[Citadel] [Semi-open] The Calypso

"Trex, has he done anything other than not being Notras?" Kay looked over at him-she was completely blind to good looks in Turians.

Kay had, honestly, been avoiding Vindi for awhile. Ever since people stopped reassuring her that the Quatra thing was under control. Part of this whole maturity schtick was knowing what set you off, right? But she liked the idea of a new boyfriend. Men should make your life...lighter. Broader. More generally enjoyable, which was not a phrase she associated with Trex's Hearth-Father.

"'Cause I have my camera but Vindi is behind you, about 4 o'clock."

“Oh that's good to hear, being more mobile should lift Raelon's sprits. I can try to talk to Trex, but I doubt my voice carries much weight, unless its shock value.” Itzen said with a grin.

“He is... they are... it's complicated Ma'am.” Nex said to his Chief, a love triangle wasn't unheard of but generally it did not involve marriage. Besides it wasn't his place to explain it and he was too busy trying to gawk, luckily the glitters had his attention firmly placed on her face and not her knees... or Sprits... her waist. “The Citadel is a good place to settle down, but I don't feel like I'm ready to call it home just yet.” The warrior looked towards the dance floor, “I don't really know where home is to tell the truth.”

“Home is where the sand doesn't burn the soles of your feet.”

Trex gives Kayana a weird look. "Isn't that, like, enough?"

Notras is the only reason she's alive. She respects him, and she'd follow him anywhere. And Vindi made him...as close to happy as he had ever been. He just needed to let himself be happy. And that wasn't going to happen while Vindi was making goo-goo eyes at Arx.

"Arx is Hierarchy scum. He was a prison guard for spirits' sake. Falling in love with your jailer is like fucked in the head, don't you think?"

Never mind that Vindi was Trex's age at the time and Arx had been kind to her.

The worst club in the world is a club where your parental figures hang out. Trex quickly drains her drink before Vindi can bust her. "Oh shit, she is probably going to squeal on me."

"Home is where you and your kin would lay down your lives for each other."

It's always what she's believed. It's told her that if the Citadel had failed her, she could always return to Louki Fidele and his clan. It's the bond that she'd built with Notras, and as Arx approaches with a drink for her and one for himself, it makes her wonder...would Arx go that far for her?

She chides herself that normal people don't ask that question so soon in a relationship.

Vindi accepts the drink and sips at it curiously. "Is this booze?"

Then she realizes an introduction is necessary. "Arx, this is Nex from my hall, and Hadas and Itzen, who are my sister's friends."

Arx grins and nods to them. He's got the same soldier demeanour of all Turians, but he's clearly a second-stringer, not a front-liner. "I'm an administrator with the Hierarchy logistics office in Tayersi," he says. "Nice to meet you."

"Sadly for Notras, no." She laughed.

"A little fucked in the head, but he's hardly her jailer now, and aren't you on team Notras? Kind of even on the fucked in the head."

"She won't want to make too much of a scene. Besides, we're all watching you and she ought to know I'm too paranoid to let you get smashd. It'd be rude to the boys to sneak out, but I'll take any heat. Whenever you're ready." She looked over at the group, making a face. "And Itzen is not allowed to make fun of my clothes anymore. That thing is pink."

Nex holds his face straight and stoic the moment Arx joins them, mandibles clamped to his face, eyes sharp. “Well met,” he says coldly to the man. There is no doubt that the only reason Arx is acknowledged at all is because of Vindi.

Hadas and Itzen are more friendly of course. “Glad to meet you, I'm Hadas, a priest at the Rakhana Temple on Tayseri. And this is,” “Itzen Rha, student.” The blue drell smiled.

“So come here often?”

"Don't even tell me." Trex rolls her eyes. "Don't you some day want to be so fucking badass that you can walk around looking like a bowl of candy and people still respect?"

Might as well get this over with.

Trex sets down her glass as she walks towards her sister, Arx and the boys and hopes she doesn't smell like the straight-up booze she's been drinking. Frag, she has to have a breath mint or something somewhere...thank god for all the pockets in turian clothes.

She goes to stand by Nex. Any fight they might have had pales in comparison for mutual dislike for Arx. It doesn't even matter that Trex wasn't part of the Solregit war in any real sense; her work for Quatra was motivated by Quatra's desire for profit, with only lip service paid towards the Cause. Arx is still Hierarchy Scum in Trex's optics.

...She would, of course, never use that phrase to describe Notras. Not even if he were, you know, a Skullface deathsquad trooper.

"Hi," Trex says awkwardly.

Arx grins. "Since moving to the Citadel, yeah. Music's good, food's not bad and drinks are cheap. Trying to convince Vindi that there's more to nightlife than folk music and ammunition."

"Sniper's Touch is not a club," Vindi says, lightly.

"Not saying it should be, but you spend too much time there. You're young; you deserve a life of your own."

Vindi presses her false mandibles against her face. Chieftains exist to serve their people. A life of her own is outside the job description.

"What are you studying?" she asks Itzen, desperate to change the subject.

"It's a secondary priority?"

She walked over to the group. Poor Arx, trying to talk sense into Sundowners. "Business. And he's brilliant."

She slipped into place beside her men, the Independent Drell faction instinctively forming a counterweight to Trex and Nex. She extended a hand to Arx. "Kayana Pesh? I'm Trex's friend. I work for the Thane Krios Memorial Foundation. Oh, and I'm married to this guy." She put an arm around Hadas.

“Yeah, major in business administration, and value added logistics as a minor.”Itzen repeats while stretching lightly.

“Yup, and we won't let you forget it.” Hadas adds with a grin, quickly followed by a kiss.

Nex meanwhile glowered at Arx, he didn't want to actually punch the man, but how he wanted to put the man in his place, you don't tell a Chieftain what he or she should be doing, if nothing else the position of chieftain should indicate they could make-up their own minds.

Vindi doesn't blink at Kayana's introduction - she hasn't figured out yet that Itzen's "friendship" with the couple is a little more involved than that. What does give her pause, though, is that she thought Trex had gone over to Kay's tonight. If Kay's here, where's Trex? Vindi's about to ask when she sees the girl herself trailing Kay and coming over to stand next to Nex.

Trex offloaded her glass along the way, but she can't disguise her presence. Vindi puts her hands on her hips. "How did you get into this club?" she demands, casting a sidelong glance at the drell. They've got to know Trex is too young to be in here, right?

Trex puts her hands on her hips. "Nobody asked." They should have, mind you, but Trex is hoping Vindi is still anti-establishment enough to accept this excuse.

Arx is starting to frown, but Vindi nods. "Just make wise choices."

Which is a translation for no drinking, no drugs and no fooling around, but it's a big improvement on getting kicked out of the club.

Vindi's sidelong gaze is actually more focused on Next right now than it is on Trex.

Kayana raises a brow, just a fraction of a millimetre.

Even if she had gotten Trex completely smashed and invited her to an orgy-and she never would-Trex would not have been firing off sniper rifles or spending time around asshole gangsters. Wise choices, gods above.

"Now that is an expression we picked up from the aliens." She kissed Hadas back, then half-leaned against him. "...And I'm technically a student, but I'm trying to escape from that as soon as possible. Are you enjoying the Citadel?"

“She's trying to undersell herself, she's much more than just a student. She's does a lot of good both at the foundation and on her own.” Hadas added proudly.

“... and listen to your sermons, she should get a medal for endurance for that.” Itzen added with a grin.

“They're not that long,” they were.

Nex meanwhile was oblivious to Vindi's stare, concentrating on Arx. He could abide the creepy heart-father of Trex, the guy was Vindi's general, had proven himself worthy of a modicum of trust. This man, this 'administrator with the Hierarchy logistics office in Tayseri' was a different story.

“We do what we can as long as we do what we must. ma'am.”

"Would enjoy the Citadel more if I were getting paid," Arx admits. "Seems some kinda irony who I'm now askin' to pick up my tab until the back pay comes through."

Vindi grins and winks at him. "At least I'm not locking you up at night. Yet."

Trex makes a gagging noise.

But when Vindi's optics dart her way, Trex says casually, "Great beat, huh? If I keep dancing like this I'm going to sleep for like a day."

After running around in the range going nuts during her grounding, Vindi and Arx are going to welcome the relief...

"You kids have fun," Vindi says. Like she's that much older.

Trex whispers to the drell, "Ugh, nothing sucks like a club your guardian hangs out at." She doesn't even realize that for Nex, on Solregit, it's the norm--everyone hangs out partying at the hall together.

"You're Enkindled. How are you talking smack about our sermons being boring?"

Kay shoots Trex a look when she starts gagging-not helping. She doesn't think the relationship is long for this world anyway, but there's no point in hurrying it along. "You enjoy your date. We'll see you at the range later."

She waited until Vindi was out of earshot before answering. "Yeah, with her boyfriend is probably not fun. But Sanjin would take me out sometimes. That was fun."

“The words of the Enkindlers are wise, inspiring and soothing.” Itzen said with a somewhat serious tone of voice. “They are given from generation to generation in an unbroken chain across ages, and they should be respected. He just adlibs for hours on end.”

“I have notes.”

“and you get distracted from them, I have attended service, one moment you're talking about the three works of Kahleiandresh angel of vengeance on her third visit to Neab, and the next thing you're doing is telling a story about the honeymoon of Serrek and his third wife. With as link that the new shop on the corner didn't have the right incense.”

“Well he didn't.”

“It's a turian, be glad he has incense at all.”

The two continued to needle each other playfully, clearly having some fun at both their own and each other's expense. Nex meanwhile nodded, “we'll try Chieftain, enjoy your evening.” He politely ignored Arx.

When they were out of earshot he leaned into the conversation between Trex and the drell, Kay's two boys having finished their fun. “don't see what you're making a fuss about, Trex, a party is a party, everyone has the right to have some fun.”

“Nex, never tell us about having parties where everyone is having fun, we just might pretend to misunderstand you and blow your little mind.” Hadas said with a grin.

“Hmm? What do you mean?” he turned to Trex in hope she might know, “what does he mean?”

“Ignore him he's trying to be funny.” Giving Hadas a quick kiss, which would shut the priest up, and Nex for that matter. Hopefully Vindi (or Arx) hadn't just turned to glance back at them or they would no doubt have some questions.

"You really underestimate my exposure to the full range of drell experience." She took a breath, calling up a memory, then launching into a pitch-perfect impression of one of Rabbas Bar's sermons. Including that rather Enkindled-preacher uplift? At the end of the great mysteries? She gave Itzen a playful shove. "He's better at ceremony."

"And hey, Master of Ceremony, don't tease the same-species oriented." Kayana rolled her eyes, feeling someone's eyes on her. "Though I have to ask...I thought the turian standard for appropriate sexual behavior was 'as long as you get your work done'."

“We're talking about sex now?” Nex looked at Trex, “I thought this was about ya were talking 'bout religion stuff... but 'kay I deal.” He didn't really want to, but he was fairly sure Trex would never forgive him if he let her do the explaining on her own.

“So see... that's only part of your duty towards the community, like as long as it doesn't prevent you doing your job and the girl hers you're allowed to, cause if you did it would just be selfish. But the two should also know they're on the same wavelength ya? If one wants to just get off and have a fuck and the other wants it to be the start of something lasting ya shouldn't doing it.” He glanced just for a second towards Trex.

“And ya should try to be discreet about it, like I once saw this porno where the actors pretended to be seppers even though they had that Palavian ink all over their faces and they started doing it in the middle of the town's square... yeah that's not going to fly in real life. No matter how nice the girl looks. The being discreet is also part of being your duty against community, 'cause even if ya and the girl don't have a problem with people watching, ya might still distract others from doing their job.” He rubbed his chin, “'course there's situation, like if the walls are thin or you're in the field and all ya have is a tent, well everyone else will try to ignore a couple who get busy. Its considerate.”

Nex took a mouthful from his beer.

“And of course it's your duty to have little ones, even if ya're not into it, like if you're a girl and only like girl there's still a bit of an expectation to give it a try with a boy or something just so there's more of us around. Now don't get me wrong here, 'cause ya sometimes take my words and twist them, we're not forcing anything, Just ya know, we need the numbers, and we let everyone know it's part of their duty to help deal with that. It's a bit like how the bootlickers are doing now after the war, they're also trying to get as many babies.”

“'course if ya really can't have kids or don't want them ya're still expected to take care of them if need be. Well it was like that in the old days, things changed.” He was looking at his feet now, he didn't like talking that much, it's more something for a chief to do, they're good at explaining, he was better at the action bits.

Trex looks at Kayana, bewildered and a bit jealous. Going out with grownups...fun? She feels a little guilty. Every time Vindi has tried to take her out somewhere, she's done her level best to shoot her down or complain about something. The absolute worst was when Vindi had taken her out to see a holosim.

Trex had liked it. A lot.

She'd been as nasty as she could on the trip home.

...Vindi couldn't help being who she was. And Vindi was trying so hard, with Arx, not to be the Ardua County Sniper any more. Maybe Trex should give her sister some of the benefit of the doubt.

Or maybe she should just try to get her dad to take her places more often. She wished he didn't have such a big thing about being in public.

She's almost grateful when Nex asks her what Hadas means. Trex rolls her eyes. "Ew, gross."

She leans over and whispers to Nex, "He means orgies."

She shoots Itzen a Look - Notras Khutonax Disapproves Of This Conversation, patented, used under license. "The Hierarchy says you can do what you like as long as you don't interfere with the job. The Sundowners say you can do what you like as long as you don't interfere with the job, break a blood oath or fuck with the clan and the family, which is pretty much already covered under blood oath, except they impose that last one on non-Sundowners too. Me, I saw too much super gross stuff on Omega to ever be all that comfortable with the idea."

Gross, gross, gross. She'd clung to her weapon, which was her defense in more ways than one. It was Quatra's holy writ: don't touch this girl. If Trex sets down the ego too long, she starts realizing that she wasn't the chosen one...she was just a lucky one. And luck is so much more fragile than God-granted destiny.

"Nex is pretty much right," she says, looking at him. Her answer has two meanings: one for the drell, the other for Nex. She understands what he's saying now. With the war over, and his life in upheaval, he's free now to decide that he just wants to have some casual fun, and he's being up front with her. They want different things. They don't belong together like that.

As Nex talks more, she sends him a message on his omni-tool, hoping he's figured out how to read it.


She still feels a little sick. Nobody wants a little nerd hanging on pretending to be cool. She really hopes he can at least see her as a fellow warrior, rather than an immature little pain in his arse.

...Trex's eyes trace the room. Vindi and Arx are dancing now. Really close.

Gross, gross, gross.

"I miss her, you know." She abruptly shifted gears, pushing forward with a smile.

"I just ask because I feel unusually gawked at tonight."