Nihlus entered Det. William's condo, the darkness swallowing them up for a few seconds until the automatic lights came to life.
The turian couldn't help but say, "Whoa!" His eyes continued to pan the open, virtually spotless area.
She ambled down the sparse cluster of steps moving past the kitchen slash bar.
"This is nice." Nihlus continued, his mandibles spreading for a smile. He didn't expect her to live in such a luxurious apartment, not because she didn't look like she could afford it. Ashley just seemed like the type of person that would live in an average setting, trying to blend in with the middle class.
Nihlus padded toward the living room. There were some more steps just before the living room; a huge, inviting C-shaped couch just ahead. Past the couch were some shelves to the left, a fish tank full of colorful sea creatures to the right, a loveseat across from the larger couch, and a marble coffee table in the center of the room. Just beyond the living room was a smaller, dining area that was sectioned off by two small pieces of wall. There were a few exotic plants in the dining room and a long glass window, displaying a distant view of the Presidium.
"Hmm, plants and fish?" Nihlus stated. That was interesting. Most people he had met either had one or the other.
"Meow!" Nihlus jumped.
Ashley began to chuckle.
"What was that!?" The turian turned around to see a large, hairy creature with big, blue eyes staring at him from atop the rounded couch.
"It's called a cat. Taz is his name."
The fur ball stared at Nihlus, Nihlus staring back at the fur ball. The cat soon lost interest licking its paw.
"Taz." Nihlus stepped closer to it. "Does it bite?"
Ashley walked over to the cat, scooping it up in her loving arms. Taz began to purr. "Yes, but only when it's someone he doesn't like."
Nihlus reached out, carefully, allowing the cat to take in his scent. Still purring, he added, "Hey, I can make that sound."
"Really!?" Ashley quirked a dark eyebrow.
Nihlus was already petting Taz on the head. He was as soft as he looked, having a cream colored body, and dark legs, tail, and face.
"Wow, he's really soft." Nihlus responded with a smile.
"Meh." Taz sounded, purring louder in her arms. The cat's eyes were closed tight, enjoying the turian's rough digits moving upon its head.
"He likes you."
"That's good."
"Mow!" Taz was ready to get back on the couch, maneuvering in Ashley's arms.
"Okay, okay." She let him jump from her embrace to the couch again, Nihlus retracting his hand simultaneously.
"A cat." The turian exclaimed. He was going to have to look that up on the extranet.
Ashley then brushed the fur off of her arms and form-fitting shirt.
"How much is it to get a permit for one of those?"
Ashley scoffed. "An arm and a leg." She finally glanced at him, only to see that he was still looking at Taz. "2200 credits."
"Wow." He watched as Taz walked the length of the couch, turning around only to walk back to its center. Once he got there, the cat sat down with its front legs folded inward. "I'd like to have one of those."
"Just make sure you do your research." Ashley warned. "They're a lot of work."
"It's cute."
Ashley smiled. Before Nihlus, she would've never taken a turian to be a "cat-person".
There was a short pause, and then Nihlus remembered he had to use the bathroom, and she wanted to shower or something.
"May I use your restroom?"
"Yeah," Ashley responded, shaking her head. She had caught herself staring at the turian, and was now trying to play it off. "Down that hall, first door on the left." She pointed.
Nihlus headed for the bathroom, and once he was out of sight, Ashley went crazy, removing the one shoe that was in a corner, to her bedroom. A blanket was resting on the loveseat. She came back, refolded the blanket and set it neatly on the loveseat's armrest. Then she darted into the kitchen, moving the stray spices from the counter back to the spice rack.
After hearing the toilet flush and the water from the sink go off, Nihlus remerged. "Bathroom smells nice."
Ashley felt herself blushing for some reason.
"Erm… thanks." Her mind began to race. Despite his complement, she remained focused on the negative. What could she have possibly forgotten to put away: dirty clothes, cleaning supplies, maybe something a little bit more personal? Her heart started beating against her chest. Thankfully, the turian was not wearing his visor; otherwise, he would've been questioning her elevated heartrate.
"I'll just be a minute." She lied.
Ashley was going to take longer than a minute, going to tidy up the bathroom, after the fact. She tried to just waltz past Nihlus, but ended up speed-walking once she made it past him, darting into the restroom.
The light came on upon her entrance, revealing a measly can of bathroom cleaner sitting on the pristine countertop. "Uh!" She groaned with disappointment. To her, it was as bad as leaving dirty clothes on the floor.
Ashley put the cleaner away, giving the space a quick inspection before returning to the living room.
"You can watch some vids, or whatever on the television."
Nihlus was holding Taz, sitting down on the couch. The cat had its paw against his neck, meowing every so often. Ashley smiled.
"Nihlus?"
"Huh?" He suddenly looked at her, his face resembling a deer caught in headlights.
"You can watch some vids or listen to music…."
"Oh, I'm fine." His free hand ran the length of the animal's back, causing Taz to purr loudly again.
"You sure?"
"Yeah."
"… okay." Ashley went to take the briefest shower in human history.
#
"So tell me about the turians you dated?" Rage began. She was sitting while the rest of the girls on laundry duty, stood in a row, folding towels.
A smile crept its way onto Jack's tatted face. "Well, there were a lot of them."
"You dated a turian…," A human with tanned skin and curly hair spat, grimacing at Jack.
"No, I didn't date a turian, I fucked turians—several of them!" Jack made sure she was speaking above the cacophony of wash machines and dryers, glaring at the Hispanic girl.
She knew better than to say any more, refocussing on her work, while Jack got back to her conversation with Rage.
Grabbing another towel, Rage then asked, "So tell me about the turians you fucked; just the ones you really liked."
It didn't take long for Jack to respond, if it was someone she liked, they were a tattoo on her memory. It was people she hated, and there were a lot of them that she remembered as well; only it would take her longer to respond due to the anger built up inside.
"I liked Icas well enough." Jack spoke nonchalantly. "He had a big dick, like most turians, and he was easy."
"Easy?"
"Yeah, he was the sensitive type." Jack was still smiling as she folded her towel. "He'd let me do anything I wanted to him in the bedroom. And he never complained."
Rage's eyebrows rose. The other girls glanced at Jack, most of them in some state of shock. They were having a hard time believing most of her stories, and the ones they did believe; she told with such brashness that people didn't know how to respond.
Of course Jack could've been lying, but she was already a powerful bitch that few would dare to cross, so she had nothing to gain from lying. And Rage didn't take her as the type of woman who needed an ego boost.
"And then there was Lannix. He had a thing for bondage, and watching me get fucked by krogans." Jack's smile grew wider.
"You had sex with a…" The Hispanic girl caught herself, throwing all of her focus back on the towels she was folding.
Jack had her eyes on the woman for a moment. And then she turned back to Rage, continuing her story. "Lannix let me fuck whoever I wanted, but krogans were his favorite. And he loved pushing me to my limits!"
This time, Rage was having trouble digesting that one. It wasn't that she didn't believe Jack; Rage just couldn't imagine someone of her size, taking on a krogan in a sexual way. She had seen holo's of their anatomy, and it scared most humans.
"Uh…? Wow," was the only response Rage could muster. She had never been with a krogan, and probably slash hopefully never would.
Rage's eyes panning the scene, she could see the poor human inmates turning pale, most likely from the mere thought of a krogan coming at them in a sexual manner. Sex with a krogan could kill the average human.
"Were there anymore?"
"Yeah…, I'll tell you later if you fold the rest of my towels."
Rage scoffed. "Why can't you just tell me now."
"Because I don't want any of these dumb, sensitive, bitches puking all over the towels." She then glared at the other girls. They knew better than to respond.
The fact that Jack didn't want the other girls to here this one, made the gossip seem all the more juicier. "Okay, you got a deal."
#
Later on that evening…
"Okay ladies, lights-out!" The warden barked through the speaker, voice like thunder.
Rage had only met him once, a batarian with a scar that went across his eye, blinding it. He'd been nothing short of an asshole. And at random, the warden, named Elby-Hin, would have some poor soul drug into his office, for god only knows what?
As the main lights shut off, the red, emergency lights activated. Rage carefully turned in her rack, facing Jack.
"Jack?"
"What?" Jack sounded irritated like always, but that was just her natural voice.
"Who was the other turian you fucked?"
Jack turned to her at that moment. They could still see each other's silhouettes in the red light.
"Saren Arterius."
"What! The spectre?"
A devilish smile, masked by the absence of light, crept over Jack's face.
"The Saren Arterius… the human hater!?"
"Oh, he definitely hates humans!"
"How in the fuck, did you manage that?"
"After I blew up that space station," Jack began, moving her body so that she was lying on her side, supporting her head with her hand. "The council ordered their best spectre to bring me in…. He chased me all over the galaxy. I managed to disappear for a bit, but the fuck-face, or should I say: fucked-up-face…."
Rage chuckled. She'd seen vids of Saren, and if turians were considered an ugly race, then he was their mascot. Saren's face looked as if it had been pulled apart, put back together, pulled apart again, and put back together, only with less and less pieces, each time.
"I was on Illium, the first time he found me. He thought he was being clever, trying to follow me. He wasn't!" Jack's voice deepened. "I lit his ass on fire. Then I fled to Omega."
"You lit him of fire!?"
"Yeah, twice, with ryncol."
"Oh, my…." Rage remembered hearing a news broadcast on that, a while back. Saren was severely injured and had to be hospitalized. People were speculating that it was a deranged fan, but now Rage knew the truth.
"You want to know how he got that metal jaw?"
"How?" Rage didn't keep up with Saren like that. She'd just seen him every now and then on a vid-screen. But she could remember a time when his face was more intact.
"On Eden Prime, at a hotel called, Sand Candy Resort; I shot him in the face with a shotgun, close-range. And then I hit him with a shock wave. His big, dumb body went flipping off the balcony."
Rage just stared at her in the darkness, jaw agape.
Jack was chuckling now.
"Okay, skip to the part where you two fucked."
"The bitch finally caught me, and brought me back to the ship. He put a neural inhibitor on me, and had me cuffed to his bed."
"Wait, he had you cuffed to his bed?"
"His crew knew better than to ask questions. They cuffed me to his bed, and when Saren got some spare time, he would fuck me."
"He raped you!?" Rage's voice turned dark, feeling her blood grow hot with anger.
"No." Jack defended.
Rage just thought that she was in denial at first, but Jack was too real for denial.
"He fucked me the first few times, trying to break me, I guess. But I broke him instead!"
Rage remained quiet, a curious expression given to the atmosphere.
"How," she finally asked?
"There were several bounties upon my head, astronomical amounts; eight hundred credits here, a million credits there…. Arterius kept me in his room, his personal quarters, for over two weeks. Anyone else would've turned me in, immediately, to the highest bidder."
Rage just listened, her heated blood going warm again.
"Eventually, he undid one of my cuffs so I had more mobility. Then, I overheard him in his private study, on a vid-com. He was yacking with what sounded like important people, over the security of certain prisons. I think he was shopping around for one that had the shittiest security, so that I can make my escape."
"Why would he do that?" Rage was thinking it had something to do with the bounties. He could send her to a low-ranking prison. Jack would make her escape. He'd catch her again, and collect the bounty. They'd do that song and dance for a while, finally ceasing when just before things grew suspicious.
Jack scoffed. "I think he enjoyed our time together; the thrill of the chase, and definitely the fucking."
"But you lit him of fire!"
"I know. I think he enjoyed that too. When he captured me, he told me that no one had ever lit him on fire before."
Rage didn't know what to make of her story at first, but the more she let it marinate, the more it started sounding like her and Garrus. "You impressed him."
"Yeah, I did." Jack sounded happy. "When I first got here, Elby-Hin, called me into his office and said, 'You must have made quite the impact on that spectre. He refused any reward'."
"He turned you in for free?"
"Yup." Jack was now on her back, smiling while looking up. "Asshole!" She suddenly barked, with an inflection that hinted at a deeper emotion.
"You love him?" Rage asked cautiously.
"I should've ripped him a part, and then took a hot, steamy, shit on his remains!"
That answered her question. Of course she did. But if she loved him so much, then why hadn't she escaped already, to be with him?
"So why haven't you…."
"I was," Jack interrupted in a biting tone. "Until this pregnant bitch showed up in my room. And now I can't leave her knowing that soon, she's going to be too fat to defend herself!"
Jack secretly blamed herself for what happened to her child. She had let her guard slip with Sonic, and it was the only time she did. So protecting Rage and her baby was Jack's way to make amends.
Rage was smiling.
"Thanks, Jack."
"Shut up and go to sleep, bitch, before I put you in stasis field." Jack rolled over onto her other side, her back now facing Rage.
Rage did just that, still smiling.