Star Trek: Starbase 777

After sending the petition form to those who had asked in the chatroom, Lama made his way over to the Eventide XO's quarters for the interview. It was nice to be interviewing a fellow ex-Rapture crew member, although he had to admit he didn't know much about the person besides the fact they were mixed like he was and they had worked as an away team specialist. Lama was pretty experienced in away missions too in a way! Being on duty, Lama was dressed in his uniform, a pretty yellow stripe wrapped around his shoulders that matched the unnatural bleach blonde of his hair. It helped make his pitch black Betazoid eyes stand out, although most noteable Lama's eyebrows were not dyed so they were just black. He had his PADD clutched in his hands along with a recording device as he was going to ask for consent to record the interview or at the very least, note down the transcript of their conversation. He chimed the buzzer and waited, excited to meet someone new! This is why he loved his job so much, he liked doing interviews and meeting new people. The best part about being a detective was everyone was allowed to know about his job. He wasn't a big fan of deceiving people which he unfortunately had to do a lot of in the past.

Having just gotten off shift, Xaran was no longer in uniform and was instead wearing a simple pair of fairly modern and fashionable trousers, along with a colour-matching top, and a pair of boots. Their brown hair, shaved on both sides as well as the back, was still fairly neat considering that they hadn't done anything with it since before going on duty however many hours ago. Having been somewhat expecting a potential visitor they had made sure that their quarters were fairly tidy, even if it wasn't just their responsibility to maintain it. Upon the door being chimed the Eventide's XO made their way over to the door and opened it, the Denobulan/Andorian/Vulcan/Human hybrid greeting the Lieutenant with a friendly smile. They couldn't smile as big as some Denobulans, but the vibes were still there. "Lieutenant tr'Ehweia, I presume?" They asked in a very distinctly hybrid mishmash accent. "Please, come on in, make yourself at home." They then invited. Upon stepping back to let the other hybrid in, it became apparent that the decorations within the quarters were very multicultural, with items from pretty much every major Federation species' culture scattered about the place, as well as several physical books in a multitude of different languages, including translation guides. The most predominant items, though, were Denobulan, Andorian, Vulcan, and Human, which kind of went without saying.

Lama definitely felt the warm vibes when the XO opened and smiled at him. They looked just like their photo on their profile, Lama thought. He was bright eyed and bushy tailed, to use a human expression and was glad the XO was in similar jovial spirits. "Yep, you can just call me Lama," They were on duty but for some reason Lama always just preferred his first name. It wasn't that Ehweia was a bad house name, but his whole family had that name and he was all about shining as an individual. Plus... Taev was a bit problematic. "Thank you!" Like a vampire being invited into a home for the first time, Lama stepped into the room and looked around. His eyes immediately went to the decore around the room. Where most people would just sit on the sofa, Lama went over to the book shelf with all of the books in so many languages. He could only read the spines of a few of them, the human and Vulcan ones. He knew next to nothing about Denobulan and Andorian language and he was in awe that the XO seemingly could. Once he was done ooh-ing and ahh-ing at the books he remembered what he was there to do and turned to the XO. "Thank you for agreeing to this meeting, sir," Lama went to the sofa and sat down. "First I would like to ask for your consent to voice record this interview. If you would not like to have it recorded, we can just settle for a written transcript," Lama said as he pulled out his voice recording device from his pocket to show it to Xaran.

As the Lieutenant entered their quarters Xaran closed the door behind him, before slowly following him into the main living area. Their side of their quarters was the one most decorated, but as their roommate was also a Vulcan/Human hybrid there was little issue with such items being scattered about the place to make it seem less one-sided. As Lama looked at the books they had the XO stood behind him with their hands casually clasped behind their back, a smile still on their face as they spoke. "I don't know why, but I've always preferred paper books to digital ones. I think it's just the sensation of turning the page." They commented idly, before nodding on response to what the other hybrid said and going to sit down with him. "I have no problem at all with you recording this. It's an important matter to discuss and having, for lack of a better word, evidence of what people said and think is always helpful." The hybrid responded in agreement. "You know, I don't think I've ever done an interview like this before. Sure, I've answered questions, given statements and so on, but I don't recall ever doing something quite like this. It feels fun in a way, even with the reason for it being more, well, I was going to say political, but I don't think that's necessarily the right word. I'm going to stop myself before I go off on a tangent, but you get the point. I'm happy to lend my voice and opinion to this." They added with a friendly smile.

Lama tried not to jump when he heard the voice behind him. He knew that the nice XO was not going to just stab him, but the paranoia was always there. His pointy ears twitched right before he turned his head to see the XO with their hands clasped behind their back. For any other officer this would be a perfectly normal scene, but for Lama it set off a whole flurry of mental alarms. He backed up from the book shelf and nodded at Xaran's statement, trying to hide his anxieties. Hopefully the person wasn't an empath, he didn't think any of the species Xaran was mixed with was... He hoped. "I understand, yeah I appreciate this," Lama walked towards the sofa and sat down. He kept having to tell himself that Xaran was nice and this was Starfleet where people didn't just stab others they disagreed with. And even if they did, this was an interview, not a political debate. "Well I am proud to be the first person to interview you!" Lama giggled and switched on his recording device. "First off, have you ever been to Supernova Bar? And if you have could you describe the experience? If you have not, why haven't you gone?"

Not being anything more than just slightly touch empathic, Xaran couldn't detect how Lama was feeling at all, However, that didn't stop them from being able to read people like a book, and they could tell that the Lieutenant was at the very minimum not as relaxed as some people. But that's fine, different people felt more or less comfortable in different situations, and they weren't going to bring it up because they knew doing so could potentially make however he felt worse. That being said, who were they to assume he even felt a tad bit anxious, or that he wasn't as relaxed as he normally was? They had never met him before, so they could hardly judge his behaviour and body language reasonably. Upon the first question being asked it didn't take more than a second for the hybrid to respond, their tone shifting from upbeat to a far more appropriate one for the subjectmatter. x_divider

16:56

"No, not at all. I rarely go to bars in general, to be honest. When I do it's usually with friends or to celebrate something, so myself not going to Supernova is really just down to myself having not been stationed here for that long. I wouldn't say it's coincidental, because I think if I got invited to go there I'd think twice about it because of the name. I was thirteen when the supernova happened. The ship I was living on, that my parents were assigned to, wasn't tasked to respond and help because Starfleet had assigned it to a patrol, and when the rescue was called off entirely because of the attack on Utopia Planitia the mood aboard was nothing short of bitter for lots of reasons. Tensions were high, opinions were strong, and when the supernova finally began that only got worse. Many people aboard were angry and upset that Starfleet hadn't done more, that we hadn't been sent when what we were doing could have waited, and that was on top of the emotions from the attack. I witnessed all of that first hand, and I know people who lost people they knew in both the attack and the supernova." Despite the subject matter, despite dredging up old emotions, the XO's tone wasn't that upset, but rather sincere and empathetic. (edited)

This was Lama's first interview so he honestly wasn't sure what to expect. He had high regard for the senior officers onboard and Xaran certainly didn't disappoint. At the beginning of their story, the Romulan-Betazoid officer had his fingers on his PADD, typing away at his own notes, but when the other mentioned their age at the time, he looked up. His attention shifted from his PADD to listening to Xaran's story. Thirteen years old and it sounded like they were living on a Starfleet ship? Now that he thought about it, Lama hadn't actually spoken to non-Romulans about the event, he barely even spoke to Romulans about it. For him and many other Romulans living on colonies at the time, even if the event didn't personally affect their homeworlds, there was enough chatter and many people had family on Romulus who were affected in some way. "To be honest I had never heard the Starfleet side of the story. I was seven during the Great Loss," Lama was indeed speaking Rihannsu through his translator as he often did at work (he was good at Standard, but didn't trust himself to use it professionally). Although 'Hobus Supernova' was commonly accepted as the official name of the event, a lot of Romulans chose a much more solemn name that conveyed the scale of the tragedy. "A lot of Romulans felt that everyone had abandoned them, like everyone. There wasn't much nuance in the stories people told," Lama looked at Xaran with his black Betazoid eyes as he spoke. "And I agree, the first thing that comes to mind when I hear 'Supernova' is the Great Loss. I lived on a colony for most of my childhood, but I don't know a single person who didn't lose a family or friend from the event. Also I understand avoiding bars or similar establishments, they're not very fun to go to without a good group of friends," Lama spoke in a tone to match Xaran's. "What would you like to see happen to the bar going forward?"

Thinking about what Lama said and subsequently nodding in response, the hybrid took a decent moment of silent contemplation before answering the Security officer's question. "Honestly, I think it should be renamed. The whole space theme is cool, and I could even argue that supernovas are cool, but not when they wipe out inhabited planets, be that by people or animals. This starbase is a cultural exchange filled to the brim with endless species, so for there to be a bar onboard named indirectly after something that killed millions of people doesn't exactly give off the friendly Federation vibe we strive to have here. We want to be welcoming, not insensitive, even if it isn't deliberately so." Throughout giving their answer the Commander couldn't help but come across as quite passionate-sounding, and it was simply because they were. Supernovas as a whole should never be a subject people trod on eggshells around as they were a natural part of the universe, but some tact, respect and understanding about the devastating consequences went a long way. And in one way or another, the name of that bar was sure to get on someone's bad side sooner or later, so the sooner it was renamed the better. At least, they thought so anyway.