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

Taleeze had pushed back the visit to her mother over and over. She had already been scolded via holo but of course her mum understood the situation she was in with the search for Freh’ya, who she liked very much and later, after the couple had returned to Nevos, their need to rest. But now, a couple of weeks after that, a prolonged weekend of family business had been arranged finally, Taleeze was visiting Lusia. It had been convenient that Freh’ya wanted to spend the weekend in seclusion at her old monastery school in the Kabla mountains. Taleeze never understood what was so enlightening about sitting naked in the freezing could on top of a mountain peak in a very uncomfortable position and meditate. Something only a huntress could cherish, she guessed…

So it was that she traveled to Lusia alone. Since CDN was such a cool thing, she had contacted Lia Lombardi upfront, the human teenager who had started her first year at Monoi Tech. It would be nice to visit her old university and have a friendly exchange.
She was riding with a scycab from her mother’s place to the university campus. It was afternoon and everyone was already shifting into weekend mode. Lia had mentioned a party later tonight and Taleeze looked forward to that. A little bit of carefree joy among young people.

Taleeze also chuckled about another thing. Last time it had been Lia asking on advise about asari and living among them, now it was Taleeze who had a human situation on her hands. She had just come clear with Skylar about entering a three way relationship, which obviously wasn’t as easy for the human as for the asari. Everything was still fresh and new and exciting but maybe Lia could give Tal some insight on humans this time. The asari still didn’t know too many yet.

The cab touched down in the parking lot in front of the main plaza of Monoi Tech campus, which was surrounded two thirds by the swooping architecture of an asari university. Behind that building, there were the three faculty towers for aerospace, environmental engineering and cybernetics. Taleeze had a feeling of being transferred back into her pre-hundreds. Small groups of asari and occasional other species were moving about, chatting or sitting in groups and discussion projects maybe…. Or just weekend party plans.

She was wearing a simple black T-shirt with the ‘Apricity’ logo embroidered on the chest and a long crimson wraparound skirt that flowed around her legs in the light warm breeze. In a shoulder bag she carried some party supplies for later.
They had agreed to meet near the fountain in the middle of the campus plaza; Taleeze was strolling over looking out for a blond human. Then she recognized the young woman and she waved happily, skipping steps playfully as she approached.

“Hey, Lia, it’s good to see you! How are you doing?” Taleeze, being the exuberant maiden she was, instinctively pulled Lia into a short hug.

Lia stood by the fountain, listening to the calming sound of the water. She had been feeling rather nervous about actually meeting Taleeze in person, but she was excited as well. Taleeze was the first Asari Lia had ever really met, and she knew that moving to Monoi would have been much more terrifying without her advice.

Lia glanced around for something like the seventh time, and saw a familiar Asari woman waving at her. Lia started to waved back. It took only a few Seconds for most of her nervousness to melt away.

"Hello Taleeze" she said after Taleeze had hugged her "I'm doing well, thanks for asking! And how are you? It's nice to finally meet you in person!

The human couldn't hide her initial nevousness completely: Taleeze envied her a little bit for that youthfulness. She had come to Monoi nontheless and was looking good. It was pleasing to see her become more confident.

"Oh, I am very fine, very fine indeed," she replied and smiled, thinking about Skylar and Freh'ya. "How is my hometown treating you? It's been awfully long since I have been here. It must have been years literally." And she was meaning Lusia years which were equivalent to 4.1 earth years.

She looked around the plaza, towards the great hall, the aerospace tower directly behind it from where they stood.
"So, what's the plan, do you you wnat to show me around a bit? If there had been damage it's already rebuilt quite well..." She looked around and noticed now that some buildings had patches that looked newer and fresher. The holes and wounds of the fighting, repaired and almost perfectly blending in.
"Is there still a cafeteria in the 'astro-tower'?" It had been the nickname of the aerospace faculty in her days, she had no idea if that still was he case.

Lia thought for a moment before replying. "It's been great here, actually. Though it took some getting used to at first." She felt a bit embarrassed to remember her first week or so in the city. While she had lived in one of the larger settlements back home, it had been nothing compared to the size of Monoi, and she had frequently gotten lost. "It's different, but certainly not in a bad way."

Lia considered that the Asari version of "...An awfully long time" could very well mean before Lia had even been born, but she decided not to think about that too much.

"Sure, I can show you around." Lia was confident she could remember where everything was at this point, but it was still possible Taleeze remembered the layout better than she did. "I'm told most of the university survived the fighting. The buildings needed lots of patching up, but none of them were beyond repairing." The following mention of an "Astro-Tower" threw her somewhat, but as she followed Taleeze's gaze to the Aerospace tower she remembered hearing some people call it that before.

"Uh, yes, the cafeteria's still there. Apparently the general layout has stayed mostly the same for almost three centuries. You know, this colony was founded around the early middle ages..." She stopped. For however much better at speaking to aliens she'd gotten, she still sometimes forgot not to reference human history or culture too much. " I-I'm sorry. You probably don't know much about... Let's go to the cafeteria first, then."

“Cool, let’s go!” their way would lead them through the main building where the administration and the big lecture halls were.
“And please, I am very interested in human history… lately” she added hesitantly with a shy grin. “It’s in fact quite interesting to compare what everyone was doing when we didn’t know of each other.” Look at those humans now, here she was walking alongside a young student that even grew up in a colony.
“I have read about human history a lot more since I have a human girlfriend. Skylar, the woman that was with me when we talked, remember? Back then it was still something vague but now we’re together. So I have a lot to learn about your people since she knows so much about the asari!” She laughed as they entered through the main gate. Inside was a multistory atrium with wide open balcony. Light flooded in from large glass cones in the roof, groups of students were clustering everywhere but no hectic or stressful atmosphere. The background noise was like a constant murmur with an occasional burst of laughter in high pitched young voices.

“I remember how I first got here. It was like a labyrinth, I think I was late on a few classes because I ended up in the wrong wing over the first weeks.” Big holo screens showed some of the universities projects and listed timetables for classes and activities, interrupted by advertisement for the Wildkats. Sadly they had an away game so Taleeze could not see them with Lia. She was happy she had given the girl the tickets at an earlier date for another match.
“So, how’s the studying going, are you getting along? Do you have a tutor of some sorts or are you working all on your own?”

"Really?" Lia said, happily surprised by Taleeze's interest. "Well, if you'd ever like to discuss human history, I know quite a bit. My sister told me mounds of stuff about it. I've tried to learn the history of other species as well, but I haven't had much time for it lately." Over the last few weeks she'd only had a few days where she hadn't been busy, and this was one of them.

Lia wasn't particularly surprised when Taleeze mentioned her relationship with Skylar. She remembered how...affectionally they had treated each other during her call. "That's nice to hear. I hope you're happy together."

It was something of a relief to hear that she wasn't the only one to have gotten lost in her earliest day there. Moving to Monoi was one of the first times in her life when her surrounding weren't familiar to her, and she had been so scared of getting lost she'd often left for places she had needed to be almost half an hour earlier than she'd had to.

"Studying? I think I'm doing okay. Uh, alien students have larger workloads than Asari do, since the courses are shortened due to our lifespans, but I'm managing to get through it all." It felt very strange, referring to humans as aliens, but due to the group also including turians, salarians and elcor (as well as the occasional hanar) there seemed no other word for it. "I'm not studying completely by myself. I have a roomate, Lissana, who helps me sometimes, but I haven't got an official tutor or anything."

As they got closer their destination, Lia glanced at her surroundings. She noticed, not for the first time, how pretty everything was and how different it looked from the few cities she had seen on Watson. I wonder how much it's changed over time

"Does the University look much different from how it did when you were here?" She asked, speaking a little quietly.

“Uh, not that much different in general terms but the repairs are getting more obvious the closer you get. But still, it’s an amazing thing how quick this was getting back to normal. I saw pictures of Monoi on holovision merely a year ago and okay, some of the craters were still there , and a handful of the familiar towers are missing but I think they got away easy.” Compared to other worlds or Thessia. A Matron Professor was passing by and Taleeze greeted with respect, earning a warm smile and a nod.

“I assume the biggest differences must be in the labs and in the details. The buildings layout didn’t change much, it was a mere century ago after all, but the equipment sure is up to date I assume.” She looked around. Was it more students back then? The atrium had been quite lively but the corridors seemed a bit empty, only a few people were moving about. Missing people… not a nice topic. Maybe it was just the Yeshday afternoon before a weekend….

“You know, the biggest difference are the people. There’s always new people, new generations. And your furheads!” She laughed playfully, resisting the urge to rustle through Lia’s hair, which would have been super rude of course. “You weren’t around back then of course. Actually, I assume there are a few others around as well?

I have to tell you that I find your hair fascinating! This sure must sound totally stupid to you but I do, especially the yellow blond, it glows so beautifully in the sun and you can do so much with it! I’ve been told ‘preferring blondes’ is a stereotype among humans… well, since I am none, there must be something about it!” Hair was tickling so nice on her skin and it was carrying Skylar's special scent...

“But seriously, you’re doing it all on your own? Oh Goddess, you must be a talent! I so needed my tutor back then!” She laughed again, remembering the hours of desperation with first level quantum dynamics.
“You must absolutely show me your den! I’d like to see how you settled in. Having a roomie and living on campus is nice, I always liked it… but you were anxious about being close to so many asari. How is it, do you get your private space or are you living the asari life already?” she nudged Lia playfully.

Lia tugged at her short hair, feeling a bit embarrassed by the praise. During her time on Lusia she had received a few fascinated looks for her "fur", as some called it. As for her studying... "Well, who knows? I could have to get a tutor later on, if I get to a topic I'm really struggling with." Not to mention the fact that she probably couldn't afford to have a tutor when she wasn't desperate for help

"My room is only a short walk away from the aerospace tower. If you really want to see it, there's no problem at all." She stopped to think for a second
" I suppose everyone else's confidence has been rubbing off on me a little. I've always been a bit of an introvert, and I was only getting worse before I came here. I still have the occasionaly moment to my self, but in general I've been trying to embrace the Asari lifestyle." She laughed

“Hey, let’s have a drink and go over there then.” Taleeze agreed excitedly. “You’ve come a long way, Lia. You sound like a talented girl and you have all the right to be happy and proud about yourself.” Taleeze thought she never even had heard even one boasting comment from the young woman, which separated her quite a bit from a lot of other CDN board members. Maybe that’s why she always had liked her.
“If I even can be of assistance with anything technical, let me know though, I’d be happy to help.”

By the time, their path had led them to the cafeteria of the aerospacers in one of the upper floors of the tower. A little spaceship with a swooping fire trail was the emblem over the counter. There was only little audience, a few pairs were studying probably group projects on holo screens.
“It’s a bit different from how I remember it. Different colors.” Taleeze noted. “Okay, so, it’s my treat today, what do you like? And don’t be shy to take the most expensive creation!” she laughed, remembering how she used to take only the most cheap Kafe (human coffee wasn’t even known to asari back then! How were they even able to survive?) due to her small student funds.

Taleeze opted for a simple coffee with likam cream, the asari equivalent for milk, coming from native sea mammals.
“There’s a table in front of the big windows. I always liked the view from up here.”
“What do your parents think of you being here, are they doing well?”

Thanking Taleeze for her offer of paying for their drinks, Lia opted to have ordinary coffee with milk. Although she was quite sure Taleeze wouldn't have minded her ordering something more exotic, Cow milk was expensive enough on Lusia and Lia couldn't bring herself to take advantage of Taleeze's kindness. She was happy just being able to drink something familiar.

The view from the windows was spectacular, looking out over a large portion of the university. As Lia looked out, she remembered her last conversation with her family about a week ago. "My parents didn't want me to come here." she said, a little sadly "They were so overprotective of me after the war, I thought I was going to be on Watson forever."

"It took me nearly a month to convince them to let me go off world, but to be honest I think it's been good for them." She bunched up the fabric of her skirt in her hands,"Without me there they haven't got a constant reminder of what they've lost. I think they've started to get on with their own lives again, rather than just worry about mine." Lia shook her head

"I'm sorry, that must be kinda depressing."

It was and it was not.
“It’s understandable in way how your parents reacted. It’s the war and all combined with the daughter becoming a maid...” she realized that this was probably not applicable for Lia. “… well, whatever you call it … independent, restless. Letting go can be hard.” She also looked out over the campus. She had almost forgotten how slow the day was creeping on Lusia. 57 hours.
“But with every loss you gain something else. You will become a more diverse personality. You will be able to share your experience with your parents and I think they will understand some day.”

Taleeze thought about her own situation after the war.
“I also had lost something during the war. A person that was very close to me went missing.” She took a sip and watched the cream form a pattern. “I was lucky enough to be able to retrieve her though and even become entangled in another love along the way. This love of Skylar came to me in a dark hour. At a point in my life where I wasn’t sure If I could ever find my lost lover again and yet, I did finally. After many twists and turns. And now I have more than I had before. Every loss is a chance, Lia…. So don’t take it as depressing.” She extended one hand over the table, touching the human's arm.
“Your sister’s sacrifice is one of the sparks that kept the galactic fire burning. It’s our turn to make it shine bright again.” Now, that was a bit more than she had initially aimed for. But it still was her opinion.
She shook her head with a small laugh. “Sorry If I sound weird.”

"Not at all. It's a good way of thinking about it." "It's our turn to make it shine bright again." It occurred to her that this was true of more than just the galaxy, but her sister's memory as well. Shying away from talking about her wasn't helpful for anyone. It just ensured that Cristina would be lost to history forever.

"I'm glad you found the person you lost." she said "And I think my sister... I know Cristina would have liked you. You're very kind." Lia smiled. She glanced around the room, taking in everything she saw. The other students, the view from the windows, the short list of "visitor menu" food and drinks...

A question struck her. It was trivial compared to their last few minutes of conversation but, then again, she was curious..."Have you ever had any Earth style food before?" she asked.

That had been a touching compliment by the young human and Taleeze smiled as she obviously had found the right words on a difficult subject.
Considering how many bad conversation she had recently on the CDN forums, talking to someone nice was a pleasant chance. Thinking that, she also thought about a few fights with a very cranky Freh’ya she had over the last weeks. The mood swings had been terrible at times but the commando had just been so sorry afterwards each time. Taleeze loved her no bit less, thinking about it, that thought made her happy.

“Oh, I do love human food and I had some, yes. On Illium there is a strong human community, along with their cuisine. The club I was working at, the ‘Apricity’ has an excellent kitchen which prepares also some human style dishes. I particularly like seafood in general and some of your local cuisines have great recipes. And of course, the whole galaxy likes this sushi style of yours! It’s conveniently close to asari algae wraps to not feel alien but still exotic and it’s so versatile in what you use.

What’s your favorite food?”

"Hmm, well if you want to know a specific dish then I don't think I could choose, but my favourite kind of food is Italian food. My dad used to make it all the time. I've looked for a restaurant here that makes it, but I haven't had much luck finding one I like so far." She drank the last few drops of her coffee

"I'm pretty disappointed that I haven't had much of an opportunity to try asari food while I've been here. Most of it has traces of eezo, after all, and non-biotics like myself are recommended to stick to visitor menus." she frowned slightly "I suppose I have had the chance to try some salarian food, though. It can be quite... bitter." Lia poked her tongue out a little at the thought

"What do you want to do next? We could look around the university some more, or I could show you my room now if you like."

The Eezo, Taleeze tended to forget about that often enough. She had also finished her coffee.
“Oh, yes, let’s walk over to your place, that would be cool!”

“Don’t think, the eezo makes the food taste different, it doesn’t. It’s mainly to keep a diet or to have food from home. We don’t need it constantly and to be honest it has become quite the esoteric thing in some places. Also the none eezo doped dishes just taste the same. Most products wouldn’t be imported anyway I guess, as that’s super expensive. Local Lusia food is supposed to be okay for any levo.”

As they put their cups back to the counter, Taleeze was thinking about her experiences with human food. Sadly enough it had been a lot of cross cooking. That was great and all but sometimes you could overlook what the original dish was like.
“Well, salarians have different tastes. For me they sometimes use way too little spice. I do also like krogan food. Well some of it. We asari can eat a lot but not all and some isn’t meant to be eaten honestly, it comes much closer to a ‘dare’. But when they are serious, they prepare you some great dishes.
I think I have come across Italian food as well. Isn’t that a coastal region on earth? So there’s sea food… But I remember something with a large circular… cake thing with all kinds of leftover toppings? Isn’t that Italian?”

When they left the cafeteria, Taleeze noted a trio of students goggling after them (experience from her line of work – notice when stared at) but she couldn’t tell, if the asari and the turian were looking after her or Lia…

"Krogan food!" Lia exclaimed. All she knew about it were the stories people had told her, that what krogans ate barely qualified as edible, and how they could drink sulfuric acid without getting so much as a stomach ache. Granted, nearly all of these stories had been told to her by people back home who had never so much as seen a krogan, so the tales could've been exaggerated a bit.

She nodded in response to Italy being a coastal region on Earth, only to become very confused by the description that followed. "Circular..cake-thing...Oh, you mean pizza!" She laughed slightly "Yeah, that's italian, and pretty popular amongst humans!"

She saw Taleeze look at some students who, she noticed with a start, were staring at them. Lia didn't recognize any of their faces. "I hope they're not staring at my hair..." she muttered to herself

“It’s popular? And I thought it was something really cheap!” She thought about for a second. “Maybe that’s the reason. I’ll look it up, maybe I can surprise Skylar with such a human dish!”
Taleeze heard the mumbled response as Lia noted the attentive glares. She just smiled… might as well be the hair, she had fallen for the yellow colored herself after all – if it really was Lia there were looking at. Kids these days, it was a faint memory of her student days and its wild sides. Which got probably exaggerated in her memory now. She looked forward to the party though.

As the sun was descending slowly, the light was reflecting in the thousands of windows of the campus buildings. Taleeze and Lia had to cross the plaza again to get to the dorms. The buildings were mostly new, Taleeze noticed. This area looked much different than she remembered. There was an old building which she recalled as the common hall and several clusters of cubes , stacked in seemingly wild arrangement but fitting into a tidy kept landscape with lots of green and trees. These were high quality prefab modules, obviously installed after the war to replace destroyed housing. It looked nice and like an environment that was inspiring and creative.

Some students were lying in the grass, reading or listening to music – Taleeze could see another human in the distance - a group was playing ball, a non-biotic version as a salarian and turians were among them.
“So, what became of your sporty ambitions? Are you part of anything yet or is the schedule keeping the bookworm from any bodily activity?”

"Well, i haven't got the time to play anything official, but their are a couple of social teams I take part in when I can. Tennis, soccer and badminton, mostly." Despite the relatively small amount of humans at Monoi Tech, there were a surprising number of human sports to take part in. "I decided to stick with the ones I was familiar with, although some of the salarian sports looked interesting. I can't play most of the asari sports and the turian ones looked a bit violent." There seemed no point in mentioning the elcor sport offered, called something like "Roltekuna", which no member of another species had ever succeeded in playing.

"You used to play pildavi for the wildkats, didn't you? My roommate showed me a bunch of vids of games from various years. Some were from before my grandparents were born! But I don't think I saw any where you were playing." Her sentence bugged her a little. She had the strangest feeling she was forgetting something.

You used to play pildavi for the wildkats, didn't you? My roommate... "Oh, I almost forgot! My roommate is almost certainly going to be in our room right now. You don't mind meeting her, do you?"

After the introduction of humanity to the galactic community, their sports had seen a huge boos of interest from the asari. That had two reasons, firstly the enourmous curiousty of the species towards everything new and secondly the simlarity in physical shape - same hight, same five fingered hands and feet, similar bone structure. There had been for example some extraordinary tennis players from Thessia that even competed in terran tournaments.

Their own sports were mostly biotic in nature which ruled out most other species. Of course there were adapted versions though. Nontheless, it was natural, Lia would find lots of human sports on Lusia. Taleeze loved to hear she was taking part in team events, like she initially had wanted to.

"Oh, yes, I did play for the Kats. That was more than century ago, way more actually...There isn't any official 'best off' of my achievements though" Taleeze chuckled. She wasn't exactly a celebrety, they had never won the title in her time on the team for example but it wa still nice to see this era remembered. They always had been a top half contender and vice champion was something to be proud of as well... looked like the Wildkats were bound for that this season again.

"Oh, no, of course I don't mind! Of course I'd like to meet her, no problem there!"

"Great!"

When they reached the door to Lia's room, she raised her hand and knocked "Hey, Lissana? Is it alright to come in?" she called

"Of course!" came the reply. Lia opened the door to see an asari of average height, with slightly purple skin and tattooed eyebrows, wearing a simple white shirt and black skirt. She frowned slightly at Lia. "How many times do I have to tell you, you don't need to ask every time you- Oh! Hello. Who's your friend, Lia?""

"Right, Sorry. This is Taleeze, uh, Driana. She was the one who recommended this place to me." Lia glanced at Taleeze "This is my roomate, Lissana Natari."

"Nice to meet you." She said

Lia looked round her room. Lissana's bed was covered in clothes, and there were more scattered across the room. It seemed as though she had been trying to arrange an outfit. She was almost relived to find her own things still organized rather neatly, preventing the entire room from looking as though a tornado had hit the closet.