A Promise is a Promise (Atroxa & OstrichFromJoust)

Atroxa

Atroxa

Star
Joined
Mar 16, 2013
Location
USA
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She was still trying to process everything that had happened, and was still happening, but it was hard to do with everything that was going on around her. It was fairly chaotic in the holding docks, where refugees were being kept unless they either wanted to leave the Citadel or could prove that they actually had somewhere to go, and that they weren't going to just go and become vagrants on the streets. It had some people pretty disgruntled to be kept here, they felt as if the Council was turning their backs on them, but none of them could offer better solutions either.

All this was well over Tamsin's head though, she was only eighteen, and she'd only left the small farming colony where her family lived a few times. And that had only been to visit family on Earth and Terra Nova, and they all lived in relatively small communities as well. She wasn't worldly or brave, she was just a kid, and she felt overwhelmed and scared. Still though, the blonde youth had a small smile fixed on her face, refusing to let it all get to her, she was even comforting one of the women and her small child from her settlement who had had to leave her husband behind. She was grateful that there were a few familiar faces here among the sea of refugees.

It had all happened so suddenly, she'd been sleeping when the settlement's alarms had started blaring, and she and her parents had grabbed what they could and headed for the town center. The colony was under attack, by the Reapers. They had all heard the reports, seen the news footage, the monstrous ships came, and then everything went black. Earth had already fallen, she and her parents had sat and worried over her grandparents, hoping they would be alright, and now, her own world was taken. There had only been so many shuttles, their settlement was small and out of the way, no one had ever thought that they would need to do an immediate and total evacuation, so many families had been split up. The younger children had priority, them and their mothers, then progressively older. By the time Tamsin had been picked, there hadn't been enough room for either of her parents. She was considered old enough to go on her own, and after some convincing from her parents, she'd gotten on the shuttle.

They promised they would follow her, they'd be here soon. Her parents had never broken a promise to her in her life, so Tamsin believed them. She had to. She didn't want to believe that she might be stuck here by herself. She had tried to contact her relatives on Terra Nova, but it was too soon to have gotten word back, so in the mean time, the girl explored.

She'd only seen a handful of aliens in her life, a couple of salarians, some asari, and a volus once, but that was about it. Now she was surrounded by them. The docks had segregated themselves, each race sticking to it's own, though there was some mixing here and there, but everyone was on edge, they were keeping to what was familiar for some form of comfort. Tamsin though, wandered about, keeping well into the open, she was young and inexperienced, but she wasn't stupid. Her parents had impressed on her very firmly that people were not all as friendly and well-meaning as those in her small community.

By the end of the day, they had still not heard back from home, and no more shuttles bearing people from her town had arrived. She held out hope though, and stood near one of the dock control desks, watching the comings and goings of the people around her curiously.
 
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"Ma'am, I assure you, we're doing all that we can. We've had hundreds of ships come in just today, and we're trying to find a place for everyone. Emergency housing has been set up here on the docks while we try to process everyone. We've received your request, and you'll be contacted when it is processed. I'm sorry, that's all we have," said a masculine, flanging voice. The older woman who was the target of the mostly sincere explanation barely bought it, scoffing as she left the desk and returned to her family. The same voice gave a sigh, bringing up a omni-tool to attend to yet another notification from his superiors.

Vexus Borin had just turned thirty, his last leave of duty in the turian military ending a few months ago. Just as his father before him, he'd served proudly in the military, mostly running as a support officer behind the lines. At the end of that tour, he'd had the choice to continue or leave, joining the reserves. Becoming a 'lifer' wasn't in his plan, so Vexus chose to leave. The turian wanted to do something where he could really help people, not just be a peg in the war machine; of course he'd never say that out loud.

C-Sec was a place he thought he could use his training and skills to really make a difference. Of course, they had their own training in the academy, albeit less because he'd been in the military. Vexus had just gotten settled in at the Citadel, a nice position within C-Sec, an apartment in one of the nicer Wards, life seemed to be heading in a good direction. Then the Reapers attacked Earth.

Vexus of course knew about them, the theories were out when the Battle of the Citadel happened three years ago. He was smart enough to see that there was more to the official story, that just the Geth had invaded. He thought the vids were enough proof that there was something more, but apparently it wasn't good enough for the higher-ups. Now it was blowing up in their faces, as the Reapers had come in force. Palaven was under siege, and he was stuck here.

His job now was dealing with the logistics of thousands of refugees, all with their own story about why they deserved housing. He felt terrible, of course, but they had to go about it in a smart way, they couldn't just open the gates for the flood of people. Some people were easy, they'd visited before or already had citizenship, and just had to renew their passes. Others had never been out of their system, barely seen an alien in their life. Mostly humans, who the Reapers seemed to love picking on the most. Watching any vid of Earth right now could tell you that, the planet was dark. Everyone was hurting, of course, his metallic ridges cringed whenever someone mentioned Palaven or anywhere in turian space.

With a cluttering of his mandibles, Vexus let out a sigh, pointed teeth showing. The two, long fingers of each hand rubbed his temples, underneath the crest extending from his face. Finally there was some reprieve, as it seemed no more requests were coming in, for now anyway. Leaning his arms on the counter, he looked to the right to see a single human standing there, watching the hustle and bustle of the docks. She seemed young, and alone. "Can I help you, miss?" he asked, trying to keep a friendly tone, wondering why she might be standing at his desk and not waiting with her family.
 
Tamsin could hear the turian and the woman talking near her, but she wasn't really paying attention, it was the same thing that was going on everywhere. People complaining about being stuck here. Well, she wasn't going to complain, what good would that do her? Her parents would be here soon anyway and it wouldn't matter. She didn't care if she was stuck here as long as she was stuck here with them. She was worried about them, but she wouldn't fully admit it, because worrying meant that there was a possibility they wouldn't keep their promise. They would though, they always did.

She didn't look over at the turian until he spoke, politely asking her if he could help her. The young woman arched her brows at him and gave a small, friendly smile, “No, not really, just trying to keep busy while I wait.” Turians looked strange to her, the asari looked relatively human in her opinion, just with blue skin and tentacles for hair, she couldn't say what the volus looked like under their suits, and the salarians looked remarkably like the aliens from old earth vids. Turians though? She thought they looked kind of like dinosaurs.

Her grandfather didn't like turians. He'd fought in the First Contact War, and her mother hadn't been very fond of them either as a result. Tamsin herself had no ill will towards turians, she hadn't met any until she came here, and hadn't really talked to them enough to form an opinion. There were turian refugees here just like every other race, they were all united under this threat whether they liked it or not. But these sort of disasters either bonded people or tore them apart. So while the governments and armies of the galaxy were uniting, as were many others, for others it brought bad blood back up to the surface though. So while things had improved a bit over the last few years, they weren't perfect, and the flaws were pretty obvious sometimes.
 
Vexus nodded. "Ah. Mind if I ask who you're waiting for? Maybe I could see if they've arrived," he said, omni-tool lighting up to access logged ships. A perk, if you could call it that, of working for C-Sec and this operation, he had access to a lot of things to keep everything in order. He was good at it, why he'd gotten the job at C-Sec in the first place. Of course, lots of things were threw into disarray with the attacks. Vexus tried to take things in stride, "don't let your crest point up," as his granddad said.

Being in the military had let him have contact with many other species, humans, asari, volus, batarian, though the last one was mostly because they were fighting them. He enjoyed aliens, the differences in culture and ways of life intrigued him. Even batarians, if they hadn't already shot at him, got him interested. While some older turians still had some bad feelings towards the humans, Vexus never felt that way. He'd just been born when the Relay 314 Incident happened, and honestly felt a little ashamed of how the turians had acted towards the humans. Now of course it didn't matter, they all had to band together if they were going to survive this.
 
Tamsin wandered a little closer to the desk, having been standing off to the side of it, and gave him a curious look when he asked who she was waiting for, to see if he could find out if they'd arrived. “Oh, they're Benjamin and Cassandra Darrow, my parents,” she told him, continuing on as she had always been rather friendly and talkative, “we got separated during the evacuation, there wasn't any more room on the shuttle for them so I had to go.” Her face fell for a moment, but she seemed to brush it off and shrugged her shoulders, leaning against the top of the desk, “But they said they'd catch the next shuttle.” She sounded sure of herself, even up beat, unlike most of the griping, complaining people around her.

So far the Batarians were the only ones she wasn't very sure about, there were some here, because the Citadel wasn't going to just turn them away. Kar'Shan had been practically obliterated by the Reapers, it's defenses having been apparently sabotaged by Batarians who had already been indoctrinated by some means. That was scary to Tamsin, indoctrination, it seemed so outlandish, but it was apparently very real. Either way, she didn't like how the Batarians glared at her everytime she came within eyesight of the part of the docks they'd claimed for themselves.
 
Vexus typed, checking the names versus the passenger manifests of the shuttles that had recently arrived. The machine searched, and after a few moments, popped up with 'Not Found.' He frowned, typing once more to see if there was something it might have missed. If they had been coming on the next shuttle, they should be here by now. The fact that the shuttle might have been too late were pushed from his head.

"Sorry, their names aren't popping up," he said, looking up to her. His omni-tool faded as his arms went back to leaning on the counter. She looked hopeful, he felt bad about giving just bad news. "Of course, there's lots of people coming in, maybe the shuttle just hasn't registered with our system yet," he said, mandibles pulling back and teeth showing in a smile. "Do you have anyone else with you?" he asked, hoping that she wasn't completely alone on the station, young as she was. While the Citadel was mostly safe, he couldn't speak for all of the people showing up on the docks, or if she were to wander into some of the shadier parts of the wards.
 
Tamsin watched curiously as the turian typed away at his omni tool, but also watching his expression. She wasn't used to turians just yet, and found them harder to read than most of the other races. She blinked and smiled automatically though when he looked at her, hoping she hadn't just looked weird staring at him. She shrugged her shoulders a little when he gave her the news, telling her what she'd already suspected. “It's okay, I figured they weren't here yet,” Tamsin said dismissively, then reasoned, “If they were here they'd have found me already.”

The girl gave a nod at his words about how there were a lot of people coming in so they might not have been processed yet. Yeah, she was a little surprised by how many people were coming in on the shuttles, though it was more shocking to think about how many more had been left behind. She tried not to think about it too much though, what good would it do? She couldn't help any of them. “There are a few people from my town here,” she told him when he asked who she was with, gesturing towards the part of the docks where the rest of the people who had come on the shuttles from her settlement were, “And I sent word to some family I have on Terra Nova.” She gave him a friendly smile, "I'm Tamsin by the way."
 
Vexus nodded. He was glad to help, but it made sense that if they'd arrived, she wouldn't be waiting here. Didn't hurt to check, of course. The turian hadn't noticed her staring while he worked, but would understand. It wasn't hard to see this was new to her, so many aliens around, mingling like it was nothing. That was everyday on the Citadel, but on a colony she might barely ever see someone that wasn't a human. Quite a culture shock, but everything was getting mixed up with the invasion.

"Oh, that's good," he said, glad to see she at least knew somebody here. So she wasn't completely alone, at least. Vexus hated to think of the many people that were unfortunately in that description, with nobody but themselves. There were so many people that had to be moved, and only so many shuttles, it was a shame that some had to be left, like her parents. "I'm Vexus, it's nice to meet you," he said, flashing back his sharp teeth in a smile. A talon reached to scratch at his head, rubbing at part of his fringe where his markings reached.

A batarian moved by the desk, giving a look to Tamsin from behind, and a glare to Vexus as he caught him watching. "Hey, if anybody gives you trouble, let me know, okay?" he said cautiously. It was safe enough here, C-Sec had a decent number of people watching all the refugees, but you couldn't be too careful. With so many people coming in and out, you never knew who might wind up here.
 
It had taken a moment the first time Tamsin had seen a turian smile to realize that that's what the gesture looked like on them. With their angular features and sharp teeth, it looked more like a grimace, and she was embarrassed to admit that she'd probably been rather rude with how she'd just stared at the female turian dock worker who had greeted them, but now she knew better. So she returned his smile when he gave his own name. She was rather clueless though about the batarian walking behind her, only seeing him look at something off to the side, before telling her to let him know if anyone bothered her. “I will,” she agreed with a nod, her blonde ponytail bobbing a little, “I should probably be getting back, thanks for your help.” And the girl headed off, back towards the area of the docks where her people were.

The girl spent the rest of the night just trying to keep busy and stay out of the way at the same time. Everyone was upset, and so far, no more shuttles from their colony had arrived. People began to whisper that maybe they weren't going to come, but Tamsin refused to believe that. There was more than enough evidence to suggest that they had had to get to the mass relays in a more round about way, since the Reapers were watching them. The most disheartening news though was about Terra Nova, the planet fell in the early morning hours, and when Tamsin woke, the last shuttle from the human colony had already arrived with dire news. Everyone left there was either stuck or dead. She still hadn't heart from her family there, and knew that Terra Nova was now officially no longer an option.

After eating a breakfast of MRE type meals, which were good enough she supposed but she really missed her father's omelets, Tamsin set off to keep exploring. She had nothing better to do, and ended up near the entrance to the docks, talking to the Citadel's VI, Avina. She was a curious girl and spent almost an hour learning about the Citadel and the various wards. She wasn't allowed to leave to see them for herself, which was what she really wanted, but this was the next best thing. She didn't stop until her stomach startled growling, ready for lunch, and headed back for her own section of the docs, passing by the security desk again, and spotting the turian from the day before. Tamsin made a B line and walked over, approaching with a friendly frin, “Hello Officer Nexus,” she greeted him.
 
"You're welcome, bye," he said, giving a small wave, glad to be of help. Vexus hoped she would see her parents, but a pessimistic part of him knew it might not happen, the Reapers were fast and without mercy. They could all be dead the next day, for all he knew. Enough of that thinking, it helped no one to sit there and think bad thoughts. He should be getting back to work anyway, processing reports and getting people situated.

Finally his shift was over, and he left the desk, heading to grab a cab back to his apartment. His eyes were heavy, so many people, so many shuttles, so many reports. Many of them had managed to get into the Citadel proper, and the docks were still packed. Still, they were alive. So many had died on the first day, and each day more and more were taken from them. It was nice to see they'd helped a lot of people.

It was back to the grind the next day, but there were less shuttles coming in. It meant less work, but it also meant less people were being evacuated. That could mean that the planets were fine, but it could also mean something much worse. Vexus was at the same desk, working on processing some volus ship's papers. He rubbed his eyes, talon scraping the hard fringes. He could use a break, it had been a while since breakfast at C-Sec. A friendly voice said his name, and he looked up. His mandibles retracted into a smile, catching the young girl from the previous day.

"Tamsin, hello. Any word yet?" he asked, glad for the interruption.
 
Tamsin shook her head at the turian's question, giving a half-hearted frown, “No, not yet,” she told him. She leaned against the counter a little with her hip, her blonde hair down today, just long enough to brush her shoulders. “I'm not worried though, there are still plenty of shuttles coming in, I'm sure they'll be on one of them,” She sounded confident, but her confidence faltered for a moment as she thought about it, “I mean, they promised they'd be here as soon as they could, and they've always kept their promises.”

The girl forced a grin back on her face, though it didn't look entirely genuine, and waved her hand in a dismissive gesture, “Their shuttle was probably just late or got delayed on it's way to the Citadel or something.” Tamsin's stomach grumbled softly and she laughed a little, “You hungry? I was about to go eat some lunch. They do let you guys eat right?” She joked, since it seemed like the C-Sec officers never stopped working.
 
The turian nodded, his mandibles pulling into a frown. It wasn't hard to tell that the girl was putting on a brave face in light of the circumstances. She was strong, he was glad to see she wasn't letting it get to her too much. "I'm sure that's it, I look forward to meeting them," he said, slight shifting sounds as the mandibles pulled into his smile.

"Surprisingly, yes, they do let us eat. A little lunch break sounds great," he said, giving a wave to another officer as she took the spot at the desk. Thoughts of where to go filled his head as he closed down his station and moved around the counter. "I've got an idea of where to go, it's past the gate, but I can say I'm interviewing you for a case," he said, while it might be hard to see for someone who hadn't seen it, a sly grin was on his face. A guest pass for a little while wouldn't be too hard to get for her; she could use a break from the packed conditions of the docks. "Not to mention, they have stuff both of us can eat and not get sick from," he added with his flanging chuckle, leading her to a separate door than the main one most people were going through.
 
Tamsin was a lot tougher than she looked, she was certainly a little naïve, and still pretty young, which people often mistook for weakness, but she was very far from weak. So she smiled as Nexus agreed with her, looking pleased. She looked even more pleased when he agreed to eat lunch with her, the young woman practically beaming with eagerness. It might seem like a small thing, but with how things had been going the last few days, any respite from the constant stress of being alone and surrounded by the chaos of the docks was very welcome. So Tamsin stood nearby and waited as the turian closed down his station, smiling at people as they passed her by, which usually earned her a look of confusion, though some managed to return the gesture. Others simply glared at her.

The young woman looked back to Nexus when he spoke of an idea of where to go, her blue eyes going a little wide when he spoke of taking her out of the docks. “Really?” She breathed, then grinned, looking excited, “That'd be great!” She followed along after him, a bit of a bounce to her step, laughing a little at his mentioning that they couldn't eat the same food. “Oh yeah, I forgot about that...” She mused, but then she frowned, “This won't get you in trouble will it?” Tamsin seemed a little hesitant and apprehensive of doing something they weren't supposed to, she generally followed the rules, but well... who would this hurt? If it got Nexus into trouble though, she'd feel pretty rotten about it. He was obviously doing something nice for her after all.
 
Vexus was glad to see her brighten as they headed out. It hadn't even been that long, and already the docks was a sad, sad place. Besides the few exceptions that were all together, it was filled with refugees either waiting for their loved ones like her, or grieving their loss, all of them stuck waiting for the Citadel to find places for them among the people that already lived there. Brightening at least Tamsin's day by getting her out of it would help him get through it.

"It'll be fine. I doubt anyone will even notice with all that's going on, and even if they do, they shouldn't care. We'll be quick, and won't be going to the Presidium," he said, explaining as he waved his omni-tool by a door, recognizing his ID and opening for them. It was a small hallway that led to the C-Sec office for this area of the Citadel, and off to the area he was taking them. Leading her down, there were a couple of terminals for officers to use. Logging in, he typed on the keyboard that popped up for a few moments. "Just getting the pass, and voila, as they say," he said, a slot to the left of the screen whirring and sliding out a small card. "Here we go. To the Wards," he said, handing it to her with a smile, leading them back down the hallway.

A clearly less-traveled door stood between them and the Ward. His omni-tool got him by, and the keycard she held would unlock it for her. This particular ward was basically a transition area between the docks and the other nearby Wards, a place to wait before boarding a shuttle, with cafes, shops, things to do. It was an immediate change of pace from the docks. Much calmer, not so much less people, but less chaotic. Everyone here wasn't walking around worried about what was going to happen, they were wondering where they should eat lunch before getting back to work. People weren't huddling in whatever spare corner they could find, there were more smiles. "I'd like to officially welcome you to the Citadel, Tamsin," he said, mandibles back in a smile. The cafe he had in mind was close by, just off to the left.
 
Tamsin listened to the turian assure her that it wouldn't get him in trouble, her brows arching in a slightly suspicious expression but he seemed sure of himself so she shrugged it off and smiled. “Alright then,” and bounced along beside him, following Nexus as he led them though a couple of security check points and got her an ID pass to leave the docks. She took the card from him with a slightly look of awe, blue eyes a bit wide, and beamed at him graciously, “Thanks” She continued to follow him, down the short hallway and she scanned her card at the door, which slidd open with a soft hydraulic hiss and they were out in the wards.

The girl's head seemed to be on a swivel, turning constantly to look at everything with an intense curiosity. It was still very busy, but the atmosphere was completely different. She hadn't realized just how sad and oppressive the docks were, and how much it had started to weigh on her. Tamsin had still stubbornly put on a brave face, but she'd started to feel strained. The young human heaved a sigh like she'd just gotten a breath of fresh air, though it wasn't fresh at all, and smiled at Nexus when he spoke. “Thanks, really, this is cool,” she told him, following the turian to wherever it was he wanted to eat.
 
Moving through the hustle and bustle, Vexus got them to the cafe. They stood just in the entrance, waiting for a hostess to greet them. An asari woman smiled and walked over to them. "Hello, welcome to Vloruk's. Just the two of you?" The turian nodded, and the woman led them to a small table. A holo of the menu popped up in front of each seat as they sat down. "Can I start you with anything to drink?"

"I'll just have water," he said, nodding a thanks and looking to the menu to wait for Tamsin. The asari smiled and left to get their drinks. Vexus's long fingers touched the haptic-menu, sliding it to the left to go to the dextro-amino based foods. "It's simple, but pretty good. Better than what would be in the C-Sec break room," he said with a chuckle, scanning the words to see what he might want.
 
Tamsin followed along, looking around the cafe curiously as they waited for a hostess. She had really only been to a few restaurants in her life, mostly when they went visit their family on Terra Nova, since those were the only relatives who lived near a community large enough to even support one. Sitting down, she looked at the asari when asked what she wanted to drink, “Oh, uh, water please.” She looked at the menu, glancing at Nexus as he spoke, smiling a little. “Better than MRE's I'm sure,” she murmured, then frowned a little, “I miss my mom's food though.”

She started to read the menu over, only recognizing a few things, when something kind of hit her. The girl looked up from the menu with her blue eyes a little wide, “Wait... I don't have any money!” she lamented, her face turning a little red in embarrassment. Tamsin had been so excited about getting out of the docks that she'd completely forgotten about a very important detail. She had no credits to her name at all, it was all in her parents' name and well... they weren't here.
 
"Well I hope so, I'd wonder how they stay in business otherwise," Vexus said with a chuckle, looking back at the menu. It would be better than anything else he would have, either crappy C-Sec cafeteria food or something simple that he could make at home, key word being simple. He wasn't sure how to respond to the other thing she'd said, hoping to keep her mind off the crappy stuff. It was still possible, of course, that their shuttle had been delayed or something, but the more likely scenario was not a bright one.

His gaze moved up, fringe moving back as his eyes widened a bit at her exclamation. He couldn't help, for a second, but think her reaction was a little cute. "Oh, don't worry about that. I've got it covered," he said with a smile, hand waving a bit as he spoke, accentuating that it was fine. C-Sec had him pretty well covered with credits, and he wasn't spending much anyways, busy as they were. This lunch was the first thing he'd done in a little while.
 
Tamsin frowned a little as he assured her that he had their food covered. She was like her parents, who like most first generation colonists, a little on the proud side. The farmers, like her own parents, were especially proud. They valued hard work, and despised charity. She wasn't as bad about it as her father, but she still didn't like it when she it seemed like people felt sorry for her. This wasn't uncommon considering what she was, a young, pretty, innocent-looking girl. She had just as strong of a work ethic as her parents.

It was a little late to refuse the offer now though, so she sighed a little and let it go. “Alright...” She agreed quietly, deciding that she'd have to try and make it up to him later, though she had no idea how. It wasn't like she was in the position to do anything for anyone, not even herself. The feeling of helplessness was more frustrating than anything she'd ever experienced. Tamsin tried to shake those thoughts as well. She should be trying to enjoy herself after all. So she looked back to the menu, making a thoughtful noise. “I have no idea what any of this is,” She admitted with a small, timid smile.

So when their waitress returned, the girl scrambled to pick something, hoping that whatever she'd just picked would actually be palatable to her. Their orders taken, Tamsin looked at the turian, “Are you from the Citadel?” She asked him curiously, always having been to strike up conversations rather eagerly and easily.
 
Vexus glanced back up, noticing her reaction to him offering to pay. Several thoughts hit him about why she might be hesitant, but he decided not to say anything. He was happy to, not only because she had nothing right now. He liked doing nice things, and it was simple to do so. A laugh escaped him as she admitted her ignorance of the menu. When the waitress returned to take their orders, he got a sort of pasta dish, of course from the dextro-amino friendly menu. The items on the menu had never struck him as exotic, of course he'd grown up knowing what they were. Being from a colony, of course she wouldn't know what they were. Her guess at what to order seemed fine enough, they would have to see when it was brought out.

"No...I actually grew up on Palaven," he said, thoughts returning to home, and wondering how the fight was going back on the planet. "My grandparents have some history on some colonies, thus the face-markings, but my parents wanted to move back to the home world. I've visited before, but only really lived here for a little while. What about you, have you always been on the colony?" he asked, happy to get his mind back on something else.
 
Tamsin was entirely the kind of person to be charitable to others but exactly be the most accepting of charity herself. Still though, she would be hesitant to turn down a chance at some real food even if she'd realized early on that Nexus would have to pay for her. She just hoped she enjoyed the food, she would have to seem ungrateful. She listened though as he spoke of his own background a bit, hoping she hadn't upset him by accidentally bringing up Palaven. She could understand, after all, Earth was already conquered. That planet had never been her home, but like most humans she felt tied to it none the less. It was where their species had evolved after all, where they came from. If it was lost, so was a large part of their identity and culture.

“Yeah, my parents were among some of the first colonists on the planet,” she nodded, “my grandparents still lived on Earth, so we'd go there at least once a year for holidays. And I have an aunt and uncle and some cousins on Terra Nova. So I've been there a few times too.” It was strange not to know what kind of tense to refer to her family with, past tense meant they were dead and gone, but in her mind they were still alive, even if she knew that the chances of that being true were slim. She refused to think that about her parents though. “All of them are farmers though, living in small communities, including my family, I've never been anywhere with so many people before...” She commented, then glanced out the large windows at the front of the restaurant, “And it's so strange for there not to be a sky...”
 
Vexus nodded. Their backgrounds were basically opposite, mostly because of the fact that all turians were drafted into the military from fifteen to thirty. Half of his life he'd served, going wherever they assigned him. He'd seen a lot of different worlds and places, and she'd only been off world to visit family a couple times a year. Things were-well, they were supposed to be calmer for him now that he'd moved to the Citadel. Reapers were to thank for that.

"It definitely takes some getting used to," he said with a chuckle, following her gaze to the view of the galaxy from the restaurant. "At least they do a good job with the artificial gravity. There's some actual plants and a few ponds in the Presidium, if you're lucky enough to get to see it. I've heard they have fish up there, but it's just a rumor," he explained. Mostly it was krogan he heard it from, dying to get a chance to see them, possibly taste one.

It wasn't long until the waitress came back with their food, smiling and setting the two plates down before them. Vexus picked up a fork and grinned, his face plates shifting as he took in the scent of spices and flavor. "Anything else I can get you?" she asked, the turian declining. He was interested to see if she'd like what she picked at random.
 
Tamsin chuckled softly when he spoke of the rumors of the fish, “Things on the Presidium must be pretty boring for people to make up rumors about fish.” She sipped at her water and looked up when the waitress returned with their food. The girl shook her head at the asari's question, “No, thank you.” And she looked down at her plate, her head tilting to the side slightly. It looked like some kind of fried dumplings, with she could only assume were shredded vegetables on the side, along with a small cup of sauce. It smelled good, no matter what it was.

She took the sauce and poured it on the dumplings, a little left over still, and cut into one with her fork. Finally taking a bite she found them to be stuffed with some sort of chopped up meat, with a texture similar to fish, though denser than that, and tasted a bit more like chicken. But everything kind of tasted like chicken apparently. The sauce was sweet and tangy, and the bread of the dumpling was light and crispy. Over all, pretty good. Tamsin nodded and smiled, “I like it, not sure what it is, but I like it.” Then she laughed a bit, “Probably best I don't know what it is.”

She kept eating, trying the shredded vegetables next, pouring what was left of the sauce on them before she kept eating. Tamsin paused after eating a bit, giving him a slightly shy look, “Thanks, by the way, for being nice to me. It's been kind of... weird, being alone. I mean, I know some of the people at the docks of course, but it's not the same. And they've been leaving as they get approved for places on the Citadel or get in touch with family.” Tamsin kept eating, but paused again, "Sorry, I don't mean to keep dragging the mood down... you have to deal with this all day."
 
Vexus laughed, giving a nod. It was definitely a difference between the Wards and Presidium, basically as it had been between the docks and where they were now. "Yeah, it's all diplomats and politics up there. The most they have to worry about is missing a meeting or their consort spilling the beans on their pillow talk," he said, taking his fork and starting to dig in. Spinning the noodles and grabbing a chunk of meat, he took a bite, sharp teeth tearing it apart to swallow. The sauce was white and creamy, and tasted great. The meat was a creature native to Palaven, which made sense for it to be on the menu he could eat from, and it was delectable.

He paused in eating to wait for Tamsin to judge her own food. His mandiles pulled back as he smiled. "I'm glad, the dumplings are a popular dish, for humans and asari, at least," he said, giving a chuckle at the last bit. "Perhaps. It's not from Earth, I can tell you that," he said, getting back into his own food.

Vexus savored the first few bites, but then his hunger got the best of him. Dextro-coffee and pastries from C-Sec only filled you up so much, and that was hours ago, before his shift. He dug into the plate, doing his best to not eat sloppily, to not embarrass himself in front of her. With only a little left, he grabbed a napkin to wipe his face and mandibles of the sauce. "You're welcome, I'm glad I can help with all that's going on. I'm sure it's hard, watching everybody coming in," he said, giving a light smile and shaking his head. "No, it's fine. It's a lot to deal with, but things like this helps me get through it."

Soon enough the waitress came back to check in, pressing a holo-button at their table. Vexus slid his omni-tool across it, taking care of the check. The asari smiled and gave a light bow. "Thank you for dining with us, have a fantastic day," she said, then left for another table. He put his silverware on the plate and set it aside. "Well, I guess we should be heading back..." he said, a bit of apprehension in his voice, not wanting to spoil their fun. He did have a job to get to though, there were probably plenty of people he had to help process since he'd left.
 
Tamsin thought it was kind of funny really, and sad, that it wasn't just her that was benefiting from this little lunch. She couldn't imagine that Nexus' job was very easy. Well, she didn't think the job itself was likely very complicated once you got the hang of it, but the stress had to be a lot to deal with. Everyone coming in on the docks was frightened and worried, which made their tempers shorter, and unfortunately people tended to lash out when they were like that. Nexus was in the unfortunate position of being some one that people could lash out at rather easily, none of the things they were angry about were his fault, but he was an easy target.

She admired him a little to be honest, being able to handle that and not just become angry himself showed a lot of character in her opinion. He seemed to honestly care, which Tamsin knew wasn't common in the galaxy, not according to her parents anyway. They had always told her she was lucky to grow up in a small community where people cared about one another, because outside of communities like theirs, people were cruel and selfish. It seemed that wasn't always the case, judging by Nexus' behavior, he made her feel better.

Tamsin ate quietly, finishing up just after the turian did. She was admittedly a little disappointed when the asari waitress returned and Nexus paid the check. She knew that they couldn't stay here forever, but she really didn't want to go back to the docks. It wasn't in her to be so ungrateful or selfish as to ask him to stay a little longer though, he had a job to get back to after all. So she sighed when he spoke of heading back, giving him a small, slightly sad, smile, “Yeah, I guess so...” the girl agreed, “Thanks for this, it was good to get out of the docks.” She left with him, heading back the way they had come.

The next day, she didn't see Nexus at his usual post, and was surprised to find that she missed him rather a lot. He was one of the few friendly faces left, but the day after that he was back. But Tamsin had a hard time mustering the good will to really be happy. The girl approached the security desk, her usual smile looking a tad strained, and her eyes worried and sad. Everything was starting to wear her down, and it was obvious to anyone who knew her at all. “Hey,” She greeted him as she walked over, her tone just as strained as her expression, “You're back.”
 
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