[Citadel, Shin Akiba] The Daily Special [OPEN!]

Gee, forced sobreity. That had to suck for her. If he was a booze varren in her shoes he'd probably go crazy. Or crazier.

"Can't speak for Lear, but I'm on business." he began to explain. "My boss decided I needed to earn my ship. So I need to actually come up with the money. He won't let me work it off, so I have to go freelance for a bit. I was kinda hoping maybe you could help me out. I need people with guns, scruples as humans call it and if possible cheap. I figured, maybe you could at the very least point me in the right direction of some high quality firearms... or someone who can use a gun and is looking to get paid."

He could understand if she couldn't help. But hey, if idea one went bust maybe he could help her out with something. At the very least it would break some of his reputation among fellow CDNers of being that one crazy conspiracy theorist who talked cryptic and said stupid neurotic things over the extranet.

Lear pulled the nutripaste out of his pocket to show the woman.

"I came here to get food..." Lear innocently put the paste back in his pocket. He looked at the woman.

"I... don't think we've met. I'm Lear'Kaus vas... Kolosya? I don't even know anymore. Was it Kolosya, Vik?" Lear awkwardly held out his hand to the woman, mimicking the human "handshake" that Lear rarely understood.

"I know a friend of mine who calls herself by the Ward she lives on." Vik told Lear. "I guess either of us could do something similar but Vas Washington DC just doesn't really fit for me."

At the entrance to the restaurant, two human females entered in midst of a conversation. They were physically similar, in terms of features, height, and skin tone, but were still noticeably different. The elder dressed more conservatively, kept her hair short, and was seamlessly passing through the various alien species with barely a batted lash. The younger kept her hair long, showed a bit more skin, and couldn't go for a moment without drinking in the sights.

Oh, and she also wore some random bits of clothing that would be better suited on a 16th century pirate. Still, she made it work.

"Why couldn't we have gone to one of the fancier places, with asari or salarian food? Come on, every time I come here,I'm determined to try something new, not chow on something I could get Earthside"

"Quit your bitching. Does it look like I'm made of money? Besides the head chef is really good at mixing things up for people, no matter what species they are."

"Fine, its your lunch. I just thought for a last meal on the Citadel we'd go somewhere fancier."

"This will serve me better than any white collar joint on the presidium."

The lady with the pirate clothes rolled her eyes, before approaching the turian chef fellow at the front.

"Hey, can we get two seats? We're starving."

"Sarah Thompson. Partial owner of this place."

Sarah learned about this- Keep two fingers held together, mimic a quarian hand- She'd shake Hybrid's hand with a smile, taking another drink of her tea shortly afterwards. The Turian chef glanced to Nick and her guest- Stuff they can get Earthside? She wants something different? The man appeared to have a professional pride bubbling up behind his relatively calm expression. He tapped an Asari maiden by the shoulder, gesturing to the two, then made his way to the back, barking orders to the line chefs.

The asari ducked back around to greet them, handing two menus over. "..There's no booths avaliable, but there is standing room at table three-" She gestured with a smile, a crowd of diplomats and civilians (mostly humans, a few Asari) standing near a table with trays and food lined out. "Just find room and we'll bring your food out to you once you place your order."

"People with guns and scruples???" Snow chuckled aloud at the idealistic quarian's wish list as he finished his meal, turning his attention to his salarian tea. Overhearing bits and pieces of the discussions around him, the cold eyed charity worker taking a sip, inwardly chuckling at the bucket's naive view on freelancers. "Must be great to have a delusion like that", thinking as Snow saw a couple of newcomers, one dressed like an 'pirate'?

"Thank you, that would be fine."

Nick's elder comrade interjected with a smile, before guiding her sister, for that was their relationship, to the table in question.

"See, Nicola, this restaurant is perfect. I save what little money I have left, and you get to show off. God knows you love that."

The elder sister snarked, before taking one of the available seats. Nicola, or Nick as she preferred, spent a moment to give Helena a microglare, before her eyes inevitably wandered, an instinctively flirty smile flashing at the humans, and odd asari at the table.

"So" the would be pirate asked, ignoring Muck for the moment, focusing on the occupant on the chair beside hers, Got any reccomendations for a pretty lady on what to eat around here?""

The person beside her could have been anyone, and Nick would have still been utterly flirty. She might have less experience with nonhumans, but what she lacked, she made up in sheer enthusiasm.

Vik quickly checked his translator for the word scruples, largely a human word he had just picked up. After five seconds he figured out why his suggestion was poorly made.

Oh... well that didn't fit what he meant at all. He thought it meant like... a krogan quad... his mistake. Now he just felt stupid. Next note, try to find out what your words means before hand.

Well he was still learning, but that didn't mean he couldn't fix the matter. Still, Sarah had customers and he didn't feel like interrupting.

"I don't suppose then you would know where to find people with at the very least guns and a willingness to situations potentially hazardous to their health?" he asked the man.

"Honestly? You might want to try Lower Tayseri, if Titan, the gangs, or some other other outfit hasn't snatched them up. But only if you're not too picky about the company you keep", Snow speaking with a flat drawl associated with NW UNAS as he turned to the quarian, taking another sip of his tea. Letting his thousand yard stare rest on his questioner, the dark grey eyes meeting the visor, Snow paused before finishing with a question of his own,

"Your question does make me a bit curious, why come to Shin Akiba looking for gun thugs?"

Sarah tried to be polite the first time. When the second time occurs- She frowns, leans back, and yells. "Hey- Could you maybe not eavesdrop and butt into conversations from the other side of the room?" She pointed at Snow. "If you want, you can move up here and take my seat." The woman shook her head with at the gall, then tapped Vik on the shoulder, moving in to whisper into his 'ear'- "I'll get back to you." - before slipping a card into his hand and walking past him to wander off to Muck and the Pirate.

She'd adopt the empty seat across from them- Immediately grabbing a colossal turkey sandwich and taking a wide bite. Girl liked to eat, it seemed.

"Have to start somewhere, besides wards aren't the Presidium. Even now that hasn't changed. Always some people willing to work." he explained.

He didn't want to embarass Sarah by saying, 'oh I'm her friend', because really it wasn't polite to assume and he was trying to build a good reputation with people. Vik looked back to the card he'd be given, he'd wait for Sarah to get back to him. He'd see about looking into it, but he'd need more information anyway.

"Kind of hard not to, hell, I bet even C-Sec could hear him asking about mercs", giving the platinum blonde SATAE crony a dark smile, his grey eyes meeting her stare in return. Finishing his tea, Snow put the glass down as he made his way over to where the quarian was seated, not taking the seat that was offered, a dark part of him wishing for things to escalate. Sanity prevailed however, the lean charity worker turned to the quarian freelancer, lowering his voice,

"Sorry for overhearing, just hearing someone looking for guns and poor souls fool enough to be hired to use them, it makes a charity worker like myself nervous", punctuating the last with a grim look before heading out, the squalor of Lower Tayseri awaiting Julian Snow.

What a strange peculiar human. But then again, he had gotten use to their quirks. This was what he got for getting himself stranded on Earth. If he had been smart and stuck himself on Palaven he'd probably have dozens of would-be anti-slavers lining up to do some good.

Oh who was he kidding? No one was going to listen to a quarian with crazy ideas on a whim. No they needed compensation, assurances and a reason to believe you weren't half way off your rocker.

Or desperate enough to throw in with you like Prayer was. He needed to look up what C-Sec was doing, maybe if he carted in someone who was ditching their court date he'd at least earn enough to cover whatever mission costs this op was gonna take.

Nick wasn't getting anywhere with the crowd she was working: All the diplomats, human and asari, either had a date, or were more interested in chowing down, and were not interested in flirty pirate people.

To be honest, I'm not really interested in them either. I want to try something a little different.

Then, out of the corner of her eye, she noted something she'd only seen in holoflix or the extranet. A quarian.

Brashly, as was her nature, Nicola Mathioudakis, after picking something interesting on the holomenu, sidled up to Vik'Sajee, with a smile that was universally flirty.

"Hey there Space cowboy. Buy a pretty lady a drink?"

Honestly, she was just curious about him, but wanted to see what buttons she could push.

Meanwhile, Helena ignored her younger sister's antics, and made her way to another person partaking in the restaurant. Her eyebrows raised in amusement as she watch Sarah chow down the the chicken with gutso.

"I suppose that means you'd recommend the chicken?

She drily asked, a smirk dawning on her features.

Sarah took the half of the sandwich she was eating and set it down, washing down her current bite with a swig of tea. Pinching the other half of the sandwich up, she offered it over. "To die for, give it a try!" She spoke while tapping her sternum with her fist. "Two or three of these and I'm set for a day." She leaned forward, picking up her partially finished half chicken sandwich and finished it off, eyes wandering up to Helena. She'd wipe her hands clean on a red table napkin and offer a smile.

"How's things?" She asked.

And cue the worst thing anyone could do to Vik'Sajee... stick him next to a flirty woman in a bar. He sucked with women, more than other person in the galaxy perhaps. Every attempt he ever had been a strike out and now some random human was asking for a drink. At least with Sarah he felt comfortable, she wasn't into men... and married to boot.

Well, nothing to do but be polite and oblige strange random flirty woman.

Vik ordered up a drink, although he wasn't sure what random earth women liked. Did they prefer expensive drinks or did they like regular? Only one option, ask.

"Well, alright ma'am, can't say no to a pretty face." Vik replied, almost immediately regreting it. Damn that was cheesy as hell. What next? Ask her what time her legs were open or whether her equivalent of the afterlife was missing an angel? "You got a preference or anything?"

It was rare for Leeta to treat herself to a restaurant visit. Even after returning to the Flotilla, she couldn't seem to kick her habit of scrounging for credits. It was safe to say her interrupted pilgrimage had not been an altogether pleasant one, but few were. Still, she had heard good things about this particular restaurant, and their prices didn't seem nearly as inflated as other restaurants on the Citadel. Judging from the number of full tables, plenty of people seemed to agree with the reviews. There was a rather twitchy turian who didn't seem particularly pleased with the rush of people looking for a fine meal, but Leeta supposed the credits at the end of the day must be worth the trouble. She rolled her shoulders and breathed a tension relieving sigh that would have been inaudible to the other patrons. Busy places like this reminded her of home, or rather, her old home and the way things used to be. Leeta tilted her head, making a mental note of the number of quarians already in the restaurant. That was reassuring at least; maybe their selection of nutripaste wasn't entirely abysmal. She laced her fingers together and idly flexed them - a habit her mother had always chided her for but could never successfully eliminate - and waited for one of the waitresses to take notice of her.

"You know, for a chef's wife, you really don't have a picky palette, huh?"

Helena jibed, making herself comfortable with her friend. She picked her choice on the holomenu, before smiling wanly at Sarah.
"Things are going alright as they can. We just finished emptying the apartment, and wanted to get a bit to eat before taking the shuttle back home. Can't really afford to be on the Citadel except for business these days."

She pointed at Nicola, where she was with Vik at the other side of the bar.

"Nick, my youngest sister, volunteered to help me, while the baby's being looked at by my other sister and Dad. Shes more interested in just having fun before we go back home, but she's alright. My family's being very supportive with the changes we've had to make."

Vohk was, of course, being trained at Macapau. If it weren't for the speed of modern transportaion, she'd be lucky to see him in person once during the several months required for his training. The two of them functioned as a unit, and she felt somewhat lopsided with him gone.

With a smile that resembled a grimace more than anything else, Helena tried changing the subject.

"So, looks like the restaurant is doing well. Are you guys no longer delivering food, and just decided to make people come to you?"

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Nick's flirty smile transformed to a flattered one, before glancing at the menu, and requesting a random thessian mix that didn't look too expensive.

"Thanks. I've never met a quarian before but looks like they have good taste."

She offered a hand in greeting.

"I'm Nicola Mathioudakis."

She glanced and noted the sight of the first female quarian she'd ever seen. Restaurant must be popular with them.

With the drink ordered, Vik took her hand and shook it gracefully.

"Vik'Sajee vas... well I guess Washington DC if you want to be specific." he greeted. "Good to meet you."

Vik had to count his lucky stars he kept running into people nowadays that weren't racist or anything. It made socializing a lot easier when you weren't getting set off. As the drink arrived, he tried to keep the conversation going. Who knew, maybe he'd make a friend or possible willing recruit out of this.

"I've gotten use to being a bit of an oddity for folks, more Quarians are on Rannoch than anywhere else right now." Vik told her. "As for taste, you develop it after eating food through a tube for most of your life. You have to make that stuff taste good or you'd rather starve, believe me."

The waitresses were quick to respond- The quarian was given a menu- And the pirate was given a thessian mix. Sarah wolfed down the rest of the sandwich before shaking her head. "It's getting to the point we're getting too much business to operate in one location- Chris is mentioning opening a spot in Kithoi. As for my taste- High caloric intake, right? It's typically sandwiches, salads and the like." She shifted in her seat.

The blonde wiped her mouth before glancing briefly to Nick, then back to Muck. She leaned forward, speaking quietly.
"I've got big news for you, Helena. After lots of discussion on the subject, we're having a kid- Chris and I are, that is." She offered a wide grin.