aliothizan

[aliothizan]

It was fascinating to hear how other planets and species handled education, since Ali still had so much to learn about the galaxy. He was probably more familiar with the Earth school system, as much as it varied, than any other human given the sheer amount of school he attended. He definitely broke a world record. "Yeah, a group-taught class," he nodded. "Honestly, learning by doing is one of the most effective methods of education, so laikalla were onto something there," he said before realizing he should probably backtrack a little there, "but there's a lot of nuances with sex that should be talked about before just experiencing it." Consent, protection and knowing someone's body were really important. "I could ask Daphne if we could organize another class. Quite a few people joined the crew since out last one, and I wouldn't mind answering more questions," he said. He wasn't sure who exactly would want to attend. Ali imagined Theo's face if he asked him and almost laughed. Ian and HJ may be interested though, maybe even Scout. Zion he couldn't really get a read on, but he wouldn't write him off either.

Food and beaches sounded kinda similar to Molfaun, but Mari guessed there were a lot of places that had good food and beaches. Brazil would be a fun one to try out, maybe! It had been a while since she'd been to a beach, come to think about it. She almost asked more about Brazil, but the other stuff Ali had to say was more interesting for now. "Yay, that sounds good! Making sure I'm ready to go by the time we get there, I mean! I'll do my best! Also, wow! Well that's kinda fun, like a group-taught class?" She asked, switching gears to talk about sex ed without so much as the briefest of pauses. "I've never been to school before, you know, with my people we just kinda got taught stuff along the way? And then my dad taught me a bunch of stuff too! But I guess for sexual education I only ever learned about what happens with laikalla...? Since it was a class you did here, do you know if it's one that's gonna happen again? Or did you already cover everything in the one that happened before? Is it still part of your job to answer questions about that stuff?"

[aliothizan]

"Basically," Ali laughed along. If Daphne ever had a need for either of those positions, they'd probably do well in them, at least. Ali had a feeling Ian wouldn't choose being a France expert over a musician, Ryder though...he wouldn't push an idea that wouldn't even happen. "That sounds like a plan. I'll make sure you're ready before we land," he promised. "It depends on where we go in Brazil, since it's a big country. In general, the food and beaches are amazing," he explained. He couldn't swim, but he still liked to do sand activities and look at the water. It would just get awkward when he went with his human friends, and they questioned why he couldn't swim. Ali couldn't blame Mari for having a lot of questions about the sex-ed course, because it was pretty bizarre. He really didn't expect it when he joined the crew. "It was a mix of everything. Since I grew up on Earth, I don't really know much about other species, so I had members of the crew help answer questions. I'm not a sexual education teacher, but it's usually part of human school curriculums depending on where they live. I also just know from experience." Ali didn't mean that in a braggy way, it was just a fact that made him qualified to talk about at least the djayyar/human/erkuss side of sex.

"Oh, wow, so Ian is kinda like a France Expert! And Ryder's a Disneyland expert," Mari giggled. She probably would ask both of them about France and Disneyland, respectively, because she had so much fun talking to both of them and it was so interesting hearing about their experiences! And Ali's, too, but right now she was hearing about different stuff from Ali. Like Brazil! Which was in South America, it seemed. "Yeah, that sounds fun! We can do a crash course that's about the places we're gonna go once we know what those are, maybe? Whether it's Brazil or somewhere else! What would you most want to do in Brazil? And also, if there's other stuff that you feel like I should know before then that's good for anywhere on Earth, then we could even do a not-crash course before we know where we're gonna go! But also, huh? Was the sexual education crash course about Earth sexual education...? Like was it about, um, stuff with humans specifically, or something? Or is this a different part of your job? Or was it a job you had before here?"

[aliothizan]

"That's a good point. They probably just need someone looking out for them, right? I don't think either of them need my creative help. They seem to be doing just fine," Ali bopped his head along in thought. Maybe, he really just needed to talk to Robin, but he'd bring it up with Henry anyway. It sounded like he could benefit from any opportunity to talk about his hobbies. Ali didn't say that part for obvious reasons. "I'll still ask him though," he said instead. Ali almost wanted to invite Henry on their spontaneous trip, but the twins probably didn't want their dad tagging along, and he couldn't imagine Alisz would be cool with it. She'd probably want to come too, and...no. Better to just leave it as it was. "We'll figure it out," Ali grinned. "I'll tell Sky about our idea. He might have some ideas of what we should do."

“I mean, that’s a pretty decent qualification,” Robin pointed out, only half-joking. It meant he had overlapping music tastes with Theo and Ian. But more than that, Ali seemed to understand what the band’s goals were, and he hadn’t heard about any sort of issues with the entertainers, and that’s all he could ask for, really. “When I was in charge of Kryss—“ Robin held up finger-quotes around “in charge,”—I felt the same way. Mostly, I only made sure venues didn’t take advantage of her, you know, that they’d pay her fairly and whatever. I couldn’t very well tell her where her creativity should go. Maybe Henry would have better insight, yeah.” He’d never had an official band, but he did know a fair bit about how they worked. Then again, so did Theo and Ian. He wasn’t surprised when Ali agreed to this trip without much convincing—he’d be more surprised if he had reservations. Ali had a good point about the dogs…yeah, had to worry about pet-sitters now. That was only the tiniest drawback when Katara had been a very happy addition in his life. “If Ian and Stella would be up for being puppy parents for a few days,” he agreed. He wasn’t sure how they would fare when Ian had a particularly testy cat that did not like dogs. Or if Stella would still be around when this trip happened.

[aliothizan]

It was kind of surprising that they hadn't visited Earth since before Mari joined the crew, since they went quite a few times since Ali did. They were pretty focused on the Bat Ray though, and that still wasn't solved yet. Ali had no idea where they would after that. "Ian would know more about France than Ryder, since he lived in Paris and is fluent in French," Ali said, recalling his French conversation with them. He didn't want to discredit Ryder's France knowledge, but he didn't have a lot of time to tour the city outside of Disneyland. "I'm sure they had pastries at Disneyland, but you can definitely ask both of them about that. Or any ask Ryder any Disney related questions. They're a big fan of the parks."

Ali had to think about where he wanted to go next. He visited and lived in a lot of places that he wouldn't mind seeing again. There were also places he had yet to visit that he wanted to see for the first time. "We haven't really been to South America yet, so somewhere like Brazil would be a fun place to visit," he decided with a nod. "I don't know when we'll go to Earth next, but you and me can have a crash course before we go. That's my job, right? I think you learnt a lot about Earth already, but it's a really big planet, and it's tricky when you have to be so careful around humans. I'll help you though. It wouldn't be my first crash course either. I had to give one on sexual education before." Good times. They almost lost Ryder to a gum choking incident.

France had a lot going on - and a lot of it was good things, from what Ali had to say. "Oh, wow! So I can ask Ian and Ryder about France too, then! Hmmmmmmmm, or at least about Disneyland Paris, is that one of those themed parks? Do they have croissants and eclairs at Disneyland Paris, too? I've never been to a themed park. But it'll be fun to go one day! To France, that is! Or to a themed park, or even both at the same time. Hmmm... I wonder when we'll go to Earth? I still haven't been at all, even though I've been working here for, like, a while now! Which I guess makes sense, 'cause there's all that other stuff that we've been doing. Where would you most want to go to on Earth, next time the crew goes? Do you think I'm ready to go to Earth, or is there stuff I should learn first still? Ooooh, have you ever done, like, a crash course?"

[aliothizan]

It was fair to say that Mari seemed really excited about France. Ali would have to try and gently nudge Daphne towards a mission there, so she could see it for herself. As usual, Ali tried to answer all Mari's questions one at a time. "France is a really gorgeous country. I lived there for a bit. It has some nice cities, but mountains, beaches, and the country-side as well. It's famous for its good food, like croissants. Which are...yeah, pretty tricky to make. From what I've seen, there's a lot of steps, and it's easy to mess up. I bet Al could handle it though. It could be easier to make eclairs, which are pastries that are filled with cream and dipped in chocolate." He paused for a second to make sure he answered everything food and France related before moving on to her other questions. "Before you joined, we all split into groups to visit different amusement parks around the world. Ian and Ryder went to Disneyland Paris. Paris is the capital of France. I'm sure we'll all go together one day though."

"Oh! That sounds fun! I've never been to France. What's it like there? Besides the croissants, I mean? But also including the croissants if there's more about them! Hmm, do you think croissants are hard to make? Should I ask Al to make me one if they'll take a while, or is there something that would be easier to make and just as tasty that I haven't had? Have you ever been to France with this crew? Do you think we'll all go together sometime?" Mari asked her questions rapid-fire, apparently very excited by this new tidbit of information.

[aliothizan]

Ali had to keep reminding himself that Mari knew very little about Earth, and even basic terms like "croissant" were foreign to her. He couldn't wait to visit Earth with her. He wanted to take her on a tour of wherever they went himself. "A croissant is a really flaky pastry basically. Sometimes they're filled with chocolate or almonds, which are nuts. They come from a country called France, but they're pretty famous world wide. You should see if Al can make you one."

Oh, yeah, the Galactic Union was a whole situation too - probably for the best that Ali hadn't been in a movie as Maya Rudolph for a bunch of reasons, then. But it was still fun to hear about all the things Ali had done as not-Maya. "Yeah, I bet a famous person probably does stuff like that all the time - too much to keep track of! But, ooooh, what's croissant?"

[aliothizan]

Ali laughed at the thought of actually acting as Maya Rudolph. That would've been a fun thing to try, but he definitely would've gotten him in trouble with the Galactic Union. "Like you said, I didn't want to make the real Maya suspicious, so I tried my best to be subtle. I signed a few autographs and posed for pictures though. I figured she must do that so often that she loses track. I never heard from the Galactic Union, so I must've gotten away with it. One fan did give me their croissant?"

Mari did smile a little at Ali assuring her that her new sformer would be pretty too. She wasn't sure how he would know that, but it was nice to hear anyway. She listened as he explained what it had been like for him to use a sformer, frowning a little as he mentioned the glitching, first in sympathy and then in confusion at the mention of Maya Rudolph. Until he explained who that was and said he had fun then she grinned too. "Ohh, that does sound fun! Did you go to all kinds of parties? Did you star in a movie? No, I guess the real Maya would have found out then, huh? Did people give you stuff?"

[aliothizan]

Ali wasn't sure if Daphne or Robin agreed, but he didn't see why Mari couldn't take a break from using a sformer on Kraysha. She might get a lot of stares, but it wasn't like they were on Earth. It seemed like this really meant something Mari, and Ali would hate to push her to do something that would make her uncomfortable. "I understand," he murmured with a reassuring smile, "and if it makes you feel better, I'm sure your new sformer will be really pretty too." He shook his head when Mari asked about him. Sformers didn't work like that for him, not even when he was using the really old technology. Well, there were a few rare occasions. "No, I looked like myself, but near the end of me using it, it started glitching a lot. Instead of looking like myself, I looked like Maya Rudolph. She's an Earth actress. I actually had a lot of fun with that..." He grinned fondly at the memory of walking around the streets as Maya Rudolph.

It made Mari feel a little better to hear Ali say that her old sformer was her in a way, because that meant that he got what she meant... but it also made her sad, because it felt like a confirmation that yes, things would be different now. An adjustment, like he'd said. But she did feel better, mostly, because Ali agreeing meant that she could keep talking about it without feeling like she was trying to convince him of something. That was pretty nice. "Yeah," she agreed slowly. "It's like. I guess it might not even be bad? It'll probably even be good? But I'm not really ready to say goodbye to the old one yet... so I don't know if I want to use the new one on Kraysha or not. I know if something comes up where I really can't go around looking like myself, I'll just have to use it anyway, but..." She bit her lip, then changed tracks. "Did you look very different? When you switched from using a sformer to just turning your glitter off and contacts?" She guessed maybe not, since a sformer wouldn't have had to do as much with Ali anyway - but maybe there had been little differences, or something.

[aliothizan]

Ali laughed and shook his head at the thought of him taking up an instrument. He loved listening to music, but playing it wasn't in the cards for him. He'd much rather watch his husband play. "I was thinking more tips on being a band manager," he clarified. "I kind of feel like a fraud as GSW's supervisor. My qualifications are...likes MCR." It was an easy job, to say the least. He basically just let Ian and Theo do whatever they wanted. He wasn't really boss material in general. Ali wasn't surprised to hear that Robin never took time off before, and he was honestly surprised he agreed so easily. He had a feeling if he asked this two years ago, he would've gotten a much different response. "Let's do it," he echoed with a big grin. "Maybe Ian and Stella could watch the dogs to make things easier." Not that he wouldn't love to travel with Ellie, it just wasn't always the most logical idea to go on vacation with a dog.

Robin looked at his thumbs-up and smirked, then offered his own for a moment. “Tips for playing instruments? Or tips for being a band manager? He hasn’t really taught people how to play his instruments before…” he’d never taught him or Ryder how to play them, anyway, regardless of their interest in music. “…But maybe you could be his first customer,” Robin finished that thought. He didn’t think about the fact that they’d have to take time off to go on this vacation, and yeah, it would have to include Skylar and then Theo, obviously. Ryder and Daniel were coming, that wasn’t an option. “Oh, it’s been a while, then,” he answered. At least two years; that was wild. “I’ve never taken time off. Never had any reason to…but sometime when we’re in between jobs and the ship can stand to lose a large portion of the crew, let’s do it,” he said.

[aliothizan]

Ali nodded with a smile when she asked if he'd go with her, but apparently he didn't need to. So, the issue wasn't that she didn't have a sformer at all, but one that would make her look in a way she wasn't comfortable with. Ali understood Mari's reluctance a lot more now. The better he got to know the galaxy, the more he realized how complicated identities could be. On Earth, he had to disguise himself constantly, but he still resembled himself, just a less sparkly version. While Mari looked pretty different with a sformer on, she must've worn it enough to start identifying as that appearance as well. A new one would probably feel jarring. "That's fair," he nodded a few times. "I think your old sformer is still you in a way, especially if you've had it a long time. The new one must be a big adjustment for you."

Ali seemed sympathetic, and even offered to help her talk to Skylar about getting a new sformer. That did make Mari feel a little better, even if it didn't help with what she was upset about. "Aw, you'd go with me? That's really sweet! But, um, I already did go talk to Skylar... he's gonna see if he can fix my old sformer, 'cause I like that one, but he said he's not sure if he can? So he gave me a new one... but he didn't have any that were the same kind as the one I had, so, um. I guess I'll look different, if I use the one I have now. And I don't... I liked the way I looked, with the last one. I was really pretty, and, um. It felt like me, you know? Even if it wasn't." Maybe Ali would understand, since he seemed to have some kinds of feelings about looking like himself.

[aliothizan]

Mari's explanation both helped things make sense and confused Ali more. He got why she was asking so many sformer related questions now, but he didn't realize she didn't have one anymore. That seemed like a pretty easy fix, considering he was married to the guy in charge of sformers. "What happened to yours?" He asked. "Do you need help getting a new one? We can go talk to Sky." Maybe she was just too nervous to talk to him, which Ali could definitely help with. He was never too nervous to talk to Skylar.

Mari shuddered as Ali talked about what the consequences would have been if he'd gone undisguised on Earth. That was... pretty bad, yeah, even if it was something that he was able to laugh about. She knew a lot about needing to hid or getting taken away, but at least she didn't have to have a disguise on at all times and at least there wouldn't have been experiments. Still, she didn't like thinking about it. The 'being ourselves party' was a good distraction, except... that was still about her not having a sformer that she actually liked using right now. Hm. Ali seemed to have noticed that she wasn't in the best mood, even though she'd been smiling and everything. "Yeah, I'm okay," she answered, sighing a little bit and pausing as she considered whether or not to elaborate. "I just miss my sformer," she admitted after a moment.

[aliothizan]

"Not yet," Ali confirmed with a shake of his head. He knew the real reason he hadn't gone yet. Alisz was definitely the type who'd adopt a djayyar for profit, but that wouldn't stop Ali from visiting. It wasn't like she could do anything now other than make him uncomfortable, and he could deal with a little discomfort for a day. "I'd love to see all your childhood knick knacks, and yours and Ryder's baby photos, of course. It'd also be good to see your dad's office as a band manager who doesn't actually play any instruments. I bet he has good tips," Ali gave a thumbs up for some reason. It felt like a thumbs up kind of moment. "Family trip? That sounds sick. I'd be down. I haven't taken any time off since the honeymoon."

“Oh, wow--you haven’t come by the house before, huh,” Robin racked his brain to recall, and couldn’t. Of course, there was a bit of an unspoken agreement that the Clarks and Astreas collectively were keeping Ali from being in proximity to his mum, so not bringing him to her home was a natural extension of that. They’d brought Stella and Ian by before, though, so a visit wouldn’t hurt. “Sure, Alinara, I can show you my room, and all my childhood knick knacks and journals and photos. My dad would probably want to show you his office--that’s where he keeps all his music and stuff,” he explained briefly. “Oddly enough, I haven’t been outside of Maeyr much, either. We should plan a trip sometime to see the rest of the planet.”

[aliothizan]

Ali nodded along with a grin as he listened to Mari before chiming in. "It was sort of like that in a way. I was in disguise to stop people from wondering. But, on Earth, if I walked around with galaxy skin then I'd be taken away for experiments," he explained with a laugh. "It wasn't too bad once I learned how to do it without sformer, but it's nice that I don't have to anymore." Ali didn't know how Daphne felt about Mari wearing a sformer or not, but it didn't seem like a problem to him. He could be missing something as the earth expert and not the galaxy expert. When he noticed Mari's smile looked a little...dim, he tilted his head and gave her a questioning look. "We can have a be ourselves party, but...are you okay? You seem a little down today."

"I guess I never thought of it like that. More like... it's fun disguise that makes it so I can go places without people wondering why I'm in those places. But I can see why it'd be different for you if you had to hide all the time before. All the time sounds hard," Mari sympathized. "But I'm glad you still have a good time! Hmmmmmmm, maybe I can have a good time undisguised too. We can be a 'being ourselves' party." She didn't really feel like wearing a sformer made her less herself, usually, but... hm. She smiled, but it didn't quite reach her eyes the same way it usually did.

[aliothizan]

Ali gave Robin a sympathetic smile as he joined him. He knew it was always complicated and difficult for the twins to visit home. Things were a lot different now from when Robin got so upset after his PowerPoint presentation. For one, Ali never got a presentation for Theo, so...growth. The twins were still doing what Alisz wanted, and Alisz didn't see a problem with that, so how different was it, really? It was frustrating for Ali to witness, because he cared so much about both of them, but there wasn't much to do other than support them. He and Sky couldn't force them to do their own thing. "I think I'm more excited to find out where we go next," he admitted. "I'm not bored of Kraysha or anything. I still haven't seen most of it. I just like going to planets for the first time. Do you have any plans while we're there? Do I finally get to see Robinara's childhood bedroom?"

Robin never looked forward to returning to Kraysha, but at least there was plenty to do when they arrived that he didn’t have to think about parent visits in the near-future. He was pretty busy these days, so when he had some free time he made sure to take advantage. Walking into the rec room, he saw Ali sitting at the couch, mumbling something to himself in Korean. Robin couldn’t catch it. Then Ali pulled off his headphones and asked him a question that was deceptively difficult to answer. “As ready as I’ll ever be, I guess,” he responded with a shrug, finding a seat on the floor close to the sofa. “What about you?”

[aliothizan]

It didn't seem like Mari liked his answer. He was a little surprise that she seemed so conflicted about her sformer when he saw her use it in the past. He didn't want to push her if she didn't want to talk about it though. The fact that she hadn't opened about it yet was pretty telling, since Mari usually didn't have a problem speaking her mind. He gave a small shrug when she apologized for Kraysha. He didn't really want to get into the history of Djayyars and Erkuss, because it was complicated and long-winded. "It's alright. I still have a good time there," he said with a wave of his hand. "Honestly? Ever since I left Earth, I try to disguise myself as little as possible. Growing up I always had to mask my skin and wear contacts, so it's been freeing to just be myself."

Ooooh, tower, that sounded like it was maybe fun! And lots of food was good too, it was nice to not be hungry or stuck eating yucky things to not be hungry. Hmmmmm, Ali's sformer advice though... "Hmmmmmmmmmmmm, okay..." She looked troubled, chewing on the edge of her lip and furrowing her brow a little. Ali said that Djayyar could draw negative attention, which wasn't necessarily the same as if laikalla would draw negative attention... it was hard to say, which kind of made her not want to test it out. But she also didn't want to use her new sformer. "Well, thanks for letting me know. I'm sorry there are people who are stinky about people who are different there, even though they have good food and pretty towers and magnet rooms and other nice things that they could focus on instead of being meanies." She pouted. "What do you usually do, disguise or not? Or do you have a 'usually' yet 'cause you haven't been there enough?"

[aliothizan]

Ali cracked a grin at Mari's response. She was probably being sincere, but it reminded him of the times in the early 2000's ish time when the go-to response to "what's up" was "the sky" or "the ceiling." As usual she had a lot of questions that she shot off back to back, so Ali patiently waited for her to ask them all and noted them mentally to address them all after. "There's a few places I've been to for the second time, Kraysha being one of them. There's some other planets too, like Earth. I haven't been away from Earth that long though, so there's quite a few planets I've only see once," he explained.

"I actually lived on Kraysha before Earth, but I don't really remember it, so it's kind of like I've been getting to know it for the first time. Last time, Sky brought me to the Great Tower Clock, and it was really pretty, so I recommend that. There's also a magnet room, but it's not that exciting if you're not an Erkuss. As for food, Rungung is a big city, so there's plenty of good options." Ali paused for a moment to think about whether she needed a sformer or not. "I think that's up to you. Laikalla really aren't common on Kraysha, so you might draw a lot of attention. Djayyar can draw some negative attention there, so I sometimes disguise my skin."

"Hmmmmmmmmmmmm, the ceiling! I'm super ready for Kraysha! It's my first time going to a planet for the second time. Have you ever been to a planet for a second time? I guess you have, huh? 'Cause you'd been to Kraysha before we went last time, and also maybe other places too. What's your favorite part about Kraysha? Is there anything fun I should do there? Or anything fun I should eat there? Wait, it's okay if you don't know though, 'cause you're the Earth expert and all, not the Kraysha expert - ohhh, I wonder if we'll go to Earth soon. Anyway. Kraysha! Yes! I'm ready, I think. Hmmm, last time I wore my sformer lots because blending in can make things easier, but I wonder if I will this time...?" There still weren't that many Laikalla around, so it would maybe be a good idea to. But also. She didn't have to, did she? It didn't seem like it.

[aliothizan]

Location: Recreation room Date: Flexible but close to or after leaving for Kraysha (open)

Ali was looking forward to returning to Kraysha. It was always nice to go back to the place he originally lived and try to become more familiar with it. He was so young when he left that he didn't really have memories from living there, but he made more every time he visited. It began to felt like home in a way. Although, Ali always considered home to be his family rather than a place.

Everything was so chaotic lately that he had Sky hadn't had a chance to share what they learned with the crew yet, and he was getting hard to keep it quiet for now, but he wanted to wait for the right time. The Bat Ray being on the ship with them definitely wasn't the right time. There wasn't much for him to do right now other than his usual research, so he busied himself with studying up on Korean, which he was still working on learning with his husband and the twins. He made himself comfortable on the couch, wearing a pair of headphones as he mumbled along with the instructor. When someone joined him, he offered them a wave and a big grin before sliding the headphones off. "What's up?" He asked brightly. "Ready for Kraysha?"