Encounters of the unexpected kind - [Tufezr/Archangel]

Tufezr took the holoemitter from Seika gently and examined it closely. It certainly was just what the child believed it to be: a holositter if you will. The only difference from it's original state was that it wasn't operating correctly. Twisting it around in his hands a moment, he thought he saw the problem-someone had been 'innocently' taking it apart out of apparent boredom.

Tufezr glanced at the Captain to make sure she wasn't listening, then whispered to the child. "Got bored and decided to do a little reverse engineering, eh? Tell you what, I won't tell anyone that you took it apart, and I'll even help you fix it, if you'll be my new best friend. Deal?"

Seika's expression was guilty as Tufezr sussed out exactly why the holoemitter wasn't working, shooting a glance at her mother before looking back to him. She had always been one for taking things apart. Notorious, even, back on the Discovery. She was a tricorder's worst nightmare. Putting things back together, however, had never been her strong point.

"You can fix it?" she asked in a low voice, her eyes wide.

The Trill smiled and nodded to the child's question, knowing full well the implications of what would be said to the child if her disobedience were to be discovered. Parents of most races discouraged a child taking things apart needlessly, but once Tufezr had done the same thing when he was a child, and that had gotten him praise and a ticket to the young Engineers Academy on Trilius Prime.

"Yeah, I'm an Engineer, and Engineers know how to fix things. Chief Engineers, like your mother, can fix anything, but until I become a Chief Engineer I can only fix warp readouts and holositters." He whispered back to her, still smiling and adoringly looking at the child, who held a certain fascination to him. "So, if I fix it and don't tell the Captain, will you be my friend?"

Seika thought it over for half a second, then nodded eagerly. She was never one to turn down a new friend, especially given how few children there were on the ship. She only had one or two friends that were her own age.

"Mummy doesn't get mad at me when I take it apart, but she takes away my tools for a few days when she finds out," she said, a slight pout apparent on her face. "I tried to put it back together, but it won't work right."

Tufezr smiled, and while his congeniality got him relatively good responses from the crew, there wasn't exactly anyone he knew well enough to call a friend. Thus, he decided to befriend the child and act as something of a pseudo-big brother if you will, since it was what she needed-he certainly had at her age.

"Well then, I'll fix this and you won't have to have your tools taken away. In fact, if you come down once in awhile to help out, I'll even let you look at and help me test out some of the newer tools we get." He slipped the easily fixed holo-sitter into the back of his belt so that the Captain wouldn't immediately notice, and smiled at the child.

Seika's slight pout turned back into a grin as Tufezr agreed to fix the sitter's holoemitter. She really couldn't keep her hands off things most of the time. There was a fascination, a drive to take things apart and find out how they worked. Archangel tolerated these fascinations, knowing that she had been exactly the same at Seika's age. Thankfully, the Engineering crews of Starbase 173 had been quite accepting of a little half-Romulan girl hanging around and learning from them.

The grin grew even wider at the thought that she could keep coming down to Engineering and help out, something that she had sorely missed since Archangel's promotion up to the command ranks and away from the engine room. "I'd like that!" she replied, bouncing up and down in delight.

The reason Tufezr had done his best to be so friendly to the child had mostly been because she was so young and didn't need any condescension. He also recognized that look in her eyes, the one that every child meant to be a scientist or an Engineer had all the time growing up: the look of wonder as things were taken apart. She wanted to know how things worked, why they worked the way they did, and what they could be made to work.

He grinned at the little Romulan-ling, and couldn't resist messing up her hair. "Then welcome to Engineering, Engineer in training."