[Illium and beyond] The beacon needs to be found (closed)

"I'm sure," Eafina agreed with a grin. "But you've probably already noticed this one," a tilt of her head towards Daia, as they all stood, "just can't do anything the simple way, like just asking, when there's a more playful way of getting the same result."

"Hey," Daia protested mildly, before chuckling. "I don't actually have any valid protest to make, but still, hey, for appearance's sakes..."

"Yeah yeah," Eafina shook her head, smiling. "Well then. Let's get our little tour started. After you."

The employees-only door opened for Taleeze - for her personally, rather than at Eafina's direction, demonstrating that the building's internal network had lost no time assigning her employee privileges once her contract was activated - and Eafina moved to walk beside in the short corridor beyond, with Daia bringing up the rear.

"Our common room," Eafina said, as the next door opened, revealing a large lounge. Unlike Apricity's public areas, with their stylish, refined decor, this lounge was far more eclectic, with a variety of oddly-matched sofas and armchairs and kaffe tables, the walls adorned with a mix of art - some professional, some hand-drawn sketches - and photographs clustered together in impromptu collages, along with a large noticeboard and, to one side of the room, a large screen displaying local news, with its volume lowered. The overall effect was very lived-in, cosy - a communal space, valued by those who shared it, rather than an impersonal company lounge.

"They're an odd collection, but really comfy," Daia explained, gesturing to the chairs and lounges. "Great for taking a break between shifts, and there's always someone to chat to. It's accessible from the club and the escort wings," she added, indicating various doors, "so we'll probably bump into each other fairly often. Plus that one leads to the kitchen, so there's plenty of good food on hand. Sure beats packaged meals and a Tupari machine, so far as break rooms go."

There was a scattering of employees about the lounge - a couple of pairs talking quietly, one group of four asari and humans listening as a fifth, a turian, related some story or other, a handful relaxing on their own, reading or listening to music on holo-buds projected from their omni-tools, a hanar watching the news screen avidly; but for the majority being in rather scandalous outfits, it might have been any common room in the galaxy. Near where Eafina, Daia and Taleeze were standing an asari and a krogan were hunched over a game board, both intently studying the various carved wooden pieces. The asari glanced up, after a moment absorbed in her thoughts, and smiled as she spotted the newcomers.

"I've got him this time," she said proudly. Her opponent chuckled.

"We'll see," he replied, in a friendly bass rumble. His eyes swivelled up towards the group watching. "She's gotten over her infatuation with Iatus gambit counters, I'll give her that. Another hundred years and she might be up to beating me."

"Says the man who hasn't got his Matriarch on the board anymore," the asari countered jovially.

"It's all about the Ocean, kid," the krogan chuckled back. He cast another glance at the three asari watching, and focused on Taleeze. "You must be the one Miss Meressus was interviewing? Looks like a welcome is in order. Urdnot Wrowr, pleased to meet you." The asari looked up, and gave a cordial nod and smile as well, before returning her full attention to the game board.

"Pardon me if I don't get up, but I don't want her," Wrowr tilted his crest at his opponent, "to think I'm not taking this seriously."

"Cari's been trying to beat him for decades," Daia smiled, glancing at Taleeze. "If he entered the chatrang tournaments I think he'd be up there with the best, but he prefers playing just for fun."

Eafina led the way again, this time through a short corridor to a backstage area; above the door leading in was a 'quiet' sign, currently darkened. Beyond, the backstage was dominated by the stage itself, an exact replica of the one out in the club itself. Instead of the chairs and decorations surrounding it, though, the room was occupied by props and instruments, pieces of stage equipment, an expansive sound and lighting control station to one side, and holo-screens on every wall. Most were inactive, although one displayed a live feed from the main stage in the club. At the moment a human and two asari were performing - there was no sound from the screen, but the human appeared to be singing, evidently quite an accomplished performance judging by her posture and poise, and even more impressive in that she seemed to be not missing a beat despite the two asari steadily undressing and nuzzling at her throughout.

The Apricity stage's backstage counterpart was also occupied, although not by a performance in full swing. A cross pole - a tall vertical, with a horizontal pole extending out to both side half-way up - was set up, and an asari dancer in a skimpy but plain leotard was alternately demonstrating moves around the structure and pausing to discuss tempo and lighting with a turian standing beneath her, offering suggestions and taking notes on his omni-tool. A salarian was behind the sound console, listening to headphones while he adjusted a vast array of settings spread out on holographic displays in front of him, and a trio of asari were on the floor to one side of the stage, practising a routine which involved weaving in and out of each other's embraces in a kind of sensual grappling-inspired dance, while a human with vivid purple hair watched.

"The stage is an exact copy, as you can see," Eafina said. "Same lighting, same configuration, same sections that can raise and lower - we have a lot of performers who are happy with a level of improvisation in their acts, and we don't discourage that, but we can run full dress rehearsals here, point for point identical to how the show would run in the club."

"Plus trying out new ideas to see if they'll work, of course," Daia added. "Can't think of a dancer who hasn't landed on her butt when she found out that a move just doesn't work quite the way she imagined it would, but it's nice to be able to just make a goof of yourself here in front of friends, rather than out where the audience it watching."

The floor trio had evidently finished their routine, and the human watching them exchanged a few words, then walked over to Eafina.

"Didn't realise you'd be down here," the asari smiled, reaching out to grasp the human's hand as she neared, then sliding her arm around her waist for a moment before stepping back. The affectionate gesture obviously wasn't unwelcome, judging by the woman's smile.

"Meeting Skylar in a few minutes- oh, there she is," she interrupted herself, as another of the room's doors opened to admit a human, her deep purple dress a striking contrast to a lustrous mane of blonde hair. Eafina's partner nodded to the newcomer across the room, then looked back at Taleeze.

"Welcome," she said, offering her hand. "I'm Charisma Laurendon. I saw your contract process just a moment ago, so I imagine we'll be seeing each other fairly often now."

"Charisma manages the day-to-day operation of Apricity," Eafina explained. "I like to personally welcome newcomers, but in terms of direct management I generally stick to the Oasis, the escort side of things, and the Sisterhood."

"If you have any concerns, or questions, come by my office," Charisma said to Taleeze. "Your omni-tool will tell you when I'm free, now you've got employee access. I'll introduce you to the shift managers as well, when we've got a moment... althouh for the moment, you ought to meet Skylar as well." She stepped out of the way as the blonde approached. On first impression she seemed to be dressed rather conservatively - admittedly most would, compared to the average denizen of the club's employee areas - but her asari-style dress was cut to flatter a striking hourglass figure, incorporating a decorative corset, and she walked with a stately grace which did nothing to diminish her allure.

"Our new recruit, I take it?" she said in a measured accent, giving Taleeze a friendly glance. "Skylar Sinclair, welcome to the family."

"Not sure if you've noticed this in the other places you've worked," Daia chuckled, "but news travels very fast here." Skylar gave her a brief grin while extending both her hands to Taleeze, greeting her as an asari would, with a warm grasp and a slight bow of her head.

"I'll just be a moment," Charisma excused herself, noticing the salarian a the sound console trying to attract her attention.

"Skylar's the Sisterhood's chief negotiator and advocate," Eafina introduced her. "As well as being a captivating burlesque dancer, and one of our creative directors."

"Perhaps we might talk shop sometime," Skylar said to Taleeze. "One dancer to another?" She kept her attention fixed on Taleeze - not intrusively or uncomfortably so, but clearly liking what she saw.

"Actually, Taleeze has an idea for a show?" Daia prompted.

Taleeze had to laugh at Eafinas remark on Daia.
“Yes, I know there is a special Daia way to do things most of the time.”

Taleeze noticed the change in the reaction of the club towards her. Neat, all set already, like a well set machinery, one gear teething into the other.

So this was the hangout of the people around here. The room with its odd variety of chattels seemed like a living room that had grown into shape, formed by the hands and minds of the family that lived here. This spot sure had almost no workplace context to it. The collages told of part festivities and Taleeze saw a lot of smiling faces. There would be time to have a closer look.
“Hey, so that’s where the food comes from, that’s about the most important information of course. I used to work at places where eating was only allowed after shifts end, because the customers could be repelled by girls with a full belly. I am one for the be your own chair on this though.”

She looked around at the occupants, most occupied by whatever they were doing. It was a mix of races and genders. Nobody seemed to give an exceptional amount of care for the group of three. The asari and the krogan interrupted their play.

“Hello you two, I am Taleeze, nice to meet you. I guess I’ll see the outcome of this then.” She wasn’t particularly good at this game and so she had no idea who really had the upper hand.


Then they came to the backstage area.
“Wow, this looks cool. I whish we would have had that on Cyone. We had boards layed out over empty barrels and crates. This looks like really first grade show equipment. I would like to see what kind of stage events you do with all of this.” Taleeze was making an encompassing motion. And why was the DJ always a cranky salarian? That was like the stereotype of stereotypes, but then, they had a hand for the mixery.

On Daias remark about rehearsal and being perfect in front of an audience Taleeze flashed back to a few of her less than stellar impro moments. The Apricity deserved and demanded more professionalism than the average strip joint at Space Harbor Crossing. That was nice, she thought, It was about arts and creativity. She had done that before and would gladly deliver.

“I like this, that’s just great. I think a lot of the performers are quite creative and you get a good chance to evolve if you get the possibility to try. If you only go out and shake your ass, the same as always, then you’ll never go beyond that, you’ll always stay in the safe zone. Training is important, I do know that from a sports perspective and I always took that to work.” She looked at the trio, practicing at the stage. “And you must have the guts to can the bad stuff if it doesn’t work. Sometimes ideas need time to ripe. Looks like you got the place and environment here to do just that.” She nodded in appreciation and smiled as the purple haired human came over. Taleeze knew enough about the furheads to know that this color was not natural. In any case, it suited the beautiful woman very well though and in fact the color wasn’t strange to an asari. Maybe she had just chosen it because of that.

When she saw the affection between Eafina and the human, Taleeze was a bit surprised. She tilted her head a little and grabbed the offered hand in the typical human gesture. Living on Nevos taught something about a lot of customs of other races. Quarians and batarians being an exception maybe as they did not come to Nevos in notable numbers. Yet.

“Hey, Ms. Laurendon, I am Taleeze, my plesure. But what do you mean by contract process?”

Eafina explained.

“Oh, so you’re my real boss then I guess.” Taleeze smiled.

Then the next human joined their little get together. She had the gait of a diva but that could be partly because of the corset she was wearing, or was it just supporting the natural aura?

Anyway, the blond haired Skylar introduced herself and Taleeze noted the distinctive asari way to greet. With a acknowledging smile she took both hands to greet and introduce herself.

“Hello, Skylar, I am Taleeze.” In contrast to Charisma, Taleeze thought with a fellow performer an introduction by informal name would be appropriate.
“Yes, I guess I am the fresh meat. I wonder on how many omnitools by now my picture showed up with that text!” She laughed, since she wasn’t afraid. But news indeed travelled fast. “Thanks for the welcome.”

“Oh, we definitely should talk. I am interested in the Sisterhood, as I already told Ms. Meressus. I got introduced to human burlesque a while ago and am very intrigued by the style and costumes. During the war I even tried it myself but, to be honest, under fairly amateurish conditions.” The attentive look of Skylar didn’t go unnoticed by Taleeze.

“Well, yes, I have actually. Well, I may have more ideas that I can really follow up sometimes.” She scratched her rearmost lekku.
“I guess this is about as good a time as any to talk, if you girls have a bit of time. But don’t think of me as the new one just busting in and want stuff done her way!” she made a defending gesture. “It is just something that came to me while I was in the military. I am an engineer and had to deal with tech equipment, weapons and personal protection gear. For example tech armor devices and cloaking emitters. Anyway, if you look at this stuff long enough, you start to see things, like, a certain beauty that goes beyond the mere function. Especially the tech armor is an amazing piece of equipment. The way it glows, the way it engulfs a person in it’s electronic shimmer.” She was moving her hands over her torso to make the point until she noticed that she got carried away a bit.
“Anyway, I think is has some aesthetics to it. I started to fondle with a decommissioned piece one day, altering colors and shapes. That’s when I had the idea to manipulate a device to a degree where it gets freely programmable, taking all shapes you want, even follow a pre-programmed pattern, letting the colors flow with the music. Such devices for civilian use basically exist you may say but their transmitters always require a complete suit which is kind of lame for a stage show like I have it in mind! A military grade Kassa phase thirty mictroemitter can be worn in something small like a belt. in a piece of jewellery, a boot heel even. It is extremely effective in stabilizing the matrix and has an unparalleled speed of recalibration as in combat it has to put through all the energy to absorb the hits. But in our case we can reduce it to it’s core components and drop the excessive energy sources. Just the plain matrix modulizer, no additional functions. I could get it to up to ninety reload frames per second which makes it flashy even for a hanar! So this is one thing I am working on, the electronic flowing costume combined with a light and music show to make it something like the plasma valkyrie”. She checked the expression of her companions and added. ”That’s a working title of course.”

"Plasma Valkyrie," Eafina echoed, giving Skylar a smile. "Grabs the imagination."

"It certainly does," Skylar nodded, favouring Taleeze with an approving look. "I'm not that well-versed in the hardware you're talking about - that would be more Daia's field, if you two wanted to brainstorm?" she asked.

"Colour me intrigued," Daia agreed; she too looked quite taken with Taleeze's idea, and she added to Taleeze: "It's not just cars, I like getting my hands dirty with all kinds of devices."

"You showed her the cars?" Skylar asked, grinning at Taleeze. "Nice sense of style to her, isn't there? In any case, that's quite a promising pitch."

"I missed a pitch?" Charisma asked, returning to the group. The salarian was evidently satisfied with whatever discussion had taken place, and had returned to adjusting settings, alternately frowning in concentration and nodding his head in time with his headphones' music.

"Taleeze has an idea for a stage routine involving tech armour and tactical cloaks," Daia said. Charisma glanced at Skylar, who nodded without hesitation.

"Skylar's a good barometer for this sort of thing," she explained to Taleeze. "I've spent plenty of time working bars and clubs, but not a lot of performance, certainly nothing you'd call professional, so I rely on more experienced hands when it comes to the stage. If Daia and Skylar both think it's a keeper..."

"Most definitely worth pursuing," Skylar said.

"Then we'll see what we can organise," Charisma promised Taleeze. "If you're happy to start with some less formal, more free-form acts, we could schedule some shifts for you - starting in a couple of days? If you haven't made other plans, the intervening time could be used to become familiar with how we work, get to know some of your fellow performers, aside from Daia."

"Today's probably been quite a rapid-fire introduction to the whole place," Eafina offered. "It might not be a bad idea to take some time to settle in, get accustomed to the rhythm of the club."

"And once you're up to speed, instead of putting you on stage every shift, we could schedule some sessions to work on this tech armour/cloak concept," Charisma continued. "Time spent developing performance routines is on the clock, so you wouldn't be losing income. And we can see what we can arrange with regards to equipment, as well."

"The club's stage setup is pretty versatile," Eafina noted. "We're still adding hardware to bring things up to where we're aiming to be - in Apricity, and the Oasis as a whole - but we've got some contacts in Nos Astra's tech sector who would be good for a little favour here and there."

"There'd be music to consider as well," Skylar added thoughtfully. "We've got the usual libraries to draw on, but the club also has contact with a couple of up-and-coming local composers who sometimes come in to develop backing tracks for particular routines."

"Needless to say," Eafina said, smiling at Taleeze, "don't worry about seeming to be 'busting in and wanting things done your way'."

"Certainly not," Charisma agreed. "Don't ever hesitate to make suggestions. This whole place is really the result of everyone contributing, whether they're on the stage or behind the bar or in the offices. The more imagination is at work, the better the club is for everyone."

"You'd be the lead in the dance, of course," Skylar said thoughtfully. "It's your baby, it's only fair you take centre stage, if and when it all comes to fruition. Were you thinking solo, or would there be room for other dancers?"

“Thank you all, this is a very supportive welcome!” Taleeze was very happy that everyone was open to her and the idea was already bouncing around.

“Okay, so this is one half of the thing. The other half has to do with tactical cloak. I am not as far with that though. The idea would be a modulated field, having multiple sectors that can go invisible or visible. That way a dancer can wear virtually nothing, having areas of invisibility floating around her in programmable patterns. The easiest thing is a strobe effect, that I have already. Together with a good lightshow it’s already something. But I have to modify the emitter matrix a bit further to be fully flexible and find a way to have sectors moving around, not just going on and off… oh, well, I won’t bore you with tech.” She said with an excusing gesture.

”I have that Kassa tech armor device and a simple turian Armax cloak unit in my room. As said, this is decommissioned military stuff and it wasn’t on any lists anymore so Kassa didn’t want it back. And before it would be left to rot in some garage on Cyone… Without that military grade hardware it also would be impossible to copy the whole thing. I would be unique. Just, so you know, it’s not necessary that word gets out what exactly the source for this is, right?” Taleeze was making a waving motion with her hand as if she was covering tracks and looked a bit conspiratorial.

“So, what I would basically need is a spot where I could work electronics and a toolset. I guess the janitor of this place would have what I need.“

She looked from Daia to Skylar.
“Any of you are welcome to help me on this of course! Skylar, that would be a great way to get to know each other. It’s not burlesque but maybe you could be of assistance with music, if you like? I’d say at first I want to get it to work on one performer and once that is done we can branch out to a more elaborate act. Plus, if I have the final modification plans for the equipment, maybe Illiums markets could bring forth additional parts. I’ll bring the parts tomorrow and show you what I have so far, okay?”

Taleeze was looking at all the faces, two asari, two human.

“There is one thing that I would like to make known to you gals right away. I don’t know what exactly is going around on me and my being here but you might have seen that I got short term contracted. That has a reason. I am looking for a missing person and my involvement here on Illium also serves this. I will ask around and try to dig up information about her. At one point I may be obliged to leave and follow whatever trail might come up.” She exchanged glances with Eafina. “But I won’t leave you hanging with a half assed project. I will be back and finish the product in any case, depending on what develops when I find who I am looking for, maybe even more time here. The sooner you all know what I am up to, the better. I actually think about putting a note up on the board in the common room in the next days. Ms. Meressus had offered support from the Sisterhood as well, which I gladly would accept. Any help I can get puts me in your dept anyway so I hope I can give the Apricity something back. Skylar, maybe we can talk about the Sisterhood too sometime.”

Then she faced Charisma.
”I hope I don’t need so long to fit in. I’d like to stay around tonight and see what’s going on of course and say hello personally to all the gals and guys.
Facing Daia she added: "I was thinking about having a couple of small treats from the kitchen at my expense for everyone, put up in the common room, kind of as a welcome from me. Food brings people together. Could we have something like this set up?"
She turned to Charisma."If there’s a possibility to freestyle a bit, maybe on a dancefloor or something, I’d very much like to start with that any time. Just show me a corner with a pole, let the DJ do his thing and I am good. I want to get a feeling for the place as soon as possible.”
She checked her omnitool. By now she had automated access to the internal network of the Apricity. The Logo of the club flashed and spiralled away to make room for the employee menu. Taleeze selected the management logo and then Charismas time table.

“Could we sit together at 16, to make a preliminary schedule for me, Ms. Laurendon? What kind of style are we having tonight anyway?”

"We'll be able to sort out a suitable workspace, I'm sure," Eafina said. "We recently bought out a couple of the adjoining spaces - the businesses that occupied them during the siege have moved out to larger accomodations in the new-build districts, and we're expanding into their old spaces in turn. The new upper floor is going to be escort suites, and the rebuilding's already underway - not a great place to concentrate, lots of heavy renovating going on - but the other is an area adjoining the club. We've got people surveying and bringing the basic features up to standard, but aside from adding some new space of some sort to Apricity we haven't settled on a game plan for the area, so nobody's knocking out walls or operating heavy mechs in there yet."

"I know a good spot," Charisma offered. "It used to be admin offices, there are still a couple set up that we haven't stripped out yet. Nothing fancy, but until we get underway with making changes - say, a month at least? - we can make one of the old offices your workshop. Desks, shelves, terminal and power/diagnostic hookups... That's what you 'tinkerers' need, right?" she added to Daia, with a grin.

"Sounds like it," she replied, turning to Taleeze. "You can borrow my tools if you'd like, I'm not working on anything at the moment anyway. There are some pretty good tech markets around, quality components without too much in the way of markups - I'm a little hazy on the intricacies of what you're talking about, engines were always my thing, but I'm sure you'll find everything you need soon enough. Make a shopping trip of it if you'd like, I haven't been gadget shopping since I got the 'car back up and running."

Skylar and Charisma listened attentively as Taleeze outlined her situation, and the needs her search could place on her.

"I'd like that," Skylar said warmly, when asked about discussing the Sisterhood. "I'll make time, certainly."

"That's very generous," Charisma added, when Taleeze suggested providing a snack table. "I think you're quite right, sharing meals is one of the cornerstones of a sense of community. I'll check with the kitchen and arrange something along those lines." She glanced at Eafina, who was momentarily out of Taleeze's view as she was facing Charisma and Skylar, and received a slight nod.

"Sixteen suits me, if nothing urgent comes up - I don't expect it to today," she went on, smoothly continuing her conversation with Taleeze. "We've got meet-'n'-greet scheduled for the early evening - that's a mix of performers and escorts, main stage and several podium stages with exotic and strip dance, poles and other dance apparatus as required, and dancers and escorts mingling with the guests on the floor as well. No need to worry about anyone getting confused about who's an escort and who's show-only, though, the club network puts all the necessary employee profiles onto the guests' omni-tools, and there are colour-coded markers on the tables that light up whenever an employee stops alongside or sits down for a chat."

"Tronica's providing backing mixes tonight," Daia noted, checking her omni-tool. "We've had them in a few times - they're a local group, mix of Pal-core and synthexis, easy to dance to however you like."

"If you'd like to get started tonight, we can put you on the roster," Charisma said. "If you feel good after starting out, let me know - I'll be taking the manager shift tonight in the club - and we'll get you a few rotations on the main stage, as well as the podiums."

"There's a diverse costume and dancewear wardrobe to choose from," Skylar added. "But speaking from an audience perspective, you look eminently watchable as you are, so don't feel pressured to change by any means."

"I think that covers the basics," Charisma said, looking at the others to see if there were any further contributions, before turning her attention back to Taleeze. "I'm sure everything will be fairly self-explanatory as we lead up to tonight, but anyone will be happy to answer any questions you may have. There is one last thing - if we could head back to the common room for a minute...?"

Eafina had already begun strolling towards the door, and the rest of the group caught her up on the way. Daia found herself alongside Taleeze, and gave her hand a brief squeeze, then patted her on the shoulder.

"I'll be back for the evening," she said softly, as the others led the way. "Doing the meeting-and-greeting on the floor, while everyone watches you strut your stuff. It'll be good to finally see you in action."

"Here we are," Eafina said, her voice carefully neutral, as they reached the common room. She, Charisma, and Skylar entered and stepped out of the way, making room for Daia to nudge Taleeze forward...

...into the centre of a wide semi-circle of escorts and performers facing her, who immediately gave a hearty cheer of "Welcome to Apricity!" A makeshift banner - the kind an omni-tool's fabricator would produce, given an office printing module - had been strung up, reading 'Welcome Taleeze' in High Thessian script, and everyone was wearing paper party hats - even Wrowr, who had his taped to his crest. The tables were laden with party snacks, and the majority of the group already held cups and glasses; one was passed to Skylar, who handed it in turn to Taleeze.

"We thought it'd be best to get all the business talk out of the way first," Eafina smiled. "Now that's all done with, my first directive to you, as your overall employer - enjoy yourself."

******

"Oh my goddess you are all so nasty!" Taleeze laughed and jumped up and down a little, before taking the glass.

"Yay, thank you all, and to FFUUUUUNNNNN!" She toasted to everybody and her eyes were getting a little bit wet while she was sure this was the beginning of something good.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Taleeze was sitting in the community room of the Apricity, watching a holo show about dextro cooking for levos. Boring time of day between shifts and not much happening. Cari and Wrowr were playing chatrang and a few others lounged around, reading or watching. Had it only been a couple of months - or already a couple of months?

So much had happened and yet, it felt a bit as if it had been yesterday. Friends made, a sudden love discovered... That feeling. Taleeze's thoughts stopped there. Skylar had entered her life and heart like a tidal wave. It had been a rocky start and it had taken them a long time until they had been together finally but the wait had been worth it. In fact it had given Taleeze time to decide if she wanted to allow the feelings in - she had and was happy about it.

She chuckled on the thought of resisting the force of nature. No way, she was in love and it felt good! But more than once she had thought if this had been right. Was this fair to Skylar or fair to Freh'ya? Hell, if she knew. But that feeling towards Skylar was so immense and strong and every minute or hour spent with the human was making her feel good. How could that be a bad thing? It had been the first time in many years that she had felt such a craving towards a person.

In fact, the feeling towards Freh'ya had been comparable and on more then one occasion, when Taleeze had her eyes closed, she hadn't been sure whose skin her fingers were caressing. Could you love two people by the same amount at the same time, asari and human?

It was a mute question as the answer was just in Taleeze's heart at any point of the last months. Only the hard work with that show had put her mind to other things for some time. Now the feeling was there, full force.

Taleeze loved two. Admittedly, there were some ... possibilities but ... goddess was that ever egoistic. Could that be hoped for? The happiness of Skylar was her concern and the happiness of Freh'ya - and her wellbeing on top of that.

Still no trace of Freh'ya. That tiny bit about that krogan looking for a purple asari on Omega by that Job guy on CDN had been the last trace. Eafina had sent word to Omega to keep an eye out but so far nothing...

And still.... there it was in her head. like a tugging, a tearing, a... trying to hold on to something. Freh'ya was out there and Taleeze couldn't but follow that feeling and keep looking for that woman she loved. Leaving her be had never been an option, despite Ana's comments regarding monogamy and all. This feeling was just as true as that towards Skylar. The human did know about Freh'ya and had never really pushed the issue with a talk. If she felt the same as Taleeze, could it be avoiding the inevitable...

But first, she had to find the former commando. Let's take this one step at a time.

Eafina double-checked the screens in front of her, frowned in thought a moment, then opened her omni-tool and queried Taleeze's status, finding her on the premises, and comfortably between shifts.

"Taleeze," she dictated into a message window, "would you come join me in Conference One? Thank you." She tagged the message with one of the priority codes she, as overall owner of the club, had access to - unless Taleeze had set her 'tool to the highest level of 'do not disturb', the message would display instantly for her - and sent it on its way.

She didn't have to wait long.

"Good to see you," she smiled, extending a hand to draw Taleeze over to the conference table, where an array of holographic screens were hovering. "We have some tentative information that you really should see. Regarding Freh'ya."

Even if Taleeze had suspected the reason for the call, Eafina knew confirmation would shake her, so she waved her to a seat and indicated the relevant screens as she explained.

"Since that lead on Omega, we renewed the request we'd sent out to our members there, indicating we had evidence that Freh'ya may be on the station. A couple of days ago, one of the Sisterhood - an escort here, before she moved - contacted us to let us know that she had seen, at a distance, an asari matching the general description at the club she works at now. I'm sorry I didn't tell you, I didn't want to raise your hopes on so little," she said, raising a hand in apology. "Us purple types aren't that uncommon, and a lot of people wear hardsuits on Omega - difficult to judge the underlying build. But I did immediately put out feelers for anything more certain."

She swiped the current screen - a Sisterhood membership profile of Jasis, and an Omega tourism database entry on the club she now worked at - to one side, and drew to the fore another screen.

"Since we had a specific location and timeframe," she went on, "we got in touch with a broker. A friend of Ana's, in fact - I think Daia said he was also on that forum you all inhabit, so you may know him: Cerastes, of 'Revenant'. Retrieving data within our parameters wasn't prohibitively expensive, weighed against the prospect of actually making progress... Just now, we received this from Revenant."

She expanded two of the screen's windows. One became an image, low-res, made indistinct by poor lighting and a cheap visual filter, but detailed enough to make out a powerfully-built, purple-skinned asari. Her face was only visible in darkened profile, but it was enough. The second window resolved into a list of data - time/date stamps, and demographics, the kind of information an ad kiosk might compile on passers-by in order to address them by name when trying to sell whatever wares it was promoting. Most of the fields, save height and colouration and others based on a visual scan, were blank, but the 'name' field had a short list of options: Fraya, Freyah, Fre'ja, Firea... Freh'ya.

"It's from an ad kiosk," Eafina confirmed. "When they can't match a potential customer to existing databases - a lot of people stay off the public databases on Omega - they try to build profiles out of collected video and audio. According to the file Revenant sent us this kiosk, outside the Periwinkle Paradise, 'heard' someone refer to that woman by a name sounding like that."

She sat back and looked intently at Taleeze, trying to judge how she was taking the news.

Ping. A call to Conference One by Eafina?

Taleeze stood and turned for the door. She had no appointment or anything and such a high priority call would mean ... her knees got weak a bit. She must have looked pale when Eafina asked her to sit.

When she presented the new findings... the evidence, Taleeze was shocked. Although merely a silhouette, Taleeze was looking a the unmistakable form of Freh'ya. Her heart jumped out of her chest and she heard the blood rush in her ears... Omega.

"Eafina... I must go there. I am ... sorry." A sob escaped her as the emotion overwhelmed her.
She stood and hugged her boss, pressing her head against her shoulder. "I am so thankful for everything you did for me. I'll be back, I promise that." She stepped back and wiped the corner of her eye. "I am... sorry... that was..."

When she heard about the broker thing her eyes went wide. "That Cerastes guy? Yes I know him, but I thought he was a bit creepy on the extranet. I had no idea, Ana knew him. That is... unexpected." Taleeze also thought the name Periwinkle paradise was ringing a bell, she had seen this on the extranet somewhere, maybe someone had even mentioned it on CDN?
The connection had been under her nose but it had taken a data mining ad kiosk to get a hot lead finally. She had stuff to prepare and messages to send and a flight to catch.

She grabbed the purple asari's hands. "Eafina, I will be back. Please keep my contract somewhere safe, because I will get back to you, promise. This is the moment to go away from Illium and I honestly have no idea what it will be on Omega - in fact I have never been there before. I have made so many great friends here, it is so strange to finally move... on." She looked down to the floor and pressed the hands of the older asari. ""I have to catch up with Daia, she has to know."

Taleeze straightened her body.
"See you, Eafina. I won't be long." She seriously had no idea if that would prove to be true or not.

While she left, she was sending a message to Daia.


After hitting 'send', she went for the platform, stepping out into a beautiful Nos Astra evening. She was already browsing the departure lists to Omega. She purchased a last-minute ticket for midnight departure on a turian ship for a silly amount of money, while she waited for Daia to show up.

It wasn't long before a reply arrived - simply "We're on our way," signed 'D&A'.

True to her word, Taleeze didn't have long to wait before the familiar sight of the Talbot broke away from the traffic lanes overhead and hovered down to the platform. Daia was up and out as soon as it had touched down - wide-eyed, excited, but visibly apprehensive at the same time. She held Ana's hand as they approached - although presumably out of affectionate habit rather than need to guide her, since the featureless landing platform offered little to cloud her bondmate's 'view'.

"Taleeze," she said simply, hugging the other asari tightly with her free hand. It was a long moment before she drew back, still holding onto Taleeze's hand as she stared intently into her eyes.

"Omega, huh?" she said, obviously trying for levity, but the effort was only middling successful.

"Yes, Omega, who would have thought." Taleeze returned the hug and took Daia's hands and held her stare. "Okay, I have already booked a passage, leaving at midnight. Don't ask what that cost..." she chuckled. Money didn't matter actually. "I was imagining a lot of times how this moment would actually be, saying goodbye I mean, finally taking off from Illium, to the next step. Omega..." she shuddered a bit.
"But now everything is completely different. I guess you just cannot prepare, huh?"

"I have never been there, you people are much more experienced when it comes to that region of space. But I have the terrible feeling I have to hurry. I don't want to miss that lead." Taleeze pressed Daia's hand again. "You two have become very special friends and I promise, I will be back - in no time if I could have my way but you can't know what will happen, so..." she took a deep breath,"...that's it. I am going. Wish me... wish us luck."

Her mind was a bit blank, she still had week knees and no battle plan. she had a passage to a space station and the address of a strip club. And most likely no time to loose. What if that would be the final goodbye? It was Omega after all...

Omega was not actually the worst place that Taleeze could've been headed. Ana knew from experience that if you networked with the right people, you could be reasonably safe even as a fragile species with no combat training (and Taleeze was neither of those things). Plus, in the time since the Reaper war, it had reputedly stabilized a bit - at least in the more gentrified, business-y areas, you were much less likely to get randomly shot.

Mind, 'less likely' wasn't the same as 'impossible'.

"You'll be all right out there," Ana said, trying to reassure the obviously-nervous asari. "If I can survive Omega for years and only get shot once, anybody as street-smart as you can get around it just fine." She paused for a breath. "Obviously, be careful, of course, but you know."

This was not the time for jokes, despite all the potential that 'and don't follow anyone to their skycar' had.

It meant a lot to Taleeze that Ana had actually come out along with Daia.

"If you say so, I almost believe it." She noticed that Ana had been earnest though. It was no childsplay and there still were issues like finding accomodation and all that. She could arrange that ship-side once they were under way... oh, wait. Only shot once?
That brought the Carnifex back to Taleeze's mind. She had stored it away after her arrival and since then never touched. She had it brought along for such an occasion but how she hesitated all of a sudden.

"I will be carefull," that comment had sounded stupid just honest. "If I am lucky, it will be a quick thing..." If not, I will return enpty handed. That was the risk she had to take now, the comfortable waiting was over now. She hugged Ana and then Daia, sighing at her shoulder before stepping back.

"It's not out in dark space after all, huh? I'm off now before I start to cry." She unfolded her Omnitool and hailed a cab.
"I've got some packing to do." And message Skylar... and that tore her heart. "Thank you two for coming down here for me. It means so much to me."

A cab was already decending to the platform... they responded quick in Nos Astra.

"We'll hold you to that," Daia offered, putting on her best smile at Taleeze's promise to return quickly, and hoping it would be that simple. As Ana said, the station wasn't the anarchic killing ground some made it out to be - she herself had lived, for the most part, safely and modestly prosperously on the station, despite what self-defence skills she had being quite a way short of Taleeze's training and experience.

"You won't be alone," she added. "There's the Sisterhood - it's not quite back to where it was pre-war, but you'll be able to find help, somewhere to stay, work if you need it. Eafina's probably preparing lists right now. And when we get back to the office I'll send you a couple of files of my own. It's been a long time, but I know some krogan and asari who are still out there from my days. Actually," she managed a chuckle, "I'll let Prenv know you're coming, you'll want to look him up - not a convenient battlemaster or anything of the sort, sadly, but he does import Terran coffee these days. I'm sure he won't mind sparing a cup here and there without the hefty markup, for an old friend."

Taleeze's trip did have that going for it - you could find anything on Omega, if you knew where to look. The trick was finding what you wanted, not what you didn't. She felt the weight of the risk as Taleeze hugged her again.

"Goddess walk with you," she whispered, while Taleeze's head rested on her shoulder. Then she was stepping back, and Daia straightened, and put an arm around Ana's shoulders, remembering an appropriate Thessian saying: "We'll keep a light on to guide you back."

Taleeze was slightly shorter than Daia, so it was a little easier for Ana'Therion to hug her. No need to hop up on her tiptoes or anything.

"Good luck out there." It was quick and formal, like most of her physical contact these days, and then Ana released the asari. "You're always welcome, regardless of what happens."

Skylar was probably going to be disappointed, unless she had totally gone native and joyfully resigned herself to be transitional (which, Ana had mused, was either the least healthy attitude for non-asari in asari relationships to take, or the healthiest), but frankly Ana'Therion held minimal sympathy there. Taleeze deserved to find Freh'ya, and more to the point she deserved to be with her.

"I hope it all works out," she murmured as they watched Taleeze vanish.

“Thank you, Ana!” But how exactly did the quarian mean that last remark? Regardless, what…. But Taleezes thoughts were already occupied with the next tasks at hand.

She waved the two goodbye, as the skycar closed its hood and took off. She had a strange flashback to that first day when she had arrived here for the first time. How long until she saw that place again? It should have been serving as a stepping stone to the terminus but all she had found here had made Taleeze very attached to the place and the people! A bit as if she had been taken in by another tribe. The thought made her chuckle.

While the cab was racing towards the hotel, she typed a message to Skylar. She needed a couple of tries until she hit send.

She wanted to say so much more and wrote but then deleted a couple of sentences about her feelings. Either Sky came to see her, then she could tell it to her face, or she didn’t come… then maybe she shouldn’t say all of that anyway. She sighed and closed her omnitool as the cab descended in the parking lot of the hotel.

Taleeze had arrived with only one bag on Illium and now had two more of stuff that she had acquired while being here. She packed all her dance gear and dresses up, along with the books and holos. She’d put it in storage at the spaceport and send Daia a note about it, just in case. She chose a simple black two-piece suit – for a moment, she even considered her commando outfit but that would even draw unwanted attention to her – and weighed the Carnifex in her hand. She hesitated a few seconds but then released the safety and was taking aim at an imaginary point beyond the wall. It had been a while, she thought, when se locked the safety again and put the gun into her travel bag.

A couple of minutes later, she had checked out and said goodbye to the hotel manager who was a bit sad to see her go. Another uneventful cab ride and she was back at Nos Astra Spaceport. She stored two of her bags in a large locker and headed to the gates.

Looming outside was a turian freighter, boarding for the few passengers would only begin after the loading was finished though, so she had plenty of time to check in and register her gun. The ship was hierarchy so she could keep it, since she was allowed to carry it in C-space as well, but the lock got sealed. On Omega itself, a sidearm for personal protection wouldn’t cause much stress probably.

Then she just sat there and waited, along a couple of turians and a few volus who all minded their own business.

Skylar was all business when she arrived at the spaceport - sleek, severe grey dress, the matching corset hard-edged and unornamented, her hair pulled back into a tight ponytail, not a strand out of place. A closed-off, unforgiving expression would have completed the look - and in a hostile negotiation, she knew how to do just that - but striding through the utilitarian departure lounge, there was far more emotion in her face.

Didn't think it'd be this quick... over so soon.

She was happy Taleeze had found a lead - truly happy for her. Freh'ya had never been far from her mind, and Skylar had never hoped that would change. But "somewhere in the Terminus" had been such an open-ended prospect that it had been easy for Skylar to put the thought of a day like today out of her own mind. Now she thought of all the time spent preparing for the Terminus Cup show and knew the show's success - Taleeze's success (and Daia's, of course) - would be a bittersweet comfort when she thought of all those hours, together but focused entirely on the task at hand.

There she was, though, as Skylar rounded a corner - waiting with the handful of others to board the freighter outside. She looked good in black - she had at the theatre as well, although that was far less black - but then Skylar noticed the weapon, and her heart skipped a beat.

Stop being silly, she told herself as she neared. She was a soldier long before she came here. She's not some child wandering down a dark alley, she knows what she's doing.

"Taleeze," she called out. For a moment, closing the last few steps, she wondered if they should hug - if it was appropriate, if it would feel right now - but then they did, and it did.

Taleeze was staring onto the ground, her mind going in circles but still empty. A tail chase without a tail.

She heard her name. Looking up, she saw Skylar approaching, elegant and strict at the same time, if it hadn’t been for her face which displayed a variety of emotions, barely contained. What meeting had she just left to get here? Taleeze felt incredibly guilty, not just suddenly but for a long time already.

She jumped to her feet and without a second thought hugged the human. It was not either of them pulling the other in but it felt as if they both just folded into each other, around each other. For a second, Taleeze buried her face at Skylar’s shoulder, taking in the scent of the skin and the hair with the faint aroma of elegant perfume. This was too fast. Or this had gone too far. Taleeze didn’t know but all f a sudden there were way too many tails in her head to chase all at once. Her throat went dry when she tried to speak.

“I am glad you came.” It sounded awfully hoarse. Taleeze needed to sit down and offered Skylar the spot next to her on the bench. She cleared her throat but it didn’t help much.

“What am I supposed to say now…” Tides, she had thought, typed and deleted these thoughts a short while ago but now they just wouldn’t come out.

“That’s the moment. Finally there’s that lead, and I have even seen a picture.” Her voice was shaking. All moisture seemed to shoot from her throat towards her eyes now.

“Freh’ya is on Omega and I have to go because maybe I don’t have much time, she could be moving on and she’d be gone again, and…” she was rambling.

“FUCK, I don’t want to leave you, Skylar.” She blinked to get rid of the haze. Her hand was reaching out for Skylar’s hesitantly. “But at the same moment I have to, because I need to find Freh’ya. She is…” Tides, why did they always avoid to talk about that subject? Well, to be honest, it had been Taleeze avoiding it. Had she been thinking this moment never came? No, she had just been ignoring it, because Freh’ya had always been on her mind. And Skylar knew that.

Maybe this was the last time she ever saw the blond human, how could this hurt so much, how could this be so wrong? She had other flings, she didn’t ever think of any of them like she did of Skylar.

Her voice was only a hoarse whisper and she looked away.
“I love you Skylar, I love you and don’t understand myself at the same time. Because love is also calling me from across the galaxy, calling for help, and tearing at my mind. I wished I could hope that I never find Freh, I wish I could even consider not to go but I can’t. It is a true feeling and one that tears me apart.” She sniffled.

“I have to say goodbye, Skylar.” There, where did that come from. “because I love you.” I have to hurt you only once that way. I wish I could wish we had never met.

Whatever she had thought Taleeze would say to her, it wasn't that. She wasn't blind to how close they had become - much more, without a doubt, than a casual fling, something that in another life might have lasted a lifetime; hers, at least, but she had embraced asari ways enough not to feel unease at that. She knew this moment would be difficult for both of them when it came, but she hadn't expected Taleeze to be so torn - for Taleeze to love her (love her) in a way that deserved to be spoken of in the same breath as Freh'ya, the woman she would go anywhere in the galaxy to find.

"I..." she began, halting as the words refused to come. Oh, damn. Oh damn, I was ready for this to hurt, but not this[/i]. She shook her head, then fell back on instinct. The hand that wasn't clutched in Taleeze's found her cheeks, and softly wiped away the tears - a gently brush all that was needed, the moisture lifting easily off the aquatic-holdover asari skin, clinging readily to her fingertips. She fought off the impulse to raise Taleeze's chin, kiss her - she couldn't do that.

"I do love you, too," she managed at last. "I could... crave you, forever- but I know, you have to go to her," she went on, stopping herself from following that train of thought any further. "I know, and... ohhhhh," she let out a deep, world-weary sigh, glancing away for a moment, steadying herself before her own tears could well up.

"Aren't we a pair," she said, a little of her sly humour back in her voice, as she looked back at Taleeze. "I... understand. Or I will, anyway, you're not the only one thoroughly mystified by herself right now. But you and Freh'ya, I know the bond you have - I've read of them, I believe the truth of them. I can't ask you to ignore that, a-and if you did... the Taleeze I love wouldn't. I know why this is good-bye," she managed to get over the word with only a slight hitch in her voice. "I'll... always cherish you. That's suitably asari, after all: cherish the time you have."

She sat there, her hands holding Taleeze's, both of them in a little bubble of reality that seemed to exclude the other passengers nearby, gazing at one another. It was Skylar who moved first, glancing up at the freighter berthed outside.

"How long until you board?" she asked quietly.

Taleeze just sat there, breathing, feeling, Skylars hand in hers. She closed her eyes and leaned into the touch ever so slightly when the human’s fingertips caressed the tear away.

Aren’t we a pair… I wish we could be.

Somehow it didn’t hurt so much anymore, now that this had been spoken. The world was blocked out of their bubble but time couldn’t be slowed down. She just sat there, looking into those blue eyes. It was more of a drinking, a drowning.

Skylar’s words were soothing Taleeze’s mind, as she spoke like another asari would have. It was still amazing how close Skylar had come to asari believes and emotions. Despite the short time she was given as a life. Taleeze smiled a bit when Skylar dropped the line about the cherished time. It had been mere weeks and most of the time had been waiting and working. But this understanding was a thing she loved about the human. She would always be true to herself and true about her feelings. To ask for such understanding was impossible but it got just handed to her like the most natural thing

“Boarding will start in a few minutes.” Taleeze was looking up to the display. Her mind was calm now, she had let the emotions rush through her and she had briefly remembered the moments they had shared as one entity. Their nights had been few but the way they had been together had left both of them an eternal memento. Taleeze rose and straightened her suit.
The other passengers were already moving towards the gate.

“I have to …” she opened. She wanted to kiss Skylar, so badly it hurt physically to resist. Instead, she looked her deep into the eyes and her hand caressed the cheek of the blond human. “You will always be with me, you are special, Sky.” Their cheeks touched and Taleeze rubbed her head gently against Skyar’s, taking in as much of the scent as she could.

“I wish you the blessing of Athame and may the spindrift be always in your favor.” She whispered in Skylar’s ear, the gentlest of kisses on the earlobe, before she broke the embrace.

With a heavy sigh she lifted the bag.
It is the best for both of us. Taleeze was wondering if Omega would be able to take her mind of things. She was wondering if Freh’ya would be able to make this go away. But Skylar hadn’t been able to make Freh’ya go away. She didn’t look forward to the space trip, all by herself with too much time to think about all this.

Resisting another urge to kiss, Taleeze caressed Skylar’s arm and headed for the gate. She turned once more. “Goodbye, Skylar.” She smiled softly and managed not to scream and cry in pain.

A few moments later she had vanished through the gateway and soon after, a signal over the gangway indicated the departure of a turian freighter with destination: Omega