[The Citadel] Memories and Vomit Stains (closed)

To say the Citadel was uncomfortable for Kenec would be something of an understatement. Fearing physical contact, as well as the judging stares of one person, let alone several million at once, on top of being a quarian in a galaxy somewhat bitter about his kind having a relatively untouched homeworld made for a living situation that could best be described as "awkward".

The exception to the rule was Little Rannoch, at least to Kenec. He'd be able to stick around his own kind without the rather infuriating prospect of dealing with geth, and the community itself was rather uninterested in bothering what many assumed was an unhinged war veteran - beyond a few kind souls anyway.

Oh, and the quarian walking alongside him from a disastrous meet-up of CDN regulars.

"I knew I shouldn't have gone. 'It'll be good for you to get out' my ass." He spat, the vomit on his suit drying up and staining now. It'd take hours to decontaminate and wash. It'd probably take even longer than that for him to even consider going outside again.

After seeing what passed for the CDN meetup, Naaya had been thinking that she hadn't gotten anything out of this expensive trip at all. She still didn't know where Asharia was, as a quarian she'd probably still be less welcome than on Earth, and it still wasn't time for her to move to the Citadel full-time, as Naaya wanted to do that one final thing on Earth. There was a bright spot, though, in that she was able to find Kenec. A little over a year ago, when the original Cerberus Daily News forums were going, the two interacted quite a bit on the forums and even hung out one time and watched F&F.

But they'd drifted away a little after that, and for a long time Naaya had no idea whether Kenec had died in the war- fortunately, he made it out alright. Good for him, and good for her as well, since she'd considered Kenec to be a friend, due in no small part to the fact that he A) knew she was an exile but B) didn't mind.

"I can sort of understand the sentiment," Naaya replies to Kenec as she follows him through the Citadel Wards, "but I don't know. I figured maybe it might have been worth going to see the other Cerberus Daily News people again- the people I like, at least. I just didn't take into account that CDN people in a group are chaos walking."

The quarian glances around, taking a look at Najhil behind her in the process. "So where specifically are we headed?"

Kenec adjusted his shawl slightly, thankful that the way he was currently heading was relatively light on people - though, really, relatively light traffic in terms of people coming and going was still in the hundreds, which made Kenec shrink as several people sniffed the air and looked for the source of it, and when they looked at his vomit covered suit and grimaced in disgust, Kenec felt his stomach turn. They probably noted the lack of an arm as well, which only made him feel more self conscious.

He was, at the very least, thankful that his filters kept out the smell of vomited up turian cuisine.

"We're heading to Little Rannoch," Kenec answered softly, trying to not draw more attention to himself. "Been there before? No one ought to recognize you as an exile, unless you're secretly some crazy ass famous serial killer that folks recognize by pattern alone."

He sighed. "Sorry, didn't mean to say that. I'm just... I've been on edge, y'know? I thought that, hey, maybe there'll be people I like there - which, y'know, Arbit and you. Should've remembered the last thing I went to with CDN members was some Kristmass thing two years ago. Fuckin' volus wrestling."

"Should've stayed home. Would've been smart." Kenec laughed bitterly. "But when've I been smart?"

"Never." Replied Najhil, who had just returned to the pair's tail, with barely-concealed contempt. Then, turning to Naaya, she said, "Oh, Naaya, Juhani may or may not be coming. Najhil can't tell."