Posted by Lieutenant Commander Katie Nunn (Chief Counseling Officer) in Side Sim: CNS Checkin/Transfer from Starbase 243

Posted by Ensign Thoon Furood (Security Officer) in Side Sim: CNS Checkin/Transfer from Starbase 243

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Thoon hopped up onto one of the chairs. His feet were left dangling several inches off of the floor. To Thoon, most everything on Federation installations and starships was a bit oversized. Every so often it gave him the uncomfortable feeling of being a child again, but less and less so as time went by. “Don’t apologize. I think there’s only a handful of us serving in Starfleet. Oolass is in the process of petitioning for membership in the Federation, so maybe that will change.” He smiled broadly, showing large, squarish teeth. “I hope it does. As much as I enjoy being around aliens, it would be amazing to serve with other Ools.” He chuckled, low in his throat. A jovial sound, genuine with no hint of irony. “I don’t really know where to begin.” He paused for a moment. “My species doesn’t form romantic relationships. Most people I’ve met find that pretty interesting. It seems like everyone I meet has some favorite person that can’t be anyone else’s favorite person. It’s…odd.” He had no brow to furrow, but there was an flexing between his eyes, a kind of tension that immediately read as a furrowed brow. “Or at least, it’s odd to me. I’m sure it’s perfectly normal for you.”

-Ens. Thoon Furood, Security

Katie quickly found herself genuinely enjoying the company of Furood. She noted the size mismatch with the desk chair and made a mental note to address that situation when she worked on officially moving into her office. While she didn’t expect to see the ensign regularly, since he was a member of the crew, it would be appropriate to ensure that he could be comfortable when he did visit and not feel like he was stuck using inappropriately sized furniture. She took a few moments to contemplate the information about romantic relationships with interest.

“Well, that’s different than how the majority of humans do it,” she commented, her tone light and non-judgmental. “But there are many different romantic arrangements across the Federation. Personally, I’m more befuddled by the ones that involve more than two people.” She shook her head lightly to emphasize her point. “That’s very interesting to know, though, so thank you for telling me. How does social interaction work amongst Ools, then, and how does that influence your interactions with other Starfleet members?”

Nunn, CNS

He brightened at the question. His expressions were oddly human and only took a little effort to place them. “From what I can tell, socially, Ools are not much different from other Starfleet races. We have families, but they have a different structure from what I’ve seen in many of my colleague’s cultures, but the idea is similar.” He paused to think. “We make friendships, even very close friendships, but they are what you would call “Platonic?” I believe?” He chuckled, the odd thought of categorizing levels of relationship based on sexual attraction and appropriate levels of physical contact was still a bit silly to him. “I don’t think it’s an influence on my interactions. If anything, it eases it from what I’ve seen.” He made that same ‘wrinkled brow’ expression with a subtle difference that probably amounted to a microexpression of some kind. “There’s a different set of motivations and competitiveness over them that I really can’t relate to.” He laced his fingers and rested his hands on the slight bulge of his belly. “It’s very hard to explain.”

-Ens. Thoon Furood, Security

Katie smiled again as she listened to Furood’s explanation. In a way, it sounded like he had a far more simple existence than having to deal with all of the varying difficulties of social interactions between the more romantically inclined species. “Well, your explanation makes perfect sense to me,” she responded with a slight firmness to her voice, but still a smile gracing her features. “I imagine that it’s very lonely with so few Ools in Starfleet, especially given the slightly different motivation for interaction.” She paused to allow her smile to turn slightly more wry, denoting the humor she intended to inflect in the statement. “How do you manage that isolation?”

Nunn, CNS

“Oh, I don’t feel isolated at all. Between subspace communications and the holodeck it sometimes feels like I never left home.” He gave her a knowing nod. “In fact, hardly a day goes by when I don’t talk to one of my brood-mates or another.” This was followed by another of his deep, throaty chuckles. “It is unfortunate that I can’t hug them, but then there’s always shore-leave!”

-Ens. Furood, Security