[Citadel, Tayseri, Eight Street Temple] Community Day (Open)

"It's a celebration of culture. Martial Arts is a big part of culture. Plus it's like, unusual for something to be tailored to drell bodies, right?" She twisted her head over her shoulder, throwing up a hand signal. The two kids who were watching them straightened up. She turned back to the Geth and extended her hand. "I'm Kayana Pesh. Thanks for everything you-you collective, my language needs better pronouns-did during the war."

She peeked back over her shoulder, the kids were staring again. Which drew the other kid's attention. "You must get this a lot."

Arina straightened her dress as she entered the temple. This was a personal pleasure in intercultural activities as well as an an official visit to show asari attention to the event.

She made herself known to the priest and offered the asari embassie's greetings and best wishes, along with a small present from Thessia.
Once the formalities were over she had time to look around the temple. She was a bit surprised to see a blond and seemingly very pregnant human woman with a violin. This could be Sarah, that woman from CDN who had been abducted recently!
After the public announcement on the boards, Arina wouldn't be surprised to find other members here.

Near her was a group with two asari and a quarian - now that was a real surprise. She got closer, only to make out a geth talking to a drell. This was a really pangalactic event already.

Arina approached the group and greeted towards the drell who seemed to be affilitad with the temple by his looks.

"Greetings. My name is Arina. It's a pleasure to be here for the celebrations. It's good to see your temple drawing so many visitors."

She nodded to the others to extend her introduction.

"Keep these bars coming and I'll be your best friend, priestie." Sarah unwrapped the bar offered over to her and took a few bites, before resuming sitting down at her selected area. The bar was finished off, her fingers were licked clean, and she began to play her violin once more, an up-tempo drell number about desert sands (or so the lyrics said.)

Sarah crossed a bare leg over her knee and leaned back, strumming the bow against the strings.

"I'm Hadas, and welcome to our temple Arina," he greeted the asari with a smile, "it's fantastic to see how great this turned out to be."

"It's our first major community wide celebration like this since the end of the war, we had others but they were kept within the confines of the temple."

He placed two more bars near Sarah, "us biotics need to stick together."

"Just Illium," Eafina replied, taking Sarah's hand. "And we do what we can about the rest of the Terminus, but you can imagine how that is. We're a long way off Thessian standards, sadly. But it's something to work towards." She grinned, suddenly seeming quite a bit younger, as a mildly star-struck tone entered her voice. "Several of the Thessian pleasure temple speakers are going to attend the festival though, and I'll get to meet with them."

Both asari turned at the mention of geth - Daia with a quick "Hi; excuse me, sorry," to Hadas, who she was greeting at the time - and Ana tilted her head slightly to one side, as if listening to something over her shoulder.

"So it is," Daia said, blinking to stop herself staring, and half-turning back to the group. "It- he? She? What's considered polite?"

"It's unlikely to take offence at 'it'," Ana offered; her voice was low, but aside from a slight tightening of her hand around Daia's, she didn't seem alarmed.

"Never been this close," Daia murmured, glancing back again.

Another Asari walked into the temple grounds, wearing a fairly causal but modest white dress. She blinked slightly as she saw Sarah- she might want to talk to the human at some point. Still...

Smiling, Kiara made her way over to where Arina was. "Hey, Ariana." She then turned to the priest, nodding. "It's a pleasure to be here today- and a pleasure to meet you. I'm Kiara."

"In light of the proportionally small drell population in comparison to other species in the galaxy, your claim appears valid." the geth reciprocated the handshake. "This intelligence may be addressed as Flash of Light. It is the one in control of this platform, while other intelligences do visit it occasionally, I retain primary use rights to it. Your gratitude is appreciated." It spoke with the typical stutter-like sound that somehow ended resembling speech.

"It is one of the most common reactions younger persons exhibit when in visual range of this platform. The other two are asking questions and fleeing to their parents. If it does not distract you from the training, I would like to ask few questions."

"Oh, you are distracting them." And it had wanted to fly the flag a little. Or else it would have 'worn' some sort of generic mech. She looked back over her shoulder. "Maybe I should line them up, let them get it all out of their system."

"But yeah, I'll answer questions. As long as you get that I'm not answering for 'the drell'.

It's a strange gathering inside, and it's about to get just a little stranger.

The latest arrival gets a few curious looks, most notably from those trying to figure out if it's a drell underneath the ornately embroidered, hooded robe, as the being's face is entirely obscured in shadow. The newcomer leans on an ornately carved, elaborately painted walking staff in a way that suggests the staff is not entirely ceremonial. The feet, encased in sturdy boots, are no help, but the eagle-eyed in the audience notice only three fingers, not five, on the gloves that grip the staff. The more academic among the crowd might note that the scrollwork painting and embroidery are not of traditional drell patterns, though they suggest a similar ferocity, and only slightly less desperation.

Raelon Pasharan steps to the side of the doorway and waits. Community day or not, it seems rude for the follower of one spirit to wander through the home of another without proper introduction to the Spirits who live here. Ignorance of drell protocol means it is only polite to wait for assistance.

The sounds of the music come to an abrupt stop, with a note that's way, way too high. "Fffhh." Sarah hissed. Standing the violin against her chin and resting the bow on her lap, she adjusted the tuning with a small tool, then resumed playing, shooting the asari that had just arrived a sly wink.

Sarah once again got comfortable. I can always greet people later, right? OR they can greet me.

Arina nodded at Hadas’ reply.
“Thank, you. It’s a perfect example of good community service, Hadas. Showing up is the least we can do.”

When Kiara entered, Arina greeted her with a smile. “Hey, Kiara, my favorite baker.”

She also observed that the other two asari and the quarian seemed to be all fascinated by the geth. Well, they still were mostly considered exotic outside the embassy’s premises. One of the asari seemed vaguely familiar but Arina couldn’t put a name to her. Maybe she’d find out later.

"It would be the best option for the time being." the geth replied, turning its head at the children. Who'd be the first one to dare a question it it?

"As for the questions, is shaking hand a greeting custom amongst the drell? Some individuals have stated it to be a human custom. They did so with tones associated with disdain."

While it's ocular was focused on Kayana's class, Raelon's entry onto the premises was not unnoticed by Flash of Light. The turian shaman had quite the EM signature, courtesy of his augmentations and implants broadcasting their existence, not to mention the extranet traffic going in and out of his head.

As the organics would have described it, this was a pleasant surprise. There were less chemicals and more positive feedback stimuli involved however. An organic with such extensive synthetic modifications was an anomaly in the number of people it had met so far but also an opportunity. It could converse with the turian electronically and handle more exchanges than just one now!

A second later, Raelon's cranial augmentations received an electronic handshake and probings of open ports for file transfer.

While his Elder engaged in conversation with a temple leader (he assumed the drell in question was such) Laykalar remained still and watched the other guests. Asari, turians, a quarian...even a geth! All had seen the value in taking time to experience the exhibition of drell culture, for whatever purpose and regardless of what they would make of it. For now, they were united in the act of casual study, their perspectives riding the crest of alien viewpoints. Only a few weeks ago, Laykalar would have been tearing in there immediately, not knowing whom to speak to first. Today, though, he held himself in check and just enjoyed the opportunity to watch.

Back on Kahje, drell had been the only non-hanar he'd ever seen, and given his home region's unimportance to the Primacy, he had only ever encountered three, no more than one at a time. Now the drell presence was spectacular, and watching the youngsters' display with enjoyment, or so it seemed given his knowledge of asaroid body language, were more aliens than the average Primacy-bound hanar probably saw in its life.

He wondered if the geth was the same one he had met before. The same mechanical vessel, at least. They could move between them, like wind between the islands. He pulsed warmly at the thought.

"We did have our full share of nations before the fall, a few shook hands. but I probably picked it up from the humans. I've seen like, turians clasp forearms? It all means the same thing: Look, I don't have a weapon tucked in my sleeve!"

She turned to the kids and whistled. "Alright! Line up, two rows, shorties in front. This is Flash of Light, who has very kindly offered to answer some questions about the Geth, and we're going to answer some of his questions, okay?"

They stared for about 30 seconds. Then the questions started.

"How old are you?"

"Do you like the quarians now?"

"Can you beat her-" Kayana, of course. "inna fight?"

If it were possible for a hanar to noticeably perk, then Laykalar perked now.

A geth giving an open description of itself! How intriguing! He floated closer.

Sarah stuck an arm up into the air, having set her violin once more inside of it's case. She seemed to be overtly giddy, trying to match the children's enthusiasm- her attention solely focused on the geth (One she /knows/ she's met in the past for lunch.)

"Ooh! OOH, Do your lightbulbs ever burn out?"

"That is the explanation I have been offered by humans. Observing progress of such gesture from proving one's peaceful intent into general greeting would be fascinating. Continuation of present peaceful relations between organics and synthetics are desired, as I am able to monitor evolutionary progress of customs like these more closely."

Kayana called the kids out to line up, and Flash of Light turned to face them. It's ocular refocused on the youth as they formulated their questions. Soon they began coming out.

"This platform, or in terms more familiar to your age demographics, body was manufactured in 2176 for construction work. It was refitted in 2181 to replace worn-out limb actuators. The intelligence residing and addressing you right now, or I, were made by the creators in 1866 for domestic work. That would make me 322 years old."

"While I am able to assign social groups and items preferences, your question of do I like the creators now cannot be answered in a satisfactory manner. It is an emotion I am incapable of experiencing. I do not feel anger or endearment towards them."

The third question gives the geth pause, as it turns to appraise Kayana with its lone ocular.

"She would most likely injure herself if she attempted to harm me with her fists and legs. I would be able to use her weak points to my advantage and disable her non-lethally but in pain-inducing manner. So yes, were I and her to fight, I would be victor most likely."

And then Sarah decided to join into the fray and present her question. Flash of Light turned towards her. Facial recognition protocols called up the records of the interview they had conducted, and it was a match to the jumping one's face.

"Sarah Thompson. I am satisfied to see you were not harmed during your recent ordeals. The answer your question is yes. The ocular backlight LED set can burn out, but it lasts decades. They are most often replaced if the ocular itself has been damaged."

"So you're the same Geth that kicked the quarians out?"

"Do you remember things properly?"

"How long are you going to live for?"

"Don't you get bored?"

"Oooooohhhhh." This was not a question. But several of the older children, led by the same boy who asked the original question, produced this vocalization. "Come'on, Ms Pesh!"

Kayana sighed, sternly holding out a hand for them to be quiet.

With all eyes on the Geth Arash slipped away after handing off the shards to the priest. He found the kitchen easy enough and was greeted without question when he offered to help. Within a few minutes he has a platter of fried meats, flatbread and nuts, all native to or cloned from the homeworld and all authentic recipes. It was a rare thing to eat native Rakhana food. Clearly the temple had gone all out for this. When no one was looking he grabbed a jug of a sweet mulled wine and slipped back out again, the food and drink carefully balanced.
"I really need to sit down and chat with a rep for the geth collective at some point. For now, who's hungry? Hadas you mentioned kitchen raiding and Gods will it I made it so. Lieutenant please indulge. The bars aren't bad but this? This is a feast." He motioned to the asari at hand and even waved over the cloaked figure he had spotted near the entrance. "Please, have a seat and join me. I trust no priest will take issue with us having a slight repast. Care to join us Kayan? Or do you still have more of your class to attend to? I can snag another tray if you need for your students."
On any other day at the temple he would have been more reverent and followed the priests in all things, but the festival air was intoxicating, he was hungry and this food was meant to be eaten. What better way to celebrate community than breaking bread together was his thought and so Arash sat and helped himself to a skewer of meat.

Sarah was quick to take a bowl of soup. Completely unsure of what was in it, the smell was delicious and what was this? Baked bread chunks (or so it looked!) She sat down once more and took a drink from the side of the bowl, pouring the contents into the back of her mouth. She paused for a moment, chewed, and the color washed out of her face.

Setting the bowl down, she quietly excused herself.