[Citadel, BlueShift] Disco Celebration!

Arina smiled and fully turned into him, her free hand gliding over his legs and upwards on his sides. Her lips were brushing his mandibles and she started nibbling, playing with her tongue. Kissing turians was a thrill, they could bite a chunk of your lips with no effort if they wanted to. But she felt very safe with Sulla.

“Then let’s get the tides out of here,” she aspirated between kisses. “My apartment is on Kithoi….”

The turian froze for a few seconds, clueless what to do in this situation called "kissing". For a species without lips, it was not exactly popular. In fact, Arina just gave Sulla his first kiss! Sulla wisely decided to forget everything he has seen in adult entertainment and just went with it, moving his head and parting his beak ever so slightly with her. The mandibles were very sensitive, and Arina's lips soon had Sulla wanting for more.

"There's a shuttle port right on the other side of the street from the bar", Sulla managed, before Arina made speaking impossible again.

"My kind of tune," Skylar laughed, noting the change of beat. She shot Taleeze a fond glance, seeing a smile in return, and gave Linya a courteous bow before letting herself slip into moving with the rhythm. Unfamiliar with her partner-of-the-moment's style, she didn't try anything fancy, simply enjoyed the moment and let Linya take the lead.

He shrugged resignedly back. "I know, it's the booze talking there but still...he just reminded me of what a good friend of mine once told me about client citizens. That we're as good as moxies on rollerblades. Amusing, adorable, but nothing actual and worthwhile is expected of us. That we who gave up our past lives to become part of the Hierarchy will never live up to turian citizens or be as worthy as them."

Juhani turned his empty glass upside down and inspected it like more rum and coke would materialize into it any minute.

"I've had rough patches in the past months, but if my breaks end up like this, I don't know if I should bother even."

Arina noted his hesitation and she grinned. She wondered if he had really never been with an asari before! A lot of turians on shore leave frequented brothels but she was right, he didn't seem the cheap type.
He reacted quickly though and gave clear signals about what he liked. Arina enjoyed exploring his mandibles with her lips and her tongue.
"I know..." she breathed "...c'mon, let's go." He unwound himself and rose and Arina took the offered hand with a smile. She put her arm around his waistline and he did the same now, as the hurried for the exit, chuckling and giggling along the way...

*

"Krogan are organics, and have shown they can be reasoned with. The geth, one the other hand. Have chosen to side with the Reapers via consensuses twice now. No other species in the galaxy sided with them in such a capacity."

The little quarian was trying to bait her. How cute.

"Oh, I have no doubt that exiles are different. Some, like Suri'Neyvi, are monsters that deserve to be put down like rabid animals. But others..." she paused for a moment to think of the appropriate words. "Others decided to be exiled because they refused to be just another cog in the machine that the captain's and admirals would just replace the moment they stopped working and then forget about. And they decided to strike back"

She stopped to ponder on something Leeta said earlier. The quarian, while apparently naive about a lot of things such as the geth. Did seem to grasp one thing their people had failed at. But did she really? This conversation was getting very interesting.

"One other thing, if you do not mind me asking. What are your opinion of pilgrimages? Surely you do not think it was right to send our children into a galaxy that reviled us. Where they would get taken advantage of, be murdered or put in chains to serve some alien bastards" there was a brief moment of incredible anger in her eyes before it quickly vanished "All so they can go out and retrieve some object of worth just to prove themselves to someone who just needs another body to add to their ships. Do you think that was right Leeta?"

Leeta blinked at Kari and all thoughts on the geth evaporated from her mind. She could almost laugh - and before she knew it she was laughing. It started as a cough and ended in a giggle that almost escaped her. It was just so funny - how fired up Kari was getting, how they were having such a serious and tense conversation with people dancing and drinking around them. It figured that two quarians would be the ones setting such a tone in an atmosphere like this. Most of all she laughed because Kari was saying a lot of things she had kept to her private thoughts, the things she did not say to anyone. Her own disaster of a pilgrimage had ended because the fleet recalled her, and not a moment too soon. She had started out her pilgrimage bursting with energy and excitement and rebellion, and had barely returned in one piece with too many hard lessons learned. "I think...that the flotilla has tried to function too much like...not a machine with cogs and gears but - like a hive mind of drones all with the same thought: 'for the good of the many.' We live...lived in an enclosed environment where we are only taught suspicion of outsiders and not taught how to function among them. I think it is a great foolishness to act that way and then thrust our children out in some sort of perverse coming of age ritual that is out of date in this day and age but made necessary by our own stubbornness." She was speaking excitedly now, invigorated by sharing her secret thoughts. "And the pressure we place on these children to be useful is just...just soul crushing and sick. If we are not part of the fleet we are a failure and if we are not useful we are useless. Whether or not the galaxy reviled us I would think it a foolish to send out our children as unprepared as we do - or as we used to. We give them what - a few credits and a gun and necessary belongings before we toss them out and say 'do not come back until you prove your worth to us!'" She leaned forward, gesturing with her hands wildly as she got caught up in what she was saying.

Everything within Leeta began bubbling up and spilling out. She did not know if it was the drink she had had or the atmosphere or everything that had been happening in her life or maybe the simple fact that this quarian in front of her obviously did not view pilgrimages as the noble voyage they were made out to be. All of her shame, all of her fears and feelings of inadequacy just ran wild and suddenly she found she was unable to stop talking. "And then those poor stupid children only serve to make the quarian people more reviled because they are so unprepared for the reality of being part of nothing. They lie and cheat and steal and get stuck in hopeless situations and complain because it is not the great adventure they imagined it to be - they are not heroes or saviors or anyone important. They realize they are nobodies in over their heads and thus they are the ultimate failure...but eventually they return home and put the same pressure on their children to participate in this grotesque display of masochism because 'that is just the way things are and must be.' So yes - yes I think it is foolish to send our children out on pilgrimages. I think it is foolish and dangerous and idiotic to put them at the mercy of others so unprepared - but at the same time after that claustrophobic life on a ship with too many people, our children cannot wait to get OUT. They are born and bred to prove themselves and they do not realize what a horrible trap of spiraling disappointment it all is until too late...or how devastating it is when that illusion is finally broken and they see they are just stupid children that have only learned to fear the rest of the galaxy."

She took a breath. Her skin felt flush and she relaxed with a hint of embarrassment in the slant of her shoulders and the tilt of her head. She cleared her throat, noting how dry it felt after talking so much. Quieter, she added, "It is wrong. I think it is wrong and for the first time in a long time, our people have a chance to change how things are done. Because we are no longer that hive." It seemed to Leeta that both of them were speaking out of experience, and it wasn't until then that she realized she had simply been laughing out of happiness. No one spoke like this about the flotilla, but she was and she did not care who heard.

The conversation between Kari and the other quarian drifted in a rather emotional direction. Leeta didn’t seem like an exile – or Taleeze thought she remembered her not being one – but obviously there were similar problems the two had shared, maybe different in scope but the systematic issues from which they had suffered seemed similar.

She put a hand on Michelle’s shoulder, indicating this was probably not the moment for exuberant interruption. (Taleeze wouldn’t want Kari do deal out kicks as well – judging by her legwork on the dancefloor, she must have a pretty mean kick, even for a quarian)

“So, what about Snow, I haven’t seen him on the boards for some time now. He isn’t exactly the most social guy, right?”

Meanwhile she was watching Skylar and Linya going at it on the floor. She must have a dance with her partner as well tonight!

Allowing Linya to lead?
Bad idea.

The young professor took Skylar's left hand with her right, twirling herself underneath the human's arm before releasing it and sliding across to the other side - whereupon she executed a sort of pirouetting bunnyhop that brought her back to where she'd started. Taking both hands this time, she leaped to the side, swinging herself about - forcing Skylar to spin with the force of the rotation, lest she fall over - and landed not three centimetres from an elcor swaying nearby.

Starting simple, then.

Fallah was a bit taken aback by Juhani's harsh words. She glanced at Victan, but the lad was busy chatting with Klicksan, having summoned him over with a flick of a talon. The turian turned back to Juhani, looked away and drummed the bar with her talons. The usual reaction of her friends to insults was to yell back and demand respect, not this sullen melancholy, which of course, fitted Juhani's Finnish mind perfectly. Feeling obliged to say something, she clears her throat. "Look. If the Hierarchy actually treated clients like shit there probably wouldn't be that many of you. I know there aren't a lot, but still... Spirits." She shook her head and looked Juhani in the eyes sternly. "Should you go home? Get your head cleared? I'm sure things won't look so bleak in the morning."

"I'm a single father, Fallah. I have a turian girl of seven to look after, and I've had an intervention about not raising her properly done to me already. She was in a public Citadel school instead of a nursing center. They forced me to change her school with the veiled threat of losing custody. A friend in the bureocracy warned me I'm one strike away having that from happening to me. This all started right after I had a divorce from my turian wife, right after it became official I had no adult turians left in the family to pass off as decent guardian to Hierarchy standards." Juhani rubbed his eyes wearily.

"And my unit, the auxiliaries? Asari daughters of turians, few other humans and lone drell. I'm here because they're all dead. I have no unit to return to because Epyrus Command threw us to the Reapers to spare the turian legions. Cruel calculus or not, I'm seeing myself at someone's shitlist for daring to sign up as Hierarchy instead of staying in the Alliance. It's not overt. It's subtle messages there and here, when you've gotten already too invested to bail out. I belong to them and they're making damn sure I know it and I'll pay with everything I've held dear if I jump ship now."

Well, this was an experience. In mid-swing she caught a glimpse of Taleeze watching them, seeming - as best Skylar could tell, with her view of the world momentarily blurred - to be stifling a laugh. She couldn't blame her, and let out a chuckle herself, although she had to admit it was half exhilaration. Linya didn't dance quite like the trained professionals she was used to the company of, but as Skylar kept up as best she could, she couldn't deny she was having fun.

The kind of heart-in-mouth fun one had on a rollercoaster, perhaps, but fun nonetheless.

Fallah, the fact being that there isn't much else to do, listens. She is much younger then Juhani to have any idea what the man is going through; she is responsible only of herself, her duty, and to an extent her comrades like Victan and Sulla. However, she knows enough to see that Juhani has serious problems. "You've had some bastard as the head of your district of client affairs. That just doesn't stand", she says, but can't stop a nagging feeling at the back of her mind. Maybe it was better to have a turian child reared by turian parents instead of a human single father who was clearly at odds with the Hierarchy. And out drinking as well.

"But perhaps... Have you thought about talking to a consul? Maybe try to get some help with raising your daughter or you with your daily life?" Fallah says as her mind starts to reel as he realizes something. He is not raising the girl amidst the separatists, is he?

"What help is a consul going to be in this situation? I only get to see my daughter when I have leave, her upbringing is in hands of the nurturing center and my spare time outside seeing her, if I'm not watching after Sulla for sneaking tickets not meant for him is spent at barracks or at the firing range. My life is firmly controlled by the Hierarchy for better or worse." he griped. However, the firing range didn't refer to the garrison's own range, but the one in Denakot where Sulla had swiped the tickets in the first place...

Michelle chuckled at the amazing euphemism Taleeze had used about Julian, but then answered dead seriously.

"No he is not. He's been through some hard stuff. Unfair stuff. He's been an amazing help to us, but I really can't say that I feel like I've reached him. I learned recently that he can't wait to get out of the Citadel. I'm very much worried about him honestly."

"As is the life of all of us", Fallah responded gently but firmly. "You made a choice joining the Hierarchy. You know what you were getting into and what you were giving up. I'm not saying that what they're doing with your daughter is right, I just don't know all the facts." Just that you are affiliated with known separatists she thought to herself. "But we're still geared for war. The rebuilding effort is massive, and the needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few. That's what being a turian is about."

Kari arched her eyebrow a bit when Leeta started laughing. Starting to think that the younger quarian was just mocking her. Until she started talking and Kari was pleasantly surprised. Everything Leeta was saying was almost exactlywhat she wanted to hear. This wasn't some brainwashed fanatic that harped on and on about tradition despite it destroying them like she was expecting her to be. This was a quarian that got it. In fact, she was starting to see a little of herself in this quarian.

The exile grinned, it wasn't noticeable because of her helmet. But a skilled individual could tell she was relaxing more and more. "It seems I underestimated you Leeta'Varo vas Tayseri. Well done", she said, her voice more friendlier though it still seemed... off. "But I think we have discussed the Fleet, the Geth, and why our species is such a shadow of its former self. You came to talk to me about dancing, no? I would be glad to give answers to such a smart girl such as yourself."

She paused for a moment, remembering she hadn't given Leeta her name. So she might as well give the girl that as well. "My name is also Kari'Zar"

"How does the needs of the colonists on the world you're working on rely on my daughter's school of choice? Wouldn't that work in reverse too, if I can pay for Aira's tuition in public school, the Hierarchy wouldn't need to pay for another mouth to feed, clothe and educate in a nurturing center, sparing funds for something else? It's plain and simple prejudice there." Juhani griped in return.

"If it had been for the Hierarchy's will, my daughter would be dead! It was my hands and shoulders that carried her, my water and connections that kept her alive from Epyrus to the Citadel and through the siege. My commanding officer told me to ditch her in a grave and be done with it, he wouldn't have any interruptions to the march. Now the same authority that didn't give damn for her survival wants to take all the credit away and act like I never was involved and it pisses me off."

"So you're saying that because one officer made a decission under high stress and outside mission parameters the whole Hierarchy fucked you over?" Fallah laughed and it wasn't a pleasant chuckle. Quite opposite of that. "You're acting like the Hierarchy is one giant, uncaring entity and not an elaborate machine with billions of people acting as the parts." She leaned back, all traces of friendliness gone from her face. The mandibles looked almost snarling in the dim of the club. The music seemed out of place now. "Sure, feel opressed because what's happening now. But don't you dare pile it all on us." She further hammers the point in by pointing at herself and gesturing towards Victaniarus. "Instead of whining about it to a turian you've met once before why not try to do something about it like a proper citizen. Fuck." She turns away, looking at the floor. Her face is a mask, not betraying a single emotion that might be racing through Fallah's head right now.

"You know what? Maybe I will." he spat out and slammed his glass down, almost cracking it.

"Why don't you go and enjoy your evening with the stolen tickets your friend got from seppers. I need to get back to work." and that's his cue to exit an evening gone to hell, thanks to booze stirring up things other people did not want to hear. Now if only Fallah had the sense not to rat to the authorities about him.