Star Trek: Starbase 777 - ceo：lt-cdr-dzharok﹢men

[D] After what was a rather eventful first few days at work, Alizati had his first day off. Days off were illogical to him who did not need to sleep or 'relax', not in the organic sense anyway. He usually spent his days off working or studying. Today he was going to be meeting a rather peculiar Vulcan-raised Orion in the mess hall. He wasn't going to work, but he wore his uniform anyway so he didn't waste time picking a casual outfit. He had to get to the mess hall before Remun. He needed to order his bio-lubricant subtly after all. He grabbed his PADD and headed out the door.

After a rather eventful day he was finally back in his quarters. It was still strange to have a room to himself. A whole room to himself. There was a bed, a replicator, a sofa, hell he even had a closet. Without wasting another second he changed into his new shorts, they were comfortable and he loved feeling the breeze between his knees. He would never tell anyone, but if the shorts did become a standard uniform option he would consider wearing them on duty. Not that he actually would, but he would consider it. Alizzati's quarters were not as plain as one would think a Vulcan's quarters would be. He had a Kal-toh board on his table along with a candle for meditation. His furniture was neatly arranged just as OPS had set it up before he moved in. Two single-seat sofas and one two-seater was the standard for the living area. Bir, Ikki, and Yuch, Alizati's three-headed white furby occupied one of the single-seaters, just staring off into the distance. His quarters were his private space and the furby was harmless. He also had a very modest collection of retro tech on his shelves, mostly pieces of microwaves or roombas. At his work station in his quarters was a tall machine with some wires hanging out, it was for self maintenance. Whilst some organic beings had book nooks or relaxation spaces, Alizati had his work station where he could simply sit and vibe as he downloaded all the latest news from the station and Starfleet in general. It was his equivalent to watching the news.

06:43

And next was his bedroom. A very strange thing for him, his bed was still in perfect condition, he had not slept in it since his arrival. It almost felt wrong to do so, not only would he mess up the perfect sheets but there was something else he couldn't quite pinpoint. Whilst most organic beings would probably head to the bedroom, Alizati headed to his work station and grabbed two of the wires and clipped them onto his pointer fingers. It was a bit of a strange way to transfer data, but his mother thought it would be less awkward than engineering ports or outlets on his body. He stood against the wall and closed his eyes to enter his dream-like state. No bed, no laying down, just standing up with his eyes closed.

After a total of three hours, forty seven minutes, and six seconds, Alizati had fully downloaded all of the latest news from the station and Starfleet official news channel. He opened his eyes and unclipped himself from the machine. It was his day off, but the difference was this time he was actually going to use his day off for something that wasn't working. Well, not official business anyway. He had to finish his updates on his own internal programme. Alizati grabbed his PADD and a small device that looked like a laptop and headed out of his quarters.

[PADD] To: Lt. Cdr. Alizati Dzharok @Alizati┊Aella┊Nalas┊Renakir From: Lt. JG. Adill Rik’Mut

Greetings, Lt. Commander. I am contacting you due to a civilian on this station. His name is Two of Thirteen, and he is a liberated borg drone. During his check-up, I have noticed several holes in his implants. He was hesitant to talk to me, and since I am no engineer, I believed it best to let you take a look at the situation. I will forward you Two of Thirteen’s contact information and I would be grateful if you could speak to him about his implants. I am unfit to determine whether those implants are all functioning correctly, but I am sure you will be the right person for the job. — Doctor Rik’Mut

[PADD] To: Lt. JG Adill Rik'Mut From: Lt. Cdr. Alizati Dzharok

Thank you for bringing this matter to me, Lieutenant. I will speak with him directly about this matter.

He arrived in his quarters with exactly four hours before his next shift. He gave a nod to his three headed furby sitting on one of his sofas and headed into his bedroom. It was bare, the bed completely unused. It was just as OPS had arranged it, not a single piece of furniture out of place. Despite the plain-ness of his quarters, Alizati actually had quite a bit of personal belongings. 63 unique (and ugly) hawaiin shirts and 42 bucket hats, all which were neatly organized in his closet. They clothes were arranged in rainbow order, extremely satisfying. On his bed sat a single pink alpaca plushie. She was a gift from one of his father's friends at Daystrom Institute. He didn't know why he kept the pink paca around, perhaps because in some way she reminded him of 'home'. Alizati was in his bedroom for a reason this time. He walked over to his closet to change into his lounge attire. He was expecting a visitor, but Two was a civilian and he also thought the former drone would be more comfortable if he were out of uniform. Alizati put on his new Starfleet Shorts™️ and a pink hawaiin shirt with green leaves and blue flowers. No bucket hat though, he didn't want to risk having hat hair later on.

Two knocked on the door. Where you supposed to walk on these doors? Or was there another way to announce your presence? He was carrying a large box, sealed and purposefully opaque. His little laser implant thing was currently on, and he was looking up and down the corridor as if he expected something to happen.

As soon as he heard the knock, Alizati made his way to the door and pressed the button to open it. Just as he expected, it was Two of Thirteen. Despite dressed awfully casually, Alizati still had the typical tense Vulcan aura around him. The vibrant pink hawaiin shirt mixed with his ash blue hair made him look like a Vulcan teen on summer holiday. He stepped to the side to allow Two to come into his quarters, the former drone was officially his first visitor. "Please come in," He said in his usual Vulcan monotone. The room looked pretty standard, save for the three headed hydra Furby on the sofa and a console full of wires in place of his work station.

"W̴͋̉e̷̔͘l̶̛̆c̵͊͝o̸̓͋m̴͌͆e̴̓̓" The thre-headed furby said in unison with all three heads turning to look at Two.

Alizati kept a straight face this whole time as if there was nothing wrong with this scene.

He didn’t seem at all concerned by the three-headed furby, for all he knew everyone had one of those “Thank you for letting me come, I hope I haven’t caused any inconvenience…” He gently put the box down by the door, careful not to damage what was inside.

"It is not an inconvenience at all," Alizati took a step closer to Two, trying to get a better look at the boy's implants. He remembered what the Klingon doctor had said and indeed he could see some holes. Working with former drones was always difficult because the technology overlapped so much with medical. Alizati furrowed his brows ever so slightly and his lips formed a tiny frown. "Can you tell me what you know about those holes in your implants?" He asked, wanting to seek information before making any assumptions. It was only logical after all.

”Those pieces were…. Removed… And some of those bigger holes are missing implants, as in not just pieces.” Two responded, rubbing his thumb against his index finger. Hm, he was able to say that strangely casually for something that caused him stress, then again that wasn’t much detail so perhaps that was why?

"Can you show me where the holes are specifically? I believe I can see them, but every liberated borg has different physiology. Do not worry, I will not touch you without consent," Alizati said, holding both his hands behind his back. It was quite relaxing to be able to work without needing to remember to breathe or blink. For the first time in what felt like eons, he was able to just work how he wanted to and be his best android self.

He pointed out the general area of each, although it may have been somewhat off due to the issue being inside of him. Good, not questions yet…. Wait, would that make this perfectly normal then? “Yeah…. Theres kind of a large amount of missing implants…”

Alizati took note of each of the locations of the missing implants and then stepped back to look over Two again. Whilst most engineers would probably circle around their subject, that was something he would never do. It was clear in his cautious movements that he was being careful not to overstep boundaries. "May I ask if you brought the missing implants with you?" Alizati looked towards the box that Two had put by the door and raised an eyebrow.

”Uh yes, well, all the removed implants are in there, although some of them are external pieces like some of the cables and stuff…” Two had been keeping all those implants in that box ever since they were removed, apart from the subspace transceiver, that was destroyed long ago. Two put Puff beside the furby, maybe they could chat or something?

"H̵͐̆e̶̓͑l̴͗̅l̵̍͆ö̶̿ ̶̈́n̸̂̅e̷̛̒ŵ̴̈́ ̶̃̾f̶͌͊ŕ̴͆i̸͉͐ē̶͌n̷͐̇d̵̓͝" The three-headed furby greeted the small Tribble, speaking in ubison. The three heads all curved in different directions so they were surrounding the Tribble.

Alizati seemed none the wiser to the scene unfolding between the Tribble and his long furby. The Vulcan walked over to the box and picked it up with ease and then placing it on the coffee table in the middle of the room. "May I examine the pieces inside?" He opened the box and then turned to Two. Even though the parts were not connected to Two anymore, it was still a part of him. Just like Alizati would feel uncomfortable with strangers touching his mechanical parts, he would show the same respect towards this liberated borg.

”It’s fine… Just please don’t damage or break anything…” Two watched him closely, just in case he wasn’t careful. Puff squeaked at the furby, and then started making small barely audible cooing noises to make more sense of what the thing talkinh to them was, as tribbles did see with echolocation after all.

"I will be careful," Alizati reassured him as he cautiously lifted one of the pieces out of the box. He thoroughly examined each piece one by one, his eyes scanning each one as he picked it up. There was mild vibration from his eyes as they kept focusing and zooming in on the mechanical parts. Perhaps if Two was perceptive enough he would hear a soft click whenever Alizati moved his arms to grab one of the items from the box. A soft whirl and beep came from the sofa, causing Alizati to put the piece in his hands down and turn his attention to Puff and his furby. "I apologise for them. Their names are Bir, Ikki, and Yuch. If they are distressing your Tribble I can silence them," He said with his eyes fixed on his furby who seemed to be very intrigued by the soft puff ball. Fuzzy puff ball conspiracy in the making? Maybe.

Two looked at the furby(ies?) and Puff, unconcerned “Oh, it’s okay, Puff is just communicating.” Two took a slight pause before asking, since saying one thing after another after another could apparently become confusing, his voice a bit slow, so he was most likely choosing his words carefully “I… Don’t think it’d be all too safe to put most of implants back in…. Due to my already…. Uh… stressing appearance for some…. As much as the advantages of returning all of them back to their original state outweigh the disadvantages, i do not want to be the cause for concern.” Puff let out another squeak, moving a bit closer to Bir, Ikki, and Yuch.

"I see," Was Alizati's only comment about the Tribble to Furby communication going on. The three headed furby continued to speak in cursed speech to the Tribble, but from the looks of things there was nothing to be concerned about. The Vulcan engineer turned his attention back to the task at hand and carefully picked up one of the implants. Two's next words made Alizati pause for a moment, the three headed furby reacted the same way with all three heads growing still and looking at Two. It was as if the furby and Alizati were connected somehow in some weird hive mind. "Appearance aside, do you wish to have them put back in?"

Two felt he could tell the android, as after all he was a cybernetic being, so it wasn’t like he’d find it weird, probably “Truthfully…. I would much rather have my implants back, without them I lack the efficiency i used to have….” Two realized he still had his laser implant on, and turned it off, completely forgetting that androids probably don’t get headaches or eye damage. Puff was making a lot more sounds now, almost like a conversation, which didn’t really surprise Two, who already thought Tribbles were very intelligent creatures.

The hesitency in the other's voice pointed to a bit of separation anxiety from the collective, which was understandable. It was rare to find a drone who did not feel some sort of loss or stress after liberation. Alizati did not react when the other turned off his laser implant, the light did not bother him in the slightest. They were in his quarters after all and if there ever a safe space for cybernetic beings it was here. Despite his cold and harsh stare and calculated motions, it was clear the android was here to help. "Machine effeciency, perfection, that is what the Borg strive for," Alizati recited the Borg code perfectly, as if he were Borg himself. "But there is charm in individuality. One that does not exist in the collective," The three headed furby began to make purring noises just like the Tribble, but this didn't seem to distract Alizati at all. "May I ask, do you have a job on this station, Two of Thirteen?"

”Yes… I do, I work at Delta Delights…” Two responded, quite glad that Alizati understood why efficiency was important to him. Being around an android seemed much easier then being around biological beings, in many ways they were just more alike. Puff seemed happy by this and moved towards the furby so that they were right beside it. It seemed the tribble had made a friend.

He looked at the former drone with curiousity when the other answered. He knew many civilians held jobs on the station, in fact most people held some sort of job or duty. There was no evidence of the android's shock on his face though, just a cold stare. "Delta Delights, a store selling items from the Delta Quadrant," Alizati stated, recalling the store description from his memory. "Do you enjoy working there?"

”Yes, it is a rather enjoyable position, although my skillset does not offer much aid unfortunately…. Ik’ala is a good friend, probably one of the people i trust the most on this base….” Two himself still found it weird that he got a job in a delta quadrant store, then again Two was technically a part of the delta quadrant himself, so maybe that helped? Then again Ik’ala was just a kind person, if you didn’t put your hands on your hips Puff let out a somewhat commanding squeak this time, following by louder purrs, hopefully they weren’t planning galactic conquest or something

Alizati still did not show any concern towards the peanut gallery behind them. Bir, Ikki, and Yuch, were well trained and they were still very much a prototype. He kept his attention on Two, staring at the boy. "Working at a shop requires a charming personality. Wouldn't you agree? And thus would it not be more effecient to work on becoming the best individual you can be in order to perform your duties better?" He asked, making note of the shopkeeper's name. Ik'ala, now that was a name he could not pinpoint to any species, perhaps he would have to investigate for himself later.

”Unfortunately personality is not one of my strong suits, I can’t even speak with emotion in my voice, let alone be charming, whatever that means” Two hoped this didn’t make it sound like he wasn’t liking his job. He was grateful for it, but he wished his skills could increase efficiency, but if anything he felt more like a liability. Puff was simply purring now, seemingly done with conversing for a bit.

"It seems like in order to be more effecient the logical step would be to continue working towards individuality," Alizati walked back over to the box of implants and held up one of the pieces for Two to see. "These implants take that individuality away so I conclude it is only logical that, unless you are in any pain, you remain as you are. In your current state, you are the most effecient you can be," He delivered his words in textbook perfect Vulcan monotone. It was his way of saying, 'you are enough as you are', but in a Vulcan way.

He shook his head, secretly a bit saddened by this “It is not that implants that make me individual, but my actions, even if i have those implants back in i’ll still be an individual, although i’ll be a bit more efficient then before.” Despite considering himself one of the worlds worst people at being an individual, he felt that he should defend himself? Also his brain was practically screaming this whole time with so many implants missing, so it’d be much better to be back to normal…. Ignoring the fact that normal was technically *before he was ever borg.*

"I will tell the Klingon doctor that there is nothing to worry about in regards to your missing implants," Alizati put the piece back into the box and walked back over to Two. He was cautious to keep his distance though, as always. He his eyes scanned the boy from head to toe once again, trying to assess if there was any further concerns mechanically. Unfortunately, Alizati was no counselor. In fact, he would probably be the worst counselor. With empathy not even in his dictionary and a gaze colder than a winter night on the planet Remus, there wasn't much in terms of comforting he could do. Towering nearly a foot above Two, he knelt down so he could be eye level with the boy. "If you would like, I can create pieces to fill in the holes if it would make you more comfortable. Unlike your real implants, they would purely be aesthetic, but they could be removed safely by yourself without needing an engineer," Perhaps that was a good middle ground. Two wanted his implants back, but that was dangerous. But at the same time Alizati could not ignore the stress it was causing the young man. Bir, Ikki, and Yuch, coo'ed softly in response to Alizati's words, as if they were supporting him.

”Well…. The O’Leary destroyed anything that could be harmful to others… the missing implants are mostly to improve the functionality of my cybernetic limbs and ocular implant, and reduce the time i need to regenerate. Although there are a few other major ones… but nothing bad” This was basically the equivalent of Two arguing with someone, trying to give info in his favour while also trying not to offend the other party and panicking at the same time! Puff let out an annoyed noise, somewhat between a squeak and a huff

"Reconnecting implants after they have been disconnected could send your organic parts into shock," Alizati explained, his tone harsh but that was how he always spoke. He looked back over Two, analysing each of his cybernetic components once more. "If you would allow me, I can make adjustments to your current implants. This seems not to be a problem with your lack of implants, but a more mechanical issue. The modifications could take a while, but with your consent I can speak with the Klingon surgeon to arrange he procedure."

”If that is… Possible, yes, that would be appreciated” Well, thar was an okay compromise, but rather…. Disappointing.. Two was confused as to why they couldn’t just use stabilizing metals again? It worked the first time…. Puff rolled quickly towards the edge of the table, or whatever the furby was on, and kind of just sat there.

"It is difficult to determine if your desire for your old implants is physchiological or physical. I can help with the physical, but I wonder if you have ever considered vistiing the station counselor," Alizati looked at the younger man curiously. He was aware that organic beings, even cybernetically enhanced, needed to pay attention to their mental health as well as physical. It was something Alizati, an android and a Vulcan, did not understand nor did the subject interest him. He did want to help Two, but unfortunately he did have his limits even as an android who could perform a number of different tasks. "Meditation, counseling, and keeping healthy relationships with those around you will help. I will speak with Lieuntenant Junior Grade Adill Rik'Mut about the procedure. Until then," Alizati's attention turned towards his furby and the Tribble's interaction. "It appears Puff has found a new friend. You two are welcome to come by my quarters any time."

”Thank you…. And after so many… Recommendations…. I should most likely consider it… maybe?” He was referring to counselling, as people wouldnt trick him into doing something too terrifying right…? Two was kind of amused by Puff and the furby, but then again, Puff was probably friends with almost everyone, apart from klingons, on this station. “I would take this as a goodbye, or at least i presume its one?”

"It would be logical to do so," Alizati spoke firmly with a more serious expression than before. It was not a simple recommendation, he strongly believed Two would benefit from counseling. Ironic that an android would be telling someone to seek counseling, but after working with so many liberated borg, he understood the need for mental support. "If you have no further questions, you may leave," Alizati grabbed the box with all the parts laid neatly back inside and walked over to where Puff was. He lowered the box so the Tribble could jump on top. The three-headed furby made a slightly distressed sound, expression their saddness that their new friend would be leaving.

”In that case, goodbye Alizati.” Two nodded, picking up the box, and by accusation puff. He supposed he should go see about making that appointment huh….. Puff didn’t seem all too happy to leave, letting out a quiet squeal, and turning to face the furby, well, the equivalent of facing, its not like it mattered much

As the other headed out, Alizati gave him a Vulcan salute, looking to Two and Puff. This was an interesting first guest to his quarters, but it was a good experience. He always found working with liberated borg fascinating. Once the pair had exited, Alizati grabbed his Kal-Toh board and carried it over to his coffee table and sat on the sofa across from the firby. "S̷͗͠h̸̔̒a̵̅͊l̵̾͜l̸̔͂ ̷̛͂ẃ̴̈́e̴̓̾?̷̿̓" Alizati said, Vulcan monotone, but the words coming out of his mouth were not Vulcan nor Standard. It sounded closer to television static than words organic creatures could make. The three-headed firby chirped and grabbed one of the metal sticks with their mouth to make the first move. Yes this was a completely normal scene. Starbase 777's chief engineer sitting in a bright hawaiin shirt and booty shorts, playing Kal-Toh with his (possibly cursed) three headed hydra furby.

[D] After five predictable consecutive wins, it was time for work. Alizati headed into his bedroom so he could get dressed in his uniform once again. The shorts were actually very comfortable, but alas he had to stick to the standard uniform. Once changed, he checked his appearance in the mirror. His hair looked perfect as always, his face was also flawless. It was a good thing he didn't sweat. He grabbed his PADD and a thermos filled with bio-lubricant and left his quarters.

To Ilzatliçat, my heir and son As the days grow longer, I find my thoughts turning to you, my son. I trust you fare well in Starfleet. You know when you left, I had expressed my reservations condemning the equality of treatment you might face. As illogical as it is to do so, there will always be those who seem to delight in these petty games. You are of sterner make than to fall to machinations of the small-minded. Should you continue to apply yourself, I believe it inevitable that you succeed. T'Lhai is recently two. A bright child, she seems to be most curious about you of late. She reads your communications often, when able. T'Hain sends her regards. Sorn.

[PADD]

To: Alizati From: Allan hey uhh, so we need to talk? i'm fine with meeting up anywhere, it's just about what happened yesterday. as you can sort of see from the above reply not sent by you

After quite a whirlwind of events, Alizati returned to his quarters. He was greeted by Bir, Ikki, and Yuch, as usual, giving them a Vulcan salute before heading to his work station. He was technically off duty for another three hours, but he was planning to get some work done before then. The human need to sleep eight hours a day was certainly excessive when applied to Vulcanoids who only needed sleep every few days. Although for Alizati he never needed sleep. The most he needed was one to two hours each month for defragmentation. He noticed the blinking light on his console and read the messages. One was from his father, Sorn, and the other from that shorts ensign. It was logical to reply to the messages in the order they were received so he began to type out a reply to his father. It was short, but he believed his father would be satisfied with the contents. He decided not to include anything about the attack, he didn't want his father to have any reason to believe that he was not safe at Starfleet. He remembered back to the Vulcanis Lunar Colony. How he was disabled for three years. It wasn't his fault, but somehow he felt like it was. He was the reason that his father no longer spoke with his family, why his baby sister would never know half of her family. It wasn't fair to her he thought. After pouring his thoughts into the short message, he sent it and then pulled up the message from the shorts ensign. [PADD]

To: Ensign Allan Allen From: Lieutenant Commander Alizati Dzharok Are you sure you should be discussing this with me and not the chief of security? If you are inquiring as to my condition, I am undamaged.

[PADD]

To: Lieutenant Commander Alizati From: Allan yep, pretty sure discussing it with you would be best first, if that's okay with you. glad to hear you're undamaged though.

[PADD] To: Ensign Allan Allen From: Lieutenant Commander Alizati Dzharok

If you insist. Name a time and place that works for you. Perhaps somewhere private, not my office though.

[PADD] to: Lietenant Commander Alizati from: Allan

if your quarters is ok, i can be there in 5?

[PADD] To: Ensign Allan Allen From: Lieutenant Commander Alizati Dzharok

Alright.

Soon enough Allan was at the door, and surely it was still sort of surprising to see the ensign in his actual pants uniform for once. Why he had made the choice was another thing altogether.

Thankfully the ensign had replied before he was planning to change into something more casual. He kept his uniform on with his hair perfectly combed down. When he saw that the shorts ensign had arrived he stood up from his console and opened the door. He flashed the typical Vulcan salute before stepping aside to let Allan in. The room was rather plain, no real decorations aside from a shelf of retro tech. Roombas, microwaves, and some simple toasters. And of course it wasn't Alizati's room without Bir, Ikki, and Yuch sitting on one of the empty sofas. Alizati did not make any arrangements to hide the monsterous three headed furby. He did not find it strange in the slightest.* "Please sit down," He said motioning to the free sofa chair opposite to Bir , Ikki, and Yuch.

Allan did the salute right back, as was customary, and observed the room as he walked in. He found the retro tech shelf really neat but not surprising, as they had already talked about that subject with each other, but then - he saw the three headed furby monstrosity that his boss was currently instructing him to sit next to. And he really had thought this would go smoothly. Was this an intimidation tactic maybe? Fuck. All of a sudden Allan wished he had worn his shorts instead of his full uniform, if not to just be more comfortable as he broke a slight nervous sweat as he stared at this... creature. "Um, yeah. Yeah, of course," he directed his eyes away from the furby as soon as he sat down, trying to restrict the urge as much as possible to keep an eye on it, instead looking straight at his boss. Might as well go straight into it. "So, I- has someone informed you yet about what happened in regards to how Crespo put you out?" He assumed the answer was yes, but if it was no for some reason, he'd have to start there.

To Alizati nothing was off about this scene. It was true he did not like others coming to his quarters but this was work, not leisure. He noticed the ensign staring at Bir, Ikki, and Yuch but did not pay any mind to his reaction. They had a topic to discuss and it was illogical to stray from that. "I already have full knowledge of the situation thanks to the cameras in my office. I assume you did too judging from how you reacted," Alizati stayed, Vulcan monotone as strong as always. Although curiously he was not blinking or breathing this time. His eyes only slowly vibrated as they looked at Allan.

"Yeah," Allan replied simply, looking down for a moment before looking back at his boss. "I mean, I should probably tell you everything that I did, right? Or like - I mean, since you're my boss I'm supposed to tell you everything I do while on duty, right?" And there was definitely a lot he had done.

Alizati took a seat on the sofa across from Allan and nodded slowly. His expression was cold and distant as always. Bir, Ikki, and Yuch moved their three heads to look at Allan as if they were listening too. Of course Alizati did not react, this was a normal thing for him after all. "I will read your work report. But if there are any matters you will not include or want to ask about before said report, I will listen," He stated. He was unsure what Allan specifically wanted to talk about but he found that illogical species benefitted from chatting in order to organise their thoughts. He sat up straight with his hands on his knees, looking forward at Allan.

Allan really tried so, so hard to not look back at the furby creature. There were more important things to conxern himself with while conversing with his boss, like everything that had happened and to think about what he was actually going to do about it and what if- And then somehow, almost as by instinct alone and not will, his eyes darted and looked to see the furby monstrosity looking dead at him. He tried so hard not to panic, genuinely. But anyone with an inch of observational skills could see the panic setting in his face. "Y-yeah," he stammered, still staring directly at the - well, he could only really look at one head at once - furby's eyes, as if it were a staring contest, before he looked back at Alizati and the panic did not actually settle down. Instead, his mind was flooded with a bunch of anxious thoughts. The work report? He knew what the work report was. Should he put this stuff in the work report? He could've sworn the work report was only for the really boring stuff and not stuff of this caliber, but then again - if he asked about the work report, would Alizati get upset about him not reading his briefing closely, although he had read it after that conversation, he was still unsure... this furby was the cause of an anxiety chain reaction that seemed to have been residing in him this entire time since the crisis, just waiting for something to set it off. Fantastic. He took a deep breath, finally. "Um... I think I won't be going as in depth in the work report, but I still think I would like to discuss it with you, if that's... okay with all of you," he said calmly, trying to maybe include the creature also looking at him, although he was nothing but calm.

It was his Kal-toh programme, wasn't it? Alizati could see the look of panic on the ensign's face. The hitched voice, the wide eyed expression. It wouldn't be the first time his furby was met with such reaction. If he were human, maybe he would have felt hurt that others did not appreciate his creations like he did. He wondered if he had gotten too proud of himself after the meeting with Two of Thirteen who seemed to have even taken a liken to his furby. The android engineer looked to the furby and then back at the ensign. "I will tell them to leave," His tone unwavering and cold. "Bir, Ikki, Yuch, P̸͛͋l̷͋͗ẹ̵̿ä̸̒š̷̎e̸͗̆ ̷̊̚w̸̑̐á̵͌i̵̊́t̴͛͆ ̵̛͋i̵͂́n̶̈́̕ ̶́͠m̶̋̌y̴̒͠ ̴͗́q̸̀͆ṻ̵́a̸̽̉r̶̿́t̸̋̑e̸̋̽r̴̀̐s̷͌̚," He spoke with the same monotone, but the words out of his mouth were nearly unintelligable. The furby then slinked down the sofa and slowly slithered out of the room towards Alizati's quarters. "Apologies, ensign. I did not realise they would cause a distraction. Their names are Bir, Ikki, and Yuch," He said, hoping that by giving the creature's names it would help calm the poor shorts ensign down. With that out of the way Alizati folded his hands in his lap and looked Allan straight in the eyes. Without breathing or blinking, his stare seemed extra focused. "You may continue."

"Oh! You don't..." Allan started to say, but by that time Alizati had already dismissed the creature. The engineer watched closely as the creature slithered..... slithered out of the room. "It's okay, I mean, I'm - I'm not going to lie, they sort of scared me at first, but um.. Bir, Ikki, and Yuch...?" He continued to watch the creature until it had vanished, a small smile coming to his face. It seemed giving the creature's names did help afterall. "I like it. You should um, tell me more about them later if you want, I'm actually... kind of interested now. But," the work report? What did he come in here to talk about again? "Oh! Um. What I came in here to tell you, right, um, so boss, uhhh, not sure where to start here, but like, you wouldn't... um... okay, so basically, I was working with the COMMs software, right? And, uh, I got through to it, and then they shut down yesterday, right, when um - I'm not sure who, but some commander gone rogue? Anyways, I was down there with these other people and I basically had to hack past the lock they'd put on it to bring it back up, right? But that's - that's okay because I brought it back up, right?" He looked at Alizati, noticing that the other wasn't blinking or breathing as he normally did. Did this mean the android was more or less relaxed, he could only hope for the former.

"You do not need to worry about them. They can only speak a few phrases and play Kal-toh," He said, trying to reassure Allan that despite what looks may seem, his furby was not very smart. Indeed they were not even that great at Kal-toh. The android's expression remained neutral the whole time. The ensign's words were incredibly difficult to find meaning in. It seemed like he was lost before Allan even started. Illogical species always criticised Vulcans for being hard to read, but they were no better at expressing themselves. If anything, it was Vulcans who were better speakers. "Ensign," He let out a sigh and put his his palm on his head ala. Picard style. He looked back up at Allan as he ran his fingers through his ash blue hair. "Try again," His voice was firm and stable, but there was no judgement in his gaze. He genuinely wanted to hear what Allan intended to say.

"They play Kal-toh?" Allan said, suddenly a lot more interested in the conversation revolving the creature, but again, he'd have to ask about that... later. He looked at his boss who told him to ... try again. "Um... from where?" He asked, a bit unsure of where the other had lost him at.

"Indeed," Alizati did not care to discuss his furby any longer. It baffled him why this ensign was interested in a creature that he seemed so terrified of. The chief engineer leaned forward slightly. "First, start from the beginning. You were working with the COMM software? What were you doing exactly?"

Honestly, it's sort of when you see a bug that freaks you out, but then you learn it's harmless and can play Kal-toh. A very relatable experience, surely. He nodded when Alizati asked him the questions. "Right, yeah. So... I was working with the COMM software, sort of just doing my job? Making sure that it wasn't super easy to hack into or anything, and I can't really tell for sure how easy it was exactly since I'm pretty good at hacking things, but it was kind of easy? Sort of? I don't know, I mean, I'm putting the details of how I did it in the work report, since that's what the work report is for, but - the point is that right after I did that, someone else got control of it via a custom command code and shut the entire COMM system down, so I started working with these two other people on bringing it back up so basically I had to hack into the COMM system twice, except this second time was a lot harder than the first." He hoped that was... a decent explanation, at least.

This ensign's rambling was difficult to pick apart, but Alizati thought he had him figured out. His mechanical eyes shifted from Allan to a random point in the distance to avoid staring. After seeing Allan's reaction to his furby he was going to be more careful about being too android. At least for now until he knew how much Allan knew about him. "I know about the comm system hack. Why were you trying to hack the system the first time? Could it have been you who played that terran music?" It was not hard to put two and two together. He raised an eyebrow of judgement at the shorts ensign, clearly unimpressed and unamused.

"Well," he was about to continue, but then he saw the Eyebrow Raise, and he started sweating a bit again. "Um... I was trying to hack it the first time, yes, as I said previously, to expose any insecurities in the software, as is my job, but regarding the music afterwards..." He looked at Alizati carefully, just trying to glean some sort of read even though he knew he wouldn't. "If it... was me... would that be... bad?"

"I am the chief engineer, not a judge. Any information you could provide about the comms shutdown and the music would be helpful, ensign," Now he was unafraid to stare at Allan. Dark eyes with jet black pupils that seemed to be devoid of any emotion. There was not even a hint at warmth in words. He may have been an android, but he was also very Vulcan. The rest of his body remained perfectly still, his full focus was on Allan. Unwavering, cold, and emotionless, just like a true Vulcan engineer.

"So, um," the engineer gulped, it was hard not to be nervous when this guy was staring straight into his soul it seemed like. "So in order to, do my job, right, I figured I'd have a file ready to go through if I succeeded in hacking the comms the first time, since, well, it might alert security to the vulnerabilities in what I thought would be a sort of fun way, but then when the comms shut down, it sort of... was left in the queue, and so as soon as the comms went back up, the queue went through and... the file went through as well with the music, so I couldn't really... stop it at that point," he said, it felt nice to confess it to someone but he wasn't sure why exactly he was still so nervous. "I'm still not sure who caused the comms shutdown other than it was another commanding officer, but since you're the only commanding officer I've interacted with outside of the chatroom, and I trusted you, I decided to check up on you, to make sure you were okay, I guess? And that's when... everything else happened, right?" He really did ramble a lot.

The ramblings of lower deckers did not surprise Alizati in the slightest. In fact, he expected half as much from an ensign who spent his free time modifying trousers. "Unfortunately I will need to note that in my report," He said, referring to the rick roll. Whilst he found it rather benign, a simple prank, it was concerning especially when he considered ensign Allan's history. Still, he did not show any of this on his face. "Yes, I am aware of the message you had sent to my PADD. The reply was not from me, however," He stated, speaking slowly and carefully. He hoped his much more calculated and calm voice would help to slow the conversation down just a tad. Alizati may have been an android, but he preferred a much slower pace, especially since engineering was not exactly an easy and slow job. He pushed his short fringe from his forehead before pressing on his temples. Not a headache, but it did help with the eye shaking which was thankfully not too bad at the moment.

"Yeah, that's um, that's fine, I just... uh... who reads your work report, it's not public right?" He asked, he really didn't want many people to know this information. After all, he was still new and trying to make friends on the station, and while he was pretty confident this incident wouldn't get him fired -- in fact, if he had some stroke of luck things could end up like last time and he had a slight chance at promotion, eventually -- but he wasn't sure if he wanted all his peers knowing this information still. "The PADD message, yes, so... I was pretty concerned about you, right, and I decided to actually scan your office for ya, and so when I found nothing I considered that a pretty big concern, and so I went and hacked into the cameras system to see that Crespo had quite literally turned you off, which was... an asshole move, right, so I took the video, censored the bit where he turned you off because, I mean, nobody else needs to know that part, and sent it to Dion and Risren, and then we had you beamed out by Renakir."

"Work logs are available to all Starfleet personnel," His face was still neutral, but it was clear he was judging the ensign for not knowing the nature of work logs. He was not going to explain it to him, however. Perhaps this would be a good lesson in responsibility and how to act like a Starfleet officer. It was not his job to judge others though, he was just the chief engineer. "That is mildly concerning, ensign," His eyes shifted back to Allan. "Security camera footage is sensitive and..." He looked away from Allan for a moment, thinking of how best to phrase his next few words. Alizati was not once to mince words, everything he said was deliberate and logical. "Classified information. I will have to report that as well, I am sure you understand."

"All?" Allan definitely looked nervous now. Maybe he shouldn't have come to Alizati at all, why did he think he could trust this guy to keep his stupid prank a secret? Why'd he have to tell him that part at all? "Could you maybe... not mention which ensign it was, or is there ... is there a reason why that part specifically has to be in your work log? I'm," and he knew it, too, that the other was judging him for not knowing the nature of work logs. Fuck. He had genuinely read up on it, he just... didn't recall the information, evidently. Maybe he was just too nervous. Fuck, he didn't know. "Right, but it was to make sure you were safe," he said. He understood that it was classified information, but that'd never been a problem for him before.

"I do not understand your logic, ensign, but your name will not be in my work log. It will be in my report to Starfleet command, however," He said, seemingly unaffected by how nervous Allan looked. He did not care much about what other people thought of him or about 'keeping friends'. It was illogical to allow something which one did not have control over to occupy his mind. "As a Starfleet officer I will need to also note your actions in engineering in my report. However, as your superior officer, I would like to thank you for getting me out of that situation," He expression softened ever so slightly as he spoke. He was thankful that Allan helped, but unfortunately he could not condone his methods. Professionally that is.

Allan appeared way less nervous when he realized his name would not be in the work log. "Oh, okay, that's - that's good, I really appreciate that," he said, "as long as I'm not being exposed to the entire station for what I did, I'm all good," he laughed a bit at that, trying to ease the tension. "And it's no problem, really, I just - I do what I can, you know? I feel like it's kind of a waste if I don't."

He noted that the ensign looked more relaxed when he mentioned he would not be using his name in his work log. He wondered why someone who seemed to want to make a lot of friends and be well known on the station would not want their name in his log. Isn't that more publicity? The Vulcan was baffled by this human's logic, but such was the whole human species, and most of the other species in the galaxy. Disappointed but not surprised was his motto. "You have potential and I hope to see you put the same effort into fulfilling your official duties," A neutral statement, but he spoke almost like a disappointed father trying to steer his rowdy son in the right direction. Alizati had never been a parent, but Dzharok was. To four (very) rowdy Vulcan children. "Is that all you wanted to discuss?"

He simply wanted to tell people on his own terms, was all. Plus, he hadn't meant it to go through at such an inopportune time, and didn't want to be on the bad side of anyone who may have been bleeding out to the tune. "I appreciate that, but," he actually thought for a moment before he spoke next, which was rare, "I thought that... the first thing, aside from of course the joking nature of the song, I thought that finding insecurities in the software sort of... is one of my official duties?" The engineer tilted his head a bit to the side as he looked at the other. "If it's not, I'd like to know."

"Your intentions may have been sound, but hacking the comms to play a terran song is not in your duties, ensign," He said, voice back to being firm and cold. He was not going to argue with this shorts ensign. There were much better uses of his time after all. "The ends do not justify the means. That is all I will say on this topc. I will protect your privacy on public channels, but you will be mentioned by name in my reports to Starfleet command," He said as he stood up and walked over to the doorway to his bedroom. The door opened and there they were, Bir, Ikki, and Yuch came slitering out of the room.

"Wait, I'm still just a bit confused, I- I understand that part, I do, but I didn't hack the comms to play the song, I played the song as a result of hacking the comms, it... the song was an afterthought, and I understand that shouldn't be done again. But are you saying that aside from that, what I did was okay...?" His tone indicated that he was genuinely trying to understand and make things clear so that he would be doing his job properly from hereon out.

"You were doing your job, albiet with a bit of Lower Decker™️ flare. The prank was harmless, but you should know there are some species that are very sensitive to certain sound waves and patterns," He said as he watche his mutant furby slither across the room and crawl up on his chair at his work station. Thankfully it was on the other side of the room from Allan, but the furby was looking in his direction. "Your logic escapes me, but I will not hold this incident against you," He spoke calmly as he walked back to his chair and sat down. Bir, Ikki, and Yuch began to munch on the wires behind Alizati's work station, seemingly going about their own business.

Despite fully seeing the furby come back into the room, Allan breathed what was a sigh of relief. "Okay, so like - yes, completely understood, boss. We're ... we're good, then," he smiled genuinely, the anxiety seeming to leave him as he was perhaps reassured again that maybe his boss was okay, for a boss. "We're good." The ensign looked over at the furby again, but this time with the same smile on his face. "You know, I'd love to play Kal-toh with them sometime, maybe. But, um. I've probably talked your ears off enough already, so. Thanks for listening. I really do appreciate it."

The phrase 'we're good' was still very foreign to him. Many humans had said it in the past, but the actual meaning was still lost to him. It was not worth dwelling on though, since it seemed as though the shorts ensign was less tense than before. That was good as it was difficult to converse with someone who was on the edge of their seat the whole time. He looked over at his mutant furby, observing it chew on the wires. It was clearly not a problem because he did not say anything. "You would have a high probability of winning. The programme is still it the early stages of development," He looked back at Allan and then stood up. "I hope to see you for your duty shift and I look forward to reading your upcoming work log," He said as he walked towards the door.

To: Sorn, Vulcan Science Academy From: Lieutenant Commander Alizati Dzharok, Starbase 777

My guardian and trusted father, Sorn, Upon my arrival to the base, things have been predictable. I have met a number of my new colleagues and they are unsurprisingly illogical. The station commander has an odd accent, but the interaction was pleasant. He is also interested in retro tech. This station is diverse, but so is the Federation. In my free time I have been enjoying the company of Bir, Ikki, and Yuch and perfecting their Kal-toh programme. I hope to have them finished by T'Lhai's fifth birthday so they can play with her. There is also a nostalgic restaurant on this station called Surak Snacks. It has many Vulcans foods, If you ever visit, I would like to bring you. The owner is named Men and he is a skilled cook as well as aesthetically appealing. I am sending photos of my quarters and Bir, Ikki, and Yuch. Live long and prosper, Ilzatliçat Bextiyer Dzharok

After the meeting with the shorts ensign and composing a letter to his father, Alizati thought it would be good to visit Men a visit. Was it too soon to go back? Was it illogical to frequent a dining establishment as an android? No, it was completely logical to seek out places that reminded him of home because it gave him peace and quiet. People have told him all the time he needed to have 'leisure time'. He was having leisure time now, yes, this was logical.

[PADD]

Hey boss, hope you're doing okay! Was talking w/my friend Dion about Bir, Ikki, and Yuch and he expressed interest in seeing them, was wondering if we could swing by? - Allan

[D] After a rather slow shift, Alizati crawled out of the tubes and into his own quarters where he was met by the sounds of chirping from Bir, Ikki, and Yuch. They were at Alizati's work console nibbling one of the clamps he used for his updates. The android shook his head and looked away. He knew what they were doing, but it wasn't time for his update. Not yet. He still had some work to do. He grabbed his PADD from the table and looked to see a message. [PADD] To: Ensign Allan Allen From: Lieutenant Commander Alizati Dzharok

No.

He clicked send and walked over to his work station. He picked up his furby and set them to the side, it was time to resume his CEO duties even though he was technically off duty. There was no such thing as 'off duty' to him.

[PADD] To: Lieutenant Commander Alizati From: Ensign Allan Allen

Okay! No worries. See you tomorrow probably (:

[PADD] To: Ensign Allan Allen From: Lieutenant Commander Alizati Dzharok

Show up on time for your duty shift.

He typed out a reply on his console quickly before returning to what he was doing.

After that brief interaction, Alizati returned to his work. Bir, Ikki, and Yuch had already slithered away back to their sofa to vibe. Despite being able to move freely and even speak, they were still very much a prototype. They still had long processing times and were terrible at Kal-toh. Mid-way through running diagnostics Alizati felt a strange pain in his head, causing him to mis-click on his console. Maybe it was a mistake to go so long without an update, he thought. He closed out of what he was working on grabbed the two clamps from the machine behind him and pulled up his own diagnostics. "Computer. Load profile. Vulcan Science Academy, Jarok, son of Dalin and Thillasa," Despite the excruciating pain surging through his body, he managed to keep his Vulcan monotone stable. He clicked a few more buttons on his console before clipping the wires onto his fingers. "Match displayed information to my own memory and delete relevant files from memory drive 'Ilzatliçat Bextiyer'."

Two hours. That's how long this update was taking. Unfortunately for this diligent Vulcan android that meant he was already an hour late for his duty shift. Alizati sat up straight at his console, his eyes wide open, but he wasn't moving. He looked as if he were frozen in time, finger clamps still on. His eyes were now shaking quite significantly, the rest of his body still. When the two hour mark hit, his safety subroutines activated, sending a distress call to Engineering.

It was one Isaac Elms who received the distress call and quickly rushed towards the CEO’s quarters. He knocked on the door and called out, “Hey there, everything alright? This is Isaac from engineering.”

The doors automatically opened for Isaac, letting him inside. Bir, Ikki, and Yuch, the three headed hydra furby turned to look at the engineer once the doors opened. The chirped and made some cursed noises as they slithered over to the doorway. The three heads stretched up as tall as they could, as if they were a dog begging the man to save their master. After looking at the engineer they slithered over to Alizati's workstation. It said Alizati was still in the middle of an update, but the files were corrupt and the process would need to be aborted by an engineer. The whole screen was written in ancient Vulcan script, however the warning and instructions were written in typical Federation Standard.

“EEEEK!” Isaac was absolutely in shock and terrified for a moment. However, the furby monstrosity did not attack him, so he forced himself to calm down. “What the hell are you?” But he didn’t have time to further investigate. The Lieutenant Commander who was sitting at the desk was completely frozen still. The broad-shouldered man made his way through the door, following the furby against his better judgement. He looked at the screen, reading the instructions that were written in Standard. Then, he took out a tricorder and scanned the android CEO. “Let’s see what’s bugging you, huh?” He narrowed his green eyes a little to look at the readings.

Bir, Ikki, and Yuch whined when Isaac screamed. It seemed they were just as scared as the human. The doors shut behind Isaac when he stepped inside. Bir, Ikki, and Yuch slithered on the ground at Isaac's feet. The tricorder readings just showed Alizati was 'idle'. The CEO's eyes were still shaking and he was completely unresponsive to everything that was going on. The whining of the furby got louder as the console flashed, 'Abort process recommended.' In the distress call Isaac would have received the necessary authentications to do such a thing.

Isaac worked quickly, ignoring the unsettling furby at his feet. He used the authentications to abort the process, or the download, or whatever the android was caught up in.

The codes worked and the process was aborted. When Isaac was finished, Alizati's eyes stopped shaking and he blinked rapidly for a couple seconds. "My duty shift, I am late," Alizati grabbed his hair with his hands, looking shocked and in mild pain. Somehow though he was able to keep his voice flat and soft, showing no emotion in his words. His body language however was quite emotional for a Vulcan.

“You’re alright, Lieutenant Commander. I don’t think anyone will blame you,” said Isaac with a good natured smile. “After all, you’re the CEO. You’re like your own boss a little bit.” The man shot an anxious glance to the furby now that the android was awake, but he decided not to comment on it. “Are you…r systems feeling better?”, asked Isaac, tilting his head at the CEO.

Alizati turned to look at Isaac, his eyes narrowing, swirling with a mixture of anger and fear. His voice may have been stable but that seemed to be the only thing working correctly. "No," He closed his eyes and leaned over his console, trying to get things straight again. "Lieutenant Junior Grade, please do not speak of this to anyone," Slowly he began to remove the clips from his fingers. The mutant furby at Isaac's feet also slithered back to its place on the couch and just say there. "To make up for this incident I will adjust my shift accordingly. Thank you, Lieutenant Junior Grade, you are dismissed," He straightened his posture again, his composure returning as if nothing had ever happened.

“Um… Uh, okay,” said Isaac, looking and sounding slightly perplexed. “Are you sure you’re okay, Sir?” He was a people’s person, caring by nature and he wouldn’t leave the guy who’d just sent a distress signal without making sure that he was absolutely perfectly fine.

"I am undamaged," He paused for a moment, running another internal diagnostics. "All my systems are functioning within normal parameters," He was still unsure what had caused the malfunction but that was something to think about later. "You are free to scan me once more with your tricorder to confirm my systems are indeed functioning normally," He spoke calmly and softly. His cold and emotionless gaze meeting Isaac's.

“Alright.” And he did scan him again.

Indeed everything was functioning normally. It was really as if nothing had happened. "If that is all, you are dismissed. Thank you again for your assistance," It was illogical for this human to still be concerned for him as everything was functioning perfectly. He blinked a couple times and took a deep breath, making sure he could still perform those functions.

“Okay, um, I’ll go. Let me know if any other malfunctions occur, Sir.” And with that — and a last look of confusion thrown at the furby — Isaac left the room.

As soon as the young engineer left the room Alizati stood up and walked straight into his private bedroom. He grabbed a candle and placed it on his nightstand. The update had failed, but why. Alizati had to get to work, but he also knew he couldn't go without running more detailed internal scans. All systems were functioning, but he did not feel fine. He felt a surge of emotions, strange because he had removed all emotional sub routines after his mother passed away. It was rather useful being a Vulcan android where he could simply delete all emotions. Perhaps he would just need to delete them again. And so Alizati closed his eyes and proceeded with his meditation. Just like organic Vulcans used this time to suppress emotions, he used it to delete them completely from his system. He planned to do a complete reboot after work as well.

11:58

"Ah where did you acquire a piece as magnificent as this one."

Fear. Anxiety. Paranoia. That was his problem. It was Dzharok's memories, the emotions he felt that was driving his malfunction. He would just have to try removing the memories another way, perhaps with someone with experience bypassing safeties.

After his meditation session, it was time to head to work. He grabbed his PADD and left the room, ignoring his three headed monstrosity that was making moderately distressing noises in front of the Kal-toh board on his table.

Once he got back to his quarters he was greeted by the chirping of Bir, Ikki, and Yuch. They slithered off of their sofa over to Alizati's work console, resting on the side. He gave no reaction to the three headed monstrosity's actions, of course, it was all normal. He walked over to his console and grabbed the hydra furby. It was time to play Kal-toh, again, and so he brought the furby back to their sofa and pulled over the Kal-toh board. Another very normal scene, the chief engineer playing Kal-toh with a three-headed long furby.

After winning his 69th game of Kal-toh in a row, Alizati thought it was time to give his furby a break. The programme was still very much a prototype and despite his adjustments it was not working out. He glanced over at his work station, wondering if he should attempt another update. He had work in a couple hours, he couldn't risk it. Not again. Perhaps he could clear his mechanical mind with a walk. He grabbed his PADD and left.

From the sofa with the three headed monstrosity came a soft chirping noise once the station began shaking. It was Bir, Ikki, and Yuch wondering what was going on. The three headed furby slithered over to Alizati's work station and waited. Hoping their best friend and creator would come home quickly. It was dangerous!

Back in his quarters, Alizati dropped Bir, Ikki, and Yuch back onto their sofa and walked over to the work station. The work day may have been over, but he found breaks to be illogical for a Vulcan android and was going to work regardless. The furby sat on the sofa and stared at the Kal-toh board that was left on the coffee table.

After working for pretty much his whole break, it was time to start his actual shift. Thankfully this time he would not be in main engineering, it was nice to have a change in scenery sometimes. He stood up and walked over to the Kal-toh board on the coffee table and place a metal rod onto the sphere. The board shifted and he gave a nod to his three headed monstrosity. They were getting better, slowly. Machine learning took time to perfect after all. He headed out of his quarters.

Soon enough Allan made it to the door, dressed in his usual shorts as opposed to the last time he was here, and a Classically Gay Vertical Striped Button-up T-shirt, because pride month or something, idk. He wondered what Alizati could have possibly called him in here for. Maybe the thing he was working on? No clue.

Alizati was walking down the corridor when he saw the shorts ensign standing outside his door. That boy was fast, faster than he expected. His footsteps were silent as he slowly walked up behind the ensign. "Good day, ensign," Alizati leaned down beside Allan and spoke, his soft voice mixed with his Vulcan accent made his voice sound... Ominous. As if he were a Vulcan monk leading Allan down to the inner chambers of a Vulcan monetary. The android was dressed in full uniform, as always, but his hair was a bit messier than usual. A few ash blue strands out of place as he had developed at rather illogical habit of running his fingers through his hair. He didn't have any skin oils to worry about, but he certainly wanted to take a sonic shower after this meeting was done.

Allan couldn't help but jump a bit as Alizati silently approached him and spoke. This guy had to know how terrifying that was, right? And to think he was scared of Bir, Ikki, and Yuch. Nah... this was clearly more terrifying, the fact that Alizati could have been here the entire time and Allan may have not known without looking around. "H-hey, boss," the ensign stammered, before regaining his composure and standing aside. "What's up?"

"Ensign," He ignored the boy's reaction to his words and the overly casual 'what's up'. Such questions were illogical and they were here for a specific purpose. The doors opened for him and Allan to step inside. Since Allan did beat him there, Alizati did not have any time to get Bir, Ikki, and Yuch, out of the main room. He walked over to the sofa where the three-headed monstrosity sat and scooped it up with one swift motion. Just as always, his movements were calculated, careful, as if he was performing and orchestrated dance. He walked into his bedroom and placed the furberous down on the floor and closed the doors so they would not be disrubed. "What is your status with the programme I asked you to solve? Have you figured out a way to boot the programme without those files I specified?"

"No, wait, you don't have to..." Allan began to say as he walked in behind Alizati and watched him take Bir, Ikki, and Yuch out of the room, almost frowning a bit. Were they terrifying? Yes. Was Allan wanting to warm up to them because he considered them a wonderful piece of tech that fascinated him in a way? Also yes. "You know, like, I may have had nightmares about them at first, but I think Bir, Ikki, and Yuch are pretty cool, I don't actually mind if you have them out, for future reference," he said as he sat down on the sofa where they once were. "But um, about the program - I've managed to figure out a way, yeah, but are you sure it's going to be fine without that? It seemed to call on the memory files quite often, or at least more often than something you'd want gone and out would. Would it make more sense to lock them behind an additional IF scenario?" He asked. "Basically, locking them from being used until the user specifically asks for them rather than deleting them altogether?"

"It is only logical to remove items that are distracting in order to optimise our work," Alizati stated very matter-of-factly. He walked over to his work station and began to tap away at the screen. He listened to the ensign's answer, considering the possibilities as well as what Elwyn had said during their dinner. He lifted his head and straightened his posture to look at Allan. "Yes. I have considered that route, however the memory files," He suddenly paused mid-sentence, this was the second time that happened today. He should have been able to speak fluently without interruption, especially without worrying about breathing or blinking. "Let me see your work, ensign and I will consider that option."

Allan nodded, and tilted his head only slightly when Alizati stopped mid-sentence, not sensing much from it. "Of course, it just seems like if these memory files are important to the program in some way, you could have them locked behind a user-accessed method or transfer them out altogether, storing them somewhere else so if you ever need to run the program with them again, they're still there rather than... just erasing them," he explained. It was always good to have a backup! "Sure, here's..." he took out the PADD and brought up his work, holding it out to Alizati, "here's what I've got."

He took the PADD from Allan and began to look through his work. Mechanical eyes quickly scanned over the lines of code. "Your work is good. I expected nothing less from you, ensign," He did not have any emotion in his voice, but this was the best he could do at giving a compliment. He put the PADD down on the side of his console and began to read over more lines of code he had pulled up on the screen. After just a few seconds, he looked back at Allan. "I will provide context. I will give you information that is private. It is not classified, however if you cannot keep this to yourself I will find another candidate to assist me."

Allan smiled a bit at the compliment, he was glad that his work was good! After all, he didn't aim to be an ensign forever, although it was quite fun, being able to do more things was always more fun. "Thanks," he said, before listening carefully to the next words. "Yeah, of course. I'm pretty good at keeping all kinds of secrets," he said, completely telling the truth there. Back at his old posting, he was sort of The Guy for secrets that the old ladies he played bingo and mahjong with would tell him. He wondered sometimes why there was such an abundance of senior women on that base, but it didn't quite matter right now. "And, the more context you have in any kind of work the better, so."

"I was created in the image of another man, his name was Dzharok, which is where I get my name Alizati Dzharok from. Dzharok's life memories including his death are part of me, implanted into my memory without my consent. I would like to remove them," He explained, remaining perfectly calm as he spoke. He sat in his chair behind his console and began to press more buttons as he executed a few commands to bring up his own programme. "I missed my shift because my update malfunctioned. It appears that there are safety protocols in place to ensure I do not attempt to delete Dzharok's memories. However, seeing as you were able to solve the programme I gave you, I believe you can bypass those securities. I am willing to try it with an If-Else statement for now as you suggested."

Allan nodded, being an attentive listener as the other told him all of this information, which was absolutely crazy to Allan but he made no indication in his expression of thinking such. With no consent of his own! Wild... well, consent was luckily one of Allan's other specialties, funnily enough. "Yeah, that's... completely valid of you to want, but I think that it would," he thought for a moment, leaning forwards with a hand on his chin, and elbow on his thigh, "probably be best to go with the if-else statement, yeah. Lock the memories behind a wall where we can say don't ever use these, but if it's necessary, somehow you could... ask you, in this case? If you were willing to proceed, and you'd have to consent to that," Allan said carefully, standing up and walking over to where Alizati was sitting. "Does that make sense?"

Alizati studied the ensign's expression, but surprisingly enough there was not much to discern. He looked down at his console and then back up at Allan. He wasn't sure how much more information he wanted to give, but he did need to update his system. He blinked a couple times as he felt his eyes begin to shake once again. "The only risk I can see is I have already done that. I have partitioned my own memory, but for reasons unknown my system has begun to call Dzharok's memories more often, including his emotional responses. Dzharok was staunchly against artificial intelligence and androids so naturally you can see where the conflict is having his memories and personality within myself."

"You've already partitioned them, yes, but are you saying you've just partitioned them, or that you've already tried locking them behind a manual override key?" Allan asked for clarification, putting a hand on his hip just for comfort's sake as he stood there. "Because yeah, that sure sounds conflicting as fuck," he blinked, "sir. Conflicting as fuck... sir." Yes because that was totally the more professional way of saying it.

"I have partitioned them and tried locking them. However for some reason my programme keeps trying to call Dzharok's memories," He stated, grabbing the two clips from the machine behind him. It was a large tower that sat behind his console with lights and buttons. It was a Vulcan creation as evident by the design. "I have a theory," Alizati said as he began to untangle the clips. "Dzharok was a paranoid man. I believe the attack in my office triggered his paranoia. It is natural for organic beings to fear situations that have previously caused them trouble. However such paranoia is illogical, that was a unique situation. Dzharok's emotions are illogical and one day I hope to delete them entirely from my memory."

"...do you think deleting those emotions would delete yours?" He asked, watching as Alizati began to untangle the clips. "I mean - it sounds like your program calls Dzharok's memories to influence your own, and so deleting his... may not entirely delete the ones you've already had. But, anyways..." he looked back towards the console. "In that case, if you've already tried locking them, I'd recommend rather than deleting them to offload them entirely. Perhaps into another program. Perhaps into... another..." his eyes drifted from the console to the ceiling as he thought, "...it just feels like it could be wrong to completely delete an entire... um, person, like that, without their ... consent. I mean, it's wrong for them to be in you, but to delete them outright also seems, uh - it just feels better if we would just get them out of you and into something completely new, right?"

"And join the--?" Alizati shot back almost immediately after Allan spoke. His eyes widened and he blinked a few times, shaking his head. His movements became a bit more erratic as he fumbled with the wires. His hands began to shake during this process, as if his whole system was overloading with something. The clicking from the clips was not helping to calm him down. If he was organic, perhaps this would seem like some sort of anxiety attack, but he was an android and Vulcan and that sort of emotion response was impossible. "It is much too dangerous. The memories should remain within my or deleted entirely. Dzharok is a dangerous man," He said as his Vulcan monotone returned and he calmed down almost instantaneously. "Let's proceed with using your code for the If-Else statement. My update also has information about the base and Starfleet news. It will take about 30 minutes and for that time I will need you to monitor me closely," Alizati said as he attacked the clips his two pointer fingers.

"Only so much danger can be done with a simple device," Allan said, raising an eyebrow as Alizati seemed to have what did look like a bit of a panic attack. "We could have something as simple as a two-way communicator, upload it into that, but - yes, we can try my code for the If-else statement first, I'll stand by - do you need to take a bit of a break first? You seemed... a little nervous back there."

"A break is illogical when I am a machine and Vulcan," He looked at Allan, the same stoic expression as always. It was as if nothing had happened at all. As much as Alizati appreciated being treated as if he were an organic life form, he knew that he was not and thus the warmth and care from others was unnecessary. He did not need companionship or to get people to 'like him'. "I appreciate your concern," He clicked a few more buttons on his console. From his private room came a soft rustling sound of Bir, Ikki, and Yuch. Just like a dog concerned for their master, the three headed furby seemed to want to be let out. "Dzharok has a lot of secrets, a lot of dangerous secrets," He handed a PADD to Allan. On the PADD was a Standard translated version of his code with the updated loaded onto the screen. "When you press the initialise button the update will begin. I will be 'unconscious' to use an organic term. If anything should go wrong, there is an abort button that will appear on the screen. I trust you to use your judgement of if to use that."

"Of course, noted, sir, I'll keep mind of that-" he nodded, taking note of the button on the screen but then hearing the noise from Alizati's room. Like a dog, almost. Huh. Or even a cat that can't get into a room. "Should we... let them out?" He asked, looking down at Alizati.

"That is illogical, they cannot contribute anything to the task at hand," Alizati looked at Allan with a bit of curiosity. The ensign was afraid of the furby at first, but now he was suggesting they let them out? He sat upright in his chair, perfect posture with both hands resting on the console in front of him. He had the small finger clips on, wires running to the tower behind him. "I am ready to begin whenever you are, ensign."

"Sure, they can't, but I think uh, you contribute more to them... than the other way around, sir," Allan explained, looking at the door still. "I mean if not, it's not a problem, I can go ahead... it just seems like they'd prefer to be in your company at times like this."

"As much as I appreciate your sensitivity to artificial life, I must remind you that myself and Bir, Ikki, and Yuch, are machines. We do not have emotions, we do not require compassion," Alizati stated, looking towards the door to his quarters where the shuffling was coming from. Bir, Ikki, and Yuch, were still very much a prototype. He did not see why the ensign wanted to let them in, it was illogical. He then looked back at Allan, his gaze vacant and emotionless. Dark eyes staring right into Allan's.

"I suppose," Allan said, "I guess it might be more of a need to offer compassion on my part than a requirement from others, if that makes sense at all. Um, but in that case, I guess... I'll start now?" He looked down at the PADD, ready to press the button, and once Alizati confirmed he pressed it, keeping a close eye out for any bad signs.

When the update initiated, Alizati sat facing forward, eyes open. He looked calm as he stared off in silence. There was no movement, it was silent except for a soft hum from the tower behind them. Everything seemed to be going smoothly. As the update worked, the console in front of Alizati and the PADD Allan held in his hands displayed the code that was being loaded onto the android engineer. If Allan cared to look down he would see the name of each file being loaded. Although most files had very non-descript names such as 120408EXO and such, others had the extension '.jarok', marking them. A few other curious files that popped up were 'dderidex.config', the rest had names written in Vulcan.

Allan did look at the code being loaded, after all, he had nothing else to do but that. He took mental note of a few of the sus file names, but overall nothing rang a huge bell to him. He simply kept close watch. As long as the update went smoothly, all would be okay, right?

The update went smoothly, all of the data was loaded properly including Allan's new code. After about 20 minutes, the update was complete and Alizati opened his eyes again. The shaking was gone, the emotions he had felt previously were no longer there. Perhaps the shorts ensign really did find the trick. "My update is complete," He said as he gently pulled the clips off of his fingers and set them back in their little holder next to the tower. "I take it nothing abnormal happened? I am undamaged and I can no longer feel Dzharok's emotions. It was successful. Thank you."

Allan nodded. Although he'd never seen the extension .jarok before, he felt it was best to not question it at the moment. "Yep, all looked fine to me. Just endless loading screens as usual." He smiled, stepping back a bit as he set the PADD down on Alizati's desk.

"I should be able to perform my updates without issues from now on,“ Alizati stood up and went over to the door to his quarters and opened it, letting the three headed furby out. The furberous immediately slithered into the room and over to Allan, laying at his feet. "That is all. Thank you for your assistance, ensign. I will note your work in my log."

"Of course boss, anytime," he said, and he simply stood there as the furby approached him and laid at his feet. The engineer crouched down and pet one of their heads - he wasn't sure who was which - and tilted his head to the side as he smiled. "Oh, are you happy to be let out?" He laughed, knowing what Alizati said about it being a machine, but... it was fun to think otherwise.

Bir was the head the Allan patted and he chirped loudly and nuzzled his soft fluffy head against the engineer's palm. Despite being just a Kal-toh machine, the three headed furby had a very distinct personality. All three heads did, in fact. "Your compassion towards machines is fascinating," Alizati commented, a bit of Vulcan judgment clear in his voice as he watched the ensign 'play' with his three head hydra furby creation. "They do not feel, they do not even think. Much like myself, they are tools to achieve a specific goal," He told Allan, watching as the furby chirped and circled around Allan's feet.

Allan chuckled as Bir nuzzled its soft fluffy head into his hand, wasn't that just adorable? He started petting the other two as well, since obviously one couldn't be getting all of the attention. "Mhmm, and - and what's that specific goal, hm? To be cute?" Allan laughed, still petting the creature. "By your logic, you could also say I'm a tool to achieve a specific goal, but-" he shrugged.

Alizati continued to watch Allan, giving no reaction to the other treating his creation like a pet. Some may say they were a pet, but they were a very rudimentary machine in his eyes. The other two heads also enjoyed the pets, chirping happily at all the attention. Alizati never pet them, or even cuddled them. They were very friendly. "I use them to test my logic and engineering capabilities. They play Kal-toh," He explained. "And organic life forms are different. Machines are created by organic beings to perform tasks. In many ways, without a task, our existence is meaningless. Meanwhile organic beings do not need a reason to exist."

Allan continued what he was doing as long as the creature seemed to be enjoying it, laughing happily at its seemingly silly actions. "Uh-huh, they do all that and they're also very cuuute~" he said, thinking about what Alizati was saying still. "Al contrario, sir, I think without any task at all, most of our existences would be meaningless," he said softly as he pet the creature, "We have plenty of reasons to exist. It's something a lot of people think about at night when they're not feeling too great, even, is why they exist."

Cute, Alizati did not think the furberous was cute. In fact he didn't think anything was 'cute'. Such a word was illogical and meaningless to him. His expression remained unchanged. "As an organic life form you have the freedom to debate such a topic," Alizati walked over to his sofa and sat down, placing a piece onto the Kal-toh board that sit on the coffee table. "There is no one to tell you what to do or why to exist. When you were born, you can forge your own path. When I was activated I had one job," Alizati explained, thinking about his mother briefly. She was a strange woman, enigmatic, afraid of the truth. It was incredible just how much Dzharok had hidden from her. If only she had known her husband was a sympathiser with-- "If that is all, you are dismissed, ensign. If you would like to stay, I will not object. Bir, Ikki, and Yuch could use an opponent on their level."

"You have the freedom to debate it too, nobody's stopping you," Allan said, "or at least, I'm not. When you were activated you may have had one job, but that's changed, yeah? Your job can change every day as the chief engineer. Humans, depending on their families, can't always forge their own path until they're older. It honestly depends," he shrugged again, looking down at Bir, Ikki, and Yuch. "Honestly? I'd love to st- wait, are you assuming my Kal-toh level, or are they just really good?" He laughed, "I'll have you know, one of my exes taught me how to be an absolute pro at Kal-toh. Her name was T'Alea and she did not play around, man." Ah yes, the woman he had mentioned previously to Eshen. She really was a Kal-toh pro, though.

"Every day I am reminded of Dzharok, it is not exactly the same," Alizati spoke flatly, but with a bit of thoughtfulness in his voice. The furberous slithered around Allan once more before heading over to the sofa. "I will tell you I am surprised you had a Vulcan mate," Alizati stood up so Allan could sit on his side of the sofa across from the furberous. He took some of the pieces off of the sphere and laid them out in front of both the furberous and Allan's side. "Bir, Ikki, and Yuch, are not very good. I have beaten them 169 times in a row. We will see how you fair against them."

"Nice," Allan said in reference to the 169 times Alizati had beaten them, "I'm sure I can at least beat them once, but I'm happy to help them improve so that maybe one day they could beat you," he smiled as he sat across from the furberous, looking at the sphere carefully. "And just so you know, you shouldn't really be surprised. You could name any humanoid race in the galaxy, and I've probably had them as a mate." He smirked, before beginning to think about the game ahead of him. It was a good thinking exercise, honestly! Really sparked all of his remaining brain cells.

After Allan had left, Alizati walked back to his console and began the shut down process. He had some information he wanted to send to his PADD as well as a couple of other things he had to wrap up. He was preparing for sleep, odd for an android but it hadn't done it in a while, maybe that would help clear his mind. Bir, Ikki, and Yuch sat on the sofa, still as a statue. The furberus was asleep, it seemed. The creature was not actually capable of running continously, contrary to what it may seem. Once all systems were shut down he stood next to his little computer tower and grabbed the two clips for his fingers. He did not need sleep, but he could force a 'dream-like' state. It was a feature that his mother had given him so he could enjoy yet another 'organic pleasure'. With his eyes closed and the lights dim, Alizati fell 'asleep'. Awaiting whatever 'dreams' may come to him.

"V'tosh ka'tur, you do not belong here." "Dzharok, V̵̎͘i̶͋̌k̶̓̋ẗ̴́̃r̶̐̈́à̸̄ ̵̍̈́n̸̄͊e̷͌͗t̶͒̚h̸̹̀ ̴̇̒w̵̄͂á̸̊s̸͎̓s̴͊͗ ̴͂͘v̷̾͗a̷͆́l̷̅̃u̸͂̀u̵͊͐m̵̀͝?̸̰̈"

One, two minutes passed and Alizati opened his eyes. Another dream successful, he thought although he did not remember the contents of his dream, he felt it was sufficient. In fact, he did feel better, his mind felt oddly free. As if he had just completed a giant task, like a sip of cool water in the Vulcan desert. Yes, this was good. (edited)

After a 'restful', whatever that meant, sleep, Alizati stepped out of his quarters and into the corridor. He was going to stop by Surak Snacks before his shift. It was perfectly logical to visit a place that reminded him of home, right? Many organic life forms did yoga or exercise to clear their heads, why would an android not want to visit a familiar place?

Inside Alizati's quarters things were just as he left it except for the fact that his workstation console was left on. It seems that before departing, Bir, Ikki, and Yuch had not only turned it on, but managed to press a few buttons stoo. Not being very smart or able to work a touch screen, it appeared as though a series of random inputs had been made, all which pulled up a list of discarded files. Should Allan choose to view them, they were displayed in a list, all with the extension .jarok, but aside from that the names seemed to be gibberish strings of numbers and letters.

"Huh, yeah... that's concerning. I'll fix it up for ya," Allan replied, laughing a little when Bir wrapped around his neck like a little scarf. And to think a few weeks earlier, he would have interpreted that as a threat. Once they walked into the room, he did in fact walk over to the workstation console, assuming he would need to at least do something there in order to fix this issue Alizati had just brought up, and then saw that again.... .jarok. Hm. He moved past the workstation after that though, standing at the side of the desk as if that's where he had intended to go.

"I would appreciate it, ensign," Alizati stepped into the room and headed to his workstation first. He pressed a few buttons, finding nothing strange with the fact that his mutant three headed furby had managed not just to turn the console on, but to even press buttons. No harm was done anyway. "You may put Bir, Ikki, and Yuch, back on the sofa," He instructed as he gestured to the furby's spot on the sofa right beside the Kal-toh board. "I have the correct language file set up, once you have returned Bir, Ikki, and Yuch, you may come over here," Alizati grabbed the small clips from the computer tower behind him, preparing for his update. It would only take a few minutes and this was a pretty low risk situation. He corrected small errors like this on his own all the time. Just because he was an android, didn't make him immune to minor glitches or incorrectly downloaded patches. He made mistakes too sometimes.

Allan nodded, going over to the sofa and leaning down so Bir, Ikki, and Yuch could come down if they so wished. If they didn't, he would simply leave them on his shoulders. Regardless, he walked back over to Alizati. "Sure," he said, watching as Alizati prepared for his update and looked at the screen. "Do you want me to code anything into it, or just supervise your update like last time?"

The furby slithered onto their spot on the sofa and all three heads turned to the Kal-toh board. They were still contemplating their next move after all.

"Supervise. Nothing should go wrong. I have the new dictionary downloaded to overwrite my existing one. Like last time, if anything goes wrong you have my consent to abort," Alizati clipped the clips to his fingers and sat down in the chair. He handed Allan a PADD with the updated loaded on. The update contained all the normal files in his system, most written in Vulcan, but some files were in Standard. The latest engineering protocols, Starbase news, roster, the list was long. There were also some system modifications like the ones for his sight and blood circulation. "I am ready when you are, just click start.*

"Sounds good to me," Allan said, taking the PADD into his hands and starting the update. He would have to ask about the .jarok files after this whole ordeal.

As the update started, Alizati became still. His eyes were still open but they were no longer moving. There was a soft hum from the computer tower behind them as all the information began to download into Alizati's system. Only five minutes into the update and a warning popped up on the PADD Allan was holding. Thankfully Alizati remembered to change the language to Standard so Allan could read it. The error prompt was as followed:

"Cannot overwrite file, Rateg-Rihannsu.jarok with Standard-Rihannsu.lang. Continue update without overwriting the file? YES/NO"

Allan stared down at the PADD as the warning message popped up. Another fucking .jarok file? God... still, though, this seemed like the language file Alizati wanted to replace in the first place, so he hit NO. It seemed like they would have to find out why it couldn't be overwritten.

The rest of the update went through without a problem and ten minute later it was complete. The PADD in Allan's hands beeped and Alizati turned his head to look at the engineer. "The update is complete. There were no problems I assume?" He asked, not feeling any different than he did before. If there was an error he did not notice. He blinked a couple times as he looked at Allan, his eyes shaking ever so slightly.

Allan blinked, confused. "Yeah, uh. I clicked NO to continue the update and it... continued the update...?" He asked, looking at Alizati carefully. "It um, said it couldn't overwrite the language file with the one you wanted, and asked to continue without overwriting the file..."

Alizati blinked a couple times and then looked back down at his console. The update finished up successfully, right? He was going through the logs again, wondering what could have gone wrong. "You are correct the update did not complete. The language file could not be overwritten? Why? This was just an error of downloading the wrong language pack, there should have been no errors," Alizati turned to Allan and got a glimpse of the PADD in his hands. "It is one of Dzharok's files. I see," Alizati turned back to his console and began clicking a few more buttons. If he could not rewrite the file he would have to just install the second language pack adjacent to his existing one and ensure that the correct language was loaded up whenever he needed it. "I am writing code to ensure my system bypasses that file and only calls upon the correct language pack. It is either that or lock that file away and leave me unable to converse in Rihannsu. What would you suggest?"

"I would recommend the first, I don't really see an issue with just calling upon the correct one," Allan answered, looking down at the PADD still. "So is uh, every .jarok file extension one of Dzharok's files?" He went ahead and asked. Why it wasn't .dzharok instead, he had no idea, but he'd learn eventually, hopefully.

Alizati looked down at his console and finished up the new command and loaded up his update once more. "It should work now," He stated as he struggled to untangle the clips on his fingers that had already slipped off between his movements. "Yes, I gave them that extension. To make it easy to find them and exclude them from my own main system," He explained to Allan. He began reading some of the logs from the update, this time all the text was in ancient Vulcan as this internal code was not available in Standard. If Allan was observant he may have noticed Alizati furrowing his brows upon reading a very troubling log entry. The expression only last a couple seconds at most before he turned to the engineer. "Perhaps we should just delete Rihannsu from my memory all together," He proposed, clearly being bothered by something.

Allan did notice that the other man seemed troubled somewhat, and sighed. "Okay, that makes sense, but... why .jarok instead of .dzharok? Is there a reason for that?" He asked calmly, before turning back to look at Alizati. "I don't see why deleting the language altogether would hardly be necessary. Is it?"

"Jarok is how Dzharok spelled his name, it is simply an alternative spelling of Dzharok. I changed it to separate myself from him," Alizati stated plainly as he looked back at Allan. "Anyway, I am ready to restart the update whenever you are. If there is a problem again, agree to proceed without the language deletion and we can think about what else to do from there," He said as he faced forward once more, ready to try again.

"That makes sense. You know you could just change your name too, right?" He asked, but then his mind focused on the task at hand again. "Wait, are we deleting it alltogether? Instead of bypassing and only calling upon the correct one?" He asked for clarification, still looking right at the other.

"To take away Dzharok's name from my name would be disrespecting his life and my creator. No matter how dissatisfied I am with his memories, I will not change it," Alizati replied, his voice steady, but his eyes shaking a bit more than usual. "Yes, we are deleting the file all together. That is my decision, Ensign,"He said firmly. This was something he had already made up his mind about, he was going to delete that file and hopefully be free of Dzharok's memories for good.

"Okay," Allan responded simply, it made sense. Universal translators still existed, so it wasn't like deleting the language would be catastrophic or anything... or at least he assumed that much. "I'll start the update now, then," and he did so once Alizati was ready, clicking the button on the PADD to do so.

The updated restarted and Alizati's expression was neutral as he faced forward. His eyes had stopped shaking now and everything was silent aside from Allan's own breathing and the soft hums of the furberus. Five minutes in, a warning popped up:

"Cannot delete core file Rateg-Rihannsu.jarok as it is being used to run main.alizati and core.alizati. Continue update YES/NO?"

Allan sighed, rolled his eyes slightly, and clicked YES as Alizati had instructed him to do. Couldn't delete a language file because it was being used to run the main and core files? Sounded like a weird thing for a simple language file to do.

The update continued as normal and ten minutes later the update had completed successfully.

When the android awoke he blinked a few times and then turned to Allan. "Was the file deleted?" He asked as if he didn't already know the answer. He wanted to hear the confirmation from Allan first though. The chief engineer's eyes began to shake again, causing him to blink at irregular intervals to try and calm the reaction.

Allan could have lied. He could have, but he didn't because that would be stupid. "Nah, it said it was crucial to running your main and core files. Dunno why that would be." He explained, handing the PADD back to him.

The first thing he did was unclip the clips from his fingers and set them back on the wall beside the computer tower. They weren't very powerful, but the electric shock they generated was quite uncomfortable. He could always have numbed his fingers, but that would only add to the list of possible complications. Clearly he had enough to deal with that was more important than just some sore fingertips. Alizati took the PADD back from Allan and checked over the logs. "I had a feeling it would," He stated before placing the PADD on the side of his console. "It is because that is the language all of Dzharok's memories are in. Without it, I would not be able to understand any of his files. I was hoping deleting it would ensure I could never read his files again," He stood up and walked over to his sofa, sitting across from his mutant furby. "And it is also the language I used to think in."

"Ah," Allan nodded, watching as Alizati checked over the logs. "That's a very logical assumption, maybe... maybe I could find a way to code bypass that deletion instead of, um, my current project you've assigned me too?" Surely - no, Allan knew that bypassing deletion of one file was easier than however many he was currently trying to work with.

Alizati was slightly relieved Allan didn't ask a certain question. He places a metal rod onto the Kal-toh board, the sphere changed shape and it was the furby's turn now. "Perhaps, but I would like you to continue your current project. Deleting the language file is still an idea, however I would rather free up the space in my memory by deleting Jarok's-- Dzharok's memories," Alizati stated, his eyes focused on the Kal-toh board. "The Romulan reporter wants to interview Jarok. I told her I did not know anyone by that name. Avoid engaging with her from now on, she seems persistent."

"Oh, Lalisa?" Allan asked, remembering his chat with her. "Yeah, we mostly talked about gay sh- I mean, I told her about Bir, Ikki, and Yuch, but that's because they're cool. Nothing much else, though, and I'll avoid telling her more, yeah," he replied. She wanted to know about Jarok specifically? Interesting. He wondered why Jarok was more interesting than the chief engineer of the starbase. "I'll work on both, then, if that's okay. Because if I can delete one, the others should be easily accessed after that point, I'd assume."

"gay--? If you mean the act of male identifying persons feeling attracted to other male identifying persons, that did happen," Alizati said in perfect Vulcan monotone. Bir picked up a metal rod in his mouth and placed it on the sphere. What a lovely game of Kal-toh they were playing. "You may do that. I will be working on a solution as well. On that note, Eshen informed me if I delete Dzharok's emotions and memories it could have a negative effect on myself and Men. It does seem that my ability to process romantic desire would be affected if either your or I succeeded in deleting Dzharok's memories. It is a problem that has made me consider removing the safeties all together. So I wouldn't have to hold back with Men."

Allan nodded. "Yeah, I figured as much," he said, before thinking about that. So Eshen knew about this too now? Huh. Maybe they could talk about that next time or something. "I mean, you've made new memories with Men, right? We could simply find a way to separate those from Dzharok's memories, and if you really wanted to remove all the safeties as you say it, we could code a separate file altogether that could give you that ability to process romantic desire. I can't say that I haven't coded something like that before," he began to watch the lovely game of Kal-toh.

"I do not desire to be Dzharok. As it stands, I am content as I am. Men and I still cannot pursue each other freely because he is still married," Alizati looked at his furby who was deeply contemplating its next move. "Thank you for your help, ensign. I believe that will be all for today. You are dismissed."

"Stastically, boss, that's never stopped many people before. But," he did a little bow, and walked over to the door. "I'll be on my way, and I'll let you know about my progress. See ya later, take care of yoursel." and with that, he left the room, giving a small wave goodbye to him and to the furby despite knowing it didn't really recognize that. (edited)

"We are Vulcan," Was Alizati's only response to Allan's comment about Men's marriage. He gave Allan a Vulcan salute when the other waved. He noticed Allan waving to his furby, but the engineer was that type of guy and he had accepted that. Illogical, but the boy was human. Alizati watched as his furby made their next move. He had a while until work, they could play for a while. He decided it would be best not to try and tinker with his programme for now or go digging for information about Dzharok.

The door chimed

Not going to be a fool this time, Alizati got up and walked over to the door. He was pretty sure it was Allan who forgot something or had one last thing to say, but he had to check. "How may I help you?" He stared at the reporter, prepared to close the door in her face if she asked any more questions. He already gave her his answer, there was no logical reason for her to keep pestering him.

"I want to speak to Alizati," She spoke in her native language Rihannsu yet again. She had a feeling Alizati was going to continue to be as Vulcan as ever, but it was worth a shot. Lalisa held her PADD at her side. Perhaps she had come on too strong before, she still had questions to ask and she was not going to stop until she got the answers she wanted.

"For what purpose?" Alizati replied in perfect Vulcan monotone, speaking his native Vulcan back at her. She had a translator, or if she spoke Vulcan she could converse with him in that language.

"I am writing an article about the benefits of having AI in command positions and--"

"If you are going to continue to lie to me I suggest you save yourself time and go back to Mol'Rihan because I will not entertain any more questions from you," Alizati stared the journalist down, his eyes shaking ever so slightly. He opened his mouth again to speak, but this time his words were not caught by the universal translator. He spoke just as confidently as he always did, enunciating each word in the typical Vulcan monotone, but to anyone born off Romulus his speech was virtually undecipherable.

Despite being told off, Lalisa had a smile on her face and nodded. "Understood, sir, Jaylin du," She said with a wave, turning down the corridor and head back towards the lifts.

The rest of Alizati's evening went normally. He played Kal-toh with Bir, Ikki, and Yuch for an hour and then resumed some work. He was always working. The words of the Romulan reporter still weighed on his mind though, he wondered why she kept avoiding giving her true intentions. Yes, she wanted to interview Jarok, but why him? No one had ever asked him about the Vulcan scientist, it was strange. Why would a Romulan even know who he was? He lived his whole life on Vulcan, he never spoke to a single Romulan outside of his--

A loud whirling began to come from the three headed furby on the sofa as they began to move and twist. It seemed like they were struggling to pick up the Kal-toh piece to make their next move, prompting Alizati to get up from his seat and assist them.

Perhaps he should programme some basic commands. Yes, no, thank you, hello, simple ones, he thought. After realigning Bir's neck, Alizati headed into his private quarters to change into something casual for once. After he had changed he left his quarters, it was off to see his favourite Vulcan chef.

"Precisely," Alizati responded to Allan's comment as he stepped into his quarters. He immediately walked over to his work station and sat down . He pressed a few buttons and a wall of ancient Vulcan text appeared on the screen "Onto another more pressing matter. I do not wish to continue with removing Dzharok's memories. I am functioning within normal parameters again and feel the removal of such an important part of my system would do more harm than good."

"Mmm, haven't heard of many people's hair getting messed up for just sitting on the floor, but... you do you, I guess. Or Men. Whatever your preference is." He shrugged. "Sure," he said, that ever so slight Boston accent coming out. "Does that mean you want me to stop working on both projects you gave me...?"

"Yes, it is on hold for now," Alizati said as he continued to click buttons. Bir, Ikki, and Yuch made more humming noises, but it didn't seem to illicit any reaction from the android engineer. "Accessing Dzharok's memories, whilst detrimental in many cases, it also beneficial in others. Despite the failure in the language pack update, it appears I do have the ability to speak Standard Rihannsu," Alizati said as he read over the code on screen. "I have discovered something new about Dzharok as well. He never truly loved either of his wives. Which explains my feelings towards Men."

"Delightful," Allan said, sitting down on the sofa next to Bir, Ikki, and Yuch so he could give them the attention Alizati wouldn't. "So all of those concerns you had before... none of that is relevant to you anymore?"

The furberus slithered around Allan's arms when the boy say beside it on the sofa. All three heads were happy to get the attention from the ensign. It seemed they had also learned how to purr like a cat, how cute! "Yes. I bonded with Men. Intimately. It was an odd feeling, although given that my original function was to do just that, I believe what I did was completely logical," An odd way of putting it, but Alizati could logic his way out of anything. "Dzharok was very emotional for a Vulcan, in this case it served me well. I enjoyed my time with Men and if I were to remove Dzharok's memories I doubt I would be able to experience the same feelings."

Allan let it do so, smiling as he heard it purr. It really was cute... And then he heard Alizati confirm that... Men and him fucked. Holy shit. Allan restrained a laugh, instead just nodding as he listened to who he had to remind himself was his boss speak. "Okay, but... do you think that this is you experiencing these feelings, or is it still Dzharok's feelings?" He asked. That was a genuine question, he had to wonder because he knew it was possible for an android to feel those things without another guy's memories.

"Without Dzharok's memories, I would not be capable of experiencing any emotions. My feelings are entirely my own, but they are only possible because of Dzharok," He explained as he looked at Allan who was cuddling with his mutant furby. Of course Alizati kept a stoic expression, but in the back of his mind he was glad that Allan seemed to be getting along with his 'pet'. "Men expressed interested in Dzharok so I am doing some research seeing as I cannot access his memories on my own. I am still unsure what is so dangerous about his memories, but I trust my past self for making the decision to lock me out," As he spoke, Bir, Ikki, and Yuch continued to snuggle Allan. Yuch extended his long neck towards the Kal-toh board and picked up a metal rod in his mouth and handed it to Allan. "Jarok was Dzharok's real name. It is an alternate spelling. Dzharok's mother is still alive as well. I remember meeting her, Doctor Thillasa of the Vulcan Science Academy. Thillasa is a curious name, it is not a Vulcan name."

"I still don't quite get how that works, to be honest, I mean, I get how it works presently, but I fail to see how it would... fail to work otherwise, as plenty of other android function that way, but..." he frowned, however the ability to play with Bir, Ikki, and Yuch right now did lighten his spirits still. He was thankful for that. "There's got to be a good reason, yeah," he agreed, taking the metal rod and flashing Yuch a competitive grin as he began to play Kal-toh with the creature. "There's got to be something there that Dzharok had in him that wouldn't be good at all for you to have, I feel like."

Alizati clicked a couple buttons on his console, looking away from Allan now. His eyes were shaking ever so slight as he read over Dzharok's profile on his console. He was also trying to find traits that would support his reasoning to delete the man from his memory. But he found none.. except for, "Dalin. He was the unfit parent I spoke about," He replied plainly, now looking up at Allan. The three headed furby chirped and grabbed a metal rod int its mouth to make it's next move. The furberus was not very good at Kal-Toh, but it was giving a concentrated effort. Alizati mumbled something as he worked, but it was in his strange dialect again, something the translator nor Allan would be able to understand. "Do you dislike Dzharok, ensign?"

"Usually takes a lot of work to undo something like that," Allan spoke vaguely about it, but he wasn't sure what Alizati quite meant by 'unfit parent' as he continued to play with the furberus. He enjoyed the game very much, but didn't ever 'go easy' on them for the sole purpose that he knew the only way for them to improve was to bring his A-game each time. The engineer looked up at his boss, though, at the asking of the question. "Not... particularly, I've never met the man. I can say, though, that the entire time I've known you, you've wanted to rid of him." Allan looked back down as he continued to play Kal-toh, which strangely enough, to him, was much simpler than... whatever was going on here. "And, to be completely fair, it didn't strike a good chord with me when you said his memories were put into you without your consent. In my opinion, that's something I... don't really like, no."

Alizati rubbed his eyes and then stood up, walking over to where Allan and his furby were playing Kal-toh. He sat on the opposite side from them and picked up a metal rod. "You and them, against me," He said a he made his move on the board. The sphere changed in accordance to his move. Alizati was a skilled Kal-toh player and it definitely showed. "That is a logical conclusion," He stated as he looked at the furberus and Allan for their next move. Now closer, Allan could probably tell Alizati's hair was a lot messier than it appeared before. Thankfully his hair was short so there weren't many knots visible, but it was clear he had been... Rolling around on the floor or something. "I am Dzharok. Just like an organic being cannot change the circumstances of one's birth, I cannot change mine. Many organic beings are born in chaotic conditions, war, absent parents, famine, dangerous environments-- but it is what one does with that gift of life which determines who they really are. Instead of fighting Dzharok perhaps I need to learn to live with him. I only began experiencing difficulties once I locked myself from his memories."

"Oh, you're on," Allan said with a smile, looking at the furberus and then back at Alizati. Now this was a challenge for sure. He made his next move, not before showing it to the furberus and getting either a nod or shake in response though. "You are..." he kept his eyes on the board, "you aren't the same as a joined Trill, you're ..." he wasn't entirely sure how to say what he meant. "Didn't you say also that Dzharok himself probably wouldn't approve of this, though?"

Bir, Ikki, and Yuch all chirped in response and blinked when Allan made his next move. They approved and they were clearly very excited to have a teammate to play kal-toh with. Alizati did not react to this move however. He picked up one of the metal rods and stared at the sphere. Kal-toh was a game to test his logic, not his speed. He prided himself on going slow and contemplating his moves instead of just placing his piece wherever. "He would not. He did not like androids," Alizati looked at Allan, his eyes vibrating ever so slightly. "I believe remaining as I am would be the best course of action. I am no longer malfunctioning and even Men said I seem very organic as I am. It is illogical to try and correct what is not broken."

"So..." Allan said, watching Alizati contemplate his next move. For the ensign, he liked Kal-toh because it was a collaborative puzzle, in a way. The speed was insignificant to him as well. "The both of you had no say in this, and at least one of you now would strongly disagree to this situation, but you're keeping it as is?" He asked. "I mean, it's good to see you not malfunctioning and all, I just feel like... there are better workarounds... than keeping this less than ideal situation in place." He chose his words carefully, he didn't want to risk upsetting the other.

Alizati placed his piece on the sphere and watched it change shape. The three headed furby looked at Allan with all 3 pairs of eyes blinking and staring at him. It seemed they were at a loss for the next move and were hoping the young engineer knew a logical move. "Dzharok is dead," Alizati stayed rather matter-a-factly. "And I am a machine. I believe keeping the arrangement as is would be best. At least until I can find a way to share Dzharok's memories with someone, perhaps a family member of his or my own father," Alizati said, unaware if Dzharok did have any living family members. "Dzharok and his children all perished in a shuttle accident, self inflicted. As far as I know, there are no living relatives aside from his mother Thillasa," Alizati rested his hands on his knees. "If I were to delete all of Dzharok's memories that would certainly change my own personality. Perhaps we would not be able to enjoy this game of Kal-toh, or I would cease to have interest in Bir, Ikki, and Yuch," As soon as the chief engineer said those words, the three headed furby let out a soft whine and rested all 3 heads in Allan's lap.

Allan watched the sphere change shape as well, looking to the three headed furby and laughing a little when he saw they were at a loss, and picked up another piece, thinking about where it would go and this massively whack-o shit at hand here. "Yes. He's dead, and his memories, the main essence of his life were put into a, for all intents and purposes, living, machine against his will." He paused for a moment, noting the word 'self-inflicted', which only further proved his theory of Dzharok not being a totally stable guy. "His mother would be a great person to share his memories with, if she is the only living family member," he said plainly, making their next move after showing it to the furby. "It wouldn'.. Alizati, I don't mean to sound like I'm explaining something you already know, but you're drawing off Dzharok's memories right now, yes, but the way that artificial intelligence programming works, and I'm certain over looking at your code how it probably works, is that when you've enjoyed Kal-toh, you draw off of Dzharok's memories, but that in turn creates new lines of code that allow you yourself to enjoy Kal-toh. It's like when you show a program a bunch of pictures of butterflies to draw a butterfly, it draws upon those pictures of butterflies but in turn creates new butterflies that it can draw off of eventually." He pet the furby softly to comfort it.

"Dzharok looked a lot like his father-- and thus I look like him, Dalin. It does not bring good memories to his mother," Alizati explained. "Perhaps there is another," He said, almost sounding a bit ominous, as if he knew of another. He did not though, as far as he knew Dzharok had no other living family members. "I understand your logic, Ensign," Alizati stared at the sphere, his eyes shaking a bit erradictly as he spoke. This caused him to turn away and gently press on them to try and control the shaking. "... In many ways, I feel connected with Dzharok. We also have a lot in common. Dzharok enjoyed Kal-toh, we were both children of two words, abd we both had difficult parents. And I can tell he loves Men too. Through me."

"If his mother is anything like mine she's going to prioritize her son over everything else, and that includes any bad memories from what you may look like. You look like her son, and if she loved her son, that's what's going to matter to her," he tilted his head as he watched Alizati turn away and press his... eyes? "Are you okay?" He smiled and cleared his throat. "I'm sorry, are you- undamaged, is that it?"

"Your human concept of family differs greatly from the Vulcan dynamic," Alizati shook his head and turned away. He paused when Allan asked if he was undamaged, not noticing how strange the wording actually sounded. He put his kal-toh pieces on the table and stood up. "Doctor Thillasa and I are not enemies, however she has respected my decision to live a separate life from that of her son. She seemed to feel uneasy having a mixed--" Alizati shut his eyes once again and fell forward, catching himself on the sofa back. "I must restart at this time. You are dismissed ensign. I can repair this issue on my own."

"Ah, yeah," Allan agreed, he had forgotten a moment that Dzharok wasn't just some random dude, but a random Vulcan dude. "Right, and that's something you have to discuss-" When Alizati fell forward, Allan immediately got up and stood next to him, putting a hand on his arm to help steady him, "Are you sure? Like, I've - I've never seen you quite like this," he said, the concern obvious in his voice.

Others may have thought Allan's caring nature was nice or even comforting, but for Alizati he thought such feelings were illogical. He shook his head and took a giant step to the side. "Allan, I am Vulcan," He had to remind the other,giving him the coldest of stares. Bir, Ikki, and Yuch made pained noises on the sofa and quickly slithered over between the two men. "Please refrain from physical contact. I am fine. Fighting Dzharok is illogical, I should not be fighting a man who is literally myself. Just as organic beings do not delete their past, I cannot separate from mine. I will think about another solution."

Allan also took a considerable step back as Alizati did, putting his hands behind his back as he realized his mistake, looking down at Bir, Ikki, and Yuch for a moment, then back up at Alizati. "Understood, sir. I wish... I wish you luck with that, I'll leave you be now," he said, before heading out the door. What another interesting Boss Interaction he'd had today.

"Thank you, ensign," Alizati said before the younger man left the room. As soon as the doors closed he collapsed to the floor. The three headed furby immediately slithered over him and wrapped itself around Alizati's arms and neck. "You are learning quickly. Is this your way to telling me I should tell him? That detail is irrelevant to the task at hand and I have no dealings with the Tal Shiar."

To: Lt. Cdr. Alizati Dzharok From: Lt. JG. Eshen K'Tann Hey. I met up with that journalist recently, Lalisa T'Kota, and ended up finding out a lot about you. Would you like to talk about it someplace? We don't have to, but I wanted to be fully transparent this time around. - Eshen K'Tann

To: Lt. JG Eshen K'Tann From: Lt. Cdr. Alizati Dzharok Finding out a lot about me? I am not interested in her gossip, however I am interested in having someone else test out my Kal-toh programme. You are welcome to visit me in my quarters. I am off duty this evening. - Alizati

To: Lt. Cdr. Alizati Dzharok From: Lt. JG. Eshen K'Tann Well, I can't say no to that! I'll be there! - Eshen

In preparation for Eshen's arrive, Alizati got dressed in his off duty clothes. Today he was feeling pineapples so he put on a bright yellow hawaiin shirt covered in pineapples and coconuts. He had on a pair of light grey sweatpants and blue flip flops. They were comfortable. Also if they were in Australia you could say Alizati with the bright blue thongs. After getting dressed he went over to the sofa where Bir, Ikki, and Yuch were seated. He was going to dress them up too, but he didn't have many clothing options for a three headed furby. He wrapped bandanas around each of their long necks, Bir got green, Ikki got blue, and Yuch had red, RGB. He reset the Kal-toh board that was situated on the coffee table and awaited the Lieutenant's arrival.

[D] Eshen soon turned up in the same gothic cowboy outfit he'd worn with Lalisa. Goth cowboy and pineapple shirt man. What a duo. He ding-donged the door.

"Come in," Alizati said and the doors opened to let Eshen into the room. Alizati was sitting on the sofa across from Bir, Ikki, and Yuch, his three headed furby. The three heads were connected to one small body. White and fluffy, the furbies had dark circles around mechnical eyes and a bright yellow mouth that opened and closed. All three heads looked at Eshen, 6 eyes all blinking and staring at the Vulcan-Klingon man. "This is Bir, Ikki, and Yuch. They play Kal-toh. Bir is green, Ikki is blue, and Yuch is red, I have colour coded them for your convenience," Alizati explained as he stood up and walked towards Eshen. "Please have a seat, they will not harm you, they just want to play Kal-toh."

...? ?? ??? ??? "You made one of those toy robots from pre-world war three Earth? Alizati, you keep on surprising me." Seriously, saying he was attractive, the whole thing with him and his kids in a shuttle, and now this? Matryoshka man strikes again! Eshen was not scared of the Furbydra (Furby Hydra) that was Bir, Ikki and Yuch, just perplexed, so he sat down willingly. "And you made it to... Play Kal-Toh? Adorable little neckerchiefs, by the way."

The furberus slithered off of the sofa to go greet Eshen. All three heads chirped as they circled the Vulcan-Klingon's feet. They were truly a Vulcan creation because they clearly knew appropriate distance. Bir was the one to raise his head first, coming to Eshen's knee because even though they were long, they weren't that long. The tiny furby chirped and gave a cursed greeting in Vulcan. "Yes, they are not very good, but I need more varied opponents. Ensign Allan helped out," Alizati looked down at the furberus, showing no expression, not even a smile or anything. Just staring. "Ensign Allan also insists they are sentient and plays with them. I have no objections if you would like to engage in such behaviours with them. It helps them learn," He said before walking back to his seat in front of the Kal-toh board. He gestured for Eshen to come over and sit where the furberus had been sitting; across from him.

"Oh, well, if Allan does it, I suppose I'll follow suit!" Eshen said, as if he wasn't definitely going to do that anyway. He gave all three heads some pets and then went to the seat Alizati instructed, feeling like he was playing musical chairs. "I'd say it's been a while since I played, but I've actually been going to Kal-Toh Nights at Surak Snacks, so I've had some practice!"

All three of the heads hummed softly when they were pat. They were clearly enjoying the attention despite Alizati claiming that they were not sentient and therefore could not 'enjoy' anything. He watched as Eshen took the seat across from him. The three headed furby followed the tall man and slithered on the floor besides the sofa, curling up there. "Men is proficient at Kal-toh. It is enjoyable to play against such a strong opponent," Alizati stated, no emotion in his voice as he spoke of Men. "Bir, Ikki, and Yuch would like to rest on your lap as we play. Ensign Allan worked with them against me, it seemed they performed better when they had a teammate than alone," The android engineer gestured to the furberus who was now laying at Eshen's feet.

They wanted to lie on him? Confusion over, he loved them now. He picked them up and put them on his lap, smiling at them even though he didn't imagine the expression meant much to a furby made by a Vulcan. Eshen was not immune to smol creature brain cell loss. Hopefully it wouldn't impact his Kal-Toh performance. "I'm not too bad at this game myself. My father was very insistent I play it with him every time he came back home. It was... Actually pretty nice? Peaceful. Like morning meditation."

The furberus opened and closed all 3 of its mouths in excitement when Eshen picked them up. Bir rested on Eshen's arm, the little bandana tied around his neck loosening as he did this. The other two heads seemed to be focused on the Kal-toh board and Ikki picked up a metal rod in his mouth. Alizati gave no reaction when Eshen picked up his furby or when Bir nuzzled his head against the man's arm. This was all normal, nothing strange at all. Leave it to a Vulcan android to stay stone faced in a situation like this. "You played with your Vulcan father? I find many Vulcan children have such memories. My father and I often play when we are together, however given the nature of both our jobs those days are few and far between," He looked at the furby and then at Eshen, wondering which of the two of them was going to make the first move.

Well, they needed to learn, right? Eshen concentrated, then pointed out a good place in the tangled bird's nest of metal sticks for Ikki to put the rod. There! That was a good opening move. Pleased with himself, he tightened Bir's bandana and gave it more pets. "I did. He also taught me the Lyre, and Rihannsu, and how to meditate, and how to put up mental wards against telepathic intrusion. My mother, on the other hand, taught me how to fight and write operas." Though his father did also teach him Suus Manha, he saw it as more of another way to train his body and discipline. His mother saw it as good for those things too, but also self-defense. "Oh, and how to diagnose Tarkesian Flu and set a bone. As for your father, you could try playing some online games with him. I play scrabble with this Earth lady I call Grandma sometimes." Wait. Hold on. Wasn't he here to talk about what Lalisa said? They were actually just, like, having a normal conversation instead. Well, he'd try to ease Alizati into it, but he didn't want to talk about it then he didn't want to talk about it, and Eshen would go home and think about the mysteries of the matryoshka man into the wee hours of the night.

Bir placed the rod onto the board and it began to take shape. The mutant furby began to purr when the nice man tightened his bandana and gave him head pats. Bir, Ikki, and Yuch seemed to get along with Alizati's friends more than Alizati but clearly the Vulcan android did not seem to mind. After all this was how they learned, right? "Why did you father teach you Rihannsu? It seems a bit useless to someone of Vulcan and Klingon descend living on Earth when the Federation was still at odds with the Star Empire,“ For some reason that sentence caught his ears. "Vulcan and Rihannsu are similar, but there are a few differences," He stared at the sphere as he contemplated his next move. "As for playing games with my father, he is very busy lately. But perhaps if he comes to visit we can all play Vulcan mahjong," Of course Vulcans had a very calm and non-emotional form of Mahjong. No screaming, no throwing tiles, just players sitting around a table sliding tiles. It was a form of freestyle music in a way with the ceramic tiles shuffling against a hard wood table.

Oh, Surak. Did Alizati program these furbies to purr or did it just spontaneously develop the ability to do that? Could Alizati even comprehend how cute this was? These were things Eshen wondered as he watched Alizati's contemplation. Kal-Toh moves were usually quite slow. Games could go on for days - weeks, even. And god help you if somebody accidentally jiggled the board too hard and all your pieces fell everywhere. That had happened with him and his father during a half a year-long game and he could have sworn by the look in the stoic man's eyes that he was going to kill the person who did it. But, of course, if Eshen got emotional about a wrong move, that was illogical. "All? Including me? If so, I'd love to!" Although the image he had in his mind of Alizati's father was quite intimidating. "Well, he wanted me to be well-learned, and Rihannsu comes from the same root as Vulcan, so he thought it would be easy to learn... And it was, actually! It was one of my first languages after Vulcan, Klingon, Standard and English. Hey, how many languages have you learned? Or... Downloaded? I don't know how it works."

”Correct, including you," Alizati looked at the other curiously, his enthusiasm was very un-vulcan-like but Eshen was very un-vulcan-like to begin with. Still, he did not react or say anything on the matter. If other Vulcans chose to be illogical that was their choice. Dzharok once tried to force logic onto others and it ended in his and his children's deaths so as odd as it was, logic dictated it was illogical to try and force the Surak lifestyle on others, even if they were Vulcan. He just hoped that one day the Vulcan-Klingon man would learn to embrace Surak's teachings and choose to follow the path of logic. "It is logical that a diplomat such as yourself would be versed in many tongues," Alizati said slowly as he placed his piece on the sphere. It morphed and changed shape, virtually with no sound as it did so. Kal-toh was such a fascinating game of logic, no matter how many times he played he felt like he learned something new. “I have the universal translator built into my system. However in terms of speaking I have a more limited range because it would be illogical to be able to speak more than a few languages. My first language is Rihannsu, Rateg dialect, which is what my early memories are coded in. And then I can speak my native language of Vulcan and then Standard. I have disabled other language files for now, but I can install them at any time with my weekly update," He explained, sounding more like he was reading from an instruction manual than having a conversation.

Eshen, who actually did follow Surak in his own weird way, would be very hurt if he could heart Alizati's thoughts right now. Fortunately, he could not. "Your first language is Rateg? Is that where Jarok came from?" Eshen asked, attempting to start a segway into talking about Jarok. He pointed out a good place in the sphere and and then tapped Yuch's little head so that it could have a go. Ikki just went, and Bur seemed more interested in cuddling, which was quite illogical indeed.

Yuch picked up the piece with his little mouth and placed it where Eshen had gestured to. He chirped happily when the sphere changed shape. The furberus was a Kal-toh machine after all, they enjoyed it when they made good move. Alizati was focused on the changing sphere, his eyes shaking ever so slightly as he squinted. Eshen was pretty good at kal-toh and he hoped with this game Bir, Ikki, and Yuch could learn from his moves and improve their game as well. He was also pleased with the friendliness of the creature, after all he was planning on giving it to his baby sister and she certainly needed a machine that she could interact with. "Yes and no that is where his father, Dalin is from. Jarok had a Vulcan mother and a Romulan father, but his mother was rarely home so he was raised mostly by Dalin. Dalin spoke Rateg dialect and taught Jarok. I am not quite sure what the reasoning behind that was. Wouldn't it be logical to teach your son standard Rihannsu and not a dialect? Dalin was an enigma," Alizati took a few more seconds to think of a countermove, placing his piece on the very top of the sphere. All three furby heads made a soft crying sound, they were stumped yet again.

Eshen frowned when Alizati placed his metal stick atop the sphere. Good move. He would really have to concentrate if he wanted to help Ikki, Bir and Yuch out with this one. Would Alizati mind if he just stopped talking for a minute so he could devote all his brain cells to the task? Probably not. Eshen said nothing for a minute, staring very hard at the sphere. Finally, he made his move and put his stick on the bottom of the sphere on the inside. The ball formed into a more symmetrical shape. Aha! Checkmate! Well, no, not actually, but it was a good move. To be honest, Eshen didn't think he'd beat an android, but he could at least prove his Vulcan-ness or something. "Well, it's important to pass on specific cultural quirks like that. On Earth, I speak English, but that has multiple dialects too. By teaching people the ways of your specific culture, you're preserving that culture and its ways. I think that's why Men's mural is of the specific desert he grew up in, and not just some generic Vulcan desert. His hairstyle is how they commonly wear it there, too. It's about sharing a part of your cultural identity with someone, so they can understand you better."

Alizati made no reaction when his furby whined. It was like raising a child, he was not going to go light on them or Eshen for that matter. It wouldn't really be a fulfilling match if he held back, right? Or was it unfair to be playing against a literal android. Well, Eshen had yet to speak up, in fact studying the man's expression he seemed to be very into the game. Alizati wondered if a conversation over Kal-toh was the best as this was a game that required full focus. But when Eshen placed his piece and began to speak again, those thoughts went to the back of his mechanical mind. "I wondered why my house had bars on the windows," Alizati picked up one of his pieces and held it loosely between his thumb and index finger. He spoke slowly and calmly, zero emotion or malice in his voice despite the little voice of Dzharok's having a very small mental breakdown. That was a part of his mind he could not access so it was easy to ignore.

Eshen nearly had a heart attack. Bars on the windows? What? Was that a thought taken from his own mind? What kind of thematic parallel was going on here? He'd only ever mentioned it to Nalas once, but he felt compelled to say, "...My house also had bars on the windows. They were... Hiding me. Is this Alizati talking or Dzharok?" It was kind of unnerving that he related to Alizati... not so much in temperament but in that they both had some guy in their head, and now this?

"You too?" Alizati somehow was able to say all this without changing his expression or tone of voice. He was still contemplating his move, but his memory was being devoted to the conversation at hand. Despite being an android, whenever Dzharok was involved he always had to devote a substantial amount of memory to keep his system from allowing the stranger's memories to seep into his own. "Dzharok. It is a coincidence that Dzharok was also being hidden, although his mother had no idea any of this was happening," Alizati noticed the three headed furby lift all three of its heads and let out a soft purring noise. Bir gently nuzzled against Eshen's arm whilst Ikki and Yuch stretched out towards Alizati. "Dalin often took Dzharok camping. I am not sure what the intention was, but every time strange men would approach him whenever he was alone. I have memories of paranoia and anxiety with each encounter, supposedly they were Romulan social workers, but any further details are inaccessible to me currently."

Romulan social workers? On a camping trip? Seems unlikely. He pet Bir's head and thought that maybe the other two were trying to comfort Alizati. "Tell me something, Alizati. Do these sorts of near-memories... Come up a lot? Do they inconvenience you? Concern you, even? I had a conversation with Allan the other day and it gave me a - forgive me the use of a very human term - hunch that they might do. I said in my message that I wanted to discuss what I'd learned from Lalisa and I still do, but only if you're okay with it."

"Ever since I made the decision to partition my memory from Dzharok's I have had this problem," Alizati said almost immediately after Eshen had stopped speaking. The other knew he was an android there was no use trying to hide his very much super-human processing speeds. After he spoke he looked at his three headed furby who was clearly showing concern. The other two heads decided to curl around Eshen's arms seeing as they could not move independently from Bir. It was a bit inconvenient being 3 heads on one body sometimes. "I am not interested in the reporter's gossip. She seems to know many things. I looked her name up in the Romulan database it seems she comes from a very untrustworthy family," He stated, his eyes looking back at Eshen, still shaking as always. "I would not trust everything she says, even if it seems you have built a good rapport with her."

"I don't think it was, though? Listen - you're good at a lot of things, as a Vulcan Android, especially Kal-Toh, but between of the two of us, no offense, I'm the people person, and I didn't think she was making stuff up for fun. She told me things that it would have been catastrophically stupid to just make up and say out loud, about herself and about you." Namely that she was once Tal-Shiar. You wouldn't just tell some guy that unless you had a good reason. Eshen pet all three heads. "She said she was Jarok's grand-daughter. And she does look like you. Same eyes, even."

Alizati had no doubts that this man was good at reading people, but he also knew Romulans were deceiving. After all he knew Lalisa was a former Tal Shiar member and it was literally her job to be a good liar, even in the face of those who could detect lies. He was about to say something else about Lalisa until he heard the word grand-daughter. Him? He could not Surak his emotions away this time and he furrowed his brows and dropped the small Kal-toh piece on the ground from the sheer shock of it. "I have locked myself out of such information, I cannot confirm nor deny her words," Alizati rubbed his eyes and turned his head away. "But Jarok i-Shi'Kahr tr'Kota sounds familiar," He wished he had access to Dzharok's memories so he could prove the reporter wrong, but at the same time he couldn't believe what he was hearing. "I believe I made the right decision to partition my memory if that is true."

That was... A strong reaction for a Vulcan. "Well, if you don't like hearing that, you certainly won't like hearing anything else she said, so I'm not going to force it on you, even though it's really weird knowing things about you that you don't know. But..." Eshen furrowed his brow. He wasn't really sure what to say to Alizati. Who was he to say what the right thing to do with Jarok's memories was? Should he deny him or accept him? Eshen could only offer his own point of view. He thought about Alizati and what seemed to him like kind of an adversarial relationship he had with Jarok, his conversation with Allan, and what Lalisa had said about Jarok hating artificial intelligence. "This is going to sound insane, but I have this demon in my head that disturbs me in my dreams. He's the ghost of who I used to be before I killed him by forcing myself to become someone else. He haunted me until I learned not to hate him. Do you hate Dzharok, Alizati?"

Alizati was still not looking at Eshen, his head was buried in his hands as he was trying to fight the weird mixture of emotions. Like a good mutant furby pet, Bir, Ikki, and Yuch, slithered off of Eshen and quickly made their way over to Alizati. They slithered up his leg and draped themselves over the android's shoulders. All three heads purred in unison. "That's an organic problem, I cannot say I understand it but I do see the similarities between our situations," Alizati managed to say, his voice strained as he was attempting to get the words out. He seemed to not even realise that his mutant furby was now on his shoulders, hugging him with all 3 of their heads. "No. Dzharok is me and I am him. I do not hate him, but I... Feed Romulan paranoia whenever I think about him," He admitted, emotions were illogical and so was, "Being half Romulan. It is illogical but at the same time it would be dishonest to reject my identity as such," He finally lifted his head and looked up at Eshen. "I believe his presence would hinder my ability to work efficiently. I would like to live my life for myself, not in the shadow of a Vulcan-Romulan who lived his life in fear."

Seeing Alizati in such a state, much like Bir, Ikki and Yuch, Eshen wanted to go over to the man and hug him, but he was a Vulcan. They didn't have such an aversion to touch as Romulans, but it was still a boundary rarely crossed. He did walk over and sit on the same sofa as Alizati, but not too close. "Well, it's possible to embrace him and work efficiently at the same time, I think. Like how I embrace my Klingon side and my Terran upbringing. He may have lived his life in fear, but aren't there any good things you got from him? Like.." Eshen gestured vaguely at himself. "Back when I first came to this station, I was... More Vulcan. I had a limited capacity for things like love and affection. It was partially because of my Terran influence that I found it. It's terrible that the ghost of a dead man was put in you without your consent, but have you ever tried working with him, and therefore yourself, to make the best of your situation?"

Alizati looked at Eshen when the man walked over to the sofa and sat next to him. Instinctually he moved to the side to give the other more room. Not because of the Romulan paranoia, but because he still had Bir, Ikki, and Yuch on his shoulders and he didn't want them to get stuck between the two tall men. The three heads looked at Eshen and Ikki moved to put his head on the younger man's shoulder. This was quite a weird sight, two grown ass men with a mutant three headed furby lying on both of them. "I lived with Dzharok during the first eight years of my activation. I deemed Dzharok's memories too dangerous and created the partition. To go back and reverse that it would mean my actions before were illogical. Even Ensign Allan thought it would be best to keep myself and Dzharok separate. It is certainly a strange situation, especially given that without Dzharok's memories in the background-- perhaps I wouldn't love Men as strongly as I do."

"Yeah, I think me and Allan differed on opinion regarding that because of my own similar experiences," Eshen said, patting Ikki's little head, "I'm just worried you'll be fighting these near-memories your whole un-ending life, and that can't be good for you either, psychologically speaking, can it? Besides, I don't think it necessarily means it was illogical. Maybe it was a good decision to make at the time, and now that you've developed your personality outside of him you can afford to bring him back a little more. It sounds like you have more in common now - especially that you both love Men." Which was wild, by the way, because Eshen didn't actually they'd gotten to that stage yet.

"Men. I would rather not throw anymore surprises on him. We are very close now and I value his company," Alizati said in the most Vulcan monotone he could muster in the moment. He watched as Eshen pet Ikki's head. The tiny furby mewed at the affection. Despite being created by a Vulcan android, the machine had quite the range of emotion. "But tell me, what else did Lalisa say? If she is Jarok's granddaughter... She must be Suruka's daughter. Suruka was Jarok's daughter who defected to Romulus, her birthname was T'Lar until she changed it. I remember it was one of Jarok's greatest regrets in life, he forced his children to go through the Kahs-wan, forced them to follow Surak. It worked for the first two children, but it was lost on the second two, which is why my opinions on forcing other Vulcans to follow Surak differ from the majority."

Eshen stiffened and winced visibly as soon as the Kahs-wan was mentioned. His whole body was burning. He hadn't expected it to come up, and discussing it with a Vulcan made it worse somehow. "Right, the Kahs-wan. I'm... Not fond of it. My father made me do it twice, because I didn't do it right the first time. You'd think after two near-death experiences I'd get some praise - when you go through a trial as a Klingon, you get that, and sometimes you even celebrate with food and drinks. But no, when I came back again he just acted like I'd popped off to the shops to buy some milk." And that was where Eshen and Dion really split in attitude. Eshen still tried fruitlessly to impress Vulcans. Dion thought that was a waste of time and energy. Part of the reason he'd created the latter was that he had grown so tired of constantly trying to do that. Dion cared much more about the opinions of Romulans, but the person he most cared about impressing was himself. "Basically, what I'm saying is I think that's probably the right lesson to take from that. Now, are you sure you want to hear what else she said? Because it's, er... Tragic."

Alizati immediately picked up on the other's body language. The Kahs-wan was certainly a sensitive topic for him just like it was for Men. How interesting. Dzharok and Alizati both went through the ordeal. Although he had to admit he did not know much about Dzharok's experience anymore. He was surprised he even remembered so many details about Dzharok's daughter. He gently picked up the furby and let it sit on Eshen's lap as they were clearly getting more attention from Eshen than Alizati. Plus the weight of them on his shoulders was a little distracting. "I understand it must have been quite a strange experience being from a pacifist and a warrior race. I cannot say I fully understand, but Dzharok surely does," Alizati wondered just how much he was missing without Dzharok's memories. He knew he was missing half the story, but he really wondered just what would happen if he lived as Alizati Dzharok. But no, he made a decision. He was still not keen on going back on it. "I am Vulcan, I can control my emotions and will not be damaged by some tragic tale," Alizati stared at the other, his eyes unblinking yet shaking ever so slightly.

Eshen gently held the furby in his lap. The feeling of its fur on his fingers made him relax a little. "Well, it's not a long tale, at least, since it's missing a lot of information. She said Jarok and his four children were on a shuttle to some colony, then they all died in a mysterious accident, and she was investigating what caused it, exactly, and she thought you'd have the answers. But... Well, I assume that's a pretty traumatic memory, so maybe that's one of the reasons you partitione did."

Alizati actually did not react to this information. He continued to stare at Eshen, a face devoid of any emotion. He looked at Bir, Ikki , and Yuch who blinked their 6 eyes slowly at him. Yuch, the shortest of the heads then rested on Eshen's shoulder, giving his neck... Furby kisses. Bir laid on Eshen's lap, and Ikki stayed looking at Alizati. "I was aware of this incident. However you are correct that I do not know the details or circumstances. Jarok was illogical and often very emotional. He may have tried to appear as a good Vulcan son, but deep down he had the violence of a Romulan swirling in his heart," Alizati explained, his voice calm, almost warm in nature. As if he somehow sympathised with Jarok's struggles. "When I spoke to Ensign Allan about deleting Dzharok's memories, I did not want to disrespect him by letting his whole life simply cease to exist. I planned to retell his life and events to my Vulcan father, so they could live on in an organic being and in a spiritual way, bring Dzharok to the halls of Erebus. But now knowing there is a living family member of Jarok, I wonder if speaking with the journalist would be a more logical decision than pushing this on my father who had never known Jarok."

"Ah! You knew it already! Good. Lalisa gave the impression that it would break your brain or something if I told you. That said... Vulcans and Romulans both have violence in our hearts. I don't know what emotional intensity you were programmed with, but for us biological Vulcans, our emotions are just as volatile - that's why we follow Surak in the first place. To be honest, the fact that Romulans are able to function while not repressing any of their emotions makes me think they may be less emotional than us. The struggle of trying to follow Surak while having an emotional heart is actually very Vulcan of him." Eshen tried not to giggle slightly at the furby kisses on his neck. He was ticklish. "I do think you should talk to Lalisa, actually. She seems like she actively wants to know what happened, too. She asked me to tell you that she wasn't mad at you or Jarok, she just wants to know what happened - and to invite you to Mol'Rihan for shore leave."

"The journalist has a much different impression of me. I am not a replicator or a turbolift, I won't break if you sneeze in my direction," Alizati seemed very unimpressed hearing that Lalisa thought that such information would 'break' his android brain. In fact he felt the fact that his mind was mechanical made it stronger than that of an organic being's "Dzharok's father tried to assist him in following Surak but there was only so much a... Domesticated Romulan could do. It was a term his mother, Thillasa, would use. I am not exactly sure the circumstances of their union so I cannot comment," Alizati and Dzharok both knew very little about Dalin and Thillasa except that they two were passionate reunificationists. "Mol'Rihan. I will go there then. It may be the closest thing I have to home left. The Vulcanis Lunar Colony and Earth were places I occupied most of my early years, but as an experiment and a tool and not a sentient being. I must find a way to unlock Dzharok's memories before then in preparation, but Ensign Allan seems unwilling to help."

That's weird. His father called his mother something like that when they both got really mad. That and the bars... "Lalisa seemed a little lonely when I talked to her, so I hope you're able to... Find some kind of family in one another, maybe. I'll be there, too, so you might see me around - if you do, be sure to say hi! I can't really help you with any of the Engineering... Robotics... Programming stuff before then, but I'm pretty close to Allan - I could talk to him about it, maybe?" Eshen looked down at the Furberus. "And if you do figure out exactly what happened... Would you mind telling me? I know it's kind of personal, but I... Sympathise with Dzharok's struggle a little, from what I know of it."

Alizati looked at his furby just vibing on Eshen. The creature was surely developing a personality, this was good if it was to interact with his baby sister. He wanted her to have a companion as he could not stay with her as she grew. Even if he didn't work at Starfleet, he doubted his step mother would permit an android near her daughter unless it was to perform some sort of cleaning job or other service. "Please speak with him. If I do plan to go to Mol'Rihan I would like the update done asap so I can adjust to life as Alizati Dzharok a little before leaving. I will of course have to inform Men," Alizati said, going over schedules in his mind as he spoke. "Sympathise with Dzharok? With the bars on the windows, you mean? I do not fully understand, you may tell me," Alizati said not quite sure what Eshen meant, although sympathy was a concept very difficult for an android, especially a Vulcan android.

"Alright, I'll speak to Allan." He wondered how exactly Alizati was going to explain this to Men. It was kind of A Lot, and it involved quite a big change, and Men was not good with change, if Eshen's judgement meant anything. "It's just - I have things in common with you and Dzharok that aren't, like, surface-level traits like preferred Kreyla bread types - savoury with Gespar Jam, by the way - you, having a guy in your head who's you but not you, him with, yes, the bars on the windows, a conflicted upbringing due to a split heritage between an emotional race and an unemotional one, and marital conflict, possibly... The only person I've had so much personal trauma in common with is my boyfriend, but he's not a Vulcan." Eshen looked at Alizati, not smiling for once, looking sincerely anxious, but hopeful. "I just have a lot of questions based on what things about his personality I've managed to glean. Did his parents have differing expectations for him that tore him in two different directions? Did he ever feel like he had to choose one side of himself over another? Did he ever feel like he never really knew his parents at all - like they hurt him and he'd never truly be able to understand why? It's selfish, but I feel like if I help you on this journey I might help myself a little bit."

"Thank you, please do," If Allan would agree to help him, Alizati knew he could unlock Dzharok's memories without a problem. If not... Alizati would have to do it by himself. Which was doable, after all he did lock Dzharok's memories away by himself. Under the supervision of Sorn, but he was able to do it. Next came the Vulcan-Klingon's explanation as to why he was so interested in Dzharok. A barrage of questions and uncertainty followed, the Vulcan android gave no reaction but when he opened his mouth his voice was gentle, as if he was some sympathetic authority figure. "I understand and once the memories are unlocked I hope to be able to answer all your questions. I have limited knowledge of what it feels like to be a child of two worlds, but as I understand it such experiences as unique as yours are hard to come by. I will let you know when I am functioning at acceptable levels to speak with you in regards to Dzharok," Alizati said before he turned his attention back to the forgotten Kal-toh board and placed a piece in the middle of the sphere. It was as if he had been contemplating that move this whole time and it really was worth it. A strong counter to Eshen's last.

What a bastard. He must've had some background Kal-Toh pro strats algorithm running in the background while they were having this conversation. Meanwhile, Eshen was way too wrapped up in Dzharok Deeplore to think about Kal-Toh properly. "Thank you. It means a lot," He said, squinting at the Kal-Toh board, trying to concentrate... Then his eyes widened. "One more thing. Something I think it fairly pertinent information about Lalisa," He said, looking at Alizati again. "She was in the Tal-Shiar."

Alizati noticed the way Eshen squinted at the Kal-toh board and if he were human, maybe he'd smirk or make some sort of 'gatcha' comment. But no. He was Vulcan so he did not show any of his emotion on his face. He let the other contemplate his next move before he noticed Eshen's eyes widening. "I am aware of her history and the history of the Kota family. Although I am unsure how Dalin and Jarok tie into all of this," Truth be told Alizati was hoping that the 'big secret' he had hidden from himself was not that Dzharok was in the Tal Shiar. He was sure that wasn't the case. It would definitely had said something in Dzharok's file in the Vulcan database. "As far as I am aware of, I have never had an encounter with any active Tal Shiar agents so I can only assume Dzharok was away from such people," Alizati stated. Bir, Ikki, and Yuch looked at Eshen with their 6 eyes. Ikki picked up one of the metal rods and stared at Eshen for guidance on where to put it.

"I mean. Apart from those weird guys when you were a kid, maybe? Maybe it's a reach, but I have no other clues as to who else those people could be, really." Maybe Dalin was involved in some shit, not Dzharok? He didn't know, really. It was all just speculation. "Right, well, I think that's about it, unless you want to drop any major revelations about her cousin called Lun. By the way, even though some of this is public knowledge, I feel like a snitch for telling you all of this stuff about Lalisa, so if you have to tell anyone else you didn't hear it from me, okay?" He was good at keeping secrets, usually, he just didn't want to lie to Alizati, who was his closest Vulcan friend on the station besides Men. Which didn't say much, considering he'd met him three times, but they did have weirdly intimate knowledge of one another regarding certain things so it felt like the friendship boundary had been crossed. Eshen looked over at the Kal-Toh board. "Sorry, Ikki, this'll take me a bit." Then he stared at the board again, quietly humming a song that helped him think without realising it, then after a few minutes pointed for Ikki to put a piece near Alizati's.

"Cousin called... Lun," Alizati said his name slowly as if he was searching for something within his memory. No, the name did not come up anywhere, not in his currently accessible memory at least. If Lun was Lalisa's cousin that meant that he was another one of Dzharok's grandchildren and knowing there were two relatives alive... Disturbed him. As if he was afraid the two would or had revealed some top secret information about Dzharok. Well, seeing how Lalisa was investigating the two of them probably knew less than he thought. "I do not have any other information," He stated, his composure regained as if nothing had even happened. He watched as Ikki placed the piece on the Kal-toh board. The little furby head chirped happily when the sphere changed, it was a good move. Eshen was a good Kal-toh player, he even made an android think twice. "How did you hear about this Lun?"

"Friend of a friend, I guess you could say," Eshen replied. He didn't want to lie to Alizati, but he also didn't want to bring Renakir or Cerrub into this. That wasn't technically a lie, though, just vague. "He's an interceptor. I need his help on a case. Can I use your replicator? I need a drink." All this talking was making him thirsty. Organic beings and their biological needs. Ah, he should've gotten a bottle of iced spice tea from Surak Snacks. "Then, since there's nothing more to discuss regarding Lalisa for now, probably, I can finally play Kal-Toh with you without a bunch of secrets rattling around in my brain! Really improves my performance, I have to say."

"Friend of a friend," Alizati had a feeling there was something else here, but he was no in position to pry. He was still trying to come to terms with the fact that he was part of that sort of family and that he would need to speak with the shorts Ensign about his memories. He studied the movements of his furberus that seemed to be purring now. Odd. "You may," Alizati nodded, understand the biological need for liquid nourishment. He needed bio-lubricant, but he didn't need to drink it every day. "Can I also ask-- what does it feel like to be thirsty? Or hungry?" He stared at Eshen, his dark eyes shaking ever so slightly. He did not blink, he did not breathe, just stared.

Eshen gently placed the Furberus next to Alizati, approached the replicator, and ordered some hot spice tea. Then he put it on the table near the couch opposite Alizati, then picked the purring Furberus (Purrberus) up - seriously, did Alizati put cat behaviour into this thing or was it just doing that? - then went back to sitting on the opposite couch. "Well, there's physical symptoms you already know about, but it's like a need. An emptiness that needs to be filled. It's not an inherently bad thing if it's minor, though, just sort of - part of the equation. Like, thirst plus water equals satisfaction. The process of being hungry and then eating is quite pleasing for us organic folk. Of course, if the thirst or hunger gets too bad it stops being a fun part of the equation and a lot more like pain, which isn't fun."

When Eshen placed the furberus next to Alizati he actually pet their heads. All three. Bir seemed ecstatic to get pets from Alizati whilst Ikki and Yuch simply curled their necks around the engineer's hand. Being an android and a Vulcan, he felt absolutely nothing from this, although it did give him peace of mind that the creature would get along with T'Lhai. Again, all of this was for her, she was one of the two family members Alizati had that respected his autonomy and sentience. "Emptiness that needs to be filled," Alizati stopped petting the furberus when Eshen picked them back up and sat back in his seat. "When I was speaking with Men at Surak Snacks the other day I felt an emptiness that needed to be filled. I am sure you know the nature of our relationship now. I wanted to hold hands-- is that similar to hunger or thirst?" Alizati said, completely serious with his question and not aware of any innuendo or other meaning to his words.

"Oh, so you're together now, properly? Great!" Eshen said. He actually hadn't seen them together since before the back rooms incident and Men had been jut as evasive and embarrassed as he usually was regarding Alizati, but he was also a terrible liar, so in their offscreen conversations Eshen had surmised that progression of some kind had happened, though he had no idea how much. "Well, there's a thing that's very common among Romulans and Vulcans, though they don't know it, called touch starvation. Most intelligent life needs a certain amount of touch, varying depending on the individual, for the sake of their mental health. If you don't get it enough, you can start feeling lonely and stressed." Eshen sipped his hot tea, but not too hot - the one good thing he must reluctantly admit about the replicators was that they usually got the temperature exactly right. "Then there's libido and sexual attraction, which are like a whole other kind of hunger."

"Touch starvation, I have never heard of that before," Alizati said, completely honest. Both him and Dzharok had never had a word for such a concept. Although he was not entirely sure about Dzharok's situation, it was not until he met Men that he realised he even had an urge to touch another person. It was a strange feeling and was most certainly programmed into him specifically given the reason for his creation. "I do not experience loneliness or stress for I am an android," He commented, noticing the way his three headed furby mewed softly when he said that. As if they knew he actually did feel loneliness and stress. "Libido and sexual attraction I am aware of. As you know the purpose of my creation was to be a romantic partner so just like organic beings I am fully capable of such feelings," He said as if blaming it on his creator making him this way excused anything he had done with Men in the back rooms. At the heart of the matter, Alizati was programmed to be able to experience those things, but ultimately it was him who chose to act on those desires. It was not Laura or Sorn or anyone else pushing him to do any of it.

Eshen was on the Furberus' side, skeptical that Alizati could never get lonely or stressed - especially the latter, considering his body language not long ago. "You're more than advanced enough to experience loneliness and stress, but if you say so. Personally, I get very antsy if I don't get hugged or kissed every day." Hang on a second. "Although, you did deny sexual attraction when we spoke before. You said you were incapable of such things because you're a machine. What's changed since then and now?"

Alizati blinked a few time as his mind had to roll back and remember what he had just said to Eshen. No this was not a continuity error at all, the android engineer was just experiencing some difficulties in logic. "I love Men," He responded, taking a little longer than usual to answer. The three headed furby chirped happily at the words. It seems they were excited for Alizati. "My feelings for Men have changed my theories on a lot of things about myself. Before hearing this about T'Kota, I was wondering the most logical way to proceed. We shall see once I am able to unlock my memories," Alizati looked at the Kal-toh board again and placed his piece on the sphere. Unfortunately Eshen's last move was so good there was not exactly an 'ideal' counter move he could find. If you cannot make a move to benefit yourself, fuck with your opponent, it was something he remembered someone saying to him once.

Damn, Alizati was fucking around with him? Well, time to find out. He didn't think he'd get this far versus an android, so he'd like to keep the streak going as much as he could. Although, even if Alizati ended up winning, which was still likely, Eshen took some organic pride in that if he could put up a fight, Men must absolutely smash the man in Kal-Toh. When that man got into the Kal-Zone, he was scary. Ruthless. A man possessed. "The most logical way to proceed with what?" Eshen asked, as he sipped his tea and stared at the board intensely. "Also... This is going to sound weird coming from an organic being, but what does love feel like? How did you know?"

Alizati watched Eshen carefully as if he could predict the man's move by the angle he moved his arms or the way he breathed. He could not, but he had played Kal-toh with many in the past and his mind was already running through various simulations of possible outcomes of the game. Some he wins and some he loses, of course. Because even if he was an android, he was not from Vorta Vor, he was not perfect. "The most logical way to proceed with my relationship with Men. Because I wanted to delete Dzharok's memories and thus all of my emotions. It was a very strange situation to be in," Alizati explained. "In love-- I believe it was something that triggered a line of code in my programming. A sense of beauty, attraction, the desire to spend more time with him, the interest in the trivial things about his life," He looked to his furberus who squeaked softly as they nuzzled Eshen. "I was still unsure what to call such attraction, but when I finally was able to hold Men in my arms and... This is getting inappropriate," Alizati stopped speaking and rubbed his eyes. "I cannot describe any further, but I will tell you that I am sure I love Men and I have consented to every romantic sub routine activated in my system because I have never felt so warm and appreciated. I do not care if such actions have awakened Dzharok's innermost feelings, I would gladly live as Ilzatliçat Bextiyer Dzharok again for him."

That was... Genuinely very sweet? And a bit confusing, with the getting inappropriate bit. Why, because he held Men in arms? Surely they didn't... No, it was probably just kissing and hand-holding. There's no way two Vulcan-y Vulcans would go any further than that. "That's... Beautiful of you to say, Alizati. You should write that down and tell it to him." Eshen should also write it down and put it in a dating holosim. "I find lots of people beautiful and attractive and want to spend time with them and know the trivial details of their lives, so I don't think that's what love is for me at all. Deeply romantic love, anyway. You could say I'm a little bit in love with everyone I meet, since I'm a people person, so I've always had a hard time distinguishing when I love an individual person, which is why I was curious as to how you feel it." Eshen sipped his tea and pointed to a place on the Kal-Toh board for one of the heads of Furberus to place a metal stick. When they did, the sphere became... Less symmetrical. Damn you and your sneaky moves, Alizati! "You're an android built to love someone, who you... Rejected, I think? And now you follow a philosophy that denies love - the emotion of love, anyway - and yet now you've chosen to feel it. It's like you were made to love and then refused to until you had a choice about it. Meanwhile, I spent most of my life trying to find love and failing, even though as an organic person I should be more built for it than you are, and then suddenly and accidentally I fell headfirst into it twice."

"Beautiful?" Alizati was just stating the truth, he did not think his explanation was beautiful. For a split second his mechanical brain stopped-- he stared blankly at Eshen and his body froze. It was brief, but when Alizati regained control of his body he blinked rapidly for a few seconds. "Love is different, for different people, I see," He responded, understanding that even amongst the same species, there was differing opinions. It was IDIC after all, everyone's view was unique and valid in its own way. He pondered Eshen's views on love though, a little bit in love with everyone I meet, now that was something he had never heard before. "Does that mean you are... A little bit in love with me too?" Alizati looked at Eshen, his eyes lighting up just a little. He was an android who was convinced he didn't need the affections or company of others in order to function, but with more and more of Dzharok coming back he was beginning to think company wasn't such a bad thing. He watched as Eshen gestured for his furby to make the next move on the Kal-toh board. The sphere changed shape, less symmetrical, but that did not always mean a bad move. Just like solving a rubiks cube, often the moves leading up to a win were the most chaotic on the surface. Alizati picked up one of his pieces and stared at the sphere. "You are correct. I value my ability to choose, I am a sentient being despite what others may think," He placed his piece on the board. Not an amazing move, but it brought some order to the chaos. "Twice? There is a saying in Chinese-- It is one often finds what they are looking for when they stop searching. It is good to hear you have found what you were looking for-- twice even."

Eshen didn't expect that question, nor the way Alizati almost looked happy to hear it. "I'm glad, too. It's just a little maddening that someone so good at performing the act of love would be so terrible at finding it intentionally." Eshen paused their conversation to stare at the Kal-Toh board. How could he fix this? Right. He point to the side of the sphere. "Place it horizontally, Ikki. And yes, of course that includes you! Especially after the beautiful thing you just said. Besides, we are friends, aren't we? And I love my friends especially. Of course, most Vulcans don't return my little bit of love, or anything I feel towards them, really. It's one of the reasons I tend not to flirt with them. You're the first Vulcan who's ever called me attractive, though I don't know if that means you're necessarily attracted to me like I am you." Saying you're attracted to someone might have been a big deal for some, but not Eshen particularly. He was attracted to most people, especially pretty men. That also tended to making discerning romantic love quite difficult. Most people tended to feel the two hand-in-hand, directed towards one person at a time, but Eshen? His was all over the place.

"There is no logic to love, it is a purely organic feeling that cannot be done with calculations or programming. It is unpredictable in many ways even amongst artificial life," Alizati watched as Eshen instructed Ikki to lay the next piece. The long furby followed the other's instructions and placed the piece, making a small click before the sphere began to morph again. The piece was placed more or less as Eshen instructed, but it was clear dexterity was not a strong suit when you only had a beak that could open and close and without fingers... or hands. "Am I? I am just stating the truth," Alizati did not think anything of his compliment. His eyes were as cold and emotionless as ever, shaking ever so slightly as always. "Friends. I am still new to the concept but I believe the term is suitable for our relationship," He said as he tried to focus on the game. There were too many background processes going on for him to think of a good counter. Eshen and the furberus were quite a team. "I have never had friends before. Not me, not Dzharok."

"Well, now you have one!" Not too big an achievement, since making friends with Eshen was really not hard unless he found you particularly boring or hard to deal with. "It's a little sad that Dzharok had never had any friends, though. Must've been a lonely life - but a lot of Vulcans, half-Romulan or not, are lonely even if they won't admit." Eshen looked at Bir, Ikki and Yuch. "Hey, why don't you guys try making a move without my help - use what you've learned so far?"

"He was a paranoid man, the closest thing he ever had to a friend was his father, perhaps," Alizati said with a bit of uncertainty in his voice. He did not really know the nature of Dalin and Dzharok's relationship, but if his conversation with Satok was any indicator, they were a closely bonded father and son. There was a chance however, that Dzharok resented Dalin, but this Vulcan android had no way of knowing without access to the rest of his memories. The three headed furby made a soft purring sound when Eshen told them to try for themselves and made a counter move to Alizati's. It was not the most logical move, but it was surely not a terrible move. Alizati looked at his creation, studying their movements. "Being of two worlds seems difficult. Perhaps that is why my mother did not give me forehead ridges. Now that I know I am half Romulan it almost feels disingenuine of me to be without them," Strangely enough, Alizati had forgotten what Dzharok looked like. Well, he did not forget, that was another memory he locked himself out of. He did not know if Dzharok even had forehead ridges, but he could only assume he would.

"Good furbs!" Eshen said, giving them all pats on the head. "Why did you build him as an imitation of retro Earth tech, by the way?" For most he'd just assume the answer was 'for fun' or 'because I like them', but this was Alizati. "I'm sure you can get ridges... Um, installed? If you want. Sometimes I think about getting my ridges to look more Klingon, but no, I quite like my tri-horned look. By the way, I'm technically of three worlds, you know. Vulcan, Klingon, raised on Earth." One world for each ridge.

Seeing Eshen praise his mechanical creation was oddly satisfying. He knew this was a success for the furby, but it was also translated as a success for him, the creator who worked hard on their machine learning capabilities. He did not show this satisfaction on his face though, of course not. That would be illogical. So he just stared at the furby and then looked to Eshen. "Forehead ridges, I will consider it," Alizati's mechanical eyes scanned Eshen's face, extra care looking at his forehead ridges. "Yes, you have a very-- The term in the terran language Japanese is "wide face". It was one of the languages I previously had installed when I lived there."

"Wide face? What? No I don't." Eshen looked at the reverse camera on his PADD to see if he had a wide face. Nope, still as handsome and normally-proportioned as ever. "Oh, that's some sort of saying, isn't it? Sorry, I'm devoting a lot of brainpower to playing Kal-Toh with an android, you see."

"It is a phrase. Kao-ga-hiroi. It's a compliment," Alizati did not react at all to the other's confusion. Instead he just sat up straight and kept his eyes on the Kal-toh board. The three headed furby seemed to be having mixed feelings about the game now. Bir was ready to go, Ikki was nuzzling eshen, and it seemed like Yuch had fallen asleep. "We may pause the game if you like. I am in no rush. I appreciate your insight and please talk with Ensign Allan. I want to have my update done tomorrow, this is very important."

"But what does it mean? Well-travelled?" Eshen asked. He NEEDED to know if Alizati actually thought he had a wide face or not or it would haunt him in the wee hours of the night more than the Faceless Entity did. "Sure, we can pause. Kal-Toh usually takes multiple sessions anyway. Besides, it seems like two thirds of your little creation are getting distracted. I don't know what algorithms you put in it, but they're so cute, by the way."

"It means... You know many people. You have many connections. Your face is known to many people and you have an intergalactic mind," Alizati explained, his eyes shifting back to his mechanical pet. "Cute? They will be a gift for my baby sister so I made them. And to answer your previous question, I chose a furby because I enjoy retro tech and this was a toy that had captivated the minds of many children in the 20th century. It was difficult to find anything from that period, but this toy survived. I created them with the ability to learn through observation, but it seems they have also developed a personality. Fascinating," Alizati was honestly not entirely sure what was going on with his furby, but it was not acting distructive or mean so he would not interfere.

Self: complimented. Ego: restored. Face: only metaphorically wide. "Oh! Well, thank you, that's really nice of you to say, actually. And I mean it's cute, like... I feel affection for it and want to look after it like a child or a pet when it makes cute noises or acts like a cat. Your baby sister will probably love them." And apparently Alizati enjoyed retro tech. A Vulcan who enjoyed furbies. Wild. Eshen drank the rest of his spice tea, gave the Furberus one last pet all over, then stood up. "You should talk to the Captain. I saw him fiddling with a little virtual pet machine thing once. Can we schedule a time to play next week?"

"I do not understand why you and Ensign Allan compare it to a terran feline, but I accept it. Thank you for your input," Alizati said, watching the furberus making some last purring noises. As soon as Eshen stood up it moved into the warm spot on the sofa and closed all 6 of its eyes. "I am aware the Captain likes retro tech as well. However I am... Not very good at socialising for non-work related matters. Perhaps Alizati Dzharok will be more open to such activities," He reminded himself that if all goes according to planned, he would no longer truly be just Alizati. Although he knew that unlocking Dzharok's memories would not instantly make him a different person, there was a bit of-- was it paranoia? About the unknown. A feeling similar to when he had to put his whole crew into stasis as they navigated a dangerous nebula, leaving him and the EMH alone to pilot the ship for 6 months. "Next week... We have shore leave," Alizati stood up as well and walked towards the doorway. "Perhaps after shore leave we can resume our game. I will also be on Mol'Rihan, but I do not plan to be there very long... but then again I do not exactly know what to expect as Alizati Dzharok. After shore leave would be safest."

"After shore leave it is." He sure hoped he could remember what on earth his last move was. Well, the Furbydra's move. "Captain Mo's not that hard to talk to, actually. Just ask if he needs help with his walnuts; he'll know who sent you. Alright, it was nice playing with you and Furberus!" Eshen gave Alizati a Vulcan salute, but with flair, then left his quarters.

"Walnuts? We will see how I feel after my update, thank you. Jolan tru," Alizati gave Eshen a Vulcan salute back which was very strange with the Romulan goodbye, but it was how he was slowly learning how to be Romulan. After Eshen left, Alizati went and picked up his mechanical pet and headed to his work station. He was not going to count on the shorts ensign agreeing to such a modification so he began to prepare it himself. Forehead ridges. That was something he wanted to settle. He would have to make them and replace some of his skin. Perhaps a doctor would be better suited for the job as his synthetic skin was very similar to organic skin. Plus, cosmetic surgery would most likely be quicker.

[D] Allan arrived on time for his weekly Kal-toh with Bir, Ikki, and Yuch and Alizati. He was extra excited for it this time, though, because he brought a gift - the hoverchair he had collaborated on with Jasmine for the furberous. He had it under a sheet, so it sort of just looked ovally or eggy in nature, and he placed it on the ground as he walked up to the door. Strangely enough, the sheet was a deep purple that matched his outfit today; a simple purple pleated short-skirt and a black crop top. "Hey boss! Here for Kal-toh," he said gleefully, as usual.

Some time had passed since he spoke with Eshen, only a few hours, but it was enough time that he could go to medical and get forehead ridges because I said so. Now everyone's favourite android engineer chief was sitting in his room waiting for the shorts ensign to come for their weekly Kal-toh game. It seemed like his mechanical pet was also aware that today was Kal-toh day and before Alizati could even react, the furberus was already making its way towards the door. The door opened as soon as the furby approached it and all three heads looked up at Allan. Meanwhile Alizati was at his work console, fixing some things for his update and preparing for what he could only predict would be one of the chaotic updates he had ever done. Unlocking Dzharok's memories also meant he could take away all his work-arounds and bypasses he had installed so he could function. When the doors opened, he looked up at Allan, not even realising the furberus had let him in. "Ensign Allan. Please come in," Alizati said in his typical Vulcan monotone, his emotionless dark eyes staring straight at the human boy.

"Oh, boss, you will never guess what I've got here," he laughed as he walked into the room, setting the covered device down onto the floor near the sofa. "Bir? Ikki? Yuch? Check this shit out," he said with a grin as he pulled back the sheet and revealed the hoverchair throne that looked absolutely amazing and better than anyone could ever describe, clearly. "So this button turns it on/off, this joystick moves it around, and there's various compartments, including this," he said as he gestured to all the important parts of the machine, and popped the Kal-toh board compartment out.

Despite the slightly different appearance, Alizati's Vulcan stare of judgment was unchanged. He raised an eyebrow when Allan dropped the mysterious device onto the sofa and pulled back the sheet. He did not look impressed, however he was intrigued that the ensign made what looked to be a hoverchair for the furberus. He stood up from his work station and picked up Bir, Ikki, and Yuch so he could bring them to see the device. All three heads chirped when they saw it, immediately slithering out of Alizati's arms and towards the device. They situated themselves in the chair and curled up. Bir looked excited about the Kal-toh board in the device, whilst the other two heads were vibing in the comfy seat. "You made this for them? Ensign, this device is intriguing however you attachment to Bir, Ikki, and Yuch is illogical," Alizati made the most Vulcan :[ face at Allan, which looked more angry now that he had forehead ridges, odd how that worked.

Allan laughed with pure joy as he watched them situate themselves in the chair. "Yes, see! And you can push the joystick to move all around, even up and down," he said, grinning back over to Alizati despite the most Vulcan :[ on the other's face. "I did make it for them! And who says it's attachment, and not just creating a more efficient way for them to get around?" To be honest, it was a little bit of both.

Alizati watched as Allan demonstrated how to move the chair, still unimpressed but he did not say anything. It seemed like the furberus was enjoying the new contraption and of course Alizati was not going to ruin their fun. "They remain in my quarters. I do not plan on letting them walk around freely as it would be a safety hazard seeing as they still have not achieved full sentience," Alizati told Allan as he walked over to the chair so he could inspect it thoroughly. "But perhaps my sister will enjoy this machine once I give them to her. I hope you realise that once T'Lhai is of age they will be going to her, your fondness for Bir, Ikki, and Yuch alludes me."

Allan shook his head. "Oh, but I've seen them slithering around plenty of times in the promenades, but... yes, your sister! When is T'Lhai getting them? Her birthday coming up soon or..?" He sat down on the sofa, watching as the furberus, at least, enjoyed the contraption. "They're like a cat, I told you this. Something doesn't have to be sentient for you to be fond of it. Ever heard of pet rocks?"

"Once she is able to finish a mathematics textbook on her own, but I would need to check with my father when would be appropriate," Alizati explained a he took a seat on the sofa across from Allan. The furberus wiggled in the seat, trying to move it with the controls but it was difficult when all 3 heads seemed to disagree about where to move. "Pet rocks? Attributing organic traits to inorganic non-sentient objects is illogical."

Allan laughed again. "Who said we were attributing organic traits to inorganic non-sentient objects? Alizati, my friend, you literally made them purr," he said, watching the furberus try to decide where to go with a smile. Eventually they'd decide, hopefully, much like they decided to move elsewhere.

"I did not programme that into them. They learned it. I merely gave them the ability to learn," Alizati stated as he watched the furberus finally decide to move the chair. And the first location they decided to go to? Alizati's work station. Once there the furberus slithered off the chair and onto the console. Thankfully Alizati was not a fool and he had locked the controls so no buttons were pressed during this whole ordeal. "I will not try and understand your logic, ensign. So onto the matter at hand, my next update."

"Well, then. They've learned to purr, like a cat," he said. Sure, it was illogical to care for the furberus. But he did! "Oh, the update, yes," Eshen had totally mentioned this to him off-screen earlier. "Do we still get to play Kal-toh..?"

“I have never exposed them to a terran feline, however it is possible they picked it up from their times wandering around the station unattended," Alizati did not like that Bir, Ikki, and Yuch liked to wander and had even installed systems in his quarters to prevent it. However, just like a terran feline, the furberus seemed to always find a way. "We do. The update will only be about 15 minutes. Then we can play Kal-toh. Does that arrangement work, ensign? I doubt this update will affect my Kal-toh abilities," As he remembered it, Dzharok was a proficient Kal-toh player so if anything he'd be better at Kal-toh as Alizati Dzharok. He walked over to his work station and picked the furberus up, putting them on the ground. "The update will be the same as always. Press abort if you sense any danger, I have everything translated into Standard for you."

"Yeah, there's a lot of cats on this ship from what I've seen," he said, he remembered that one cat that cadet had while they were repairing the comms system. Cute little thing. "Sounds good to me, then," he walked over to the work station as well, picking up the PADD and looking at it. "Um, just one question, you're - I know this is an illogical question to ask and whatever, but I just really need to know, considering you said Dzharok's demise was self-inflicted and whatnot, you're... you're going to be okay, right? This is... going to be better for you?" After his conversations with Eshen he was convinced that it would be, but he just wanted to make sure of it.

Cats. Well Alizati was not interested in any of that so he just ignored the conversation about Bir, Ikki, and Yuch, being like a cat. "My personality will remain the same if that is what you are thinking. If anything, I will cease to have these random bursts of emotion," Alizati grabbed the two clips from the large computer tower behind him and clipped them to his fingers. He handed Allan a PADD. "You may proceed."

Allan nodded. "Sounds good, then, sir," it didn't - not completely, at least, but he didn't really have many other options. He proceeded with the update, pushing the button on the PADD to do so.

As soon as Allan pressed the button, Alizati stared off into the distance, but his eyes weren't shaking. The screen flashed with a bunch of words and file names, mostly in Vulcan, but there were some in Rihannsu now. And then the screen froze and a warning popped up,

Warning: Are you sure you want to allow access restricted files jarok.main, Y/N?

Allan sighed and pressed YES. Business as usual with this guy. Maybe he'd get ACEO or something from all this. Just kidding! None of this was work related. Unfortunate, really. But helping people out was more important than promotions in his mind.

After Allan consented the machine began to making a loud humming noise. Bir, Ikki, and Yuch looked up at the young engineer and slithered around his feet. They seemed nervous from the way they were whining and making soft crying noises.

Allan blinked as the machine got louder. As a computers engineer, surely he understood it enough to know if it was "system busy" humming or "system overloading and about to fucking bust" humming, so assuming it was the former, he looked down at the PADD for anything suspicious and leaned down slightly, still keeping an eye on the screen, to pat Bir's head.

Bir chirped when he was pat and as soon as he did so, the machine stopped and the update was completed successfully! All three long necks of the furberus untangled themselves so they could slither up onto Alizati's lap.

"And it is complete. Did everything go well, Ensign?" Alizati asked. He sounded the same, same monotone, same emotionless stare-- his eyes were shaking again too. It appeared as though nothing had changed, but in reality everything inside him had changed. He was the most Vulcan-y Vulcan though so he did not show any of this on his face. Never. He was going to continue on with his day as if nothing happened.

Allan looked down at Bir, Ikki, and Yuch. "Other than the machine humming a little loud for a second there, yeah, seems to have gone well," he said, setting the PADD down and walking back over to the sofa. "Question is, did it go well for you? Undamaged and all that?"

"That is normal," Alizati took the clips off his fingers and placed them back on the computer tower. He looked at Allan and then at the furberus on his lap. For a split second he almost felt like the whole experience was unreal, like he was not really here-- that all of this was a dream. This was certainly from Dzharok's memory and now that Alizati had full unrestricted access he didn't have to guess. He knew everything. "Correct, I am undamaged. We may resume our weekly Kal-toh game if you wish," One thing he hadn't forgotten was the engineer was here to play Kal-toh and he never went back on his word. His eyes scanned his quarters, almost as if he had never been there before. It was as if he was introducing Dzharok to his new life. This was all internal monologue, he was great at showing nothing on his face.

"Cool, cool. Just making sure," he said, sitting down and gesturing for Bir, Ikki, and Yuch to come over as he set the Kal-toh board up. "How's it feel, though? Like, having access and all that?" He asked, thinking about what his first move would be, waiting for the furberus to come over before he made any final decisions about it.

The three headed furby happily followed Allan over to the sofa and and slithered onto his lap. They were excited to play Kal-toh! Alizati stood up and went to get his and Allan's Kal-toh board from his shelf of many Kal-toh boards. Just how many people was this man playing Kal-toh with? And how did he remember which games belonged to who!? He walked back to the sofa area and placed the board on the table, taking his seat across from Allan. "I no longer have to search for answers. I know everything," Alizati said as he combed his fingers through his hair, feeling the forehead ridges as he did so. For some reason he felt a sense of shame and dread when he remembered what he had done. He wished he could have waited before if he could go back, he certainly wouldn't have given himself any Romulan traits. Still, he kept his composure and laid out some metal rods on the table for him and Allan. "Thank you for your help Ensign. In a way, I feel better like this."

Allan smiled at the other, sitting so he would be more comfortable with the furberus in his lap and propped them up a bit so they could see the board better as usual. "You're welcome, I'm really glad to hear that," he took a metal rod into hand, wondering where to place it. "I know you talked a lot about how this could improve uh, your... relations with Men, too, so I'm hoping that goes really well, too. Do you have anything planned for shore leave?" He placed the metal rod after confirming the move with Bir, Ikki, and Yuch.

"I do not think my relationship with Men will change, but my feelings for him feel more intense now," Alizati admitted, thinking carefully about Men. Now that he had Dzharok's memories and wasn't fighting the guy, he could embrace his romantic affections and he also realised Dzharok had quite a few trust bonds with men. Interesting, but he wasn't going to judge him for engaging in such activities. "I am going to visit Mol'Rihan to visit my grandchildren, Lalisa and Lun. Lalisa is my daughter, Suruka's daughter, the one who defected to Romulus. And Lun is apparently Sulai's son, Sulai was my youngest son and a member of the Vulcan intelligence V'shar," Alizati said, now without having any problems accessing information he could speak freely. He still sounded Vulcan as ever though, that was one thing he was glad stayed.

"I think that changes things just a bit, really, but that's up to you, of course," Allan said, after all more intense feelings usually led to more... intense relationships, but then again they were Vulcan. But they also did quite scandalous things -before- the more intense feelings, so... nevermind. "You - wait, Lalisa is your granddaughter?" Well, that explained a lot, actually. "That... that all makes quite a bit of sense."

"We will see," Alizati did not comment on how he planned to go about dealing with the new feelings. He stared at the sphere and placed his piece on the very top. Allan had played a good move, but now Alizati had not just his own strategy, but Dzharok's as well. What Allan did not know was that Dzharok could also play a mean game of Kal-toh. "Yes, she came to this station to find out what happened in the shuttle accident that killed her mother," He explained, surprisingly calm through all of this. "She will be disappointed to hear her mother's temper is what sealed her fate. We share the same nystagmus in our eyes, it is fascinating how even as an android I experience the condition,” He spoke slowly, choosing each word carefully as always.

Allan blinked as Alizati placed the piece on the very top, having to think a moment about what their next move would be, handing Bir, Ikki, and Yuch a piece and beginning to think. "Her mother's temper..?" He asked, mostly curious since he had mentioned previously it was self-inflicted, and not because of his daughter. "That is really fascinating, though."

"Yes, Suruka was constantly at odds with me. She did not like that I had forced her to do the Kahs-wan ritual and that I hid our Romulan heritage from her. In retrospect, my actions in the past were illogical and the least I can do it see Lalisa and attempt to make amends," Alizati said as he watched the furberus pick up one of the metal rods. They seemed to have an idea of here to move next and Ikki tried to show Allan where they should place their next move. "My whole life my Romulan father hid much of our family from me in order to protect me. I felt as if I could not trust him, yet when I had children of my own I hid things from them as well. My first wife was also not very interested in teaching our children about Romulan culture," Unlike Dzharok, Alizati considered himself an open book and had no issues divulging such information. He watched his pet furby wiggle in Allan's lap, it was oddly cute.

"You..." He forced her? And hid heritage and then... "I don't see how that was at fault for her death," he said plainly, he knew that it was probably a cause somehow but wanted a bit more detail. He placed the next piece wher Ikki had suggested, giving them a little head pat in reward. "I think connecting with Lalisa would be good, yeah. She seemed like she really wanted to talk with you."

"Because I hid things from her, she rebelled," Alizati watched as Ikki placed the piece. The sphere changed and morphed, it seemed like Eshen's strategy was influencing the furberus and they had indeed gotten better at Kal-toh. It was a good move, a strong counter, although Alizati was not worried. He placed his piece at the bottom of the birds nest-like structure, providing a counter. The sphere morphed and became even more asymmetrical though, it looked chaotic now. "The only thing I ever wanted was to see my children live long and prosper. Jarok and I are still different people, however I feel a sense of responsibility for Jarok's actions. He was always at odds with Vulcan society."

"And that's what caused the crash? Her ... rebellion?" Allan watched the sphere change, glad that the furberus was improving from both his and whoever else had been playing Kal-toh with this thing's strategies. He tilted his head as he watched Alizati make the next move. Hmm. "Of course, you're... one and the same, but still different, yeah. I think Eshen compared it to the roots of a tree intertwining with each other," he said, man that guy was good with words. One of the many reasons he... scratch that. He contemplated his next move, handing the piece to Bir.

"She wanted to know what I was hiding from her. She gave into her emotions and we fought. I do not remember what happened after that," Despite the crazy events, Alizati was able to tell the story calmly as if he were reading something out of a textbook. He rubbed his eyes when they began to shake again, he thought it wouldn't be as bad with Dzharok's memories but the problem still persisted. "Roots of a tree. Yes, I suppose that is an appropriate metaphor," His dark eyes stared at the sphere, planning his next moves and running various simulations on how the game could turn out. The furberus was getting better and now with two minds against one, he was going to have to focus more. "Onto another question, what is Mol'Rihan like? I will be travelling there soon and would like an organic perspective. I understand the climate and political situation, but I am unaware of how society is. I understand they do not take kindly to androids, but so are many societies even in the 25th century."

"Ah," He didn't remember such a key event... that was interesting information. "Yeah, I thought it was pretty good. The man's very good with words," Allan smiled, thinking about said man again for a moment before his mind was redirected to the question about Mol'Rihan. "I... honestly couldn't tell you how the society as a whole functions, especially on the Romulan end, but you could probably ask Renakir or Satok about that," he explained, "There's obviously different people everywhere, and I think my uh, two friends and their families aren't really representative of the entire society as a whole. They're just a couple of chill Reman guys I go and party with, you know? I think they'd take to you just fine, but the wider society, I've got no clue. 'Specially when it comes to the fancy districts."

"I will be staying in the 'fancy district', the capital Ekhaem district specifically," Being very Vulcan Alizati did not really understand wealth and status. The closest he had was rank which was earned, not given at birth. Even when Dzharok was alive he never considered such a thing despite Dzharok and Alizati being of very different statuses. "Thank you for your input. I will not stay on Mol'Rihan long because I need to get back to Men. I'd like to spend as much time with him as possible during this holiday," Alizati stared at the board waiting for Allan, but he noticed Yuch was making some energetic chirping noises. Did he have a move in mind? Alizati observed what the engineer would do.

"Oh! The fancy district is where Renakir is, I think, so you can probably get more information from him than I can give you- you know Renakir, right?" He wasn't sure, actually, if his boss knew the other. But he'd been here a pretty long time, right? He looked down at Yuch, making chirping noises and took the piece gently from Bir to hand it to the other head.

"Lieutenant Junior Grade Torre'vnau is uncomfortable being in the presence of an android. I do not think we will cross paths," Alizati explained. He did not seem upset to face spacism from a fellow officer, but now with Dzharok's memory he felt... more outcast than he normally did. He wondered how it would be getting past Romulan Immigration. Perhaps he should contact that reporter about proper paperwork instead of trying to enter as a Federation Citizen. Bir handed the piece with his mouth to Yuch who placed it on the board. They made a good move! The sphere became more symmetrical, but not quite. "They are improving. Perhaps when my father and sister come to visit eventually I will let you play against T'Lhai. I have a feeling she will be very proficient by the time she arrives."

"...what?" Allan found that incredibly strange. Perhaps Alizati was lying, or had a warped perception of the situation, because Allan refused to believe that Renakir was out here being spacist. "Sorry, that... seems, uh... illogical." Allan smiled as they made the move, "Yeah, they're getting better which is good- wait, me play against her? Not them?" He was unsure of what Alizati meant, but he was honestly proud of the furberus either way.

"Romulans do not trust AI. I am sure you are fully aware of the 'Synth Attack on Mars'," Alizati's tone broke from the typical monotone and he actually sounded-- hurt. Like remembering the event brought about some traumatic memories. Soon after he spoke he blinked a few times before forcing himself to return to the usual Vulcan calm. With Dzharok's memories awakening more emotions inside of him, he would have to increase is meditation routine. "You play against her. She could learn a lot from you, there is merit in playing against a variety of different opponents," Alizati spoke calmly before rubbing his eyes. He couldn't properly focus on the game, not when his emotions were swirling in his mind. "I need to meditate. Perhaps it would be best to postpone this game," He turned away from Allan-- a series of muffled metal clanging sounds echoed through the room. It seems that Alizati had accidentally brushed all his Kal-toh pieces off the table and onto the floor.

Allan nodded in understanding, partly. Maybe he'd have to talk to Renakir about that or something. Surely he understood being distrustful of someone because of who they were was... wrong, right? Right. "Oh! Yeah, I'd love to play against her to help her out, of course," He did really enjoy the game after all. It sort of helped relax his much too chaotic mind after a long day. However, when Alizati said he needed to postpone, Allan simply set Bir, Ikki, and Yuch off his lap. "Oh, of course. We can catch it back up after shore leave," he smiled, getting up - or, rather, down to pick up the Kal-toh pieces, not saying anything about that really. He understood it was probably... a good bit for Alizati to handle right now.

Alizati couldn't even think about processing words right now. It was very difficult being Alizati Dzharok. Having nearly double the memories as before swimming around his head and all of Dzharok's illogical Romulan emotions was taking a toll on him. He never had to use this much RAM to suppress his emotions. It was a good thing it was shore leave, he couldn't imagine having to go to work in this condition. "Thank you, Ensign," He managed to squeak out. Bir, Ikki, and Yuch, all slithered over to Alizati and crawled into his lap. All three heads looked at him, nuzzling his arms and trying to comfort him. And in response... Alizati pet them back, even wrapped his arms around their long body to hug them. It was a nice bonding scene, maybe having Dzharok's memories didn't only have adverse effects.

"Of course, Ali. Let me know if you need anything else," Did he just say that? Maybe. He didn't catch it, though. He smiled a bit at the cute interaction between the furberus and Alizati, and quietly put the Kal-toh board away where it had been taken from. "See ya then." And assuming Alizati was good with it, he left the room to let the furberus and Alizati hug it out and whatnot. God knew that man needed a hug.

Alizati was too busy cuddling his furberus to catch that Allan had called him 'Ali', although even if he caught it he had no comment. Nicknames were illogical unless one's name was too difficult for the majority of people to pronounce like his own name Ilzatliçat. After a few more minutes of snuggling he stood up with his furby in his arms and headed to his quarters to meditate.

After what felt like forever, he arrived in his quarters, but this time there was no one to greet him. No three headed furby to slither over to him, hug him, make concerned sounds at him. He was alone. Emotions. He had too many and that was illogical. He walked calmly to his work station and sat down. The screen in front of him was black and it took him a few moments to realise why-- yes it was powered down. He tapped on the screen and everything loaded back up, he pressed a few buttons and pulled up his messages.

To: Lalisa T'Kota, Mol'Rihan, Mol'Rihan National Enquirer From: Lieutenant Commander Alizati Dzharok, Starbase 777 I will be coming to Mol'Rihan to speak to you about your grandfather.

Almost instantaneously a reply was sent.

To: Lieutenant Commander Alizati Dzharok, Starbase 777 From: Lalisa I will be waiting for you, Alizati.

[D] Sometime after his brief mental breakdown off screen, Alizati took it upon himself to cook something for Men. Now with Dzharok's memories, he was going to one of the foods that Dalin often made for him; Lehe'jhme pie. Unfortunately Alizati only had the replicator to supply materials, but the preparation would be done entirely by hand. Today he was wearing his black starfleet shorts with a dark blue tank top. Over it he had a black apron, good to keep his clothes from getting dirty. Lehe'jhme was a Romulan fruit, but it was in the same flavour family as grapes. It had a natural sweetness and when fermented it could be turned into wine. However the way Dalin always served it was in pie form, which was Alizati was preparing. The fillng for the pie was pretty simple, just some crushed Lehe'jhme with some Romulan greenspice (a cousin of Vulcan redspice) and water to make the syrup-y substance. Lehe'jhme were dark blue in colour with the insides being a lighter shade. Alizati cooked the pie crust to a perfect golden brown, it looked like blueberry pie, but Romulan somehow.

It felt like this was the first time he'd ever been out of Surak Snacks. Of course, he'd inevitably left the place before, mostly to go to and fro between his quarters and for other practical purposes, but this time, he left for... Leisure. And he was having to Surak away a lot of nervousness from that - and also because of Alizati's recent change. What if things were different? What if Alizati embracing his Romulan side made him think Men was too boring? Too... Vulcan? What if... What if he didn't love him any more? Still, part of his tension was also excitement. Making him a meal? It almost felt like a... Date. The first date he'd ever been on unless you counted outings with Yuheng back in the day and maybe some of the stuff with Linclaith. Woo, lore drop! It was tradition to dress up a little, right? But Men had no fashion sense! So he simply copied what Alizati liked to wear. Tight-fitting black trousers and a hawaiian shirt, except instead of flowers the shirt was patterned with little red angry frogs. He rang the doorbell and then stood there, wringing his hands before he realised he was doing that and stopped.

What a coincidence that Men had arrived just when Alizati had placed the pie in the middle of the table along with their little place mats with silveware. He took his apron off and laid it neatly on his chair at his work station before walking to the door to answer it. "Men," He did not smile nor show any other emotion on his face, he was still very Vulcan despite his now more Romulan appearanace. He stepped aside so the other could come in. It was a good thing his furberus was playing with their new friend and the Captain, they probably would have made it impossible to cook if they were slithering around. "I appreciate you visiting me today." "The shirt is intriguing," It took him a few seconds to realise that Men was wearing an outfit similar to the one that Alizati often wore to snacks. Now Alizati felt horribly underdressed wearing his shorts and tank top. Also on his feet he had a pair of furby slippers that he had made, they were pink and blue, like cotton candy.

"Your..." Men tried not to blush and inevitably failed, as he always did around Alizati, "...shorts are intriguing. And your slippers. They resemble some sort of alien creature. How quaint." Some people used quaint as a sort of condescending way to say weird, but Men meant it as a sincere compliment. Men stepped in beside Alizati and as the door slid shut behind him, he looked around Alizati's room. You could barely call it a room, though. Men's interior design instincts itched to make the place look like it was at least... inhabited. "It is a rare occasion that someone cooks for me. Thank you."

As soon as the doors closed behind Men, Alizati had to fight the urge to just embrace the man in front of him. Now with Dzharok's memories, his feelings for the other were more intense than ever. He had to control himself though, it was their first formal date. It would be improper to just grab his hands. "Thank you. I realise now I underdressed. I will do better next time." Alizati's quarters were as anyone would expect. Sparsely decorated, although he did have some pieces of retro tech on his shelf. A microwave, a roomba, and a custom made RGB lighted keyboard. He also had a photo of him and his family-- just Alizati, Sorn, and his baby sister T'Lhai cradied in his father's arms. T'Hain was unsurprisingly left out of said photo, Alizati did not want to think about her. "My Romulan father, Dalin, used to make this for me whenever I came home from school. It's called Lehe'jhme pie," He said, resisting the urge to take the other by the hand and lead him to the sofa. Instead he just walked over to the sofa and gestured for Men to sit across from him. Nothing seemed different, he spoke the same, moved the same, his eyes still shook, but under the perfect Vulcan persona was a tornado of emotions. So many things he wanted to tell Men, so many things he wanted to do now that they had a truly private place to be. The back rooms off Surak Snacks were private, but it was still Men's work place. Here, in Alizati's quarters, they could truly do anything they wanted.

"I do not dislike it," Men said, looking at the microwave, the only piece of retro tech he recognised. Men was by no means unintelligent, but his expertise was not within the realm of robotics, which was ironic considering who he was dating. The photo of Sorn also caught his interest. So this was his father? Men would like to meet him someday. T'Lhai was cute, too. Perhaps they could talk about the family members they actually liked together. In fact, Alizati was already doing it. Men sat down on the sofa across from Alizati. "It smells nice. Perhaps you can give me the recipe and I can make it for you in return someday." His love language was acts of service, so of course he was thinking about how he could return the favour for this meal already. "Dalin... Do you remember more about your relationship with him now?" (edited)

'I do not dislike it' may have been taken as a comment of judgement, but for Vulcans this was a sign that despite being undressed his appearance was sufficient and that was what mattered. He grabbed the knife that laid beside the pie and began to cut it into pieces. Being an android had its perks and he was able to cut the pie into preceisely even pieces. His form was great and he didn't seem to struggle with the task. He laid a piece on Men's plate before serving himself. "I will send you the receipe," Alizati said, looking forward to what non-replicated ingredients tasted like. "I do. We were close, he loved me a lot even if he was unable to show it most of the time," Alizati said as he placed the knife on a napkin and looked at the other. "He liked androids, surprisingly," He stated, as calm as ever. He watched Men closely, wanting to see his reaction to the pie.

Men picked up the pie and took a bite. "The ingredients are clearly replicated, but the arrangement of them is pleasant to taste," He said. Yes, he could tell that sort of thing. "You and your father Dalin are and were proficient cooks." He took another bite, then licked a few crumbs from the corner of his mouth. "It is an illogical hypothetical, but I wonder if he would have... Liked me."

Alizati felt proud when Men complimented his cooking. Even if it was replicated ingredients, he felt a sense of pride being able to share a piece of his past with Men. He took a bite of his own piece, analysing the flavours and textures. It did not taste as good as when Dalin would make it, but he agreed that his attempt was sufficient. His eyes went back to Men when he noticed the other licking the crumbs of pie from the corner of his mouth-- why was he already thinking such illogical and scandalous thoughts? He blinked a few times before he spoke again. "I did not associate myself with many people outside of school or work when I was organic," He stated, if he was going to live as Alizati Dzharok and stop fighting the stranger in his mind he would also need to stop referring to Dzharok as if he were an entirely different being all together. "However I feel like you and him would have gotten along. He also enjoyed cooking, he was more or less a stay at home father to me. Not that he disliked working, but he was very protective over me as I was his only child."

"I can understand that. After T -" Men froze for a second, then trembled slightly as a wave of grief washed over him, and he had to expend a lot of mental energy Surak-ing it away. Opening up to Alizati emotionally so many times in the back rooms had increased his emotional capacity - for love, yes, but also for despair. It was very hard to process. How Romulans just went around feeling things like this all the time, he had no idea, though he had a private theory that, without following Surak, they had evolved to have a little less emotional intensity than a Vulcan truly had in order to manage as functional members of society. They didn't experience Pon Farr any more either, after all. Men rubbed his eyes to quell his eye-shaking like Alizati often did, took a deep breath, then continued, "After T'Bel died, I was quite protective of my other children. Actually, one of mine is half-Romulan as well. It was difficult attempting to teach him of his culture when I was fairly uninformed of it. To be honest, even though I tried my best, I still am."

"One of your children is half Romulan?" Alizati somehow managed to keep a neutral expression despite being incredibly surprised. Did Men-- no, it was his wife. The one he was so concerned with being loyal to despite the horrible mistreatment. His expression softened only by a little. He put his pie down and focused all his attention on Men. "I am interested in hearing how this came about. But, Men I want to ask," Alizati blinked a couple times, observing how Men rubbed his eyes, Something that he also did-- did it also help organic beings? "May I sit next to you?" Not as scandalous as holding hands but being an android who did not need to eat, it was only logical he focused on his actual need-- to be close to the man he loved so much. He was still unsure how to go about handling all these new found emotions, meditation helped but somehow he did very little to calm his passionate love for the very pretty owner of Surak Snacks.

Men nodded, eyes warm. "Of course you may sit next to me. Always." He patted the space next to him, a superfluous gesture considering Alizati knew where to sit in his own quarters. As soon as Alizati sat next to him, Men leaned on him, shoulder-to-shoulder, still eating pie. "I have very little idea how it came about. My wife and the father - Haem and Linclaith - have not elaborated and I have not asked. However, Linclaith is kind of a..." Men thought for a while about how to put it politely. "Kind of an Eshen."

As soon as Men consented, he stood up and sat beside him. It was nice to be touching again, even if it was just shoulders. He could feel a familiar blush coming back to his cheeks, spreading to the tips of his pointy ears. Dzharok's memories certainly had made his emotions more intense, much more intense. "I see," He responded, wanting nothing more than to hold Men right now and promise him the universe. It was illogical though, apologies were illogical, especially over past events that he had no control over. However somehow he felt.... Guilty. For being part Romulan, even though he had only known such information for less than a month. He did not move, but he did take a few slow and steady breaths to try and cool his body down. Perhaps he underestimated the strength of Dzharok's emotions. "It is very difficult to raise a child of two worlds. Where is your son now?"

"He is on Mol'Rihan, an interceptor. After I attended the New Romulus Academy of Arts, he expressed interest in staying on Mol'Rihan to study law, and Linclaith stayed with him. He is 24 years old." If Alizati did the calculations in his head, he would figure out that meant he was born shortly after the Hobus Supernova. Men finished his slice of pie and made a small noise of satisfaction. Then he held out an open upturned palm on his lap, an invitation, and talked normally even though his green face mirrored Alizati's. "He will be visiting soon, with Mirabel, my granddaughter. My daughter... I am not sure about."

"Interceptor," Alizati blinked a few times and then took a rather large breath. Another inconvenient side effect of unlocking Dzharok's memories is he could not be as selective about which processes ran or programmes opened. It was similar to as if he were organic. "My grandson is an interceptor as well," He told Men as he laid his hand on top of the other's. The green on his cheeks darkened even more, his skin was warm, almost the same temperature as Men's now. And what's more, his son was born not too long after the Supernova-- which Alizati was neutral about, but with the information he had now he suddenly felt saddened by it. "I understand the circumstances of your son's birth were unfavourable but you raised him well. And even attended school on Mol'Rihan. I have to ask," For once in his life, Alizati's voice quickened to that of a normal pace. No longer speaking slow and calmly, he almost sounded like he was getting emotional. "Did you ever see your son as insufficient as a Vulcan because of his mixed heritage? Only 50% Vulcan, never able to reach the potential of a full Vulcan?" His eyes met Men's again, shaking subtly with the faintest glint of sadness.

Men raised both eyebrows in curiosity at the unusual level of expression, then squeezed Alizati's hand in comfort. He wondered if V'Lilyn knew Alizati's grandson, but not all Romulan Interceptors knew one another, probably. "No. That would be illogical. I am a Vulcan, and I raised him. For him to be an insufficient Vulcan I would have had to have raised him insufficiently Vulcan, and I did not do that." Men paused. "Hopefully. If anything, I worry that I did not raise him sufficiently Romulan, since Haem insisted on hiding the other half of his heritage for most of his life and I had to teach him as best I could in secret. But he does consider himself a Romulan as well as a Vulcan."

Alizati squeezed Men's hand back and shifted so they were even closer. Somehow the other's response comforted him. In a strange way. "It..." He began to speak before the shaking in his eyes got to be too much and he had to look away and rub them with his free hand. "I wonder if Dalin felt the same... My mother forced him to raise me completely Vulcan but he struggled. My whole organic life I lived feeling insufficient," He spoke slowly and calmly once again, but he was covering his eyes with his hand. "It was this self doubt and fear of insufficiency that led me to lock my memories away. I thought I would be a better Vulcan somehow. I had completely forgotten this feeling until someone I trusted came to me for advice. I offered them my opinion but they rejected it and said that should have consulted a full Vulcan about the metter." All of the meditation in the universe could not shake this feeling from him and he strongly disliked it. Not hate, hate was illogical. Alizati took another breath and looked back at Men, now clasping both of his hands around the other's.

Men wrapped his remaining hand around Alizati's hands clasping his. Full double hand clasping action. Scandalous, and he had to Surak away some shame just at doing the act, but it was also extremely gratifying to be able to do this with him completely alone. In fact, there were many things he wanted to do with Alizati while they were alone. "That was wrong of them to say. You are a full Vulcan. Different, biologically, but full." Then Men paused. Ironically, Vulcans were not known for their comforting skills, though after four, perhaps five kids, he liked to think he was better at it than most. "If it helps... I think the struggle to be Vulcan enough is such a Vulcan thing in itself that it proves your right to call yourself the word. I am a full-blooded Vulcan who followed every step laid out for me, did every logical thing, even underwent the Kolinahr for a time, and I have always had doubts as to whether I am Vulcan enough. We are a culture of high expectations. We share an ideology, and we share the struggle to live up to that ideology."

Alizati had to shift his gaze down to their joined hands for a brief second. Partially because he was overwhelmed by his own emotions but also because they were holding hands. They no longer had to sneak around in the back rooms at Surak Snacks or 'accientally' brush fingers in a private booth, they could hold hands without any judgement. And yet again Alizati felt the strange bit of moisture pooling in the corners of his eyes. Was this a result of the shaking? His eyes met Men's again as he breathed slowly, naturally even. It was as if he didn't have to think about it anymore. At this point it would be easy to forget he was an android, Alizati himself didn't even notice what he had been doing this whole time; Blinking, breathing, all without needing to consciously initiate such motions. *Vulcan enough, the thought tht Men, a full blooded Vulcan who grew up on Vulcan, shared his struggles. That was comforting-- he felt validated. He was right; they were both full Vulcan in ever way. In fact, their struggles to be Vulcan enough united them as Vulcans. "Men. May I say something illogical and do something evne more illogical? I am not sure why, but this whole time all I can think about is how much I want to kiss you and hold you and say many illogical things."

Men could barely wait for Alizati to finish his sentence before he leaned towards Alizati and kissed him, letting go with one hand only so he could cup Alizati's cheek and brush away any tears that might fall away with his thumb, only stopping to say, "Alizati, there is nothing more I have wanted you to do since I walked into this room and was finally alone with you. Please." Then he waited to see what Alizati would do next.

He was taken by surprise when the other kissed him. Something about it felt different, was it because of Dzharok? Or because they were finally free to do whatever they wished? His eyes fluttered shut the instant their lips met and he felt Men's hand on his face. It was just a kiss, but for some reason it felt more intense than any other time they had kissed-- well except for that time. But they were doing nothing that scandalous, not yet anyway. "I want to tell you that you're beautiful. In everything. It is illogical but every time you speak, every time I look at you I feel myself falling more in love. And now, with Dzharok's memories I feel these emotions even stronger. I want.. ." Alizati paused and he opened his eyes again, still unsure what this moisture was that covered his cheeks. It hadn't occurred to him that he could be crying. Androids do not cry, Vulcan androids do not cry. "To ask you to come to Mol'Rihan with me for shore leave. I know you want to keep our relationship a secret for now, so we could go as trusted partners, not lovers. Please, I want you to meet my grand children and if possible I would like to meet your son."

Men's whole face and body flushed the more Alizati spoke. He had never thought of his physical appearance much except that it was plain, as Haem said, if she ever said anything about it at all. Then again, he never said much about her either. They were both profoundly disinterested in one another's appearance and physicality... Which was fine, by Vulcan standards. It was illogical to think of another person's appearance in such an idealised way. But when Alizati said he was beautiful, he couldn't find it within himself to care whether it was illogical or not; there's was something satisfying in knowing that Alizati was as pleased to look at Men as Men was pleased to look at Alizati. "I think the same of you. Every gesture, every little physical tic, every expression is illogically beautiful to me. You are... Art, to me, as a person. As a Vulcan," Men said, making sure to affirm Alizati's identity while he kissed every tear that ran down Alizati's cheek away, which made his lips a little wet. "I will come with you to Mol'Rihan as your trusted partner, Ilhra. I want to see your grandchildren. V'Lilyn will be pleased."

The kisses down his cheeks were another surprise as he was still confused what this strange feeling on his cheeks was. It was not raining nor could he sweat. He took another slow and steady breath as his shaking eyes tried to focus on Men. What a beautiful colour they were too-- a mix of green and blue, was it oxidised copper? He had never seen such a wonderful colour, it made Men look overworldly. "Vulcan, yes, and you are art too," Alizati muttered softly, it was strange that a simple statement could such a profound effect on him. He wa Vulcan, that was a fact. He may have been an android, but he had pointed ears, was raised by a Vulcan, lived his life around Vulcans-- but somehow hearing it from Men felt more than just the stating of a simple fact. It was a validation of identity, something that Alizati and Dzharok had always wanted. "Eyes that shine brighter than the red dunes under the Vulcan moonlight, brighter than all the stars in the sky, Men, you are the reason I can live as myself, wholly and truly myself, You are my perfect reason for everything."

Was he... Quoting poetry? Or did he make that up himself? Oh, who cares! It was still the nicest thing anyone had ever said to Men in his life, which was a little sad considering he was nearly seven decades old. By Surak, why had he wasted so many years of his life denying himself this? "A-Alizati..." Men said, eyes shining with tears, "Nobody has ever spoken to me like that before. You're going to make me cry, too." Alizati's crying didn't look too be stopping any time soon. Remembering how Alizati had held him when he cried in the back rooms, in a bold move, Men climbed onto Alizati's lap and straddled his legs for the surprisingly innocent intention of gently pressing Alizati's now-ridged forehead into the crook of his shoulder and holding him close. "I love you, Alizati. I will not think you're any less Vulcan if you want to cry right now."

Crying, was that what he was doing? He could see the other's eyes shaking much similar to his own and-- they were shining. Not a metaphorical shining, but they had a glassy look to them, was Men going to cry again? Before he knew it Men was on his lap and he was-- holding him. Just like he held Men when they were in the back rooms. The action had a comforting effect, like somehow the relentless waves of emotions inside of him were beginning to calm once again. "Is that what I am doing right now? Crying? I.. Do not think it is possible for a Vulcan android to cry," He said yet the stream of tears down his cheeks were doing nothing to back up such a statement. He wrapped his arms around Men's waist and held him, letting the tears continue to fall. He was getting Men's nice froggy shirt dirty with his tears, but that wasn't important right now. Closeness, he had always yearned for closeness with another. Perhaps this was built into him by his creator, or perhaps this was a desire of Dzharok's that was passed onto him or maybe just maybe androids did feel lonelinesss. "Please stay here tonight, because it is.... Lonely, without you."

"Of course I'll stay," Men said immediately and with a little more enthusiasm than he'd expected, "And you're welcome in my quarters whenever you wish to come." His quarters weren't nearly as empty as Alizati's physically, but they felt empty without him there. Maybe once they sorted everything out, they could share quarters and neither of them would ever have to be lonely again. He had nothing more to say or do except hold Alizati close until he'd let it all out, and shed a few tears himself.

'Of course I'll stay', as if he expected Men to respond with anything else. Alizati spoke between uneven breaths as his body was trying to regulate everything going on. For the first time in all his life he felt unable to control his emotions, his organic functions-- but he felt organic. He clung to Men as if the man could disappear at any moment. "I would like that, very much, I love you, e'lev," Alizati closed his eyes and just let himself feel, let all of his emotions out at once. Vulcan or Romulan, it didn't matter, he didn't need a reason, Men was his reason. Who would have thought an android could love so deeply, so passionately, but he had already proven he could be more than just a vision from a lonely human scientist.

Alizati arrived back at his quarters and his three headed furby drove their hover chair to the corner to park it in it's little dock area that Alizati had designed. The furberus then slithered over to their favourite spot on the sofa and sat down. The stared at the Kal-toh board on the table and contemplated their next move.

[D] Eshen turned up in uniform. Shock and horror! But his roleplayer simply did not have enough brain cells to write an elaborate fit in this heatwave. Perhaps today was a bad chronic pain day and he simply didn't have the energy. He was wearing Starfleet Shorts and his mismatched earrings, though. Maybe he should make the top into a crop top? He had abs for a damn reason. Something to talk to Allan about. He dingalingading-donged the door.

"Enter," Alizati said from his sofa, sitting across from his furberus playing Kal-toh. After he said the word Bir repeated it, it seemed like they were learning. Just like Eshen, Alizati was also dressed in his uniform as he had just come from work. He did not look like a man who just spent his shift crawling through the tubes and fixing power relays but Alizati had his ways.

Aw, the kids were learning to talk. Or something. He still had no idea how the Furberus worked. Eshen quickly entered, sitting next to the Furberus, since that was what they usually did, right? He was the Furberus' little helper! Well, nothing about him was little. Big helper. Hunky helper. Hamburger helper. "How was Mol'Rihan?" Eshen asked, thinking it odd that they never got together while they were both there. Or maybe they had, and it was just off-screen. He and Men would have talked at an insufferable length about cooking the whole time.

The furberus looked at Eshen with all 6 eyes and greeted him with a little, "Lieutenant Junior Grade Eshen!" It appeared Alizati had programmed them to identity each of the people he regularly associated with. The furberus sounded so much like Alizati, or well, more like Dzharok, but significantly more animated. As much as Alizati wanted a Vulcan android, he realised if they were going to be gift for a child they should probably be warm and friendly. Alizati did not move from his seat, but he looked up at Eshen when the man sat down. "It was interesting connecting with my Romulan family. I have obtained Romulan citizenship as well," He stated, thinking there was nothing else to talk about it. It was not a normal visit, but he could not think of anything else to say about it. "And how about you?"

By Surak, they were saying his name now! It was both incredibly adorable and incredibly bizarre, hearing a lower and more enthusiastic version of Alizati's voice come from a three-headed furby. Actually, in a weird way, it kind of made it cuter? Eshen patted them on all three heads. "You mean Lun and Lalisa and that lot?" He said. It had certainly been very interesting connecting with them as well. He regretted he didn't get to talk to Lalisa more, actually, but maybe they also did that offscreen. "I actually kind of hope Lalisa comes to visit sometime soon." And Lun, sort of. He'd liked a few things about the man, but not the extremely weird vibe he'd gotten between him and his boyfriend.

"Yes, them," Alizati said without a single bit of emotion in his voice. He had nothing really to say about them after all, they were... Romulan. He did admit he was slightly off put by Lun who claimed to be Vulcan and interested in his Vulcan ancestry, but his actions said otherwise. It did leave a sour taste in the android's mouth when he thought about the situation the young Romulan-Reman boy, Kianarix, was in, but he didn't mention it to Eshen. "I would prefer to keep my Romulan family at a stabbing distance apart," He said, being completely honest in his words. He glanced at the furberus who was now slithering right up to Eshen to nuzzle his side. "Why do you wish to see Lalisa again?"

"We got along well and I appreciated her spirit. Don't need much more than that." And she was pretty, obviously. Especially the hair. He'd always liked people with long hair, because he could braid it, but he was beginning to think he liked girls with long hair especially; Aella's influence. Actually, he probably did meet Lalisa offscreen at some point, of only to give her some macarons. "I mean, you know me; I like to have lots of friends." He put the Furberus on his lap so he could pet it easier. He really needed to get that cat already. "You know, in Klingon, their names are wa', cha', and wej."

"She could use a positive influence like you in her life," Was all Alizati had to say to that. His grandchildren, well, Dzharok's grandchildren, seemed very misguided. Especially Lun. He blinked a couple times as his eyes tried to focus on the Kal-toh board. It seemed like Yuch was going to make his move, picking up a metal rod and looking to Eshen for guidance. "Wa', cha', and wej. Interesting. Perhaps I can teach them how to say their names in different languages," Alizati looked at the fuberus who was now sitting on Eshen's lap. Interesting that everyone treated them like an earth feline. Even the Captain's cat seemed to accept them as one of their own. "I have updated them so they can learn language. Currently they are only able to understand Vulcan, Rihannsu, and Standard. They learn by listening, so we can carry out our normal conversation."

Eshen looked down at Yuch, then contemplated the board for a bit before he pointed to where Yuch should put it. He knew Alizati wouldn't mind waiting for a reply. "Oh. But if they already know Vulcan, Rihannsu and Standard, shouldn't we speak in another language we have in common so they can learn that, too?" Eshen also knew a few European languages, one or two other alien ones, and was learning Bajoran and Cardassian fairly quickly (and Vortawa a bit, but there weren't as many resources on that one - he'd have to ask Aella to teach him one of these days). "So you don't want to keep up with Lalisa yourself at all?"

Alizati watched as Yuch placed the piece on the board and the sphere shifted. A good move, but he expected nothing less from Eshen. The man had strong logic, even if seemed like he wore his emotions on his sleeve at times. "I mean they have the capacity to speak those languages. They only know basic words in each. Any other language and I would need to load up a different sound system. As you can hear, they use my voice to speak and I am limited to those three languages for now," Alizati explained slowly and carefully, his eyes still on the board. "At the moment, I still feel unfamiliar with her and Lun. I have agreed to regular communications with them, but as it stands I am not quite sure how to feel about the situation. I have spoken to my Vulcan father, Sorn, about the matter. It seems he will also be taking a trip to Mol'Rihan to visit them. It is amusing to me that everyone else around me seems excited that I have been reunited with my Romulan house."

Eshen certainly did not wear his emotions on his sleeve. Not the ones he didn't want people to see, anyway, unless you were part of the Circle of Honesty. If he did, he wouldn't be so good at lying. It was all part of Rule 2: Make them think they know you. He didn't rely on that rule for Alizati and Allan and such, though, so that's probably how Alizati got that impression. They were honest people, so he returned the favour. He mostly used Rule 2 during work hours. Dion, however, didn't really use the rules at all. "I see. Well, we can continue talking in Vulcan, then. I guess it is sort of funny that everyone seems more invested in it than you are, but for me, it's because connecting to my heritage has always been important to me."

Still contemplating his move, Alizati picked up one of the rods from his pile and rubbed his eyes. They weren't shaking as much as they usually did, but his memory was being used up by conversing with Eshen and focusing on the game. It helped that they would continue speaking Vulcan, it was Alizati's native language after all and it felt more comfortable to use it. "I understand. On to that topic, I can speak with you about being of two worlds as I have been living as Alizati Dzharok for a couple weeks now. The experience has been.... Less confusing than I thought it would be. I no longer have to fight an unknown presence in my mind. I feel much more emotional, much more-- passionate. About everything."

Ah, the eye-rubbing. As far as he'd discerned so far, that was a sign of stress - or, well, that he was using up more processing speed... Or data... Or something like that than usual because his artificial mind was occupied with something else? He didn't know how it worked. "Oh, I see. And have you been enjoying that passion?" And had Men been enjoying it, he wondered? "One of the reasons I don't regulate my emotions as much as I used to these days - well, sort of, it's more complicated than that - is that doing so actually takes up quite a lot of effort, especially with emotions as strong as mine, and I need to devote that to other things these days. It's like when you... When you use memory for one function instead of another. It can feel quite relieving to allow yourself to experience even a little emotion. Do you feel relief at all?"

Alizati placed his piece on the board and watched as the sphere changed shape, becoming a little more symmetrical. His move was good although it was still early in the game but so far things were going smoothly. He watched as the three headed furby opened and closed their mouths in an attempt to process the new information. "It allows me to work more efficiently. One would think emotions would hinder performance, but it has been quite the opposite. It also has allowed me to be a better romantic partner to Men," Of course he did not elaborate in what ways, but he had a feeling Eshen would know what he was talking about. NSFW things aside, Alizati did feel as if he could connect with others more easily. "However with more emotions I must meditate regularly. Dzharok struggled with emotional suppression and such struggles have been passed on to me. I felt anger recently. May I tell you about it?"

Ah. Anger, his beloathed. The emotion he expressed the least and would prefer to keep it that way, thank you very much. "Well, emotions aren't a fundamental part of most intelligent life for no reason. Personally, I meditate every morning and night, but I've also found exercise helps burn off such... energetic emotions." Sleeping with people also helped, so judging by the implications of what Alizati'd just said if he meant what Eshen thought he'd meant, he'd be good on that front. "Alright, tell me all about it!" Then again, he could have meant that he was a better romantic partner in general. Had he not let his emotional capacity increase, Eshen would not have been able to love Aella, Nalas, and even Allan now, apparently, like he did. Love wasn't entirely about emotions, but they were a significant part of it. Since joining the academy he had a passion for the world and everything in it, but romantic passion for individuals was something he'd only started exploring once he got to 777, and it was ever ongoing.

"I have no need for physical exercise. If I did, I believe I get enough of that between my work and personal life," Alizati stated, not implying anything dirty at all, but it sure sounded like it. He stayed perfectly still with his eyes fixed on Eshen as his mind tried to process the best way to tell his story. "I learned that the security officer, Ensign Elwyn Preston, faced prejudice remarks by Miss Jasmine Hill. Lieutenant Georgia Hill's daughter. As you may know, Ensign Preston is also an android and hearing that she was called 'metal lady' and 'starfleet property' made me uncomfortable. I spoke with Miss Hill about it, but it seems she did not think it was a serious offense, she even went on to tell me that Ensign Preston and I are 'devoid of emotions'. I am aware that she is half Betazoid, but to say others do not have emotions because you cannot feel them is very narrow minded. The idea that artificial life cannot experience emotions is very damaging and that sort of thinking is what led to us living as mere property for most of the time artificial life has been around."

"'Tis narrow minded indeed!" And completely nonsensical. Eshen didn't know anything about artificial lifeforms, but even he knew most androids weren't made of metal these days. He wasn't exactly sure what else it was, but it wasn't that. He did know Starfleet laws, and androids hadn't been property since the whole thing with Data. He'd heard of Jasmine Hill through the grapevine (and her own mother, during the occasional H&H) and gotten the impression she was a talented roboticist, so this information seemed... Incongruous. Not to mention it was weird for someone like that to make comments like this to begin with. Was she secretly bad at robotics or something? She certainly wasn't very socially proficient if she thought making remarks like that on a Federation Starbase was a good idea, either. Of course, they hadn't met yet, but it was a bad second-hand impression. That said, he'd gotten along perfectly fine with her mother, so perhaps this was all just a misunderstanding? Georgia had certainly never made any comments like this, so she couldn't have been where she got it from, surely. "But it's actually quite logical to feel anger in this instance. Anger is often a sign of injustice unaddressed. It's also a sign you feel might feel threatened. From what I know of your history, you weren't in a good environment before when it came do this kind of thing, right? And 777 was supposed to be 'safer'. But maybe hearing that Ensign Preston encountered prejudice like this made it feel unsafe, and that's the source of your discomfort."

Alizati was thankful yet again that he had the support from his fellow officer. Allan and Mo were also equally shocked when he told them. He could not understand how someone in the 25th century could still have such outdated views, especially when there was nothing in their history that suggested any trauma or event in their life that could lead them to such ideology. As far as he knew, Jasmine was raised by two fully capable parents, one of which being a Starfleet officer. He allowed himself to show a hint of worry in the form of a frown. "No. I was regarded as property for the first eight years of my life by legal standards, I was not treated as sentient until I entered the academy when I was 23," Alizati said, causing Bir, Ikki, and Yuch to whine softly when he mentioned it. They seemed equally upset to hear that their father had been mistreated for most of his life. "Ensign Preston is my junior, it worries me that someone would disrespect her. I feel the need to protect her as I am her mentor in the mentor programme but also as a fellow android. She is a kind individual and she performs her duties well, I suppose this feeling could be described as fatherly. Dzharok and myself have strong father figures, perhaps that is why I feel so protective."

Hot AND strong dad instincts? Men was a lucky man. "Well, unfortunately, you probably can't protect Elwyn from every instance of this, since your lifespans are long enough that you're probably going to encounter this again later." He supposed some people in the Federation might have a prejudice because of the android ban. Was that all this was? She was hardly brainwashed by a parent or genetically engineered to have certain opinions, so was this an instance of societal prejudices taken to an extreme? How dull. He reached forward and gestured to somewhere Yuch could place a metal stick. The sphere changed shape. Woo, symmetry! "But doing what you've done now - standing by her and supporting her - is the best thing, really."

"I understand, which is why I want to do as much as i can now," Alizati said, observing carefully when Eshen helped Yuch with his next move. The Furberus followed their friend's advice and placed the metal rod. To Alizati's surprise it was avery good move. So good he had to remain silent for a few seconds so he could compile all the possible counters in his mind. "A mix of fatherly instincts mixed with... Anger at injustice. I do not feel safe knowing there is someone, a child of a fellow officer no less, who believes that Myself and Ensign Preston are not sentient. I was locked in a drawer in pieces for three years because I was not considered sentient, this is a serious matter to me."

He was locked in a drawer? The fuck? Bat'leths at dawn with his whole Vulcan family except for Sorn and the kid who was getting the Furberus. Suus Manha, too. "That's terrible and they shouldn't have done that to you," Eshen said, as he internally mused about ways he could possibly make the station feel safer for him. He was hardly the station commander, so there wasn't much, really... Maybe he could talk to Georgia at some point? Also, he could talk to Elwyn and express his support or something like that. It was good to know you had allies. "Unfortunately, if she's not open to changing her behaviour, I'm not sure what to do about it. But, from the people I've met, if it's any reassurance, I'm pretty sure the people who are pro android outnumber her by quite a lot. I could talk to Georgia about it. I know her, but not her daughter. And have you spoken to the Captain?"

"Thank you for your support, Lieutenant," Alizati did not have any emotion in his voice, but his intentions were true as evident in his dark eyes that were now staring into Eshen's golden ones. "I have spoken with Ensign Allan and Captain Mephistopheles Mo about this. I am unsure of what else can be done except to keep a close eye on her," Unfortunately being spacist was not a crime in itself, it was only a crime if one acted upon said spacism with violence or any other sort of sabotage. "It is illogical, but I hope I do not cross paths with Miss Hill again," Alizati said as he placed his move on the board. They were getting pretty close to a symmetrical boad, it was only a matter of who would place the winning piece.

"It's not illogical. I can hardly see any interactions with someone who doesn't acknowledge you as a sentient being as being particularly productive or pleasant. The devoid of emotions thing is total nonsense too, by the way. It's like saying because I can't do touch telepathy with a Ferengi because they have unusual brains, they must not have one! Quite illogical indeed." Eshen stared at the sphere. It was getting pretty symmetrical and they were only a few moves in. This might quite possibly be the fastest Kal-Toh game he'd ever played! A testament to both their skills. Also, hate speech was actually illegal, just harder to prove and he wasn't sure this would classify as that unless this became a recurring pattern of behaviour or something. He suddenly wondered what she'd call him if they met. Pointy ears? Ridge head? Or was this an android specific thing? Anyway, Kal-Toh. Oh, hold on a sec. He looked at the Furberus, particularly Yuch, who'd been the most active participant so far. "Any suggestions?" He asked. After all, they were playing together, not alone!

"I admire your logic," Alizati said softly, staring at the board wondering what his furberus and Eshen would do. They were quite a team, perhaps this game would end swiftly. That would surely be a first, he thought. "I have banned Miss Hill from engineering, at least random things will not go missing anymore," He added, remembering the case that Elwyn had been investigating. There was nothing found against Jamsine, but Alizati had reason to believe she did take the missing items. Bir was the one who picked up the metal rod and began to look intently at the board. He hovered over one area and then turned his head to look at his strong-armed partner for confirmation. Yuch made a soft chirping sound before saying, "Here is logical," in the most perfect Vulcan accent. The furby was certainly learning more words, it was cute.

Eshen laughed in surprise. "'I admire your logic'. "Well, if that isn't the damn near nicest thing a Vulcan's ever said to me." Bit sad, innit. "And the Furberus learning to talk is... So cute. It's like watching a child learn." Ah, there arose those hidden Dad Instincts again. Unfortunately, he wouldn't really want to raise a child on a Starbase, but maybe someday. This was a team effort, but Eshen wasn't just blindly following what the Furberus did, as he hoped the Furberus wasn't doing with him. They were thinking critically about one another's moves - why they placed them, what consequences it would bring. They were learning from one another as they played - teamwork! So Eshen hummed a little as he pondered the Furberus' move and then nodded, allowing it to place the piece. The sphere became very symmetrical, and Eshen tilted his head with a small but confident smile in Alizati's direction as though he was attempting to awaken Alizati's Romulan competitive spirit, or at least his enthusiasm for the game.

"Everyone who has met them seems invested in their progress. It is comforting to know they have so many supporters," He looked at his creation, all three heads looked right back at him. They seemed happy, definitely not very Vulcan like, but they were not Vulcan. They were their own special type of creatuer. "Furberus? Their names are Bir, Ikki, and Yuch. The Captain also called them by that name, please explain," Alizati tilted his head, confused why two people had addressed his creation as such. He assumed the Captain was just attributing a funny nickname to the three headed monstrosity, but now hearing Eshen call it that he wondered if there was a hidden meaning.

Oh? The Captain had the same name for it? What a coincidence. Almost as if they were of the same mind. A many-layered mind. Like an onion. "Well, there's this large three-headed dog in Earth Greek mythology that guards the gates of... The afterlife, sort of? Called Cerberus. And the physical whole that Bir, Ikki and Yuch belong to doesn't have a name, and it rhymes, so... Furberus." He wondered how Mo knew of Greek mythology. From their conversation during the Spaghetti Incident, he'd gathered that his interests in Earth mostly regarded animals and technology, not mythology.

"Furberus," Alizati repeated the name, the three headed furby chirped in excitement when he said it. "Alright. That will be their collective name. Furberus, made up of Bir, Ikki, and Yuch," Seeing as the furby seemed to like the name it was only logical to assign it as their group name. It almost sounded like he was naming a band. What sort of music would they make? In all this furby talk, Alizati had almost forgotten about the Kal-toh game. He placed his piece on the board and watched the sphere change shape. It was a good move, although not too long after he saw the changes in the sphere did he realised that perhaps he set the board up perfectly for his opponents to set the winning piece. "You also mentioned you wanted to ask me about... Hybrid things?" Was this some sort of trick to try and distract Eshen so he wouldn't see the winning move right in front of him? Maybe. How Romulan of him, but Alizati did not think he was trying to be sneaky.

There was something delightful about Alizati accepting Furberus as a name. Eshen looked as pleased as they did. It didn't occur to him that it sounded like a band name but huh, he and Allan should really get together and brainstorm one, shouldn't they? Maybe they should do some training, then Allan could have a nice (water - he would use his rations) shower to work off the sweat because humans sweat a lot when they exercised (couldn't relate - he was a desert creature), and then that makes the hair nice and soft and easy to handle for a hair cut, and then maybe Allan could give his a trim because it was getting too long even for him - Eshen blinked a few times and then came back to 777. Did he just get distracted envisioning a whole date with Allan in the middle of Kal-Toh? Absolutely scandalous. Eshen was indeed distracted, but not by hybrid things at all. He squinted at the board as he spoke. "Yes. Well, I suppose I wanted to know about how he balanced the sides of his heritage, Romulan and Vulcan. Did he ever feel like he had to assimilate one way or the other? To be honest, there aren't that many Klingons on this station so sometimes I worry I'm losing touch with that side of me. Also, was Dzharok polyamorous like a lot of Romulans?"

As the two sat in silence for a moment the three headed furby contemplated the next move. There was a winning move sitting right in front of them, but they seemed to be struggling. Perhaps because they had never won a game before. Ikki, who had been silent most of this time, picked up a piece and blinked at the board. And then Eshen broke the silence when he asked about Alizati's dual heritage. He had a feeling the other would be curious about Dzharok's parents, it was something Alizati, before the update, was also curious about. Now with the man's memories he was prepared to answer. "He.. Well, I definitely felt that way, " Now that he was living as Alizati Dzharok, was it really appropriate to keep talking about his predecessor like a completely different entity? They had separate lives, but they were also one. "My father, Dalin, was a good Romulan, but a terrible Vulcan. My mother, Thillasa, who is still alive and working at the VSA, was a strict follower of Surak. I was mostly raised by my father since my mother spent most of her time working. Dalin struggled with the teachings of Surak, he really wanted to raise me with Vulcan and Romulan values," Alizati explained, slowly and carefully as he picked apart the memories in his mind. 777_divider

05:43

"At home, I could be Romulan freely and unapologetically. I enjoyed embracing my emotions, I spoke Rihannsu exclusively with my father as well. However in front of my mother and at school, I had to live up to Vulcan standards and I felt very suffocated. In many ways, that feeling is still with me, although as an android I feel like I have a third world pulling me in as I always feel like I have to 'prove' I am 'worthy' of my status of sentience," He said, looking at Eshen with the same stoic expression as always, although his eyes gave away a bit of emotion. Sadness, loneliness, like he was somehow lost in his own mind. "And about being polyamorous, yes he was. Dalin and Thillasa were more or less a pon farr and political marriage and Dzharok's two marriages were of similar nature, however Dalin and Dzharok had extramarital relationships." (edited)

"Being an android and a hybrid are not so different in that regard. People don't so much doubt that hybrids are sentient, exactly, but there is this constant need to justify your own existence. Like, you have to work as hard as possible to exemplify the best traits of both your sides of your heritage in order to justify their intermixing, like you were born as part of some thesis statement proving the benefits of cultural exchange, but you never asked to be made, you're just alive. It's the same with androids - I imagine you face a lot of questions like do you think you're better or worse than organics, should more androids like you be created, what is the meaning of life and sentience, etcetera, which must be tiring when you're just trying to exist, right?" Eshen looked briefly down at the Kal-Toh board and shook his head. "Sorry, Ikki, I have something to say - don't make a move just yet." He looked back to Alizati. "I actually said a similar thing to Renakir once, you know. It's a common feeling - not just among literal, physical hybrids, but those who are hybrids culturally. Nalas, my Bajoran boyfriend who was raised Cardassian, to give the short version, isn't hybrid biologically, but he kind of is culturally." "Even Remun probably feels this way." If he felt anything. "I forget if you know him, but, as an Orion growing up Vulcan, that's maybe why he's so... Pious. Perhaps even the Captain himself, who according to his file was raised by Ferengi, too. If I were ever to start some kind of... hybrid solidarity club, I'd give those people a pass, though I don't think most of them would accept it. But if there's anyone who exemplifies how complicated being a cultural or physical hybrid can be, it's the man who's physically an android, designed to be - and is - a Vulcan, with the memories of a Vulcan-Romulan man." *Eshen cleared his throat. By Surak, that was a lot of words even for him. None of them felt superfluous, though. This was an impor

17:56

tant topic and these were relevant things to to say regarding that topic. He needed a drink now, though, he was parched as hell.*

"You are correct," Alizati said in response to the feeling of having to prove one's self worth. "With the consciousness of another implanted into my mind without consent from the man or myself I feel like I am an intersection of a variety of ethical questions," He blinked a few times before rubbing his eyes. He wasn't stressed per say, he was just thinking a lot and it took a lot of memory to do so. Bir, Ikki, and Yuch, seemed to notice this immediately and Bir clicked his little plastic mouth. Ikki stayed still when Eshen told him, being a good little furby hydra head. "Cultural hybrids, that is an interesting way to put it," He nodded, looking at the Kal-toh board and then at his furberus as his mind worked to process the information. "About Remun. He is struggling a lot. It was because of him that I felt anger for the first time," Alizati straightened his posture and looked at Eshen. "He and I were... As must friends as two Vulcans could be. He opened up to me about his internal struggles and I suggested he stop trying to fight his demons and learn to work with them, just as I had when I unlocked my memories. He did not seem to like this answer and told me perhaps he made a mistake to consult me and he should speak with a full Vulcan instead," He recalled the whole event, which still left quite a bitter taste in his mouth. 777_divider

01:11

"He apologised to me through Men. Holding grudges is illogical, especially when the other party acted emotionally. But the damage from his statement still lingers in my mind. Not just because I am half Romulan, but because even just being a Vulcan android, there are many who do not consider me Vulcan at all," He finished, noticing Eshen clear his throat he wondered if the man was thirsty. It was something he could understand, he also needed to consume biolubricant. "Furberus, please get us something to drink. Tea for Eshen and biolubricant for me." As he said that, Bir, Ikki, and Yuch, dropped the Kal-toh piece in their hand and slithered over to the replicator. "Iced tea, biolubricant," They said to the machine. The replicator spit out the two drinks. Yuch grabbed the tea and Bir grabbed the biolubricant and Ikki helped push them back to the table where they put the two drinks down.

"Aw, they're a cute little waiter. Do you even realise how adorable they are? Do they know?" Eshen said, trying not to smile too much, picking up his ice tea and gulping it down - what, his throat was very dry - as he contemplated his next move. He'd gotten so distracted by Hybrid Issues he'd kind of forgotten about the game. It was very cathartic to talk about - perhaps if he got a therapist, he would request that they be a hybrid. His second choice would be a human, but there were experiences they just wouldn't quite understand. He definitely wouldn't want a 'full-blood' Klingon or a Vulcan; he just wouldn't really trust them. Luckily for Alizati, it looked like his plan to distract Eshen by talking about hybrid issues worked. Unluckily, Kal-Toh was not a game played in a rush and so Eshen had plenty to time to reorient himself, looking at the board and evaluating his and the Furberus' options. He did indeed spot that Alizati had basically set up his next move for him, and that where Ikki had wanted to place the metal stick would be perfect for that, and so he sadi, "Alright, Ikki, go for it. May I ask you a question, Alizati?"

"Cute? I suppose that word is appropriate for them," Alizati said as he watched his Furberus move and serve them their drinks. He then watched as Eshen inhaled the tea. "Bir, Ikki, Yuch, you are all cute," He said in t he most emotionless Vulcan monotone ever. It seemed his meaning got across and the Furberus chirped happily at the compliment. Ikki picked up the metal rod once again and placed the piece on the board. Just as predicted, the sphere morphed to a perfectly symmetrical figure. "Kal-toh," Bir said in his low voice, clicking his beak in satisfaction. All three heads then turned to Eshen to repeat the motion, clearly it was a sign of happiness. All this happened whilst Alizati busied himself drinking his bio lubricant. Once he put his cup down he saw the sphere and his furby's eyes staring at him. "Good game," He conceded to defeat as he picked up the Kal-toh pieces on his side. He was impressed and despite losing, felt quite satisfied with the outcome. The Furberus was learning. "Yes, you may ask me anything."

Did he just win a game of Kal-Toh against an Android in... Was that even ten moves? The fuck? Of course, it was a team effort, but still. It wasn't very Vulcan of him to be having a great fucking time, but a great fucking time he was having indeed. "Oh, we won? I mean, aha, of course we won! Our logic is impeccable!" He would high five the Furberus, but it had no hands. As he patted all three heads, he had the horrible realisation that if the Furberus was getting this good at Kal-Toh and could even talk now, it might be time for it to go soon. Preferring not to think about that for now, he inhaled the rest of his tea and looked at Alizati, his expression settling into a calm admiration, which you wouldn't necessarily expect him to give to an opponent who'd just lost. "Have I ever told you you're the best Vulcan I've ever met? Not that it's a competition, just, I mean, you'd be little me's role model if I met you earlier in my life. That wasn't my question, I just want you to know that." Especially after what Remun said. He may have apologised, but that didn't mean Alizati didn't deserve some positive affirmations! "You love Men, right? Through all the... Surak emotional filters... How did you identify that emotion? Did Dzharok's experiences help you at all?" He may be the closest Eshen could get to understanding the dilemma he had right now, as a Vulcan hybrid who was currently in love and had at least had the memories of someone polyamorous.

Alizati seemed content with the way the game played out as he watched Eshen pet the Furberus. The affection that others gave his creation was beyond logic, however he liked knowing there were so many people who cared about them. T'Lhai would certainly love her new pet. "You four did well," Alizati said as he put the extra pieces into a pile and stood up so he could get him and Eshen more to drink. He requested iced tea and some more biolubricant and walked back to the sofa to place the mugs down. 'The best Vulcan I've ever met' was an illogical compliment. He did not understand how one could compare him to anyone else. Each person was unique, no one was 'better' than another. Perhaps in certain skills or disciplines, but to say he was 'better' than others... He blinked rapidly for a few seconds as his mind was trying to understand what Eshen's statement meant. Even with the clarification he still felt lost. "Out of all the Vulcans you have met, you are drawn to my demeanour and attitude the most? I see, I appreciate it" He didn't think 'better' was the right term, but he would accept the compliment. "Men. He is someone who embodies grace and beauty. I understood the emotion on my own as just Alizati, but it was later affirmed when I became Alizati Dzharok. My feelings for Men are beyond words in any language, but I suppose I could explain it as; I want to walk the rest of my life with him by my side," He said, with the same care and slow cadence as always, however this time his voice grew soft. Eshen had tried to draw out his Romulan side with competition, but what really drew it out was speaking about Men. Alizati acted like a Vulcan, but had the heart of a Romulan and it showed in how he spoke about Men, his Ilhra E'lev.

"You want to walk the rest of your life with him by your side? That's impossible, though. The thing I've always known about love is that one way or another, it ends. Perhaps it's the desire to do so that counts. I'm just..." Endlessly confused all the time? When he'd said he loved Aella, it had been a fairly spur of the moment thing triggered by her being her. When he'd realised how he felt about Allan, he was because he was reminded of how he'd felt in all previous instances of witnessing the people he loved just - being themselves. But then after that moment passed he always doubted himself again. His parents had loved one another once and that had ended horribly - or, rather, it *hadn't ended, a warped thing persisting beyond its death.* Was he afraid of love or was he afraid of falling out of love? Was that what had been holding him back all those years he'd wanted love and got so close he could touch it only for it to inevitably end before it began? And what did it mean that he loved other people when they were uniquely themselves when he had never been uniquely himself? Of course, it was right after Aella had said she had liked every form of him that he said he loved her. It was one of the rare opportunities he actually felt seen by someone and not accepted, which were actually two different things. Allan, as much as Eshen loved him and as much as Allan accepted him... Did he see him? To give him credit, he was doing well at accepting him when he used different names, and Eshen had been able to express himself quite genuinely in most of their interactions, but did he actually understand what was going on? Probably not. Eshen barely understood it himself. But the fact was that even if he might, with Allan and Nalas and Adill and a therapist's help, find himself a more stable identity... *He also might not. He might remain a person who changes forever and he wanted to be loved as that person, the same one he was right now. It seemed fitti

07:26

ng that the only person to understand this was one who worshipped Changelings.* He supposed the root of the problem was twofold: one, that he was afraid nobody could truly love him unless they saw him, and two, that if they saw him they would either stop loving him, or keep loving him, and then sooner or later that love would end. He would probably outlive Allan and Nalas unless something drastic happened, and if he ever moved to a new station, what would happen to him and Aella? What if she went back to the gamma quadrant? It was silly because he knew, hypothetically, that ends didn't make something worth less, that you don't read a book just for the last page, but he was still afraid, because he had grown up only ever knowing love as a thing he was deprived of that ruined people when it ended. After a long pause and a sip of his ice tea, Eshen continued, "Aren't you afraid at all that it will end?" Like his creator was? That's why she'd built him, after all, right? To bring back someone she'd loved? "And how did you know he loved you? I can't imagine him having an easy time showing it either." Eshen still didn't know about the back rooms and all the things Men and Alizati had said to one another. And done to one another, but he didn't really consider that kind of thing a sign of love.

'Impossible', Eshen was right. What he said was illogical, to believe that he, an immortal android, could possibly walk alongside someone forever. Unlike him, Men would eventually die. Either from disease, old age, or both. Thankfully they were Vulcan so they had at least another century or more together, however there was still an end. And then mid sentence there was a pause. The other went silent, leaving Alizati to just stare at him with his unblinking gaze. The only noise was the mechanical humming of the Furberus as they settled themselves on the ground beside the coffee table. As silence weaved between the seconds and the air grew still, the gears in the android's mind began to turn a little faster. "Fear is illogical for me, I am not afraid of endings," Alizati replied when he heard the question that broke the silence. His dark eyes were shaking very noticeably now as his demeanour grew more uncertain. He seemed more Romulan than Vulcan at this point, his eyebrows pulled together and a slight frown on his face. How did an immortal android justify pursuing a relationship with an organic being? "We were in the meditation room in Surak Snacks. He spoke to me about his wife, he was distressed. It was a rare sight to see a Vulcan so emotional, that is when we... Did things I will not discuss," Alizati said, his face turning a light shade of green when he thought back to it. "Perhaps it is my Romulan side, but I have not thought about my future after Men. We have a saying in Rihannsu, 'Seize today, for we know nothing of tomorrow', even as Alizati it appears I have always embraced that philosophy. I love him now and I will continue to love him even after he has left for the halls of Erabus. That I am sure of."

Did things he would not discuss? In the meditation rooms? WHAT? Eshen was SCANDALISED; his face turned the colour of an unripe tomato. "We have a similar phrase on earth. Carpe Diem. I think it's the phrase Allan lives by," Eshen said, with a fond smile. The closest he'd ever gotten was that moment in the pool. "I am quite Illogically afraid of endings, so I unfortunately am not that kind of person." Borg? Fine. A sea of corpses? Whatever. Falling out of love? The terror! That said, Dion was much more inclined to act by that phrase, which was one of the reasons he was him around Allan more than he was Eshen. "Ironic that, in this way, you're more impulsive than I." Eshen drank the rest of his ice tea. "Thank you, Alizati: I have much to think about." He really did. Boy, had they covered some deep topics today. "Oh, and thank you for the game, the tea, and your company. Yours too!" He said, bending down and booping Bir's beak.

Oh no, did he say something wrong? Alizati stared at Eshen's green face before realising he was also quite green himself. Talking about Men was making him feel things, too many things. Alizati rubbed his eyes as he tried not to think about it. "It is logical for mortal beings to fear endings for you have only been given one life and many people have goals and aspirations. Even Vulcans wonder what is beyond this state of life," Alizati said slowly, his eyes drifting to look down at the Furberus. "More impulsive? I am Romulan. In a way, acting this way is freeing," He said as the Furberus hummed when Eshen booped Bir's beak. Very cute. "Lun is visiting soon, he told me you and him are on good terms, I thought I would relay that to you," Alizati said as he stood up and grabbed his Furberus to hug him in his arms.

Eshen: "Oh, that's a bit soon." On good terms? Sure, he supposed he could call it that. As far as he was concerned, though, everything he'd done with Lun was all business, even the parts that were pleasurable. It wasn't like with Lalisa, who he was interested in as an actual friend. Lun would have to stop having such incredibly weird vibes with Kianarix for Eshen to consider him anything more than an attractive acquaintance. He'd keep contact for the sake of building their rapport, though, because it was always useful to have friends in high places, and he suspected Lun would see their relationship as equally as transactional if Eshen managed to make himself useful enough in return. "And I can assure you, my fear of endings does not come from a fear of death." If anything, his own death was the ending he feared the least, because he wouldn't live to suffer the consequences. Was that healthy? Probably not. It's not like he wanted to die or anything, you just grow up kind of desensitised to it when your mum's a Klingon. "I'll see you next time for another game of Kal-Toh? Though I kind of want to go up against you on my own." He'd been learning a lot from both Alizati and the Furberus; he was by no means a bad player in the first place, but he felt like he'd learned a lot. Men would still crush him into a fine powder and use him to spice his soup if he played against him, though. (edited)

The Furberus snuggled into Alizati's arms, they seemed happy to be held by their father. Even Alizati was starting to feel as if he had a fluffy child. He noticed how Eshen reacted when he mentioned Lun, perhaps they weren't as close as he thought? He did not comment on it though, Lun and Alizati were not... on the best terms. Alizati thought Dzharok's grandson was illogical for treating him as merely a continuation of the Vulcan scientist. He shared many things with Dzharok, but he was his own sentient individual. Ah yes, and he wasn't afraid of death? Fascinating, although Alizati was not going to question him further. He needed to run his update and the Furberus' update. "We may have a one on one game next time. I am sure the Furberus would like to be our little waiter," When he said that the Furberus clicked all three of their little beaks. "Jolan tru, and," "Live long and prosper!" All three heads said in unison, clearly very excited.

Eshen gave the Furbies the ta'al they couldn't do with their nonexistent hands. "Live long and prosper and jolan tru to you too!" He said, then walked out the door, which slid shit behind him with a satisfying Star Trek swoosh.

"Men, are you sure you are not part Romulan?" Alizati said as they walked to his quarters. From the sofa came the Furberus, squeaking and mewing when the two Vulcans stepped into the room. They seemed happy that their father and step father were back, it seemed like they were quite lonely. Alizati pat each of the three heads, he was glad they seemed to have been chilling this whole time.

"No, but perhaps Linclaith has rubbed off on me." Men let go of Alizati's hand so he could squat down and pat all three heads vigorously. "You are very cute. I am glad you have been keeping Alizati company when I cannot." Sudden switch from spicy to sweet: activated! Because as wild as he was feeling right now, he didn't want to do anything too scandalous right in front of Alizati's furbies. "Admittedly it did surprise me that you would have created a machine based on an Earth creature, or toy, but I am always glad to discover new dimensions to you, Alizati. To your room?" Where his wardrobe was, presumably.

Alizati actually smiled when he saw how Men pet all three of the Furberus' heads. He was so caring towards them. At first he thought Men would dislike the creature, but was glad his initial theory was proved wrong. The three headed furby squeaked with happiness before slithering over back to their spot on the sofa where the Kal-toh board was. Alizati gave them a nod and led Men to his bedroom, making sure the door had fully closed behind them before he pulled Men into another embrace. "Then I am thankful to Linclaith. You're so beautiful, Men," He was trying to resist the urge to do more illogical things, but Romulan Alizati was quite powerful especially with Men acting so un-Vulcan-like.

"We are beautiful. Together." In Alizati's embrace, he leaned closer, closer, like he was about to kiss Alizati senseless for the third time in a row - but at the last minute he pulled away and walked over to Alizati's wardrobe, because apparently boldness made him a bit of a tease, too. Was keeping Alizati this on edge a good idea if they wanted to actually make it to the date? Probably not, but he didn't care. All of this was very Romulan of him, but if he had to walk under the raptor's wings for a while to experience love without shame, then... fuck it, frankly. He pointed to an item of clothing in the 'drobe. "This is your falcon shirt?"

And Alizati was more than ready to kiss Men again but then the other pulled away last minute. He was-- frustrated? Vulcan Alizati wouldn't have minded but Romulan Alizati caught on to Men's game real quick. He followed Men over to his wardrobe and wrapped his arms around the other's waist. "Yes, this is the one," It was a deep red and black shirt with a falcon pattern on it. The falcons didn't look nearly as cute as Gwa (they were scarier if anything), but it was a gift from his new found family. "Should I keep my shorts? Or wear trousers? I also got a few accessories from Mol'Rihan," Unfortunately Romulan Alizati also had Romulan taste and along with his many Hawaiin shirts was some black harnesses that plagued Romulan fashion. More gifts from Mol'Rihan no doubt, but Alizati was seriously considering.

Unfortunately, Men's sense of fashion was not as good as his sense of interior design. He wouldn't give any thought to whether a harness was unfashionable or not. He might have opinions on how many was too many, though. "Trousers, and I would like to see you in these accessories." He disentangled himself from Alizati, kissed him on the neck, then handed him the shirt. "Change." Then he sat on the bed. To watch.

Why did Men have to kiss him like that? He was really testing his emotional suppression right about now. However Alizati allowed Men to separate from him and took the shirt. He then grabbed the trousers and one of the silly little harnesses. Men may have been affected by the virus, but Alizati was not and thus changed at a normal speed although Alizati naturally did things a bit slower. Once he had the trousers on he moved to button his shirt and that's when he looked at Men. "I believe it is more fashionable to leave some buttons undone, is it not?" He wondered just how much skin was appropriate to show. He was not on duty and they were going on a date. So he had to look attractive, right? More skin was attractive?

Men just stood up and buttoned Alizati's shirt up himself, but left the top two undone. "I do not know about fashionable, but this is... Hmmm." Then he unbuttoned the third one. "This is especially appealing to me, but I do not know how much skin you are comfortable with showing. Perhaps I should show just as much so that we are equal." He unbuttoned the top three buttons of his froggy shirt. "How do you think Mister Gliqqigug will feel about this?"

"I think this is acceptable," It wasn't just kissing that made him flustered, it was any time Men got close to him. Why was he reacting in such a way when the man was simply buttoning his shirt? Is this how Dzharok felt every day when he was his various partners? To avoid anymore temptations to do more illogical things, he quickly turned to grab the harness he had thrown on his bed and put it on. He looked... Alright, very Romulan though. He looked at Men, wondering if the other approved. "I think it would be acceptable. Seeing two Vulcans on a date like this-- well I suppose I look more Romulan now," Alizati did not much care about what people said. After all worrying about the opinions of others was illogical, however he did feel a spark of excitement over the idea of holding Men's hand as they walked through the promenade.

Men put a finger under one of the straps and used it to pull Alizati towards him so he could kiss him. "It looks... I did not realise how good it would look." The leather harness and partially opened shirt was Doing Things to him. Men took a deep breath in order to regain his composure and drain some of the green from his face, then did one of Alizati's buttons up again. "I apologise, but if your appearance remains that way we will not make it back out of the door. However, for future reference, I quite enjoy when you... 'look Romulan'." He reached down and held Alizati's hand. "Shall we go?"

Alizati kissed Men back, but this time he held back a little. It wasn't that he didn't like kissing Men, no the opposite, but if they kept at it like this they would never be able to go on their date. Although he really did like seeing the other blush such a lovely shade of green. It matched his lips, and his eyes. He blinked a couple time as if that would keep the illogical thoughts from controlling his mind. "I am glad it pleases you," Hmm, Men liked when he looked Romulan? He did not realise it, but with his haircut and now his outfit he looked nearly identical to Dalin. "I will remember that in the future, perhaps I will look into more Romulan styles," But not the ugly disco ball pattern clothes. He may have not been the fashion expert, but the quilt outfits were fugly and he knew it. "Let's go, e'lev," Alizati walked hand in hand with Men towards the #upper-habitat-corridor . As they walked through his living area the Furberus squeaked out a small, "Have fun," in Rihannsu.

[D] When Allan walked in, he instantly felt like... this feeling. Some sort of gay shit- he actually stepped back, in his little thigh-high work boots he'd been wearing lately, and looked at the door sign. "Oh! You and Men moved in together...?" He asked with a smile as he went in, taking a seat on the sofa. Kal-toh day of the week, baby! And this week was actually going pretty well thus far, for a surprise. "I assume things are going well, then?"

In typical Vulcan fashion Alizati greeted Allan with just a ta'al and a head bow. It was something he was probably never going to change, even if he learned to march under the raptor's wings. He stepped aside and let Allan step in so he could take his usual spot on the sofa next to the Furberus. Alizati was dressed in Vulcan robes that day, dark red and browns. He looked like he could be one of those Vulcan monks at the temple. Now with his new roommate he took a lot of inspiration from Men's closet to make new outfits. On the sofa besides Allan sat the Furberus. Three heads chirping softly when their favourite human engineer walked into the room. Bir extended his head towards Allan and booped his shoulder whilst the other two heads seemed very focused on the Kal-toh board. The cursed three headed monstrosity greeted with a simple 'Jolan tru'. "Yes, we believed it would be logical as travelling between the Upper and Lower habitat rings takes a substantial amount of time. Men also expressed desire to have someone to co-sleep with. I am still exploring my organic functions including dreams so such an arrangement is beneficial to both of us," Alizati explained as he took a seat on the sofa across from Allan. "I am overdue for my update and I have a small task for you."

Allan laughed at the Furberus and pet Bir's head a he sat down, listening to Alizati speak. He crossed one leg over the other, following Ikki and Yuch's gaze over to the Kal-toh board, wondering what the plays would be like today. Every week there were new moves and new things that happened, and it was a fun game every time. "Yeah, very logical," Allan said, choosing not to comment on other organic functions Alizati could explore. "Of course, what's the task boss?"

The Furberus was very happy to get attention from the nice engineer. Alizati interacted with them sometimes, but their father was not nearly as affectionate as Allan was. The three heads rested in a little ball next to Allan, all three heads curled up. "I took the Furberus on a walk the other day and let them explore the lakes and ponds area of the environmental ring alone. I was not too far, but when they returned the Kal-toh board from their hover chair was missing. I was wondering if you could give me the specifications of the board so that I could make a new one that is compatible with their chair. I could figure out such a device myself, but it would be much easier just to ask you."

Allan grinned as he heard Alizati took the Furberus on a walk around the lakes and ponds, that must have been such a happy event. But then he gasped when Alizati said the Kal-toh board from the chair was missing! "Are you kidding me? Yeah, of course I can get you tbe specifications, they're actually uh," he took his PADD out and scrolled through a few of his notes before he got to his specifications of the chair, and eventually got to the Kal-toh board specifications, turning the PADD around to face Alizati. "Yeah, so, this is that," he said, "I wonder who would've taken it?" Who was a thief on the station beside him and Dion? And who would have stolen a Kal-toh board out of all things?

Alizati looked at the PADD and immediately saved the schematics to memory. It was certainly a plus to being an android. He had no issues with memory or recalling events. The Furberus made a soft whining noise when Allan spoke, it seemed they were equally sad about the missing Kal-toh board. "I do not believe it was stolen. Simply the Furberus must have hit a rock or the board dropped. Their three heads often have disagreements over which direction to go, the most likely answer is simply a self-caused accident," Alizati said, not believing anyone would steal onboard the Starbase. It wasn't like a Kal-toh board was very valuable either. If someone was really after some tech, they would have taken the whole hover chair or even the Furberus themselves. "The Furberus did not say anything about a thief, they would surely have been more distressed if something was taken from them by force."

"Well," Allan said, as he pet the Furberus to comfort them when they made the soft whining noise, "as a thief myself, I can say not all of it is by force, in fact, many of us specialize in doing it so ... unnoticeably that we're never even caught. In fact," he put the PADD back into his bag. "If it had slipped or dropped somewhere, you'd think someone would have returned it by now, right?" After all, he remembered people he knew talking about retrieving things on a regular basis from around the station, even in the lakes and ponds, all the time to return them to their owners because people just lost shit... losing shit was a rather universal trait.

Alizati made no comment on Allan's past thefts or tactics. Vulcans did not steal, actually, Romulans did not steal either. Romulans simply took items that the believed rightfully belonged to them. Like the galaxy. Not theft, just incorrect ideas and entitlement. ”I checked with OPS and it seems no one has turned in a Kal-toh board. Seeing how one could easily replicate a board for themselves there is no reason why anyone would take one. I considered maybe a child found it and has not turned it in," Alizati hypothesised. Children take things all the time, even if they had no idea what they were. Kal-toh boards looked pretty cool, maybe someone though it was a funky sculpture? Yuch, the shortest head, gave Allan's arm tiny kisses and Ikki clicked his beak. Bir was still coiled up, they looked very sad without their Kal-toh board, it was their favourite game after all.

"So.... that would still someone be taking it," Allan said, honestly a little glad Alizati made no comment about his past thefts. There wasn't much a poor kid could do to build and engineer shit without stealing a little, even if most of it was from dumpsters where people were throwing away shit anyway. And now, of course, it was... consensual thievery, really, is what you could call what him and Dion were constantly doing with eachother. Their latest thievery being eachother's hearts, of course. "Well, at least it was fairly easy to make, so it should be fairly easy to replace." He said with a warm smile as he pet the three heads, especially Bir since they looked so sad. "It'll be back in no time!"

"I still do not think that is a very likely explanation. I would like to investigate the Lakes and Ponds area myself, but I am not scheduled for another shift for another... 16 hours," In fact today was his day off. As much as Alizati disliked days off, he did have to adhere to Starfleet rules and wanted to set a good example for other officers. They were not in battle or in an emergency situation, there was no reason to work double or triple shifts. The Furberus seemed to respond well to the pets from Allan. All three heads purred softly, they really liked being treated with so much love. Alizati didn't give them much warm affection like this. The most he did was pet them. once or twice a day if they were lucky. "Anyway, I will create a new board for them," Alizati did not see the need to investigate into the matter any further since things are lost all the time and it wasn't like anything valuable was lost. "The next matter is my update. I am almost a month late."

"I mean, I'd say things don't just disappear, but... this is the 25th century," he said, glad the Furberus seemed to be doing better now as he continued to pet them. "I think building a new one would be best, yeah." He set his bag down beside him on the floor so he could sit back on the sofa, taking the Furberus with him so he could keep petting them and look at Alizati. "A month..? Is there a reason for that?"

"It only happened a day ago, hardly enough time for someone to find it and give it to ops," Alizati did not think it was worth going out to look for the board. After all, they had agreed to build a new one. This was most likely just a one-off occurance, especially with the Furberus getting used to their newly found sentience. Alizati focused on Allan petting the Furberus. He wondered what it was about them that drew in so many people. Unlike a cat, they did not have any biological needs. You could not feed them and they never grew. All the wanted to do was play Kal-toh. "The reason is illogical," Alizati began. "I am scared. I have never been scared for an update, this is surely the work of.... Dzharok," Almost said 'the work of an enemy stand', but no Alizati was the least likely stand user you would find. "He did not like AI or androids, it is only natural that functions that are uniquely android would cause me to react this way. I know this is illogical but I cannot change my feelings."

Allan simply nodded in agreement to what Alizati had said, it was true, they had agreed to build a new one so it wasn't really too much of a worry how the old one had gotten stolen, or lost, or both. It could probably even just be replicated rather than built by hand, and that could be even faster. "Ahh, well maybe we could... lessen that fear by showing you what's actually in the update? I mean," he really kind of looked like one of those people petting their cat in their lap right now but instead it was the Furberus. Just because they didn't have any biological needs didn't mean they didn't need to be loved. "Usually illogical fears come from something that's unknown, maybe if you know for sure this update isn't any different than the last, it'd be easier on ya..?"

"But it is known. I know what is in every update," And that was what confused him. Alizati stood up and walked to his console. He pressed a few buttons to bring up his main interface menu. "Eventually, I would like to teach the Furberus how to help me so I wouldn't need you every time," He told Allan as he looked up. Dark mechanical eyes focused on the energetic red haired engineer. "I believe I am afraid of unwanted changes. When I added Dzharok's memories I had no idea how it would change me. And now perhaps I am worried I will suffer another unexpected change," It was illogical to be afraid but he was. The once stoic Vulcan engineer with an emotionless state had turned into a lonely Vulcan-Romulan man who simply wished to be find peace with his emotions. "Most importantly I worry that I may not love Men as intensely," He didn't want to speak too much about his relationship, but it was relevant now. "During the virus Men... Was not afraid to show affection towards me. He was assertive and forward. It.. Awakened some strange Romulan instinct within me. It was no unpleasant."

"Oh," Allan watched as Alizati walked over to the console and spoke about teach the Furberus to help him out, looking at the Furberus and for some reason imagining it in a Starfleet uniform, which of course made him laugh. "Sorry, sorry, ah - it's not you, I just -" he tried to stop laughing and eventually did, nodding fast to acknowledge that he was still listening to his boss. "It makes sense! But I don't think, um, at this point?" He raised an eyebrow, as if that was sort of an outlandish assumption to make. "At this point, I don't think there's much that can change that, especially not an update that you know exactly what's in it - I feel like the only thing that could change something like that would be an update with some serious tampering done to it, and even then... it's not clear. I feel like your love for him's pretty tied in with your code at this point."

The sudden laughter was very confusing. What was so funny about him teaching the Furberus to help? The three headed monstrosity slithered off Allan's lap and to where Alizati was. When they heard help of course they were eager to do something for their father! Bir was the first to grab Alizati's finger clips and the other two heads supported him. "My fear is illogical. I feel Dzharok's detest for artificial life and my own paranoia from the trauma of reliving Dzharok's whole life time. I will not act on this fear, but I do require assistance. Partially by supervising the procedure but also... The terran word 'emotional support'."

"Ah. Yeah, I can't say I relate... but I'm definitely glad to help any way I can. I know it's weird to say because like, you're my boss, but I think of you as a friend, too, I think." He watched as the Furberus slid over to go help Alizati, and stood up as well to take his usual place where he supervised the procedure. "Anything you need and I can do, I've got ya. I mean, hell, even if I can't do it, I'll try my best."

"Friend? Perhaps that word is appropriate to describe our relationship," Vulcans didn't have many 'friends', it was something he struggled with at the academy. So many people to interact with, it was overwhelming for FarmBoy!Alizati so he responded by accepting no invitations at all. He never considered friendship or any sort of companionship outside of family relations was even necessary to function. "Are you familiar with the Rihannsu term daelhen? It has a similar feeling to 'friend' but it implies mutual trust and support. I believe it more accurately describes our relationship as 'friend' doesn't seem as... Deep," He pondered as he took the clips from Bir's mouth and gave him a little pat on the head. Bir chirped and then made a very strange cursed noise, but it was a happy noise. It sounded like TV ststic. Alizati attached the clips to his fingers and sat in his chair. "I am ready whenever you are."

"I'm not, but... I think it's a good term to describe it, yeah," he said, giggling as Bir made their little cursed noise. It was in fact kind of a cute TV static sort of thing, which was weird to say, but all of the Furberus's existence could be described as weirdly cute. "It sort of reminds me of a term in Spanish we used in Puerto Rico, pana fuerte, it's not the same exactly but it's a term that's similar in that it implies something... deeper than 'friend'," he took the PADD as he normally did, ready to watch it for any signs of trouble or anything as was the usual with the procedure. "Ready."

"Thank you, Allan," Alizati said as he folded his hands in his lap and closed his eyes. As he did this, the Furberus crawled around his legs as a way of comforting him. Of course Alizati was unaware of this as he had already set himself into update mode.

As usual the update screen loaded onto the PADD with a button for Allan to press to initate it. The little computer tower behind them began to whirl, making a low humming noise that seemed to shock the Furberus and make them flinch.

Allan pressed the button as usual, keeping a close eye on the PADD while making sure to listen to the computer. Nothing out of the normal, it seemed, but he'd keep listening just in case something started going weird - like clicking. Clicking noises in a computer were basically a fucking code red alert, almost all the time.

The update began like always, the machine humming louder as the information was loaded onto Alizati's memory chip. On the screen were all of the file names, nothing unusual, although this time the text was in a mixture of Vulcan, Standard, and Rihannsu. There was also a few memory files that seemed to pertain to Men specifically. Speciifc stardates of each file with -men at the end. Once the update was done the confirmation screen appeared: Finish update, Y/N?

Everything seemed to go well. No weird noises, no weird error messages, no weird Furberus complaints! So, all in all, a standard update, so Allan clicked Y to finish the update.

Once Allan clicked yes, Alizati opened his eyes and rolled his shoulders back. Update was successful and he felt.. normal. "Thank you, Allan," Alizati turned to face the ensign as the Furberus chirped. The three headed monstrosity seemed happy too as they quickly made their way onto their father's lap and curled into a little cinnamon roll shape. "I take it no error messages occurred? I am considering making my updates a monthly affair along with my defragmentation, it would be easier on my... Mental health, if such thing even exists for a machine," It sounded strange, but now with the memories of an organic man freely living inside of him, he had to take caution with his mental state. Alizati may not have had any mental struggles, but Dzharok certainly did it and affected Alizati too.

Allan placed the PADD down onto Alizati's desk and nodded. "Yeah! No error messages at all," he confirmed, going back over to sit on the sofa. "As long as that's good for you, you sounded like being a month late was an issue a few moments ago, but as long as that's okay, I don't see why not," he said, crossing one leg over the other. "And it definitely does. General and mental health, I think, both exist for someone like you- absolutely. In a bit of a different way, but still so similar. If that makes any sense at all."

"I was thinking of finding a way that updates would only need to be monthly. As it stands, my system needs weekly updates," Alizati wondered how a monthly update would work. Perhaps he could incorporate sleep into his schedule, a way to allow him to get away with not doing a full update so often. "But that is something I will work on later," It was important, but not extremely pressing. "Living with Men has helped. Perhaps if I were to disable my dream function I could perform a memory cleaning during my sleep cycle instead," He theorised. He stood up with the Furberus in his arms. "We may play Kal-Toh now, however I would like you to play against the Furberus, I want to test their abilities against an opponent alone," He said to Allan as he cuddled the three headed monstrosity in his arms.

"Ah. Well, if you need any help with that in any way, just let me know," He knew different things about putting off updates, many of which combined several updates into one with no trouble - but those were usually on smaller, less complex, and less important devices. For anything more complex than a standard computer, the process could easily become more difficult. "Oh, you think so?" He grinned as he set the Kal-toh board up on the table. "I'll try not to go easy on them, at least. Hard not to do when they're so cute."

"I will inform you if I need assistance," Alizati walked back to the sofa and sat down, the Furberus in his lap. They seemed happy to be getting attention from their father, it was rare that Alizati showed them any affection. Alizati treated them as a Vulcan father would treat a child, but he was slowly learning how to be more affectionate from Men. "They are... You may think they are cute," Alizati began to set up the Kal-toh board, creating a new game so Allan and the Furberus would have a fresh start. Bir made a cursed static noise before saying, "Let's play, Allan." Much enthusiasm from the three headed Furby.

Allan looked up at Alizati and smiled. "Ohhh, don't be afraid to admit it, you can agree that they're cute!" He said, before looking at the Furberus with the same smile, excited to be able to give them a chance to show their skills. "Of course, Bir," he laughed some, he knew this would be a fun time. The engineer looked over the board, but simply gestured to the Furberus. "You can have the first move."

"I care for them as my creation. I do not have an opinion on their visual appearance," Alizati said honestly as he pet Bir's long neck. He watched as Bir made the first move, putting the piece at the very top of the unorganised sphere. It was a good starting move, something he had learned from Eshen. Alizati was interested to see how his Furberus held up against Allan. It would also help him decide the difficultly level for T'Lhai, he didn't want the Furberus to be too difficult or too easy for her to play again. "They seem to like you a lot. You understand they will not be living here for much longer, right?"

"Okaaay," Allan said, even though he could have sworn he almost heard Alizati say they're cute, but... ah, well. At least he clearly cared about them, and that was all that mattered, of course. He watched closely as Bir made the first move, and such a good starting move too! He'd have to think of a while about the response. "Yeah, I... well, you never really said how much longer they'd be here, but you did say something about that." He remembered him talking about a small child... his sister if he recalled correctly, once being old enough, would take ownership of the Furberus.

Alizati stayed petting the Furberus, alternating between each fluffy neck. He did see how the creature resembled a cat. Honestly the fact that they were able to develop a personality was very impressive. Yuch purred softly whilst the other two heads watched the board closely for Allan's move. "Yes, T'Lhai is getting older and it will be time for her to begin formal education. My father expressed desire to have her go through Vulcan education, but as it stands I am not welcome in our home there and neither would the Furberus," As soon as he said those words all three heads whined softly in unison. "My step mother and I do not get along, however Vulcan marriages are.. complicated."

Allan considered his move for a long while more, trying to rack his brain for moves that him and the Furby hadn't used in their games against Alizati, since that would be too predictable. So that was a lot of thinking he had to do! He picked up a piece, but still contemplated on where to move it. "Ah, and when is that..?" He asked, he didn't recall how old T'Lhai was or when she would start her formal education. "Obviously, we've got to prepare a going away party for them that consists or a lot of Kal-toh themed things. Oh! Maybe a Kal-toh themed dessert? Does that sound fun?"

"She will be of age in a year and a half, she is three," Alizati replied, recalling the last time he saw T'Lhai. From time to time Sorn would send him photos or updates about her progress. She was a typical Vulcan child, she enjoyed listening to their father lecture about advanced agricultural techniques and trigonometry. Sorn was a good father , he had raised many children before T'Lhai, including Alizati although Alizati was 'born' as a fully sentient and self aware adult. "If there were Vulcan learning centres on Mol'Rihan I would tell my father to move. It is a nice place to visit, but not suitable for a follower of Surak to live longterm. And a party would be a logical idea. The Furberus could not enjoy the dessert but they would appreciate Kal-Toh," Implanting a recycling system within their body so that they could eat would also be very difficult and impractical.

"Oh! So we've got plenty of time to prepare them, then," he said, finally placing the piece he had grabbed onto the sphere, in a place he hadn't done before. Whether it was a good move or not was up for debate, but it would be a surprise to the Furberus nonetheless and that's what he was going for. "Yeah, I can see that," his own experience on Mol'Rihan was definitelt the opposite of what a follower of Surak would want, probably. "Nice, nice. I'll set a date on my calendar to remind myself to start planning it like what, ten months from now? That way we'll have two whole months to plan." Allan smiled, imagining what kind of cool party could ensure from two whole months of planning, considering him and Dion's birthday party had been planned in a matter of a few days and still turned out great.

"I would like T'Lhai to visit the station before then so she can meet the Furberus and I can make modifications before handing them off completely to her," Alizati thought he knew what his sister would like, but seeing how he had spent very little time with her it was logical to have a test meeting first. He just hoped that she would love the three headed monstrosity as much as his colleagues, he wondered if they were too scary for a child. Alizati watched as Allan made his first move. It was a fine move, although the game was still beginning so there were not many good or bad moves. Ikki took the next piece in his mouth and stared at the board whilst it looked like Bir and Yuch chatted in their cursed static language about where to put it. "They are a sentient Kal-toh machine, anything more than Kal-toh and some calm Vulcan music would be excessive," Alizati told Allan as Ikki placed his piece at the bottom of the sphere.

"That seems like a good plan, although I'm sure she'll love them, after getting to know them," he said, he really never would forget how terrified he was of them when they first met, but here he was now, after playing Kal-toh with them many times, playing Kal-toh against them in friendly fun. "Then a Kal-toh party with calm Vulcan music it'll be," Allan said with a grin, if there was one thing about him, it's that he - especially with the help of someone, -especially- with the help of someone like Dion, could throw a good party of any type, and a more calm party was still a great party with the right people. He watched as Ikki placed the piece at the bottom of the sphere. Good move! However, one advantage to playing with them against Alizati was that he knew Alizati's typical response to that move - and that's exactly what he did.

"But only if my father can find a way to live apart from my step mother. She surely would not approve of another AI in the house," Alizati pet all three long necks of the Furberus. Yuch took the next rod in his little beak whilst the other two heads purred. It was incredible that a Vulcan android could create such an expressive sentient machine. "I look forward to their going away party, I have no doubt you and Dion will give them an appropriate goodbye," As soon as Alizati finished speaking, Yuch made his move. He placed the piece to the side of the sphere. a very Allan-like move. "How have you and Dion been? I am aware you two are in a relationship? You two also frequent Surak Snacks."

"Ah," Allan nodded, it was a shame that his stepmother wouldn't approve of the Furberus because they were an AI. He watched as Yuch put the rod to the side of the sphere. It really was a move he would make, and he couldn't help but smile. He was so proud of them! "Absolutely! And uh, yeah, we're - you know, obviously we've been, um, we've known eachother pretty much since I've been here, but we actually only started dating like, right before our birthdays," he laughed, "it was this whole thing while he was cutting my hair and everything, um- we're doing good, though!" He still needed to check up on him after this weird virus business, though.

Alizati gave Yuch some scratches behind his floppy Furby ears. The long necked boi seemed to have liked that and immediately started to make his familiar mechanical chirping noises. "Dating. I understand that concept now," Small talk was still difficult, he was also not very keen on prying into other people's personal lives, but him and Allan were daelhen so such conversation was a sign of trust, right? He had studied a little about other cultures' views on relationships and romance when trying to understand his feelings towards Men. Were him and Men dating? They had gone on a single date, did that count? "You are actively going on dates? Every day? Every week?"

"I'm glad you do," he said, it had been... a while since he learned about the concept of dating but he remembered how it was when he did, and he was glad that Alizati was able to experience sort of the same thing. "Um, I mean- we were sort of already doing that? But.. we didn't actually consider eachother dating dating, I guess, until we started calling eachother eachothers' boyfriend?" It was a pretty ... simple re-explaining of things, but it was the simplest way he could explain it in his head.

"I see, then Men would be my... Boyfriend, in terran terms," He still thought Ilhra and E'lev were more appropriate, but those terms were not very understandable to anyone who wasn't Romulan. Even the Vulcan T'hy'la did not accurately convey the feelings between the two. Bir chirped and looked at Allan expectantly for his next move. As an observer, Alizati was already running through a number of scenariors of how the game could go. The Furberus was good, but he wondered if their moves woudl be too predictable for the human engineer. [D] The three continued to play Kal-toh, chatting every so often but ultimately Alizati was bad at small talk and preferred to watch in silence. The Furberus seemed to be having fun, squeaking and making small mewing sounds every so often. To no surprise the game was slow and they decided to resume the game next week at the same time.

Alizati headed back to his quarters and was greeted by a familiar long three headed furby. The sentient machine slithered off of their little spot on the sofa and over to the engineer's feet. He was careful when he picked them up, making sure to give the creature time to wrap all three necks around his arms to hold on as he lifted them. With the Furberus in his arms he headed over to his console and turned it on. He had to read the new chief tactical officer's file as well as prepare for his monthly defragmentation. Men was nowhere to be seen, perhaps he was at work? Alizati did not see a reason to inquire about his partner's schedule or working hours, they were both adults with their own duties and responsibilities. If Men had any troubles he would surely tell Alizati. After reading the tactical officer's file, Alizati opened up a new document to compose a letter to his beloved father.

13:41

To: Sorn From: Lieutenant Commander Alizati Dzharok, Starbase 777

My guardian and trusted father, Sorn, How was your trip to Mol'Rihan? Did you end up bringing T'Lhai or did T'Hain not approve of taking a small child so far from home? I am continuing my work on 777 as the chief engineer and with all my memories functioning. There have been quite a number of changes ever since I began to embrace my past identity. To start off, I have been struggling with emotions. I experienced fear and anxiety for the first time. On the opposite end, I have also experienced passion and even infatuation. The man I spoke about earlier, the owner of Surak Snacks, Men, we are involved in a romantic relationship and have begun co-habitation. He is still married to his wife, an overbearing woman who has been nothing but abusive towards him. He is seeking legal separation and once that happens I was hoping you would help us arrange a wedding. I am still working on T'Lhai's gift, but with your current living arrangement with T'Hain it would be unwise if I was to present it now. Live long and prosper, Ilzatliçat Bextiyer Dzharok

Once Alizati stepped into his quarters, he was greeted by a familiar set of 3 faces all slithering towards him. The three headed monstrosity chirped softly when they saw their father, rubbing all their long necks against his ankles. Alizati picked the creature up and held them in his arms as he walked towards the sofa so he could place them back down in their little spot. He considered making them a bed or something, it may be better than just a random spot on the sofa. "Kal-toh. And lessons in Vulcan," Alizati told them, giving each of the three heads pats and ear scratches. He set up the Kal-toh board and allotted the pieces so they could begin. (edited)

After sending the messages to Lorin to prepare for their outing a Surak Snacks, Alizati got changed and said goodbye to the Furberus. The three headed monstrosity let out a soft mewing sound, clearly they wanted to join. "Perhaps I will take you once Ensign Redwood and I get more acquainted," Alizati said, thinking it was best to leave them behind. Plus, they still needed to perfect their Kal-toh game.

From: LT. CDR M. Sh’Drvai to LT. CDR A. Dzharok

Greetings Commander. I write this message in the hopes of being able to speak with you privately. I understand that you are Vulcan, and if even if you can’t, I need something done that only a Vulcan can do. I’d like to discuss that something privately. Live Long and Prosper.

To: Lt. Cdr. Madelii Sh'Drvai From: Lt. Cdr. Alizati

I am available, would you like me to come to your quarters?

To: Lt. Cdr. A. Dzharok From: Lt. Cdr. M. Sh’Drvai

Preferably.

To: Lt. Cdr. Madelii Sh'Drvai From: Lt. Cdr. Alizati

I will be there shortly.