The Lucifer Effect
Author's Note: Thanks for the continued support and for those leaving me gifts! Hope you continue to enjoy, or re-re-re-refind Remy in the future ;P


Suvi waits outside the door, thumb nervously rubbing along her palm as she worries her lip. Should she head inside? What can she even say? What does she want to say?

Nothing.

Everything.

She's honestly at a loss with so much information to sift through, and she's aware that her emotions may very well be clouding her what she does or doesn't see. It's a blessing in disguise that the Pathfinder didn't toss her right off the ship for blatant insubordination and disrespect; a shameful act that Suvi can't afford to repeat again. There was enough of that on the Nexus, even after the revolt.

Sara and Lexi are right to worry. Their hearts in the right place. It's not like the behavior they've observed—both Suvi and Remy—hasn't been without it's red flags and evidence.

...But can't they have just a little faith?

Suvi nips her lip a little harder. She rubs her palm a little rougher. It's a question for herself now too, as she stares at the door. She still has no idea what she wants to do, but she knows she has to do something. Taking a deep breath, taking a step closer—a leap of faith, she inputs the security code and unlocks the door.

When they slide open, she puts on her best reassuring smile, faltering at the cutting eyes honing in on her. She takes a step inside and locks the door.

"Hello, Drack. How are you feeling?"

-—-—-—-—-—-

"Alright, that concludes the tests." Lexi takes a small ribbed stick out of Remy's mouth and sets it on a tray, sitting back on her chair with a clip board. "Your awareness of what's going on inside your mouth hasn't been severely impaired, so it's just coordination to form sounds. With time and practice, you'll eventually develop other areas of the brain to substitute certain functions. To start: let's try saying either buttercup or rocket ship. Both words work the lips, the tip of the tongue and the back of the tongue."

Yeah. Remy got all of that.

No she didn't.

Rocket ship is the obvious choice, though.

"Rrr..." Remy scowls, already disheartened by the effort this is going to take. A groan gurgles in the back of her throat. Her mouth is too slack. Her jaw refuses to move the way she wants it to; she can't even do simple exercises like running her tongue around her lips, or touching the roof of her mouth.

Giving up is not an option. Not after everything she's been through, and how far she's come; but she didn't come this far to only go this far.

"Aww-kuh..." Tongue to teeth. Tongue to teeth. Tongue to teeth. She can't. T is so close and so far away. She tries to bite her teeth down just to express frustration, but can't do that either. What can she do? She can smack the look off the calm doctor's face, for one; but the urge to burn bridges has to wait until after she gets her legs and makes her getaway.

Plus, she knows it's just the grumpy side thinking.

Furrowing her brows, she shakes her head and gives up when she just can't force her tongue to her teeth. She motions for Lexi's omni-tool, who starts setting the permissions. Remy's well aware that everyone—who's name isn't Suvi—have been taking precautions with what access they're giving.

They don't trust her.

It's... Comforting, actually, to know that she isn't the only one who's distrustful. It's not as suspicious as it would be if everyone were to kiss her ass, especially without asking for anything in return. PB saved herself in that regard.

When Lexi finally offers her omni-tool, Remy types her message. [Can't we practice words I'll actually use?]

"We can, but we also have to train your brain and use repetition to teach it how to use the same muscles and move them by using other neural pathways."

Oh sure! That totally makes sense.

Not.

Remy hopes she's giving an exasperated look, plunking on the omni-tool. [What about names?]

Lexi's lips press thin. "I suppose..." She stares at the message thoughtfully, then sighs. "It'll help you call out for whoever you'd like to talk to."

Sure. Let's go with that reason, as long as Remy doesn't end up saying the worst name again. She nods to Lexi and writes the first name she'd like to practice. Remy wishes she could stick her tongue out, especially when Lexi looks like she might be struggling not to smirk. "I'm not surprised. Which sounds do you have trouble with in this one?"

[U and V.]

"Alright, you and I—"

Remy shakes her head, typing again. [No, U and V. I is okay. I have trouble with ones where I gotta move my lips more.]

Lexi blinks in confusion. Remy doesn't understand what the misunderstanding is, until she thinks about it. A light bulb goes off. She misunderstood, going off half-cocked instead of letting Lexi finish. She chuckles weakly. At least laughing comes naturally; it was the only thing that helped her pull through the last time she had to go through extensive therapy.

[My bad, cut you off. Thought you were saying U and I, and]

She stops when the doors slide open. Her mouth instinctively curls into a smile without hesitation, nor thought.

"Soovvee..."

...

Now Remy really wishes she could stick her tongue out, especially when Lexi looks like she's clearly struggling not to smirk.

-—-—-—-—-—-

Suvi smiles every time she glances over at Remy, now sleeping away after a much excited dinner of just fruit cups and tea—from Suvi's own stash, of course. There will be time to experiment and see what she'll cultivate herself someday, hopefully. Remy seemed to take to the tea; maybe she'll be willing to taste test new kinds in the future?

It's something to look forward to—something to hope about.

Suvi scoots closer and rests her laptop on the bed, analyzing and writing a report on the data SAM sends from the Pathfinder's current endeavors in Havarl. Suvi's mouth curls into a smile whenever Remy's fingers brush against her hand, whenever she rests them on the sides of her laptop.

...Okay, to tell the truth, Suvi's the one brushing against Remy's fingers.

It's when they move and curl over her knuckles that obviously piques her curiosity, and she looks up at Remy's sleeping face; her features are anything but peaceful. What is she dreaming about? Whatever it is, it doesn't seem to be pleasant.

Suvi rubs Remy's forearm, trying to rouse the engineer gently and ease the tightening grip. "Remy, wake up." she whispers softly, waiting. She rubs and coos and breathes warmth into Remy's palm, worry welling up when the engineer almost refuses to awaken. Suvi glances over her shoulder for Lexi; the doctor's still out on her much-needed break, hopefully catching up on sleep long overdue for her too.

Liam's watching with an eyebrow piqued in curiosity... And concern. "Need me to yell for Lexi?" he asks, but Suvi shakes her head.

"If she's sleeping, we shouldn't disturb her." Suvi looks back at Remy, digesting her conflicting logic; technically Remy shouldn't be disturbed too... But her jaw's flickering as if she's trying to clench her teeth. She looks like she's in pain now. Suvi rises from her chair and leans over, carefully grabbing Remy's shoulders and giving a slight shake. "Remy? Remy, wake up. You need—"

"Nnn..." Remy gurgles lowly, her eyes fluttering open a little too eagerly. Suvi lets go and stands back, confused by the glint in the engineer's normal eye. So there's nothing to worry about, right? "Nnnee... Duh... U... K, k, k-ih... Sss..."

Yes.

Definitely nothing to worry about.

Suvi stares. Remy smirks. Liam laughs. And Suvi leaves.

"Both of you are trouble," she teases, trying not to smile. And failing. "I'm getting Lexi."

"Uh oh~" Liam sing-songs. "C'mon, you know she's just going to put us to sleep with drugs again."

"You make that sound like a bad thing." Suvi quips lightheartedly, drumming her fingers along the frame as the doors slide open. She turns to wave goodbye, stealing a good look at Remy's eyes. A shiver rolls down her back from the electric look. Her feet carry her right out the med-bay, missing whatever it is Liam's saying, determined to find Lexi.

She can't erase the look burned into her mind.

-—-—-—-—-—-

New favorite thing to do to pass time: fluster Suvi.

Hands down, the easiest and most entertaining hobby Remy has left now. She already feels recharged and ready to go another round of the doctor's grueling speech therapy. Well, okay, maybe that's going a bit too far; if anything it'd just so that she can be able to say what she wants and fluster Suvi faster.

"All in good fun, yeah?" Liam laughs along, giving a thumbs up; it falls with his smile. "Fair warning if you do like her though: don't play around. The Tempest protects it's own."

Jesus, he doesn't sound any different than the gangs on Kadara.

Remy dismisses the threat with a wave, using Suvi's laptop to type him a message. She adjusts the font size to be bigger and turns the computer towards him. [I'm not afraid. I've heard a whole lot worse on Kadara when someone was saying 'hello' to me.]

"Yeah, sure," he shrugs. "But you'll feel a whole lot worse if you cross anybody here." He turns on his other side, facing away from her. She hopes he can still feel her glare digging into his back. "Remember that, exile. We went through a whole lot of trouble pulling you out and that's thanks to Suvi. Thanks to me, too. Wouldn't be where I am if you didn't blow that place to hell and made it collapse."

Ugh. He's facing away from her on purpose, isn't he? Now he can't see the massive ASSHOLE on her computer screen.

...But at least this presents an opportunity to pass up on forcing out a thank you; and an opportunity to learn what transpired too. The last thing she remembers is an explosion, but lately there's been a whole ton of that.

Wonder why?

Remy shakes it off and turns the laptop back towards her, letting Liam mumble and grumble whatever the hell he wants. That's fine. She's not expecting a royal treatment, so long as they aren't expecting one either. She's only staying here until they let her out of here; and it better not be anywhere near the Nexus either. Not unless they want to see more fireworks.

Remy helps herself to reading the fresh reports pouring in from... Havarl? Where is that, even? It sounds familiar. She can't help but wonder if Suvi is going to come back for this laptop. It's her fault if Remy's not allowed to read all this data.

Not like she can, anyways, with a headache slowly resurfacing.

How long is recovery going to take? It already feels like centuries have passed, when it probably hasn't even been a week. Remy sighs dejectedly, engaging the laptop's signal access and manually inputs her frequency to the implants in her ears. The only way she can pass time is sleep; and she suuuuure hasn't already gotten enough of that, of course not.

Another sigh. Remy connects to her frequency and runs a quick search on the hard drive for any music, which, yay, there is, but...

Why the hell is all of it piano?

Remy frowns as she runs another search for sound files, surprised to find a whole lot of recordings stemming from a folder titled 'Nature'. Curious, she starts to explore, smacked with dozens more files organized precariously. 'Catatumbo Lightning' immediately piques her interest and she opens the folder, her eyes light up with hundreds of pictures and videos on display. She quickly sets up the audio feedback so that it plays privately through her implant, intrigued by beautiful photos.

Where did Suvi get all these, though? Some of the other folders seemed specific to location, and those locations seemed specific to earth. Is she earth-born too, then?

Eager to see the phenomenon, Remy clicks on a video and scrolls while it loads, smiling at the pool of sound files all titled a numbered variation of 'Thunder'. The screen brightens. The med-bay's doors slide open. Without thinking, she slams the laptop's lid down, smiling nervously when it's Suvi—who arches her brow in return.

Right. So maybe Remy shouldn't have reacted like she's afraid of getting caught. Doesn't help the suspicion factor; not that it matters anymore now.

"Lexi's almost done her break, she'll be here soon." Suvi says as she approaches, a subtle sly smile tugging at the corners of her mouth. "I forgot my laptop somewhere." Somewhere? It's like right freaking in front of her face. She knows that, right? "You wouldn't happen to know where it is, would you, Remy?"

Okay. It's literally—wait. She does know it, right? It's under her nose. It's in front of her. In Remy's hands.

Yeah.

This is a fucking trap.

Revenge is what it is, it's screaming in those deceivingly innocent eyes. Well! Remy's not gonna fall for it! No sir—

"I might be inclined to set up your own laptop if you help me find mine..." Suvi offers pleasantly. This trap is about as obvious as it gets, just like her smirk.

And Remy thrusts Suvi's laptop up in the air for her to take it.

"Puh-luh-ee-ss?"

Suvi chuckles, nodding as she grabs her laptop. "Of course I will." She opens her laptop as she balances it on her forearm, the sly smirk disappearing in favor of a warm smile. It's hard to look away. "Oh, this... Catatumbo's lightning is certainly a riveting sight; it's an atmospheric phenomenon in Venezuela—on Earth, sorry—that only occurs over the mouth of the Catatumbo river. The storms occur roughly 140 to 160 nights per year, 10 hours per day and 280 times per hour."

She remembers this shit? Maybe it really meant a lot to her; the same way the ocean meant a lot to Remy, too.

Suvi looks up, the enthusiasm in her eyes burning bright. "I apologize for interrupting you earlier, would you still like to see the video you've opened?"

Uh, yeah? What kind of question is that? That would be awe—wait, she's apologizing? She's not mad that Remy was going through her things? She's not even suspicious that Remy could've... Like... Done something to the laptop?

Not that Remy would.

Actually, she would.

But not that—okay, she doesn't even know where she's going with this herself, but she hasn't done anything. And she wouldn't. Maybe.

Remy gives up with herself—if only it were possible—and shakes her head to answer Suvi's question. She waves over and tries to reach for the chair, wanting to watch the video with Suvi, who makes herself back at home and sits beside Remy, leaning and resting her elbow on the bed. "Is it okay if I rest the laptop on your stomach?"

Is it okay?

OF COURSE IT'S OKAY.

Remy gets front view seats to something that just looks plain badass. She nods energetically, enthralled by the soft chuckles and sweet smell coming from Suvi's mouth. Not alcohol. Not juice either. It's that tea again, isn't it? Remy could go for some more, but she can't get greedy.

She can't get attached.

Then the video plays. The thunder roars, and lightning dances, and chaotic waves lap against each other. It's stunning. Terrifying. Jaw-dropping. Remy stares, mesmerized by the storm, barely hearing Suvi's soothing chuckles above the private audio feedback. Remy's mouth instinctively curls into a smirk—trying to, anyways—as a reaction; not just to Suvi's chuckling...

But to the breathy awestruck whisper captured in the video.

"Wow..." A beat. "Shite..."

The video ends. Remy gives Suvi her best pleading look. Not that she needs to... Because Suvi is already searching through another folder.

"Wait until you see some seascapes during blue hour!"

No idea what blue hour is, but the promise of seascapes gets Remy going. She motions with her forearm and just barely holds herself back until Suvi offers her omni-tool. A part of Remy chastises for being so transparent, the other part doesn't give a flying shit. What the hell is Nexus going to do with her love of water? It's not like they can take away what's not around.

[If I get my own laptop, can you copy these files? I'll take anything with oceans and storms.]

Whatever she says seems to get Suvi going too. Two transparent fools, so easy to see through and manipulate if one wanted to. Why? This isn't Kadara.

...But this ship is Nexus. It's worse. It is, right? It's not really a world of difference between the Tempest and Kadara, after all; both places have tried to kill her.

And she'll do whatever it takes to survive.

-—-—-—-—-—-

Lounging around the research station, waiting for the scientists to analyze data, Sara soaks in the view of the jungle before her. She's already gotten a recording of a plant growing and then twisting and then suffocating itself, and sent it to Suvi. Morbid as it is, maybe it'll help science somewhere. It's insane that—without remnant technology to save the day—life on all these planets would progress... Only to destroy itself in the end.

Why would such a system thrive and survive in the first place?

If anything, there should be more planets like the Milky Way's moon and mars; maybe this is the initial clusterfuck—like some sort of dinosaur age—before all these planets will eventually be past the point to cultivating life. How old would that make Andromeda, then? The planets, anyways.

Sara leans on the railing, checking in on her teammates hanging around the forward station. Vetra seems relieved that they found the turian survivors, but it's hard to read her. It probably doesn't help that she exchanged words with some of the more uptight soldiers, offering help that was promptly denied; honor and all that. It's a wonder in itself that some people in the Initiative are still holding on to that concept, when survival should take precedence.

"Should check in on her," Sara mutters under her breath, pushing off the railing and heading down the platform to her team. She hears a familiar voice in the distance. When a pang snakes around her stomach the same time she smiles, she figures it out easily enough and sighs. She pretends she's doesn't hear a thing when she approaches Jaal instead.

"Ryder," Jaal nods curtly, one she returns. Whatever he says next fades away to her totally-not-interested-interest in Vetra's conversation with Peebee over an omni-link.

"An assembler's legs?" Vetra asks, confused. "I can get it for you, but how much of the leg do you need? Are we talking knees down or what?"

"Oh, just bring the whole bot back!" Peebee chimes back impatiently. "I can salvage the parts for you to sell or keep it for my project."

Right. The project nobody still has a freaking clue about. Even Sara.

...But at least this is a sign that Peebee's sticking around, right? She wouldn't be requesting things of others otherwise. Well, she would, but she still has to stay long enough to get what she needs.

"Alright, Peebee." Vetra sighs in resignation. She looks over at Sara. "I'll see what I can do and ask the Pathfinder if we can get you—"

"No! Don't tell her it's for me." This doesn't sting. Not at all. Sara's heart isn't in her fucking stomach. This doesn't sting. "Technically, it's not anyways. It's for the pirate."

The pirate? Remy? What the heck do they need legs fo—

Oh.

Oh.

How the hell are they going to make that work? Now Sara's curious. That's all there is to it, nothing else. Not one bit.

Vetra's mandibles flicker, but she stays silent as she stares at Sara. The Pathfinder waves dismissively and thumbs at the remnant ruins in the distance, shrugging and nodding. She still has no idea as to how Peebee's roped into this; clearly Vetra doesn't either, but that's just what it's like when it comes to dealing with the restless asari.

Everything is an unknown.

"Okay," Vetra starts, sucking in a breath. "I'll figure something out. You'll get your assembler."

"Just make sure you don't damage anything, okay?! It'll be useless otherwise. And—"

"I'll make sure." Vetra drawls as she rolls her eyes. "Disconnecting now." She cuts the link before Peebee continues, and approaches Sara. Great. Time for drama. "I'm not going to ask what that was about." Or not. Thank the turian godif there is one. "But we still have a problem."

"We do?" Sara's brows furrow, and she follows where Vetra's pointing. The remnant ruins, the same place Sara pointed to a minute ago. "Okay... And...?"

"How are we supposed to bring back a whole bot—that wants to kill us—without damaging it?"

Sara stiffens. She thinks about it. Her head drops dejectedly as she groans. "Why are things never easy with Peebee?"

-—-—-—-—-—-

"C'mon, doc," Liam sulks, pointing with an accusatory look shot at Remy. "She gets a laptop and premium hotel service. Where's all that for me?"

Remy grins. It's coming much easier with more and more practice; and the best part is that she doesn't have to think about this one. It just comes naturally. She plunks away on her new toy, playing it nonchalant and pretending she doesn't see or hear Liam's whining; but she can't stop grinning.

"I'm sure you'll receive all of that once we drop you off at the Nexus," Lexi sighs from her terminal. "Otherwise, ask Suvi the next time she comes here."

Lexi's bored tone sounds like she's already been through this a hundred times before and expects this sort of attitude; does that suggest that Liam's prone to injury and stays here often? Is it due to recklessness, or clumsiness? The Initiative wouldn't tolerate or hire someone who's clumsy. Would they for recklessness, though? Remy's here, after all, and there were plenty of psych evals to pick up on such a blatantly clear trait.

Then again, the Initiative's plan to travel to Andromeda screamed crazy. Of course it's going to attract crazy—or desperate—people.

So which one is Liam? Lexi? Suvi? Remy's certain she's the worst of both worlds; crazy enough to buy a one-way ticket, desperate enough to buy in the first place.

Remy's mind wanders as she scrolls through the bountiful folders of stunning phenomenons on Earth that she could only ever dream of witnessing. And here she thought she traveled a lot. If work provided Suvi the means to roam the world, then Remy is in the wrong profession. Case and point right now, considering Suvi gets to hang out on a ship and explore this new galaxy.

Something pings in Remy's ear, and her attention is drawn to a box popping up on the corner of her screen—a message from Suvi. Remy smiles at what she reads.

[Look for the folder that says 'Belt of Venus', a lot of my favorite shots are in there. You'll probably like the 'Supercells'. Most terrifying but thrilling storms of my life!]

Come on. That's not fair. How the hell is Remy supposed to choose? Obviously she's going to go for one that gets the heart racing, especially since she's never pegged Suvi to be a storm enthusiast and chaser too—among all the other things she's chasing. It makes sense now, though. Suvi's running straight into—for—trouble every time she visits the med-bay, studying the storm from a safe distance.

Remy thinks on that. Shakes her head. Smiles. She's not the storm. She's always been the chaser.

So what does that make Suvi?