i'm writing fic this fine tuesday evening........ like for a headcanon from me in this thread abt Hugh BorgMan

he doesn't like coffee. xBs historically have sensitive digestive system and he doesn't /technically/ need to eat/drink, but instead of coffee he enjoys teas like lapsang souchong. the smokiness is nearly opposite to scents/smells on a borg cube

he'll regenerate as normal when away on business, but he doesn't use a bed/sleep unless sharing it with Someone (i'll give you one guess as to who that is based on my Previous Tweets)

seven stops by the artifact once every two weeks to train hugh on phaser combat. she worries about him and he's not the best shot (esp since losing his holo-imaging eye): he mostly learns for self-defense/if he has to defend fellow xBs, since he really does try to be a pacifist

if anything, hugh is a /great/ field medic (even beyond inherent borg knowledge). he had to learn/implement a lot of medical knowledge on the fly for his fellow xBs on wherever the bumfuck planet lore left them on, and EMH left hugh a copy of his whole database on borg surgeries

hugh managed to keep his holo-imaging eyepiece. even after his organic parts started to resurface and push out external borg implants, he held onto it- partly as a reminder, a keepsake of how far he's come, and now geordi keeps it safe for him

he'll take walks along the dormant borg drones on the artifact by himself. hugh can't stand the presence too long (moreso out of personal strength), but for him he uses those walks to remind himself of where he came from, and tries to pre-establish files for them before awakening

hugh's a huge fucking nerd for poetry. he thinks it's amazing how individual minds can come up with such a bonkers arranging of words into audible and/or visual art and make them mean so much. new supply delivery? LOVES getting his hands on new federation-published collections

he keeps up with and is still actively friends with most of the borg drones from his initial collective/left over from the lore debaucle. they all write to one another, visit, and some of them even manage their own smaller reclamation projects (or help out with xB support groups)

hugh /has/ had weed once. he and geordi decided to save it for the "we really need to relax days" after hugh tried it for the first time and he happy cried for 10 minutes at seeing a picture of livingston again

thanks to his sessions with rhamda, hugh's unironically picked up an interest in pixmit. he not only appreciates the variables of old mysticism and the history behind it, but the fact it's stayed so resolutely with rhamda and that it could be another way for xBs to process trauma

hugh and the xBs will host welcoming get-togethers for newly-arriving scientists to the artifact every quarter- no matter if they're romulan, klingon, federation, w/e. it builds workplace morale, unity, and helps xBs socialize- even if the artifact isn't the most homey of places

(in addition to this tho: while he /tolerates/ romulan prejudice through grit fucking teeth thanks to the treaty, hugh will /not/ hesitate to report any direct actions of harassment or bigotry to xBs, and enact whatever administrative power he has to remove the offending party)

okay one more before bed (and i’ve talked about this before, but): since it’s canon he Looked Like That before coming to the artifact, EMH was the one who performed hugh’s reclamation procedure after voyager got back from the delta quadrant. the two still keep in touch regularly

SHABLAMZO PICKING THIS THREAD UP AGAIN

hugh doesn't remember anything from his former life/what it was like before being a drone, so he admittedly adopts a lot of human customs/history. since EMH couldn't identify his origin species, he's most similar makeup-wise to betazoids

in studying human history, hugh's fascinated by the variety within the species- especially compared to the uniformity of vulcans and dichotomy of andorians. he sees a kinship in 20th/21st century LGBTQ+ history and their struggles, even moreso as he explores his own sexuality

hugh keeps detailed personal logs- almost akin to diaries, either audible or written form. it's empowering being able to record and store his /own/ thoughts in both stream-of-consciousness and in written forms, because they're singularly /his/ and no one else's