I don't own Mass Effect or its characters - just having fun with a few of them.
This is set after the war with an ending that does not kill Glyph - I don't know if Glyph is supposed to be destroyed during the Destroy-ending - or causes people to glow green.
Also English is not my first language so I apologize for spelling or grammar errors - especially punctuation. Some might be even caused by my word processor - e.g. I just had to stop "its" from changing to "ist" a few times.
I'm going to go with M-Rating, just to be on the safe side.
And last but not least don't be too hard on me, people usually don't get to read what I write.
Edit: went through the whole thing to put spaces between the paragraphs. Hopefully it's easier to read now - thanks to hpxii for pointing that out - and auto-correct did not screw things up in the process.
Sometimes she wished they had never found Javik. There were moments – like right about now as she was saving the chapter of "I Despise Thinking Up Titles For My Own Academic Research" she had been working on – when she even kind of hated him. For destroying all the fantasies featuring noble Protheans she had dreamed up over the first 109 years of her life, that is, because even though they still definitely did not like each other they had come to respect each other over the last year.
Most of the time though she was glad they found him – that was probably caused by the fact that as an information broker, THE information broker to be specific, she liked accurate information and Javik had those en masse. Lately he sometimes even told her things he had read in people or things over the last few days – they weren't relevant for the book they were working on but she wasn't going to say no to any info she might be able to use in the broker business.
Sighing she leaned back in her chair, closing her sapphire eyes and tilting her head until her chin almost touched her chest to stretch the stiff muscles in her neck.
Goddess, maybe she should just dictate the chapters to Glyph, like she did with almost everything Shadow Broker related. It certainly would be better for her neck but she always considered it more personal to type her research texts herself and the book's theme – basically revoking everything she ever wrote on the Prothean race – was very personal so she would really rather keep typing. Even if it resulted in a stiff neck whenever she did so. And it wasn't as if there was no one willing to help her with-
"Hello, Dr. T'Soni", suddenly sounded close to her left ear.
Her whole body tensed and her biotics began to flare up, getting ready to be unleashed on the intruder who had sneaked up on her – for the second it took her to recognize the voice. What was it the humans said? Speak of the devil and the devil shall appear? Relaxing again she turned her head to look back over her shoulder with a slight grimace, the glowing blue swirl the biotics had caused slowly sinking back into her pale blue skin.
"Aria!" Her gaze swept over the other Asari's purple face with the dark markings she had traced more than once with her fingertips, eventually locking onto pale-blue eyes. "I didn't hear you come in! In fact I thought you were still on Omega for two more days. Didn't you have very important Pirate-Queen-of-Omega business to attend to?"
A rare smile quirked up the corners of Aria's lips. "I did, but I decided to hurry up and come back here to claim what's mine. I also thought you would get bored without me and wanted to rescue you from that tragic fate."
Liara chuckled and accepted a peck on the lips before she turned her head back to the multiple computer screens on the wall in front of her when Aria's hands found their way to her neck and skillfully worked on the stiff muscles, causing the information broker to groan in pleasure. "It's almost criminal how good you are with your hands", she murmured as her eyes closed fluttering and her head sank back down towards her chest until she was in the same position she had been in before Aria surprised her.
Aria just hummed affirmatively and continued to work the kinks out of the younger biotic's neck. "Where is that information drone of yours, by the way?", she asked after a few minutes. "Usually it greets everyone entering the room in that insanely cheery way so no one even gets a chance at sneaking in here undetected." So certain people want to cut its energy supply immediately was probably what Aria really wanted to say.
"Glyph is assisting the Councilor with her meeting. I take it her office was still locked when you passed it on your way here?"
"Yeah."
"Well they should be done any minute now."
Eventually Aria retreated her hands to the backrest of Liara's chair. "Now, how about I get a proper Hello and Thank You before that annoying drone gets back and grates on my nerves?"
"I can do that." Liara got up, shaking her head with an amused expression, and walked around the chair to stand in front of Omega's Queen. "You know, at least Glyph doesn't address everyone in the vicinity as the Shadow Broker anymore."
"I don't care." With that declaration Aria grabbed Liara's shirt with one hand, her hip with the other and roughly pulled her closer to mash their lips together in a passionate kiss.
"Greetings, Miss T'Loak!" The door was still hissing open when the information drone's voice reached the councilor's ears. Goddess, that thing processed fast. Its holographic body had just disappeared into the room through the wall next to the door a split second before.
Stepping into the room, the councilor took in the picture in front of her.
Aria's beloved jacket hanging over the back of Liara's chair.
Aria herself grumbling into Liara's mouth – she hated the drone, had in fact a few times threatened to destroy the terminal it originated from – and her hands firmly cupping the younger Asari's behind.
Then of course there was Liara, unbuttoned white shirt – a human piece of clothing that had been a gift from the information broker's favorite Communications Specialist – pushed down from her shoulders to her upper arms and restricting her movement severely so she could only just hold onto Aria's hips.
All in all nothing unexpected – well, the fact aside that to her knowledge Aria was still very much on Omega but the councilor wasn't going to protest if the Pirate Queen made her way home early since there was always something missing when she was gone for more than a few days at a time.
Quietly she made her way over to stand behind Liara. Neither Asari seemed to have noticed her entering the room so she just stood there watching their lips and tongues sliding and even their teeth clashing together for a moment, before she made her presence known by pressing a gentle kiss onto Liara's bare shoulder and murmuring an already husky sounding "Hello you two".
The kissing pair parted almost immediately and two sets of blue eyes shifted to look at her, both of them darkened with want.
"Councilor Tevos" Aria's sultry voice sent a shudder down her back and she eagerly leant forward to receive a kiss over Liara's shoulder, the younger Asari taking the opportunity to greet her with a prolonged peck to the cheek at the same time.
"How was your meeting?", Liara asked when they finally pulled back from the kiss.
"I do not want to talk about it", Tevos sighed and busied herself with trying to tug Liara's shirt further down her arms – an almost impossible feat until the lighter skinned Asari straightened them to help with that.
"That bad?"
The Asari councilor only shook her head, unwilling to talk about this specific subject at this point. The information drone who had been present at the meeting however was its usual talkative self. "It appears Ambassador Irissa does not agree with the Councilors politics. With our current information the probability that she plans to take over the position of the Asari Council Representative is 89.74 percent."
"Babyface wants to take over your job?" Aria shot a dirty look in the drone's direction, clearly looking for a target to direct the bubbling up anger at that was audible in her voice. "Doesn't she know that no one fucks with Aria?"
Tevos glared at her. "This is not Omega. And even if it was, I doubt she knows about my relationship with you. None of you, for that matter", she tried to placate both the former commando who was known for her… bad mood and the information broker who likely had or could find something incriminating on basically everyone in the known galaxy and was not afraid to use said information. Well, what kind of information broker would she be if she did, really? A brief shared glance between the two of them caused her to sigh again. "Please don't do anything too bad to her?", she requested resignedly. Liara actually smiled genuinely at this, though Tevos was not sure how far she could trust that smile. After all, the line between acceptable and too bad was a matter of opinion. Aria on the other hand just smirked darkly. She had to take their minds of this, then. Hopefully they would forget about it. Oh yes, she mocked herself. Big chance on that one.
But it was worth a try, wasn't it?
"Now. Where were we before we started talking?"
"Right about here, I believe", Liara announced, letting the shirt slide from her arms and drop to the floor.
Aria woke up cuddled – yes, Aria T'Loak DID in fact cuddle, with very special people, that is – into the Shadow Broker's back, her face just below her head crest, right arm under her head and the left one wrapped around the body in front of her with her hand resting on Tevos' ribs. Her legs were tangled with four others and she could not for the life of it tell who which leg belonged to without having to lift the sheets and she didn't bother to do so – really, who cared as long as there was the correct amount of legs?
Liara, it appeared, rested half on top of Tevos who was stretched out flat on her back, her head turned to the left to lean against Liara's, leaving Aria upon slightly sitting up with a perfect view of the hickey the sapphire eyed Asari had left on the Councilor's throat the night before. There it was, standing out with a deep purple against rich blue skin. And next to it- Wait, what was that? Those dark lines next to it had definitely not been there last night.
Sitting up further she leaned over Liara to get a closer look – just to break out in laughter when she realized just what it was and how it must have gotten there.
The other two Asari stirred awake when Omega's Queen slumped on top of them laughing uncontrollably.
"Have you gone barking mad over night?", Tevos asked, her voice thick with sleep, after blinking the blurriness out of her pale green eyes. "Can't say I would be surprised."
Aria shook her head, not being able to talk through her very uncharacteristic laughing fit. "N-no", she finally brought out when her laughter had died down to occasional chuckles. "Unless I'm imagining things and the good Doctor did not confuse you with a piece of paper while we slept."
"A piece of paper?", she repeated, bemused, before understanding slowly set in. "You wrote something on my skin." It was not a question. She didn't need to ask since she could hear Liara's almost suppressed giggles from where the younger Asari had buried her face into her shoulder. There might also have been a scratchy voiced "not only yours", but she wasn't sure about that.
"Well, what did she write?" She fixed her gaze back on the Asari currently pinning both her and Liara to the bed when she couldn't find any writing on the parts of her body she could see herself – leaving her with an inkling about the location being somewhat close to the hickey currently marring her throat.
Goddess, she couldn't deny that it had felt extremely good to be marked that way.
Not that she hadn't been given hickeys before, but those had all been for pleasurable purposes, this one on the other hand… pure possessiveness.
Maybe with a drop of revenge or two.
And even though that had not been the purpose, the combined sensation of Aria's fingers inside her, Liara sucking on her skin while stroking her sensitive crest and both of their free hands fondling her breasts… well, what she felt from both of them through the meld would probably not have been necessary for the mind blowing orgasm that had followed.
She just wouldn't have been that close to passing out from sensory overload.
Aria snorted with another bout of laughter and Tevos was about half a second away from smacking her on top of her crest for whatever she thought was so funny about her being used as a piece of paper when Liara lifted her face from her shoulder to look at her.
"I'll show you", she announced, her usually sapphire eyes already drowned out in black and just a moment later Tevos – and Aria, too, if the fact that the Pirate Queen suddenly quieted down was anything to go by – could feel the younger Asari's mind softly brush against her own, asking to meld in the gentle way she had come to learn was uniquely Liara.
Smiling she lowered her psychic barriers, greeting the familiar mind – or minds, rather, since Aria was not far behind to join them – with a mental caress. Please do. Talking on the physical plane while their minds were joined was something they only very rarely did. Not only was it unnecessary because whatever thought went through their heads would be picked up by the other two anyway, it was also so much less intimate.
It took a few seconds for Liara to pick out the correct memory, but when she did all three of them felt almost like they had been pulled back in time – to see the past through Liara's eyes, hear it, feel it… think it from her perspective.
Her body was tired, so incredibly tired from everything that had transpired since Tevos had entered her office in the evening. Not that she was ungrateful for all the physical and emotional satisfaction she received since this relationship with the Asari Councilor and the Pirate Queen of Omega had started, right now she was just tired. They were both so skilled it was almost ridiculous and with Aria's need to make up for lost time… well, to cut it short, there was a lot of melding and she had lost count of the number of orgasms they had shared.
But no matter how much her body needed rest, her mind was another story. Wide awake and shifting through ways to bring the Ambassador who had been giving Tevos trouble for quite some time now down a peck or two. Most of them involved a not insignificant amount of data that had accumulated on the various QEC-linked server-clusters she had spread out over several planets, one of them right beneath this very house in a highly protected secret underground bunker – and by underground she meant very deep underground. Those ideas that didn't involve said data all centered around physical violence. Something she could just leave to Aria if it actually came to that.
You can bet on that Aria's mental voice echoed over the memory, closely followed by a protesting Oh hush, you will do no such thing, none of you from Tevos.
She should really shut her mind down somehow and sleep. Physical exhaustion definitely wouldn't help her to keep up with writing that book and her Shadow Broker duties. It was already hard enough when she wasn't tired.
Perhaps she could read a book?
Catalogue the rare Thessian fish they kept in the giant aquarium that was one of the walls of their bedroom? There were so many of them and some actually bred so their numbers constantly grew until one of them – Tevos mostly, who was the one who wanted the aquarium in the first place – picked some out to sell them to breeders or gift them to organizations that would release them into their natural habitat.
Reading a book it was. Counting fish was rather unlikely to quiet her racing mind.
Carefully she eased Aria – who had a habit of sleeping cuddled up to or even halfway on top of one of them – off her and onto her back and slowly sat up in between both of her lovers, wincing when her weight was put on her butt cheeks.
She still couldn't believe they had bitten her. Well, okay, with Aria it was believable because no matter how different she was in private compared to her official persona, there were still moments when that violent person made an appearance. So maybe she shouldn't have been so surprised when she felt those white teeth sink into her right butt cheek just a few seconds after Liara had settled down on top of Tevos – previously having picked the naked Councilor up by the thighs in a show of biotically reinforced strength, carried her the rest of the way to the bedroom and unceremoniously dropped her onto the bed – but she had been and it hadn't exactly helped when Tevos, after having received a matching bite mark on her left inner thigh and hearing Aria's explanation of claiming what was hers, proceeded to bite the information broker's until then uninjured other cheek about an hour later.
The young Asari had no idea why it just had to be her butt where both of them staked their claim and she herself had not been so… courteous to choose a place on their bodies no one else got to see when she left hickeys on Tevos' throat and Aria's left collarbone.
It was such a shame that with some MediGel the dark purple marks would be gone without a trace within a couple of days. Maybe she could take a few pictures with her OmniTool while she was already up? Where had she left it again?
Hmm… Oh, right, she had taken it off and dumped it on her desk when they continued shedding their clothes.
Taking care not to wake her bedmates she got up and headed to the door quietly, using the faint light the aquarium emitted to guide her safely around obstacles like the tripping hazard that were Aria's leather pants sprawled over the floor. The hallway was a bit more difficult without turning the lights on, but she managed to get to her office – that was always lit up by the monitors anyway, so no trouble here. She wasn't even sure why she hadn't ordered the lights on in the hallway as well, since the automatic bedroom doors had closed behind her, eliminating any chance at waking Aria and Tevos up with a sudden change in lighting.
Crossing the room, Liara stepped up to her desk and picked up the OmniTool-bracelet.
The memory that played in their minds cut off, turning black for a second or two, before it continued at another point. Did we just skip a part? Tevos asked, a surprised tinge in her voice. Why would Liara show them that much just to skip a part now?
Yes. I spent a few minutes working on…broker things you really do not need to know about. Liara volunteered.
Oh. Yes, it was probably better if the Asari Councilor didn't know too much about what the Shadow Broker was up to.
She picked up the object she had spotted next to the data pad and turned it around between her hands. She could still remember how she had acquired it almost a year ago as if it were yesterday – and by default she remembered just how well the black ink had stuck to Samantha's skin when the human woman drew smiling faces on her fingertips and used them as makeshift puppets to cheer up a sad young girl they had encountered.
Wouldn't it be fun-
She snickered, not even continuing the thought, and decided that yes, it would be fun. For her, at least. Maybe not so much for her sleeping victims, depending on what exactly she would come up with.
Suppressing further snickers that wanted to leave her throat, she tiptoed her way back to the bedroom, sneakily closing in on the bed from Aria's side first while the door slid shut with a quiet hiss behind her.
Now, what should she draw? Or write? Mulling over that she lowered herself to sit on the bed, leaning slightly over the purple skinned Asari.
Eventually settling for an idea she uncapped the Sharpie and gingerly set it to work around the hickey.
Oh no, you did not! Aria's mental voice drowned out any sounds from the memory for a moment.
Oh yes, I did. Liara, probably having anticipated a reaction like that, sounded clearly amused.
You're going to pay for that.
When the assortment of hearts and flowers and some other things the Pirate Queen would have never allowed her to draw had she been awake took shape she had to bite her bottom lip to keep from laughing out loud.
Finishing the last heart she stood up and took deep breaths to calm down while she walked around the bed and took a seat next to the sleeping Councilor.
Hmm… maybe something written for her?
Oh, yes, that was it.
Goddess, really? Out of all things you could have written, you chose that?
It might be rather childish, but maybe that meant her mind was finally ready to sleep. Or it was just her youth showing. Whatever.
Relocating to the center of the bed so she could write the way she had envisioned it she set the Sharpie on the blue skin just above Tevos' collarbone, delicately spelling out the three words until the last letter grazed the white markings under her jaw.
A rather foolish grin pulling at her lips, the information broker used her biotics to place the Sharpie on the bedside table and looked down to examine her work – and snap some pictures with her OmniTool.
There was written, in bold black lettering:
LIARA WAS HERE