[Citadel, Tayseri Ward] Reunion

Coming clean was never easy.

Although this particular relevation wasn't one Naaya's friends were badgering for- and she'd always appreciated their discretion when it came to this- she felt she had an obligation to let them know. After all, how could she ever be trusted with the secrets of her friends if she adamantly refused to share any of hers? In this case, one of her friends, Everett, knew the real story behind her exile, since Naaya had taken the time to sit him down and retell the story- and he even went with her to tie up one of the story's loose ends in the form of Va'Garisk.

Kenec, on the other hand, had no idea, and Naaya felt bad about that- it was unusual for a quarian to display the kind of respect Kenec displayed to her in the past, given that most quarians treated Naaya like a war criminal at best, and a reviled monster at worst. Such was the reputation that all exiles had to bear. And since Naaya was big on judging people as individuals, she appreciated Kenec having the common courtesy to do the same.

As of the current moment, Naaya was nestled in the spongy couch in her living room, consulting her vidscreen, in the apartment on the Citadel that she'd been living in with Najhil for some time now. The raloi had been a very obliging and considerate roommate over the months, and Naaya could honestly say she'd miss her feathery friend if she ever decided to pursue her own kind of housing. Right now Najhil had some personal business to take care of, so the quarian had the place more or less to herself.

Since she'd been gracefully let go by Titan, given severance pay, and "politely encouraged" not to talk about her employment, she was in job limbo, and had spent most of the day looking up employment positions on the ExtraNet while waiting for Everett and Kenec to arrive.

After a couple more hours of job-searching, the doorbell suddenly rings. Naaya pulls herself out of the couch and heads to the door, checking the peephole to see which of her two friends had arrived.

Well, here we are all over again.

Kenec stood outside of the door of Naaya's home, an arm inside of one of his suit's pockets. He was used to this sort of thing; Naaya would call him, he'd come over, they'd talk for a bit and probably watch a dumb movie, she'd spill her guts about something, and then he'd part ways, tell her he'd see her soon, and months later it would happen again. Honestly, he didn't know why he was here at the moment.

Besides the fact she was, more or less, one of the few people who talked to him.

Man. I need to get out more often.

Well, there was Rannoch, but that was more to observed how his race had come to settle upon their homeworld. So, here he stood, waiting for the woman to answer her door.

Ah, Kenec, right on time.

Naaya was half-wondering whether he'd show up- to be honest, she hadn't spent as much time with him as she would prefer, and she knew all too well how easy it was to drift away from friends. The quarian unbolts the door, a smile spreading across her face as she lets her friend in. "Hey- glad you could make it. There's some nutripaste in the fridge if you want some. I just recently picked up a couple of different flavors." She carefully navigates her somewhat cluttered apartment, looking for Ramirez's tank. It was already past time she fed the pod crab.

"So I guess I should probably let you know in advance this won't be a typical movie night," Naaya calls to Kenec as she fiddles with the food dispenser for Ramirez's tank. "I mean, we can watch some romcom or something after if you want, but...I've been feeling kind of upset lately. More than usual, I guess. It's about, well, how I got exiled, and even though there aren't any therapists around I'd ever want to see, I thought maybe talking about it would help. And you deserve to know."

To the forum's credit, they hadn't been asking Naaya about the circumstances behind the aforementioned exile that often lately. It was usually just the typical "but-you're-an-exile-shouldn't-you-be-murdering-puppies" stuff. A lot of the time she'd managed to avoid thinking about the subject, but considering it was a very special anniversary today, Naaya felt it was important to get this off her chest. Only time would tell whether he'd hate her for it.

Naaya couldn't have timed her request better. Everett was granted some shore leave after the job on Tuchanka. It wasn't much time, of course; he had to be transferred to Luna soon, but this was the perfect time for him to meet up with the quarian. He walked through the hall towards her apartment, wearing a casual sweater and pants. He'd spent enough time in the N7 armor to feel a bit odd outside of it. He wasn't even sure if that was a good or bad thing.

Everett hadn't heard much from Naaya since the war. He'd admit that it was partly his fault; the human became more distant to his friends, and even his wife post-war. He fully committed himself to his duty, neglecting his relationships. This only served to make him more miserable, but at the time, he figured: what else could he do? The Alliance needed its troops to aid the recovery process, after all, but after running into his family on Tuchanka, he began to realize how lonely he really was, so he wasn't going to pass up this opportunity to reconnect with a friend.

Everett approached Naaya's apartment, only to stop when he saw another quarian right outside the open door. It wasn't her; this one was male, and the colors seemed familiar...

"...Kenec? Is that you?"