Star Trek: Starbase 777 - ekhaem

Parked on the side of the street sat a large RV pure white in colour with a few shiny bits of chrome hardware as accents. Despite being a mobile home, the shiny finish and spotless metal made it looked more luxirious than a lot of stationary homes. The inside did not disappoint either, with dark green carpets lining the faux marble floors paired with the pure white leather seats, it looked more like the inside of a mansion than an RV. The wonderful 'new car smell' filled the interior that was also equipped with a kitchen and even a shower system too. Of course there was a bed with lots of storage underneath with plush white sheets and a few decorations. Mostly photos of scenery from around Romulus and some photos of Mol'Rihan. Most notably in the 'bedroom' section was a framed photo of three adults with one child, all sporting the very ugly Romulan bowl cut, it was like they got a 4 for 1 deal at the barber. The tallest of the four was Vrilh, Lhi's biological father. In the photo he was sporting some interesting choice of casual wear. Crop top, booty shorts, socks and sandals, what a man, head to toe. Beside him was an equally tall woman with dark brown eyes and soft features. Clad in a long green dress, her outfit seeemd the most sensible of the three adults. Beside her was T'Vim, although young T'Vim looked much different than current T'Vim, his hair was black and he had no scar. In front of the three adults was a very young Lhi, pre-assimilation. Pre-assimilation Lhi looked worlds apart from his current look. Pretty silky smooth black hair paired with soft features. He resembled his mother in many ways. Narrow eyes with a cheshire-like smile, he had upturned pointed ears-- two of them, without a single blemish on his face. x_divider

13:01

Back to the van's interior, the cabinets were accented with silver, the countertops a beautiful dark grey stone finish. It looked quite cozy as well, with blankets and pillows on the sofas. On table sat a few more photos, all of Lhi with his family, pre-assimilation, doing various family activities on Devoras colony.

And here was T'Vim! Snow white hair with light green eyes that looked a lot like his son's. Just like Lhi, T'Vim was completely blind but had the assistance of occular implants that allowed him a unique form of vision, similar to that of those Starfleet VISORs or other devices. T'Vim was not nearly as tall as Vrilh was, just 6'9 with very long and straight hair and a messy fringe. A large scar seemingly caused by a burn stretched across the left side of his face and was partially obscured by his fringe. Today he was starting his Great Mol'Rihan Road Trip, funded by the Valdore family! It was how he coped with being separated from the rest of his family. Sure he could have stayed with the Valdore family, but T'Vim knew he'd just become mad with loneliness in a house full of strangers. So why not embark on a journey across this new homeworld and maybe meet some new friends. T'Vim was just chilling in his van with all the doors open as he sipped his plomeek soup and people-watched.

*C’Sara was vacationing! They were walking down the street, wondering what they might do. They were looking for adventure- C’Sara was a very spontaneous person. They only had a backpack on, though it was a decent sized backpack. They didn’t pack much besides snacks, money, clothes, and a water bottle. They noticed the mobile home, and wondered who owned it. They approached T’Vim, smiling a pointy-toothed Caitian smile. “Hi!”

T'Vim was not expecting any guests, especially not an alien to approach them. He was content just people watching that a stranger approaching really took him by surprise. He pushed his half empty bowl of soup to the side and stood up-- prompting hitting his head on the open window next to the table. "A-ARRRGGH!!" He shouted very loudly and knocked his legs on the table, creating even more noise. "Jolan tru," He replied as he quickly scrambled in the van to try and find where he had put his UT. T'Vim had very few interactions with non-Romulans so he didn't always have a translator on hand. "Arhem-- Ah.. Simhoni-hnah (wait)," T'Vim turned to the stranger and made a few wild gestures with his hands in an attempt to communicate. He wished he had paid attention during xenolinguistics class in school but alas, he only knew Rihannsu. After a few minutes of rummaging through drawers and even through his bed sheets, T'Vim found his translator and pinned it to his shirt. A tiny Republic insignia worn like a Starfleet commbadge. "Sorry about that, hey, how may I help ya?" T'Vim finally said as he descended the stairs so he could talk with the Caitian face to face.

Watching his reaction was.. kinda funny, but of course C’Sara didn’t laugh. They didn’t laugh at other people’s pain. C’Sara had paid attention in xenolinguistics class, they knew a tiny bit of Rihannsu. They knew he was saying “wait”, but they wouldn’t have been able to say much more. “Ah, I’m on shore leave right now, I was walking around and saw your van and I thought it was cool. So here I am. I’m C’Sara by the way.”

T'Vim blinked a few times when the other said they were on shore leave. The blink is sent the gears in his eyes spin-spinny! Just like his son's! Although T'Vim was much more expressive than a liberated Borg as his brows furrowed and eyes narrowed as if he was unsure what 'shore leave' was. "--- A-ahah! Shore leave, I think I know what that is," T'Vim shrugged and pushed some of his long hair over his shoulder. "Nice to meet you C'Sara, I'm T'Vim tr'Ahaefvthe, say that ten times fast," He chuckled at his own joke and rearranged his long silky robes. He looked like a rich uncle who was ready to fund a bank heist. "Thanks, it's the best van latinum can buy!" He said, slapping the side of the van and promptly shouted 'ow' when he did so. "I'm on a road trip around Mol'Rihan uh but I just started. I was kinda hoping my son would visit," T'Vim said with a half smile, playing with his hair. The gesture was similar to his son's, only his hair wasn't braided, it was long and flowy. "Where are ya from C'Sara? Oh wait you can come in!" T'Vim said, inviting the other into the van, stepping backwards so the Caitian could come into the van.

“Basically Starfleet giving us an excuse to stop working our tails off and go on vacation.” Of course you could also go on vacation whenever, but most people just went when there was shore leave. Maybe it was just following the crowd- if everyone was doing something maybe more people would do it. And Starfleet was all about keeping everyone happy, healthy, and sane. “I would, but I don’t think I want to summon a demon today.” They joked, mainly because that last name of his would definitely devolve into a demonic chant by the 3rd saying. “It does look pretty fancy. Road trip, huh? Road trips are cool, I hope your son comes along soon. I didn’t really have road trips growing up, kinda the downside of not growing up on a planet.” That question was kinda hard. C’Sara was born and raised on the USS Abyssal, a ship that no longer existed. But if he was talking about where they actually came from, like where they had transported from, that would be their beloved 777. With all its cursed shuttlecrafts and turbolifts, and beloved space roombas. “Thanks! I just transported in from Starbase 777, I work there. I’m a shuttlecraft engineer. But I was born and raised on the USS Abyssal.” C’Sara did come into the van, it really did look fancy with faux marble, white leather, and that pretty dark green carpet. C’Sara liked the smell. It smelled like the inside of a brand new shuttlecraft, one that had yet to have any problems they may have to fix. “Mmm, new shuttlecraft smell, nice. I love the carpets, very fancy.”

"Sounds like a nice deal-- ahh I remember Del telling me something like that," T'Vim said, revealing his personal nickname for Lhi. His husband called their son Delly and T'Vim called him Del-- as for Lhi's mother, well, perhaps that bit of information would come later. When the other said they didn't want to summon a demon, T'Vim laughed at the joke, his sharp teeth shining when he opened his mouth. "My husband said that too when he met me," He told C'Sara as he hopped up the stairs and into the kitchen/dining area. "I hope so too! I even got--," T'Vim hopped over to the shower area and pulled down the curtain and spun the contraption around like a turntable to reveal on the other side was a Borg regeneration alcove. "An alcove! So he can regenerate on the road!" 'T'Vim explained with a smile. He turned the shower back around and hooked the curtain back on so it was a shower again and headed back to the kitchen area where he still had the warm pot of soup on the stove. "Oh, 777, that's where my son is now! Deletham tr'Ahaefvthe, I can't for the life of me remember his Borg designation," T'Vim said, gently tapping on his forehead. "Ahh USS, that means Federation right? And I am glad you like the smell, do you want some soup? I promise it's not poisoned," T'Vim said as he grabbed the wooden spoon to give the red liquid a stir. "Plomeek soup, my favourite! I was born and raised on Devoras colony, yep. What made you wanna join Starfleet, C'Sara?"

“Whoa, I like how it spins. This whole place has some nice engineering, I can tell everything is sturdy.” C’Sara smelled soup. They didn’t realize they were actually kinda hungry. They were a pretty big fan of soup, it was tasty. Even though C’Sara would really eat anything right about now. “Hm, what does he do there. I might’ve seen him around. But yeah, Federation research starship. We were in uncharted space a lot of the time, it got crazy. I’ll take some soup please.” It probably wasn’t poisoned. C’Sara was sure it wasn’t. They had had plomeek soup a few times, it was always pretty good. Plus they were hungry. “Devoras colony? What was it like there? And as for Starfleet, I joined because it was pretty much all I knew. Plus easy access to shuttlecrafts to work on.”

"Thanks! The RV company suggested it as a way to accommodate with the limited space," T'Vim had wished it was his idea, but he was still proud of the solution either way. He hoped they wouldn't be waiting around too long before his son joined them, he really missed Lhi. When C'Sara agree to soup, T'Vim poured them a bowl and placed it on to the table. His also took this opportunity to grab his own bowl and refill his soup before plopping down at the small dining table. Two was probably the max amount of people who could comfortably sit there, any more than that and it'd be quite a tight fit. "He's a stellar cartographer! Just transferred from Rapture, oh and he's a liberated Borg, look at him!!!" T'Vim said as he grabbed one of the framed photos of Lhi from the windowsill to show C'Sara. It was pre-assimilation Lhi, silky black hair and a relaxed expression standing outside what appeared to be a school. "Exploring, I like that. My husband is off doing that right now, I hope he'll be okay," T'Vim said, easily able to hide his real worries. "Devoras is nice! Deep within Romulan space but overall a good place to live. Starfleet sounds nice, i mean, you really didn't have any other ambitions? I guess Starfleet is pretty prestigious on its own."

C’Sara sat down at the table, it was really comfy actually. They took a sip of soup- it was no actually delicious. Hm, romulan liberated Borg who was a stellar cartographer. And after seeing the photos, C’Sara was pretty sure she had seen him around. “Oh, I think I’ve seen him before. Lhi erh’fvi, right? My friend knows him.” They took another sip of soup. “Oh, he’s an explorer? That’s cool! And Devoras does sound nice. As for my own ambitions, I mean, I do want to rank up and whatnot. But I don’t think I want to be a Captain or Chief of Engineering or anything. I’m happy fixing shuttlecraft.”

"OH! Yes that's the name, Six of Nine," T'Vim said, the UT translating the name into Lhi's name in Standard. He felt bad for forgetting his son's new name, but he would always be Deletham to him. T'Vim also took a few sips of soup, eating carefully as his vision was not always the best and thus his spacial awareness and depth perception were the cause of many unfortunate accidents. "Yep! He went off to find some buried treasure. To be honest this is the first time we have been apart since The Loss, but I don't wanna be too sad about it. It's a time for me to learn independence," T'Vim looked sad for a brief moment when he spoke about it, the UT also translating the literal name of 'Hobus Supernova'. Although that was the Federation accepted term, the more colloquial phrase was 'D'Temehludet', The Loss. "Devoras is nice, it's... Become somewhat of a desolate place now. After The Loss, I mean," T'Vim explained as he sipped some soup. "Ranking up sounds nice. I never really understood the whole ranking system, but I like the idea of gaining more responsibility based on merit. You know, Romulan society is all about who you know and what your name is. Anyway, you fix shuttlecraft only? Not fly it?" T'Vim asked, curious to know more about C'Sara's job. He was unsurprisingly unemployed.

“Yeah, it’s definitely hard being apart from people you love. My moms are in a whole different quadrant right now, they’re in the Gamma quadrant on a mission. It takes a lot of getting used to. It’s sad that the colony you grew up on is desolate now. Like going back to your hometown and realizing everyone’s moved away.” They ate some more soup, still enamored with the new car smell. Of course it wasn’t new car smell to C’Sara, it was new shuttlecraft smell. C’Sara had never been in a brand new car before. “Yeah, merit-based responsibility is the way to go. It makes sure that the best people are doing what they’re suited to. But yeah, I mostly fix the shuttlecraft. I do get to fly them sometimes, but we have pilots for that. It’s always fun to fly when I can though. How about you, ever flown anything before.”

"Yeah, I miss Vrilh and Del, I think Del is coming soon. I just sent him a message a little while ago with my location," T'Vim said as he paused his soup eating to look out the window. Lhi hadn't responded to his message so he assumed he wasn't done with work yet or maybe hadn't boarded the transport. Still, T'Vim couldn't help but feel like Lhi wouldn't show up after all. "It.... After The Loss it was used as a military base, by not very nice people," Unlike his husband, T'Vim knew better than to say the word 'tal shiar' outright. "Oh no, I've never flown anything. I used to be a social worker but I haven't really felt much motivation to get a job," T'Vim admitted, shaking his head at the question. "Exploring space seems nice though, I'm afraid of heights," T'Vim laughed when he said it and pushed aside a piece of hair so he could eat his soup without getting his nice white hair in it. "Have you ever been back to your homeworld? I... Forgive me, I don't actually know your species, it's been a while since I took a xenoculture class."

“Hope he responds, he seems like a cool guy.” Plus Ace liked him, and Ace had good taste in friends. Ace had never led them astray yet in terms of who to hang out with. They listened to T’Vim’s explanation. They knew a little about the supernova and the Tal Shiar, it was sad that they used T’Vim’s home colony as a military base. C’Sara could relate to not really being able to go back to the place you were raised, the Abyssal was dismantled years ago. They missed it, to be honest. It was a good place to live. “Social worker, huh. And there’s no shame in not wanting to work, whether you end up decided to start again or not. Space is cool, definitely, I’m not really afraid of heights though. I always wanted to go skydiving, never got around to it though.” They also paused their soup eating, looking out the window and seeing the nice scenery around. There were lots of interesting people around. Since it was shore leave there were one or two vacationers that they could see. They turned back to T’Vim. “I’m Caitian, though I’ve actually never been to Cait. I’ll go there someday though, I’ve been trying to learn more about Caitian culture. I was adopted when I was three so I wasn’t raised by my Caitian bio-parents.”

"I think he is probably just busy. Soemtimes he struggles to use technology which is... A bit ironic when you consider he is Borg or well, once was Borg," T'Vim said, letting out a soft chuckle when he said it. He appreciated the acceptance in which C'Sara spoke to them when he mentioned he was unemployed. To many Romulans although employment wasn't the end all be all, choosing not to work and serve society wasn't freely accepted. Especially not after the Supernova, everyone who was able was encouraged to help with the rebuilding efforts but to be honest, T'Vim just wanted to enjoy his life with his husband. Now he didn't even have Vrilh, he was going on his journey of self discovery to find new things to enjoy. "Skydiving, sounds terrible to be honest," T'Vim took a few more sips of soup and stirred ir around. "Cait, ah, I don't know anything about that planet or Caitians, to be honest. Romulans don't really learn much about anything but ourselves, I will admit for a long time I kinda fell into the Star Empire's propaganda," T'Vim commented, placing his spoon down in the bowl. "Adopted by... I guess Starfleet officers? I don't suppose you know much about your Caitian family?"

“Ah, some people do struggle. I mean, I definitely don’t, if you’re not good with technology you really have no business being an engineer on a starbase. Or a starship. Or anywhere, I don’t think any type of engineering job doesn’t require working with computers in some capacity.” C’Sara loved their job though. They loved chilling out and working with shuttlecraft. They liked their boss Alizati, plus their other boss Tulavix. Engineering was full of the most chill and fun people they ever met. Engineers were just like that. “I know some people that do some crazy things. I know not one, but two cave divers, and that sport still has a risk of death even now. But yeah, I get not knowing much of other cultures. I don’t know all too much about the Star Empire but I know from history class that soaking citizens in propaganda is a good way to manipulate them. It’s not your fault people were violent and power-hungry.” C’Sara didn’t really pay attention in history class though. They weren’t into it too much. They were busy drawing diagrams of shuttlecraft and starships in their notebook. They still passed, though. “Yep, they were Starfleet officers. Two engineers to be exact. Plus they were good friends of my bio-parents, and on the same ship. My bio mom was kind of outcast from her family, it’s a long story, and my bio dad didn’t really have any living family that my moms were aware of. I did find a long lost cousin though, we’re in contact now. So, what about you, what’s your family like?”

"He tends to be forgetful, which I understand. I mean, he lost a whole ten years to the Borg when he was just 18," As T'Vim said that, he looked at the photo of young Lhi, smiling as if the photo could smile back. T'Vim may not have been biologically related to Lhi, but there were a lot of visual similarities between them. Their eyes, their hair texture, and Romulans firmly believed two people didn't need to share blood to be family. "Cave diving? Like where are caves to dive? Yeah sounds waaay too dangerous for me. I like to live life on the.. What's the opposite of edge? On the firm and spacious ground, that's what I mean," T'Vim turned his attention back to C'Sara and laughed. "And yep that is certainly how things were in the Empire. They really had us thinking we were the superior beings in the galaxy and that somehow we were destined to conquer everything. Honestly, I was always just fine living on Devoras," T'Vim shrugged his shoulders and picked up his bowl to sip the rest of his soup. After a big sip, T'Vim put his bowl down and pushed it aside only to realise he didn't have any water! So he stood up and tossed his bowl in the sink and went to pour water for both him and C'Sara. "That sounds nice! I'm glad you found a cousin, I don't know much about diaspora experiences, but I do know it is always important to be connected to your roots in some way. I mean, everyone deserves to know where they came from, even if it's not the best of places. I told that to Del when he was upset about his implants, they are a mark of where he came from and his resiliance," T'Vim placed both glasses on the table and sat back down. "My family? Ehh, Vrilh and Arien-- whoops, I mean Mavus. The three of us are family, as for like my family, they uhh... Went out to buy milk when I turned 18," T'Vim smiled awkwardly when he said that, clearly not sure how to explain his own family situation.

C’Sara nodded, unsure what to say. It was a horrible thing to be taken by the Borg, and a lucky thing to be liberated. It was also horrible for the families who lost their children to the Borg and might never see them again. It was all a sad thing. C’Sara was lucky they had never even seen the Borg. “Basically some insane people strap air tanks to their backs and go into flooded caves. For fun. Also the cave divers I know are both Vulcans and Surak followers at that. You’d think they of all people would have enough common sense to stay aboveground in the nice fresh air, but no. I do like living life on the edge but that’s just a little much for me.” C’Sara was a tad afraid of being underwater. Maybe it was because they did not like wet fur in the slightest. Being sopping wet wasn’t fun for them. Being caught in the rain was their idea of a bad day. They nodded in agreement with T’Vim’s next statement. Propaganda was a nasty bitch after all, hard to unlearn if it was drilled into you all your life. “I agree with you, it’s important to know where you came from. Even if you don’t embrace it or interact with it, just knowing is important. I also agree with the implants thing, they’re proof he survived and came out the other side and didn’t give up.” They took another sip of soup, their bowl almost empty and their hunger now placated. “Oh, I hope they come back then.” C’Sara said, somewhat naive and also unaware of what to actually say. They hadn’t heard that expression before.

T'Vim was also lucky to have never seen the Borg, but witnessing his son's struggles as he tried to readjust to society outside of the collective made him quite sad. It was one of the things that prompted him to get his artificial eyes made to be exactly the same colouras Lhi's. Although he seemed rather adept at getting around, T'Vim was born blind and had used other assistive devices before getting his eyes. "I think Vulcans are the most likely to get into those sort of situations as they are calm doing anything. Like.... I swear, those guys are built different! I don't care how similar Romulans are to them, Romulans and Vulcans are two very different species, maybe on the outside everyone just sees pointy ears, but the inside," T'Vim patted his chest. "We got different stuff going on." "Yea, Del is really strong, I hope he shows up soon. I can't keep this soup hot forever!" T'Vim sipped his water and looked over at the pot of soup that still had quite a lot in it. "Oh yeah, I hope they come back too, I haven't seen them since The Loss," T'Vim said with another shrug. "So how long is this shore leave? I don't mind you hanging out, but I don't wanna keep you from your duties! I don't even know if Del is even coming."

“True, true. From what I’ve heard you need to stay calm to stay alive down there. They have limited air and whatnot. Yea, definitely they’re built different. I’m a bit chaotic, I could never be that calm.” C’Sara was definitely not calm all the time. They were pretty wild sometimes, they loved to party. They loved adventure and trying new things. “I’m on shore leave for two weeks! I’m mostly gonna wander around and check everything out, everything’s been pretty cool here so far.”

"Same! I mean, Romulans control our emotions too like Vulcans, but we have different ways of doing it," T'Vim responded as he rested his arms on the table and peered out the window again, hoping to see a glimpse of purple hair. It was starting to get late and he didn't want his son to miss dinner nor did he want to bore C'Sara too much with just idle chit chat. "Yeah definitely make the most of the two weeks! Del said he would spend the two weeks with me," T'Vim said with a slight frown as he let out another sigh.

And off in the distance he appeared, Lhi with all his purple hair glory just bouncing towards the van. He was evevn still in uniform, just slowly making his way across the sidewalk and skillfully dodging the other pedestrians. He looked the same as he did on the station, long legs, hair neatly braided, and of course his bright green eyes that matched T'Vim's. Lhi skipped right into the van and waved at his father and the random stranger there. "Jolan tru!" Lhi greeted C'Sara with a wave and bow of his head. The van was a bit tight with three people, but at least the ceilings were tall. "Are you a friend of T'Vim's?" He asked, not recognising the Caitian at all.

C’Sara waved, recognizing Lhi. Of course Lhi didn’t recognize them. C’Sara only knew about him from Ace. Ace was the man who had all the info, after all. Of course Ace didn’t reveal any secrets though. “Hi! Uh, depends on your definition of friend, I met T’Vim like an hour ago. I’m C’Sara, I’m a shuttlecraft engineer back on 777.”

"Yea, C'Sara just found my van so I invited them in for some soup and a chat! Oh, I'll get you soup," T'Vim said as he carefully got up from the table, mindful not to move too fast or he'd hit his head on the window again. Once he got up that allowed some space for Lhi to climb into the vacant spot and sit across from C'Sara. T'Vim poured Lhi a bowl of soup as well as a glass of water. “Feel free to ask for more, Del," "T'Vim had to use all his strength not to just hug Lhi right there because he missed him so much! But he did not as he was pretty sure it would embarrass Lhi in front of a colleague. Lhi was a whole 44 year old person after all.

"Then a friend," Lhi said with a gentle smile, glancing from C'Sara to T'Vim. It was nice to know that his father found a friend and that he wasn't stuck waiting all alone. "I'm umm.. I think T'Vim probably told you my name is Deletham, but umm.. Lhi erh'fvi or just Lhi is fine, "Lhi took long pauses between his words as if trying to find the right sounds to make. "We are a stellar cartographer and... Umm.. That's it," Lhi thought he had something more to say but after a brief gap of awkward silence he realised there was nothing else. "... What did you think of T'Vim's soup?" He asked as his father placed the bowl of soup in front of him. Lhi never knew what to expect when T'Vim cooked as it was either very terrible or very good, no in between.

“What’s it like being a stellar cartographer? Also yeah, the soup is great.” Apparently this was T’Vim’s very good cooking. They were a fan. Though they wondered what they’d do, would Lhi want to hang out with them? They thought Lhi was pretty cool, after all.

"Umm... Less violent than my last job," Lhi said, not quite sure how to answer the question. It was difficult to really say many things about themself on their job, Lhi also was very bad with words. He picked up the spoon and began to eat his soup slowly, using his other hand to hold his hair back so it wouldn't get messy. Just as C'Sara had said, the soup was pretty good, but it was almost too flavourful for Lhi. Things with storng flavours or strange textures never worked out for him, and it wasn't even a Borg thing, it was just something he had always been particular about.

"The Borg or the--- ah wait sorry," T'Vim suddenly remembered Vrilh had told him that Lhi didn't want to talk about his 'past jobs'. Although he was fully aware assimilation was traumatising, it was hard for him to truly understand as someone who had never even seen a Borg in real life besides Lhi and some of the other liberated drones. "Err, C'Sara how about you tell us what you wanna do on Mol'Rihan? I can give you some recs for places to visit!"

“That’s always good. I don’t like violence.” They could understand being bad with words. They were as well, sometimes. When things got awkward they just clammed up. They weren’t the greatest at comforting others, too. They were good at being happy though, they were a happy, fun-loving person who existed to have a good time. And to become chief of engineering, but that was a long-term endeavor. “I like nature, so if there are any forests or gardens I’d like to go there. Also beaches. I don’t like getting wet but I like watching the water and hanging out in the sand.”

"Forests! There's Isha forest but that's a little far," T‘Vim excitedly said, his eyes growing wide for a moment before he began to laugh. T'Vim and Lhi had very similar ways of showing their emotions and the fact that they had the same type of eyes made them look so much alike. It didn't matter that they weren't blood related, there were a lot of mannerisms they shared.

"How about the new public gardens? Maybe we could drive there and walk around? I have been... Researching more Mol'Rihan plants, I would like to do some real life foreaging," Lhi proposed, his eyes lightening up as he looked towards his father. "And there is water, but I also can't really get wet so we don't need to go over to the quarry. We can just walk around outside umm... Bring a water bottle though," Lhi said, expecting it to be quite warm, it was 'summer' after all. "And the sun on Mol'Rihan is bright but... I take it you don't really need sun cream with how furry you are?"

“Oh, I would like to go to the gardens. I’ve never been foraging, how do you tell which plants are poisonous though, do you just know?” C’Sara was grateful that nobody wanted to swim. They were not built for it. Besides being furry, they were not very buoyant. They were quite dense. But the bright side was their fur protected them from the sun. No sunscreen for C’Sara. “Yeah, I don’t need sunscreen. I’ll just have my sunglasses, they look cool.”

"Ayyy Jianux Gardens? I'll get us there at threshold speeds! Hold onto something or you'll turn into a Romulan salamander or I don't know what C'Sara will turn into, maybe a bug?" T'Vim joked with a loud laugh as he began to close the doors and windows of the van, only leaving open a couple small windows. He hopped into the driver seat and blasted the aircon because with the windows closed it was going to get real hot without some air circulation.

"There is a book about it umm," Lhi responded as he stood up (only having had a few sips of soup) and headed to the bed where there were some drawers under it. As soon as he crouched down to rummage through the drawer, T'Vim slammed on the gas and the van was on its way! Unfortunately for Lhi, he easily lost his balance and fell onto his back. Instead of getting up, Lhi simply lay there, tilted a little to the side so he wouldn't be laying on his cable. ".... You can search it up on your PADD I think, it's just called the Fauna and Flora of Mol'Rihan: A Forager's Guide. It has photos of plants and such. Alternatively you can scan plants with your PADD or tricorder and it'll give information," Lhi knew he was not going to be getting that book so he did his best to explain whilst laying on his back. "What kind of plants do you like, C'Sara? Do.. Caitians eat plants?"

“Hey, I want to turn into a salamander too!” They did think bugs were cool though. They hoped they would turn into a ladybug. Or a praying mantis. Those were cool. Though there was that special feeling when a butterfly landed on their nose. So maybe being a butterfly wasn’t that bad. They were glad T’Vim had a good aircon, with all that fur they got hot fast. “Sure, I‘ll go search that book. Maybe I can forage with you or something. Uh, as for plants that I like, hm, I like any crunchy vegetables. And sour fruits. But I can eat plants, I do need meat to survive though.”

"I am not sure if you'll be a salamander but we'll see once we get to the gardens!" And with that T'Vim slammed on the acceleration pedal and the van began moving at.. A very mild speed. Despite the dramatics leading up to their move, T'Vim was following all local traffic laws, stay safe!

"Oh, Romulans eat meat too.. I think," Lhi stated as if he was not out here, a full blooded Romulan. But he hadn't really thought about diet or food as he mainly stuck to his nutrition cubes which always had everything he needed. When the air conditioning turned on, Lhi's hair flew from his face as he was laying right under the vent. The liberated Borg tried to fight with his hair to keep it from blowing right into his mouth. If it wasn't so hot outside he'd ask his father to turn it down, but he saw how fluffy C'Sara was, they'd surely cook without aircon. So Lhi just rolled over onto his stomach and propped himself up on his elbows so he could look up at his new friend! "Yeah we can forage together! It's a public park so I would think they wouldn't have anything too deadly," Lhi stated, not exactly sure what to expect from the park. "We have some crunchy vegetables! And sour fruit! We think, but we're not entirely sure where those things would be," Lhi said thoughtfully as he attempted to get up off the ground. He was wrestling with his cable a bit too as it kept getting caught between his fingers . "Ahhh maybe you can also find a map of the gardens! And we can make ummm.. Salad? We can replicate meat of you know what sort of meat you want!"

The very fluffy C’Sara was very grateful that Lhi wouldn’t turn off the aircon. They quite liked it, it was a little hot out. But they’d be in the shade so they’d be fine outside. Having fur was an annoyance sometimes. But if they were in the cold, they had the advantage. “True, true. I think deadly plants are cool, but not to eat. Deadly nightshade is cool, I like its name. There’s some rock bands named after it.” C’Sara was a rock band nerd, after all, they were the guitarist in one. The band was back together and working on album ideas, C’Sara was sort of hoping the nature could give them some inspiration. “Yeah, that’d be cool to have sour fruit. I’ll look up the map, and I’d like a salad. I mostly have chicken with my salads, or some sort of fish.”

"Nightshade! Hey wasn't that your band, Del?" T'Vim chimed in fromt the driver's seat. The van drove quite smoothly, it really helped that T'Vim tended to stay under the speed limit. They were driving through local areas, which was T'Vim's preferred place to drive. Not that he could drive on expressways or anything like that. "Hey actually there's a Ki Baratan Fried Hlai'vnau up ahead, you guys wanna stop and grab some meat for the salad? Oh I hope they Osol twists, I don't know why, but the Osol twist machine is always broken at those places," T'Vim said as he caught a glimpse of KFH in the distance-- Romulan KFC.

".... Oh, it was," Lhi said, briefly remembering his Nightshade days. He had almost forgot about the little band him and some others in the Republic had tried to form before they all had decided to go their separate ways. "... Chicken. I think I have heard of it, we remember eating Hlai'vnau, there is a special type of wings.... Umm... Supernova Spicy hot," Lhi's mind began to wander and his eyes became distant as he was quickly becoming lost in the sauce.

“Yea, stop if you can, I can pay if you want! What are Osol twists though?” They asked, unsure of what that was. Twist made them think of churros. They liked those, so the osol twists also sounded good to them. But enough about food, they had heard of a new band and now they were focused. “Wait, you were in a band? Damn, that’s cool. I’m in a band right now, we started it in the Academy and now we’re picking it back up now we’re not incredibly busy.”

"Nah, we got that Tal Shiar money," T'Vim said a little too loud, so loud that Lhi quickly climbed to his feet and frowned. Unfortunately the older Romulan was busy driving the van so he had no idea what he said elicited such a response from his son. "They're like a tart fruit snack, but you can mix them with other stuff and turn it into soft serve. Kinda like a fruit smoothie, but a little less nutritious! Yeah, I'll stop, uhhh I think the van can use the drive through, there's a queue though," And with that T'Vim pulled into the drive through of the KFH and put the vehicle in park as it seemed like they would be here a while.

"Umm.. Only a little bit, umm... There was a Republic officer I think his name was Veren tr'Hwersuil, he wanted to put together a group, but it was a little hard for me to dance," Lhi climbed back into the seat he was in earlier, across from C'Sara at the dining table. "What kind of band? My band.. umm.. Nightshade, it was a pop group, so we had to sing, dance, and rap," Lhi explained, making a mental note to tell T'Vim not to mention the words Tal Shiar around him.

And now things got a little awkward. Bringing up the Tal Shiar and all. It didn’t seem like the thing to bring up in the van, right in front of C’Sara’s future salad. Which they were getting quite happy about making, foraging sounded really cool. “Whoa, they sound really good. I love smoothies. And you can definitely make a not very nutritious smoothie, I’ve made smoothies where I put ice cream along with the fruit. They were pretty good.” Smoothies were still somewhat of a thing on 777 amongst the Section 31 mission people. Of course C’Sara was not among the OG smoothie people, but they could imagine just taking a break for smoothies was a dream come true. It sounded better than what they had to deal with that day. “Yeah, dancing isn’t for everyone, it’s not your fault you can’t. As for my band, it’s a rock band. I play guitar, my friend Hal sings, and my other friend Savek plays drums and handles all the computer stuff. I like pop music too though, I bet your raps were fire. Send me a link sometime.”

"Sounds great! Ahh the queue is moving!" T'Vim said as he shifted the van into drive mode and pulled up to the little intercom thing they had. "Jolan tru!" He shouted into the speaker. "Lemme get uhhh..." T'Vim began to give his order. He didn't bother asking what C'Sara and Lhi wanted, Lhi was unable to make choices and C'Sara didn't even know what was on the menu so T'Vim thought just ordering one of everything would give them enough things. Not like KFH had a very wide menu, it was all fried Hlai'vnau. "... And three-- nah gimme FOUR Osol twists! And can you put them in the little holders? My son's Borg, he can't grip things very tightly," T'Vim said over the intercom.

"No no, I just sing. Rapping was all Veren," Lhi explained, shaking his head at the idea of him rapping. Lhi could barely keep up with normal song lyrics, he didn't think he could possibly rap. "I would like to hear your band too, I am sure you guys make good music. Sometimes music is overwhelming to me, but I can listen to it a little at a time," Lhi explained, wanting to support his new friend. From the driver's seat, Lhi overheard his dad calling him Borg and he suddenly looked very distressed. He would surely have to have a talk with T'Vim like he did Vrilh. He loved his parents, but sometimes they were a little insensitive towards him and his situation. "Oh did you find the book? I think I know of some things we can put in the salad. We can cut up the Hlai'vnau strips and put it with the lettuce and I think it would taste good with some Romulan Lime umm.. Rime, juice and if we can find it, we can grind up some of the Lehe'jhmne leaves and add salt," Lhi explained, grabbing a nearby PADD and pulling up some photos of the plants he was talking about. "Can you see in the dark? I forgot to ask."

Yikes, calling his son Borg right in front of him. And right in front of C’Sara’s future salad. This wasn’t going to go good, C’Sara knew that much. Maybe it would be better in public, T’Vim didn’t seem THAT shameless. “Sure, I’ll send you a link later. The band’s called Starbreak. Also as for music, it can be overwhelming sometimes. I mean, Savek had noise cancellers on at like all of our gigs and most of our practices.” They did have a few gigs in their time. They played at clubs and sometimes at parks and whatnot. Even a few concerts. It was a good run, they were happy to start it back up again. They had the book on their PADD, which they turned to show Lhi. “This one, right? Also yeah that salad is sounding better and better by the second. And I can see in the dark, it’s useful to fix stuff because I don’t always have the best lighting when I’m under a shuttlecraft.”

The van began to move once again as T'Vim pulled up to the pick up window and grabbed their bags of food along with the osol twists! The machine was not broken that day it turned out! Once the food was in hand he placed it on the seat beside him and drove out of the lane so they could get back on the road. "Got the food! You guys can grab the osol twists, I don't know how long they'll last before they melt! We'll be at the gardens soon!"

"Oh that sounds nice! I will check out the music! And noise cancellers.. I can't hear that well anyway, my implant is good at filtering noise out," Lhi said, pointing to the device that sat on the right side of his head. He leaned forward once C'Sara showed him their PADD to look at the pictures. He always loved looking at the plants and had a feeling this foraging adventure was going to be good! "Yes! I think we have a food processor that can grind things very small. We also have a replicator in the van in there is anything we don't find," Lhi pointed to the replicator that was just behind the driver's seat. When T'Vim announced the osol twists were here, Lhi got up and slowly walked over to the front of the van to grab the twists. He grabbed two of the twisty soft serve cones and went back to the table to give one to C'Sara along with a little stack of tissues in case they got too melty. The twists looked like ice cream cones with what seeemed like vanilla soft serve wrapped in an orange peel. The whole thing was edible and it came in a little cup with two handles that also caught any melty bits that may fall off the cone. "You can eat it just like this or you can use a spoon. I have a hard time with utensils so the holder is fine with me," Lhi said as he opened his mouth and took a big bite out of the top. The handles made it easy to grip and although he was not happy that his dad had said he was Borg (not even liberated, T'Vim just said 'borg') he appreciated the gesture of making sure whatever they got was accessible for him.

“Nice, nice. Mainly I don’t cook very often, there’s a distinct lack of kitchens on 777. Nowhere for me to grill. That’s why I go to Earth a lot, I’ll chill at some friend’s place and do stuff that I can’t do on 777. Not that I don’t love my job, but sometimes you just need to chill at a lake and listen to the birds.” C’Sara took their twist and copied Lhi, taking a bite out of the top. It was cold, but it was delicious. They nodded when he said he had a hard time with utensils. They had a problem with some cups, sharp teeth and glass cups could be a problem sometimes.

"Yea, but we have replicators! And I think it woudl be nice if there was a community kitchen or something," Lhi said as if he would ever cook. He had enough difficulties with food as it was, he didn't think he could make anything that wasn't a simple soup and for that they had replicators. "Bird watching! I love watching birds!" Lhi exclaimed as excited as he could. It wasn't much of a change from his normal tone, maybe slightly higher, but there was little to no change in his expression. "We can do that at the park too! My eyes are perfect for it! Or.. do you need something to see them from far away?"

"Bird watching! Eyyy, Del, we used to do that on Devoras! It's dangerous though, who knows when a T'Liss or Temar Vastaram will just swoop down from the sky and grab you!" T'Vim said with a loud laugh from the driver's seat. "I remember one time a Temar Vastaram swooped down and stole my eyes! Oh that was terrible, but maybe I deserved it leaving them out on the rock like that," T'Vim's statement sounded mildly concerning at first but luckily he quickly added context. T'Vim had always lived his life with assistive vision devices, whether it be artificial eyes or a Romulan version of a VISOR, he had tried pretty much everything in the book just searching for the perfect one.

“Yeah! That is a good idea. It seems easy enough to implement to. Just take an unused room and make it into a kitchen. I’d be happy to teach people the ways of making chicken that isn’t as dry as the Sahara Desert.” C’Sara didn’t like deserts. They were too sandy. Except for Antarctica- it was good and snowy over there. Perfect for them, C’Sara liked the cold. They had fur after all. They got got quite quickly. “It stole your eyes? Damn. Did you get new ones or did you get the old ones back?”

"Maybe we can ask OPS," Lhi said before taking a few bites of their Osol twist. The coldness didn't seem to bother him as he munched do on the dessert. "They are always taking suggestions for new areas," Lhi looked at C'Sara after munching his ice cream. With a lot of it melted in the cup he gently took out the cone and sipped the melted ice cream like a drink and then put the cone in his mouth to cronch with his sharp teeth.

"Yeah, stole my fumking eyes! Can't have SHIT on Devoras!" T'Vim said emphatically, slapping hand on the wheel and accidentally triggering the horn that made Lhi jump. "Ahh sorry about that! We're almost at the park!" T'Vim said as he turned down a dirt road that would lead them to the park. "I got new eyes after that. Me and Del have the same eyes now, it's a big upgrade from his Borg eyes or whatever the Tal Shiar gave him," T'Vim said, just like Vrilh just shouting out Lhi's personal business to everyone. Lhi didn't seem as upset by this, although he didn't like his father mentioning the Tal Shiar or Borg in front of him. "Annnnnnd we're here at #ekhaem｜jianux-public-gardens ! I'm gonna wait here while you guys do your foraging! Have fun on your adventure!"

[D] So Lhi and C'Sara disembarked and went foraging and then made their salad, it was very fun and afterwards Lhi bid C'Sara goodbye and T'Vim and Lhi headed off-- to prison so Lhi could visit his fiance!

[D] After a very restful night and early morning with Miral, Lhi headed out of the complex and back on T'Vim's van where his father was munching on some KFH which he seemed to have gotten for the second day in the row. Sure, they had money to buy whatever, but T'Vim had and will always be a cheap date and that's okay. "Di'ranov, I'm back," Lhi said as he bounced up the stairs to greet his father.

"DEL!" T'Vim stopped munching his Hlai'vnau twister with spicy mayo so he could go and hug his son in greeting. "How did it go? Oh I see you lost your ribbon, I take it as a sign it was a fun evening?" T'Vim said, wiggling his eyebrows and laughing.

"O-oh, I think I left it in Miral's room. Well, I can replicate a new one," Lhi didn't see any problem forgetting the ribbon, if anything, Miral probably liked having something of Lhi's to remember him by. "I have agreed to follow through with our engagement and... Umm... Miral's charges were for what him and his crew did to me and the other Liberated Borg on the Tagor. It wasn't war crimes, so please don't say that," Even though it was Virlh who said it, Lhi thought he would also tell T'Vim just so he knew not to mislead others. "And he is serving out his sentence, he regrets his actions so I would appreciate it if you let him do is time privately," Lhi explained, knowing that if he wanted his parents to hush up about something he had to tell them directly. Not a bad thing, but he wished he didn't have to have these awkward conversations over things he had assumed were common sense. "Are you ready to leave?" Lhi asked, seeing the utter mess tha twas sprawled around the nice van. T'Vim was naturally a messy person, mostly because he couldn't see the mess half the time.

"OH yes we are. Sorry I'll clean up for ya Del," T'Vim said as he stood from his seat and quickly began putting things back into storage and folding blankets. The process didn't take too long and T'Vim grabbed his twister to head to the driver's seat. "Alrightyy, next stop Starbase 777!"

"Thanks," Lhi said as he walked over to the bed area and pressed a button to spin the shower around to reveal his regeneration alcove. "And we can't drive to 777, it's in space, di'ranov," Lhi explained and tapped some buttons to set up his regeneration cycle.

"Is it? But on the 'visit us' page on the information site it has a photo of a camping van! Why would they do that if you can't drive there?" T'Vim said, thinking he was making a valid point. He powered on the van and looked back to see Lhi's reaction but instead only caught his son climbing into his alcove. "Eyy, got it, Del, away we go!" And with that T'Vim drove off from the centre and headed towards the transport hub where he would drop Lhi off to catch a shuttle back to the station. He decided to take the long route back so he could give Lhi as much time as possible to regenerate.