[Illium/Citadel] the techno vixen (closed)

Taleeze giggled at Skylar’s remark about her fondness to play with the human’s hair.
”Oh, I sure wouldn’t mind. Grooming your hair is a very soothing thing to do and the texture is so unique… also, it gives you something of an animalistic touch.” Her hips ground against Skylar’s butt playfully as she said that.

Her hands were producing lots of foam. She pulled one of the nozzles closer to rinse the long hair, feeling the soft strands between her fingers.

“I am feeling like human cuisine tonight. I don’t know many of the specialties you mention though. Do they have something Italian? Mediterra is part of Italy, isn’t it? So anything from there would be great.” Taleeze thought briefly about Lia and her fondness for Italian cooking. She wondered what the human would say if she knew under what circumstances she had entered the asari’s mind.

She had almost finished the procedure on Skylar’s hair. Since she knew how much Skylar liked to play around with her Le’ku – and how much she enjoyed it, she saw no use of hiding her own fascination with hair. Helping Skylar washing it was one of her favorite activities together in the shower.

“Thank you for being here, Sky.” She placed a gentle kiss on the human’s neck, looking at the screen where Skylar was browsing the menu. “We will do fine.” Skylar’s presence was indeed reassuring. “Done!” she said, as she had finished the last rinse.

“So what will you order?” Taleeze switched off the shower and took one of the large white towels from the drawer and put it around Skylar’s shoulders. “And just so you know, there’s going to be a Thessian dessert for you”, she added with an impish grin.

"Just you wait," Skylar grinned, "I'll show you 'animalistic' later on..."

She closed her eyes as Taleeze passed the shower nozzles over her head, enjoying the massage of the water raining down onto her scalp and its caress as it trailed from there down her body.

"Mm, other way around," she corrected Taleeze gently - there was no chiding in her tone, she knew well how baffling the geography of a new world could be, and didn't want the asari to feel awkward. "The Mediterranean's a sea, Italy's one of the coastal states. Known, among many other culinary highlights, for pasta, which is something of a weakness of mine." She reached back to give Taleeze a pat on her firm hip. "Not everyone has the luxury of burning off the calories biotically. But I think, tonight calls for a treat. You have a fondness for Italian? I'd suggest tortellini panna e proscuitto, and a matching wine. And since my dessert is arranged," she took the towel from Taleeze, wrapped it around herself, then let one side drop so as to just barely preserve her modesty - such as it was, at this stage - with the remainder, "I think it's only fair that I whet your appetite in return."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The next morning saw Taleeze getting up early a f a good night's sleep. She was reading over her notes for the x-time before she showered. She put only very light makeup and then she jumped into her suit and put on the sandals.



"What do you say, is that okay?" She asked Skylar who seemed much calmer and was taking seemingly forever to get prepared... but that was just the routine of endless negotiations. Put me on a stage or into a stadium and I am cool as ice but in a boardroom with some CEOs... not really my territory, she mused.

The automated vending station delivered a cup of steaming coffee which Taleeze took and slurped while pacing about the room.

"'Okay' doesn't do you justice, darling," Skylar smiled, giving Taleeze a none-too-subtle up-and-down look. "You look... almost perfect. Wait just one moment."

She put away her stylus set, having finished applying her own makeup - light, in keeping with Taleeze's - and crossed the room, studying the asari's face intently.

"Just one thing missing," she said, gently taking her chin and leaning in to give her a long kiss, leaving a smile on her face. "There, now you're perfect."

Her playful smile turned soft, and she leant back in, but this time only to gently touch her forehead to Taleeze's, while her hands stroked up and down the asari's upper arms.

"Don't worry, our love," she whispered; the term of endearment was one she had arrived at during one of their hushed conversations on the flight from Illium, her way of honouring Freh'ya's place in their feelings. She was finding she quite liked saying it. "This won't be a battle. They're already convinced of the value of your ingenuity, or else we wouldn't be here. All that's before us today is to demonstrate that your terms represent a sound investment."

She stepped back, adjusting her jacket; her suit was asari, but otherwise rather modest by her standards, a concession to the fact that, for the first time in quite a while, she would be a human among humans. She was corseted as always, but with it matching her blouse in colour and style, and half-hidden by the jacket, there was nothing she judged might be taken amiss by whoever came to be sitting across the table from them; she had worn similar outfits, albeit human-style, in Milgrom for many a high-level meeting and appearance, without detriment to her cases.

"And," she continued, striking a pose, one hand on her hip, the other unfurling her omni-tool, "that, I shall achieve. Intellectual property. Creative control. Exclusivity. Incentives." Screens full of relevant data cycled through the main display at her command, clear, illustrative, organised. She closed the 'tool again, and gave Taleeze a confident smile.

"At the risk of sounding like a very clichéd old film," she said, "this is my kung fu, and it is strong." She chuckled, then shook her head. "I'll explain the reference later."

~~~~~~~

“Good Morning, we are Miss Driana and Miss Sinclair, we have an appointment with Mr. Ikari from Entertainment.” The woman behind the reception desk was a young dark skinned human. She opened a page on the holo screen in front of her.

“Welcome to Ariake, Miss Driana, Miss Sinclair. Ikari San is expecting you; he will be with you in a moment. Please take a seat in our lounge.”

The reception area was the center of a larger atrium with three balconies opening up ahead. That place must be ridiculously expensive on the Citadel but this was the hub for one of the biggest electronic companies in C-Space, so who would expect anything less? Most people passing by were human, with some other races as well, mostly salespeople and representatives of customers most likely. Taleeze was feeling a slight bit nervous now. But she knew what her product was capable of and the layout from Eafina for the negotiations were pretty solid. Also, Skylar was with her, so nothing to worry.
She pressed her hand as they sat down. The attorney was probably much more used to stuff like this.

After only a couple of minutes, a man and a woman in business suits were approaching.

“Miss Driana, Miss Sinclair, welcome to Ariake central.” The man greeted them offering them a tiny piece of paper instead of a hand. Taleeze was a bit confused but took the paper card, and studied it – it contained his contact information in written form and a tiny omnichip, how convenient.

“I am Mr. Ikari, this is Miss Kayson.” The woman also greeted them and was presenting a similar card with a slight bow. Taleeze again studied the piece, noting the delicate paper quality.

Returning the bow and feeling slightly stupid not to have brought a thessian emissary emblem, she also greeted the two. Skylar seemed to be a bit more familiar with the rituals, Taleeze was so happy to have brought her along.

“Please follow me, we have a room in our conference zone where we can talk.”

As they entered the business area, the asari exchanged a winning smile with Skylar…


~~~~~~~

The talks had taken all morning but in the end had been pretty simple. Most of the terms were easily accepted by Ariake as if they had suspected them to be presented anyway, and they also could find common ground on the compensation for the initial mod. Not as high as Taleeze would have liked but with other side benefits, mostly technical and advertisement bonuses for any future mods. The last part had been Skylar and Kayson discussion legal matters where Taleeze had trouble following.
She had spent the time drawing concept designs with Ikari who had a few brilliant and even downright naughty suggestions. It had been pretty pleasant overall and had ended with a signed deal and a short lunch at the Ariake Sushi Bar.

Now the two were taking a walk through the ward, to ease the last bit tension and finally be able to enjoy the Citadel. Taleeze was holding on to Skylar’s arm, as they went.

“We did good, didn’t we? Deal signed and done. I’m a contracted developer now.” She grinned proudly.
“I was thinking, maybe we should celebrate a bit tonight, what do you think? Dress up, go to some dance club? I was already listening around for suggestion on the extranet and a place called 'Blue Shift' sounded enticing, what do you think.” she tugged Skylar’s arm a bit, making a small playful jump, which must have looked funny from an asari in a business suit.

“I love you soo much.” Now the holidays could begin. “Should we go back to the hotel and get dress a bit more like the tourists we are and then take a look on the presidium maybe?”

"You did great," Skylar agreed. "I can't remember the last time I had corporate negotiations that were so cordial - but that's Nos Astra for you, even when the companies want to agree, they wind up arguing about how to phrase the agreement." She chuckled. "Excellent hosomaki too. Even in Earth orbit that can't be cheap - but I imagine they wouldn't settle for less than the best for head office."

She glanced down at Taleeze's arm in hers, and smiled as they meandered through the Ward's public spaces. They still surprised her, sometimes - every so often they would emerge from a junction stairway into an arcade so grand in scale one almost forgot they were on a space station at all. Only the gallery windows felt out of place. Their route took them past mainly spaceward views, and the starry black seemed very dark compared to the soft hues of the Serpent Nebula she had grown used to on previous visits.

"Blue Shift," she repeated. "It certainly sounds like the kind of place I ought to be frequenting, so by all means, let's check it out." She paused a moment, in an atrium out of the way of the flow of pedestrian traffic, and gave Taleeze an affectionate nuzzle at the side of her head, just beneath the lower edge of her scalp's outer layer.

"I love you too," she murmured. "It occurs to me that this will be our second date, after the Strata. Normally there'd have been quite a few more before we reached this stage of commitment - testing the waters, and all that. But," she regarded Taleeze with a smile, "when you know, you know, hm?" She laughed softly, slipping her hands beneath the bottom of the asari's jacket to stroke the bare skin above her trouser waist. "Waters most agreeable..."

She remained there for a moment, then glanced aside, at the bustle of people on the avenue.

"And this is where I need to stop myself," she admitted, "or else we're never going to make it anywhere beyond our room without a major corporation to force the issue." She gave Taleeze a squeeze then slipped her arm back to a more casual walking-together stance. "You know, I didn't bring a lot of clothes with me, and I understand there are some commons areas up on the Presidium with quite a selection of boutiques - all storefront-only of course, but I imagine they'd be able to deliver to our hotel. Perhaps while we stroll you could look out for something for your date to wear?" She chuckled again. "How much trouble might I get in by promising to wear whatever you choose?"

Taleeze giggled, when Skylar nuzzled her, it was such a sweet feeling. She wished, Freh’ya could be here as well. She had already typed her a short message of their success earlier.

“It really is, huh?” Taleeze realized when Skylar commented on their dating. “Aren’t we two lovebirds. But then, we spent so much time together before – and even after without having any chance of doing anything other than work, that’s worth double the dates at least!” she remembered all the casual touches and smiles during their time at the Apricity and then the dramatic act with Omega…
“We have a bit of a condensed history, I’d say. And yes, when you know, you know.” And girl, did Taleeze know. She enjoyed the warmth of Skylar’s hand when the human slid it under her jacket. Hands all over her, she just loved to feel Sky’s touch. “Azure waters…” she murmured, closing her eyes for a second.

She sighed and straightened up a bit when Skylar fought her urges. “Yes, we are in a public place after all.” Daia probably wouldn’t have stopped there. Taleeze chuckled.

“Oh, shopping would be fantastic of course! Spending all the money right away, huh? Besides, I think there will still be time later before we head out to continue your little endeavor there….” She took Skylar’s hand and placed it back onto the small of her back again as they strolled along. No reason not to show a bit of her pride to everyone. In - your - face galaxy!

“Hmm, would you be in trouble? Well, no, I don’t think so. I would never want to put in any unfavorable situation, although I feel a bit tempted to show off your beauty. Which you usually do very gracefully yourself anyway. So let’s go and buy something classy and extraordinaire for tonight.” She cocked her head with a mischievous grin.

Her Omnitool blinked and she opened it while walking. She burst into laughter and then her face switched to a warm glowing smile, as she showed Skylar the reply message from Freh’ya:

A picture of a ridiculously cute looking talxu drifting in the water, with two Vira sea roses, asari symbols of love, in its paws. ‘Love is drifting through the galaxy! Congrats and kisses!’ was the message. ‘PS: this is for the whole Citadel team. I am proud.’

"Condensed," Skylar echoed with a chuckle. "And consequently, intense. That reputation we humans have for being 'hasty' has its benefits. But," she dropped her voice to a purr, "somehow, I don't think it was the pace causing the intensity. It certainly hasn't vanished now that we're setting a more leisurely schedule."

She smiled, leaving her hand just where Taleeze had put it as they walked together.

"I put myself in your hands, fashion-wise," she agreed, her smile broadening at her companion's compliments. "As well as in other ways. By all means..." She took a quick step and did a pirouette, ending up back at Taleeze's side and returning her hand to her back, "...show me off. I'll be enjoying quite a measure of pride myself to be seen with you."

She raised an eyebrow at the beep from Taleeze's omni-tool, and peered at the screen when it was offered, breaking into a sudden squeak of joy that was quite at odds with her generally sophisticated demeanour.

"Ohh! Oh, look at the precious little girl!" she exclaimed. "'For the whole team'... Wow." Her eyes became a touch misty, staring at the adorable image. "I'll remember to thank her. I received another letter from her this morning - it was while you were getting dressed - which I'll make time to reply to before we go out tonight. She's... quite a woman. I'm feeling very positive about meeting her properly." She let the thought dwell a moment, then smiled at Taleeze, and glanced back at the image.

"Do you have talxu on Nevos?" she asked. "I've always wanted to meet some, in a natural setting."

With a soft chuckle Taleeze remembered that Skylar was not at all hasty in her doings. They had to plan enough time before going out.

When Skylar looked at the message, Taleeze noted how moved the human was. It was indeed even a bit unexpected for Taleeze. Letter? What letter?

“Wait, what letter? You receive letters from Freh’ya?” She raised an eyebrow smiling. That was unexpected but in a totally pleasant way! Things were moving and it seemed as if perfectly shaped pieces were just falling in place.

“Talxu are so adorable!” Taleeze agreed. “This is about as cheesy as Freh gets, she knows I love them. Unfortunately there are none on Nevos. They are very sensitive when it comes to their ecosystem. It has to do with the eezo. There were plans, only recently, to move some from Thessia to a theme park or something on Nevos and that even led to a massive public protest and I think it got dropped eventually. There are a few small colonies elsewhere, for example there is a Thessian ecosphere on Lusia where they have ten or twenty. Access is pretty restricted though but maybe we can sneak in should we ever visit…. Well, we have to at one point since I guess, you’ll want to meet my mum and vice versa. And I would want to go to Thessia with you as well. That’s where I met my first talxu when I was a kid, we were swimming together for a bit and it touched me with its nose! Just like you do… just a bit wetter.” She wrinkled her nose and giggled, tugging Skylar a bit closer.

“Oh gosh, look at that!” They were in front of a store that had a cocktail party on display in the storefront exhibition window. A group of semi translucent human and asari holograms were moving and turning, supporting actual dresses. “Let’s go look inside!”

"Two, now," she replied. "The first came through while we were en route here; I wrote most of the reply while you had that nap, and finished it off last night. She's been very open towards me, even warm. Not that I imagined she'd be otherwise, but for her to have reached out this way... it carries a lot of weight." She gave Taleeze a fond smile. "She's looking forward to meeting me. Nevos is twice as bright now."

She nodded when Taleeze explained that, sadly, however many wonderful asari it might contain, talxu were not among her home's attractions.

"Ah, I see. I think I heard once that it was the gravity on Illium that ruled them out there. Which I can relate to, coming from Bekenstein's point-nine to Illium's point-two-above. Although I shouldn't complain, it's hardly Dekuuna. And quite good for maintaining muscle tone, that little bit of extra effort every time you go up a flight of stairs." She chuckled, then sobered. "I remember hearing there was a stir about an attraction park kind of proposal, it must have been the Nevos one. Just as well it didn't go through, then."

She laughed out loud when Taleeze proposed the visit to Lusia, and her mother.

"Sorry, darling," she apologised. "I'd love to. It's just funny, because 'meeting the parents' - mother in this case - is such a stereotypical panic moment for human couples. But I'm sure I have nothing to fear."

Her gaze had been drifting out across the arcade they were in, so that she hadn't spotted the storefront until Taleeze pointed it out.

"Potential, definitely," she agreed, following the asari inside. "What piques your fancy?"

“Twice as bright is no description. Do you even know how that makes me feel now? It’s unexpected for me as well that she did that. It’s great and I am glad I was right about her state when I left her. She made good use of her free time it seems and did things her way. In retrospect I shouldn’t be surprised. It’s the inevitable situation and she is taking the offensive – sorry to make it sound like that but that’s how she is. Besides… you charm will work on her as well, I am pretty sure. She’ll always be honest and that’s one of her best traits. Her condition didn’t change that. Maybe she is… hesitant sometimes but never false or backhanded. In fact… I even believe you being human is good for her. Her trauma is closely connected to Thessia and the fate of the asari there. You probably don’t trigger that in her.” Taleeze stared at the window, a faint reflection of herself there. “That talxu picture. It may mean more than we think now.” She looked over to her lover. the corners of her eyes were twitching a bit. “We’re going to be able to be a family, Skylar.”
She pressed her hand and smiled.

“Speaking of family, it’s the same for asari. We call that ‘meeting the matron’.” Taleeze airquoted. “My mum is not overprotective though, so don’t worry.” Taleeze thought about the fact that Skylar had never talked about her parents. Maybe it was the wrong time to ask. Taleeze needed to know more about what happed with Sky during the war. She just needed to find the right moment. She directed the attention towards the dresses.

“Look at that short one. That’s almost Daia-short. I can imagine that with my high lacing sandals. Or the one with the siver inlays? C’mon, let’s try some…. Maybe they even have corsage dresses. Speaking of which. We must find a corset store, I want you to chose one for me, a real corset. Now will that get me in trouble?”

"Family," Skylar whispered, her eyes misty. "I'd like that. I'd like to be that for you, our love."

She paused for a moment, to be drawn out of her silence by Taleeze's comment about 'meeting the matron'; that got a grin out of her, and she was again in the moment, smiling broadly.

"I can imagine that on you too," she agreed, eyeing the dress Taleeze had pointed out. "Sandals or no. A corset, you say? Well," she drawled, giving Taleeze a slow, potential-laden inspection, "yes, I'm sure if we find a suitable shop, you will look simply stunning in one. You're a dear to indulge me," she added, leaning in to kiss her companion, before resuming her gaze, now quite pointedly heated, "and yes, since you obviously know exactly how to push my buttons, you, darling, will find yourself in the most exquisite kind of trouble..."

------

It was late, the kind of late that was on the cusp of becoming next morning. Having fought and won, as Skylar liked to term it, in the boardroom, and partied suitably hard the evening after, the couple had returned to their room, there to continue their celebrations in private. Despite the considerable expenditure of energy involved, though, Skylar found sleep elusive - not troublingly so, she felt, but the excitement of the day had left her in a slightly alert sort of drowsiness, where her mind hadn't yet quite settled down.

Having taken some time to appreciate Taleeze's form, stretched out on the bed dozing, she eventually sat up, carefully settled the sheets around the asari - although the room maintained quite a comfortable temperature regardless - and padded naked over to the tiny kitchenette area, where she quietly made herself a cup of tea. The view from their room caught her, and she found herself standing at the windows, staring out, sipping every once in a while. Beyond the megastructure of the Citadel, the British Isles were passing below.

Skylar glanced aside at a soft sound of movement, and saw Taleeze looking at her inquisitively. She gave a reassuring smile, but was not upset when the asari rose and joined her, rather than remaining in bed.

"I was born there," she said quietly, touching a finger to the window. "Hertfordshire. Comforting old buildings and patchwork fields."

The night had left Taleeze with her feet falling off. The party had been hard but the after party even more delicious. She had been drifting in and out of a dreamless sleep, to admire or caress Skylar next to her. All the excitement ebbed away only very slowly.

She rolled over to face the windows, when her love wasn’t there next to her. She took a moment to indulge in the picture of the only slightly illuminated silhouette of Skylar in front of the glimmering blue of a planetary dawn below.
Taleeze swung her legs out of the bed, the cool floor feeling nice to her feet, and padded over to Sky, stepping behind her, placing her chin on the human’s shoulder. One hand found its way around Sky’s waistline and rested on the belly.

The planet was a beautiful one and from that distance you could almost forget how bad it still looked in many places. Now is was just the earliest light in the atmosphere, clouds and their shadows over the oceans and coastlines. Peaceful, only interrupted by occasional reflections from vessels traveling about the Citadel.

“Down there.” Taleeze repeated whispering. It was funny that the Citadel was resting in a stationary position over Sky’s birthplace.
“Sounds beautiful. Do you know what happened to it, what’s it like now?”

They had never talked about the war and each other’s fate as they had been too busy with making each day work. Now, in the calm night high above the culmination point of the Reaper War suddenly felt like the time. Taleeze's thoughts meandered, back to the workout machines in an apartment in Nos Astra and then to a tunnel intersection in the vast labyrinth of the Cyone reactor complex...

Skylar smiled slightly as Taleeze neared, but her gaze remained distant even as she rested her head against the asari's on her shoulder, and covered the hand on her stomach with her own.

"It was beautiful," she said softly. "It seemed so timeless - bear in mind, the first place I ever called 'home' was Milgrom, there was literally nothing man-made on the planet that wasn't younger than me. We were first-wave; my parents had strong ties to two of the founding corporations. We were already living aboard the pre-settlement habitats when the colonial administration was updating the Council's old survey charts, and deciding which bit of rock looked like it'd make a good site for a capital city. Once we were settled, I still had toys older than the city we lived in." She shook her head.

"To grow up in that kind of world," she mused, "and then visit this place, this birthplace, where people think nothing of living in houses older than spaceflight, where they walk past sites dating back to the Roman Empire on their way to the local shops... It's no wonder I latched onto the asari perspective. Bekenstein's sense of history you could fit inside a breadbox, and still leave room for a sandwich."

She chuckled quietly, still gazing out at the planet below.

"'This royal throne of kings, this sceptred isle, this earth of majesty, this seat of Mars, this other Eden, demi-paradise...'" She paused, then her mouth twitched in a dry grin. "Though, 'this fortress built by nature / against the hand of war' turned out not to be so accurate. It's far enough inside the greater metropolitan zone that it... fell, if the event deserves so grandiose a description, at the beginning, with London. There wasn't a battle, or anything. All the organised fighting was nearer the capital, where the ships were landing. There was no evacuation, like there was in Nos Astra - nobody knew what was coming. Well," she shrugged, carefully so as not to dislodge Taleeze, "some did, evidently, but they weren't listened to. Cassandra warning of the fall of Troy."

She put her free hand back on the window, moving her fingertips idly as if touching the land far beyond, and with her other hand caressed Taleeze's arm around her waist.

"I'm sorry," she said ruefully. "I'm being terribly depressing, all of a sudden. I understand the rebuilding there is coming along, as well as it does anywhere. The fields will be green again."

Bekenstein was mostly just… gone. Taleeze knew as much and had seen terrifying vids. Down there was another place that had shaped Skylar. Flattened, just barely not gone. The painful realization that Skylar had lost a great deal of her past, much more than Taleeze herself, became apparent.

She understood not even half of the poetry Skylar was mentioning but that wasn’t that important. She couldn’t say much anyway, nothing meaningful that could outweigh the pain of loss Skylar seemed to feel despite not having spent much time down there. You somehow always had some connection to your roots it seemed. An asari like her should know, feeling torn about palaven.

Taleeze moved very close to Skylar's ear, her skin brushing against the tiny hairs that covered human skin so strangly as she whispered: “It’s okay to feel sorrow. We’ll go there when it’s healed. I want too it’s beauty, no matter how long it takes. We could… plant a tree on the land of your ancestors, maybe a flower from Thessia.” A shudder ran down her spine as she continued the sentence in her mind. And maybe our daughter can play under that tree some day.
Oh, my, now it became frightening, and she suppressed a chuckle. Well, maybe a picknick of three would be a more fitting picture for now.

She sighed, straightening up, letting one hand slide over the hip of Skylar, resting on her well shaped backside. The other cupped the extended hand on the glass.

“Lay your roots with me/daughter of the stars/my soil is mother to your spawn/ your flower is my mirror” It was an idle old song, one of the more melancholic ones Freh’ya could play on the shi’tari. “We are together now and that’s what counts. We are going to build our new future, I promise.”

For a few moments they just stood there, seemingly naked in the void of space as the dawn crept in.



“You never told me what you were doing when Nos Astra was hit. How did you manage to get through all of this?” It seemed like the time to go over these things fnally.

"That's what counts," Skylar nodded, a smile returning to her lips. "I'd love to show you Earth, one day. You and Freh'ya. There's a lot I'd like to see for myself for that matter, that I haven't yet. And we'll plant that tree." She had felt Taleeze's tremor, and understood, in essence if not the specifics; she snaked a hand around the asari's waist and held her close, slowly stroking her hip. The hand on her bottom was stimulating, but she didn't feel compelled at act on it, not just yet. It was comforting, she found, to be touched, simply for its own sake.

"Oh, the 'siege'?" she said, when Taleeze asked. "There's... not a lot to tell. And," she added apologetically, "it's not the most heart-warming tale... But you deserve to know."

She took a slow breath, her fingertips on Taleeze's hip slowing.

"I was whisked out of Nos Astra along with everyone else from the Oasis - you know how Eafina is about looking after all the people in her care, as it were. She had coaches waiting, emergency supplies packed, routes planned and cleared, the whole deal. When they came through Tasale relay, everyone got a summons to the old Oasis building, and we all left the city, for Nos Varda. The first few days, when it was just chaos, we were in a transit terminal, sleeping in shifts in the coaches, watching the local channels. A surreal few days, nobody had really... really grasped what was happening. But there was a lot to do to keep busy, everyone pitched in. Making sure everyone had food, water, shelter, compiling a rough-and-ready census. Eafina put me in touch with the office that was trying to arrange some kind of administration in the district, and as days passed and the situation stabilised, that turned into being the Sisterhood's policy liaison with the Nos Varda Provisional Authority.

"That went on for... what was it, a couple of months? Three, perhaps, local time, it was all a bit hazy." She gave a quiet sigh. "Taking one day at a time... worked, but thinking about the bigger picture meant thinking about the future, and that wasn't... a rosy picture. Then the 'battle'... more just an incursion that got lucky, from what the analysts said looking back, but the 'battle of Nos Varda' according to the history books. The Board had stung the machines in space, dodged their 'warships' and hit the... troop transports, if that's how you'd describe husk carriers, with shaped atomics. When they landed they had to... make more." She shuddered slightly at the knowledge of how that happened. "But, they did, and eventually they came in force. We won, more or less - broke up the incursion, cut them off from mutual support, reestablished the barrier wall to prevent reinforcement, and wiped them out bit by bit. But they did a lot of damage while the fighting lasted."

She leaned forward slightly, resting her forearm against the window and touching her cheek the Taleeze's hand in hers.

"It was a flyer that hit our building," she said quietly. "One of ours, it turned out - shot out of the sky, and the wreckage hit the side of the tower. Eafina, Charisma and I had been moved into an apartment there, but Eafina was at the club when it happened. She'd made sure to refit the building with reinforced barrier doors, when Apricity was being built inside of it. Always looking out for us. They'd got people in from off the street when the alert sounded and sealed up, and waited it out." A chuckle escaped her. "I gather they managed to keep everyone's minds off things well enough. Our apartment block, where Charisma and I were, had blast shutters as well, of course. It was just... one of those things, pure fluke. A piece of wreckage hit the shutters where a stray shot impact had weakened them, and came straight through.

"I honestly, God's truth, have no memory of it at all. One moment I'm sitting beside her in the service corridor - room nearest the building's centre, away from the exteriors - and then, I'm in a bed, and a little VI drone is telling me a nurse is on her way, and my listed contact person has been notified that I'm awake. And the war's over. The debris had cartwheeled through the apartment, missed Charisma by inches, and... hit me. It was fortunate the shutters and walls had slowed it already, but I was a mess. Charisma used all the medi-gel she had on me. She kept me stable until the fighting was over, and emergency teams got sent out."

She pressed her lips to Taleeze's palm, as if hoping to reassure her.

"The... the damage, was pretty extensive," she admitted. "I have the good fortune to be one of the fifteen percent of humans who can take unmodified asari regeneration treatments, so they put me back together. The Sisterhood made sure I got the best care possible, which was no mean feat with a war on. Charisma, Eafina, Daia, Ana when she got back from the Flotilla, all came to visit me. I... wish I could say I knew, or even that I had some inkling they were there. I had no conscious... anything. No sense time was passing, no dreaming, no awareness. I was in there, the physicians could tell - after I was out of the danger period, Eafina pulled all sorts of strings to get meld therapists, to try to reach me and coax me back. Daia even tried - not to treat me, you know how careful she is about leaving medical melding to the professionals, but just to find me. I was... stubborn, though. It took months. But, finally, I opened my eyes, and discovered that we'd... won. I suppose."

She shook her head slightly, then focused on Taleeze's hand in hers, and smiled.

"Here we are," she murmured. "This is a victory." She turned, resting her shoulders against the window, gently pulling Taleeze closer to stand between her thighs, and firmly placing both the asari's hands on her rear.

"Please," she continued, sounding much more her usual self, "don't be upset. It was more difficult for everyone around me - myself, it seems like just a story, something that happened to someone else, while I took a nap. Maybe I'll never really understand that it happened to me, but," she shrugged, "I don't feel that's such a terrible void in my life, if that's the case. There's not much more to tell. I had some catching up to do, obviously - the therapy systems they use to keep your muscles in condition when you're out do the job, but I have rather higher standards for my body than just 'functional', so I spent quite a bit of time on strenuous physical workouts, getting back to stage form. Luckily legal work isn't quite so demanding of an hourglass figure, and with all the corporate scrambling going on to adjust to postwar conditions and capitalise on whatever they could, I had the luxury of being able to pick up some quite well-paying freelance work, so money wasn't a worry while I was finding an apartment, and helping with the Sisterhood, and Ana and Daia with their company."

She brushed Taleeze's cheeks with her fingertips, and very gently lured her into a soft kiss.

"That's my tale," she said simply. "Not the most pleasant, but I'd do it all again, knowing it would lead right here." She gazed into Taleeze's eyes.

The story that unfolded before Taleeze was unbelievable. She had no idea! Neither Daia nor anyone else had ever mentioned something terrible like this! What would have happened if… no, it didn’t happen. I wasn’t meant to happen.

She could feel the pain and the desperation. And she felt small reassuring gestures of Skylar towards her and yet… her skin was trembling, her knees got shaky and she must have held her breath more than once only to let it out in painful sighs.

Tears welled up in her eyes, a small one escaping, running down her cheek. She leaned into the human, seeking as much contact as she possibly could. I won’t let anything ever happen to you, I’d rather die myself.

“Goddess” was the only word she could utter for some time when Skylar placed herself in front of her.

A victory at what terrible price! Taleeze knew every centimeter of Skylar’s skin and the doctors had done a stellar job as there wasn’t the slightest scarring. Asari regen tech was the best there was but underneath it was still the tissue that had been turn and mutilated… Taleeze didn’t want to imagine that. Now it also became apparent what the workout equipment in her apartment was for.

“You should have told me how bad it was, love, that’s …” She was gently caressing Skylar’s rear, where the skin was so exceptionally soft. She more than willingly entered into the kiss. That nightmare was over for good, that was what Skylar wanted to say.
“Are you really okay? I maybe wasn’t ever careful enough…. If it ever hurts or anything, just tell me, okay?”

“The nightmare is over, siame, the dream has just begun.” Taleeze replied with a soft smile, her eyes still a bit wet. She now pulled Sky into another kiss herself, a bit more passionate, as she gripped Skylar a bit harder, as if never wanting to let her go again.

As they broke the kiss both of them had a smile on their lips. “This is victory.” Taleeze chuckled.

“I think I also never told you what I did. It’s not as crass as your story though. Want to hear?” Taleeze smiled. “If that’s not a too uncomfortable position. Not that I would mind though.” She playfully pulled Skylar’s hips close to hers.

“Okay, so you already know that Freh’ya went with the first batch to Thessia. We had a lot of commandos passing through, some for regeneration, some with recruiting teams. We can’t only rely on the professional huntresses, they aren’t that many after all so they started recruiting volunteers for support, space crews, engineering. After Freh was out three weeks I signed up with the engineer corps. I have some experience with weaponry… hm, that’s another story I should tell you sometime actually.

Anyway, we went through a fast bootcamp. I was among those with good biotic abilities for combat – the pildavi. Never thought about it that way but it came to light I have an exceptional mean throw.” She chuckeled. “So after that we got assigned to our postings, as I was among the advanced with guns and an able technician I was posted on cyone. There are big fuel reactor facilities there, I don’t know if you know about them, but they were pretty vital. We set up camp in Polos and I was mainly doing maintenance on weapons and machinery like trucks. A lot of special ops teams were rotated through Cyone to defend the reactors, they took care of most of the fighting. Somehow we managed to shield space against big reaper attacks but on one occasion they must have established a base in the wastelands we never found. Constant streams of their Reaper spawn or occasional geth even broke into the reactors and we couldn’t clean them out fast enough, they just kept coming.

Our commander insisted all of us also going down there to fight, nobody would just stay back at the sideline. So I went and fought these… creatures in tunnels, control rooms, corridors, engine rooms. It was a big ugly gooy mess. The stench was incredible. But we held our ground.” She made pause, sighing, looking into Skylar’s eyes, then down at their navels, where their bodies met at the hips.

“Until towards the end, when all major units were withdrawn to earth. We stayed behind and threw ourselves against the enemy, with too few and very scattered. We made teams of two, to get biotic explosions work better. It was a meat grinder, only a question of time… This is the worst thing I remember, the screams of the dying echoing through the ducts… knowing that friends were ripped apart alive or… worse and you couldn’t help but only trying to hide behind the next tubes.” She sobbed and sniffled a bit and couldn’t look up.

“I was together with Jo, a nice girl from Trategos. We managed to escape the hide and seek for some time but then a Ravenger got her. She lost both legs with one shot. Well not immediately, the suit kept it kind of together. I pumped her full with medigel and tried to move her but … they were closing in.” She could get herself to say ‘Banshee’. “I was sure we were done for. There was no hope anymore. And then the blue light came.” A sob shook her, mixed with a laugh. “That blue light that saved us.” She made a pause, calming down her breath. She finally looked up at Skylar’s eyes, she even produced a small smile.

“Victory finally. It was unbelievable. It was surreal. Finally I could carry Jo outside and get her stabilized. She’s home now and we have occasional contact. Trategos girls are tough.” Taleeze laughed, but the emotion showed all over her face.

“That’s what I did. It was a fucking nightmare I want to forget. Now, who’s dramatic?”

"I'm really okay," Skylar assured her lover. "I promise, if anything ever does hurt, I won't try to hide it - but nothing ever has. I slept long enough that, by the time I finally woke up, all the regens had run their course, inside and out. Good as new." She chuckled faintly.

"Siame," she breathed. She knew asari - not many, given the word's weight in culture, but some - who used it as lightly. She only had to hear it from Taleeze's lips to know she meant it. "Sometimes... when I look at you, you seem too good to be true. But the more we're together, the more... you seem like the most true thing in my entire life."

She enjoyed the following kiss immensely, and offered no resistance as Taleeze pulled her closer.

"This does seem the time for sharing," she agreed.

She had known the basics, that Taleeze had served during the war; she nodded at the mention of Cyone, half-remembering a passing reference she had made once, when they had been discussing her modified tech/cloak. That seemed so long ago, swapping choreography ideas across a table in a spare office in Apricity, while Taleeze's invention took place under her skillful hands. Perhaps, she reflected, to a historian, her tale wouldn't have seemed remarkable - one among millions who had fought, on world after world, all too often playing out the same tragic drama, prolonging a losing struggle one minute at a time, hoping against all reason that the next minute would be the miracle.

For Skylar, though, Taleeze's tale made the war's final days real, in a way she had never truly grasped before. Before her 'sleep' there was still so much disbelief of what was going on, even as system after system fell. Even with Reapers beyond Nos Varda's own barriers, visible to the naked eye on the horizon in what remained of Nos Astra, there was no grasping the enormity of the entire galaxy being overshadowed by the colossal, impossible foe. People focused on what was in front of them, and subconsciously ignored the rest. But she knew, from hearing people talk about the later days, that it hadn't lasted; there had been momentary triumphs here and there, but ultimately despair had set in, a reversal of the earlier stubborn hope. The feeling that, no matter who won here, today, the galaxy was already lost.

She felt it now, glimpsed some inkling of the emptiness so many must have felt. And when Taleeze spoke of 'they', Skylar needed no elaboration - she had heard that unique hollow dread in asari voices before, always when they spoke of the banshees. Some quirk of the asari psyche seemed to make their existence a blow even more terrible to them than their equivalents to other species, as horrific as the other 'types' of husk were. Skylar had seen images of human husks, turian, other abominations, but she had pointedly avoided seeking any imagery of a banshee. Loving the asari nature as she did, she felt a unique dread of something that could hurt it so deeply. She tightened her legs' grasp on her lover and held her close, almost as if trying to shield her, while she wept, and Skylar's tears silently flowed with hers.

"Darling..." she said, in a whisper of a voice, when Taleeze had finished. "I don't... know what to say. So brave. But I- I don't want to remind you needlessly." She hesitated, then kissed a trail of moisture on the asari's cheek.

"If it ever hurts," she offered, knowing she was echoing Taleeze's own words, and finding it somehow fitting, "if you need me to listen again, I will. But," she went on, her voice steadying, "until then, I have so many other things to admire you for. So let it be in the past, where nightmares belong."

She smiled, genuinely.

"Come on," she tilted her head, "let's lie down. Bed is where dreams happen, after all - the good kind."

“It’s good to talk, really. Nobody ever really asks.” She sighed. “You didn’t either technically. But it’s something that has to be worked over from time to time. Don’t laugh, but the only person I so much as briefly mentioned it to, other than Freh’ya, was Ana. She can… relate and… yeah.” She sighed. “It’s good she’s doing better now. Freh’ya was a given, I was… going ahead, telling her my tales and she would spit out bits of hers. But far from all of it. I don’t know, I may as well never hear it all and I am okay with that thought, she is working with her Matriarch and I don’t interfere. Whenever we feel like it, she talks. She knows I am always aurals for her, just as for you. And I know that I can lay anything I feel like on you.” She caressed Skylar’s arm.

When Skylar suggested the bed, Taleeze happily complied. As they nestled into the comforting sheets, both of them turned towards the window, Taleeze curling up into the embrace of Skylar, dozing and caressing each other.

The nightmare was really over now. It felt over, the cosmos felt right. When Skalar’s hand gently played with Taleeze’s navel, the asari cupped it with her own and gently guided it towards dreams to happen…

~~~~~~~

The Skycab touched down on the presidium docking point, Taleeze and Skylar had to cross a small bridge to get into the ring section that was so much different than the arms of the wards. A lift was bringing them to a much higher level (odd music was playing, it was notorious for being supposedly pleasant to all sentient species but in reality just plain boring) It was in fact background to soft slurping sounds of two people kissing intensely and gasping for air occasionally or giggling.

The doors opened and the swooping curvature of the Presidium with its artificial sky and air traffic was unfolding before them. They had emerged on an upper level of a common area with stairs leading down towards the parks and the famous ponds.

“Wow, this is a bit different than I remember it. It’s been a while.” She giggled and added with a soft padding of Skylar’s hand, like a mother would: “looong before you were even planned, dear.” She laughed.

There still was construction going on here and there, a few birds were sitting a top a kiosk and eying the newcomers. There even was a keeper doing it’s keeper things in a corner next to an AVINA. A lot of people of all the major Citadel species were moving about, even two hanar were floating across the Commons plaza.

“Now where to? I’d like to go downstairs, stroll along the ponds… I’d like to see the embassies and all the monuments there. What do you say?”

"Oh, is that so?" Skylar teased back. "I'd retort, but after last night's demonstration of the energy levels of a hormone-crazed high school girl, I don't feel I can justifiably call you 'old'." She giggled softly, and leaned in closer to Taleeze. "Or complain."

She was feeling especially light on her feet today, which perhaps could be literally ascribed to the Presidium's reduced gravity, but she was inclined to attribute the greater part to the company; it was all she had been able to do to restrain herself and release the asari just as the lift doors opened.

"By all means," she agreed with Taleeze's suggestion, slipping a hand down to discreetly squeeze her bottom while nobody was looking. She did have some sense of decorum still operating, and it wouldn't do to make a scene in the more well-travelled areas; best take her chances while she could.

"It's not my first time either," she said, as they walked arm-in-arm. "The occasional business visit of course, but even just strolling, like this. But that view is still so surreal." She gazed off into the distance, where the cultivated garden landscape curved upwards, and the 'sky' did likewise. "I suppose the people who are here every day get used to it. But it's so convincing, looking sidelong - the water, the parks, sky above, sunshine -you could forget you're not on a planet. And then you turn, and that, the world curved up like that. Oh, pardon me," she said, sidestepping a Keeper going about his, or her, or its business.

She glanced over her shoulder at the insectoid ambling along on its way, and shook her head, smiling.

"I wonder," she mused, "if he - or perhaps someone less all-work, they don't seem the tourist sort - visited Illium, or Earth, after living here... What would it be like to look at the horizon?" She stared speculatively at the upturned view ahead.