"Alenko," she smiled. She pulled the bolt back in the middle before letting it down, and crossed her arms. Might as well let her energy build. "Let's hear it."
"When did you lost your virginity?"
"Hey, what happened to not playing dirty?"
"Never took you for a prude."
"Twenty. Guy I met on shore leave. Let me guess, yours was that girl from BAaT, wasn't it?"
"Not my turn."
Shepard whipped her bolt up, knocking Kaidan's across the room.
"Now it is," Liara said.
"I was thinking Javik."
"You wish know my year of lost sexual innocence?" Javik asked, his carapace still low in annoyance, but he had not left yet. That was something.
"It's depressing that you have to specify the innocence. But no," she met the asari's wide baby blue eyes. "I thought you could ask him something about the protheans."
Liara gulped but looked ahead. She had grown a tougher skin with all her encounters with a being she would have given anything to meet just a few months ago. "Where were you born?"
"One of our last colony worlds. It's appearance has improved greatly."
"So, you were a colony kid too. You should have said," Shepard smiled.
"I also have a great story about a toaster."
"Don't you dare."
Javik grinned, his sharp teeth on show. "You are too easy to tease."
"Don't ask about the toaster?" Liara clarified.
Shepard nodded. "Never."
"That's ominous," Nihlus said.
"Ominous? I'm going to go with just plain weird," Ashly added
"Okay," Liara flicked her hand back, ripping away the green glowing bolt to land perfectly in her grasp. "I have a further question."
Javik blinked, surprised by the amount of force, and his own distraction. "Speak it."
"What planet are the protheans from?"
"Tuchanka," Javik pulled the bolt back, catching it.
"That's- how- Tuchanka?"
"Somehow, that makes sense," Garrus drummed his talons on the base of the cannon. "Violence first, ask later."
"My people long since left, but once the war started, we made sure to send our children there to be trained. The wildlife acted as protection."
"Everything from Tuchanka is impossible to kill, hmm?" Wrex spoke up.
"I am glad your spices were able to rebuild. My first memory was watching my planet burn. I heard that it had been destroyed beyond use."
"It doesn't look much better. You would'd survive there, prothean."
Javik's eyes narrowed into slits, the smirk across his lips making his gaze seem all the more sinister. "My people were killing yours long before we invented weapons. There are more than enough protheans in this world to kill you, krogan."
Wrex laughed, loud and grumbling. The kind of sound that would make anyone quake in their boots. "I'll hold you to that."
"Keep your word. This cycle has enemies that are barely worth the fight," he crossed his eyes. "Krogan make useful allies, even if just for their ability to avoid indoctrination."
"Completely?" Shepard blinked.
"I am also unable to read their memories, if I were to force the action. I am not a scientist, I don't know why. It was down to their brain anatomy, so nothing we could use for ourselves. My people could only be indoctrinated once, once the bond was severed, it can never be remade, the same may go for asari, as their share a similar design. Thresher maws are also unaffected due to their size."
"Hey, are you the reason those worms are everywhere?" Ashley questioned.
"They all originate from the krogan home-world. It has always been a mystery to how creators that size spread to different systems." Liara continued.
"The plants they live on were the home to our greatest military outposts during previous wars. We transported the young or not yet hatched, to act as protection. They were too small against reapers, but kept the indoctrinated at bay," Javik spoke. "From what I have seen, they have grown larger in this cycle."
The game went on. It was full of prothean history and just plain squad silliness. It was relaxing and unlike any ship Shepard had ever served on before. It could have been that it was hers, their status as a ship belonging to a spectre, the wide ranges of species, or the mission of upmost importance. Or just the lot all mixed together. But her crew were amazing. She did not want this war to happen, she wanted to end things before it could begin. War meant losing all these people, all her people, which was a saddening thought.
"Do asari also insist on using implants?" Javik said the second he batted Liara from her line with a non too gentle pulse of energy.
"No. We train from childhood," Liara said with only a slight frown. Missing the way Javik's lips twitched.
She was learning.
"Isn't that dangerous?" Kaidan asked.
"Asari have had biotic abilities for as long as we have existed. Our bodies adapted to it," her big blue eyes stayed fixed to the two sets of gold. "Are protheans the same?"
"Element Zero was damaging to prothean physiology. Our system did not have the natural resources in my cycle. The lack of exposure caused my people to become sick."
"But. You're a biotic?" Shepard frowned.
Javik crossed his arms, his bolt remained floating neatly in the air. "We studied the asari for many years. They had a lessened ability of ours, we were curious as to if they could develop further. They did not," he observed the way the asari looked like she was about the argue his point, so he continued. "Asari can only meld minds sexually. I am able to do so whenever. Along with giving pleasure; we can inflict pain, share memories and emotions. We are deigned for this. You are not."
"What do you mean?" Liara looked on, feeling very confused.
"The reproduction is natural. But the ability to share minds is the result of the element. We were not aware of this when we began to teach you how to use your skills further," he exhaled from his nose. "Our minds were directly effected, leading to cognitive damage, and death."
"Biotics killed you?" Liara's voice was soft but filled with panic, guilt.
"Passively."
Shepard raised a brow. "Passively?"
"It counteracted our abilities."
"So, you lived?"
"In world were we are isolated from communicating and have the sensory ability of a child. Death was the preferred option."
"It can't be that bad," Tali said, who sat Garrus on a shipping creat, followed by Nihlus and Ashley. "You could still see each other. Touch."
Javik sighed. "We also suffered wearing of muscles, brittle bones, from the biotics attacking our bodies rather than being expelled. It was only fixed by changing our genetic code."
"Oh," Tali shifted awkwardly.
The prothean glanced over to his metal bolt, engrossed in green. "To share minds was how we spoke. To voice words is to order. It is cold," he glanced over to Garrus. "Much like you, turian, you speak orders, express with vibrations."
"You can hear that?" Garrus leant his body back, feeling a little freaked out.
"Faintly."
Nihlus growled in the back of his throat, watching as Javik's head tilted as his pitch spiked.
"But even you lie. Hide who you are, what you feel. Nothing is ever clear. All this debating, uncertainty. It is confusing," he huffed. "And the communication is lengthy."
"Maybe if you used our names once in a while, it would not seem cold," Kaidan suggested.
Shepard gave her crew member a small smile. Different races, cultures, had different customs that could create barriers that could be hard to over come. She was glad that Kaidan had such an accepting nature.
"My people spoke with our minds. Names were not needed. They were only used status symbols of our purpose in society. They changed constantly depending on what we accomplished. What we became."
Shepard froze. "Wait. So, Javik is a title?"
Javik let out an exhausted growl. "Of sorts. It is a memory I do not wish to share."
Translation; I don't want to talk about it.
"Communication is a learning curve. Especially with this many species," Shepard said, attempting to direct the conversation away from the meaning of the apparent discomforting nature of Javik's name, and wether or not the asari killed protheans with biotics. "I once gave turian a hug around the waist. Which turns out, is an erogenous zone," Shepard shrugged.
"Why were you hugging a turian?" Ashley knitted her brows.
Nihlus hummed, sounding more like a soft growl. "Humans are more affectionate with those outside of family."
"Compared with turians?" Shepard smirked.
His mandibles bobbed. "We're not the kind to kiss and cuddle."
"Not in public, anyway," Garrus added.
"Probably a good thing," her smirk grew. "Ingesting can be dangerous."
Wrex barked a laugh, Tali held her hands to her mouth piece with a soft giggle, Liara shook her head and turned away, while Nihlus and Garrus looked on with as much as could be deduced as surprise on their plated faces.
Shepard gave an expression of mock horror. "I gave him strawberries," It turned out that some things created more allergic reactions than others, even on medication.
"You have bounded with a turian."
Shepard blinked, mouth parting and closing in confusion as she turned to Javik. "That was direct."
"Prothean."
Of course. He must have been able to sense that she was not lying. But then again, he was also likely the only person in the room who would house no shock or displeasure if he knew she was raised by turians. Unless protheans disagreed with adoption.
"True. But it's not my tern-" she was cut off as her boots left the floor, her hold body held up by green energy. "Made your point," she said as she started to turn length ways and was pulled into the centre. She crossed her arms, frowning as she came face to face, although upside down, with her prothean crew mate.
"Commander," he greeted. There were no telltale changes in his features to give her a clue on what he was feeling. But Shepard took note of the almost softness in his pricing eyes, and the lack tension of which he held his carapace. Plus, what he was doing could be considered playful. Even when the word did not suit Javik.
"Feels like that comic with the guy in spandex," she mocked kissing the air. She was surprised when Javik jerked back, his hands staying in place to keep her in the air. "Humans and protheans have something in common," she grinned. Which stayed in place as she was turnedback round.
"I have not. It was a friendly gesture," she spoke as her feet met the floor.
"Lying is a biological marker."
Right, lying in general.
Shepard sighed softly. Then she smiled. "Wanna see?" She asked, holding out her hand.
Never say commander Shepard did not jump in with both feet.
Javik leant back, overlooking the situation. "You wish for me to read your memory?"
She felt oddly proud of herself. Javik was not the type that needed clarification to be voiced. He could easily read the world around him and understand perfectly.
She flexed her hand to entice her crew member. Sharing memories with Javik had made him more relaxed in her presence, telling her his thoughts. She had one memory in mind; one of their nights playing Skylian-five poker when she was still in the alliance, acting like they had only known each other from brief meetings.
"Focus on the turian," Javik said, his gravelly spoke low. More of a soft growl than real words.
With only the tip of finger touching her open palm, everything faded away.
Shepard's mind awoke to complete darkness. She was not sure if her eyes were even open. She could not see. Feel. Hear. She knew nothing. Not where she was. Who and what she was. Nothing.
Something; some sensation, maybe muscle memory, maybe not. Told her to breath. She heard the suck of breath, felt the oxygen fill her lungs. But she did not need it. It did not feel necessary, or real. What she took notice of however, were the smells that fogged her mind.
Sweat, gun cleaner, recycled stale air pushing up dust. Air fresher, the burn of the eezo core, the scent of the cleaning solutions used on the floors, over amour, and clothes. Those bundles of a mixture of smells that made up a person. That changed with gender, race. Organic or synthetic. Skin or plates, or both
And the memories that were linked to each unique smell.
Visions blinded her with the sheer amount of content, not a single image clear. Voices flooded her mind. And without even meaning to, everything settled.
Joy filled her as she met the young unpainted plated face of Tarquin Victus. His green irises almost took dark to see, just a pair of black wholes in his skull. He was crouched down, holding out his cupped hands, a pile of small flowers inside, for the human girl sitting on her knees, a whole two foot shorter than him. He had really wanted to see how this 'daisy chain' worked out.
Shepard felt warmth in her chest as the memory flowed.
It had been the day that General Victus had paid her father a visit. The politician had come clean about his daughter to his old commander, and close friend, Septimus, and was looking for help to not only keep her hidden, but for her to get an education, pursue a career.
How was a girl who came out of seemingly no where suppose to have a normal life?
Oraka had in term contacted Victus for help in the matter, bringing his son, Tarquin, as the two had been inseparable since the death of the boy's mother.
Only a year older than Shepard, he was not considered a child by turian standards. His need to investigate the odd sounds coming from the garden was a rebellious impulse, an action heavily frowned upon when entering the home of a stranger, under the supervision of both his parent and a high ranking officer in the military. But he was a Victus. They were never ones for following rules.
From that one incident, the two children had found friendship in each other, sharing a bond hidden from the world ever since.
Her mind swam through snippets of their first few years together. Meeting Theodosios, and his visiting cousin Lilihierax. When the two had got sick of pretending not to know each other on one of the few occasions Shepard was allowed to leave her residence. They had decided to not only walk together, but got sidetracked to play in a woodland within the park they had cut through.
Sparatus and Victus had not been pleased. Oraka had shook his head at the two fathers, asking what they had expected would happen.
The turian and human brought out the worst in each other; questions of why. Playing out in public, running between the legs of c-sec officers, and relaxing together in the parks. Why should they have to worry? They were not doing anything wrong.
Although the situation was unique, the traits that were developing may have been the just thing for humans, but for turians, it was disrespectful. The things Tarquin said and did, went against traditional values that had been taught with each generation. He was seeing the world through the eyes of a seasoned adult, and not the boy that he was.
Even so, they were never once parted. Their friendship was a stability for the two of them, a safe haven. They make each other better, more confident, where before there had only been fear.
Shepard exhaled. Body feeling totally relaxed with pure nostalgia from her easiest memories of her family coming together. Those feelings stayed when she opened her eyes to see two sets orban irises, but seeing the disbelief in them, her feelings slipped away.
He had seen.
Tarquin. Oraka, Theodosios, Lilihierax. Her father.
He had seen it all.
The two shared at each other. Gold on emerald. His finger still at her palm.
"How long is this going to take?" Ashley whispered.
"As long as the memory?" Garrus guessed.
"Javik said that the process lasted only seconds," Liara spoke.
"You are correct," Javik said, pulling his hands away. "My apologies, commander. It was not my intention to see so much. Had I known those memories were linked, I never would have looked."
Shepard nodded softly. Her brain felt like it was full of cotton wool. "It's fine," she mumbled.
The two stood there, eyes linked, unaware of the crew looking at each other and shifting awkwardly.
Javik looked away, then back. He nodded, making his way to the elevator.
It was only as the door was closing, that Shepard felt the need to speak, to call to him. Maybe that that was for the best. She had no idea what she was going to say.
"Did this help or make things worse?" Tali asked.
"I'm not entirely sure," Shepard admitted.
