[Citadel, Zakera] A much needed family outing (open)

There, you idiot. She thinks you are a creepy loon.

And rightfully so, Richard thought "You look like you are ... searching something... and... you know, I thought..."
He had no idea what Hedin or the game was. He was missing at least the same amount of context she was.
You idiot should have kept your trap shut.

He looked at her quizzeled about what to do.
"Who is Hedin?" he finally asked. "And what game?" It dawned to him he had interfered in something.

It hadn't been long since everything had been, to put it in Zelana's husband's words, "royally buggered", and yet this park had somehow regained its former beauty. Imports, mainly from Earth, and some wizardry or other on the part of the keepers - or science, or both - had regenerated everything rather nicely.
Bit of a shame they couldn't introduce keepers to the devastated planets, really.
Anyway, there she was, little Siobhán toddling along next to her. It was nice to get some "girl time", as Emile insisted on calling it, away from the club and however many other distractions there were these days.

"Mammy, look!"
Siobhán tugged at her mother's arm, pointing a glowing finger at a patch of flowers a few metres away.
"Oooh. What are those?"
Siobhán giggled. "Silly Mammy. Flowers!"
A tiny crease appeared between Zelana's eyebrows. Siobhán had been speaking a lot more English than Thessian, against both parents' wishes that she become more or less bilingual.
"And what word does Mammy use, dear?"
"Uh... illidu?"
"...close enough."
Siobhán was only a vowel away, but illidu would come through an English translator as "old fart".

Zelana found what she'd been seeking for the last quarter of an hour - an unoccupied bench - and parked herself, sitting the little asari down next to her... who promptly slid off and began exploring the flowers growing next to it.
Typical.

Shit

"Oh. I'm sorry, I didn't know."

She apologized, a little too surprised to say much more. Chris and Sarah had seemed like a secure couple, Muck wouldn't have guessed a break up, especially with a baby on the way.

Muck was saved from asking anymore awkward questions by her daughter's timely intruston, draggin along an unfortunate little animal in her wake.

"Yes, Delia, I see it. Sweetie, you shouldn't hold the leash like that, you'll hurt it."
Helena admonished, before kneeling beside her daughter and...is that a spider?!

Helena flinched back, before her mind caught up to her instincts, and she recognized it for what it was was. The fact that it hadn't snapped at Delia, despite the young girl's rough treatment spoke of its level of domestication.

"Come here, Del, you've upset it."

Helena said, before taking the leash out of her daughter's hands. Then, carefully, Muck brushed her fingers across the stressed little creature, careful not to get near either its mandibles or eyes. She had Delia mimic her motions.

"Remember, it's animal, but it has feelings too. You can't pull it around like a toy, or you'll hurt it."

She instructed, taking advantage of the opportunity to to teach Delia something. She was still very young, and didn't take into account the thoughts and pains of others quite yet.

Vohkaidin blinked at being addressed by name, and with it, came recognition, and memories of a temple under siege, a tense stare down, and a parting glance at the turian and his sister, before a final separation as the survivors. After a moment, the scarred human nodded at the uniformed turian.

"...Yes, I do recognize you. It's been some time, Titus Scapula."

Vohk glanced at the rank patch on Titus' uniform, dark eyebrows rising with realization.

"Or should I call you Major Scapula? Seems you've been doing well for yourself since we last met." He pointed out, smothering any expression of incredulity before they appeared on his face. Titus hadn't been exactly stable throughout the siege, including one particular moment where they'd been close brawling. Not to say he didn't fight well, but Vohk would never expected to see the turian match his regiment CO in rank.

After a moment, he extended his right hand, still very much flesh and blood, to the turian who'd fought beside him at what had seemed to be the end of all things.

"It's good to see you are alive and well. How's your sister?"

The Specialist asked, very sincere. Differences aside, he would always be happy to see that one more person was alive after that terrible day

"Yes. I am searching something." She quickly answered. "...Someone, to be specific."
She was glad the man was not able to see her slightly helpless expression under her helmet...
If she only would have possessed the slightest little bit of sensitivity right now, she very probably would have sensed that he didn't exactly feel less awkward than Preeya.
But fact was, Preeya - even though being a cheerful and sympathetic nature - very probably was amongst the top ten of the lousiest people on the Citadel when it came to interpreting gestures and mimic...

"We are playing a game called "Hide and seek".
I am the one to seek while the other participants - In this case Hedin - try their best to... Well... Hide. The game is over when all hidden players are found."

She held up her hands on the height of her belly.
"He is about this size, Turian, dark grey jumpsuit, white facial marking and he carries along a small purple bag.
You and your children can join me searching for him if you like, and together we can start a new run when Hedin is found."

"It's fine. You didn't know." She planted her elbows on her knees and looked over her now-awake son, then over at the girl that had approached her mother. "Hello, sweetie! It's been a long time! Do you remember me?" She waved, giving the toddler a large smile.
"Do you want to see a baby?" She pointed off at her son, who stared at her with uncertain blue eyes.

"A choriik- Or Chorlick, or whatever?" She leaned forward to get a better look at it. "I think Pariah has one of those."

Delia stared up the blonde lady, and slowly shook her head, before moving to hide herself beside Muck. Her mother smiled, before mouthing "She's shy with new people."

Helena returned her attention to the furry little arthropod, which seemed to be relaxing now that it wasn't being yoinked about. "shorlick mommy! Shorlick!

"Chorlick, honey."

Helena corrected, before giving Sarah a confused look.

"What do you mean a pariah own them?"

Helena asked, not immediately realizing who Sarah was talking about.

"Pariah. The board's resident sweetheart. Quarian with a loving, whimsical personality who's always there to lend moral and emotional support to whomever needs it." She pushed her hair back and looked across the park for a moment, then leaned forward and tugged her infant out of the carriage into her arms.

The turian searched the human's face for a moment, before his mandibles splayed in an easy, relieved smile. Titus took Vohkaidan's hand and grasped it firmly.
"I'm certainly glad to hear that." Titus released his grip on the hand, allowing his own arm to return to his side.

"Of all people, Specialist, I think you've earned the right to address me by my name."
A fringed head lowered to motion at Vohkaidan's cybernetic arm.
"I'm sorry to hear about the injury you sustained on Earth. I, uh, saw the documentary that you and your wife put up on CDN. But likewise, I' glad to see that you're mostly okay."

At Vohk's question, Titus' grin widened. "My sister's fine. She's an engineer working aboard a Hierarchy vessel at the moment."
Unconsciously, Titus rubbed at the stump on his left claw where his middle talon was missing; his sister had the same injury on the same claw. Thinking about her always made him touch what was left of the appendage. Most of the time, he didn't even know he was doing it.

"What about you, huh?" He asked, "how are you and your wife- and your daughter for that matter- doing? Is that them over there?"
He cocked his head towards the bench where Helena, Sarah and the two children were. Suddenly, Titus' slapped the side of his face in embarrassment.
"Please forgive me if I'm interrupting your family gathering. I didn't even think..."

From Titus' demeanor throughout the conversation, one could tell that he was much more mellow and calm, and less arrogant, rude, and loud than the last time Vohkaidan and the turian had met.

One and one made finally click in Richard’s mind and he started to smile. He carefully looked over his shoulder but he could not see the boy anymore. He had been very stupid not to connect this bust his inexperience with aliens totally made him ignore the possibility of a quarian woman – a nanny maybe? – playing with turian boy!

Sure that the boy won’t be around to hear his comment, he said “Hey, in fact, I have seen such a child! He almost ran into me. And of course I know the game. We humans do have exactly the same thing!” He was amazed at how similar aliens sometimes were. But the three fingered hands and the crazy bent legs of some… this woman seemed fairly friendly and it made him think of the conversation on CDN. What a coincidence!

Well, why not play hide and seek with aliens?! He decided it was better to hide in his hotel room.
“I… can’t see him right now, but I think he went through there.” He said conspiratorially and pointed to some bushes. “I don’t have any kids myself though, I hope that does not disqualify me.” he laughed.

“And excuse my bad manners, my name is Richard.” He hesitated for a second and then extended his hand with a smile. He had never touched a quarian before after all.

“You know what’s funny? I just last week had a conversation on the extranet with a quarian about turian kids and what to play. Hide and seek didn’t come to my mind! But maybe that was because I thought quarians would have all kind of sensors built in the suits.” Oh my… he maybe said something rude without thinking! He blushed.

Vohk returned the Major's handshake with equal fervor and a smile. He nodded when Titus gave the ok to use his first name. "Then I can say I have no problem by you addressing me by name either."

Vohk glanced at the replacement appendage, metal and circuitry from the left elbow down. He shrugged. "Oh, this? Tis but a scratch. Hehe, no it's not, but I'm alright. I appreciate your concern though."

Vohk smiled when he heard the news about Titus' sister. "That's good news. I'm happy to hear that you and your sister were able to get your lives back on track. Not everyone's been as lucky."

The human looked over to where his family was, taking note of the blonde for the first time. Recollection took a moment, but it came, nonetheless. He would have to go greet her soon. "W'ere doing fine. Just taking a little break from it all back here on the Citadel. We're both involved in the documentary making, Muck and I, and she's got a contract with FCC. Between being the in marines, FCC reporting, making the film, and taking care of Delia, we've been pretty busy. This little weekend vacation's a much needed breather."

He laughed at Titus' expression, before assuring the turian man he'd committed no offense. "It's quite alright, no harm done, though I admit it did give me a bit of shock to see a turian officer marching his way over to my family. It's no bother, though, I am curious what you're doing here by yourself. Just going for a walk?"

He asked, before glancing back at his family, and meeting Titus' yellow eyes questioningly.

"Would you like to say hello? I'm sure Helena would be happy to know you're doing so well for yourself"

Kari was getting a tad concerned that Pilka hadn't returned to her after she called the choriick's name. So concerned that she hadn't yet noticed that she was sharing the park with another quarian and that there was also a geth in the area.

"Plika!" she shouted once again, this time a tad louder as she continued on her path towards Vohk and Helena.

***

The choriick, finally hearing her name being called perked up, and started chirping louder than it had earlier, clearly excited that her owner was nearby.

Small breaks were always welcome. Union Military, especially the intelligence division, worked around the clock, especially right now. So a couple hours here and there to just relax were definitely appreciated.

Off to the side of the assorted groups coming together in the park today, a grey salarian was taking a stroll, bag containing his lunch in hand. It was a good day, not to say, weather wise, that there were any bad days on the Citadel. Gallik took his time, walking without either his typical uniform, or his typical purposeful and cautious stride.

He took a piece of his lunch out, some kind of confectionery he shouldn't be eating, but everyone needed a treat once in awhile. Taking a bite of it, he grinned a little, internally of course, at the pleasant taste and reminder of simpler times.

He stopped however, nearly dropping his baked treat, when he spotted the Knoxes in the midst of one of those gatherings. He walked over, cautious again, not wanting to intrude.

"Vohkaiden Knox. Glad to see you in good health, my friend."

Helena's ears perked at the voice calling out "Pilka", and, due to a combination of Sarah"s explanation of who "Pariah" happened to be, the animal's clear excitement at the sounding of the name, the journalist wasn't surprised to see a tall purple clad quarian calling out the name,

The journalist sighed internally, wondering if she'd somehow stumbled into a CDN reality vortex, before looking at her daughter.

"It looks like we've found the Chorlick's owner sweetie. We better give it back."

"Aww. "

Delia complained, not happy to give up her new playmate/toy. The little girl pouted fiercely, even as Muck began to lead her over to the quarian woman.

"Excuse me Miss, but is this your animal?" Helena asked Kari, even as her daughter asked her own question.

"Can I keep it?" ,"No, Delia, it isn't yours to keep"

The woman admonished her daughter, befor returning her gaze to the quarian woman, eyes expectant.

Preeya slowly took the man's hand and gently shook it.
"Well, hello there, Richard." She spoke softly and looked at him for some seconds, before she continued.
She was not sure whether this topic reminded him on a good or bad conversation with a Quarian, which was, why she did not go into detail too much - Just to keep things safe.

"...It does not surprise me that people ask for inspiration from fellow extranet users in situations like these.
I did that as well before I was entrusted with Hedin, for I wanted to keep possible problems at a minimum. Most advices had been quite useful so far..."

She walked some steps into the direction where Richard came from.
Since he told that he met Hedin previously, the boy might have been hiding somewhere alongside Richard's route.
"...However. Don't worry. Not having children very probably will not disqualify you. I assume that won't be important to Hedin."

She turned around to him again finally remembering that it might be polite to introduce herself as well as she saw that his face blushed within the past couple of seconds.

"Is everything alright?" She asked investigating, leaning forward towards him and directly looking at his face.. "...You appear to have... Something happening to your veins...
...And I am called Preeya'Lem by the way."

Flash of Light's entourage was on an immediate collision vector towards the quickly forming cluster of CDN users.

"Okay, here's another question. Quarians and the geth. You're on the top of the totem pole on Rannoch, why don't you just finish them off while you have the chance?"

"The question presumes the geth retain hostility towards the Creators. Had it been so, there would not have been a Creator population to greet the re-opening of the Tikkun relay and contact with other species of the galaxy. Co-operation serves the Consensus' interests best at the moment."

"But in the future?"

"The geth will not initiate conflict with the Creators. They have been the sole initiator of conflict with us when it has served them best. We do not want to fight, but we will defend ourselves. However, given the numbers of the Creators compared to the geth, some manner of subjugation of the Creators is expected."

"Well if that isn't delicious irony. Geth making the quarians their servants! How do you reckon us other organics will receive it though, hmmm?"

"The Creator population numbers in the low millions. The geth programs are in the billions. These are two visibly separate populations. Is the hostile minority expected to govern the majority?"

"Well no..."

"Barring rapid restoration of Creator population and military assets to levels comparable of the Consensus, the latter is expected to govern the Tikkun system's defense and diplomatic policies."

"And the quarians, when they're under your control?"

"The Consensus is capable of satisfying its own needs without the Creators. They would be, in this given scenario, afforded autonomy under the military protection of the Consensus, as long as they would not initiate hostilities or sabotage diplomatic relations. I, as individual program, do not see use in commanding Creators to do menial labour as the popular media has depicted such situations."

"Please excuse me. I am approaching acquaintances." Flash of Light suddenly spoke and moved towards Sarah. "Sarah Thompson. How are you?" it addressed her.

"Oh! Hey! I am Sarah Thompson!" She shifted in her seat and slowly stood up, offering an extended hand. "I remember you! How have you been? To what do I owe the pleasure? Just on a walk? It seems like you've gathered quite the bit of fans." She looked over the various students following the geth.

She seemed rather happy to see the geth; For the longest time, the woman had considered that the Geth had returned to the Veil or Rannoch, but it seemed it was not the case. "There are lots of CDN users about. Where there's one, there's four, it seems." She smiled.

Vohk blinked with surprise at being addressed, having not even heard the salarian's footsteps. It appeared, that even when off duty, certain ingrained skills never entirely faded away. He studided the salarian for a moment, before recognition kicked in, and the scarred human grinned widely.

"Well, if it isn't Sergeant Tonn Galick. Likewise, my friend, I both surprised and pleased to see you here. Only one day thus far on the Citadel, and I am lucky to encounter both friends and acquaintances alike."

Vohk grasped the grey salarian's hand in a warm greeting, before beckoning Titus over. "Let me introduce you two. Titus, this is my friend, Sergeant Tonn Galick, Union millitary. He and I fought alongside each other on Thessia during the eezo raider crisis. Helped save my life after my legs had been shot up. Galick, this is Major Titus Scapula, of the Hierarchy. During the Reaper occupation of the Citadel, Titus was one of the soldiers who helped defend the survivors until the Catalyst event. My family's well being is partially thanks to him."

Vohk introduced, speaking warmly of both. Truth be told he knew both sparingly, but Knox fully embraced the philosophy that if one has fought and bled beside you, then they are to be treated as either friend or family.

Gallik took a moment to return the warm smile as the man as the man greeted him.

"Indeed, the wheel seems funny that way. Only been on the Citadel a short while myself. Couple days of leave. Things are understandably hectic right now within the military. Just glad to be away for a few." As Vohk continued on, introducing him to the turian, Gallik cast an appraising eye over the other man, grabbing details.

At the end of the introduction, Gallik nodded, giving Titus a smile and offering his hand.

"Major. A pleasure to make your acquaintance."He gave a brief look over to the aforementioned Knox family, smiling and giving another nod. Though the initial reasons for Gallik's involvement with Vohk and the Templars was more intelligence gathering than actual cooperation, he had genuinely come to care for their mission on Thessia and for the Knoxes in particular."Your family seems well, Vohkaiden. It's good to see them. And Major Scapula, you have my thanks for contributing to their safety."

Vohkaidin blinked, and smacked himself in the forehead.

"Well, blast it all, it seems I've gotten hit in the head a few too many times. Titus was actually at Thessia as well, though I didn't get the chance to speak with him much then. I'm sorry, I really am."

He gestured at Titus' rank insignia. "Perhaps you met, though I believe he had a lower rank at the time," He explained, before nodding at Galick. "Yes ,we're doing quite all right, just taking the advantage to relax for the weekened. Would you like to come say hello? I was just about to take Titus over when you arrived."