The Meetup [CITADEL, OPEN!]

While the hug is well appreciated, the name of his ex-wife is like a dagger through the heart and it shows. Juhani flinches.

"I know you mean well Najhil, but you could you please not mention her name? I'm trying to not to break into tears again." he blurts out.

"Oh. I'm sorry."
He backed off, angling his head more towards the ground, before hesitating and looking up to Marcus' face.

"Are you alright?"
From confrontational to concerned in under five seconds. He was honestly surprised at himself.

"Don't be ridiculous. No one's all right." He said, keeping his face hidden from the turian as he set out cups -some with ice, some without- and poured drinks. The motions were swift, deft, and precise, giving credence to his temporary guise as a butler. It looked like he could've held onto it for a good while had it not been for his previously impulsive nature. "But I'm better than most by far, and that's good enough for me."

Vohk shook his head, ignoring the minor twinge of annoyance as Helena took Delia from his arms. After Sarah and Chris left, he took out his OT and made several emergency calls.

First was to make sure he had the address of the hospital Gestran was being taken. Idiot or or not, he worked for Templar and did his jobs well, normally.

Secondly, he called Gestran's girlfriend, and informed her of his current state, and that he would meet her at the hospital shortly.

Third and finally, he called his secretary, and had her organize a few pickups for Tayseri refugee HQ. They'd be getting an unexpected surprise this afternoon.

He turned to his wife. "Lets go. Make sure he doesn't die from anaphalapatic shock"

As she realized just how poorly thought-out her statement had been, Najhil's gizzard tied itself into a tight knot. "Agh! Najhil is so sorry! Can Najhil do something to make up for upsetting Juhani?"

"You can hug me for a bit longer." he smirks tired, and give the raloi a big squeeze of a hug. Feels like he really needed it.

"By the way, I think saw that murder of crows guy post at the new forums. Seems like you're not all alone here after all."

Trying her hardest to resist the instinct to force herself out of Juhani's sudden vice-like grip, Najhil twitched a bit and patted him weakly on the back. She was about to say something about her bones being crushed, but before she could, Juhani mentioned that another raloi was posting on the site. Could it be true? Had the universe not turned its back on her? This was amazing news, some of the best she's heard in a long time...

...but now was not the time for rejoicing. She had to put her personal problems on the bakburner, as Juhani needed help right now. So, she simply replied, "Good to know, thanks. Now, would Juhani like to join Najhil? The more buffers between Najhil and Kenec the better."

What's the trouble between Najhil and Kenec? Weren't they dating? Juhani lets go of the raloi and nods. "Sure, let's walk then."

"In any case, there's something I need to do, since I'm here." Marcus said as he grabbed up a cup of what he'd read was one of the more popular Turian juices, this one an odd luminescent green despite not normally having any intoxicating qualities. It was just cool to look at and from what he'd heard, tasted pretty good as well. However, 'normally' was the operative word here. In another handful of deft motions, he added a light chirality neutralizer -normally a juice wouldn't need one, given the inherent lack of protein in processed plant matter, but given someone's reactions to a cupcake, it was best not to take chances- and a quarter dose of the synth dopamine/serotonin blend that was a small but critical part of his own psyche therapy cocktail.

Both were odorless, tasteless, dissolved instantly in any liquid they were added to and left no indication of their presence, not even a change of the liquid's color or any signs of residue. Out of habit, the former Vanguard stirred the contents of the cup anyway before throwing away the stirring implement and turning away from the table. Somehow, the shadow never left the left side of his face, despite the light now striking him from a different angle.

"If you'll excuse me for now." he said to Titus, then strolled over to the depressed resident human Hierarchy citizen. He didn't actually ignore Najhil, it would be more correct to say he did what he could to avoid the bird's notice until there was a pause in their conversation, at which point he crouched just within Juhani's reach. "Hello there! You might not know me, but I'm from the board. Ignoring that, I'd like you to do me a favor and cheer up a little. This is a party, after all. Or something like that. ...I think."

As he spoke, Marcus offered Juhani the cup he brought over. The smile on the visible side of his face was clearly forced, but to the trained eye it was also apparent that he was bearing down on a lot of pain for sociability's sake.

Juhani eyes the stranger and his offer with suspicion. "Normally I'd turn down drinks from unknowns but since that's just juice...ah, why the hell not?" So he accepts Marcus' drink, but pours it right away into his half-full glass of booze. Better hope that secret cheer-up ingredient doesn't have any nasty side effects with alcohol!

He takes a long swig. "I like it. What juice was this?"

For just a moment, Marcus's smile dropped into an expression of abject disappointment. But the grin, having never been real in the first place, reappeared just as swiftly as it vanished.

"Mercoxi- ...something or other. I can't remember the name, it's something turian. Don't worry about the chirality though. I noticed a problem related to that on the way in and made sure everything I brought was labeled and that neutralizers are available. Anyway!" he offered his gloved right hand to Juhani, and tried to keep the smile up. "The name's Marcus Lyons, of Lionheart Customs. If, as I suspect, you're a CDN user, you'll know me as Dairo."

Mixing booze with the juice and the drugs in it weren't going to be more of a problem than mixing booze with anything was a problem. That is to say, only the alcohol itself was going to be a source of trouble, since everything else was either natural to humans or at least 'adjusted' to be tolerable. That said, Marcus was kind of sad but not the least bit surprised that Juhani had in fact started hitting the bottle.

"Present circumstances aside, let's all try to have a good time here!" he said, also smiling at Najhil to show that he didn't intend to put him out. "That's what these things are for, right?"

Juhani switches hands for the shake. "Juhani...Hierarchy_dad on the forums." he says, a pregnant pause on where he'd usually mention his surname. As it was the same as his soon to be ex-wife, he had no intentions of identifying with someone untrustworthy.

When Marcus identifies himself as Dairo, a pang of guilt hits him. He's smooching off booze, just like he had warned to not do. Juhani sets the glass back to the table and leaves it alone. "I think I'll leave the drinks for now, sorry."

Left wondering what to do next, he decides to strike up a small chat.

"So, Marcus, how's your work?"

"I'd guessed as much." Marcus replied to the introduction, but didn't bother mentioning how or why. At the mention of work, he grew solemn again. Then he stood up, the smile returning. "Let's not talk about that! This is supposed to be a bit of a break, you know?"

For another moment the smile was gone, as he realized he really didn't know what else to talk about. Then he brightened up again when he thought of something. Seriously, the expression was like a child was playing with a light control or something.

"Oh hey! Did you happen to catch wind of another incident like the holovid about the Battle of the Wreck? You know, where somebody took all the names of anybody even remotely involved and stuck them to random characters? I have to admit, as tacky as it may sound, I can't help feeling curious as to how I'd be portrayed in something like that."

"I haven't heard of anything like that happening. In fact I think I missed the thing with the whole Wreck too." Juhani admits. The whole name, Wreck just keeps drawing a blank in his mind, then again it was not very memorable name to begin with, kind of like Shipwreck. Bah. This party had lost its pull.

"Thanks for the talk Marcus, but I think I'll be making my leave now." Juhani said, and nodded back to Najhil. "It was nice to see you too Najhil, we should meet up some other time again." and with that, he excused himself and left the place, back to brooding about his doomed marriage.

Aaron sighs, finding himself a place to sit, a cup of something cold to drink as he takes a deep breath of the park's air. "Can't remember the last time I came out here. Been so busy over the last year I couldn't "stop and smell the roses", heh. Not much of a flower person myself anyway." He muses, mostly to himself.

Titus heard Aaron, and paused for a half-second before deciding to go and sit next to the man. He had come out here to meet with some of the CDN members, after all, and he wasn't happy with how he had displayed himself so far.

"Excuse me," he said, rather quietly.
"May I sit here?"
Without waiting for an answer, he sat next to Aaron.

"Hello. I'm Titus." A rather simple, introduction, sure, but it's not like he had much else to say.
"You had a rather busy year, I take it. I mean, you just said so. And, well, if you didn't, that would be rather odd."

He felt rather awkward here, and rude, just dropping next to someone like that. He gave a nervous twitch that rocked his while body and his mandibles splayed a little.

"...and here once again I find myself the pinnacle of social awkwardness." Marcus muttered to himself as Juhani left. He realized he had only himself to blame, coming here looking like he did and trying to cheer up a person who had a singularly legitimate reason to be depressed. "Beg your pardon, Ma'am, but I'll be leaving now as well."

This last he said to Najhil before leaving the picnic he really had no business being at in the first place and going back to work.

Aaron hadn't been paying attention so when the unknown turian walked up and made himself known. The detective blinked a moment, more than a little amused at the manner that Titus introduced himself. Very much like a turian to just sit himself down without being given permission first. "Sure, I wasn't saving the spot for anyone."

"Aaron, C-Sec." He always seemed to add the occupation at the end. Force of habit. Not to mention that it usually helped to deter certain...elements from trying anything around him, or just keep them away. "Yeah, never a dull moment, just a few calms before a number of storms, etc, etc. Some stupid human metaphors and analogies." He shakes his head. "And what about you, Titus? What do you do?"

"I'm, uh, a cabalist." Titus tilted his shoulder so Aaron could see it and tapped the rank insignia.
"Lieutenant."

He nodded at Aaron's introduction.
"C-Sec, huh? Enforcement? You know, I've the utmost respect for you guys. Always keeping the bad, crazy guys in line and stuff."
Titus nodded again.
"D'you enjoy your job?"

"Investigations, now." He tapped his own shoulder, to show off his insignia. "Captain thought it would be funny to promote me to a desk-job rather than patrol routes in light of all the available positions and not enough experienced bodies who know what they're doing. Or something. I just think he has a thing in for me." He shook his head.

"It's a living. Not even ideal, but someone has to do it." He looks over at Titus now. "So, war's over, whatcha gunna do now?"