[Nos Astra, Illium] A Moment of Quiet (closed)

Daia let her aircar come to a halt on the small pickup platform attached to Chris and Sarah's hotel and swung the door open, basking a little in the last of the day's sunlight while she tapped a quick message.


She hit 'send', then made a quick last-minute inspection of herself in the mirror hidden behind the antiquated 'sun visors' attached to the interior, ensuring she hadn't missed any traces of the rather aggressive 'Ardat-Yakshi soul stalker' makeup she had been wearing prior to her end-of-shift shower and change at the Oasis; after last time they had spoken, she didn't want Sarah to think she was trying to unsettle her on purpose.

After a few moments, Sarah stepped out of the crowd in the hotel lobby and out onto the platform. She'd gather herself and tap on the passenger side window. Pulling the door open, she'd sit down and sit there for a moment, as if she'd had a lot on her mind.
She closed the door and buckled up, pushing a hand through her newly-colored black hair.

"Hi there. Good to meet you in person finally." She turned, removing her sunglasses. Her eyes said that she hasn't been sleeping. She put the glasses away and sighed. "You met Chris! Did you like her? I certainly do. Came halfway across the damn galaxy to be with her." She spoke with a small amount of venom. "You're not dressed like a Justicar! I left my costume at home, unfortunately."

"In person at last," Daia agreed with a smile. "No ceremonial battlegear this time, and I left the shotguns in my other pants."

She put the vehicle 'in gear' - in fact the old-fashioned stick control wasn't connected to anything more purposeful than the audio synthesiser, telling it whether to fake the sound of an old internal combustion engine, and at what percentage of full volume - and lifted off, joining a traffic lane heading out towards the city's western suburbs.

"I did like her," Daia replied, nodding slightly in acknowledgement of the frustration in Sarah's voice. "Introduced her to my krogan chef friend, but she only had so much time away from the schedule the network had her on. Illium's like that," she added, "all go. Invigorating when you're looking for it, and a right yakshi headache when you're not. Speaking of which," she left the 'car in auto and turned fully to her guest, "I felt you could use some relaxation, but I wasn't quite sure what would be to your tastes. My first thought was a bathhouse, Thessian-style - very calming - but they're not big on privacy, in some ways... you know how asari are... so I didn't want to set you up for that without checking how you felt about it."

A bath house. That'll go over well with her. Sarah turned to stare at the towering sky-rises of the city and shifted in her seat. After a sigh, she gathered herself and turned back to the driver, a nod of confidence given in response. "I hope it's got good tea. I've been wanting tea for a while. It's been water and this - .. err. Local drink. Alcohol's been off the table, as have the other usual go-tos. I want the baby to be healthy and all, but I went from ten years of recreational drinking to cold turkey." She clasped her arms over her stomach, eyes cast down at the bump.

"Here I go again, talking and babbling. I should start paying you by the hour, right?" She spoke with a groan. "I mean, here I am, fucking spilling my heart out and I /barely/ know you. I've got more issues than a newsletter. I- .." She slapped her hands to her cheeks. "Bathhouse is good. Stress doesn't quite cover it."

"Bathhouse it is," Daia nodded. "There is tea, as it happens - imported from Dekuuna, you'll love it. I've had humans tell me the taste translates very well." She gave Sarah a compassionate smile. "I don't mind, if you need to... how it is you'd say, get things off your chest? I like to talk, and listen - and sometimes it's easier with a relative stranger. Not so much at stake."

Sarah crossed her arms. "Well, I'm just stressed about the issue at home. She's swamped with work, and I think old family members returning woke up emotions about the attack." She shifted again, moving to tap against the right armrest of the passenger seat.
"When I returned from Omega, I promised her I had nothing to do with the attack on her family, but now I just feel guilt about it.
She would be so much better off without me in her life." Sarah stated matter-of-factly, drawing her eyes to the sky in front of her.

"I know how it can seem that way," Daia said quietly. "I don't think anybody would be better off without someone they love, but, saying it is easy. Believing it... one step at a time. Here we are."

The aircar set down outside a low domed building, not far from the spires of the university. The lighting was muted, calm in comparison to the eye-catching flares and vivid colours of most of Nos Astra's towers and complexes. Statues in some marble-like stone lined the approach from the landing platform, depicting tribal asari of various sorts, but uniformly at peace: the statues of the huntresses had their weapons sheathed, their attention like their companions on books or scrolls, or their gazes lifted to the sky in contemplation.

"It's called ba'leer," Daia said, opening the 'car doors and leading the way to the reception hall. "The stand of the tide. There's one in just about every asari settlement, I'd say it kind of falls under the heading of 'civic building'. It's a place to relax, to... to be untroubled by the ebb and flow of the universe's currents, just for a little while. I thought you might appreciate this more than the other bathhouses around the city, some of them get a little rowdy."

Following Daia, Sarah took a moment to look over the statues in the reception area. She lifted up her right arm, snapping a panoramic photograph with her omnitool. She seemed to take it all in for a moment, with a widening grin on her face. "I've had my share of rowdy for a while. There's one like this in almost every Asari settlement? We .. have libraries on Earth, but I'm not quite sure I can think of a similar building other than Japanese bathhouses and spas."

Sarah shoved her hands into her pockets. "Rowdy? I- Not to sound prejudiced or following sterotypes, but Asari don't usually strike me as a rowdy sort." She squinted a brow. "Then again, most of the asari I know are the high-class no-fun professional type. There are a lot of those on the Citadel." She spoke with a grumble.

"Well, maybe 'rowdy' isn't quite the word," Daia admitted, approaching the reception desk. "Although speaking of stereotypes, the one about Maiden asari being inclined to party 25 hours a day, there's some truth in that. Daia T'Nara and guest?" she added to the receptionist, who inclined her head and activated an omni-tool check-in, which Daia confirmed.

"More... busy," she went on to Sarah, indicating the direction they were to take into the building's interior. "The Citadel is a little bit of a special case, everyone's on their best behaviour. Well, most of the time. Plus, there's only so much room, and water, available on a space station. But I know the no-fun types you mean, we have plenty here as well, more's the pity. But generally a bathhouse would be quite... animated, perhaps, bustling? Like a kaffe- what's the human version, coffee isn't it? Coffee shop. Conversations everywhere, laughter, music. Which is lovely when you're in the mood for it, of course," she added, "but, sometimes, you just want a nice comfy chair in a corner, and peace and quiet, to be alone with your thoughts. Or the aquatic equivalent of the comfy chair."

The pair reached a changing room, where a swipe of Daia's omni-tool provided two sets of towels and robes, one of which she handed to Sarah. There was one other asari in the room, nude, evidently finishing up as she deposited her towels in a receptacle in the far wall. She gave the newcomers a friendly nod in greeting, but otherwise left them to themselves, and seemed quite unconcerned at their presence in return.

"It's not, like, strict code-of-silence," Daia explained, as she pointed Sarah towards the changing stalls, taking one herself. "Nobody's going to mind us talking. Pop the robe on - the drawer there in the wall is for your clothes, your omni-tool will lock it until we get back. The usual way to start is a spell in the wave pool."

"Partying 25-hours a day? I'm only 30, I'm only maybe a quarter into my specie's lifespan and already I feel mentally worn out. I don't have a lot of time in my life for parties. The only reason I'm here is because of my plus one." She followed the Asari down to the changing room.

She took the set that was handed to her and held it to her center of mass. "See, a comfy chair, a place to relax? I can't find one of those. I go home, I.." She facepalms and takes another deep breath, trying to shut herself up. "I'm gonna just go change." She muttered, stepping off to the stall and returning moments later. "I'm stress personified. I just.. If it's not me trying to be better in my station in life, it's me trying to get over something I've done, or it's me stressing about someone else."

She tightened the waistband of her robe and crossed her arms across her chest. "I mean, Chris is probably going to be furious that I went here. Do you know a man came at me with a gun a few days before I left? Came at me and broke down crying, saying how I ruined his life. That's the kind of shit I deal with." She spoke softly, eyes downcast.

"I'm a chatterbox. I'm sorry. I'm not going to talk about work or my history, though."

"Goddess," Daia whispered following Sarah's account of recent misadventures. She was visibly shaken, but to her credit rallied quickly. "I... hope I'm not the cause of too much unnecessary tension, inviting you out like this. If it's any comfort," she added, venturing a tentative smile, "ba'leer are probably some of the safest places you'll find in asari settlements. Huntresses tend to frequent them quite reliably. Causing trouble here would be like... what's the human equivalent? Robbing the cafe where all the police get their coffee? I'm kind of going just from stereotypes in films, there..."

The 'wave pool', which Daia led the way to, proved to be a spacious indoor facility, circular, hip-deep at most in the centre but wide enough to be comparable to an athletic pool in size. Protrusions and indentations in the edge, almost like a stylised coastline in miniature, created a series of semi-secluded nooks, several of which were occupied by asari reclining with their heads on water-resistant pillows just by the waterline. Some were holding muted conversations, or reading, while others had their eyes closed. Daia gestured to a vacant space, room enough for two, bordered by a statue of some kind of asari water spirit on one side and a multi-tiered garden urn on the other, and stepped into the water, removing her robe and placing it on a ledge before lowering herself and stretching out. The pool had a gentle undulation in its surface, which ebbed and flowed about her shoulders and neck as she lay down.

"The 'waves' are traditional," she explained quietly. "They replicate the waters in the Valami rock pools, a kind of... sacred site, I suppose, near Skymeadow on the Kendra Ocean. Very calming. There's a local legend that Valami is where the asari were first born into the world... but there's a few dozen spots around Thessia with the same claim."

Sarah shook her head and responded in kind. "You're fine. I'm just really crazy, Daia." She rubbed her hands together and stared out at the pool as her guide wandered off. "I have heard that expression. Robbing a frigate's mess hall at chowtime."
Stepping up to the edge, she hesitated. "Sure, go to a relaxation pool with a bunch of asari.."

A moment later, Sarah leaned against her personal nook, and for the first time in what felt like ages, put her personal anxieties on hold. "Okay. I can see the appeal of this kind of place." She spoke with a muted tone and shut her eyes. "You should write tour guides. You know more about your own culture than I do mine. Bekenstein's extravagance was only matched by it's greed. My partner came from a family with real estate holdings all over the planet and in a few other smaller colonies, and even then, they weren't in the top fifty wealthiest people on colony."

She pushed a hand through her hair. "A planet of billionaires, liars, murderers, cheats and the few decent people that worked their whole lives to be there."

"Are you still talking about Bekenstein, or here?" Daia snickered. "I've only been a couple of times - very brief stopovers - but a friend of mine here grew up in Milgrom. 'Nos Astra minus the asari', she called it one time. She did well for herself there in the legal business, but it wasn't making her happy." She chuckled quietly. "Plus she's a burlesque stripper on the side. I gather that never really went down to well with the seniors in her firm back home."

She glanced over at Sarah, now that her form was somewhat concealed by the water - she didn't want the woman to think she was being ogled.

"Do you meditate, or anything like that?" she asked. "I can run through a few bits and pieces you might like. Not here, just in general. Actually a friend of mine - Taleeze, you might have seen her on the forum - stayed at the same hotel you two are at, and she got into the habit of doing meditative exercises on the pagoda in that little lake garden on the grounds, first thing in the morning. Would you be interested in that, maybe once or twice a week while you're here?"

"Everyone had secrets on Bekenstein. Burlesque dancer seems tame, well, compared to mine." She quipped, giving Daia a knowing glance. "As for meditation, I used to, until I fled. I'd be happy to take part in meditation classes, if Chris is willing to go with me. It doesn't seem like it would be her cup of tea, however. Her method of relaxation and inner peace is through her work."

"Mine was through music, firearms and chemical assistance." She stared out at the wall. "Violin, Viola, Cello, and whatever I could drink. First it was for the mom issues, then the work issues, then the work-trying-to-kill-me-issues, then the mom issues again.."
She shrugged, curling her lower lip. "I asked for one problem at a time, but fate's a bitch."

"I think what irked them was that she never tried to keep it a secret," Daia smiled. "Used to show up at in-house meetings in costume whenever she was feeling frustrated with all the office politics going on around her." She nodded as Sarah described her and Chris's chosen modes of relaxation.

"I'd be happy to give it a shot," she agreed. "I've got a couple of days a week when Ana has regular clients first thing in the morning, and apart from special events I'm not really needed around the office, just so long as I come by and look official every once in a while..." She chuckled, then glanced at Sarah again. "It might catch on - what we used to do wasn't specifically 'meditation', more a kind of slow calisthenics. A lot of it's warm-up stuff from Thessian martial arts training - a bit of turian, too, I threw that in - and relaxation is kind of a by-product. I find that works best anyway. Trying to relax can be counter-productive.

"Speaking of relaxation methods - this'll make you laugh - mine's washing dishes. Seriously. Not in bulk, I'm sure if I'd ever worked as kitchen staff for a living I'd be thoroughly soured on the whole thing, but just looking after my own plates - Ana doesn't produce much in the way of kitchen sink work, sealed canisters obviously - it's like... stepping into my own little private world."

Sarah did indeed laugh; but attempted to stifle this. "You wouldn't believe how clean our house is. Most of the food in the fridge is ready-to-eat, and when /I/ try to cook for her, I rank up another nightmare. As for the turian martial arts, do they remove the pole from their ass and beat an opponent to death with it? Or is it something similar, like an iron rod of sorts?"

"I haven't put much stock into martial arts recently. I haven't even held a gun for what feels like ages. I'm trying to put all of that behind me. If Chris ever forgives me for coming here-" She waved her hands around the air, gesturing to the bathhouse, "then I'm sure she'll be game to join in on the meditation thing."

"I'm not much of a chef either," Daia admitted. "I can handle the basics - in a pinch I can do a pretty decent ke'ah, I think the closest equivalent would be pasta? - but anything fancy, I leave to the professionals."

She nodded her understanding as Sarah explained what she was trying to leave in the past.

"I've never really been what you'd call competitive at it," she admitted. "Not even in a sporting sense. My style's called Viy Tora Kay, I doubt you'd have heard of it - it had a fair few adherents in the Hierarchy in my father's time, but nowadays it's pretty rare. Ana and I practice grappling once in a while," she suppressed a smirk; now that Ana was back in better health they had resumed their little impromptu pin-the-other-down contests, but being held in the privacy of their home, the focus tended to stray quickly, "she learned a Terran style, jiu jitsu, before we met. It was a bit unfair when we used to fully spar," she giggled, "Tora's strike-based, so she'd have to get into grapple reach of someone with longer reach, and then deal with all the odd ways I can bend. But she usually gets me, in the end. Determination pays off."

"I really just hit them with a biotic punch and keep doing it until the opponent surrenders. I can turn myself into a projectile weapon. I can throw and lift an opponent off their feet without touching them. Getting in close isn't necessary." She sank her head back against the edge of the pool and turned it to look over in her direction.

"If that also fails, I have a gun. Close combat training was something we went over, but it was 'ending the conflict as fast as possible' rather than completely organized styles. I know them, but most of my hand-to-hand is lots of strikes at exposed and sensitive areas and holds."

She rubbed her hands together. "Ana hasn't been using the forum in a while. Did she quit? I've thought about it, but it's .. really hard not to be a part of it."

"I can muster a few shoves if need be," Daia reflected. "Nothing particularly impressive, though. I'm rated decently, so far as comparing capabilities go, but I've never practiced much in the way of huntress moves. Always small stuff." She lifted a hand out of the pool and, with a barely visible aura, the surface of the water swelled beneath her palm until a small sphere rose from it. She smiled and poked a fingertip into the hovering water, which undulated slightly before breaking apart and dropping with a quiet splash.

"Water's tricky," she admitted. "It's not like it'll hold together on its own - you have to affect all of it, at once. But that's the sort of thing I spend my time working on - small effects and gentle motions. And you know how it is, you get good at what you practice, and get rusty at what you don't. I'd be rubbish in a fight," she giggled, "but I do a great massage."

She looked back at Sarah with a smile and nodded when the human mentioned how habit-forming their odd little forum was.

"I know what you mean," she replied. "No, she hasn't quit, as such - her ident is still in the system, at least - she's just been otherwise occupied. She had a regeneration procedure done recently, which drastically reduced her medication intake - she's got a lot of her old energy back, which is great for both of us. And she's taken back her old spot as the Oasis's resident dominatrix. So technically she's working two jobs, but that one," Daia grinned, "is more like 'getting paid for enjoying herself'."

"Resident dominatrix? Isn't she a Quarian? How can she .. You know what? Don't tell me, I don't want to know."
She cut the air with her hands. "I can only imagine. Anyway, you should know that 'finesse' is not a word in my vocabulary. If I tried the same trick you just pulled, the both of us would be kicked out of here faster than a Krogan ballet dancer at the Citadel Stage and Film." She propped her arms up behind her.

"Besides, I was trained for things that weren't massage. I could hone my abilities, I mean, I've thought about it, but I've only really used biotics as of late as a parlor trick and to entertain people who've never encountered them."