Star Trek: Starbase 777 - lt-cdr-q’reth﹢lt-erh’fvi

[D] Coming home from his shift, Lhi walked through the automatic doors of his shared quarters. It had been a while since the quarters were moved around, but he was getting used to the new location. It wasn't yet time for Lhi to regenerate so he was going to replicate himself some nutrition cubes and have a snack. Maybe he'd work on his letter to his dear fiance who was, by the sound of it, having a tough time in prison. With his purple hair bouncing with each step, he made his way to the replicator and ordered his typical meal of tofu-like cubes covered in sticky honey-- all of them on sticks! Because Lhi ate everything on a stick, it was just simpler that way.

[D] Alin arrived not too long after Lhi had, having been out in the holodeck for a while, getting some exercise in by walking through the Austrian Alps for a while. He was a little surprised to see Lhi standing in front of the replicator, since they didn't seem to share much of a schedule and while they'd spoken before, they seemed to just miss each other much more frequently. "Good afternoon," he greeted as he walked further into their living area.

Lhi turned around with his plate of nutrition cubes and smiled when he saw his roommate! He was thinking the same thing when he looked at his Klingon roommate; they rarely met and it was a surprise they they were both home at the same time. There was no discomfort at all in Lhi's body language, with his head and shoulders swaying side to side in lieu of waving his hands since they were currently holding his plate. "Jolan tru! Oh, it is afternoon," Lhi looked away as if 69.exe was compiling. He was so used to thinking of everything on Mol'Rihan time, it slipped his mind it was technically afternoon to everyone else. "Do you want some? They're nutrition cubes, I can make them taste however you like, and they come on sticks! I'm not very good with normal food, so I eat these!" He offered with a friendly smile and a little hop.

Alin walked over, looking at what Lhi was eating. It looked almost like street food, or something like that, especially with the way it was on a stick. "Uh, sure!" he said. He'd never had this before, but he wasn't a picky eater, so he'd be happy to try something new. "How come you're not good with normal food?" he asked, hoping that that was an alright question to just ask someone.

Lhi was happy when his roommate agreed to the food on a stick! It was a bit weird to have pure white tofu-like cubes skewered on a stick and covered in honey, but it seemed it didn't deter his roommate! Held the plate close to Alin so he could take as many as he wanted as Lhi had already picked up a stick for himself and was very slowly licking the cube. "Mmm, I never know how it will work with uhh.. my insides. I don't really like the texture of a lot of foods and nutrition cubes ensure I am always eating exactly what my body needs!" Lhi explained his life hack to never having to worry about eating something with a bad texture. "It's kinda hard to find food I like... I didn't eat food for ten years so it's hard to think about what to try," Lhi liked anything without strong taste as was probably evident from his cubes. The only taste they really had was the sweetness from the honey. "Well, what do you think of the cubes?" He asked as he took a biiiig lick of one of the cubes.

Alin took one of the sticks, and took a bite out of it. It was fine, if a bit bland, and the only taste he could really make out was honey, which he supposed wasn't super abnormal for something that looked like tofu. "It's, not bad," he settled for, taking another bite. "It tastes a bit like something you would get at a fair or something, it's mostly just sweet. Hah, that's not a bad idea, actual nutritionally valuable fair food." He would consider the sticks if he was ever too tired to actually think about what to eat. He gave Lhi a look as he considered if he could think of something he could feed Lhi that he'd like. He wondered if Lhi had ever had pasta, or cheese, or roast potatoes. Well, he was Romulan, and those were all earth foods, so probably not, right? "Would you like to try more different foods? If you tell me what you like, I could try to find something you might like," he offered. He had three little brothers, he was more than used to finding foods that suited different tastes. Only if Lhi was interested, though, it wouldn't do to force new things on someone. Especially someone he didn't know too well yet.

Lhi was happy to hear the review from his roommate! He knew his food tastes were a bit strange, even his parents thought the cubes were odd (which was why T'Vim made him food whenever Lhi would eat it). "Yes! I love it because the taste is sweet, it's on a stick, and it has all the nutrients needed for my species!" He exclaimed, clearly very excited about these cubes. Lhi plucked another one from the plate and began to swirl his tongue around it before eating it with a chomp of his sharp shark-like teeth. "Hmm, I would try if there's something that would be safe for my species," That's right, Alin was a doctor! Lhi could not remember what type of doctor he was, but maybe he would know what was safe for Romulans (and liberated borg) to eat? "I'm completely Romulan and last physical my doctor said I can anything within the limits of my species which is... Most things I think," Lhi told Alin as he put the empty plate in the replicator to recycle it. He wondered what type of food the Klingon would recommend. Gagh? was the word? The worms! "What did you have in mind? I have never had Klingon food before!" He assumed his roommate would be introducing him to Klingon food, right?

Alin made a face at the mention of Klingon food. "I don't know if Klingon food is the way to go there. A lot of it is, uh. An acquired taste. And even if the taste wouldn't bother you, a lot of it is a little harder to digest, and you'd probably get sick from it, since you aren't used to digesting things like meat. I grew up on Earth, though, I can probably find some recipes from back home you might like." He thought about it for a second, but no, not a single Klingon dish that came to mind would be suitable for introducing someone to... food. There might even be some Cardassian or Denobulan cuisine he could introduce Lhi to, if he'd like. But Klingon foods would absolutely have to wait until Lhi had become more used to eating things that were not nutrition cubes. Oh, he had an idea! "Have you ever heard of satay?" he asked, suddenly a little excited about this.

"Oh! I understand," Lhi didn't mind meat, but it had a texture that his roommate rightfully thought would be weird for him. Romulans ate a lot of meat, but not Lhi. Aside from the occasional 'Romulan fast food', he mainly stuck to his nutrition cubes since thinking about how to get nutrition from 'regular' food was difficult and very overwhelming. "Ohh earth foods! I have had some earth foods like umm.. Apple pie, pasta, canoli... Pizza," Lhi began to think about all the earth foods he had tried. They weren't bad, but the textures were a bit strange and he wasn't a fan of the strong flavours. "No, I haven't, what is it like?" Lhi looked back at Alin and tilted his head. There were so many foods with so many names. As Lhi faced his roommate he fiddled a little with the cable that ran out of the right side of his head where his ear would have been. Light green eyes housed little gears that spun around when he looked at the counsellor, an expression of curiosity and wonder in them.

Alin nodded, happy that Lhi had at least tried a few things since before. "I'll see if my parents have any recommendations. My dad's human and a pretty good cook, so he might know something you'd like." Maybe he'd know some tofu recipes that Lhi would like, the nutrition cubes kind of resembled tofu anyway. When Lhi mentioned he didn't know what satay was, he back turned around to the replicator. "I think you'll like this. One serving of sate ayam kelapa, please," he asked the machine, grabbing the plate as it materialised. On the plate were three thin sticks of about twenty centimeters long, each with four little chunks of meat on it. "It's chicken meat with coconut, I think you'll like it," he told Lhi, holding the plate out to him so he could take one.

"That's interesting!! All our parents are Romulan and we grew up in a homogenous society," Romulus had more than Romulans on it, but Devoras, his little colony, was pretty empty of non-Romulans. It was a populated colony, but it's location at the heart of the Empire made it not the best tourist destination for aliens. He admired those who grew up with multiple cultures. Technically, Lhi did have 'borg culture' when he was 18, but that was less of a choice. Lhi looked over Alin's shoulder as he replicated the food, making a soft 'ohhh' sound when the food materialised. "Chicken... That's like hlai!" Lhi knew that Romulan hlai and terran chicken were close in taste and texture. He took the stick and gave the top piece of chicken a slow lick with his long green tongue. The flavour was savoury, as to be expected with meat, but it wasn't too strong. "What is.. Coconut? It's... A nut? I love nuts," Lhi liked all sort of nuts because they all had light flavours and you could roast them! He loved the crunch too! But he didn't taste any nuts in the sauce, so maybe coconut was.. Not a nut?

Alin laughed at Lhi's description of their family. "Oh, please don't think my family is typical for people on Earth. If anything it's closer to a Denobulan family. I have five parents, most people on Earth just have two, but my mom and dad just never married, and had families of their own. My mom is Cardassian, she's married to my human dad and Denobulan mom. My dad is Klingon, he's married to my Klingon mom, and I have three brothers there. I love them all, though." Lhi really shouldn't leave here assuming that human families all look like this, though. The "nuclear family" had been done away with in the past few centuries, but it was still preference for most people to have one partner to raise children with. People just had a bigger social network to help with childcare. "Coconut is... I think it's technically a fruit? But it's weird because you eat the inside of the pit. And there's juice inside the pit that you can drink. Not important! What is important is that it's tasty, it's a bit sweet but not overpoweringly so, and it goes really well with a lot of savoury things, so I thought you might like to try it. How is it?" Alin hoped that Lhi liked it. Getting a mild food on a stick seemed like a decent first step out of his comfort zone, and he'd honestly completely forgotten that hlai and chicken are similar, so that was only positive.

"That's a lot of parents! We have a lot of parents too, but not that many!" Lhi had three parents and one f them was currently missing. He was pretty surprised to hear that Alin's family seemed to be from all over! His eyes widened as much as they could, which sadly wasn't that much. The implants around his eyes pulled on his skin, forcing him to gently rub his eyes with the hand not holding the stick. "Oh interesting! The sauce is indeed very light," And with that, Lhi opened his mouth and ate the first piece of chicken. The flavour was pretty good! He chewed slowly as he continued to ponder his roommate's family make up. Klingons, human, Cardassian, Denobulan-- many brothers too! Lhi was an only child mostly because his parents loved him so much and worried if they had a second child, they wouldn't be able to give Lhi all the attention they wanted to. "Mmm... It is good! I like it!" Lhi gave his verdict and ate the rest of the meat on the stick. "I have never been to earth, it sounds like a really diverse place. I... To be honest, I never really travelled further than Romulus before I joined......." Lhi paused, wondering what he should call his previous postings. "Uh, the Navy," He settled on the general term 'navy', but it was pretty obvious it wasn't just the 'navy'. "Where on earth did you live? I have never had food like this before! I can't really compare it to anything.."

Alin smiled, glad Lhi liked the satay. "Uh, I'm from Antwerp, that's a city in Belgium in the north-west of Europe, but the food is from Java, an island in Indonesia, which is in the south-east of Asia. They have a bunch of different kinds of satay, too. If you like nuts, you might enjoy the peanut sauce they usually serve with it." Alin was not quite ready to explain why Indonesian food was so well-known to him despite not being from there. He was sure that Lhi would understand the concept of colonialism, but he just wasn't prepared to explain the intricacies of the Dutch-Indonesian shared history right now. "I mean, if you get the chance to travel to Earth, I would take it. Our culture didn't homogenise pretty much at all until a few centuries ago, so most of our cultural differences are pretty well-preserved." Alin knew it must have looked a little silly, for someone so clearly not human to talk so passionately about Earth as their home planet, but it was the truth. He loved Earth, no matter how he looked.

"An..... Ant.. I can't say it, but it sounds nice!" Lhi was not very good at languages, he only spoke one-- Rihannsu. He did know some Standard, but he was not confident in speaking it and of course he knew Borg script, but it was more of a written language than a spoken one. "Peanut sauce! I have never heard of that-- or Java, or Indonesia, wow a lot of things," Lhi ate the rest of the chicken and began to lick the sauce off the stick. The light flavour tingled his tongue just right! Hearing about all these places on earth was cool, but a little overwhelming. Earth was so vast with all the countries, Lhi knew he'd never be able to decide where he wanted to go if he visited. "I.. Don't know if I want to go to earth. There are a lot of places," Lhi replied honestly, a slightly concerned look on his face. "I get overwhelmed by a lot of choice and.. New things," He explained as he put the empty stick into the replicator to be recycled. He did appreciate Alin's enthusiasm about earth, Lhi was equally enthusiastic about his own home-- both Devoras and Romulus. Sadly he couldn't invite Alin to either of those places. He wasn't sure if he was ready to call Mol'Rihan home either, it still felt like an alien planet to him. "I do like the food, I think I will stick to that for now! Did you always live on earth?"

Alin grabbed another one of Lhi's nutrition sticks, not in the mood for the satay himself. He really didn't mind it, and it was filling enough not to have to eat something later if he just ate some of this. "The place names are really varied on earth, there's thousands of languages they can originate from, so it's not super weird you have trouble pronouncing some of them, to be honest." Void knows Alin couldn't pronounce all place names on Earth, either. "But, yeah, earth is pretty varied. I lived there most of my life. I spent about three years on a ship before, and a year on Qo'noS, but other than that I've just been on Earth." Alin personally didn't care for peanut sauce, but it was traditional to eat with a lot of Indonesian food. He turned to the replicator again. "One small dish of bumbu kacang, please," he requested, and turned back to Lhi with a small ceramic cup with fragrant peanut sauce. "You can try dipping your satay in this, if you want."

"Many languages! I remember ummmmm...... When I was in the collective I uhh learned many languages!" There was a long pause after he said 'um' as Lhi was trying to think of the best way to mention the collective without dampening the mood or making himself sad. It was a sensitive issue for all liberated Borg, but Lhi was slowly starting to become more comfortable with his past. It helped to have a network of other liberated Borg to support him, as well as really nice friends who didn't judge him for his past. "I know a few words like.. Wahlao, umm. makan! That means eat in some language I think. And... That's it, "Lhi recalled the flashes of foreign languages he would get in the collective, but what language they belonged to was all a blur. Definitely terran though! "That's cool! I want to travel more. I've only been on some Romulan ships and of course Rapture and now 777!" Lhi was in Starfleet so he could expand his knowledge outside of Romulan space. There was just sooo much space! "Bu..... bu... bubu can," Lhi attempted to say the word as he looked at the sauce only to realise-- oh he ate all the chicken on the satay! "I ate all the ... Terran hlai, can I have another?" Lhi asked, not remembering the word of the food well enough to replicate it himself.

Learning languages through an external force seemed pretty cool to Alin, though obviously being assimilated wasn't. Alin still decided to keep it light-hearted, though. He didn't want to dampen the mood either. "Damn, lucky. I just had to learn languages the hard way growing up," he joked. He seemed to retain more of the earth languages than Lhi, though. He laughed when Lhi asked for more satay. He was glad he could help his roommate find some real people food he liked. "Sure, one second," he said, turning around and ordering some more coconut chicken satay. "I can write the name down for you, if you want, so you can replicate it whenever you like. I'm really bad at Romulan, though, so I don't know how to write it phonetically for you."

"I want to get more practice speaking other languages, I am only comfortable with Rihannsu," Lhi reached for the stick of satay that Alin offered him and dipped it in the sauce. Clearly Lhi had never eaten food with sauce and began to lick the sauce off of the meat. The sauce was very good! A different texture than he was used to, but it wasn't bad. After a few dips and licks, Lhi began to eat the chicken. "Mmmm... Umm... I can read Standard, I just don't feel confident speaking it and you can send it to me on my PADD, it autotranslates!" Lhi didn't even know how to explain the Rihannsu alphabet to a non-speaker, Standard was probably easier. "It's good! I like the sauce! Mmm!!!" Lhi put the empty stick in the replicator to recycle it. "Thanks for introducing this food to me!" Lhi waved both hands to Alin. "I'm going to regenerate now! If you need me you can stop my cycle by opening my door!" Lhi felt the need to add that in case pandemonium erupted during his regeneration cycle.

"Alright, I'll do that. Have a good rest, and you're very welcome for the food!" Alin was glad he was able to introduce something to Lhi that the other clearly liked. Variety in your diet was good for nutrition, and was shown to have benefits for mental wellness as well. Alin left for his own room, wanting to take a shower and change before enjoying his day off further.

[D] Lhi was finishing regenerating in his alcove that evening when he got a ping on his PADD to indicate a new message! He stepped out of his crazy rainbow-light covered alcove to pick up his PADD and see who it could be. It was actually a series of messages that had all been sent during his regeneration cycle, but delivered when the cycle was complete so they wouldn't 'wake' him.

To: Deletham From: Dad (The tall one) Hey Del, just wanted to wish you happy Romulan Christmas! Actually I had no idea what Christmas was until one of my crewmates started talking about it! I'm exploring the uncharted skies-- well, actually we just stopped by earth to eat some hot dogs cut like little octopuses! I forgot the name of the place we went to, like Knee Horn or something, pretty neat! I know I said I'd be flying around far off places, and that's what we did at first, but then I started craving beans. In my defense, I think the Vulcans have some Romulan artifacts, maybe they have the razor of S'Task. On the topic of Mevus too..... We haven't found her. I don't know where to start looking, to be honest. We're going to be stopping by the earth Luna colony tomorrow, I wanna try to eggnog. Maybe she's gonna be partying there? No idea. Anyway, love ya Del! Dad

02:36

To: Delly From: Dad (The short one) Delly Delly Deletham, I am writing this with speech to text because I have lost my eyes once again. I was hoping to drive up to the mountains to do some camping, but I'm not allowed to drive if I don't have my eyes. I swear I had them just a few weeks ago. I have already visited the doctor and they gave me non-functional prosthetics. I told them to hold off making new ones because I wanted to make sure I matched your eye colour exactly! So.... Can you send me the specs for your eyes or something? So I can tell the doctors to replicate the appearance. Oh and the Valdore house has invited me to live with them full time! I told them I would think about it. I miss you, Delly, and I miss Vrilh too.. And Mevus.. I miss all four of us together. Don't lose your eyes like me. I love you! From, Dad

02:38

To: Lieutenant Lhi erh'fvi-Deletham tr'Ahaefvthe, Starbase 777 Science division From: Miral tr'Valdore, Paehhos Rehabilitation Centre Deletham. I am writing to you because the centre has encouraged all of us to write heartfelt new years letters to our loved ones. I wanted to tell you how much I love and care for you and I am eagerly awaiting the day we can live together. Unfortunately my request for a home visit to 777 was denied. I am not surprised considering my crimes, but staff has told me you would be permitted to visit me again should you choose to do so. I will not take it personally if you choose not to, this place is not exactly a fun tourist destination. Myself and a few of the other residents have started a garden. Whenever I see flowers I think of you and how much you loved the environmental deck on the Tagor. You blended in so nicely with the flowers, they were just as pretty as you. I am also going to be switching to my own private suite. I guess the guards were tired of me terrorising my roommate. I won't go into too much detail, but he was a former colleague of mine and was unremorseful of his crimes. I firmly believe in 'inmate justice' but I understand that the guards are not. Happy new year, Deletham. I love you and miss you. Have a nice winter on 777. I hope you are surrounded by your friends. Miral tr'Valdore This message was sent from the Paehhos Rehabilitation Centre and all communications will be logged and screened for safety.

A Secret Santa gift arrived for Alin: A small bottle with a bow around it along with a medium sized box sat at the foot of the entryway. The bottle was a vintage bottle of Romulan pale ale dated back to 2370, brewed on Romulus. The label was adorned with beautiful Romulan script that was hard to read even to native speakers. The swirls and organic forms of the lines made it seem more like a small piece of art than an informational label. The imagery was natural landscapes of the Romulan countryside, mountains and rivers. Inside the bottle was the intoxicating blue liquid, a very deep blue, probably due to its age. In the box beside the bottle was a box that clearly held food as OPS had placed a small warning with he expiration date and storage temperature that it should be stored at. Inside the box was a block of Vulcan ' chocolate'. It was closer to a granola than a chocolate. It had a very spicy smell to it, infused with red spice and plomeek leaves. It was shaped like the Romulan Republic insignia. Beside that was a bag of dried Moulets-Frits, a common Belgian snack. The dried version made them more like crisps, very great for a quick snack! *And finally there was a letter. Handwritten in Rihannsu, a Standard translation was printed below. *

To: Alin I saw in your file that you are from Belgium. I do not know much about that place but I did some research and I hope you will find these items to your liking. ❤️ Secret Santa

A Secret Santa Gift arrived for Lhi: The box was somewhat small, the wrapper navy blue and covered in shiny silver stars, though not wrapped very neatly- some lopsided lines and such. The silky bow, silver and tied much more neatly, had a tag addressed to Lhi erh'fvi. Inside had a small black sphere with a hole in the top, attached to a square base so it could sit on a desk or something of the like. Sat beside the sphere was a fidget cube, with many different buttons and switches to toy around with, and a neatly pressed frame of different types of flowers, including forget me nots, baby blue eyes, and a morning glory. The frame was silver. There was a letter in an envelope as well. It read:

Lhi, This projector allows you to view what stars are currently visible from many different planets. I tried to find one that had plenty of planets from Romulan space. You should be able to control it through your voice, like accessing the station computer. Happy holidays. Thank you for being a good friend. — Your secret Santa, Five of Eight'

Lhi was finishing up reading his Christmas messages from his family when he heard the chime at the door. He skipped over to grab the box from the entrance and bring it into his bedroom. With much care, he pulled at the wrappings and then at the bow. He didn't mind that the wrappings weren't neat, it wasn't like he could do much better. He then opened the box to see the black sphere inside and gave it a little shake. His eyes caught sight of the letter and picked it up to read it-- Five of Eight! His friend! It made Lhi feel so warm inside knowing they were thinking of him and he quickly switched on the sphere to see the Romulan sky! He grabbed the fidget cube and began to play with it, enjoying the satisfying clicking. It was a little hard to use at first, but his fingers quickly got used to the shapes of the surface. He liked the frame too! He'd have to thank Five later!