[Lusia, Monoi Tech] back in university (closed)

Damn all those drugs. Asari did their share of drugs too, but the most common, that plague called red sand, was of no use to them. Taleeze felt bad indeed when Lia told about the type of social life she was avoiding back on Watson.

“Nah, it’s the sort of stupid things going on everywhere, I’m sure. It’s just a facet of your home, just as mine has it’s own. But great to hear you found something that suits you here!” Taleeze smiled with joy about the compliment.

“Instead of talking about it you actually managed to get around, huh? Something to be proud of and setting an example is way better than just talking about shit.”
She looked out the window, when Lia mentioned the tides. Lusia had oceans, in fact Monoi was a coastal city but without moons there were no tides to speak off.

“Yeah, I know what you mean. Nevos has two moons, they’re called sparkling twins sometimes. They produce a really high tide at times. What’s the ocean on Watson like? I love the ocean. I love the deep open water, it’s a bit like space but not so dead, it’s full of life, all kinds of life.” she chuckled. "I have a boat. I used to go out on trips much more often but I still do occasionally. Cruising between the islands with my mate and friends, diving around, swimming, having the catch of the day on the grill on deck, the twins sparkling above." she sighed and smiled on the wonderful memories.

"That sounds lovely." She gathered up the last of the clothes she wasn't planing on wearing, and neatly put them away.

"The tides are actually what Watson is known for. Well, that and the rekjavik compromise, but tides involve less politics. We've only got one moon, but it's huge, and it results in some of the largest tides of any human world. Some people used to call Franklin, the moon, 'Big Frank'. It's not as pretty a name as 'the sparkling twins', but I guess it has character." She looked out the window, at the sky. It felt very odd not seeing a moon there, even after the time she'd been here she had never quite gotten over that.

"I used to live in one of the coastal EU cities, so I'd go down to see the ocean all the time. The beaches are massive, and always fun to visit." She enjoyed being able to talk about her home. For all it's faults, she had grown up there and she liked to remember it fondly.

Realizing that she'd been talking when she should have been getting ready, she grabbed her hairbrush and started to walk on her hair. It wouldn't take her long, considering how it was rather short, but it had gotten quite messy over the course of the day.

“Yeah, it is lovely. Should you ever visit, we’ll go out with the boat, okay? Watson seems like a nice place after all. Maybe I’ll have the opportunity to visit it some day. It’s just humans there, right?”

She observed Lia brushing her hair. Humans and their hair. She had developed a bit of a fascination for Skylar’s long blond mane. Lia’s was bit of a different hue but also of the same, seemingly rare color from what Taleeze had heard.

“It must be cool to have hair that constantly grows so you can always make something new with it. There are so many different ways to carry it. From time to time there are trends in coloring the le’ku – whenever a cosmetics company releases something and promotes it – but it isn’t that versatile.” Taleeze had finished her eye makeup by now, a silvery shadow with black lines and small red glitter dots, matching with the top she was planning to wear.
She turned to Lia.

“What do you think?”

"It is mostly humans, yes. You get the occasional aliens, a turian or two, mostly they're just passing through. I never spoke to any of them myself. I think the place would benefit from a few more non-human visitors." In her entire time at home she'd only seen a handful of aliens. A handful of turians, a couple of salarians. There was a quarian once, but that was the extent of it. While not racist, no one on Watson had considerable experience with aliens, at least as far as she knew, and her time on Lusia had convinced her that this was something that should change.

"Uh, yeah. I guess hair is pretty nice, even when people call us 'furheads' for it. I mean, there's not much I can do with my hair, beyond tiny little ponytails or something, but with long hair the options are near endless." She ran her fingers through her hair, checking it for knots "It's not all great, of course. Long hair can be so annoying. It's heavy, it gets stuck in things, people pull on it all the time..." she sighed "No doubt le'ku are easier to maintain. Plus, there's a certain elegance about them that's hard to achieve with hair alone."

She examined Taleeze's makeup "That's lovely! It'll go great with your shirt, I'm sure." Finishing with her hair, she grabbed her clothes from the bed."Uh, I'll just get changed. Won't be a moment." She pulled open the closet door and used it as a divider while she quickly got changed. She closed it again when she was done.

It was strange how some of the more remote colonies sometimes got left out of interspecies contacts obviously. Watson wasn’t that old either so that may change over time but Taleeze found it hard to imagine that a great many people only knew different species from holo news or vids.

“So, what’s going on on Watson, what’s the colony about? Mining, agriculture…?” She should have plex-searched the planet more thoroughly. Taleeze hated, being uninformed.

She looked shocked though when Lia was mentioning how problematic she found long hair. “Oh, that’s… who would pull on your hair? Did that happen to you here?” She would be infuriated should she find out another asari doing something so terribly childish and offensive on purpose!
“Skylar has very long hair and I love it to be honest.”
She giggled. “I even managed to ask her if I can help her maintain it, I just like to play with it to be honest. And just for the record, I never used ‘furhead’ in a bad way, only as a pun! I also dropped it from my vocabulary. It’s just something that has gotten around…. We asari are tentacle heads, turians are the fringies, salarians are the twin peaks… stuff like that, so you also got your ‘head’ nickname. But thanks for the compliment! I only rarely put jewelry on my le’ku, but I think I’ll put on a gem or two for the sparkle, what do you think?”

Taleeze even turned around when Lia disappeared behind the door. She had understood how this worked with Lia by now
“Awriiiight, then I’ll leave the makeup at that” she said and when Lia appeared she added. “Oh, my, you’re so cute. That’s lovely.” Indeed the top was a bit tight but that was just perfect for a party, Taleeze thought. She had never seen her in such an outfit but she liked the look.

She also used the door to dress her party outfit out of respect for Lia. The wrap around skirt was tied in a big knot on her right side with two long loose ends dangling but leaving a large portion of the thigh visible. Neat, she thought, when checking in the mirror, adjusting the folds, but not yet offensive.

“So, are we getting ready or will we wait for Lissana?”

"Actually, Watson is rather, uh, unique in that respect. There are three main colonies on the planet, each representing a different Earth nation. I'm from the largest European colony. The focus there is mainly on agriculture, though there is a very strong fishing culture. I have only a vague idea about what goes on in other parts of the planet, but I'm pretty sure there's a rather strong platinum mining industry is the UNAS areas." These were mostly things she remembered from school back home, and she could only hope she had all her information correct.

She was surprised at Taleeze's reaction to what she had said about long hair "Oh! No, don't worry, it didn't happen while I was here. I had very long hair until I was twelve, when my cousins came to visit and one of them cut off a big chunk of it while I was asleep." she frowned at the thought "He was always kind of strange. Anyway, that was when I got my hair cut shorter, but I ended up preferring it that way. Human children are just notorious hair pullers, it seems."

She nodded at the idea of Taleeze putting a bit of decoration on her le'ku. Lia herself took some decorative hairpins from her drawer and slid them through her hair. She was grateful for the courtesy Taleeze showed her by turning away when she changed, as well as changing behind the door. She smiled at the compliment. "Thank you vey much. You look absolutely lovely."

Lia considered what Lissana probably planned to do. She was already wearing her dress, and she had been planning on retrieving the bracelet which she had leant to another asari a little while ago ,so... "I imagine she'll meet us there, so we can probably just go once we're both ready."

“Fishing huh? I like people who are attached to the ocean. Overall Watson seems like a thriving colonial setup. I’m sure getting into interspecies trade will help to widen the horizon of the people. It’s usually the unknown that’s ‘alienating’. Once you get to know people it’s all coming naturally. Well, granted the first exchange is not done with guns. But you’re a nice ambassador!”

Taleeze wondered about human habits when Lia told about the hair pulling. But then, asari kids had their own means of annoying others, mostly it involved barely developed biotics and it drove teachers crazy often! “Hm, that’s just mean. But then, there’s that human pildavi player, Jial? She also shaved her head. Maybe that’s to prevent others from pulling. But anyway, short hair looks cute as well! Not saying anything against it. In fact, when it’s wet it must look a bit like our le’ku.” Taleeze moved a hand along her outermost headfringe. She was applying a few gemstones at the area where the folds met the forehead. They came with an adhesive surface so they could be put on easily. Turning left and right, she liked what she saw in her omnimirror and deactivated the tool.

“Thanks for the compliment! It will be hard for somebody else to be cooler than us.” She stuck out her tongue at Lia. She slid into her heeled sandals and jumped up.

“I’m ready to go, when you are!”

"All right then, lets go." she said, as she pulled on her shoes. The place where the party was being held was a few minutes walk away from Lia's room. She glanced back towards the main building, where Lissana had run off to, before they headed on to the party. She could see some of the other students making their way there as well, in outfits of varying colours and levels of modesty. She even saw one of the few elcor students with his back and legs covered by shiny orange fabric.

"So, you came here to visit your mother, right? Do you have any other family, sisters or cousins or something?"

“I have a much older sister. She’s out there somewhere working for a deep space exploration company. I only see her every ten years or so but we write or com-call occasionally. She was so far out from the relay network, it would have taken them six months for the nearest relay. Everything was over before they got there. Lucky break, I’d say.

Aside from that… it’s not much fun to be honest. My father’s family relatives were on palaven or served in the fleet. Too many didn’t make it.” Taleeze was a little depressed thinking about the many holos on the family wall at her mum’s home.

“Palaven is on our ‘to visit’ list once the situation there is a bit better. The aunts who live there are getting along tough, turians are tough to bring down after all.” She managed a weak smile.

By then they had reached the party location. Everything was a bit makeshift and improvised, just like a typical students hangout. A makeshift bar with a few guys managing the drinks, in a another corner a sound system (mediocre quality but loud) and a terminal with a slarian and an asari arguing over a playlist.

A lot of students were lounging in a colorful variety of chairs and sofas, some were on the dancefloor (all asari) and tried to move to some bad salarian techno remix, a few turian guys watching from the outside

Some things never change, Taleeze thought.
“What’s your kind of music, Lia?” she asked after picking up a cup of lemonade from the bar.

Their entry made a few heads turn – Taleeze was a bit of a standout and other humans weren’t to be seen yet. She looked around if Larissa could be found somewhere.

"Oh. Right, I heard things were pretty bad on Palaven. I'm sorry to hear that." Lia felt a bit bad for asking, she should have considered that some of her family could be gone. Everyone had lost someone, after all. She knew that as much as anybody else.

She surveyed the scene. The place looked rather nice, and it was gradually filling with more people. She didn't know is any of the other human students were coming, but she'd certainly like not to be the only one there.

"I'll listen to some of just about anything. I'm usually not picky unless I really object to the artist or something. Although of course there are some genres I tend not to listen to, like 'reaper death metal', or whatever it is they call it when someone adds reaper sounds to a song and calls it 'edgy'." Someone had played a song like that at a party she'd gone to about a month ago. Two people had fainted on the spot, and a further five had panicked and had been unconsolable for an hour afterwards. The matriarchs had been furious about it. "I have to admit though, I do get a bit sick of all the techno music. A galaxy full of genres, and most of the time all I hear is the same songs on constant repeat." The students fighting over the music seemed to be having no luck choosing songs, and the music occasionally switched between salarian techno music and lighthearted asari pop. "What about you? Is there any particular kind of music you like?"

She spotted Lissana talking to a turian whose name she couldn't remember over by the dance floor. Lia waved at her, and Lissana waved back, mouthing that she'd come talk in a little while.

“Don’t worry, I’m over it. It’s okay to ask.” Taleeze assures Lia about the mentioning Palaven.

The music was in fact an interesting topic for Taleeze. Way too often she had discussions with the DJs about what was suitable for a show or not. Some audiences were special though and didn’t like surprises.

“I am good with anything that’s danceable. Maybe I’m just too used to all the club techno.” She laughed. “It’s the work, it’s what most club audiences prefer so I go with it and mind you, there is a lot of good and innovative stuff out there. It’s the clubs and radios who just play the same stuff over and over. I share you’re resentment towards all the Reaper grunge whatever styles. Some samples just don’t work right.

I also have a wide range of things I like to listen to. It largely depends on occasion and situation as well. I listen to very different stuff privately than I dance to while I do stage routines. Also, my girlfriend play the shitari, that’s a traditional asari instrument. At home we listen to a lot of classic asari ambient. It’s very chilling and inspiring but of course nothing for a dance party!”

Taleeze bounced and swayed a bit when some asari pop came on. The high voices of a choir singing about teenage love (or the asari equivalent thereof). She also waved over to Larissa, when she detected her.

She also noted a group of two turians and two asari occupying a sofa in a corner, seemingly eying the two of them.

"That sounds like it would be interesting to hear. I'll have to look it up sometime." She liked the idea of listening to traditional asari instruments. She felt as though listening to things like that could really give a sort of understanding to a peoples history.

Lissana chose this moment to skip her way over to them, gleefully waving the whole time. "Hi Lia, Hi Taleeze! You both look absolutely stunning." She proceeded to spend the next few minutes detailing various qualities she liked about both of their appearances, before she glanced towards the group in the corner. She giggled.

"What is it? Why are you giggling like that?" Lia was vaguely alarmed by this. Lissana simply shook her head.

"Oh, it's nothing. Say, why don't we go dance for a while?" she turned to Taleeze "Wouldn't that be fun?"

“Do look it up. I suppose there are a few students who play it. It kind of also makes nice biotic training.” She thought for a moment. “I’ll send you some recordings of artists I like.”

Taleeze greeted the enthusiastic Lissana, compliments went back and forth.
When Lia was wondering about the giggling, Taleeze had to exchange a raised brow with Lissana. There were only two options here: Either the thought Taleeze and Lia were a couple or someone of the group was checking out one of the them…
Hey, they were the hottest In Da House after all!

“Ohhh, dancing, of course! I just hope the DJs keep the good set up for a bit” Currently the asari pop was dominating but an occasional salarian remix of a pop song was thrown in. Nothing too bad really, you couldn’t have everything perfect.

So the three were moving onto the dancefloor. Taleeze held back a bit at first, she didn’t want to raise a fuss with too elaborate things.

Lia was very reserved in her dancing. She didn't move very much, and mostly watched what the others were doing. Many of the asari students dancing worked part-time as dancers, and some of their movements were rather exotic. Lissana gave it her all, throwing all of her energy into what she was doing, until she saw that Lia wasn't participating much.

"Come on! People are going to stare at you more if you don't try than if you do!" She grabbed Lia's arms and used them to move her around like a puppet.

"Lissana! Stop it, please!" She cried, certain that she looked ridiculous, though she was thankful that Lissana had chosen to use her hands to move her, and not her biotics.

"Are you going to dance, or do I have to go get someone over there to dance with you?

"No! Fine I'll...try, alright?" She was released, and she proceeded to dance with more vigor, although she continued to have a very concerned look on her face.

"So, I'm curious. You said your girlfriend was a commando, does she ever come to parties like this? Or is she busy with important, commando-y type duties?" Lissana asked Taleeze.

It was cute to see Lissana ‘encourage’ Lia. Taleeze had to smirk at the face the human made; she looked so determined and concentrated. In all, she wasn’t doing bad at all! She was a sporty type with good body control – she just probably didn’t really know it. Yet.

Taleeze winked and made an approving gesture towards Lia. But her exuberant move she directed at Lissana to make Lia not feel awkward. Stepping behind the young asari, she bent her knees and went down, making a snaking motion, arms extended over her head, and around Lissana, coming up again. She didn’t have to look, years of experience let her feel the glances. She fell into a relaxed rhythm next to Lissana, smiling wide.

“Ha, not really, I mean, we do party sometimes but she’s more the serious type most of the time” No need to go all over the PTSD struck commando thing. “She’s a good dancer though, she approaches it like martial arts and you can bet she can move quite well. Anyway, yes, currently she’s training new recruits. There’s probably not much dancing involved for them.” She laughed.

Taleeze noted from the corner of an eye that the group of four had moved and now stood at the sideline, watching the dancers. She thought she could see some determined swigs from the beers.

"Nice dancing! You're really good at this!" Lissana exclaimed, impressed by Taleeze's dance. She then swiftly bent over backwards, touching the ground with her hands before propelling herself back up again. Lia knew this move quite well, Lissana practiced it all the time.

Off to the side of the dance floor, an asari who was giggling hysterically suddenly let loose a biotic throw at a seemingly random angle, sending an empty couch flying back a few feet, and cushions in several directions. Her friend grabbed her by the shoulder and took her to sit down.

"What's the matter with Rina?" Lia had classes with her, and didn't know her to be so careless

"I'd say she's drunk."

"What! Already?"

"She broke up with her girlfriend recently, and she has a very low tolerance for alcohol. I'm surprised she didn't break something sooner." She glanced at the group standing at the edge of the dance floor. "Lia, do you know any of those four?"

Lia looked at them. "Uh, no. I don't think so. Why, should I?"

High voices asari girls were singing about summer love and girls in the city when Taleeze whistled in appreciation over Lissana’s flexibility.

“You’re not bad yourself, are you practicing?” she must be quite sporty. Taleeze mused over another variation when the biotic drama unfolded. Woho, impressive, luckily her friend could calm her down. A drunk biotic could be either totally inabled or even the more dangerous. Poor heartaching Rina was only targeting soft inanimate objects, thank the Goddess.

Taleeze had chuckled over the innocent comment by Lia. But when they had turned back to dancing, suddenly a young dark blue asari with whitish face marks appeared next to the human. Her face color shifted more towards purple when she asked: “You don’t mind me dancing… like, here? Like, next to you?” The words came out rather fast and her eyes darted to the group of now only two turians and one asari who were now all grinning like total idiots and tried not to stare in their direction. With not much success.

The girl – Taleeze thought she could have been sixty, sixty five, tops - didn’t wait for an answer and began to dance in a shy but cute way. That seemed to give her back some self-esteem and she added: “Name’s Kareen” and she smiled, somewhere between happy and silly, or maybe desperate, like having just committed ritual suicide.

Lia was somewhat taken aback. "What? Of course not. Uh, no, wait, w-what I mean to say is that I don't mind if you..." She trailed off when she noticed the asari had already started to dance. Lia was rather relived to see she hadn't accidentally driven her away with a poor choice of words.

"I'm Julia. You can call me Lia, though. If you want to, I mean, because if you don't then that's- I'll just stop talking now." Lia's face had gone very pink and she danced even more energetically to try and disguise her shyness.

"This is so cute. It's like some kind of shyness competition." Lissana muttered to Taleeze. She wore an expression similar to that of Kareen's friends as she unsuccessfully tried not to stare.

“Hello Lia!” beamed the asari as she danced away.

Taleeze grinned at Lissana. “It is. She’ll do fine though.” Gosh I miss being that young.

After a while of dancing, Taleeze made a ‘drink’ gesture and everyone nodded, so the quartet moved towards a free sofa next to the bar.

While Taleeze picked up a round for everyone, Lissana had settled to the right and Kareen to the left on the armrest, Lia in the middle.
“Hey, finally possible to proper introduce myself, Kareen, I’m Taleeze. No student, just visiting my friend here.” She pointed towards Lia and handed everyone a drink.

“Lia, to you!” she saluted.