Star Trek: Starbase 777 - lt-erh’fvi﹢lt-jg-horowitz

[D] After the thrilling meal at Surak Snacks, Lhi was back in his quarters with his father who was helping to decorate his alcove. He had specifically asked to have the same alcove from Rapture be moved over. Originally he was going to see if his parents could send over his alcove from their house on Mol'Rihan, but his father had convinced him to leave it there so he could visit if he so chose to. The nice thing about having his Rapture alcove was that the rainbow lights modifications that Maya had generously helped with were there so the lights were not the eerie lime green colour, but a beautiful rainbow. Much nicer and more fun too! Lhi had his hands full of what appeared to be Christmas string lights and a bunch of metallic string to decorate his alcove. "Di'ranov," Lhi plopped the materials onto the small table beside his alcove. "Umm... I wanted to talk you about... Some stuff. About what happened with Ace," As soon as he arms were free, Lhi reached over to grab his Tan Zhakran from his drawer to fiddle with.

Vrilh quickly got to work once Lhi set the materials down. He was going to string the lights around the edge of the alcove and hook them up to the alcove itself so when Lhi was regenerating, the lights would light up in accordance to the cycle. So when the lights were only half on, the cycle was at 50%. Very nifty! "Oh, yeah Delly?" He said as he began stringing the lights through the wires and tubes of perimeter of the alcove.

"First... I would appreciate it if you did not mention the Borg, assimilation, or the Supernova, not in public at least. I.... I know you like to make jokes, but it makes me uncomfortable,"Lhi was thankful that his dad seemed preoccupied with the alcove and wasn't looking at him. He didn't think he could look into Vrilh's eyes and voice his concerns, he was much too shy for that. (edited)

"O-Oh... Deletham," Vrilh suddenly stopped what he was doing, letting the lights hang freely from one of the tubes and turned to look at Lhi. "I'm so sorry, that was not my intention at all," As much as Virlh was trying to look at Lhi, he could tell his son was avoiding his gaze."I just wanted to make you smile, I didn't realise I was coming off as insensitive."

"I know, but... You know I feel bad I wasn't.... Di'ranov, we talked about this. I miss home and I don't think I will ever not," Lhi put his little fidget cube down and crossed his arms. Not because he was mad but because he suddenly felt a wave of discomfort wash over him that was starting to overwhelm him. "And... I don't really want to talk about my assimilation, I.. Missed my entire youth because of them... And.. The Tal Shiar," Lhi looked down at he spoke, too scared to look at Vrilh even if his father appeared remoseful. Lhi was not very good at communicating his discomforts, even with his own father.

"I understand, I'm sorry. I won't say anything about that. I guess living on Devoras made it easier to separate myself from Romulus, but I know that's your-- well, our homeworld," Vrilh's eyebrows furrowed and he sighed at Lhi's words. He wanted this to be a fun reunion, not something that caused Lhi stress.

"And.... Miral," Lhi said, remembering he had a few more things to say. "I am happy he is alive and safe but.. I don't really want everyone else to know he's in prison. I will speak with him about the details but I don't want people to get the wrong impression of me," Lhi explained, having a bit of an easier time with this topic. Lhi had been separated from Miral for nearly 14 years now, to be honest he wa surprised the man had lived this long.

"Yep, got it. I won't mention Miral. But know that if you do want to go through with the marriage, his family is waiting to support you. They really like you, Delly. They even invited me and your other dad to visit them," Vrilh explained, taking a few steps forward and holding out his hands for Lhi to take if he so chose to.

"I appreciate that, but I think I would like to settle this matter on my own, so please let me do so," Lhi stared at Vrilh's hands for a few seconds, but made no move to take them. "Lastly.. You can tell me what happened to ri'ranov. She isn't getting milk. Are you sure about leaving other di'ranov on Mol'Rihan alone?"

Vrilh kept his hands where they were and nodded in acknowledgement. He wasn't going to talk about Miral anymore, even if he was a gossip lover himself. "... I... Didn't want to alarm you. It was at the Reclamation Site, you had so many questions and the counsellor told us not to overwhelm you... I just.. couldn't bring myself to tell you the truth," Vrilh finally withdrew his hands and grabbed the Tan Zhakran that Lhi had set back on the desk. "I suppose it was a lie we told each other too... T'Vim and I. We also didn't want to lose hope that she's out there somewhere. To be honest, that's why I'm leaving. I miss her too," Vrilh moved the faces of the fidget cube as he spoke, turning it in his hands.

"Is that it?" Lhi finally lifted his gaze to look up at his tall father. "Are you sure it's alright to leave him alone? You two are inseperable. I was surprised you came here alone," Lhi asked, happy that his father was finally being honest with him, but now more worried that their family was separating again.

"T'Vim thinks this is a foolish idea," Vrilh shook his head, chuckling a bit as he said it. "He called me crazy and told me this is a fool's mission. I don't think so though. We're family, and that means no one gets left behind. I finally have the ability to take matters into my own hands," As soon as he said that he did a very quick spin of the top of the cube, solving it instantly and opening up the inner chamber to reveal a very fluffy marshmallow. "The Valdore family has agreed to let T'Vim stay with them if he wants and T'Vim still has his job. Uhh, professional mattress tester. How fitting, right?" Vrilh said with a deep laugh as he plucked the marshmallow from the cube and presented it to Lhi. "And maybe he'll visit you here-- if that's okay."

Lhi's eyes widened when his father solved the cube in such few moves. He took the marshmallow and popped it into his mouth. As Vrilh continued to speak, he chewed the fluffy treat slowly. "Mm... That would be alright," Lhi nodded and held out his hand to take the cube back.

Vrilh placed the solved cube in Lhi's hand, but didn't take his hand off of it so they were indirectly holding hands now. "I'll tell him that," Virlh said with a bright smile. "By the way, I wanted to tell you, Deletham, I am in awe of your strength and I'm proud of you every day. I love you, Lhi erh'fvi Deletham," Vrilh told Lhi, leaning down so he could look into his eyes. "I'll be back soon, with ri'ranov, and then all four of us will be back together. We can all take a vacation, maybe we can go to Earth together," Virlh mused as he slowly lifted his hands off of the fidget cube.

Before Vrilh could lift his hand off the cube, Lhi moved to grab his wrist, dropping the toy and stepping a little closer. "Thank you, di'ranov. I would like to go to earth together, as a family. And... Thank you for saying that and.. I love you too," Lhi said as he loosened his grip on Vrilh's wrist so he could wrap his arms around him for a very loving hug.

[D] The two proceeded with the alcove decorating for the rest of the evening. Soon enough Lhi's alcove was decked out in RGB lighting everywhere with some sparkles and other adornments. Vrilh also added his own touches, a few plush toys, one of a rorse, the other of an epohh, and one of what appeared to be a giant six-eyed octopus. His reasoning was Lhi's alcove should be like his bed and stuffed animals made every bed more cozy so why not-- suspend stuffed animals on strings above his alcove. It honestly looked like the scene out of a horror film, but Lhi didn't seem put off by it so they kept the suspended plushies. After the decorating was over, Vrilh gave Lhi another hug and headed off on his way to his guest quarters.

And in a flash, the sick little salmon was transported out of the tank, goodbye Fissh.