[Sniper's Touch] If booze, tar or sauna help... part 2

Reaper wars. A whole year after that spent out of contact, but hand of fate had dictated that Sulla had been all the time on Earth, stranded on an island in the Pacific, below Juhani on the Citadel. Funny thing, wasn't it? The same hand that dealt him the cards to go defect, marry a turian and now be betrayed by her. He wondered if Sulla had gotten any good ones for his hand.

Time to find out about it. Sulla had pinged him about catching a ride to Citadel, and it wasn't a hard decision to agree the meeting place for them. Sniper's Touch, their old workplace and haunt, where stories were shared and made. Today's one would begin with "This one time when I fought on Epyrus and found a little girl and decided to adopt her...", and the star of that story was sitting on Juhani's lap, listening to her father read her another story about Rouge Talon, the hero of the oppressed people who suffer under the yoke of corrupt king Ledic and his cronies.

They both are waiting. Juhani for his dearest friend, Aira for the man who'll soon get the honorary uncle's title for he's been a good friend to Papa!

The thing that steps through the door into Sniper's Touch has gotten many long looks when he has taken the public shuttle and walked through Denakot. One cannot be sure if he just crawled from the vents or came back from a warzone, both could be the case. The wild and sometimes unpredictable underworld of district of Tayseri has stayed its arm probably just because he is a turian.

First of all, his clothes are all wrong. The long sleeved black shirt is way too big for him, but still tight over the chest ridge and the neck collar. The oversized trousers of some rough tan fabric are kept up with a belt that is tightened above his hips, and there are holes for his knee blades to poke out when he walks. To top it all, he's carrying a faded navy blue Alliance duffel bag, which looks like it holds something heavy.

However, the first thing anyone would notice is that Sulla Talodias looks thin. Too thin. His eyes are sullen and the usual radiating blue is now dimmer. The visible parts of his carapace, that being his face, is cracked and has a sandpapery texture to its black surface.

Still, the turian is smiling when he stands in the lounge, looking around him. "Still feels like coming home." Then he spots Juhani sitting in the chair with a small turian girl in his lap, and Sulla drops his bag, which clatters to the floor with enough noise to wake the entire building. He doesn't say a thing. The turian just stands there, without an expression.

The human ,he barely lifts his gaze Sulla's way, when the duffel bag drops and makes noise. "I hope those weren't important. Or at least worth breaking over seeing your good old pal." he remarks dryly. Aira however, she hops onto her feet and walks over to the newcomer to look him over. "Are you Sulla? I imagined you were lot more plump than that. What kind of clothes are those? Why are you carrying Al-" she began to pelt him with questions, but was cut off when Juhani put his hand on her shoulder. "I think that's good enough for now my dear. Let him talk in a while." he laughed, turning his gaze back to Sulla.

"C'mere, you sly dog." he extended his arms (wait, why was one of them black and shiny and so cold like metal?) and pulled him in for an honest bear hug.

Sulla returns the hug with much more intensity than his entrance had, but the strength is missing from the turians arms. Juhani can clearly feel it in the close embrace. "Damn, I missed you man. With everything going straight to hell and worse, I was getting worried 'bout all my friends and..." talking into Juhani's shoulder, the turian then takes a peek to his left where the little girl is standing. Sulla gulps down the rest of the foul words he had in store.

He forgets that promise right away when he sees, or more likely feels Juhani's right arm. "What the fuck happened to your arm?!" he holds the human at arm's reach and studies the bionic limb with care. "I mean... It's... I got shot too, but nowhere this bad, I... Losing a limb-- I'm sorry man, I'm just shocked, that's all. They make great replacements these days, I dunno, they're better than the original right?" Sulla keeps babbling, clearly shocked and nervous how to approach this little change.

In all that's happened and that has to be noticed, Sulla has completely forgotten about Aira and her questions.

These crude words, Aira's no stranger to them. Soldiers swear a lot, and so do Sundowners. Still, she stares daggers at him and his coarse mouth that could do with a scrubbing of soap. "Your friend swears like a gangster, papa." she comments unimpressed.

"He's got a good reason for that." Juhani retorts right back. He eases up his grip on Sulla, just so that they're facing each other now, arms tucked snuggly against each other. Uninitiated might think they were more than friends with this pose...who Juhani didn't give a damn about it. "Indoctrinee shot it off at the shoulder on Epyrus...but this one's better. It's got a panic gun in it!" he smirked. Perhaps Juhani will show it off later down the firing lanes, but now, he keeps the gun neatly tugged away.

He lets go of Sulla. "You must be tired. Why don't you sit down? I'll go fetch you something from the kitchen. Aira can keep you company in the meanwhile..." he glances at the six-year old girl who is still eying Sulla with suspicion. "Don't push him too hard." he winks to her, and she nods back.

Sulla doesn't hear or note the little exchange about his language. "Well... I'm glad you're dealing with it alright. I couldn't probably do that, just... Feels awful man, you know?"

Sulla slouches to a nearby chair and rubs his eyes. "Food sounds excellent. I don't I can ever eat enough again. No matter what I do, how much I gorge myself or eat as smartly as possible... But it's only been a couple of days, so I hope this'll pass. If it doesn't, then the restaurant owners on the Citadel are going to have a good time. And tired? Took us six hours to get through customs. Six hours. After they had contacted the turian embassy about seven times what to with the citizens marked missing in their system, they finally managed to flag us as 'normals' and let us in. My comrades went to look for a place to crash, but I thought I'd come here myself. Felt appropriate."

When Juhani turns to leave, Sulla glances warily at the little turian. He is not very good kids, or rather, doesn't have any experience with them. Sulla doesn't have any siblings, and no close relatives with offspring. Deciding to do his best, Sulla flashes his best smile (although his face might look a bit spooky from malnourishment) and offers a claw to Aira for the traditional salute. "Hi, nice to meet you. I'm Sulla."

Aira looks at the offered arm, then at Sulla, and accepts it. "I'm Aira Desolas." the little girl lets go of his arm. "How did you meet my papa? He didn't tell met yet." She asks as she takes her seat on the couch, signal for Sulla to go ahead himself.

Juhani's still in the kitchen, looking through the fridge for something nice, evidenced by his questions yelled over if he can take this or that for Sulla.

"Well... That's a long story." Sulla rubs his neck and remembers the rescue mission gone horribly right. Turian commanders bound to bedposts, ax crazy quarian mercenaries, fired shots, secretly filmed material and sex toys. That's a recipe for a lasting friendship. "We were helping this one turian out of trouble, and just sorta... got to know each other in the process. We were both living on the Citadel, and became friends. It's not that good of a story really" (yes it was, if he could tell her all the details).

He cranes his neck to Juhani's general direction and yells: "Just pile it all up, I don't care! Give me ALL the food!"

"FINE, YOU ASKED FOR THIS!" comes the reply from kitchen. It elicits a giggle from the little girl.

Soon, Juhani returns, one hand holding a large pitcher of water and on another arm...the biggest pile of bread, salad, fruits and other condiments and ingredients that could go into a sandwich. They're set onto the coffee table between the couches, and Juhani takes his seat, Aira quick to take her spot on his lap again. Seems like she's very keen on staying close to him.

"What did you two talk about?" he asks her.

"I asked Sulla how you two met and he told me you were rescuing a turian from trouble!"

Juhani turns his gaze to Sulla, cocking his eyebrow. That story, huh?

"Sulla, how much did you tell her?" he asks concerned.

"Nothing major, don't worry buddy", Sulla says grinning. "Just that it was a boring occasion. Nothing that spectacular happened after all, it was just get in, get the job done, get out." If Sulla was a human, he would probably stick out his tongue at this point. Juhani's situation with his daughter is a matter beyond normal curiosity for his friend, but Sulla thinks it is better to talk about that when she is not present, or at least without Juhani himself bringing the matter up.

When he turns his attention to the sandwich, there's a slight predatory gleam to the turian's blue eyes. He flexes his talons, and when he leans in over the plate his mandibles flutter and nostrils twitch as he takes a deep breath. "Thanks Juhani. I seriously owe you", Sulla says, grabbing the sandwich with both claws and biting in, looking like he's trying to fit half of it into his mouth. Needless to say, crumbs and pieces of lettuce, vegetables and other food stuff fly around. "Mmh, Mmh!" Sulla mumbles, his jaws chewing and mandibles locked in tight to keep the food in his mouth. "Don't take after me, little one", he says to Aira, still munching. "I eat worse than a month old moxie who just found out where his owners keep the treats."

He turns back to Juhani, taking a second bite. "You know, you're one of few who can make me food and I don't feel the need to check whether you accidentally put anything levo in here. Probably helps when you have to take care of her", Sulla says, gesturing towards Aira with the bread construct, or what's left of it by now. "Do you have any idea what's it like to live on emergency field rations for a year?" Sulla bites into his sandwich again. "This is the best thing I've eaten in a long, long time."

He lets out a relieved sigh. "Don't choke on the food then. It would be a shame if you'd meet your end with the first decent meal." Aira just settles for picking pair of sweet tubers off the plate and nibbling on them. "I know the feeling." she says quietly. Juhani glances down at the girl sitting on her lap, and tugs her closer just a little bit.

"Of course it helps that Vindi and others clearly separate levo from dextro here. But yeah, I've gotten decent at telling them apart, after living with..." Juhani would say Veneta here, but he doesn't. He just looks away. "Aira, have you done your homework for school yet?"

"Umm, no..."

"It's getting close to your bedtime. Better do them now."

"Awwwww! Papa, I want to be here with you and Sulla!" she pleaded ,but Juhani wasn't budging.

"He's going to be here for a while, you'll have plenty of time to see him later. Don't disappoint your teachers."

Aira gave in and hopped off from his lap, taking few more snacks with her before leaving Sulla and Juhani alone. The latter sighed tired and rubbed his cheeks. "Lots of things have happened here as well, not all of them good..."

Sulla's eyeridge rises slightly when the girl makes a remark about starving. Now what was this all about? Obviously she was adopted, but under what circumstances? Sulla pondering is cut short by Juhani's fatherly care. Sulla can't help but to smirk. Juhani seems to make a great dad.

When Aira is sent to his room (or the equivalent at the range), Sulla grabs the bag he dropped earlier and pulls it close. Then he just rises his feet on top of the bag, using it as a makeshift foot stool. "I meant to ask earlier, but I figured I shouldn't do it in front her... Where's Veneta? Is she..."

Oh, fun. He just wanted to know about that. Juhani could just shut up about it or...just say it.

"I don't know if things were better if she was dead. Whole year spent out of touch, and first thing she sends are divorce papers." Juhani's eyebrows furrow in anger. "She got shipwrecked but survey ships found her wreck and brought her back, and she is now waiting a child. Good for her I guess, I could never give her that anyway!"

Now that the swear word ban has been lifted, Sulla can openly express his feelings of this revelation. "Fuck, man... How can she do something like that?" Sulla sits up straight and leans on his knees. When Juhani finishes his answer, Sulla snorts. "What a bitch", he says flatly. This is way out of Sulla's normal character.

Sulla then stands up and takes a few steps towards the center of the room. "I mean... Come one? She didn't even try to give you call? Send you a message?" The turian seems pretty worked up. Then his expression softens and he goes to Juhani, kneeling in front of him. "Hey, the stupidest thing you can do now is to blame yourself. This has nothing to do with you, it's just her. Believe me."

"She did send me a message to explain why she resorted to divorce...I'm just-" Juhani inhales sharply, pulling his legs closer to his body. "It's still too fresh and painful. Just thinking about her makes bile rise up in my throat and make me angry, too mad to think straight."

He lets his head drop against his knees. "I can't even write my name without seeing that- that cursed name and I don't have really much options for a new one."

Sulla puts his claw on Juhani's shoulder, trying to figure a way to comfort him. This was beyond anything that Sulla could say. The clichés were, well, clichés for a reason. "You don't have to think straight about this. You wouldn't be a sentient being if you could. Being emotional hurts, I know, but it will fade over time. Just... Concentrate on your daughter, right? She needs you, I can see that. She wouldn't let you get beyond arms reach when you were in the room."

The name business is another matter. Sulla is a solid 4th tier, above Juhani, but he probably couldn't do anything, even if he had some connections in the embassy. If any of them were still alive.

The mention of Aira does manage to bring some smile back to his features. "Yeah, she's like that. Poor Aira, I found her all alone huddled in her home on Epyrus. She'd been there all week after her parents had died, living on canned goods. She had built a for out of blankets and pillows in the living room to hide in from all the horrible things outside." Juhani recounts the awful conditions he found Aira in.

"On top of that my CO suggested writing her off as casualty. Didn't want another mouth to feed on a march but I told him to go fuck himself."

He pours himself a glass of water to wet his throat. "But I got her off-world, and she ended up here on the Citadel. Vindi and co. took her in to the Touch, and she's been here ever since."

"So that's why she said she knew... The worst thing about that war was that there were no noncombatants. No middle ground, no one that would be safe. You either fought for your life, or you died." Or worse, Sulla almost added, but the mood was gloomy enough as it was.

When Juhani tells him about his CO Sulla chuckles. "Well it's a good thing you'd make a bad turian. Not following orders is a pretty ballsy move for us Citizens."

"The main point is that she's safe. That you're safe. That we're all safe now, more or less." The turian rubs his temples. " But still... I'm still in this weird state of mind. It doesn't feel like I'm dreaming, but pretty close to that. It feels like I'm not the one at the helm, that the last few days have just gone past, my body and mind on autopilot. I'm me, I'm doing stuff I would do but it just doesn't feel right."

Sulla sighs, trying to make more sense. "I guess I'm still hell bent on shooting blue glowing things that could burst through that door any minute. I still carried my gun around with me every waking moment of my life a week ago and for a pretty long time before that. Now that I'm a civvie again, I just don't know how to react to... Safety, I think? They did a medical inspection on us, but I'd need psych evaluation, dont'ya think?" Sulla opens the bag and picks the first item that his talons catch. It's a part of a blue hardsuit, a greave. It's dirty and chipped, and Sulla turns it around his hands, scratching at the dust flakes, clearly looking for something to do with his hands. "That bag contains all my worldly belongings. I practically don't have a life anymore. I think it'll ease up when I drag my ass to the embassy to get things sorted, but I've been feeling blue and I've had no idea why until now."

He smiles and looks back at his human friend. "Your presence is clearly therapeutic. You know why they hire hot nurses? All it takes if for them to step into the room you start to feel better."

"What good are orders if they go against your stated goals, doing the Reapers' work for them?" Juhani shrugs, coldly. "At least there's something good that the war is over. Never again. Never again we're going against an enemy that accepts nothing but total genocide of sentient life as its goal. Anything else from here on, it's just bastards that breathe and bleed who can die with just one shot. Don't forget that."

Juhani stands up and goes to sit next to Sulla, wrapping an arm around his shoulders.

"If there's nothing for you to do, you could always go and agitate the crowds to vote for Vindi here. She's running for mayor of Denakot now." he smiles, patting Sulla's shoulder plates. "If a bootlicker like me can vote for sepper, what's stopping you?" he lowers his voice and makes it raspier, trying to imitate the flanging effect every turian has.

Sulla sighs when Juhani opens the topic on Reapers. "Fighting them was easy, they were abominations that needed to be put down. Losing that fight was the only scary part. That's not the case when your opponent can think, and has a history, perhaps a family..."

The turian laughs when Juhani makes his best growl, and smacks him lightly with the piece of armor. "Stop that! If we really do sound that stupid to human ears, I don't want to be reminded about it!" Something else gets into his ear as well. "Vindi's... Running for mayor? Woah, I definitely did not see that coming. But when you keep in mind she kept her people through all that, yea, I can see it. Let's just hope she doesn't turn into a politician", Sulla says with a pondering face, like the difference between a mayor and politician was as wide as the one between the sun and the moon. "But I'll see what I can do, though I think I should talk to her first. If she's not too busy with the elections and whatever else she's doing. Has she been around, by the way?"