Al smiled at the man that'd arrived with Sami. "No offense intended, of course. Every culture has its own taboos. It looks like I just crossed yours. Won't happen again." He winked at Sami, "Though I hardly think 'bad impressions' qualify as 'criminal impersonation.' As for the 'android,' that's me also." He gave a quick, halfhearted glance around the bar for Rathien, then dimmed the hologram of his face as he'd done for Zorish. The result was that his grinning Chee face was visible through the now-transparent version of his normal, also-grinning face.
"It just means that I'm an artificial construct, basically." He shrugged and raised his hologram to full strength again, so that his face returned to its normal, smirking self. "No big thing, really. I imagine I'm a good go-to guy for AI questions, though," he said to Sami with a smile.
He turned to Keshin and nodded, "Yeah, I know how that goes. We went through a period where laser-proof toilet paper was all distributed by one company. They wanted about an arm and two legs a roll. It was awful. Luckily, when stuff starts to catch on, you start to see more imitators, and competition drives the price down. Now we can TP Verrim warships for next to nothing." He grinned, "Hopefully the same thing'll happen with you guys' medicine soon. It sounds like a far more important type of purchase to make."
"And yeah, don't get yourself almost-killed again. It's awfully nerve-wracking when you do that. Plus, y'know, you're cool." He feigned shyness, turned away slightly and looked down at the floor, looked at Keshin sidelong, and batted his eyelashes. "I don't like it when you get hurt."
Salem took a deep breath to steady his nerves a bit and closed his eyes. He was beginning to understand where this was going to go... or so he thought. From what Mar was saying, this mostly involved a paradigm shift. The seeing of something not normally visible to mortals. It sounded like mastering it might be rough, but maybe that paradigm shift would be all he'd need.
He swallowed and nodded, "Extend away, highest. I'm curious to see these 'tendrils' of yours."