[Citadel] From Lightyears Away

Sulla awoke from his thoughts by the soft cling of the elevator. He had arrived at the right floor. The turian stepped out to the hallway, shifting a rugged duffel bag slung across his back to ease the blood flow. While walking towards the door that seemed to radiate with promise in Sulla's eyes, he reflected on the past six months behind him.

Things were starting to look good on Yricax, the small agricultural colony he had been posted on since the end of the Reaper War and his year spent on Earth. Sulla's squad was like a well-oiled machine: sergeant Talodias had honed his men to fulfill every order like it was a matter of life and death. This had induced some friction at first, but a stern look from Falah or Victan, veterans of the war, was all it took to get the inexperienced privates back in line.

The colony was starting to get in better shape than it was before the war, and the 32nd Engineers were rotating out in favor of a smaller planetary defense force organized by the colony itself. The remnants of 2nd Mechanized Infantry legion had no idea what the Hierarchy had in store for them, but it was certain that there not enough resources to rebuild the legion to the strength it had had before the war.

The turian sighed and pushed the thoughts from his mind. It wasn't important right now, and there was nothing he could do to affect the course of events. What was important however was that he was on the Citadel and standing behind the door of a person who had no idea he was coming in for a visit. Sulla took a small box from the pocket of his dress jacket, no bigger than the palm of his claw. Its surface was red fabric and a sort of emblem was etched to the surface in gleaming black. He then shook his head ever so slightly and put it back. Standing still for a few seconds more he took a deep breath, reached in his pocket and pressed the door buzzer.

While waiting at the door (she might not even be home), he thought of all the people he hadn't seen or even heard from in months. He had forgotten CDN as the daily activities just took him away and filled his free time with more important and immediate activities then browsing the extranet. Juhani, Vindi, Alex... He would have to visit the range now that he had time.

“…. observed absence of the subject, fullstop. Her usual procedure over weekends is maintained, with expected presence of several posts on…” The door buzzer.

Arina stopped her pacing up and down the living room. She was turning on her bare feet and looked at the door. Who could that be? She was expecting nobody, just getting ready for a relaxing evening, fresh from the shower, a towel wrapped around her body and another, smaller one around her head while the tendril lotion was setting. She was in no way in a presentable state, as was the apartment with various bits of clothing being draped around, datapads here and there and three pair of shoes to select from in front of the window.

The audio drone she had been dictating to folded itself up and disappeared, saving the report where she had left it as she went for the door control panel. When she activated the cam interface to check, she stepped back, silencing a gasp with one hand. Her heart was picking up a beat as she, without thinking, opening the door. It wasn’t important how she or her place looked, she had been waited for him for a long time and there he was, in front of her door.

She leaned in the doorframe, half hidden behind it, holding the towel over her breasts. Not that it would have fallen if she had not. She smiled and bit her lip, trying to prevent herself from clinging to his neck. Her eyes were betraying her though.

“Sulla!” , she just said in a low voice. “Goddess, you turn up in the most surprising moments!”
She gave way into the door frame and offered him entry.

“Come in and please excuse my … state. I wasn’t expecting … company.” The word ‘guest’ didn’t seem fitting. Goddess, he came straight to me. And he looks so good.
“You want something, kafe, a drink?”

He realized just how bad his heart was racing only when the door started to slide open. Sulla could feel the heat rising up to his mandibles and face all the way to the edge of his fringe and hated his body for it. He wasn't sure how familiar Arina was with the turian reactions of blushing, the fluttering mandibles and the color under his chin, especially notable on his black hide. The dress uniform suddenly felt too tight and hot, and he was yearning to change into his informal wear or even combat fatigues. At least they were comfortable.

Sulla forgot all about that though when he caught a glimpse of her in the doorway, taking his breath away. He couldn't stop a boyish grin from settling in on his features, even if he would have wanted to. It felt physically good to see her again. From that, it took nanoseconds of his brain to register what she was wearing, or rather, the lack of. That brought along a whole flood of different kind of feelings. If possible, the grin only got wider, if it did get a rather sideways ting to it.

It took a few seconds for the turian to snap out of it. "Hey", he said, his voice a bit hoarse as his throat had dried up, his eyes staring intensively into Arina's. "Hopefully I'm not interrupting you or anything."

Good. At least she's letting me in. And her reaction isn't something I'd feared. Sulla had had time to think during transit, and he had started to worry that perhaps Arina didn't feel the same way as he did. They hadn't kept contact, as Sulla had been preoccupied with his duty, and Arina probably in hers. He had gone through an endless amount of scenarios in his head, preparing himself for a disappointment, even diving into childish fantasies about driving away possible suitors and emerging as the winner, with Arina falling straight into his waiting arms. In hindsight, that had all been very stupid and pointless.

He took the room in with a single sweeping glance, not caring the tiniest bit about the scattered clothes, datapads and other things. The apartment brought pleasant memories into his mind and he felt confident again, the dress uniform that had just moment before felt uncomfortable and ridiculous, now brought him posture and pride. He looked back at Arina, the smile never faltering. "A glass of water would do fine, thanks. But I'm sorry, I should have given you a call. I was in the neighborhood and thought I could pop in and say hi in case you were home." That was a blatant lie, and as soon he had said he was sure she could see right through it. His transit had landed on a different Ward completely and he had taken 2 shuttles and a short walk to get there.

“You’re interrupting nothing at all, just taking my mind off carrying work home,” she replied, pointing at the datapads, one had CDN open. She walked into the open kitchen and filled a glass with cold water.

How cute his mandibles had fluttered, seriously the cutest bodypart of him. Well, just next to… She grinned to herself and stopped the water just in time.

Arina knew where the hierarchy docks were. And her apartment was not on the way from there to anywhere so did that mean….

“I have no other plans, I wanted to enjoy the evening off, get some rest, do some…body restoration” She pointed up and down her frame, striking a little pose with the glass in the other hand. It was a funny mix of the barely long enough wrapped towel and her neatly coiled up head decoration.

That wasn’t completely true, she had a lose agreement with a colleague and her boyfriend… I’ll call that off, she won’t be too angry, Arina thought. Her body was remembering the arousal she had felt during the brief time they had spent together.

“It’s a shame you don’t have time, but I’m sure you want to see your buddies, raid some bar.” She handed him the glass, sliding her hand over his when he took it, slowly caressing over the small bumps of hardened skin and stepping half a step closer than necessary.

It was hard for her to restrain herself from jumping him but she didn’t want to assume things just yet or offend him with her pressure. Please stay, turian soldier boy.
“I missed you so much.” She murmured, sinking into his eyes.

"Oh, good to hear. I was fearing you might not even be home but I'm really glad you were." Was he being too direct? Hopefully not. At least her demeanor was inviting and one telling detail was that she didn't look like she was even going to change into something.

What followed Arina into the kitchen was the most intensive stare Sulla had ever given this side of the war, and instead of looking into the eyes of a mortal enemy the turian had something completely else in his sights. He snapped his gaze up just in time when she turned the glass in hand. No, no. Concentrate. You damn horny bastard. At least try to stay civilized.

Then Arina did that... Thing with her mien and Sulla was blown away. Holy spirit, this woman was something else and the turian couldn't work out how the universe had led him here into the same apartment with her. He missed completely what Arina said, and responded just with a dismissing "humph" that could mean anything from "yea I thought about doing that" to "I don't think so" or "Definitely not".

Her touch left sparks on his claws that shot upwards through his arms, right to the bottom of his stomach and he couldn't help but to take a ragged breath.

She was so close he could smell her scent.

"I missed you too.."

He took a sip of water, noticing the slight tremor of his hands.

He took a step forward, putting their faces inches apart.

“Then why don’t you stay.” It was whispered not as a question. Arina had to tiptoe to cross the remaining centimeters with her lips. She felt the slight shudder in his mandibles, as her soft lips touched them…

~~~~

It was late at night, Arina was curled up against Sulla, watching over his breast and out the window of her apartment, over the illuminated nightly ward, the only light in the room. She felt his steady breath, his breast rising and falling slowly, his heart beating steadily, she smelled his scent. She nudged his hard skinplates with the tip of her nose, it was an interesting feeling.

“Hey, Sulla, still awake?” she asked with a hushed voice. While he obviously was already relaxed, her body was still in a bit of a turmoil and her biotics still were cooling down. She felt too warm for a cover sheet, only her feet were entangled in the fabric crumpling at the lower end of the bed. She needed some more chilling time to come down from the high before she could actually find some sleep.

“How have you been? I’ve been doing a lot of stupid stuff while you were away.” She chuckled slightly, thinking back to the adventures on Trategos. Now that she had seen the end of it, the memory was not connected to fear anymore.
“I even got a scar.” The cut on her scalp had healed well but there still was a slight bump if you felt along the boundary of her marking there. “We now can compare scars, you know?”
Her hand travelled up his belly over his chest, looking for signs of adventures on Sulla’s body.

"Barely", he responded in a hushed voice, not to disturb the calm and peace that had settled in the bedroom. Arina's soft frame was nestled against his side and Sulla had draped his arm around her. He opened his eyes slightly and looked at the roof, looking at the patterns formed by the light shining through the window. He felt utterly relaxed, like he could simply nod off whenever he wanted to. The feeling of serenity was complete.

The turian turned his head slightly, his nose plate nudging Arina playfully. Sulla smiled. "Well it cannot have been completely stupid if it was you doing it. Work?" He could somehow sense the hidden depths under Arina's reductive remark, but didn't want to pressure it. In her line of work, it was surprising if she could disclose even a tiny detail what she had been up to past the last few months.

When Arina spoke up about a scar, Sulla rose to lean against one of his elbows, trailing the edge of her face softly with a claw. "Huh? How did ya manage to do that?" He found the little mark quickly, and brushed over it gently, his heart filling with desire to protect her against the world to not let another nick ever to appear on her soft skin. "Has it healed properly? Did you manage to keep it clean?" His little first aid instict kicked in, and while he was sure she was perfectly capable of taking care of her own injuries, he couldn't help himself.

As she mentioned his own scars, Sulla's head turned to look at his own chest, where a lighter circular area stood out against the black smooth surface. He had a matching one on the other side on his shoulder blade. He dropped to lay flat on his back again, putting his other hand behind his head. Turning back towards Arina he tilted his head and squeezed her a little bit closer. "Okay. You can start with your story, since I guess mine are pretty self explanatory. You know, getting shot and all that." He was ready to elaborate further if Arina's was interested. He didn't want to make her uncomfortable after such a night and ruin the mood.

Centuries of service had created a sort of split in Arina’s mind. It was sorting information automatically as restricted or not. It was natural for her to not spill beans that weren’t cleared and it had become second nature without her having to think about it.

Usually.

There had been an attempt to do her in once, a fake lover from a hostile organization set on her… she had noticed just in time and she had made sure the person was not able to be of further service to anyone. It had been a close brush with disaster.

But most of the Trategos story was not critical if kept to general terms. She chuckled at his question about her proper care for the wound. Her hand followed his and found that old would on his body. It felt huge…

“There was the best doctor on hand, so I was fine.” she replied, silently thanked Temria for her care.
“You know, I could tell you, but I’d have to kill you afterwards….” She quickly rolled half on top of him.
“The method to kill you would be up to me though…” she wiggled a bit. “Ah, there we have your method of choice.” She giggled, placing a kiss on his big scar. She relaxed and slumped, head resting under his chin. Her toes played with the rough skin on his legs.

“It was diplomatic mission in the Nimbus cluster. The ship got shot and I was smashed against a console. My whole sides had all funny shades of purple for some time. But it’s good now, Medigel is a great thing, that cut was huge.” That was the very short version. “Everyone made it back safe though. I hope that small scar will be gone by years’ end, I have a lotion to use on it. It’s something you can only impress krogan diplomats with after all.” and chuckled.

Sulla feigned panic and distress as Arina's body on rolled on top of his. "No! Argh! Now you know my weakness, bullets!" He squirmed under her, teasing her sides with his talons. "My CC skills are useless. This siren has put a spell on me!" Chuckling at just how stupid she was making him act, he managed an awkward kiss without lips to her cheek.

Relaxing once again to listen her tell the story, he stroked her head and looked at the roof. "In my head, diplomacy involved more boring talks in giant conference rooms, smiles and daggers held behind back and lunches in good restaurants than getting your ship shot at in orbit." He shook his shoulders, the move made awkward by an asari on him. "Well, you learn something new every day. But it's good to see you're fine and alive darlin'. Scars just tell that you've had an interesting life. And about the krogan, just don't try to head butt them. It hurts." The last part was delivered as if Sulla had personal experience.

He sighed and glanced out of the window. "I can attest to the part about medigel. It's not an exaggeration that I've used it to save lives. My turn to tell a story, huh?" He idly rubbed the scar. "This is the exit wound. We were retreating from our positions at this one colony... The name escapes me. That's how important the whole battle was in relation to the war. I can't even remember the name of the damn battle. It was a Marauder. I've seen those things rip soldiers apart with their guns, which look the same as ours, but somehow much more potent. I just got up from cover and started to run towards the battalion HQ where we were told to retreat, and the bullet just ripped straight through my KBs, through the hardsuit and straight out the other side. It all gets a bit fuzzy after that, but I think my squad got the bastard. I was hauled to a 'lance by a sergeant and one of my boys. I got to an aid station and got patched upped. Most of the others there... Weren't so lucky." His voice got somber at the end. The Reaper troops had weapons of horrible destructive power.

Arina chuckled at his depiction of the diplomatic world. For a second she thought about mentioning the “blow off steam parties” the hierarchy embassy was holding sometimes. She had never participated but it was a sure fix for some of her colleagues. She had her private turian right here under her.

“Sometimes the lines between diplomatic services and secret services are blurred out there. Rarely, but sometimes.” If he ever considered entering the corps full time, he would find things to keep himself occupied with for sure. Ensuring transport for sick matriarchs had proven an entertaining thing.

She caressed about the scar when he told his story. She felt her scales tighten (an asari equivalent of goose bumps perhaps) realizing how close he has escaped death. She placed a kiss on the scar again, a giggle escaping her when his mandibles nibble-kissed her.

“I am forever grateful to your buddies, hun. They did a great job.” His story brought back pictures from Niacal. It had been the greatest horror facing your own dead again as enemies, that had been nerve wrecking. Whenever you heard the screams of banshees, whether in reality or over the radio, you could never know if you once knew the person who was now… this. That was the same feeling with those damned Marauders and their wicked guns.

She felt his concerns and his darkening mood, it wasn’t the most cheerful topic. She ran her hand up and down his side, eventually she propped herself up, resting her chin on her hands, arms crossed over his chest.
“We are survivors, Sulla, we’re here tonight and I’m not going anywhere soon, as long as you’re not…. I’m so alive with you.” She looked into his eyes, partially hidden under his plating in their holes.

“You know, I have spent a lot of time training lately, biotics and body.” She had realized on that mission that while being in a decent shape for an office worker, she was lacking in comparison to the others on the trip. “Stamina and strength. You’ve been away a while, sadly, so I had ample time to shape up. Nowhere near your department, maybe you didn’t even notice….” Her thigh rubbed very slightly over a delicate spot. “As I said, it’s not so often you need to get physical on the job as a diplomat, so I need a vent for all my… energy. You got any ideas?” She was looking up at his face, her face resting on her chin.

Sulla too had had too many experiences with things that should not be. He had feared them, hated them, killed them and seen friends die to them. But in a way it had been easy. They weren't alive. They weren't people. Sulla had killed people, and that still kept him awake at night sometimes. You didn't kill them, instead you destroyed them. Caused them enough structural damage to make them cease to function, like one would to fight a combat mech.

Snapping back to present, his thoughts flew to his squad. "Yeah, my mates were the best." Were. Not too many had made it through. "Pulled my ass out of the fire many more times than that one, and I owed my life to them. We stopped counting the times after a while. Started to get on your sanity."

Survivors. Sulla didn't reply, just stared intensively into Arina's eyes and maybe squeezed his arm around her a little bit tighter.

"Oh, I think you're as good looking as alway- ah!" A gasp escaped from the turian when she moved her leg. Her next words brought a wicked grin to his mandibles. "Well, we could always go for another round, just give me maybe half an hour... But in case that's not what you meant, we could go exploring for a bit. There's amazing places on the Citadel, places most people don't even know off. And they might not exactly be that open to the public, but if you got a good balance and some strength in you they're not that hard to get to."

Arina was raising an amused eyebrow at his reaction. Indeed she had been thinking about a possible encore but what he said sounded… very fascinating! She knew about his hobby, he had talked about it last time and she had been fascinated be the athletic aspects (he was a prime example for all she was concerned) and the excitement. In fact she giggled as she remembered that she had been jumping over park benches during her runs a couple of times since, feeling totally illegal!

“You’d do that with me?” she eventually asked. “I am not in your league but I’d like to experience that.” she thought about biotics and how they helped her. Like the obstacles they had managed on Trategos. That had been a real motivation to train biotics again, seeing what Rahi and Freh had been able to do with ease.
“Yes, I want to follow you, just make sure to turn around once in a while to not lose me!” She snuggled closer. “Can we get to it tomorrow? I’ll rearrange, call in for a day off. I want to spend it with you anyway, the galaxy can manage to survive a day without the help of Arina Caenis.” She chuckled.

“And I’ll give you fifteen, soldier…” she looked up at his face with a wicked grin.

Sulla made a mock grimace and ran a talon down her spine. "I can manage with ten."

***

The next morning after a hearty breakfast, Sulla slipped out and came back an hour later dressed far more casually. He had changed his ceremonial uniform to boots, sand-colored cargo pants and a red and white hoodie with a very large logo plastered on the front. On his head, a black beanie crowned the whole ordeal. He made an apologetic smile when Arina saw him. "This is how I usually dress."

Outside, he led her through the backdoor to an alley with high walls on both sides. You could see the shapes of walkways crisscrossing above them, and the ever-present twinkle of lights from aircars and starships coming into dock. At a junction, Sulla stopped and took in his bearings. He could have easily checked their location with his omnitool but that would just be cheating.

As he chose the left alley, littered with discarded boxes and even the occasional trash he reached into his pocket and pulled on tight-fitting gloves, flexing his claws so there were no folds left on the grip-side. Beside the fancy look, they were nothing but protective gloves with a high-grip palm-side. One could get a pair with lights, hooks, haptic interfaces and even kinetic barrier emitters. He made a sidelong glance at his companion. "You might want to warm up your muscles a bit. Two blocks ahead there'll be a bit of climbing."

In a few moments they reached a maintenance ladder leading up a level. The buzz of the wards was somewhere close, but somehow they had already outran the bulk of the crowd. The ladder was simply two metal bars with rungs in between, climbing up about ten meters the side of a building. One would have to jump to get a hold of the first rung, but the wall was close enough to use your feet to help yourself up. "Ladies first? In case you're having trouble I can give you a lift."

Arina used the time Sulla was away to rearrange her day. There had only been office work and a meeting in the late afternoon. The office part was easily managed, there was nothing urgent, she had her mail forwarded to the Omnitool though, something she didn't do usually for safety reasons, despite the encryption. Browsing through them there was only one she had to answer to right away, She deleted the rest from her 'tool and would get to them later.

In theory she could make the meeting but had no intention to since spending the whole day with Sulla was too tempting. So she sent another quick note about an urgent request to meet a hierarchy official. Her colleague would forward her the minutes later.

That being done, she slipped out of the morning gown and was putting on her runners gear. She opted for dark grey ankle long tight pants and a green and black shirt over a sports bra-wrap. Sulla had mentioned hand protection gear and so she took her workout gloves. The fingers were cut off but it was still better than nothing she guessed. Fastening the shoes, she sat on a kitchenstool and waited... She had not to wait for long and maybe it was her soft giggle that provoked the turians remark!

Who was that turian boy? He sure did look completely different but here wore that style like a pro!
"I imagine you don't get to war that a lot these days?" She poked his shoulder. "Okay, ready when you are... I guess." Oh Goddess, what had she gotten herself into? Arina nevertheless smiled wide with excitement!

"Alright," she replied and started swinging her arms and loosening her neck. A small burst of biotics rippled down her arms, blue flames dancing on her fingertips. Now I'm gonna see what Matron T'Shadas fitness vids are worth! But her resolution was clear. Never again did she want to fail again like on Trategos, she could do better than that.Standing before the ladder, she nonetheless was painfully aware that she was about to tab unknown territory in every aspect now. She would totally depend on Sulla, in every aspect, but that gave her all the confidence she needed.

She chuckled at his use of the term 'ladies', remembering a conversation at work about a week ago.
"I can live with that if you can stand the view of my backside." She said and jumped up for the ladder. She pressed one foot against the wall and pushed up as she extended her arm for the next rung. Her shoe kept slipping and it didn't look very elegant but it did the trick and so Arina Caenis, Asari diplomat started her climb up maintenance ladders, where no asari diplomat has ever climbed before. Most likely. We should so not be here! Arina giggled and laughed at that thought, as she hauled herself to the next level, looking at Sulla on his way up.

"You know that's a very stupid question." In spite of himself, Sulla couldn't help to steal a glance at her butt when she clambered up the ladder. The tight running pants left very little to imagination. Shaking his head and chuckling aloud to himself, he took a few running steps towards the wall, launched himself upwards from the wall and caught the first rung. He pulled himself up and followed Arina.

Even though the rooftop was not very high, it still made the station look completely different then from the street level. One could see a market district in the distance, the shoppers looking no more than ants that were bustling on the side of a hive. Arina's apartment complex loomed close by, its intimidating height looming high above them.

"First obstacle behind you. Here's where the fun starts." With that, the turian launched into a run, leaping over an air conditioning unit with grace and continuing to the other end of the rooftop, where he slowed down. There was a network of pipes and other structures that formed a bridge to another building, which was a few stories higher. The bridge therefore was inclined so one would have to climb upwards. Sulla got on all fours and scrambled up the then meters of makeshift passage, turning around at the end and sitting down at the edge of the roof. "It has plenty of handholds, and it's wide enough so you won't have to fear falling if you just stay in the middle", He shouted and grinned, showing a lot of teeth. "Don't look down." The turian just couldn't resist the urge to throw clichés around.

What a difference in perspective a little bit of elevation makes. Arina was mastering the perspective thing in her daily work but that was the world of the words, being understood and understand. This was completely different and she liked it. Nobody down there in the markets seemed to notice the two figures above their heads on platforms usually reserved for keepers.

When he broke into a run, Arina tried to keep behind him, not sure what to expect. He could have easily avoided the air conditioning unit but that was the whole point of the thing, looking for obstacles and crossing them! So she did the same thing. But of course she needed the extra step, not being used to it - yet. It felt great though, she cared about nothing and nobody and a small "yeep!" escaped her as she had mastered her first air conditioner.

She saw what he was up to with the pipes.
"Goddess" but well, that wasn't as deep as this crevice under the ice on Trategos had been! This was exactly what she wanted and yes, she was afraid of the height! So she got on all fours too and started the crawl, trying to loosen up as she went, focusing on solo, not looking down one time! When she eventually reached the top, she turned and now stumbled back a step. Seeing Sulla at the edge made her lower abdomen cramp but she grinned at him. "Up, up, always up! Would you get away from that ledge please, that makes me nervous!" she laughed, jumping on the spot a bit... Where to next?