. Romulans spacist. We been knew. "As for confidence, the trick is to praise everyone, including yourself. That way you and everyone else you're with ends up feeling happy, and that kind of energy is infectious." Eshen finished up with the buzzing and added a few finishing touches with the scissors. "Done! But don't move yet, I've just got to do the eyebrow; shouldn't take long." Eshen got off the sofa and kneeled in front of Renakir, pretty close, with a very tiny razor or however you shave two thin lines into one eyebrow. "I need you to hold very, very still, and close your eye," Eshen said, though he still held Renakir steady by the side of the head, trying not to think about how this was the most he'd touched Renakir, ever, and he was doing it with his bare hands. Luckily, the eyebrow only took about thirty seconds. "There! You look dashing. You can open your eyes now. I've got a hand mirror on the sofa somewhere if you want to see."

Renakir was happy that was something him and Eshen could agree on. Romulans being spacist, the whole race as a whole. They were still spacist too as evident by Valleka's existence. "Tiravurik and my father come to mind, they are the only others outside of this station who have ever complimented me and meant it," He said, remembering all the times he would hang out with his friends in France. They were nice, but it was a friendship out of convenience and he was so desperate to fit in. As for his Chinese friends, well, Chinese people never gave compliments, not casually at least. 'Eat more' or 'Take care of your heath', was probably the closest he ever got to receiving a compliment from them. The buzzing of the razor stopped and that's when he knew it was time for the eyebrow. Suddenly he was starting to second guess his hair cut decision. Sure he wanted a cool undercut, but did he really wanted the eyebrow shave too? It was too late and now Eshen was kneeling in front of him, their faces incredibly close. Renakir's cheeks were completely green now as he stared at the younger man in front of him. He closed his eyes as instructed and tried to think of literally anything else. But Eshen's hands on his face, the physical contact was... Pleasant. Why were Romulans so uptight about physical contact? This felt amazing, especially with someone he trusted. Sadly it only lasted half a minute and Renakir opened his eyes once Eshen finished. "... That felt good," His mouth said the words before his brain could stop him. Oh Tenakruvek what was he doing? "I mean yes, I want to see the cut," A terrible save but he was trying. The tips of his floppy ears were also dyed a dark green. This is what happens being touch starved, why did he have to be Romulan at a time like this?

Eshen raised an eyebrow, not falling for Renakir's save. Even his cute floppy ears were flushed. "Did it now? Well, feel free to ask me to do it again any time, as long as you're not sugar-drunk. Hug offer's still open, too." Eshen reached over to the sofa behind Renakir, where he'd placed most of his tools beside him as he worked, and grabbed the hand mirror, handing it to Renakir. "There you go! Super-Solait! You look cool. And very green. Tiravurik and your father would be proud."

Eshen was suave, too suave. Renakir was actually sitting here contemplating taking him up on that offer too. Oh, but if he accepted a hug then... His mind was going places that were totally not appropriate for two bros chilling. Focus on the task at hand, he told himself. He took a deep breath and blinked a couple times when he finally saw what he looked like. He looked.... Cool. Actually. The undercut was a good idea and Eshen did a great job. The eyebrow thing was also cool, he looked like, "Yeah, I look cool like a 'bad ass motherfucker', I think that's the terran slang." What was it with Vulcanoids and being terrible at earth humor and slang? Renakir delivered his words with a serious expression, perfectly straight tone. He'd be great in a comedy duo. "Green. Y-Yeah, because it's umm.. It's hot in here," Another terrible save. "Eshen, I think I want that hug."

He'd be great in a comedy duo, Eshen coincidentally thought, with him. Or with Allan. Maybe him and Allan. Did Renakir play any instruments? Maybe Renakir could join the band! Wait, no, he preferred not to be in the public that much. Pity. Maybe Eshen should go around asking everyone he knew if they knew how to play any instruments. He smiled softly when Renakir admitted he wanted that hug. He remembered that Renakir had admitted something like... What was it, that nobody'd hugged him since his mother? Not even Tiravurik? Well, now that he was sober and willing, that simply must be remedied! Eshen held his arms out wide. "Dive in, Rena-dear, you bad-ass motherfucker."

Renakir stared at Eshen for a moment before he realised he had not been wearing his sunglasses his whole time and yes the other probably saw all of his emotions on his face. He was green, very green. It wasn't that he blushed more than other Romulans, but the light grey skin showed it much more than the more peachy or tan tones of Romulans. "Okay, I'm going to hug you," Renakir moved slowly, but he did actually do it! He wrapped his strong arms around Eshen's waist (is this how you hugged a bro?) and held him tight. It was a good thing that the first person he was hugging was someone of equal size and strength, he could only imagine how badly he'd feel if his first hug was a human. "Daelhen," He said softly as he closed his eyes, enjoying every second. Maybe enjoying it too much, but he didn't care. Eshen was one of the few people on this station he trusted to not stab him or do some weird caesar-brutus shit to him.

Eshen wrapped his arms around Renakir's shoulders and returned the hug as tightly as Renakir. This close, they could both hear and feel one another's breathing, and Renakir could probably feel his heartbeat - fast like a rabbit's, but all Vulcans had fast heartbeats. To have gained the trust of a man so paranoid about getting too close to people he quite literally kept them at a distance made him feel warm and soft and he most certainly didn't Surak those feelings away. "Daelhen..." Eshen murmured softly, as he pressed his cheek against Renakir's shoulder gently and held Renakir for as long as he wanted to be held. Ironically, the first time he'd hit on Renakir (after which Renakir had responded like he'd been speaking a different language and had the eyesight of a Cardassian vole, of course), among his other usual scandalous intentions, one of his innocent fantasies was to be cradled in the strong arms of a tall pretty man such as him, and now here they were. Sometimes, in life, we get nice things. "How's it feel...? Still good...?" (edited)

Renakir took in a slow and deep breath as Eshen's strong arms wrapped around his shoulders. This was a pleasant feeling, he was at peace. He was pretty sure Romulans were touch telepathic at this point. He could hear Eshen's heartbeat and his breathing loud and clear. The man also smelled quite nice. As a rich boy his whole life, Renakir always smelled like expensive cologne. It was subtle but Eshen would probably notice the subtle floral scent. "Yes.. I like this, hugging you is nice," It sounded so scandalous the way he said it, especially because he was speaking French. Such a romantic language and at a moment like this. "You can feel my emotions like this too, right?" Vulcans were touch telepaths too, and even if they couldn't read each other's thoughts, he was sure he could feel the other's emotions. He felt safe and cared for, this was nice. Who knew it only took the right haircut to give this Romulan-Reman boy this much confidence. He didn't want to let go either, his whole life he was touch starved, truly.

Eshen smelled like flowers, herbs and spices, and slightly like whatever Allan smelled like, since he was wearing his shirt. He noticed Renakir's cologne easily; Klingon sense of smell was good. "Empathy is something I have to consciously do; I won't be able to feel your emotions, nor you mine, unless I consciously let down my mental barriers. Which would be..." Eshen blushed, though Renakir probably couldn't see it from his angle, "Um, not the kind of intimacy I'd prefer with you just yet, I'm afraid." It was bad enough that he was hugging Renakir gloveless. He'd only ever do any sort of empathic contact with Aella (hypothetically), and Nalas eventually. As far as he was concerned, it was like a lesser mind meld. Still, he kept holding Renakir, not intending to let him go. There was something he'd needed to do after the haircut, but... Not yet. (edited)

Floral scent, the most manly of scents, at least in Renakir's mind. He liked listening to Eshen's voice, it felt like a soft electric pulse surging through his body. "It's alright, maybe I should train my own telepathy more," Renakir suddenly felt like he was overstepping his boundaries, but he honestly couldn't help but sense Eshen's emotions. Well, that's what he thought was going on here. There was no actual telepathy, Renakir was just a touch starved Romulan-Reman boy who was enjoying hugging. "Thank you, Eshen," Renakir finally separated from the other. He wanted to keep hugging but he also feared his uncontrolled telepathy (which he was very convinced he had). "I'm not as warm as you but I hope it was enjoyable," He kept his soft tone as he crossed his arms, now just hugging himself. His skin felt warm and honestly he didn't mind. He was overheating constantly being on the station, but for some reason this time he wasn't uncomfortable. The warmth made him feel safe.

Eshen let go of Renakir with a sigh, his whole body warm too, but not like it was scorched desert sun as it usually felt, but gently warmed by the morning dawn. Oh, right, the telepathy thing. Even if Renakir did have telepathy, he wouldn't have the training to break Eshen's barriers, and if he did, Eshen'd know. Frankly, he was a little insulted Renakir thought his barriers were that penetrable, but he let it go. "You were warm enough. Let me know whenever you want to do it again. I've always kind of... Had a thing for taller and broader people hugging me. It feels like I'm being cocooned. Very comforting." The only other tall man who'd hugged him recently was Adill. Eshen brushed some hair off his cheek from when he'd had it in Renakir's shoulder, which still had the blanket to catch the snipped hairs on it. "Now... There's a favour I'd like to ask of you. I need... To call your father. About the Reman situation. I spoke to Captain Mo," Offscreen, because his roleplayer was not good at self-RP, "And he said the situation was out of his and the Federation's hands. So we need someone who's over there who can tell us what interceptor she's getting or get her a good one so they can argue for her punishment to be less severe."

Renakir gave Eshen a smile, a genuine smile this time. He was not afraid to let his sharp Reman teeth show or the wrinkles near the corners of his eyes. His eyes may have been from his father, but the dark circles and high brow bone was definitely Reman. Very strange mix of genes, however Eshen was the last person to judge him for it. Seeing how the other complimented him so much he felt like Eshen actually found it attractive. "I can definitely give you more strong hugs. Remans give good hugs, so I am told," Renakir said, remembering all the times he had rejected hugs from Tiravurik. He felt bad about it now that he realised hugging didn't have to end in death of one or both parties. He watched Eshen brush off some of the hairs when he realised he was still wearing the blanket around his shoulders. He felt bad for getting hair everywhere, but thankfully he was in ops and planned on cleaning it later. He reached over to the sofa to grab his sunglasses and put them on. The contacts were fine, but he saw much better when he had his sunglasses. "Oh.. Yes, my father. I... I don't know if I can talk to him, he seems convinced I am only reacting this way because I'm Reman," Renakir said with a sigh, clearly not very confident about this idea. "He'll listen to you I think, but definitely not me."

Eshen smiled warmly at talk of storing hugs. "I look forward to it - genuinely. And... I'll definitely get him to listen to me," He said, with a surprising amount of confidence considering he would be talking to a big-time Romulan diplomat. "I'll be cool and persuasive, but passionate, and I'll pitch my idea to him, and the we'll see what happens. I only wish I was a bit more dressed up. Maybe I should go put on my uniform and make myself up a bit." The hawaiian shirt probably wouldn't be a great first impression.

Look forward to it - genuinely, did this mean that Eshen wanted to hug him again? Was it bad that Renakir was already looking forward to it? Hugging was scandalous though, so they'd have to do it in private again, but he didn't mind. Maybe after hugging Eshen he would get the courage to hug other people, like Tiravurik. Oh he knew Tiravurik wanted to hug him, the man asked for hugs almost every day. "I don't think your attire will matter, he'll only see you waist up. I wonder what my father will say about my hair cut," Renakir said as he carefully took the blanket off of his shoulders and brushed off some stray hairs from his neck. "I know Tiravurik will like it, he thinks I'm 777's next top model," He said, not so subtly hinting that yes he had decided he was going to visit his uncle again soon.

"He'll see me waist up in a hawaiian shirt that barely fits me and I can't button up. Unless he's very easily seduced by semi-shirtless men in flamboyant shirts, I'd rather wear something a little more appropriate," Eshen said, taking Renakir's shoulder blanket and cleaning up the hairs it didn't catch. "Let me just clean this up and go get changed. Oh, and tell Tiravurik he's right."

"No, he's not very easily seduced by anyone-- well he likes Remans, of course. A few Romulans too," Renakir chuckled when he remembered that his father was in quite an impressive polycule. He wasn't ashamed of it, it was actually quite common for Romulans and Remans alike. It was one reason he wasn't too fussed about marrying Valleka at first because he knew marriage was not equivalent to romance. He stood up and brushed some hairs off of his clothes and sat on the sofa. It was nice to not have to sit on the floor, his long legs cramped up easily. "Oh thanks, sorry about all the hair. You did a good job though, I'll have to come to you again for a trim next time." He said, smiling once again when Eshen complimented him. Seriously, this guy was too kind!

"Good thing I'm a Reman, then!" Eshen said. "Kidding, kidding." Eshen wasn't going to hit on Renakir's dad, though he had to admit, a diplomat with a polycule sounded like a kindred spirit of his. He brushed all the hair off the blanket, folded it to be washed later, then put all of the hair in the replicator to be recycled. Then he picked up all his hairdressing tools. "I'll be ten minutes. Feel free to watch stuff on the holo." Holo being short for holo-projector, which was how people watched things on TV these days when they didn't want to stare down at their PADD the whole time, probably. He walked into his room with the tools and put them all away in a drawer, then opened the ornate antique wardrobe that Renakir had once transported in here for him and started deciding on an outfit as Renakir busied himself in the other room.

"You are Reman though," Renakir responded with a laugh, showing off all his wonderfully pointy teeth. He watched his daelhen fold the blanket and clean up, Eshen was quite neat with his space. It contrasted with his roommate who Renakir already forgot the name of. The room wasn't messy on the other half but he could tell the person didn't have the same sense of order as Eshen. Well he let his friend go to his room to change whilst Leinaqier fiddled with the holo projector. What to watch? Renakir pressed a couple of buttons and pulled up a video of "asmr: satisfying turbolift shaft cleaning". Ah yes those satisfying cleaning videos, his favourite.

Eshen came out soon afterwards in a black-and-white plaid shirt, since Romulans liked checkered pattern, unbuttoned to show a white crop top underneath, and a pair of tight black jeans and black heeled boots. He was wearing a bracelet with beads of opal and jet, a silver necklace with an obsidian pendant, and studded earrings of black star sapphire which connected to ear-cuffs of white gold. Remans and geologists envied his gemstone swag, but he would get instantly robbed on Ferenginar. His eyes were lined heavily with kohl, which made his gold eyes look brighter. Today's aesthetic was, apparently, lumberjack magpie. He sat down next to Renakir and watched the satisfying turbolift shaft cleaning video 'til it was over. "I didn't know cleaning could be satisfying even when you're watching someone else do it!" He said. Neat freak Eshen rears his head once again. The only reason the other side of the main room wasn't as neat as his was that he didn't want to touch Nalas' stuff without his permission and disrupt whatever organised chaos system he used to keep track of where things were. "So, should we call your dad now?"

When Eshen cane back into the room it took Renakir a few moments to realise he was there. The soft clicking of the projection was the only noise in the room and Renakir's eyes were fixed on the video. The sounds of the brush against the metal, the muffled hum of the projector, it was just beautiful. He didn't know it yet, but he was just as sensitive to noises as Men was. "Oh-- yes," The Romulan-Reman sat up on the sofa and looked at his friend. He clicked the holo projector off as his eyes scanned his friend's fit. Lumberjack magpie. "The Kohl on your eyes looks very Reman," He said as he lowered his sunglasses to show Eshen his natural dark circles around his eyes. "Yeah, we can call him. New Romulus, Ekhaem district Torre'vnau estate building 1, Cerrub i-Ra'tleihfi Torre'vnau," He told his friend as he patted his hair down with his hand before realising his hair was buzzed short underneath now so there was no frizz to control. He felt very cool, temperature wise and swag wise.

Eshen used that information to call Renakir's dad, then watched the loading screen and little ditty the call was playing as they waited for his father to pick up. As they waited, he wondered if his moving around in his room might have woken Allan up a bit. He'd also kissed him on the forehead and tucked him in a little while he was in there, and left his floral hawaiian shirt neatly folded up on the edge of the bed. After this was done, he might do what Maggie did and make him an omelette for breakfast. It would be neat if he got to hang out with both Renakir and Allan together, too. "Thanks! Any tips? This is the first time I'm meeting your dad, after all. I want to make a good impression." Rule 1, obviously.

"My father is a bit intimidating, but he's on our side and he values honesty," Renakir wasn't sure that was the best advice but it would help. He also hoped his father would listen to Eshen.

Soon enough the video loaded with Cerrub sitting in front of the screen. He had the same light silver eyes as Renakir, but without the dark circles. He had an undercut as well with a long fringe swooped to the side so his forehead ridges were visible. Aside from the skin colour, the resemblance to Renakir was obvious. Same hair colour too and same build. Cerrub was shorter, byt no less muscular than Renakir, but it wasn't obvious on camera. "Hello, Lieutenant Junior Grade Eshen K'Tann is it?" The man said, his eyes narrowed as he stared at the screen. He spoke Standard quite well with only a light Rihannsu accent. "And Solait?" He was clearly very confused why the two had called him at this hour. It was evening on New Romulus and Cerrub was dressed in some nice Reman robes. Dark purple fabric studded with gems along the shoulders. He looked like royalty, in a way, he was.

Eshen Surak'd away a surge of nervousness at seeing a man of such prestigious station away. He also cursed Renakir and Cerrub for daring to share the same genes and therefore both be hot. "Yes, although you may address me as Eshen or Dion, the latter preferable." May, so Cerrub would have a choice, but Eshen didn't particularly enjoy being addressed as K'Tann by people who weren't Klingons, and he had invented the name Dion as a 'false' name to use when talking to Romulans, though his 'true' name was obviously already known. Though, to define Eshen and Dion as true or false was a little reductive; they'd developed past that at this point. "I have a request I would like to make of you." Calling uo a diplomat and then immediately asking for something? Bold. But he was friends with Rennie, and that was usually enough to clout to ask such a thing, especially so politely.

"Very well, Lieutenant JG Dion," Cerrub said, no judgement in his voice however he was suspicious seeing his son in the room. He wondered just what Renakir had put Dion up to. Despite supposedly being open and honest, he was still Romulan and thus a master of weaving all sorts of theories. "You may make your request," He was thankfully that this Starfleet officer was not going to bother with pleasantries or superfluous greetings. He noticed the other's interesting taste in clothing as well as his forehead ridges and pointed ears. Fascinating. Half Klingon half... Vulcan? He wasn't entirely sure but it did not surprise him to see his son had a mixed friend. Cerrub sat perfectly still in front of the view screen, cold silver eyes staring right at Eshen.

Renakir sat behind Eshen with his hands folded in his lap, sitting straight without showing any emotions. He was Romulan, but he knew any sign of emotion would immediately offput his father and lose any legitimacy him and Eshen had. He couldn't be too Reman. Stay emotionless and focused, don't mess this up for Eshen, he thought.

"You've probably heard of the fate of a Reman woman called Akuvek," Dion began. "She was involved in a bombing on this very Station, so, naturally, among other reasons, I am intrigued by the circumstances of her prosecution and invested in her fate. Unfortunately, she was extradited from our Station, and so I must inquire upon any Romulan sources of information as to what her state is now - specifically, if she has an interceptor, and if not, how I might get her one."

Cerrub's expression was unchanged, but his eyes shifted from Dion to his son who was putting on his best poker face in the background. Oh there were so many things he wanted to say at that very moment. He couldn't believe his son had divulged so much information to this innocent officer. In many ways he felt bad for Dion for getting caught in this affair. He believed the officer had much more pressing diplomatic matters to attend to than the fate of some Reman woman on New Romulus. "I see," Cerrub's gaze went back to Dion. "I had inquired about her case and at the moment she has not been assigned an interceptor. Tell me, Dion, why are you so concerned about this case? I have no doubts Solait has filled your head with all the details from his Reman perspective."

"Solait has told me things, yes." He smiled slightly, some of Dion's confidence slipping through. This was a Romulan; they were okay with that kind of expression. Admired it, even. "But give me a little credit as a fellow diplomat, sir! Your son is not in the company of a man who passively absorbs information like water to a sponge; I use my judgement to decide whether or not the information I receive is legitimate and valuable or not. And in this case, as someone who is not a Reman," Well, biologically, "I find myself interested nonetheless. Because she is a Vulcanoid, because she tried to bomb our Starbase, and because I am of a curious nature." After all, he still didn't know why she'd done that - if she even did.

Cerrub was undoubtedly impressed with the Lieutenant's boldness and confidence in which he delivered his words. The stoic expression of the older Romulan changed, a little more expressive, curious even. Unlike the quiet and timid Solait, Dion was assertive and commanding. "I am intrigued that our legal system has peaked the interest of an outsider," He spoke slowly, his voice was very similar to Renakir's but with a bit more of a husky tone. "Well let me provide a Romulan perspective on the situation. Race is irrelevant. Akuvek is a criminal and as such she will be going through our legal system. The state will assign her an interceptor unless one volunteers. Our legal system is fair and just. If you can provide me with evidence that supports she may be danger, I may know of a trustworthy interceptor."

"Evidence? Well, I'm afraid I can't provide anything tangible, considering Akuvek's hardly on the station and I'm not an intelligence officer. But I do recall Renakir saying she was manhandled by the guards. Perhaps I can ask around and find out who else can corroborate your son's story, if you don't value his word." Dion crossed his legs, leaning on the arm of the sofa a little, like an emperor lounging on a throne. Cerrub may look like royalty, but Dion acted like it. It was like they were on equal ground, and not a disowned bastard child talking to an important man with an important family name. Rule 13: Sometimes, if you act like you have status, people will treat you like you do. "Besides, I can't comment on the intricacies of your legal system, but I know that systems are made up of people, and all people are biased. What if her trial is unfair and her punishment unjust? Romulans won't come out of that looking good, and Remans won't look well upon them. You can imagine the controversy, surely. Sometimes cases like these can be what divides a population."

Cerrub observed Eshen's mannerisms closely. The man acted like he owned the place, which was actually a trait he liked seeing in a person. Perhaps that was one reason he seemed to respect Eshen after barely speaking to him for five minutes more than his son. "I have confirmed Solait's story. He was out of line and that's all I will say on that," He looked towards Renakir who was sitting silently in the background. There was a look of heavy judgment from Cerrub. "You know quite a bit about Romulan and Reman relations. I have no doubt Solait told you his Reman perspective," He leaned forward on his desk, staring a bit more intently at the screen. "And you make a good point. However laws are laws. We cannot give her special treatment just because she is Reman. It would cause a controversy if she was given too light of a sentence too. Tell me, Lieutenant, if you were in my position would you put your reputation on the line to help a Reman criminal? I am already scrutinised by my peers for giving up my senate seat to a Reman. If I help this criminal I could lose what little favour I have amongst my fellow Romulans. I care about Reman freedom as much as Solait does, but many Romulans still hold prejudice." (edited)

Why didn't he believe his own son? Because he was a Reman? Well, forward-thinking compared to most of his kind or not, he was still a Romulan, Dion supposed. Dion leaned forward a little as well, even though getting closer to a Romulan felt dangerous even though it was just a guy on a screen and the real guy was very thoroughly out of stabbing distance two sectors over. "I would, because I have faith in my ability to manage my image while doing good, and making sure a prisoner receives a fair sentence surely is emblematic of using your power to further Reman freedom. Besides, you don't have to openly help her, do you? This trustworthy lawyer could very well coincidentally hear of the case and decide to volunteer themselves. I have shore leave soon - perhaps I could come to Mol'Rihan with Renakir and they might just so happen to meet a Starfleet diplomat in a bar who's a little nosy about the Romulan justice system."

What Eshen was proposing was certainly intriguing. There was something powerful about the other moving closer to the screen, this man was not afraid of danger even when speaking with Romulans. He had no doubts that Eshen would act similarly had they met in person. He pondered the other's proposal carefully with a stern expression. "There is a well known interceptor named Lun e-Kota Tr'Rylov. A former commander and half Vulcan. If anyone knows justice within the Republic it is him," Cerrub told Eshen. "You plan to visit Mol'Rihan during your shore leave? Are you sure that's how you want to spend your holiday, Lieutenant?"

As soon as Renakir heard the name his floppy ears perked up and he moved closer to Eshen so he could whisper in his ear. "Kota and Rylov, honourable houses," He told his friend. Whilst he knew nothing about Kota (he didn't even realise the Romulan reporter on the station was also Kota), he knew Rylov was an important name. "Lun is the one who helped Valleka gain the senate seat after her father passed away from 'mysterious' circumstances," He added, knowing very well what this 'Lun' guy could do even if he had never met him personally.

So he might get to meet someone from a prestigious Romulan family AND maybe see Renakir's fancy house? Score. "Yes, that's what I'd like to do - at least, partially. There is someplace else I'd like to go, too. This 'Lun e-Kota Tr'Rylov' definitely sounds like I person I'd like to run into while I'm over there." Unlike when Mo or Men spoke Rihannsu, he had a perfect accent saying Lun's name.

He was thoroughly impressed with Eshen's pronunciation in Rihannsu. "He often hangs around the New Romulus Enquire HQ owned by the Kota house. I will warn you, he may be Vulcan but is a former commander from the Star Empire," He said, stressing the final words so Eshen would get the idea of what exactly he did for the empire. "Because of his previous alignment, I am not sure how sympathetic he will to Reman freedom but I am sure he would listen to a fellow-- Vulcan, i assume."

Eshen was dating Aella. He could tolerate a few war crimes. "Vulcan, yes, though hardly your bog-standard one. I assure you, Mr. Torre'vnau, I can be quite persuasive. Besides, I actually think I might have another connection there already." He needed to talk to that journalist again.

"Then you and Lun will get along, he's a very unconventional Vulcan as well," He sat back in his chair, no longer on edge now that him and Eshen had more or less came to an agreement. He looked back at Renakir who still seemed tense despite the conversation relaxing quite a bit. "Oh, do you? I had no idea you had any other connections on Mol'Rihan, may I ask who this connection is?"

"Lalisa T'Kota, a journalist who's been visiting the station." Inquiring about Alizati, too. If his suspicions were right, he may well be another T'Kota, or e-Kota, or something like that. "Do you know her?"

"I only recently became acquainted with her when she came to interview me, she wanted to write an article about the mixed house of Torre'vnau," Cerrub replied, his eyes not giving away what he really thought of her. He was not the biggest fan of journalists, but with an election coming up he needed the good press. "Unfortunately that is all I know of her. I had no idea she was on the station, what is her intention there? Wait, it was about that press conference, right?" He asked with the most monotone voice.

"Probing me for information, Torre'vnau? Yes, you could say that." She was also here to get hot goss about Alizati, but Eshen didn't want to involve him in this mess. Eshen also wodnered if Cerrub had watched that conference at all and if he had any opinions on the Section 31 stuff. After all, it was interesting to compare hidden ruthless and conspiratorial groups that weren't officially supposed to exist any more. "Anyway, unless there are any more details we need to sort out, I believe that's all. Thank you ever so much for your time!"

Cerrub let out a soft chuckle when Eshen spoke again. It was nice to speak with another diplomat who wasn't incompetent or terrified of him. Plus, Eshen was handsome, very handsome. He wondered how close he was with his son, but that was a question for another time. Maybe when Eshen visited Mol'Rihan he could ask. After Renakir's engagement was cancelled with Valleka, Cerrub was worried about the future of the Torre'vnau house. As it stood, Renakir was the only heir and he was a man. Romulans passed down lineage through the matriarch which put daughters more important than sons ironically enough. Romulan girlboss agenda? Definitely. "That will be all. I wish you luck, Lieutennt JG Dion. And take care of Solait," Cerrub said before the video ended.

As soon as the video call ended, Renakir opened his mouth to gasp for air. Was he really holding his breath the whole time? Definitely. "Tenakruvek, you did it! But I don't trust that interceptor. You know he covered up Valleka's murder, right? The evidence was right there, yet Valleka walks free because of him."

Dion smiled slyly, which was a very normal response to hearing someone covered up a murder. No wonder people thought he was half-Romulan sometimes. "Oh, did he? Well, that just means he's very good, then. And that's what we need to get a Reman criminal tried fairly in a Romulan court."

Renakir sighed and lifted his sunglasses so he could rub his very dry eyes. "So you're gonna talk to that reporter again? Also you're coming to Mol'Rihan? I am sure my Reman family will love you. They're... a big polycule, with my father. It's quite an interesting arrangement," Renakir said, thinking about the fact that he had many parents, technically.

Eshen nodded. "Yep, her name keeps coming up whenever Romulans are involved. As for Mol'Rihan - well, I'd like to! It's part of the plan, but also, I want to see your big bougie house and your big bougie polycule. If I have a kid, which I'd like to someday, depending on the level of commitment my partners are willing to put in, they might end up having a bunch of parents just like you."

"I wouldn't call my Reman family bougie. They're very lively, they enjoy physical contact more than other Vulcanoids, but you don't have to touch them, I never do," He explained, a little worried about his friend visiting his family. He had no doubts they would get along, but was worried about how other Romulans would view Eshen. Sure there were other Starfleet officers visiting Mol'Rihan all the time but Eshen wasn't just a dude. He was Renakir's daelhen, someone special. "And I still don't like reporters, I'd rather stay away from all that. Besides I saw the press conference, she seemed a little spacist so seeing someone like me would be.. yeaahh."

"I can navigate conversations with spacists fairly well, especially if I need something from them. You don't have to be involved. I have no issue with... Touching your Reman family, though?" Eshen said. What odd phrasing. "I certainly wasn't lavished with affection as a child; I'm hardly going to turn it away if it's offered. Now, I know you came over mainly for a haircut, but do you want to do anything else for the rest of the evening? Eat Biscae Biscuits and watch SpaceTube? I've got some more Ale." Chilling with Renakir actually sounded like a nice time.

"They like hugs, well, Tiravurik and Onusuk, Meruvix has lived around Romulans her whole life so she's less touchy. I am sure they'll love you, just tell them I have declared you Reman," He chuckled as he laid back on the sofa. "Biscuits and space tube-- and ale? Yes. Oh I like watching turbolift cleaning videos, but we don't have to watch them. Just... Nothing with too much noise unless it's opera," He told his friend, looking forward to spending the evening chilling with Eshen.

"Oh! I love Opera! Mostly Klingon Opera, though. I've written a few if you'd like to see sometime." He wondered if Romulan Operas were as bloody as Klingon Operas. Probably not. They tended to be more discreet about that kind of thing, and probably didn't end in a battle 75% of the time. Meanwhile, Klingon Operas were interesting to watch even if just for the blood and gore effects. Sometimes they weren't effects, though. "Didn't you say there was one about Tenakruvek? We could watch that one!"

"Tenakruvek opera yea, umm.. I think there's a video of it. RemanTube is not as vast as other species because most Remans or Reman historians are illiterate or focus their skills on improving their own technology than entertainment," Renakir said as he sat up and reached for the holo projector. ”I think you'll find Tenakruvek hot, he is like-- ageless. The opera depicts him coming back from the dead 5 times, it's pretty crazy. Oh also the universal translator is kinda bad with Havrannsu, but the Rihannsu and Vulcan translations are pretty accurate."

"I'd like to practice my Rihannsu! Although I have a feeling that translation might be a little biased in some places, so feel free to point it out." [D] And so they settled in to eat Biscae Biscuits and watch an Opera about Tenakruvek. Or, since it was a long-ass Opera in five acts (one for each resurrection), they watched most of the first Act until Eshen drank enough Romulan Ale to fall asleep on the sofa, mumbling something about Sexy Reman Turbo Jesus. (edited)

To: Lalisa T'Kota From: Lt. JG. Eshen K'Tann

Hello! Remember me from Surak Snacks? I've gotten promoted since then, though. I'd like to speak to you regarding Alizati Dzharok and Lun e-Kota Tr'Rylov. Name a time and place if you're interested. - Dion

To: Lt. JG Eshen K'Tann From: Lalisa T'Kota I remember you with the pretty eye make up

and I wanna see more of the Starbase, how about #butterfly-house ? - Lalisa

To:

From:

And I remember you with the silky hair! Sounds great. 1900? - Dion

To:

From:

Sure, see you there handsome! - Lalisa

As he was heading to his quarters he almost accidentally went into his neighbours room. Oh that would have been awkward. Thankfully he caught the names on the doorway before he made a complete fool of himself. 'T'LAUK | TORRE'VNAU' yep that wasn't his quarters. Nalas was still dressed in his uniform and his hair looked nice. In fact thanks to Sauk's wonderful fidget toy he was doing better in the turbolifts. That still didn't stop his anxieties over Bajor though and he remembered he would have to explain that to Eshen. He entered the room with his fidget toy in hand, excited to see his boyfriend after being apart for so long.

Eshen was sitting quite contentedly on the communal room sofa in the outfit he'd left in: iridescent waterproof leggings and crop top, epohh slippers, one metal rose stud earring and one jade gemstone stud earring, and a flower crown atop his head. He had also, however, thrown a long purple jacket with a fluffy collar over it for warmth. Usually he was very coordinated, but he kind of looked like a thrift shop today. Still looked good, though. As soon as he heard Nalas' familiar footsteps, he hopped up, rushed over to him, and gave him the big ol' hug n' kiss combo. "Nalas! I missed you so much! Did anything wild happen while I was away?"

"ESHEN!" Nalas giggled as he tossed his fidget toy aside so he could hug Eshen and give him a kiss back. As always the man looked stunning, pretty flower crown, funky slippers, and he loved the crop top. Despite constantly feeling underdressed in the other's presence, he always appreciated Esehn's efforts. The familiar hug and even the taste of the other's lips against his own, it reminded him how loved he was which was easy to forget when he spent most of the holiday working. It was like night turned to day and Eshen was the morning light beyond the break of day. "I missed you too! Well-- as you know," Nalas had his arms wrapped around Eshen's sholders, their noses barely touching as he spoke. "I was working on my project. The one that Romulan officer made the announcement about. It was the morning wood thing," His expression softened and his voice lowered. "I had a lot of help from friends so it wasnt like I was working alone. That's.,.. kinda why I didn't go to Bajor," He told his boyfriend as a cloud of regret and shame washed over his face. He was not one to chicken out easily, but Eshen could probably see Nalas was using his project to avoid seeing his mother and going to Bajor.

Eshen could tell, but he wasn't going to hold it against him. "It's okay, dear. Sometimes we take steps forward, sometimes we take them back, but you know I'm always here to help you walk, right?" Eshen said. "I don't suppose I could help you with your morning wood, could I?" He said, knowing exactly how that sounded and quietly amused that Nalas seemed not to. He leaned slightly forward and booped Nalas' nose with his before leading them back onto the sofa so they could sit down." What's that little toy you yeeted, by the way?"

"I-I know, I'm sorry," Nalas felt like a coward in front of Eshen and if it wasn't for his boyfriend's embrace he'd have his head down and shoulders slumped right about now. "And umm.. Well maybe you could help me with my morning wood! Umm... Wait," There was a slight glitter in Nalas' eyes and he code switched immediately, going back to Cardassian. "That means something dirty in standard, Eshen! I read those stories too you know!" He so hoped Eshen was good enough at Cardassian to understand him, but this was something that could not be expressed in French. He giggled and gently hit Eshen's shoulder."And it was a fidget toy, Sauk gave it to me. It helps me fight the turbolift, like some sort of weapon," He switched back to French and covered his red cheeks with his hands. He still couldn't believe Eshen would say something so naughty so boldly. But maybe that's why he was so in love; because Eshen (and Dion) were unpredictable and his whole life that seemed to be planned out from morning to night, he needed someone who was not going to hold him to some arbitrary rules or standards. (edited)

Eshen squinted for a second, trying to decipher Nalas' Cardassian words, then laughed. "What? Are you really so scandalised? You know me by now. Besides, you're the one who reads those salacious stories. The one who accuses the other of having been seen at the devil's sacrament should not point fingers, for they were also at the devil's sacrament. In other words, you're just as filthy as I am." Eshen kissed Nalas on the forehead, quickly got up and got his fidget toy for him, then sat back down with one arm around Nalas' shoulder, offering him the item. "Do let me know if you really do need help with your wood, though, and I mean that both in the scandalous way and the actually helping you with your project way. Although I probably won't be much good at the latter. I know a decent amount about plants," He said, gesturing around the room at all his potted pets, "But I'm hardly a professional." (edited)

"No way!" Nalas laughed, the corners of his eyes and the ridges on his nose bunched up as he did so. His face was definitely bright red at this point as he watched Eshen grab his fidget toy and then plop back down on the sofa with him. "Those stories aren't always dirty, some are clean," He said as he took the toy from Eshen and began to twist the little plastic pieces. "I need a lot of help with my wood," Nalas was too distracted by the soft clicking of the toy in his hands to realise what exactly he had just said. "I have most of the experimentation done but I need to practice my intro more. I also have to find a way to explain to the Bajoran scientists that I'm Nalas Za'ari and not Ratman Nalas," He said, purposefully butchering his former surname. It was partially because Aella always called him Ratman but also because he disliked the name. He didn't know Ratana and didn't wish to know him. That man was an absent father and deserved no respect. As he clicked the little fidget toy into a tight coil he realised what he had just said. His demeanour quickly changed and his eyes wideend. ".... OH and my other wood, I missed you Eshen please help me with both wood!"

Hmmm. Maybe he should get one of those fidget toys for days when he couldn't get his exercise in. He had a lot of energy to work off - always had. His folks said it was a Vulkling thing. Both species had a lot of energy. "Well, I'm good at public speaking. I could help you write the explanation into your intro. If you phrase things eloquently enough, they might understand. Perhaps it would be better if it was in Bajoran. I've been studying up on it lately." For Nalas' sake, of course. "We could get Sauk to help, too, he's as good with languages as me while also actually being a native speaker! As for the other wood, I can certainly help you with that, but, to be clear, do you mean... right now?"

"A good intro would be helpful! i tried to write one but my Bajoran is terrible. And... I was going to drop the idea to do it in Bajoran, but you're right, I think that would definitely be the best option. If anything, it'll show my dedication to the project and get my meaning across to them in their native language," Nalas said as he looked up at Eshen, his light green eyes sparkling under the lights from the room. "About the other wood-- mmm.. If you wouldn't mind," Nalas said in a soft voice as he pulled his shoulders in as it looked like he was curling into a little ball next to Eshen. "I went jogging with Cadet earlier, we climbed a tree too, I think my stamina is getting better! Just for you!"

Eshen ran a hand through Nalas' hair, warm gold eyes meeting shining green eyes that, strangely, matched one of his earrings. "Alright! I'll get in contact with Sauk. You know, if you think of it as a fun little group project, it might end up being quite fun! And since it's an intro, I can help you practise." Eshen stood up and held out a gloved hand. "Alright, to the bedroom with us, then, though you know of course I'd still like you even with terrible stamina. Actually -" Eshen scooped Nalas up and held him, bridal style. Nalas was the same height as him, but nowhere near the same weight, so he held him like he was a sack of goose feathers. "That said, I'm eager to test out your claim!"

"Group project, yeah that does sound good. I do have some stuff written," Nalas said as he gazed into his boyfriend's pretty golden eyes. Eshen's warm smile paired with the even rhythm of his voice as he spoke French was incredibly relaxing. He still found it amusing that the two of them settled on that as their official language between the two of them. The next thing he knew he was swept up in his boyfriend's arms, causing him to drop is little fidget toy. He knew he wasn't very heavy, but it always impressed him when Eshen lifted him with ease. "I won't let you down," Nalas said with a little wink and a smirk. [D] And then Nalas let Eshen carry him into the bedroom where he showed off how strong he was from climbing trees all day. Now instead of trees he got to climb Eshen, koala Nalas style.

[PADD] To: Lt. JG Eshen K'Tann From: Alizati

I have returned from shore leave. I am avaiable for a game of Kal-toh in my quarters.

[PADD] To: Lt. Cdr. Alizati Dzharok From: Alizati

Be right over, sir! -

[D] After a round of intense self-defense training (and a round of intense something else, probably), Dion and Allan were in Dion's quarters, both clothed but a little wet from the (water!) showers they'd just had. Of course, Dion didn't really sweat, since his genes were geared towards living on two hot planets (a desert one and a volcano one) wherein it was a bad idea to lose water in most circumstances, but it was still a good idea to wash oneself regularly on any planet, funnily enough. He was wearing the same iridescent leggings as before and some lace-up leather combat boots, and was relatively undecorated, as he sometimes was when he exercised (and sometimes he dressed to the nines anyway). No shirt, but his chest and back were an interesting canvas of scars, mostly slashes, that became quite textured when they crossed over. Sometimes those scars hurt more than the rest of him when his chronic pain reared its ugly head; sometimes they were oddly numb. His hands were not gloved, but they were bandaged around the knuckles. Dion was in his room, which was full of plants, some named, some not, as well as a large, fancy antique wardrobe, and paintings on the walls in the style of art nouveau and grand classical landscapes. There was also a shelf full of books Allan would never read. He was sitting on his bed, which was covered in cushions, and rummaging through the bedside table for hairdressing tools. "So how're you feeling? Did I tire you out, or are ready to take on the next bastard who tries to throw hands? Well, less take on and more deal with and then get out of there safely." Allan wasn't a Klingon; it was perfectly acceptable for him to use the age-old self-defense art of 'legging it'. (edited)

Allan was, in short, very thankful for the last few... well, he hadn't been keeping track of the time during all that intense activity, of course. He was wearing the change of clothes he'd brought - just something he'd packed into a bag in a rush before the training as a change of clothes and forgotten about, really - a loose white t-shirt with something written in red on it and some black sweatpants with red stripes down the sides, and some white converse to match. He also sat down on the bed, and had his hair in a towel still. It was weird because his hair wasn't really long enough so he didn't really need to do that, but he still didn't want to get any of Dion's things wet, especially the plants he knew Dion went through so much care to take care of and give the correct amount of water and all that. He wanted to know each of their names eventually, even the ones that had no Name Names, and the meanings of the art, and although it was true he'd never read a single one of the books on the shelf, he wanted to know what they were and why Dion enjoyed them. It seemed he wanted to know everything about Dion lately. Which was normal, of course. "Mm, tired, but I still learnt a lot, I really appreciate it, honestly. I think... I think sleep deprivation should probably be avoided in the future," he said, his brain deciding to yawn at that moment almost as if to prove a point despite the fact that he very much was not sleepy tired, just exhausted tired. "If I can, of course. 'Cause I had only about an hour's sleep before, right? But surely if I actually get enough sleep, I'll be... a lot more prepared, yeah. Couldn't hurt to have another session or two, though." He smiled over at Dion, perhaps that was just a way of saying he wanted to spend even more time with him, but he did mean it either way.

"Yeah, it's generally not a good idea for humans to stay up all night, or for Vulcanoids to stay up all week. I do enjoy that it sort of brought us together, though," Dion said, setting all his hairdressing tools on the bed between them, squeezing Allan's shoulder and letting his hand linger there. "That night was fun. And today's Mok'bara was fun! So if course we can have another session or two; it's nice to be able to share parts of my culture and myself with you." Hmmm. Getting a little too close to Hopeless Romantic Dion Mode. Cringe. Distract him. Say something sexy. "Especially in bed, obviously. Not that I only value you for that! I actually value you a lot, for many other reasons. To be honest, sometimes when I'm around you and Nalas and Aella I feel like... I can be the best version of myself, whichever myself that is. Does that make sense? Ah, probably not." No! Don't compare how you feel around him to the other two people you're dating! That's worse! You're supposed to be a man of subtlety, stop being so bloody obvious! Apparently genuine romantic feelings halved his brain cells count. He didn't even technically know if Allan reciprocated, nor did he know where they would even go from there if he did. Dion cleared his throat and picked up the scissors. "Flattery aside, do you think your hair's dry enough under that towel for me to cut it yet?"

Brought them together? They had been brought together because of shorts. Unless Dion meant Together? But that seemed pretty unlikely. Except it seemed a bit more likely when Dion continued his words and went on about valuing him a lot and feeling like the best version of himself around him and... the person he'd called his boyfriend, whatever that meant Allan still had little clue, and ... Aella? Maybe it was someone else named Aella. Surely not the same one who'd called him delightfully stupid to his face. Right? Aella was a pretty common name, after all. Regardless, the fact that he was one of only three people who made Dion feel like this was nice. "Nah, it makes sense! Me too in.. a way, but it's really just nice to learn these things about you, too, it's like everything I learn about you I.." He paused, not knowing how to finish the sentence. In fact, the only words that really came to his head as a response would have been 'fall in love with you even more', and that wasn't something he felt he could just drop right before the man took a sharp object to his head. He reached a hand up to take the towel off his head, feeling his hair to make sure it was dry enough instead of finishing his actual sentence. "I think it feels dry enough, I've never had that curly of hair so it's not... as disastrous to cut it if it's a bit damp," he said, "honestly, not even sure where I got it from. Maybe my grandfather on my mom's side, since a lot of my uncles on that side have similar hair, but my mom's - and especially my dad's hair have always been extremely curly, so." He shrugged. He had gotten what he had gotten! He'd tried curling it a few times, and it worked okay, usually. Nothing extraordinary.

Everything I learn about you I what? As Dion waited for Allan to finish the sentence, he constructed a thousand hypothetical endings to that sentence in his head and some of them made his heart jump, but then Allan never finished and is sank instead. Dion reached forward and ruffled Allan's hair, which was probably a bit fluffy from being under the towel, then out the scissors down as he realised he'd probably need to give it a comb before he cut it. "Well. I'm glad we... Enjoy knowing one another. Now get down in front of me." Dion put down the scissors and picked up the comb. "Facing away from me, of course, so I can have easy access to the top and back of your head. Speaking of hair - I get mine very much from my Klingon side, and I always try to keep it long because that's sort of a cultural thing, but would you mind helping me give it a bit of a trim after this?" (edited)

"Sure thing," Allan said, and got down facing away from him despite him surely being used to doing the opposite. He placed the towel he'd had around his neck because he was absolutely not going to deal with the weird tiny hairs that kept itching you for hours after you got your haircut until you took a shower to get them all off. "Yeah, of course," he brushed his hand through his bangs out of habit to get them out of his face, but luckily after this they'd be in his face still, but less so. Just like it'd been when he first came to the station, really, but it really made him think when he considered it had grown too much just during his time at the station. Wow! Time passes! "By the way, I finally got around to mixing the drum part for the song. Think it sounds pretty decent, definitely'll be a lot better with the rest though."

Little did Allan know that Dion's roleplayer had recently had that experience after shaving all his hair off. Life imitates art, or something. Dion ran his fingers through Allan's hair a few times to make sure it was all facing the same direction, though he just totally wanted to do that anyway. Then he started gently combing any small tangles out, of which there weren't many, so it wouldn't take long. "Oh, very good. Do you have it on your PADD? We could listen to the instrumental while I do this. It's just the vocals left, right? We really need to think of a band name soon. In fact, maybe we should do that now."

Allan couldn't help but sort of lean into Dion's hand as he ran his fingers through his hair, it certainly didn't help the relaxing feeling he got from this that he was already tired as well. After a moment, though, Dion started combing it with the comb and Allan's brain came to its normal awake state again. "I do, yeah! I've got it all intermixed right here." Allan brought up the program on his PADD that he'd mixed the tracks together on, and gestured to the screen. "And yeah, we need a name. I've been thinking about it, but it's gone as far as most of my thinking about words usually goes, which is usually just in my brain for a few seconds and gone the next. I even thought of other song ideas before thinking of a band name, it's that bad."

"Well, maybe one of the song ideas can be the band name. It's not unheard of for bands to name themselves after their early songs, as far as I know." After he tugged a few tiny tangles out, Dion put the comb down, picked up the scissors, and started snippin'. Allan didn't need too much work done on the back and sides, it was just to make sure everything was nice and even and worked well with the way the front of his hair was going to look. "What were your ideas?"

"Uh," Allan thought for a moment about the song ideas he'd come up with. "Nothing too concrete, really. Mostly melody or bassline tracks that would have to have something along with it. Thought of sampling some old logs in one of them, like I went through and found a clip of Spock saying "pure energy", thought that could be neat, maybe. Umm, some sort of song about just having a good time, like just the vibes I guess, uh... yeah, it was mostly instrumental, sorry," he said, leaving the program open on his PADD.

"Hmmm... Well... How about something to do with gods, or cults, or something we both like?" Dion said, snipping away. "I don't know, I'm trying to think of something that just screams us when you heard it. What are some things we're both passionate about? Other than... Life itself, I suppose."

"Hmm.. other than life itself and the more... probably not Starfleet-sanctioned words, uhh...." What else did they both really like? Maybe love. But that wasn't really a great band name, was it? There were other things, too, but not that Allan could think of at the moment. Maybe... "Star..fleet? Space itself? Aw, geez," Allan bit his lip, looking down at the PADD below him and then just around the room. "This is harder than I thought, honestly."

"I know, right? You'd think a person who can spontaneously think of a whole limerick in about ten seconds could think of a band name, but no. I suppose it's because it's so... Permanent. Well, I suppose there's no reason we couldn't change the name if we didn't like it, but it still wouldn't be a one-off piece of poetry. It would be our whole Brand." Dion was almost done with the back, since it hadn't needed much. "Also, since our lyrics probably aren't going to be Starfleet-sanctioned, I don't think we need to fuss about the name being family-friendly. In fact, it might be kinder to set up accurate expectations by calling ourselves the Starfleet Sluts or something." Ooo, alliteration! Dion loved alliteration. "Or maybe that's copyrighted. Star Sluts. Space Sluts. Starlots. You know, if you gave me any word I'm sure I could think of a bunch of additional alliterative words for it. Ha! Did it again."

"Yeah, it would be," Allan agreed. It wouldn't be permanent, but it would be... everyone would Remember That. It was sort of similar to the reason he had so much trouble officially defining this relationship, maybe. It wouldn't have to be permanent, but... the memory would be. The words he'd say would be. "That's true, we-" He was going to say something maybe but he simply burts into laughter when Dion suggested the name Starfleet Sluts. "I- Oh my God, Dion-" he said as Dion only continued to go on with these names, and his ability to control his words lessened as he laughed. He really tried to not laugh too hard, though, or at least he tried to keep his head still so Dion wouldn't mess up the haircut. "Sorry, I -" He caught up to take a deep breath. "You... you know that's really cute, right?" Why did he say that? Why couldn't he just have said hot? Or sexy? Or any other word he normally chose? Whatever.

Dion stopped cutting, blushing a little. Did Allan usually call him that? Did anyone? Handsome, gorgeous, pretty, words he usually preferred... But he certainly didn't mind the sound of the word, coming from Allan. "What's cute? My alliteration? That I said the word slut? True, I suppose I'm usually a little less crude than that, but -" Dion got down from the bed and kneeled in front of Allan so that he could start on his bangs, but now that he was in a good place to do it he gave Allan a peck on the lips. "You're a terrible influence, I suppose." (edited)

Allan kissed him back, reaching a hand up to touch Dion's cheek when he did so. "Am I?" He asked with a smile, putting his hand back down on his side but just looking into Dion's eyes for a moment. "The alliter... not the alliteration itself, but the ... your... your enthusiasm for it. The way I'm sure your eyes lit up when you were talking about it, the way you got so confident in yourself - it's... really cute." And as he finished that sentence, he realized that this was one of many things he loved about Dion.

"...Oh," Dion said after a pause, kneeling with scissors in his hand but completely forgetting what he was just doing because his brain was busy drawing parallels between this and the realisation he'd had in the pool and what it could all possibly mean and if maybe Allan felt the same - "Well, I... I really like how you don't know big words sometimes because you don't read all the fancy books that I do, but I also like when you talk about programming and engineering and use words I don't know because you're incredibly intelligent. That's... That's cute." It felt like they so close to saying something unsaid. It had felt like that for a while, actually. The words Dion wanted to say were three fairly simple ones. Unfortunately, he was far too eloquent to say simple things.

"You... you do?" Allan asked, as if it seemed out of the question for Dion to like those things about him when he felt the same way about so many things about Dion. "Huh. I guess we both..." He looked at Dion carefully, almost as if to analyze the look in his eyes, as if to tell if he should say what he also wanted to say, and if he should say it now or in five minutes or an hour or - and then the instinctual need to brush his hair away from his eyes came - because how would he be able to look into Dion's eyes otherwise - and he reached up his hand to do so.

Allan brushed his hair out of his eyes with his hand, which Dion was suddenly very aware was bare, which of course it was, it always was, because Allan was a human and it didn't have the same connotations, and that reminded him of what he was supposed to be doing, but just as he realised that he became thoroughly aware that he was reaching towards Allan's hand (it was beautiful and soft-palmed and harder at the tips of the fingers from playing bass and the nails still had chipped polish on them from the last time Dion had painted them for him) with his bare one and at some point he'd dropped the scissors and both his own hands were shaking and - He pulled his hand to his chest abruptly, a closed fist in front of his hearts. "Allan, I... I..."

04:23

But what was he trying to say? And why were his hands shaking? And that's when it hit him how overwhelmed he was, with both bad emotions and good ones (and pain, because there was always pain, and he was so fucking tired of pain). Aella, Nalas, Allan - he'd gone from being unable to love to having so much love he had no idea what to do with it all. And then as he thought that, his doubts and uncertainty about his and Allan's feelings returned - what if it was all a lie, and what if it wasn't, and how would it all end? The thing about him was he had much more emotional capacity than most Vulcans, but he was still a follower of Surak and still had a capacity that was smaller than most humans, above which he had no experience of how to handle. For example, he rarely ever cried except for once around Aella and Adill, and yet sitting here almost saying and doing emotionally scandalous things he honestly felt like he wanted to sob all his overwhelming emotions out - and the last time he'd pushed himself above his emotional capacity with Nalas, when they'd first kissed, he'd literally fainted because that had been his brain's last defense against feeling things, so that didn't bode well for the next few minutes. "I..." Some valiant part of him was still actively fighting against his own repression to finally say what he wanted to say. Unfortunately, it did not win, and all he managed to choke out was a small and pathetic, "I-I'm so confused," as he tried his best to breath in and out slowly and steadily, but shakily, his eyes shinier than usual.

Allan noticed at first that Dion reached for his hand, and then subsequently noticed that Dion pulled the same hand he had been reaching out to his chest and was about to say something. And his hands were.. shaking? Allan's look changed from one that was more light to one that was a little more concerned, and it reminded him a bit of when they had been in Renakir's pool. When they'd been in Renakir's pool and Dion had kissed him and then stared at him for such a long time before saying he had a headache, and Allan had no reason not to believe that he had a headache and for all he knew it could have been an actual headache but also a... a what, though? Maybe something about these moments made Dion feel unwell? Should Allan be aware of that? Was he doing something he shouldn't have been? It didn't help, certainly, when Allan had been staring so directly into Dion's eyes again and noticed ... were those tears forming? Or was there something in the air? "Hey, hey," He looked at Dion, taking a deep breath as he shifted from sitting with his legs crossed to sitting with his knees bent so that his feet were behind him. Allan looked down for a moment as he placed a hand on Dion's knee, before brushing his bangs out of his eyes once again to look up at Dion. "That's okay," he spoke softly, still looking very concerned, but he wanted to make sure Dion knew that it was okay to be confused. It was okay to not know all the answers. It was okay to... "Are you okay? Your hands are ... your hands are shaking. We can... do you need anything?" Just an overwhelming part of him wanted nothing but for Dion to be okay in this moment, to provide anything and everything he needed.

Did he need anything? God, probably, but who knows what? Dion - Eshen, really, looked down at his shaking hands, breathing slowly and deeply. He'd never had a panic attack before and he wasn't about to start now. "I need... To stop feeling... So much all the time. About..." Aella. Nalas. "...You. Even if they're good emotions, they're so strong... they hurt." He had no idea if that made any sense, but Allan had dated a Vulcan once before, right? He'd know that underneath all that Surak, Vulcans were incredibly emotionally volatile, and even as a hybrid Eshen had not been spared of this at all. In fact, for various reasons, they might even be worse. Good feelings or bad feelings, when he felt them too much and too suddenly, were almost like an emotional sensory overload. "It's so... Sisyphean controlling them all the time. I'm... Tired." Of course even in his current state, where he was speaking slowly because he was having trouble putting words together, he'd still be able to say the word 'sisyphean'. He took a deep breath to gather his thoughts. "And that's not just it. There are so many things I want to express to you but I just can't, because I l -" Eshen covered his own mouth, like he did sometimes when he was laughing too loud or when he tried to sing but couldn't, and made a sound between a strangled choke and a sob. You'd think saying it once to Aella would help here, but that had taken months and months of self-analysis and working up the guts and he hadn't known Allan as long. "I like you so much, I don't want to mess everything up."

Ah. So he was right, in a way, these moments... these good emotions, they hurt. It made as much sense as it could to Allan, he knew it... made sense. He knew it was a thing, more or less, across most Vulcans and he figured Eshen was included in that factor. T'alea had told him something similar once; she'd phrased it much differently, but it was still the same relative concept - too many emotions too fast was overpowering. "Cis of free and..." he whispered to himself mostly, but these men were so close to eachother at this point they could surely hear anything the other said. Allan gave up on trying to say the word Eshen had said and instead focused on what it meant - something that made the controlling of those emotions make him feel tired. Okay, that didn't help. But then Eshen followed up with saying... 'There are so many things I want to express to you but I just can't'. And followed that with an 'I like you so much', and Allan couldn't help but feel some tears come to his own eyes too. In fact, he did start crying, the tears rolling down his cheeks as he tried his hardest to keep a straight composure still. But God, nothing about this was straight at all. "Eshen?" He asked softly, and upon any sound of affirmation from Eshen, Allan sighed, shook his head, smiling as the tears continued but he looked to the side and then back at Eshen. "Eshen, you... I'm not going to tell you that you can't or won't mess something up, because ... we all do. We fuck shit up sometimes, that's just part of being alive. But I do want to tell you that just the odds alone of messing everything up are.. astronomically low, especially with me," he gave a small squeeze with the hand on Eshen's knee, "and... I 'like you so much' too, if that's what we're going with." But the look in his eyes said so much more than that.

Eshen was doing his darnedest not to cry, and he managed it all the way until Allan was done talking, and then he said, "Cis... Cis of free and..." And then laughed too much a little too long until, at some point, laughs turned to sobs and he'd buried his face into Allan's chest getting his shirt wet, if he would let him. After some time had passed and Allan's shirt was sufficiently drenched, Eshen quietened down, just trying to catch his breath a bit and really digest what Allan had said. 'I like you so much too'. Did that mean what he thought it meant? Damn his own ambiguity. Damn the ambiguity of all of this. Eshen sniffed and then mumbled into Allan's chest, "Allan, I want to... Ruin our friendship." Funny way of saying you want to date someone. "In a good way." There was more he wanted to say, about his concerns that he might just be lying to himself (as though Allan wasn't one of the people he was most honest around), about wanting Allan to understand him, but the articulate Eshen was lost for words at the moment. It occurred to him suddenly that there was a very obvious solution to all this, but... "Sometimes I wish we could just mind meld and you would be able to understand what I'm trying to say... but I have chronic pain and I'm worried you would end up feeling that, too."

Allan laughed with him for a moment. It was easy to forget in the bouts of laughter - everything, for a moment, was all in one place and it was light, but moments later Eshen was sobbing into his chest and that was somehow equally just as fine. Allan wrapped his arms around him, holding the other there with him for what felt like an eternity as he felt his own shirt get soaked, but that was more than okay. He was used to it - in other contexts, of course, but that didn't make it much different. In fact, he was still holding him when Eshen spoke again. "Ruin?" In a good way, Eshen had clarified, but Allan still smiled down at the other. "I mean.. you could phrase it that way, sure, but in my mind.. and mind me, this might just be me being an engineer or something, but I think of it more as... an upgrade?" He chuckled, not sure if that made any sense, but continued nonetheless. "I mean, in English the word 'boyfriend' is still... it's still got the word friend in there for some reason," He knew nothing about etymology, but he could try to sound like he did at least. When Eshen mentioned the possibility of a mind meld. The smile fell from his face for a moment, due to things that T'alea had experienced, and felt, and that he had - also, to a degree, when she did the same, but he smiled again when he realized the reason he'd done that in the first place with her, and the reason he'd be willing to do that with Eshen, regardless of the things that came with it. "You could if you wanted," he spoke after a minute of thinking about it, "the way I see it... experiencing that sort of thing, that sort of pain, even for... for such a small moment, to understand you, and what you feel every day, it's... it's a good deal, on my end," he said sincerely, "and, um... as I - well, I didn't say it earlier, actually, because I was ... also afraid, I guess, just a bit, but..." Yikes. Admitting he was ever afraid? That was hard. Oof.

17:16

"I meant to say that the more I learn about you, the more I fall in love with you."

Ah. Well, that was pretty unambiguous. Eshen sat up and rubbed his green-rimmed eyes, face flushed just as green from the effort of crying and because the mere concept of what he'd just suggested was even more intimate than holding hands, but it was the only way he could possibly communicate his feelings - it was the only way he'd be able to say 'I love you' in return. All he could give him right now was a tender kiss, head-bump, and then hold one of his wrists, a sequence of gestures that had come to kind of mean 'I love you' in their language. "...Thank you," Eshen said, "For saying that, Allan. I'm sorry I can't say the things I want to properly, but an upgrade... Sounds nice to me, I mean, if you still want to do that after this. I want to be clear, though; even though we're no strangers to consensual pain, it's... A lot. I'll try to keep my guards up enough that you won't experience all of it, but I need you to know what you're in for." Eshen rested both his palms on Allan's chest and looked away, sniffling a bit. "Also, the only other times I've ever done this is with my Sa'mekh and with someone I was nearly betrothed to once, so... Maybe we should... Have a word and if either of us say it, we both try to un-meld? The one we usually use?" His was 'haberdashery'. That Allan had more experience than him doing mind melds in situations like this was helpful, but also kind of ironic, because you'd think it would be the Vulcan, but nope.

Allan, of course, returned the kiss, the head-bump in his own sort of nudging way, and with the hand of the wrist Eshen was holding, held Eshen's wrist as well as he listened to him talk. "You definitely don't have to apologize for not having the words," Allan said with a small laugh, usually it was him who couldn't say things he wanted to properly, and that was okay. "Don't... don't feel like you have to try too hard to keep the guards up, either, what it is is what it is, and that's... yeah," he nodded slowly, "we can use the same words we usually use." His own was typically 'transwarp'. It was just his luck, really, that he'd had that experience with mind melding and luck in general that had landed him on a first posting so close to Vulcan that it was mainly full of, well, Vulcans or older humans who found their company delightful as they played bingo and / or Kal-toh on a Saturday night. But they did say that every experience was for the better, and Allan definitely found that true - every experience, every single one contributed to either bettering himself as a person or to understand other people better in the future, and that's really what he was about to do, was to understand Eshen better - for a multitude of reasons, really.

Eshen nodded. "Alright. And I swear, I'll finish your haircut after this. Okay, er... Close your eyes." Eshen (reluctantly) released his wrists from Allan's grip so he could put his fingertips on Allan's face in the specified points through which telepathic waves were best conducted (or however the science behind mind melding works), then chanted, "My mind to your mind, my thoughts to your thoughts..." And then the first thing Allan would feel was pain, like sunburn all over his body, as though he were standing under the midday Vulcan desert sun. Perhaps Allan might recognise a similar feeling from T'alea, if he'd ever seen memories of her Kahs-Wahn. Then he would feel exactly how Eshen felt about him - specifically, what he'd realised at the pool (and the memory of the water against his skin would bring some relief from the pain of the sun), the adoration and affection when he did something very Allan, then the subsequent doubt and confusion that accompanied it, and that he'd experienced later on with Alizati: That he was worried Allan might not understand him or accept him as who he was right now, someone whose sense of self was something fluid like water as opposed to what he assumed was Allan's fairly solid identity, and the twofold problem of being afraid nobody would love him unless they saw him, and once they saw him they would not love him, or keep loving him, and then one day, one way or another, that love would inevitably end. And then there was the Allan-specific problem that their relationship was inherently kind of ambiguous, because they were both in love with the world and one another as part of that world, but it was hard to determine whether they loved one another as individuals, which intersected with Eshen's fear of misinterpreting his own feelings and lying to Allan or stringing him along. *Essentially, the details of the crisis he'd been having over the last few weeks regarding his feelings about Allan would be beamed

21:02

into his head in a matter of seconds. But above all, through everything, there was an undercurrent of love: it had started the day they first met, a seed (in the shape of a pair of shorts) planted when they first met, that started to grow when they played guitar and talked about identity at the sleepover, and when they smashed things in the speakeasy, and Eshen had wanted Allan to hold his hand very badly but didn't understand why back then, and then bloomed at the pool, and remained here still. It was a rose, of course.* I love you, said two voices, and the whisper of a third.

Allan's eyes fluttered shut as he was instructed to close them, and he took a deep breath as Eshen's fingertips touched his face. Somehow, after everything they'd ever done, that simple touch felt more intimate than he thought it would have. The pain was similar, recognizable, but not familiar. It wasn't easy to think through. But the memory of the water did in fact help, the same memory that was also so fresh in Allan's mind, of them being in the water and him not understanding the word 'iridescent' or as he'd said it, 'irideshen', almost as a play on the other's name, and the way that Dion had stared at him with that look that now... he was now understanding. While his own feelings in that moment had been mostly light and affectionate and loving all the same, the doubt and confusion Dion had had was easier to understand this way. And speaking of Dion, the subject of the sense of self. Allan understood that as much as he felt he could, but if there was anything Eshen may have been able to read other than the swirling feelings, the same sort of undercurrent of love and passion and care - it was Allan's genuine passion for learning and understanding everything there was to know about Dion, and Eshen, both as individuals and as a whole, whoever that was, and his curiosity in general, of course. Additionally, somehow Allan was in love with the world and of course he was part of it, and part of that love, but perhaps Allan wouldn't have thought of the words directly, but in some sort of picturesque form, much like the shorts-shaped seed, Eshen wasn't just part of that world. He wasn't even in Allan's world, nor was he the world, but instead some sort of universe. A universe that Allan wanted nothing more but to explore and understand. Every bit of Eshen was like the planets, and the stars, and Allan wanted to learn all of their names and what they did and how they mattered to the universe. 777_divider

22:13

A universe that Allan loved so deeply, and a universe, somehow, with two hands that he desired so often to hold. I love you, too.

He'd never imagined himself as a universe before. He thought of himself as either a hollow thief of others' personalities, or as an unstable non-newtonian fluid, never as something that contained vast and beautiful multitudes. It was flattering on a deeply psychological level. Allan would feel warmth suddenly - the feeling of a hug, and of gratitude. It was also (third) eye-opening to experience love from the perspective of someone who had a much better personal understanding of it than he did - sure, people came to Eshen for advice on relationships and he was good at giving it, and he studied the greek concepts of love and others all around the world, and he read and wrote romance novels in the hundreds, but external research was very different from internal experience. He spent a few more moments with Allan going through foggy flashes of memories of the two of them, mostly images and dialogue - some sad, some sweet, some spicy (and wow, was experiencing attraction while in the depths of his and Allan's joined mindscape a bizarre but certainly not unpleasant experience) until the pain for the both of them increased to the point where he thought it'd probably be better to get them both out sooner than later, which would be a thought Allan would know of as soon as Eshen thought it, so perhaps they'd think both 'haberdashery' and 'transwarp' at the same time. The feeling of the exit would be like coming up from water, and Eshen let go of Allan's face and fell backwards, gasping for breath, because that was quite possibly the most intimate thing they'd ever done. Not that he hadn't enjoyed it - in fact, there was a lingering feeling of closeness that made him want to sit up again and either hold Allan as closely as possible and/or do various other close contact things just in an attempt to reclaim that feeling again, which he might, depending on whether or not he felt he had the energy in the next five minutes after all that, and if Allan did. "F-fuck,

23:04

Allan."

It truly was like coming up from water, a feeling that Allan could easily confirm. It felt like the moments when surfing when you were wiped out from time to time, and usually you got right back up but occasionally there were the times where you went too far under, and you had to hold your breath for longer than you'd intended to as you take a moment to look around the crashing waves from below, and it's a beautiful sight but then you realize you need to breathe for air, and then you came back up, salt stinging your lungs, but the adrenaline still coursing through your veins. As his eyes opened and he watched Eshen go in the direction of the wall behind him he instinctively reached out to catch him, but upon realizing there was enough distance between the wall and Eshen he let out a somewhat shaky laugh and smiled. "Yeah, Eshen?" He asked, as if for clarification of what Eshen was trying to say, as if he didn't just go through the same exact experience. Allan grabbed Eshen's wrist with one hand and with the other, moved it more to a place on the floor that was more in front of him so he could be leaning over the other. Was his hair getting in his face? Sure, but that was solved by tilting his head to the side as that stupid little smirk of his came back into play, except now it had that undercurrent of that loving feeling in his eyes to accompany it. "Are we still going with The Starlots, or...?"

Was this how Allan felt in the elevator? Or that one time he'd said he liked Allan like this? He wondered if Allan liked him like this, on the floor under him, flustered and full of love (much like Allan, you could read it in his eyes) and vulnerable, unable to say anything except, "You can call me whatever you want," Which was not Allan's question at all, but also seemed appropriate since he'd usually ask Allan to call him either Eshen or Dion and right now Allan had just seen and been so much of both it didn't feel significant which one he called him right now, really. He didn't make a habit of begging, but he reached up one hand to cup Allan's cheek and moved his other so that Allan wasn't holding his wrist, but holding his hand, and said, "Allan, I love you, please," Hoping that the mind meld had attuned them to one another enough that Allan could tell what he wanted - not that they hadn't always been very attuned to one another, which was one of the many, many, many reasons he loved him, of course. By Surak and Kah'less, this was supposed to be a haircut!

Ah, yes. The elevator. And the several times he'd said he liked Allan like this, and the truth was, Allan didn't like Eshen like this. He loved him like this. "Soooo... is that a yes, or...? 'Cause..." Allan teased, although when he felt Eshen's hand in his own, for the first time, and certainly not the last and he just held it right back, his smirk turned into such a sweet little grin and he felt his eyes get a little wet, "Are you - yes, oh my God, I love you too," he said, and that's when he started kissing him! [D] And, of course, much more, and these exchanges had always had love intertwined within them, more or less, at least on Allan's end - but this time was still so much different now that they both were aware of the love between them. After that, however long that took them, he'd finally gotten that haircut, and of course, made that huge step of singing their song together, in more ways than one, and mixed it together. And then, you know, general party planning and what not, and Allan probably took a selfie of them at one point after they'd sung said song to post the party invite, which would appear in #announcement-messages shortly, because Allan, while having the ability to do so would not be hacking the comms again to make another announcement.

To: Eshen From: Mr. Sunshine

Hey, seems like there's a personality-changing virus going on. I caught it so I'm confined to quarters. I'm kinda sick of replicator food, would you be willing to bring me some real food? Baguettes and wine sound good, I don't really want Romulan ale right now. Thanks! -

To: Mr. Sunshine From: Mr. Brightside

I'll leave some hot fresh baguettes and some Vulcan Rosé outside your door. Want anything else? Charcuterie items? We could also video chat a bit if you want something to do stuck in there. -