Tag: Asari OC, Asexual Character, Aromantic Character, Mass Effect 2,
Summary:
A chance encounter is the start of a new friendship, one that Shepard sorely needs.
"What the fuck?" Aega yelled, reaching up to snatch for her hat, but the turian who had it was just too fucking tall. "Give that back!" If only she had two free hands, she would be able to grab onto his cowl and pull herself up to get it back.
"Come on, just show it to me," Varimus cajoled. "The other girls tell me you have a little special something on your head."
"Fuck off!" she growled, contemplating the pros and cons of using her biotics to send this asshole flying against the nearest immovable object. "But he is a high roller," her stupid mind whispered. "He tips so well…"
"Shut up!" this, she directed it at herself.
"Hey!" Another voice rang out.
They froze in an odd facsimile of typical playground fights. It was the human, Redhead, nicknamed that way in her mind not because she's a typical human redhead but because the woman's hair was an eye searing neon red. Aega was pretty sure it glowed in the dark.
Redhead was recognisable despite her penchant to keep to herself. Mostly due to her head scratching decision to walk around Omega in casual clothes, well sometimes. Who walks around Omega without armour? Even the dancers had their own portable shields and pistols, Omega wasn't made for the faint of hearts.
Aega imagined Redhead saw herself as her rescuer, not that she truly needed one. So there stood Redhead in a pair of jeans, a black jacket layered over a white tank top, a pair of red boots and a cap over her head, sticking out like a sore thumb in her plain clothes.
"What the fuck do you think you're doing?" Redhead continued, striding right up towards them. Anger was bleeding off her with every step. "Give the fucking thing back to her."
Redhead stopped right next to Aega. She was a little disappointed, Redhead was shorter than she was, and she wasn't a tall asari to begin with. How was the human intending to help? And… she took a sniff. Her nose literally shrivelled up at the stench. Working in the Afterlife had trained her to tolerate the nausea inducing mix of booze, smoke and all manner of bodily fluids. Redhead smelt like she had been dipped in a vat of ryncol or worse.
"Give her back her hat, or whatever the fuck it is," Redhead demanded, her words slurring.
"Spirits, fuck off human, nobody asked you," Varimus shoved Redhead hard, she went tumbling on her ass, falling with a solid thump, clipping her head against the rough concrete.
Goddess flaming tits, save me from meddlesome humans.
In Aega's distraction, he yanked her hand covering the top of her head away, and he spluttered, "What is that?"
Shit, shit, shit.
She clenched her jaw, shame and anger roiled in her guts with equal measure. The idea of blasting the asshole into a paste looked more and more appealing as the seconds ticked by. Her biotics flickering under her skin.
"That's a fucking dick you have on your head."
The air went out of her as she deflated. She couldn't decide if she should laugh or cry. The fucking comment wasn't even original.
"A small one at that."
That did it. Nobody insults me and gets away with it. The anger came roaring back.
Asaris typically had six soft bone cartilage on their heads, crests, but also referred to as tentacles by some fucking uncouth aliens. She was special, Goddess blessed special, she had a seventh, a malformed little nub of a mutation. The same mutation left her with malformed eezo nodes and biotics so weak she could barely do much. Her parents should have amputated that fucking thing when she's a kid. It would have saved from her a ton of mortifying situations. Like now.
Weak biotics not withstanding, it licked up her arms when she got mad. She gritted her teeth as she prepared to kiss her job goodbye, but a low chuckle caught her attention. The sound sent a chill down her spine like nothing else did. Not in her years of working on Omega had a sound made her feel that way.
Redhead picked herself up, the motion effortless and fluid. Her cap had been knocked off her head and Aega could see glowing red scars lined Redhead's face, tracing the line of her jaw, down her neck and disappearing under her tanktop. Goddess, what the fuck happened to her?
Well, all thought went out of her head when blue flames leapt up around Redhead, sheathing her completely in a brilliant indigo. She could feel Redhead's field lapping against her skin, it prickled with an intensity she had only felt when Aria's biotic commandos were ready to murder someone. How could a human biotic be so powerful?
Redhead jerked her chin towards her and she got the message. She scrambled away from Varimus. Mentally she was saying goodbye to her tips, but credits could be earned, dignity not so much.
"Hold on, hold on," he stammered. "Do you know who I am? I do business with Aria. You can't do thi—"
Redhead flicked a finger in Varimus' direction. He quite literally was jerked off his feet. His screams echoed as he sailed through air and went tumbling over the edge, all the way down before coming to an abrupt wet splat.
Aega leaned over the edge and winced, her hand reaching up to her nub instinctively. Redhead barely glanced at her handiwork as if it was as unremarkable as criminals on Omega. How often does she toss dudes over the edge?
"Are you all right?" Redhead was no longer slurring, it's like the flare of biotics burnt all alcohol from her body.
"You know you could have let me get my hat before you throw him off," she pointed out.
Redhead grimaced. "Sorry." The apology was sullen and clipped, but she went and retrieved her cap from the ground, dusted it off by slapping it against her thigh before offering it to Aega. "Walk you home?"
Aega took a deep breath, it felt dangerous to accept and even more so not to, but Redhead had been nothing but proper. Even back at Afterlife, she was never handsy with the dancers. Quite frankly, she was a model customer. Blood trickled down the side of Redhead's face. She wiped it away with a twist of her lips, more annoyed than pained.
This human was by far the most interesting thing Aega had encountered on Omega. Why not?
Redhead fell in step behind her, hands shoved into pockets, she stalked like a predator out on the hunt. Stepping through familiar trash lined alleyways, behind Red Sand cookhouses, past mercs who wolf whistled every single time she walked by. With Redhead at her back, nobody dared to breathe wrong. She could get used to this, a smirk danced across her lips. Pretty soon, they were standing outside her apartment's door.
A quick scan of her omni-tool and the door unlocked. Aega stepped in expecting Redhead to head off, but she found Redhead frozen in place, her face tight, her jaw twitching. Aega couldn't help but notice the glow on her omni-tool. A name "M. Lawson" was cleared printed across it. It was a call. Redhead made no move to accept or reject it. In fact, she looked increasingly distressed. The orange light made her angry red scars flare brighter.
Aega held her breath, marvelling at how one call did what Varimus' throw failed. The muscles under Redhead's jaw flexed. She expected to hear the grinding of enamel against enamel. Slowly, Aega reached across the space between them and dismissed the call. Redhead flinched as the glow faded, her eyes darted to meet Aega's. They were an odd mix of green and yellow with a hint of almost mechanical red underneath. Her gaze was intense and disconcerting, but it held a hurt so deep and overwhelming, Aega couldn't start to fathom where it begun and ended.
"Are you ok?" she asked.
Redhead squeezed her eyes shut for a moment and tried to master herself. Her face twitched as the hurt roughly shuffled to the back and locked in a vault. Her face might be stone, but there was no hiding the bow of her shoulders, or the shaking of her hands. When Redhead opened her eyes again, there was an exhaustion swimming in them that no amount of sleep was going to ease.
Aega waited.
"Can…" words dribbled from Redhead's lips like it was the last drops from a well, precious and entirely impossible to coax, "Can I stay the night?"
It was closer to the morning cycle than the night, but life on Omega was perpetually shrouded by a pink smog and neon lights, who really could say when it was morning or night?
Aega's lungs finally remembered how they worked, she inhaled. "Why?"
"I…" Redhead's eyes darted to her omni-tool then back at her. She took a shuddering breath. "It's fine. Sorry."
Aega couldn't say why, but she reached out and caught hold of Redhead's jacket. Redhead stopped, going stock still instantly. "Wait," lips pursed, she took a deep breath. I must be crazy. "All right but just sleeping."
"Yes, just sleeping," Redhead agreed, relief lifting the tension from her shoulders.
Aega couldn't bear to refuse what little relief the human asked for. You don't kick a wounded animal out into the streets, right?. Not even on Omega.
Redhead was odd. Everyone on Omega was fucking weird, but she was taking it to a whole other level. She found herself a seat at the kitchen table, and she just sat there, unmoving. Her eyes glazed over, watching a scene that wasn't before her eyes. The stiff manner she held herself has completely gone out of her body. She was limp, not relaxed but exhausted and completely drained.
Aega went about her usual wind down routine. A quick meal, one that Redhead declined, a shower, taking care to moisturise her skin and crests. Then as she strode out of toilet completely nude except for a skull cap over her head, Redhead stiffened, biotics immediately flaring. It was instinctual that Aega's, weak as they were, leapt up in response.
"What the fuck?" she cried, hand thrusted out, a fragile barrier shimmering between herself and Redhead. "If you're going to be this jumpy, I need you to leave."
Redhead stared at her, unshed tears swimming in her side. What do you see? The question went unspoken. The palpable tension eased only when Redhead wrenched her face away. She packed away her biotics like a child destroying a sandcastle, quick and violent.
The vacuum it left made Aega breathless. It was scary, Goddess it was fucking scary. Redhead sat, hands clenched in fists, arms braced across the top of her knees as she bent over. Her stoic and hardened exterior was merely paper thin, brittle and fragile. She was wounded in a manner beyond Aega's understanding.
"Do you have a problem with people sleeping nude or something?" she asked just to fill the silence.
"No," Redhead replied, head still bowed, "but people do not all sleep nude."
"Well then asaris sleep nude, typically," she retorted. "This is my apartment and I want to sleep nude. Do you have a problem?"
"No," Redhead's voice was small and soft.
"Fine," Aega walked over to the bed. It was wide enough for two, her only indulgence in this rickety old ass apartment. Crawling under the sheets after a long day at work was a luxury she wouldn't ever give up. She sighed and lay on her back, closing her eyes in an attempt to sleep, but Redhead's presence was a solid weight. "Are you just going to sit there all night, day, whatever?" she asked with her eyes still closed.
"Yes," came the reply, softer than before. "I don't want to intrude."
Aega sat up. "You already have by asking to spend the night. Don't be creepy, just go wash up and come to bed."
Redhead lifted her head, her eyes glowed slightly red in the dim light. "Are you always so welcoming to all strangers?"
"No," she frowned, sitting up and reading between the lines. "I'm a dancer, I don't sleep with my customers. I dance, that's it."
Redhead just continued to stare at her. It wasn't quite disbelief, but it wasn't conviction either.
Aega narrowed her eyes. "Just because I'm a dancer doesn't mean I sell my body. Sure, you see my naked body but it's a time and place of my choosing. I'm not a kiosk that's available all day and night, unable to decide if I consent or not." She took a deep breath and levelled her eyes with the Redhead's, "I do not do sex, I don't do love, not in the conventional sense anyway. Not with customers, not with people. I'm not built that way. It's just a me thing."
Redhead blinked, a strange sort of understanding seemed to dawn upon her. "What about now?"
"Now? You're seeing my naked form because I want to sleep and I don't want to sleep clothed. Would you just please get cleaned up so I can sleep?"
Redhead didn't speak, instead she retreated to the toilet. After a short while, she emerged dressed only in her tank top and black underwear. Her clothes were draped over the chair she was occupying earlier. The wound at her brow was cleaned up, but it's still swollen and bruised.
Aega got out of bed. After a quick rummage around, she found a tube of half used, thankfully as yet unexpired, medi-gel. She sat cross legged on the bed and beckoned towards Redhead. She walked stiffly and sat like a stick was tied to her spine, unbending and unyielding.
With a soft huff, Aega squeezing a dollop onto her finger and reached out towards Redhead.
"You don't have to do that," she said, flinching away. "It doesn't need medi-gel."
"Look, I've already got it out, it's either going to waste, or it's going on your forehead. Pick one," she snapped.
Redhead sighed and closed her eyes, she leaned into the touch. The stiffness easing out of her shoulders.
Aega recapped the tube and tossed it onto her bedside table. Redhead opened her eyes slowly, a softness reaching into her oddly coloured eyes.
Aega cleared her throat, "Were you expecting sex when you asked to stay the night? Is that how humans ask for sex?"
Redhead jerked back. "What? No."
"They always want sex."
"Who?"
"People," Aega said, gesturing vaguely with her arms.
"Not me," Redhead replied. "I'm not looking for sex. I just want…" She scrubbed her face and managed to rub half the medi-gel off.
"Goddess! You— Argh. Damnit, just sit still," she retrieved the medi-gel and reapplied again.
"Sorry."
Aega worked irritably, annoyed that her night got so derailed, but she calmed eventually. "What do you want?"
Redhead cocked her head confused.
"You said you're not looking for sex, what are you looking for?"
Redhead looked up, their eyes met. The look in her eyes weighed heavy, it was a load Aega didn't think anyone could shoulder. Exhaustion mingling with anger, confusion with grim determination. "I'm just tired," she admitted in the end.
"Then, sleep. And don't ask me about the beanie."
It wasn't what Redhead was referring to, but it was the best Aega could offer. Whatever burden Redhead was carrying was too much for her, all she could give was one night's reprieve from whatever was bothering Redhead.
"I wasn't going to."
When Aega woke next, it was close to noon. The other side of her bed was empty and cold. She sat up, putting the blankets up around her shoulders and retrieving her pistol from under her pillow. "She was telling the truth. No sex."
If Redhead had turned out to be a creep, she was more than ready to blow her head open if she needed to. One could never be too careful on Omega, there were more creeps around than most places. And people, people always wanted sex.
Aega tugged her beanie over her head a little tighter and got up. A little handwritten note was left next to Redhead's cap on the table. It spotted a rather childlike handwriting with just two words "Thank you". She picked it up and smiled. "You're welcome."
The next time Redhead turned up at Afterlife, she didn't even glance Aega's way. She was a little miffed by it. Are we not friends, somewhat friends at the very least? She spent the shift fuming but when she was done, Redhead was waiting. "May I walk you home?" she asked.
"No sex?"
Redhead shook her head. "No sex."
"Then let me introduce myself, I'm Aega Iasthai," she said, holding out her hand in a human greeting.
Redhead straightened, but instead of grasping Aega's offered hand, she gripped her forearm as her biotics buzzed lightly under her skin. She blinked at Redhead's knowledge of asari greetings. Although it was a greeting more commonly used in Serrice, Aega knew the greeting well enough. Happily, she pulled her field up and mingled hers with Redhead's as she wrapped her fingers around Redhead's forearm. It was nothing but a light brushing of fields before they both let go.
"My name is Riley," Redhead said, "Riley Shepard."