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The music was deafening, the smell of alcohol and sweat drifting through the air, people dancing everywhere around, people talking to eachother at tables in front of a large stage, that is how I would describe 'Exo-tropical' a night club owned by Miranda Lawson. Also the place I work as a security guard. The reason behind the name was because of the fact that not only asari danced here, but also humans, quarians, drell, turians and even salarians. The dancers would perform every night, ofcourse not always the same ones, and they would perform their own routine. The dancers were mostly female, but there were also some males. Most of the dancers would travel around the galaxy, not staying in one club for too long. But there were some regulars. There was Samara, an asari in her matriach stage. There was Jacob, a male human that was formerly in the Alliance. There was Thane, a drell, the only one, who was an assasin before. And then there was my favourite, a female human by the name of Deya Shepard. She had been a bellydancer for most of her life and to me she was one of the best. I don't know what was so attracting about her. A human, but also very attracting. Most of the time I spent in the club was standing by the entrance and making sure nobody was violating the rules. Luckily my spot had a perfect view of the stage where the dancers would perform. Around the time that she would go on stage I would usually take a break and just watch her routine, sometimes I felt a bit stalker-ish for doing so, but then I remembered that everyone in this place was here to see the dancing.
I stand at the entrance of the club. Opposite of me stands Grunt, a big krogan, he is my colleague and we usually work together. At the bar on the left side is Jack, a bartender. She is known to drink most of the drinks from the bar herself instead of serving them to the customers, but somehow Miranda lets her stay. Jack fits in with the club, her tattoos covering her upper body. At the bar on the right side stands Tali'Zorah, a quarian who is known to talk a lot. She usually wears her quarian envirosuit, just with different colored wraps around it whenever she tends the bar. Then the stage lights up and the lights in the rest of the club are turned down just a bit more. A spotlight shines on the stage and there stands an asari in a long white dress, skintight and a bit too revealing for my taste. The asari on stage is Liara, she announces and comments on the show that is given on stage. Liara speaks through her microphone "Welcome everyone, gather around, because the show is about to start!" She smiles and then continues "Tonight we are going to have our regulars-" the crowd cheers "And we are going to have some guests!" The crowd cheers again. Liara walks to the back of the stage and throws a hand in the air saying "Let the show begin!" The crowd goes wild and I hear Grunt snort at the amount of excitement tonight.
"All right, ladies and gentlemen, our first act will be delivered by one of our favourite biotic dancers. She is a brilliant shade of sky blue and she will dance and perform for you! This is Samara!" First two bright glowing wings appear and the crowd gasps, then a light is pointed at the center of the stage and Samara is revealed. She is smiling calmly and makes her biotic-made wings move. She then starts a calm dance that speeds up and she uses her biotic powers to lift herself inthe air when she jumps, it always looked cool to see her perform those tricks but in the middle of her routine I heard a loud 'Ahem!' behind me. Turning to the person I saw an irritated looking volus staring at me, arms crossed. "Is there something I can help you with?" I reluctantly asked, not in the mood for complaining. The volus began a story about how a quarian supposedly stole his credit chit while he was watching the show and he just kept going on and on about how rude it was. Taking a look behind him I could see Jack approaching. I patiently waited for her to come closer while the volus was still going on about it. "You there! You dropped your damned credit chit at the bar." Jack said looking down on the volus. The volus stuttered something about all species being rude to him. He took the credit chit and got out of here.
"Thanks for that." I said, relaxing. Jack grinned and said "Yeah, you owe me one, I could've kept that thing myself you know?" Then she turned around and walked away. She sometimes seemed like a harsh person, but she could also be kind of nice to you when she warms up. Grunt then said "That damn volus was here yesterday too, he claimed one of the dancers had broken his datapad. That guy is just looking for trouble." I chuckled and said "We should really just ban him from ever coming here, such a pain in the ass." Then Liara announced "Thank you very much Jacob, I'm sure your fans will be here tomorrow night too!" Damn, that guy made me miss almost two entire performances. It's not like I wanted to watch the show that badly, it's just better entertainment than standing and listening to people complain for hours. "Next up is the journeying former Alliance soldier Ashely Williams! With a strip tease for all of you, don't be shy to come with her when she asks you on the stage!" Liara said. "I'm taking a short break, you got this?" Grunt asked "Yeah, not really into those strip teases." I answered.
I didn't feel like watching a strip tease, they were kind of weird. Like, what do you do when someone like that asks you on the stage? Most people just stand there awkwardly and the performer kind of dances around them. It didn't seem very appealing to me. I decided to see what was going on when I heard cheering and saw that this Ashley had taken some human onto the stage. Watching the two I saw her foot twist into an awkward angle at a certain point, but her facial expression showed nothing. I held my earpiece and said "Mordin, the current dancer twisted her ankle, you might want to check that out when she is done." The person I was talking to was the club's medic, doctor Mordin Solus. Sometimes a dancer would accidently injure themselves or a fight would unfold in the crowd. At those times Mordin would patch them up. "Understood. Thank you." Mordin replied. Then Liara spoke again "Thank you very much Ashley, we hope to see you again sometime!" The crowd cheered and Liara continued "Now, our next performer will be the handomse and very muscled Thane! Mysterious, is how most would describe him, he will be lighting our hearts on fire with his fire-breathing act!" I had to admit that it was an awesome act, but it always seemed kind of dangerous too, not something I would consider. Since we were in the middle of the show I closed the doors and went over to Tali for a drink.
"Hey Garrus!" She exclaimed, her happy voice coming through her mask. I waved and sat down at the bar. "Can I have the usual?" I asked and she nodded, serving me a bright blue glowing liquid with some ice. She then seemed to think for a bit and said "Wait, isn't today your birthday?" I set down my drink. It is, how could I forget something like that? "Uh, oh yeah, I kind of forgot." I said to her. She seemed to be excited and exclaimed "Haven't you had a birthday present yet?" I shook my head and she jumped a little in excitement. "I can arrange something!" She said, I could pretty much hear her smiling. "Eh, no I don't really need something, don't worry about it." She then said "No no no no no, it's your birthday and I'm arranging a present." Then Grunt sat with us "It's your birthday!? Why didn't you tell me?" Tali quickly responded "He forgot." Grunt laughed and said "Seriously? Let us arrange something for you, I know exactly what you need." I shook my head and gave up. I walked over to a table close to the stage and sat down, hoping the others would just drop it.
"Thank you, Thane that sure was hot!" Liara exclaimed and I sighed at her lame joke then she paused and continued "Change of plans! I just heard that one of our long time security guard's birthday is today and to celebrate our next act will do something very special for him!" I wished to just sink into the ground when she said that, I shot a glare at Tali and Grunt. I got nervous, what did they plan? Then Liara came up to me and dragged me onto the stage, she put me on a chair and left. The lights were out, and my nervousness was almost too much. Then Liara announced "She is one of our regulars, and has no bigger fan than our Garrus, please welcome: Deya!" I cursed in my mind and tensed up even further. The lights went on and she stood directly opposite of me, her darkbrown hair in loose curls, her tanned skin only covered by a long salmon coloured dress with a split on both sides showing her entire legs, her darkbrown eyes looking directly into mine, those full lips turned into a surprisingly soft smile. She walked over to me as some music kicked in. She stood only a metre away from me and began dancing to the music, her arms reaching up to invisible stars, letting the music carry her body. The skirt of her dress flowing with her every movement, she smiled warmly and I felt myself heat up to the max. I must've been bright blue, but not all my blood was raceing to my face. She then came closer and I felt myself react by relaxing a bit. She took my hands and placed them at the ribbons at her sides, her smile becoming mischeavous. I reluctantly pulled and she formed an 'o' with her mouth when her dress fell apart. She wore an angelic white semi-see through string and a matching bra. I had seen her like this before, but not from up close. I swallowed hard and she sat down onto my lap. She rolled her body against mine and tenderly placed a kiss on my forehead. She then took my hands again and placed them on her hips as she danced on my lap, moving her body so flowingly it was as if she was made of liquid. She then chuckled and kissed my forehead again when I gripped her hips a bit tighter. The crowd was almost silent for once, but in the distance I could hear Tali cheer on her own.
"Well, I'm sure your birthday is happy now, Garrus. Thank you Deya, we willsee you again tomorrow!" The light went out for some time and I got off of the stage, still in a shocked daze. Then Liara announced the next person and I went over to Grunt and Tali. Jack had joined them too and I sat down. "Not really into strip teases?" Grunt laughed loudly and the club was full of life again. "You should have seen your face! Oh, I should have recorded that!" Jack said laughing with Grunt. I felt a smile coming through and Tali said "Deya was so nervous when I asked her! I was afraid it would be a disaster, but luckily it turned out well." She chuckled and we all drank something. When the club was closed and I was helping everyone clean up Miranda walked up to me "Happy birthday. Deya wanted to speak with you." She said in a matter-of-fact tone. I went up the stairs and to the private rooms from the performers.
I entered Deya's room and she sat on a table, eating some kind of human food. She was wearing a simple pair of form fitting grey pants with a comfortable looking loose shirt with the 'Exo-tropical' logo on it. She smiled and said "Happy birthday, how come no one told me it was your birthday today?" I relaxed, she seemed to have that kind of effect on me. "I kind of forgot it myself." I said as I sat down in one of her comfortable chairs. She then asked "Are you in a relationship?" My heart beat faster than it had before and I answered "Well, no. Why?" Ugh, stupid answer, I should have made clear that I liked her! She let out a relieved sigh and said "I didn't really know, and it would've been awkward if you did." For a second I was confused and blurted out "Why?" She blushed, red slowly spreading over those full tanned cheeks. "Well, because, you know... b-because I gave you a strip tease." She said quietly and it clicked in my brain. Great, now I made her embarassed. It stayed silent for a while and I mentally sighed, I just ruined any chance I could have had with her. Then she broke the silence "You should come by the next time I'm practising!" I smiled and said "Sounds good, I'm going to help clean up a bit more. See you tomorrow!" She smiled and waved at me as I went back downstairs.
"That was quick. Did you both even finish?" Jack said in a rude I-am-invading-your-privacy tone. "Uhm, what?" I said, confused. Tali chuckled and Jack said "You heard me." I raised an eyebrow and said "Yeah I heard you, what do you mean?" Jack then looked irritated and agressively said " .Two. Fuck?" I went bright blue and stuttered "What? No! Don't- why would you even assume that?" Grunt said "She gave you a lapdance." I threw my hands up in the air and proclaimed "Stop messing with my life!" And I walked off to my own room. We all lived inside the club, for different reasons ofcourse. I lived here, because it's cheaper than getting an appartment. The performers lived here because it's easy to have everything they need with them. Everyone that lived here was part of our group of friends, we ate together, share a few bathrooms and a kitchen. Because we all lived here we also needed to help clean up and just do our jobs in general. I let myself fall onto my bed and fell asleep.