[Citadel, Tayseri] Leaving the Ducts Charity Dinner (Open to all)

"You say public transport is good? When I asked on the boards ... everyone was pointing out how shitty especially Tayseri was in that regard. But still, wouldn't a motorcycle be much easier to maneuver in tight spaces?" Thinking about it, it must have been Sarah's car purchase thread where this had been addressed, Taleeze couldn't remember exactly.

"It's great that your job is as you expected it to be and that the organization is holding up to the standards yo wanted." She switched between Kayana and her husband. "I did not know you were married until quite late. How's family life with such a stressful job?"

~~~

And there came Daia sneaking!
"Oh my! Didn't see you coming." She hugged her friend, rubbing cheeks, then she offered her hands to Alystae. "Hello, Alystae. I in fact do remember you from the boards. Nice to meet you! And please - I am no star."

... reduced to being another Omega."
Arina had to smile over the man's slogan. The Citadel must not become Omega! was something he should have put up on election billboards. But it had something to it, she had to admit.

She was just thinking about what to reply to that, taking another glass of sparkling wine from a waiter when Daia and that other asari were arriving at their little group. Taleeze practically jumped the escort to greet her. But when Daia had made her introduction of Alystae, Arina was also offering one hand - the other held the wine - for a greeting.

"Daia! Always a pleasure to see you. Have you met Assemblyman Vallario before? Assemblyman, this is Daia T'Nara."

"Pfft, it's not that bad. Though I live next to a University and don't go anywhere during morning rush hour."

"Don't worry about it. We haven't even had a reception yet. We plan to though." She glanced back at Hadas. "Eh, we're in the same business, since he's a priest. And I do not have a stressful job. Paramedics have a stressful job. This guy..." She pointed at max. "Might have a stressful job. My job is awesome."

Kayana gave Daia a huge grin. "Daia! Is Ana here too?"

Max just shrugged at Taleeze regarding her comments on the Council and the state of the station. "One would like to think that the Council would never allow things to get that bad, but we can't take them for granted. They have their hands full with the whole of Citadel Space and reconstruction at large. We have to take responsibility upon ourselves, as Citizens of the Citadel, to take care of our station. We can't always assume the Council will be there to drive off the bogeymen when we need them to."

Suddenly it seemed like Max was surrounded by Asari. This was by no means a bad thing in his mind. As a matter of fact, it was the exact opposite of a bad thing to him. Being in the middle of a gaggle of attractive Asari was making this night all the sweeter. He smiled and warmly greeted new arrivals as they stepped into the conversation. He was particularly struck with a deep blue Asari that Arina introduced to him as "Daia." He took her hand in a gentlemanly fashion, kissing it. A bit overblown perhaps, but some people ate that shit up with a spoon. "Ms. Daia, a pleasure. Assemblyman Maxentius Vallario at your service." As he introduced himself, Max couldn't help but shake the feeling that he'd seen this woman somewhere before; though he couldn't put a finger on it. Maybe it would come to him later.

Max was just straightening up and taking a sip from his drink when the Drell girl- Kayana, he thought her name was -from the Krios Monument foundation pointed to him and mentioned something about him having a stressful job. Max just laughed warmly. "Maybe to some. But I enjoy serving my constituents. I don't like to think of the challenges I face as things that bring me stress, but as future sources of accomplishment."

Ahhh, he was really working the silver tongue tonight. His press secretary was going to be pleased.

"Charmed, Alystae T'Naron at your service", the tall maiden offering her right hand in return, a roguish smile reappearing as she greeted another of the 'wait and see' asari clique. Deciding not to bother Assemblyman Vallario at the moment, who was obviously enamoured with Arina Caenis. Alystae decided to engage Daia's short colleague, her height and conservative attire a vivid contrast with Taleeze's fashion sense.

"Well, I can't blame a girl talking up her friends, especially if one is an alumnus of the Monoi Wildkats. It is true I am attempting to give my establishment some cred as a place to see the Keepers if unable to get a ticket, the main draw of my bar is the affordability. Times are tough and I wish to provide Tayseri a watering hole for all the working men and women of the ward." Sipping the bourbon in her left, the Co-op head making conversation with the bantam maiden and her human escort, while watching Vallario hold court with bemused interest.

Through the warm sensation of the drink, and the numbing awareness of his personal failure, Laykalar noticed Sarah and her partner approaching. He was momentarily nervous that Justicar would make an aggressive move, perhaps trying to preach at them, but surprisingly she said nothing, and moved aside to give the humans room.

Sarah offered a pleasant greeting, which Laykalar returned. He didn't want his depressed mood to infect the troubled human; that would make things even worse.

"This one hopes the other has found the evening enjoyable. It believes that the other's musical performances have been a success!" There was a hint of desperation to his words, the relief of that success unable to bring comfort in the light of his elders' disappointment. He wanted the evening to live up to expectations. Every contributing piece had to be functional, and the success of one aspect did little to satisfy his growing worry that something else might go wrong.

The pleasant interaction also made him feel all the more conflicted. He had made friends here among the station's alien inhabitants, but according to the scholars he had lost sight of their expedition's original goals. He didn't think that was so - indeed, he was certain that his experiences had been beneficial - but one thing he clearly hadn't learned was how to express his arguments correctly. Was he more successful at integrating with aliens than he was at finding his place among his own people? That could be as disastrous as isolationism. How could he make a case for himself when he was judged so inadequate by the Primacy's own standards?

He didn't know what to do.

The other human, Duffy, spoke next, and seemed apologetic. Some humans, he knew, instinctively found it difficult interacting with hanar. Among Laykalar's people there was none of the familiar body language and gesturing that was so important to human communication. That might explain the strange hand gesture Duffy was making; perhaps he felt the need to overcompensate? Laykalar needed to make him feel at ease. His dispenser was still grasped in a tentacle, and he thrust it forward, in a manner he intended to match the human's own movement. Some of the contents managed to leak out. Between the mindfish and the worry, he was finding it difficult to concentrate.

"This one is not displeased about the camera drones. It is glad for the coverage".

More coverage, though, would mean greater damage if something went wrong. He felt another creeping sense of insecurity.

"It does fear that others' sensibilities may be different; it thanks the other for its self-control..."

"Sadly no," Daia replied to Kayana, smiling at seeing her. "Coming here was very last-minute, and our office manager is on leave visiting her sister's family, so we couldn't both be away from Nos Astra at once. Skylar's keeping her company, and working on some legal bits and whatnots to do with Sirta while she's there," she added, shooting a grin at Taleeze. "Do you suppose they're gossiping about us behind our backs, given the chance?" She laughed lightly, and turned back to Kayana. "I'll be straight back onto a liner after this. But congratulations on getting your grant, we were both very pleased to hear that. Good fortune on the good work."

She sensed Arina nearing, and turned to take her hand.

"Hello again," she beamed. "Good opening speeches for the evening, didn't you think? No, I haven't yet, although... greetings Assemblyman, a pleasure," she smiled warmly, as the turian kissed her hand. "I have seen your extranet promotions, they're very impassioned." If there was an element of careful choice of words there, it wasn't showing - and besides, unconventional or not 'Max the Maverick' still stacked up well to what passed for a politician on Illium.

Duffy shook his head. "I'm not going to take any further photographs unless the situation merits it. I've got enough for an article about the event, and I'm pretty sure I'm getting on people's nerves. I don't want to be some Illium paparazzo type." He glanced over to his left, as Sarah stared at him with a dry expression. "What? Do you want me to apologize for doing my job?" He spoke at a whisper.

Sarah rolled her eyes and re-focused on the hanar. "Thank you for the compliment. I plan on playing later after everything starts to wind down." She planted her hands on her hips, trying to broadcast an air of confidence. "I'm pretty sure they were successful. I mean, classy music helps out in a party like this." She took a more serious tone.

"Are you feeling okay? Who's your friend here?"

It would be great to talk a bit more about the reception thing with Kayana, Taleeze thought. The fact that she herself had fresh bonds had led to the idea of having a very small, but defining finalizing moment between the triad, beyond just finalizing the legal documents.

Taleeze was used to tallness to a degree she didn’t even notice, she had all the moves in her natural repertoire. Having to deal with Freh’ya in everyday life made height difference something natural, even for someone pretty much average as her. She shook the lean asari’s hand, in this case noting the decidedly non-traditional greeting. A lot of Citadel dwellers were like that though.

“May I also introduce Arthur Hoffmann, Minister at the SATAE. He was so nice to take me along tonight.”

Taleeze lit up at the mentioning of Skylar. "I am positively sure about them talking!" Maybe even melding tips, who could know that.

At the description of Alystea’s bar, Taleeze smiled. It sounded like a good concept. “Aw, a real watering hole for the fans in their neighborhood is something that will take off, I am pretty sure. The fans will bond in a place like that despite the fact that the Keepers may be off to a rough start. But it’s those fans you want to keep, not just those that come out when the team has success, those just come and go. If you’re known as a place where the true fans hang out come abyss or springtide they will be very allegiant.” She took a sip from her drink and chuckled. “Maybe you could find a small spot for a little Wildkats emblem? Early fan friendship establishing.” That was easy since they weren’t in the same division.

"The other is welcome to finish the evening with another performance! This one is very thankful that the other has taken the time to attend. It is personally grateful".

He was unsure how to answer her inquiry about Justicar. Having been directly mentioned, though, the other hanar decided to introduce herself. Laykalar wobbled uneasily. He wasn't certain, but the mindfish might not be helping.

"This one is Sounds From The Flooded Hollows, and it brings the other word of the impending union" said Justicar, scandalously using her soul name. Were he human, Laykalar would have blushed profusely. As unpleasant as it sounded, he suddenly regretted inviting her. His earlier defence of his reasoning in doing so, when conversing with Quylid, now seemed rather weak.

Perhaps he should just be thankful his elders weren't still listening...

"Rough start? And to think some people call my expectations unrealistic", chucking at Taleeze's statement, Alystae remembering the game against the Thunder and how well the Keepers played at points. Turning to Mr. Hoffman, Alystae glancing at the Alliance symbol with a hint of disgust before recovering with a courteous smile,"Pleasure to meet you Mr. Hoffman, Alystae T'Naron, small business owner and earth survivor at your service." The tall maiden adding the small dig at Mr. Hoffman and the Alliance, a byproduct of her being isolated in the Tidewater region during the war, watching the Alliance forces retreat and leaving Earth to the Reapers. It was the right strategy, but it still stung, being a blood sacrifice for Hackett and Co., to say nothing of learning of Thessia's fall while fighting on Earth. Pushing the flash of anger down, Alystae turned back to Taleeze, a small grin reappearing as she continued the benign discussion of plivadi,

"Surely Miss Dirinia, you didn't expect a newly reconstituted squad to defeat the Thunder right away", finishing the bourbon, Alystae motioning to the waiter for a water, "This season is a rebuilding year, a 6-4 result is quite respectable."

Max smiled and shrugged modestly at Daia. "I can't help but be passionate about the future of my home ward and my station Ms. Daia. There's so much that still has to be done since the war ended; so much that needs to be fixed and so many people that need to be helped. We have a lot of work ahead of us, and I don't think it's being done near fast enough- despite what's at risk. So, I can get worked up about the issues sometimes. But I think that's better than sitting around, doing nothing."

The fact that he thought he recognized this Asari was still bugging the hell out of Max. He swore he'd seen her somewhere. Maybe in a movie or an extranet show or something? Was she an actress? He didn't recall her mentioning her profession. "So, what brings you to the dinner tonight?"

Taleeze cuckeled.
"It's Driana actually. But just call me Taleeze, please!" It was funny how many people had initial problems with either her first or second name. Tallice, Darina, Aridina, Dreena...

"You are right, the team has a lot of potential - and a history to live up to. But you have to give them time to establish their style. From what i hear they have unconventional plans. That's a risk but if you want to compete at the top you have to do things your way instead of just imitating. They have all the resources of the Citadel University. Lots of talent there I am sure.I don't have much time left I am afraid but I'll drop in next time maybe?"

There is a drawback to splitting the events into several appearances Michelle didn't see coming : Getting stage jitters several times instead of just one. She learned how to manage that long ago however, so she just got on the small podium and activated the loud speaker function on her omni-tool. She felt almost guilty interrupting everyone who seemed engaged in pleasant conversation, but now was a good time to get to the core of the matter. The second part was actually pretty important. It was the moment where everyone had arrived, and nobody had left yet, so that's were the big stuff was said.

"Hey everyone, sorry to interrupt, but it's time to get to the core of the subject that brought us here tonight.
A bit of history first. The first recorded sight of impoverished children living in the Citadel ducts happened in galactic year 277, during the rachni war. They were refugees, orphaned by the war, too numerous to process or house, especially with the war raging.
After the war, Matriarch D'tzira went on record to say that "having children live in the ducts of the center of galactic civilization, often dying due to its hazards, and finishing dumped in protein vats by keepers, is a complete disgrace. One that must be corrected as soon as possible". That was around two thousands years ago, and it only got worse with the krogan rebellions that followed. The street urchin population of the Citadel went up and down during the following centuries, but never completely went away. Their population was fed by war, poverty, criminals...

The term duct rat is much more recent. It's been coined by Citadel politician Gaius Tratst, who made his political platform to clear the kids from the wards. His exact words were : "One might think that the keepers prevent any vermin population to fester in the Citadel, but the truth is that there are rats in the ducts all the same. Filthy rats, thieving rats. Elect me, and the purge will commence."
That guy almost won the assembly seat by the way.

"Duct rat" is now in expression in almost every language, where the first word is replaced by the lowest invasive vermin from the listener's planet. It pains me to use it, and I usually dance around it, but that's what we call them...

Obviously during the reaper the orphan population boomed. Over the give or take 13 million inhabitants of the Citadel, the orphan population is estimated in the ten of thousands now! Ten thousands kids living in perpetual poverty, preyed on by gangs, scorned by bigots, with almost no way to integrate in society...

I'll be honest with you, when I started this thing, I had no idea things were so bad. The first thing my associate Mr Snow and I discovered was how the gangs were working at keeping that situation up. They were terrorizing local shelters that tried to provide an education for the kids. They soon started to attack us physically. The gangs have everything to gain with a high population of duct rats. Cheap labour, lookout, and future recruits.
We managed however to keep them at bay, even though we had some close calls... And I'm very happy to report in around 10 months of activity we've started to get serious results! I'll get to that.

So how do we handle the kids who come to us? Well it really depends on the children. The basic answer would be : Helping them as best we can. We offer counsel, classes, training, we help reunite families when possible, facilitate adoption process as best we can when such an option is possible, offer a modicum of protection against gangs, look for jobs, facilitate transportation out of the station to pursue opportunities... We try to provide everything needed between a kid out on the street, and a kid with their own life, income, housing, stable situation.
We try not to fall in the easy solutions however. We don't chuck them all in the army, or give them all a construction training and send them on building jobs. Mission 1 is always to help the kid figure out what they really want, and help them get it. Some kids want to work as fast as possible, others want to study. Our job is not to tell them to take the easy way out.

So what our results until now? In 10 months we've helped over 50 kids from Lower Tayseri get jobs or families, and are currently working with a hundred more. Here, have a look at this..."

Michelle displayed on the monitor a donation receipt, with the private information blurred.

"This is money we got from a young adult we helped 6 months ago. He wanted to work as soon as possible, so we arranged a trial period with a construction company on Benning, loaned him enough money for a shuttle and to give him enough to live until his first pay.
He finished reimbursing the loan last month. His boss is happy with him, he has own place, and apparently a girlfriend. This is money he's sending us so we can help others...

We have several success stories like that, much more than I would have expected in less than a year, and I think that as we find more and more solutions and contacts, things will get even better. Especially with your help.

Now what's the key to that success? Well first of all my team is amazing. Laykalar, Julian Snow and Shaart all teach classes, and have other responsibilities as well. They all managed to get respect and trust from the kids we help, and that's incredible.

And I'd like to mention other people who helped us, like Kayana Pesh here, officers Alexander Adolrikson and Dante Cavallius whom I wish could have been here tonight, Sarah Thompson who graced her with her violin tonight... Thank you so much guys.

More pragmatically, a huge vector of success was exploiting the context. Not everyone realizes it, but having more than ten thousands homeless kids in a post war reconstruction phase is an absurdity. We need hands all over the galaxy to rebuild what the reapers have destroyed and minds to replace those that were killed. Before the war finding a job as a duct rat was a hard sell against common prejudice. Now however is not time for bigotry. Companies everywhere need people. Our people need jobs. Let's make that connection.

Which brings me to the point I wanted to make tonight. Before the war, the fact that so many kids were left to their own device was a grim reality. A sad reality of life that only a few of them could ever hope to escape.
This is not the case anymore. We have a real shot at getting them all somewhere better. Most current efforts are aimed at getting society back to prewar level, but here? Here we can do *better* than it was! We can solve this. If LTD works, we can train other teams, help other kids in other wards! We can finish Matriarch D'tzira's project, two thousands years late!
So come on!
All of us together, let's! Save! Those! Kids!"

Michelle was at the paroxysm of her speech, brimming with excitement. She believed in that, and it showed.
She smiled a few seconds at the public, letting that sink in. Then the public started cheering, each races in their own ways. Michelle beamed and waved. When the noise quieted down, she simply asked, with a gleeful smile :

"Any questions?"

Arthur turns his head towards the two asari approaching their group. 'Hm. Looks like there's quite a few of us here, now..." He thinks to himself. Managing multiple conversations with multiple people, especially with different species had always been one of his weaker points. It might probably be the reason why the Alliance always threw him at Terran posts...

Almost everybody seemed to be familiar with one of the Asari. The human tilted his head to the side ever so slightly, curiously smiling to them both. Taleeze, especially, seemed to be quite to her. Everybody's sudden familiarity with the asari made Arthur feel a bit uneasy. The Assemblyman seemed to be in a similar position though so he glanced at the turian a few times as if searching for an anchor...

The mention of the name 'Daia' draws a discreet nod of realization from Arthur. Taleeze had talked a Daia amongst many other people while they worked on her bike at that garage in Bochum. His smile widens a little as he is formally introduced to the newcomers by his companion. He noticed a rather weird look shot at him from the second asari which made him raise an eyebrow. As soon as it faded away, Arthur smiled back warmly. He wasn't sure about the reason behind it though. He might've just as well imagined it...

'Earth survivor' brought up a brief flash of some rather... unpleasant memories. He was one of those survivors as well... just barely of course. He unconsciously reaches for his suit's delicate collar with three of his fingers, adjusting it a bit.

Though his post-war insurance was just enough to fix up the husk claw scars on Arthur's cheek, he was unable to have those on his neck repaired properly. On the back of his mind, he was always anxious about whether or not the scars were visible to the others. The high collars he wore did an adequate job at covering up most of them but you could still see the edges on his jawline occasionally...

He gives a polite nod to both of the asari, accompanied by yet another smile. "Miss Daia, Miss T'Naron. A pleasure."

Hearing a brief and gentle tap through the loudspeakers, the human turns his head to the podium, relaxing his posture slightly and shifting his weight to one leg. He smiles as he sees the host begin to speak, listening attentively...

Xuumo was rather impressed by the speech. It was enthusiastic, certainly. There was something about the historical perspective that was satisfying. So many centuries, so many efforts to tackle a problem. This was but the latest, then? Hopefully Rondor was wise enough to learn from the past. Lesson one was apparently: never underestimate the potential idiocy of those who would run for Citadel Assemblyman. Well, she had apparently failed to learn that one. Xuumo had seen that fool Vallario (Lowell had been speaking with him just before Xuumo approached the human).

He still couldn't find Alonso. Getting slightly exasperated - the boy was good at hiding - he released a specific scent cue, almost on instinct, though it was one Alonso would recognise. Belatedly, he realized that the other bipeds around him would notice it too. They wouldn't understand it, either, most of them. It was just... a smell.

Well, it's not like you were keeping a low profile. You're the only elcor here.

"Moderate shame: Apologies, a natural function.

Straightfaced: I am... emotional. It was an effecting speech".

"Aw, that sucks. Tell Ana I said hi."

Kayana raised an eyebrow at Max, not quite able to hide her smirk. She could get worked up during a political speech but she hoped she didn't sound like that.

She opened her mouth, but shut it when the speech started. "Huh, I'm a little surprised they mentioned the security issue. "

All through the learned Rondor's speech, all Laykalar could think about was how disappointed she would be if something disastrous were to happen. He had earned so much trust and appreciation, that losing it now would be unbearable in light of the disappointment he'd already brought to his elders.

He did note that the speech had drawn Justicar's attention, and the potential for a lengthy diatribe against their human companions had been averted. So many things could go wrong...

He absorbed more of the mindfish.

Sarah clapped and shouted praise in applause after Michelle finished her speech, then turned to face the Hanar- The one that wasn't Laykalar. Sounds From The Flooded Hollows? "Uh. Hello! So- Uh. How long have you known Laykalar? I've only known him for a little while, but already his infectious optimism has done well by so many others, I think. The galaxy needs more hope and cheer and love for one's work, you know what I mean?" The side of her lip curved up in a half-smile.

Duffy looked over the catering- Alien foods. Mindfish? All of this was new. He picked at a tray of what looked like chicken and removed a piece with a pair of tongs, placing the serving on a small plate. "You can say that again. I quit my job to follow my passion for journalism. I love it, but I'm not getting many bites for jobs nowadays." He mumbled, taking a bite.

"Spoken like an actual commentator, but I'm just hoping for a year to build on, after all, two of the Citadel players are still in the 'glad to be here phase'. But I'm sure the Stardusters will cure them of that," switching to banal discussion was becoming easier for Alystae, if her smile and relaxed demeanor were any indicator. Just then the head of LTD, Michelle Rondor began her speech. Usual platitudes and pleas aside, the chubby woman was speaking with fire, a quality Alystae hadn't noticed on introduction. The tall maiden perking up a bit as mention of the 'difficulties', wondering how Miss Rondor could classify a beef withe Lower Tayseri Elite as mere difficulties, "especially with the Elthinus affair, unless..." Looking over at Kayana Pesh, the Co-op head decided to say hello before visiting the buffet.

"It has been a pleasure Taleeze, but it looks like Kayana Pesh over there seems to be trying a bit too hard with Mr. Vallario. Nice to meet you both," Alystae giving the duo of Mr. Hoffman and Taleeze a gracious smile before gracefully departing, heading towards Max Vallario, Kayana Pesh, and Arina Caenis, letting her height and confident demeanor help make a path through the crowd...