Private Chains of the Galaxy (18+)

[Wolfbane]

"James, wake up. Don't want to waste the whole day, now do we? Plus I'm hungry." She poked him until he was turned over to face her, He slid hos legs from the bed, then got up to see that Selena was already in her orange jumper and another white tank top. Selenia yawned and stretched like cat from a nap.

"Alright, I'm getting up. Let me get dressed."
"I wonder what's on the tele."

Selenia flipped on the TV, lighting up the large room with the blues, reds, and dark colors of the tower. The council and Shepard appeared, discussing new evidence in the case of the rogue Spectre. The hearing was underway, but they had just gotten to the evidence, making her pay close attention and took a seat while waiting for Vex to get dressed.

"What do you think about all this, James?"

He heard her voice travel from the living room to the closet closet to the bathroom. He took a little while to answer, slipped his pants on, lacing up his shoes, and walked towards her voice to answer. The thumping of his boots caught Selenia's attention, snapping to the doorway and seeing her friend leaning against the wall, without a shirt.

"Don't tell me your still interested in this. We need to get back to work, and you want to eat. What are you staring at with that smile?"

Selenia gave him a playful stare and smile at the obvious sight of him without a shirt. Even with all the scars and being friends all that time she was still amazed at how he looked like he could rip anything short of a krogan or Elcor in half. This is one of the things that made their friendship so strong. A sense of tension and flirtatiousness always in the air.

"Oh nothing. Get your shirt and jacket on big boy and let's get something to eat! We should go back to the place like last time!" She ran her finger across his chest then pushed him towards his shirt and coat. He gave slipped his shirt, armor, guns, then his coat on with haste before they went back to the bar from last night.

Once arriving, they noticed the girl with the pink hair with a turian, salarian and a girl,the Drell and her human man friend, the red head, and now themselves. They sat down in the same spots, and ordered the same thing as each other,

"Two slices of toast, two eggs over medium, two links of sausage, two strips of bacon, coffee, and water."

Selenia simply pointed to Vex indicting to the man behind the counter that her order is the same. Vex causally looked around the room, eyeing everybody just as before, and turned to face the bar. Selenia simply looked towards the new girl to smile and wave. For some reason. she picked up a different feeling about the girl. She turned to Vex, nudged him, and quietly spoke to him,

"You see the girl by the turian? Try to be nice. I have a feeling she has been through a ringer."
"You got it. We both have that ability, so I get what you're saying."

Within a couple of minutes their food was in front of them, and they began to eat with enjoyment.

 

[EpicVakarian]

Before the food arrived, someone sat down next to Abby.
"Hello again." Abby turned to look, and saw the drell woman from last night.
"Hello!" The drell's handsome companion sat down next to her, opposite Abby, ignoring her moodily. "Hell of a coincidence, meeting you two here again." Looking a little behind the drell, she noticed the red-headed woman with her dog as well. "And her too," she said, nodding subtly toward the woman.
As if it couldn't get any more strange, the asari and her human companion turned up and sat at the bar. Before she could point them out to the drell, a turian moved into her field of vision.

"Pardon me, miss." He was looking straight at Abby; his voice was smooth, deep and inherently trustworthy, for some reason. "My friends here need some breakfast but all the tables are full. Would you mind if they sat here with you?" Abby glanced back behind the turian; a lanky salarian and a short, cute young human girl were shrinking behind the strength of the turian.
"Of course," said Abby, "Come on and sit down." The young girl thanked Abby with a slightly shaking voice, but she maintained her stance reasonably well, making Abby gain some respect for the girl. "Don't be nervous. What are you, 16, 17? I'm only a little older than you. I know how you feel." She smiled kindly at the girl and the salarian. "So, what are your names?"

 

[Simus]

"Th-thanks." Jessica said nervously as the cute and pretty pink haired girl invited her and Thrax to sit down. There were a lot of people, half of them aliens, and they were all staring at them. This made Jessica uncomfortable and Thrax self-conscious. They were both worried enough about being out of the hospital as it was. Garrus had to metaphorically twist Madelyn's arm to let them out, and that felt like breaking the rules. Garrus would be looking over their shoulders the whole time and that would be weird because they could look like criminals or something. Plus after being in the confined hospital for days the rest of the Citadel felt so open. Too open, just like Eden Prime. Freedom mingled with a sense of vulnerability and Jessica instinctively stayed close to Garrus for protection. Thrax had alawasy been nervous around crowds and was still ashamed at how he had tried to hurt himself. He was silently grateful he was the only Salarian here.

Garrus had a hand on one of their shoulders each and guided them into their seats. They both felt better with him around. "I'll be over at the bar next to that human woman with the dog if you need me okay?" He said reassuringly. They both relaxed and he handed them forty credits each. "Order whatever you want. You guys deserve some real food. Just don't ask me to try anything, unless you want me covered in big purple sores and gasping for breath." He smiled as he said the last part and his two charges looked up to him and smiled back. Seeing that they were safe, Garrus headed over to the bar and ordered a shot of Turian bourbon. As he waited he turned to the human woman next to him and eyed her dog curiously. "What sort of dog is that?" He asked while looking down at the large animal. "There aren't any on Palavan and Turians had never seen one before Shanxi."

Jessica was more relaxed now that Garrus had turned away and the pink haired girl's kind words made her feel welcome. "Don't be nervous." She said reassuringly. "What are you, 16, 17? I'm only a little older than you. I know how you feel. So, what are your names?"

"J-Jessica, Jessica Saegan. It's um...nice to meet you. And I'm 16." Jessica said, trying to smile. Her black leather jacket was open but she zipped it up to the neck to try and feel a little safer. She was glad for her blue jeans and her black knee high leather riding boots over them. They fit close to her legs and provided a little security. "Sorry, it's just...this is a strange station and all the aliens kind of make me nervous. Uhh-no offense to any of you of course! It's just...I'm from Earth and I've only ever been to Grissom Academy, Elysium and most recently Eden Prime so I've never seen an alien before. Really..."

She was embarrassed at her babbling and her cheeks turned a tad pink for it. Plus she had just mentioned Eden Prime when the Geth had nuked half the colony and that was going to lead to some painful questions. She gave a frustrated sigh and simply waited for someone to say something.

"Thanks a lot." Thrax said, more relaxed than Jessica but only because he was concentrating on the Asari woman's head crests and admiring them so. "My name's Thrax. Well, technically Sur'Kesh Goranon Aquin Mor Insterra Thrax but most people just call me Thrax Insterra. Salarian names are usually a bit of a mouthful so we usually just use our given and clan names for simplicity. And I'm 10." He paused for a moment and let his brain catch up and absentmindedly rub his right horn. "Sorry, you guys probably don't care about all that. Uh...how's it going?"

Before anyone could respond a volus waiter came up to the table with a pad. "*inhale* What can I get you?"

Jessica was thankful for the distraction and dove into her menu. "Umm...could I get the cinnamon french toast stack with bacon please?"

"*inhale* two strips or three?"

"Could I get four? and a diet pepsi please."

"*inhale* Sorry, no human beverages."

"Then whatever diet cola you have."

"*inhale* And you?"

"I'll take the all you can eat pancakes." Thrax said. "With a side of bacon."

"*inhale* coming right up."

The waiter left and the two newcomers waited for the pink haired girl to introduce herself. For some reason both Jessica and Thrax liked her already. She seemed warm and friendly, an all right sort.

(OOC: Resources for Salarian names are spotty and practically non-existent for full ones, so I decided to make one up based on what sounded right.)

 

[CapObvious]

Nikah smiled as the pink-haired girl from before responded to her greeting. She could feel Brom shift moodily in his seat, saying a few choice words repeatedly in his head. She wasn't one for torture, especially for someone who had been through so much. But it had been a year or two, and Brom seemed to appreciate her ribbing.

Most of the time.

Both of their attentions were moved away, as they saw a turian bringing two children, a human and a salarian. He explained the seating situation and asked for some room, to which the girl agreed. Nikah studied the children, her eyes analyzing every detail of their physical person. She wouldn't normally do so. She wasn't one to even look at another unless she had him or her at the business end of her omni-blade.

But these children intrigued her.

The salarian was what had Brom intrigued, she could feel his mind prying at the boy, asking so many questions. The most common question that kept repeating was this:

Salarians can eat pancakes? And bacon? Do they even LIKE that stuff?

The confusion made Nikah giggle softly to herself. That was something that Nikah always found endearing about Brom. When he wasn't brooding, when he wasn't being overprotective or being an ass, he was almost ...

Human?

Nikah's observations ceased, and she closed her mind so that Brom wouldn't pry. Sometimes she regretted training Brom in neural pairings that trained drell could share.

To be honest, sometimes she regretted training Brom at all. Sure, he would have taken his own life had he survived and she left him alone. But she had to rip out so much of his life away. So many of his memories. So much of his...humanity. She wouldn't have minded if it were another drell. After all, putting feelings and pains behind them was expected of them in this profession.

But was it right for Brom?

She watched as he stared at the table absentmindedly, running his fingers across the table, writing out some sort of list or memory. Occasionally he would sneak a peak or two at the pink-haired girl when he believed Nikah and the girl herself weren't looking.

That alone put some of her fears to rest.

No, Brom was still human. Still alive. He wasn't some husk of a man, morphed into a weapon. He was okay.

She pushed her doubts aside, and looked ahead again, this time speaking aloud to all who were listening. "Anything new about that Shepard character?"

 

[Wolfbane]

"Looks like you have an admirer." He sneakily pointed to the salarian who was obviously staring at Selenia's head, then began to absentmindedly trace the counter while they both waited for their food.

"Why do people stare at these? It's not like bothers me, I'm just wondering why." She rubbed her head while the salarian continued to stare.

"Same reason why turians and quarians stare at our legs. Either their curious, wondering, put off, or like the sight of them. Humans stare at each other, so it's the same case." The food then arrived, making Vex reach for the salt, slide the knife under the eggs to put on top of the toast, then he cut into the two with the knife and stabbed it with the fork to begin eating. There were a couple things Vex was known for; His biotic control, his accuracy, his humor, not saying more than he has to among strangers, and his appetite.

"I suppose. At least be subtle about it."
"Says the girl who outwardly stares at me whenever I'm halfway clothed."
"That's different! You're not a complete stranger." She did the same as Vex with her food, and began with the bacon.
"You stare stared when we barely knew each other." They both laughed, trying not to get pieces of food all over the counter.

"What sort of dog is that?" The turian curiously asked as he looked down at the dog. "There aren't any on Palavan and Turians had never seen one before Shanxi."

"It's a German Shepard. Known for their loyalty, ability to stay focused, and their uncanny sense of smell." The reason for answering a question that was not for him, he did not know. Either way the question was answered, and he hoped that the turian would get an attitude.

"Anything new about that Shepard character?" The drell woman asked to anybody who was somewhat interested in the case.

"Well it looks like he's panting and wagging his tail for food. I don't know much more than that." Selenia stomped at his foot after she quietly laughed at the sheer dryness and the deadpan look on his face. Either you loved his dryness and take to it, or you thought he was a sarcastic jerk. He tells her that only the smart people got him. Wanting to see the reactions, neither said a word until someone answered.

 

[EpicVakarian]

"J-Jessica, Jessica Saegan. It's um... nice to meet you. And I'm 16." She gave a little attempted smile, zipping up her jacket. "Sorry, it's just... this is a strange station and all the aliens kind of make me nervous. Uhh- no offense to any of you, of course! It's just... I'm from Earth and I've only ever been to Grissom Academy, Elysium and most recently, Eden Prime so I've never seen an alien before. Really..."
Eden Prime? Hmm... I ought to ask her, but by the looks, she's really not in the mood.
"You're from Earth? Great! Most humans I meet are spacers, or colonists; I'm from Vancouver, where are you from?"

"Thanks a lot," the salarian said. "My name's Thrax. Well, technically, Sur'Kesh Goranon Aquin Mor Insterra Thrax but most people just call me Thrax Insterra. Salarian names are usually a bit of a mouthful so we usually just use our given and clan names for simplicity. And I'm 10." He paused. "Sorry, you guys probably don't care about all that. Uh... how's it going?"

Before anyone could respond, the drell spoke up.
"Any news about that Shepard character?"
"Well, it looks like he's panting and wagging his tail for food. I don't know much more than that." The man at the bar spoke up, and his asari companion laughed. Abby was confused, but then she saw him stealing a glance at the German Shephard belonging to the red-haired woman. Smirking, she gave a nod to the man and turned back to the young girl and salarian.
"Well, I'm Abigail Addison-Taylor." Holding out her hand to both, not minding which shook it first, she smiled kindly. "You can just call me Abby."

 

[Andre Marek]

(OOC: Ok, I'm sorry for holding this up for so long. This is short but at least we can move on.)

Skylar glanced at the turian with the blue markings and opened her mouth to answer him when her response was cut off by the man sitting down the bar. Leaning over she smirked at him and pointed to him, "Thats basically it right there." She raised an eyebrow at the turian and gave him a once over. He wasn't bad looking... for an alien. "His name's Ajax," Ajax perked his ears up at his name, "Mine's Skylar." She smiled, "So what constitutes a pet on Palaven then?"

 

[Simus]

Garrus chuckled at the human male's joke. Ironic that this species of dog shared the name of the only man on this whole damn station who seemed to care that Saren had gone completely rogue. Shepard had taken Garrus with him to Flux yesterday to shake down Fist, as well as gain the trust of a very large and very dangerous Krogan bounty hunter named Wrex. He was the toughest Krogan Garrus had ever seen, taking a pistol square in the head plate and just laughing it off. He was also a biotic to boot. If Shepard had decided to recruit him for his team, Garrus would need to watch out for himself. At least they had gotten enough evidence against Saren from a Quarian girl they had rescued to make the Council acknowledge that there was a problem. They would make Shepard and Anderson do all the work of course but at least they were free to do something.

"Wonder how that's going up in that ominous tower..." Garrus mumbled to himself when the red haired human woman next to him told him that her dog's name was Ajax and asked what counted as a pet on Palaven. Garrus looked over and smiled down at Ajax. he was a large, strong looking animal with good teeth and a prominent nose. Not as strong or as fierce as a varren but much friendlier.

"Several species of what you would call birds and cats are popular. They're more focused and aggressive than what you'd find on earth and we've trained them to catch vermin and keep a lookout for danger. Ever since the Krogan Rebellions about a thousand years ago the military's adopted varren for police, patrol and contraband detection assistance. Similar to what dogs are to your police forces if what I've read is accurate."

He looked at Skylar inquisitively.

"Funny. Most humans seem either annoyed or frightened of me. Probably either because I'm C-sec or a Turian. Even these days, my people and yours don't have regular widespread contact. You however don't seen to mind."

 

[Simus]

Thrax wax completely enamored with the asari's head crests, even when she turned to her human friend and whispered why people stared at them. Jessica had to kick his back leg to get him to focus.

"Hey!" Thrax whispered. "What was that for?"

"You're staring at that asari..." Jessica said, rolling her eyes.

"But her crests are so...symmetrical. I can't help but admire them, and that shade of blue she is."

"And while I most certainly agree with you," Jessica whispered harshly. "It's rude to do so. For all we know she's a 40 year old maiden who's as self-conscious as we are. Wait a minute...why am I, the primitive human admonishing you, the evolved salarian, on etiquette? That's odd..."

"That's a good question." Thrax said, raising a finger in revelation. "Maybe it's because you as an individual have more life experience than I do, even though my culture has 2,000 years over yours. Uh...no offense of course."

"None taken." Jessica said smiling. "Humanity could learn a lot from the salarians. And you seem much more fun than the asari or turians."

A hanar waiter than floated over to the table. Both Jessica and Thrax marveled at the majestic luminescent jellyfish-like creature carrying serving trays in its tentacles as easily as if they were small fish.

"This One has an order of french toast and bacon. To whom does it belong?"

"That's for me."

The hanar set it down. "And This One also has an order of all you can eat pancakes with a side of bacon. Would it be yours?"

"Yep! That's for me!"

The hanar then set down the rest of the food and floated off. Jessica and Thrax simply stared in wonder as it floated away, attending to other tables. They only remembered anyone was still there when Abby spoke up.

"You're from Earth? Great! Most humans I meet are spacers, or colonists; I'm from Vancouver, where are you from?" She asked excitedly. She extended her hand and Jessica took it gently, then Thrax followed suit.

"Wow! It's nice to see another Earthborn here! I know what you mean! A lot of my friends at Grissom Academy are Spacers, and a lot of my friends are from Elysium or Terra Nova. My best friend Alice is from Earth though, Seattle Washington in the U.S. I'm from D.C but I was born in Jerusalem. Are you from Vancouver Washington or Vancouver Canada? I've never been to either but I know one's cold and snowy and the other's cold and rainy. Ugh, I'd never want to live in either. Elysium's more than cold enough whenever I visit with my friends on the weekends, and I'm always cold in space for some reason. Especially on a small ship. Eden Prime was nice and warm, and my grandparents live there. See them at least once a year ever since I was born. It was a place I felt completely safe at, right up until a few days ago when..."

Jessica lowered her head and put on a very sad look. Her babbling had put her in danger of retelling what the Geth had done to her beautiful refuge. The Geth, their...evil turian leader and that huge ship. That...terrible and all powerful God-Machine that destroyed everything it gazed upon. It had haunted Jessica's dreams every night since. She heard it in her sleep, it's metallic, terrible voice. She had tried to kill herself because she couldn't live what she had heard and because she was convinced that no force in the universe could stop that ship. Now she was in a hospital with crazy people. How could she possibly move on, or cope with what had happened. How could she keep living when they were all going to die. Dr. Cayce had said it so, so how come no one believed him?

"Jess? Are you okay?"

She shook her head and sniffled. She started to cry silently at the table and she hated herself for it. She hoped to God Garrus didn't hear.