[Lusia, Monoi Tech] back in university (closed)

It amused Taleeze to watch the small exchange between Lia and her roommate. The cute young asari reminded her of her own days at the dorm. The rooms had been a bit different though. The chaos at times in a student apartment had been the same though and preparations for a party were always serious business. She had to grin over the notable difference between Lia's and the asari's area.

"Hello Lissana, nice to meet you!" Taleeze extended her hands for an asari greeting. The young asari seemed nice and was obviously getting along with Lia, who obviously still was a bit cautious. "Trouble finding something suitable for the party?"

Taleeze looked around the room,noting the desks and the papers and notepads. "It's looking nice. You never told me how big your place on Watson was, Lia. So, is that an upscale or a downscale for you?"

"Yes!" Lissana exclaimed, after greeting Taleeze "I can't find anything that I haven't worn to a party here before!" Lia was aware that Lissana had been going to the university for three years already. She must have been to rather a lot of parties at this point. Lia also knew why it was important to her to look nice at these parties. Lissana was a pureblood, and she wanted to prove she wasn't holding back her species, be it in looks, intelligence or anything else.

Lia sighed "If you want to, you can see if I've got anything you can wear. Some of it might be a bit small on you though." Lissana's eyes lit up, and she sprang over to Lia's closet, flinging open the door.

While her own clothes were in the process of being flung about the room, Lia addressed Taleeze's question "My house back on Watson was a pretty standard size for the colony. Although if we're talking about my bedroom, it was much smaller than this one. That's the thing with moving before you've been born, your sister can claim the larger bedroom without a fight." She smiled at the memory.

Taleeze could feel with Lissana! Finding the perfect party attire sometimes was difficult. She wondered what Lia would find in her closet herself. Then the human surprisngly offered to help out and it seemed as if Lissana just had waited for this to happen.

From the looks of it, that would really be interesting to see size wise but then, she had also been young and she sure had had her own fashion confusions. But maybe the asari had already soem experience with Lia's wardrobe? They seemed to get along well.

"Ha, well, looks like someone is about to claim yout closet here!" she laughed. "So, how do you girls get along? What's your major subject, Lissana?"

Taleeze sat down backwards on an office chair, crossing her hands on the backrest, swinging left and right slightly.

"Oh, we get along just great!" Lissana called as she riffled through the clothing, throwing aside the things which wouldn't fit her. "I know some people say humans are aggressive, but Lia isn't that way at all. She could probably stand to be a bit more like that."

"Hey!" Lia threw a nearby shirt at her roomate, who beamed at her

"Calm down, I'm only joking. Anyway, my major is the same as Lia's, Ship engineering and design, you know? I've been working on it for two years now. I started a cybernetics course in my first year here, but it wasn't really for me so I dropped it and-"

"She'll keep going for hours if I don't stop her." Lia remarked to Taleeze. She grabbed a short white dress which had been too small for her sister, and too big for herself, and held it out Lissana

"Here, what about this?" she asked

“I can see that”, Taleeze commented amused on the ‘get along’ remark, as Lissana mutilated Lia’s tidy closet while the human watched. Lia was just a very nice girl, but obviously could hold her ground. She just had different strategies.

“Oh, that looks adorable. White and purple a perfect match anyway if you ask me,” she commented on the dress. Cloths sharing had been a sport in her times as well, as money was tight and the closet of friends always provided endless afternoons of fashion showing and trying to find the total awesomeness or just giddy fun times.

“I was also looking into ship building at first but took a turn towards electronics. I did a few papers on navigation interfaces. Later on I worked for VeilStar Skycars but the maiden urges got the better of me and I started to lean towards being more of an entertainer for now. I do entertainment tech on the side nowadays, stage tech and fancy effect mods based on omnitools.” Taleeze sighed. “Originally I once wanted to become a fighter pilot, like my dad, but I never wanted to commit to a Commando life. So I just chose to have one as a girlfriend, much more simple and comes in handy sometimes.” She laughed.

"You think so?" said Lissana, in response to Lia and Taleeze over the dress "Okay, I'll give it a try." She took the dress and quickly changed into it. Lia looked away. She knew that Lissana, like many asari, had no issue with changing in front of others, but Lia couldn't quite bring herself to adopt the same attitude towards such things.

Lissana examined herself in the mirror "I like it. You're right, the white does go well with my skin tone!" she exclaimed happily.

Lissana's eyes widened when Taleeze mentioned her girlfriend "Your girlfriend's a commando? She must be a pretty amazing biotic, huh? One of my mothers started training to be a commando a couple of centuries ago, but she started developing her matron desires to settle down, so she ended up quitting.""

Lia only understood about half of this conversation. She knew about the different stages of asari maturity, but she didn't know much about asari commandos, or in fact, anything about them at all.

With an amused smile Taleeze noticed the carelessness of Lissana and Lia’s reaction. The human was of the kind that didn’t raise a fuss about such things and just found an elegant way around it. Lia was nice ambassador of her species, maybe correcting the bully image a bit that was prominent in some circles.

Not so much after the war anymore anyway though but still, more Lias would do good for the galaxy.

When Lissana turned in her new outfit, Taleeze gave her a upwards turned flat hand, the asari equivalent of an erected thumb. “Didn’t I say so?”

“Yes. She’s a commando home on Nevos. In fact, she’s about your skintone, just wears white not all too often.” She had to chuckle. Freh’ya was standing out as it was, even when wearing grey or camouflage.
Taleeze had noticed the ‘one of my mothers’ comment. It could mean that her asari mother had a female partner but then it would have been ‘my mother’, since the other one wouldn’t teach commandos. This was offering only one conclusion, the girl had two asari parents. For a kid her age that could mean a few hardships. Teenagers could be cruel although Lusia wasn’t nearly as bad as Illium about that. Taleeze never considered it as something shameful and thought the whole tantrum a bit laughable. So should Lissana be open with it, Taleeze would be perfectly okay.

“Your other mum was a trainer? That’s cool, since Freh’ya – that’s her name – is currently also training recruits! She has a lot of experience and that’s needed these days.” Sadly, so many commandos died. “Yes, her biotics are awesome. Her specialty is the biotic dash but she knows many more techniques. They also train a lot with conventional traditional weapons. She sais, you never know when you have to rely on that because you can’t use biotics.” She swung around on her chair.

“Where are you from, Lissana?”

Lia had noticed the "One of my mothers" comment as well, and wondered if Lissana had been testing for Taleeze's reaction. It seemed apparent that Taleeze had noticed the comment, but when she didn't say anything negative about it Lissana seemed to relax a little more, as though she felt she could trust her.

"I'm from Niacal. Aurolis, to be specific. I like it here a whole lot more, though." she laughed "I don't know if you've ever been there, but the whole planet is super different from anywhere else I've been. When I first left it took me a while to get out of the habit of wearing breathers outside. Oxygen poisoning isn't very fun, after all, and it's pretty easy to get back home."

"You never told me about that." said Lia, who was surprised anyone would build a colony on a planet like that.

"Didn't I? I must have forgotten to mention it. It's not the greatest place but I guess it's still home. Most of the reason my family chose to live there is because there isn't much discrimination there." She glanced at Taleeze "Towards asari with same-species parents, I mean. Purebloods." She spoke uncharacteristically shyly while she said this, but quickly shook it off.

"And how about you? Are you from Nevos as well, or somewhere else?" Lissana asked

“It’s okay, Lissana, I am not one of those.” She smiled trying to reassure the young asari. After all, she was together with a fellow asari as well… should they ever think about having… oh well, still way in the future. She was thinking for a moment, looking over to Lia, then back. “I hope my hometown is treating you well! I was born in Monoi, I only moved to Nevos after university. I’ve been all over the place basically, first the pildavi years and then the dancing.”

Taleeze remembered the green gemstone among the Republics.
“Niacal is such a beautiful planet! Of course that’s me saying this not living there permanently. But all the greenery and the vast rainforests are something special. I’ve been there a couple of times, only briefly though. Spaceport, hotel, stadium and back. One time, a group of us managed to do a small safari though. I think that was because it was the last match of the season and we didn’t have to rush home... we were out and camping in treetops, watching wildlife and such things” …she remembered the especially huge insectoid lifeforms which developed well with the high oxygen “…stupid girls we were, there was of course some oxygen ‘dare’ games going on. Nothing overly bad happened though, just some cheap high.” She giggled. Actually in hindsight it had been a bit risky since someone could have fallen from a tree. And the trees on Niacal got very tall. But youngsters were like that.

"Oh, of course it's beautiful back home and everything. I guess having grown up there I just appreciate it less, seeing as how I'm so used to all the forests and plants. But it sounds like you've traveled a lot, that must be interesting. I've only traveled a little since I left home." She turned to look at Lia "You want to do some traveling, right Lia?"

Lia nodded, her eyes lighting up "Yes, of course I do! There are so many places I've heard about that I really want to see, like Earth and the Citadel, and- oh. Right, I guess now I'm the one who won't stop talking." Lissana's omnitool beeped

"And just what do you mean by-Oh I can't believe I forgot!" She was staring at her omnitool with a slightly panicky expression on her face, and she started to run around the room, sorting through the clothes searching for something.

"What's the matter?"

"I'm supposed to go and see Matriarch T'Goda. Right now. She wants to look some things over with me, and I need to go early so I can make it to the party on time." She fished a datapad from beneath a pile of blankets and ran to the door, turning around as she opened it.

"It was lovely meeting you Taleeze. Lia, I hope I'll see you both at the party as soon as I can, okay?" She smiled and quickly ran out the door, using a quick biotic pull to close it behind her.

"Well that was sudden."

“You can’t leave a Matriach waiting, by all means! Take care and see you later, Larissa!” Taleeze was just calling after the whirlwind of purple and white.
She turned her attention back to Lia.

“She quite the energetic person, isn’t she? It’s cool you shared your dress actually, I think she was thinking about that but was trying not to invade your privacy.” Taleeze grinned.

“So you want to get around, huh? Do, whenever you have a chance, go see what you can take in, the galaxy is full of fantastic places. And truth be told, most aren’t as instantly deadly as the legends go. Even I managed to get in and out of Omega not too long ago!” She cocked her head, thinking about something. “Actually, you know, feel invited to come to Nevos, maybe whenever you have time, like semester break or whatever. If you like, that is! Don’t worry about accommodation, we have a room. It’d be a pleasure.

Astella is a gem as a city, embedded in a semi circular bay. But Nevos is way more than beaches, we also have snowy mountain tops from where you can see the ocean! So, what’s the places you would want to go?”

"You've got that right!" she said, in response to the 'energetic' comment "She bounces around like a little kid." Lia smiled "But she's been very nice to me, and she treats me just like she treats everybody else, which is great."

Lia nodded "Traveling had been one of my dreams since I was, I don't know, maybe two or three? And like I said, I've always wanted to see the Citadel, and Earth as well. I guess it's pretty convenient that they're so close together now." She had heard that some people on Earth barely ever turned on their translators. Coming from a city were more than twenty different languages were spoken, Lia had been using a translator almost her whole life. It would be an interesting experience to be able to use her language skills somewhere.

Lia had heard a little about Nevos before. She still didn't know much about it, but it did sound like a beautiful planet. "You mean, I could come visit you on Nevos some time? Are you sure you wouldn't mind?" The offer was very appealing, but Lia felt guilty about it. Taleeze had been so nice to her, helped her out so much, and there was very little Lia could do for her in return.

"You know, for all the things you've helped me with, giving me advice and everything, I feel like I haven't been able to thank you properly. I don't really know of any way someone like me could help you out at all, but if there's ever something I can do I'd be happy to. Really."

She was a kid. How old would she be? Freshmen at about 60, 70 or something? Totally a kid. Taleeze smiled and did a 360 on the office chair.

“I haven’t been to the Citadel for a long time and yes, it really is conveniently located for a trip to earth as well! You go visit, it must be awesome. I haven’t been there since the relocation, I have no idea how different it is now but I guess I’ll have to travel there soon as well with Skylar. I just need sort of an occasion to wriggle her away from her work on Illium.” She chuckled at the mental image of Skylar trying to hold onto a desk and contract datapads while Taleeze was pulling at her vigorously… she had to laugh.

“You know, you make me feel a century younger. At least a century and that’s something in it’s on given all the super crazy shit that has been going down over the last few years! It’s totally okay, I just… I don’t know, I think I just like you and don’t feel like needing a reason. Also, I don’t expect anything, but I’m sure there will be a time when you will do something for me.” She smiled wide and her face lit up.

“No really, don’t worry about a visit. I am an Alumni of your university and you’re a fan of my team – that alone makes us buddies by default! Nevos is a great planet for holidays, everyone comes there to visit some time. There are even resorts that specialized on students. But you won’t want that probably. I’ll show you the nice spots. But do as you please, it's just an offer!”

She fished for her bag and produced two tops. A simple sporty red one with a printed white Wildkat head emblem and a skimpy glittery red one with a roaring Wildkat head sequined in silver.
“What do you think is better for tonight? I couldn't resist, both are from lines discontinued since decades.”

"Well, in that case I'd love to visit you some time." she smiled widely. She didn't know what it was about her, but Taleeze had a very comforting presence. Lia felt she could talk to her without getting embarrassed. It was a nice feeling.

She surveyed to tops, trying to remember what Lissana had told her about the party they were going to. "Hmm. Well, from what I remember this party is supposed to be quite, uh, lively. Really, I think the sparkly one would fit quite well." Parties were when everybody wore their flashiest clothing. The professors didn't like that sort of thing to be worn during class, not due to any personal objection but because they thought some people would find it 'distracting'.

She smiled at the reply about the visit and the choice of clothing.

“Naughty!” Taleeze grinned and threw the glitter top onto the empty bed of Lissana. She took out another dark wraparound skirt, a bit like the one she wore but more elaborately decorated with asymmetric silver linings, matching the silver of the kat head. And made of visibly less fabric but still enough to make it not look like a stage outfit

“Want to get ready? I also have to do some makeup!” Taleeze wondered what the human would wear. She hadn’t seen her being fancy dressed yet.

Looking at the palette of her omni-makeup, trying to make a choice Armali made great lines of those! First you put on a nano coat and then you could easily change color and style with an electronic pen.

“Now, I hope the music will be any good! I promise I will behave when dancing!” She giggled. After all she didn’t want to embarrass Lia by overdoing it.

She bit her lip, thinking. “Say, what about your new friends, is there maybe anyone more special than everyone else?”

'Sure, we can get ready." she retrieved the outfit she planned on wearing; a white, high-necked, sleeveless shirt (which also happened to be rather tight) and a short, ruffled blue skirt. Lissana had picked it out for her this morning. Her respone to Lia telling her that the shirt was a bit too small for her had been, "Perfect!". Lia brandished the outfit at Taleeze. "What do you think?" she asked

"My friends? Well, Lissana is probably my best friend here... and that isn't what you meant, is it?" she blushed a little "T-to be honest I hadn't really thought about it. I mean, I've been so busy and I-I just..." she decided she should probably stop talking before she said something ridiculous.

"Oh, sweeeet!" Taleeze was clapping her hands. "Nice skirt, ruffles will totally suit you." So far she had only seen Lia in everyday cloths, she wondered what the human would look like when dressed up. If the skirt length was an indication, she's look quite cute! She still was the calm and friendly type she had been back when they first got to know each other but now she seemed much less shy.

Taleeze giggled at the blushing girl. "Sorry, Lia, don't worry, it was just a nosy question really." She interrupted her make-up procedure and nudged the girl playfully on the arm. Her reaction was sweet in a way, Taleeze didn't want to make her feel awkward but still was curious.
"It's great to be friends with your roomie, much better than just 'getting along' definitely. I didn't want to indicate anything about Lissana! But you are really cute and smart, I would think you make a few heads turn." She remembered that group in the cafeteria which put a grin on her face.
"Don't forget the sweet life over all the studies! You're doing so great there anyway!"

Lia laughed an shook her head a little "Well, I'm not sure about that, but thanks anyway." The idea that anyone would stare at her for reasons other than her species wasn't something she had ever considered. Tough, confident girls had gotten all the attention back home, not that she had ever especially minded. "Well, I guess being busy isn't the only reason I don't, uh, I don't know, get out much? The truth is that I'm really not so great with strangers. I'm usually quite stammer-y and awkward." She didn't like admitting it, but she tended to be quite a terrible conversationalist.

"Anyway, enough about that. You must have been to a fair few parties while you were here, surely. Were there any particularly memorable ones?"

Funny, Taleeze never thought Lia was awkward, shy in a sweet way maybe or a bit insecure, which seemed natural given her age and upbringing on a smaller colony. Overall she really was a nice and relaxing person to be around, Taleeze thought.

Everything else had to wait for the party then most likely.
“As you wish, but I can’t let it go unsaid that I think you’re totally not awkward for all I’m concerned! That said, yes, we had indeed some wild parties!” Taleeze had to laugh at the memories. “A lot of them had to do with the pildavi team but mostly we didn’t need any reason. I may have been a much faster and better student but it seemed that the nightlife was already attracting me back then. I remember one occasion where some Matriarchs where trying to get us of the roof because we had a ‘Comet’ party. It was in … 2050 I think, when the Comet of Ishtia was passing through. She had a nice and bright tail, we all went up the roof and had a party there, and it… may have gotten out of hand. Bu it was beautiful! Also, a astroscience professor covered us, declaring it a project in conjunction with sociology.” Taleeze laughed. Glad, nobody fell of the roof in a drunk state, really!

“What about Watson? Where there any celebrations?”

She continued her makeup.

"Sounds like fun."

Lia considered for a moment. "I guess that depends on what you mean. I grew up there, of course, so I've been to all the general things. Birthday parties when I was little and what have you. But the parties we're talking about... Well, people threw them, but I never really went. Watson's in the terminus, I mean, it's no Omega or anything, but its still easy enough for teenagers to get hold of some red sand or something and spend an evening wrecking their house and raving about how they're 'gonna get off this stupid rock someday'" she sighed "I wasn't interested in any of that. But parties here? Much more fun."

"Oh, I hope I'm not giving you the wrong impression of Watson. It really is very beautiful there. I miss watching the tides."