Warframe doesn't belong to me. Please come up with your own witticism.

Contains Spoilers for the Quests, the Synthesis scans, descriptions and everything else you find on the wiki.

Left fist - Right fist – Back, high kick
Excalibur had repeated the Narta fifteen times now, but Ria could still feel the tears on her face and her racing heart. More transference, better synchronization!
Left fist – Right fist – Back, high kick
The Warframe repeated the moves precisely. Why could she still feel the buringing? Why couldn't she dissolve into her Warframe? Be rid of flesh and feelings.
Left fist – Right fist-

Something grabbed the Warframe's shoulder and turned it around. A Grineer's rage-filled face came into view, followed by her iron fist.

Ria almost felt the punch through the somatic link, though it was more confusion that made Excalibur stumble backwards.

"FUCK! This shit feels pain now!" Sindr howled, holding her prosthetic.

"How… How did you get out of the cell?" Excalibur asked as he got into a defensive position. They were standing right in front of the door to the transference room. Ria could feel the Warframe's protectiveness.

"You didn't seal the door, you dunce! Now get out of that thing!" Sindr yelled.

Sicarius! Ria was too used to the Cephalon doing the small things. "Return to your-"

"FUCK YOU!" The Grineer screamed. "I don't accept this! You hear me?" She tried to shake the pain out of the arm. "I don't accept this shit! You don't just get to… to… to break apart in my arms and then run off without giving me a chance to make things right! And don't you DARE hide in that shit!"

Guilt and a feeling of Excalibur's indignity filled Ria's chest. Sindr approach was counterproductive, but it was obviously honest. And the Tenno didn't want to drive an even deeper wedge in between them. "Through this door…" Excalibur said and the Transference room opened.

Sindr pushed past it without a second glance. For a just a moment, the quiet beauty of the transference chamber made her stop in her tracks. The gently twisting form of crystalized void energy and the grandeur of the glittering walls gave the chair a sense of royalty. Divinity even. Sindr could imagine that the queens might use such an imposing seat.
The isolation-shield opened and a Sindr's "captor" revealed herself. A sad face, overrun with tears. "Were you trying to drown yourself in there?" The Grineer asked with a sigh as the rage faded.

The Tenno seemed to shrink a bit deeper into her chair.

Sindr took a sharp breath. "Look, I'm sorry, ok? I… I though… fuck, I didn't think!" she let out a groan. "You said "hug" and I wanted to be funny… I didn't mean to-"

"It was funny…" Ria interrupted and sniffed.

"Yeah, I can see that…"

"No… I…" The Tenno took a deep breath. "I would have fought back if I didn't like it. It was a nice hug."

"Then why the fuck are you crying as if I killed you favourite Hyekka and ate them in front of you?"

Ria drew a sharp breath. "I don't know."

"What?"

"I don't know! It was nice! But then… I… I don't know… it became too much…" Ria wrapped her arms around her stomach.

"A hug is too much for you?"

"I don't know!"

Sindr tilted her head to the side and walked closer. "Ria, you said that Tenno interact in their… frames." Her eyes hardened. "How often do you see people's faces?"

"I talk to Sicarius and Lotus… and when the council-"

"That's not what I asked!" Sindr interrupted "When do you sit down with others and do what we did back there?"

Ria looked away.

"When was the last time you actually touched anyone? With your own hands?"

"I don't remember… before the old war?" the Tenno whispered. She looked up and was shocked at the sheer level of bewilderment on Sindr's face.

"Is that normal for Tenno? Do you have, like, conditioning, implants… anything like that?"

"Not to my knowledge…"

"How the fuck can you even think straight?"

Ria felt anger flare. "What are you talking about?"

The Grineer took a deep breath. "When I was stationed on Mars, I did a long assignment around Ares. That area suffered from long dust storms. Some lasted a month or even two." Her eyes darkened. "We had forward listening posts in the desert… self-sufficient with water and enough rations for a year. At first, we staffed them with a single soldier each. You just had to keep tabs on the desert and call in. The brass didn't consider that the storms would cut them off from base. Even after the storm passed, most wouldn't call in. So we went to look." Sindr averted her gaze. "Those who hadn't shot their own brains out, attacked their relievers. The one, we managed to capture, screamed about seeing lights, hearing order that weren't real, the desert swallowing her and what not. We had to put her down. Tough woman, same batch as me…"

A part of Ria wanted to scream. Wanted to shout that Grineer were damaged by default, that she had people to talk to, and that this was an insane comparison. But she didn't feel like lying to Sindr or herself.

"Look, I'm not some honour-codex Tenno person or a very smart Grineer. But I've seen what solitude can do to your head." Sindr said with a grimace. "I mean, I thought that week on that ship was a nightmare but-"

"STOP!" Ria yelled, another flood of tears rolling down her cheeks. "I can take it…"

"Nobody can! Nobody is supposed to! Complete monsters like the Grustrag Three have each other! Even the tech-head get to talk and have their cheeks stroked when they do good!"

Ria let out a muffled giggle. "Those amputated heads that control heavy machinery? You have people who walk around and give them rewards."

"We needed one punishment more humiliating than death by Atterax, but don't change the subject. You made sure that I got visits and all that. Don't tell me that you don't see, how fucked up it is that you take better care of prisoners than yourself!" Sindr growled.

"I'm not weak!"

"You don't prove your eyesight by staring at the sun!"

"Now you sound like Lotus…" The Tenno mumbled.

"Well apparently that Lotus person has a pair of functioning eyes in their heads!"

"She doesn't have eyes…"

Sindr almost lunged forward. "If you try to change the topic one more time!" she growled. "Now get up and come with me!"

Ria took a shaky breath. "Where to?"

"You'll see…" The Grineer said with a sigh and turned to go.

The Tenno felt the knots in her stomach twist and turn. She wanted to close the shields, transfer back into Excalibur and forget. Forget the burning. Forget the confusion. Forget that there even was a Ria. But you couldn't always do what you want. So she got up and followed Sindr.
The Grineer led her straight back to the cell, though the march felt much, much longer than the 40 steps it actually took. They entered and Sindr went straight to her cot and sat down. She looked at the Tenno and padded the space left of her with her good arm.

Ria froze.

"I'm not going to take advantage of you." Sindr stated coldly. "Look, if this was the field, I'd have no qualms with blowing your head off, but I don't like hurting people by accident. Now come here and sit down! Not gonna hurt you."

The five steps the Tenno made seemed to take days. Finally, she sat down next to the taller woman. Sindr looked her over. In her transference chair, Ria had looked like a divine being. Energy crystalizing around her, her eyes glowing with the Void's power, her body relaxed and almost weightless. It was an imposing view.
But here and now, when she barely looked over Sindr's shoulder, her back was slouched and her whole body shook, she was just another person. A person in pain. Sindr took a deep breath. "Look, when it's too much again, tell me." The Grineer said as gently as possible and wrapped her arm around the Tenno's shoulder. She pulled her closer, but remained relaxed enough for the smaller woman to easily resist.

She didn't. Instead Ria nestled into the embrace, resting her temple on Sindr's shoulder. She let out a slight gasp as a wave of electricity went through her spine. The grey material of her jumpsuit didn't mask how warm Sindr's body was. How her heart beat.

"I guess every touch is bad touch for someone like you…" The Grineer muttered to herself. She sighed slightly, allowing herself a moment of relaxation. "You know, you can touch me all you want." She said after a few moments of quiet.

The Tenno didn't waste a second. She instantly wrapped her arms around Sindr's waist and squeezed her tightly. Ria felt as if her heart was filling out her whole chest with every beat and her breath was wheezing. This was wrong. It was all wrong! But she couldn't let go. Her body felt as if it was overheating, but the thought of letting go right now... letting go of all the warm, the life and strength.

"It's ok… I'm right here. Nobody's gonna hurt you…" Sindr muttered in an awkward tone.

"Why?" The Ria whispered after several minutes of clinging tightly and sobbing miserably.

"Yesterday, I was bawling and crawling around like a headless Kubrow…" She let out a sigh and rested her cheek on Ria's head. "Because I like you and because I'm lonely too…"

"I'm sorry…"

"For what? Being fucked up?" Sindr's eyes wandered to her free arm. Golden and silver, decorated with ornate detail and still slightly sore, even though it was just metal. "Who isn't these days?"

The Tenno let out a muffled giggle. "You're amazing." She felt the big woman's thorax vibrate as she laughed.

"Yeah, pretty much." Sindr said with a grin. "But you're no slouch yourself. Glad that we met like this… where we don't have to kill each other."

Ria sniffed. "You mean you'll stop asking?"

"At least the whole mental trauma didn't kill your sense of humor…" The Grineer sighed. "Feeling better?"

The Tenno nodded. Her breath had stabilized and the feeling of burning up had become bearable. "That's the issue… it never felt bad. Just… too much."

"Like drowning a thirsty man…"

"Yes." Ria sighed. "Lotus was right to worry…"

"That Lotus person sounds like a pretty smart girl." Sindr mused.

"She ordered me to kill you on sight."

"I repeat: That Lotus person sounds like a pretty smart girl."

Ria glared up. "Don't say that!"

The Grineer sighed. "I told you: I'm done with dying for now. But someone like you shouldn't take prisoners."

The Tenno shrunk a bit into the cot. "Because I'm weak."

"If you were weak, I wouldn't be cuddling you. I have standards." Sindr answered calmly "No, because you're curious about the wrong kind of shit." She snickered and rubbed Ria's shoulder a bit "If you had asked how I survived, I'd be dissected, cut up and floating in some analyser. You care about why I did it. That's a gamble… like a forward position. You leave yourself open to caring, but it can pay off way more."

"When did you get all introspective?" Ria giggled. A wave of relaxation came over her and a gentle smile formed on her blue lips. In the calm, she noticed how she could feel the Gineer's breasts rise with every breath. They were so nice and big.

"I spent weeks, looking through viewfinders at things. At comrades, enemies, wildlife… buildings. I couldn't questions my orders… but I could wonder."

"A waste that you hide it behind sex-jokes."

"Hey, I like sex-jokes! And getting on your nerves was a nice bonus."

Ria shifted a bit. She kept her right arm behind Sindr's back while retracting her other. Her heart was still beating fiercely but now that she had gotten used to it, it wasn't crushing, it felt almost invigorating. And the curve of her that waist and hip. She looked up. For the first time, she could study the Grineer's face from close up. Sindr's scars were mostly implant marks and undernourished crevices left by the inefficient cloning process, but her rosy tan made them easier to overlook. Old surgery scars were hidden beneath the fresh hair on her head and a criss-cross of ancient stitches went down her neck. But there was a pretty face beneath all that damage. Especially the eyes. Two coronas of burning orange in total blackness. Grineer had really pretty eyes when they weren't twisted in hatred.

Sindr looked into Ria's eyes and a wave of awkwardness overcame her. Half-lid eyes, relaxed features, a soft smile. She felt a tingle in her spine. The exotic skin tone, the glowing eyes, the cobalt lips… how could something of such otherworldly beauty feel so weightless and fragile?
And it was beauty. Sindr felt privileged to recognize it as such.

Ria batted her eyelashes. "This is a bit awkward…" she whispered smiling and pulled back a bit.

"You tell me…" The Grineer muttered. She was enjoying this way too much. A bit of distance would allow her to think straight.

That never happened. As soon as she had scooped a bit away, Ria turned and swung her leg over Sindr's. Before the Grineer could object, the Tenno was kneeling on her, butt firmly on Sindr's knees and her arms loosely around her neck.

Sindr felt herself retreating a bit. "I mean it when I said that I wouldn't take advantage of you. But this isn't helping!"

Ria batted her eyelashes. There was barely space between her and Sindr's chest. If she took a slightly deeper breath, she could feel those wonderful mounds of flesh with her whole body. "You're not taking advantage when I ask you…"

"Ok! Stop!" Sindr said firmly, raising her arms. "An hour ago, you couldn't bear a simple hug and now you want me to fuck you? Really?"

"Don't you like girls?"

"Oh, I play every team all the time, trust me, but not you and not now!"

"But-"

"No but! I told you: I don't hurt people on accident. Especially not those, I like! You're jacked up on your own happy-juice and now you think you can go all the way! Well, no, you can't, not with me! I'm not help you fuck yourself up beyond repair! Got it!" The Grineer said harshly "If we do that now, you'll hate yourself in a hour and me in a day! Then you'll crawl back into your puppet and we'll spend the next week looking at the airlock with yearning!" She let out a deep breath "Look: I like you. I really do. If I didn't, I'd be elbow deep in that cute ass of yours, no regard for your sanity. But I haven't spent the last hour consoling you, just to screw it all up now."

Ria's gaze dropped and she let out a bitter laugh. "You really do care…" she muttered.

Sindr ran her hand through the Tenno's hair and rolled her eyes. "If anyone asks, I'm playing the long game to get my own Tenno fuck toy in the future…" she said with a hint of annoyance. Suddenly she gave Ria's hair a tug and forced her to lock eyes. "Because I'm a big, nasty Grineer and you are Tenno scum, no matter how cute you are!"

"Strength is justification?" Ria asked with a grin.

"You're learning…" Sindr smirked.

"Sindr?" The Tenno asked innocently.

"What?"

For a moment, Ria's features became sincere. "Thank you!"

"Stop being so cute!" The Grineer roared and let go of Ria's hair.

The Tenno giggled. She leaned forward and quickly placed a chaste kiss on Sindr's cheek.

"Ok, that's as far as we go…" The Grineer said and let out a sigh. She grabbed Ria's hips with both hands and lifted while standing up. The Tenno let out a gasp as she was unceremoniously picked up and held at arm's length. "Void, I think I've worn armour that was heavier than you…"

The little Tenno gave Sindr a wry smile. There was something surprisingly relaxing in being carried by the big lady. A wistful certainty that those strong arms would never drop her. "What now?" She asked carefully.

"Now, I'm going to let you down and you can do whatever you want." Sindr answered "Do your repairs, eat, sleep, play with you doll, stay here, I don't care. But no more flirty-flirt or pelvis grinding, got it?"

"I'm not a child…"

"No, you're hurt. And now you're gonna put a band-aid on instead of pulling on the scabs, got it?" The Grineer answered and put the Tenno down.

Ria crossed her arms as Sindr sat down again. The room felt much colder without the woman's warmth. "Do all Grineer know so much about psycho-hygiene?"

"What is that? It sounds like someone taking a dump in your head!"

"No it… it's exactly what you've been doing: Trying to clean up all that emotional mess." Ria explained.

Sindr leaned back and rolled her eyes. "Then just say that… anyways, why wouldn't I know how to deal with that? I'm a sniper. We're all about being alone."

"It just seems weird that Grineer spend time teaching their soldiers to-"

"They don!" The Grineer interrupted harshly "You're right, the brass doesn't care about us grunts as long as they can make more. And we grunts probably wouldn't mind if there wasn't this little tid-bit: Right now if one of us snaps and kills someone, they might as well kill their whole platoon and get themselves a Grustrak bolt and a shiny new armour. Allowing one of us to fuck their own heads up is as much a death-sentence as a Tenno attack is." She sighed heavily. "In the end, we have to watch each other's backs and heads. I believe in the empire and I couldn't disobey orders, but that doesn't mean that I recognize dumb shit when I saw it. If we all watched each other's backs, even the defective would stay loyal."

The Tenno's eyes wandered to the spot next to Sindr. "May I?"

"I told you: As long as you play nice, you can do whatever you want."

Ria nodded quickly and sat down, hands of her thighs and staring at her knees. She wasn't sure what was worse, than Lotus and Sicarius had been right or that a Grineer had a better understanding of the human mind than her.

„Ok, my turn to ask questions…" Sindr decided after Ria kept quiet.

"Sure… but-"

"Yes, yes, no secret, important stuff…" The woman rolled her eyes "As if I had any use for that… no, I want you to tell me about the Grineer."

"I should tell YOU-"

"Void, I don't mean Grineer now… but you said that you were alive before the big war… I guess that was before the Empire, so… what were we like back then?" Sindr sighed. "We don't get history lessons or anything. It's just Empire this, Empire that… how was it back then?"

Ria nodded "I was really young back then… and I do have memory loss due to Transference… and most of what I know is from reconstructions… but I'll try." She leaned back, her gaze dancing across the ceiling as she tried to remember "Grineer were builders. Or rather: Slaves." She sighed. "But compared to the Orokin, everyone was. Back then there were many stocks of Grineer-"

"There are different batches today."

"No, I mean completely different. They had broad-faced strongmen, who worked tirelessly in mines. They had nimble artisans, who shaped detailed figures. If there was a task, there was a special stock of Grineer for it. The Orokin didn't like artificial intelligences or machines that could potentially be used against them, so they cloned Grineer instead. They were everywhere." Ria grimaced "And they were happy. They had no choice but be happy. They kept them infantile… desperate to please…"

Sindr let out a bitter laugh "Orokin… Leave it up to those guy to make misery sound desirable."

Ria pulled back and put a foot onto the cot. "I protected them… they turned us into Tenno to protect them. No matter how much I hated them, I fought for them."

"Sounds like the system is better off without them…"

"There was one that was different." The Tenno said quickly "She… she saved us. She helped us after we were touched by the Void. She taught us and sang for us in the dream…"

Sindr groaned loudly. "Can't you give me at least one moment to hate them all before telling me that I owe your life to that bitch…"

"Don't talk like that about Margulis! She died for our sake!" Ria hissed sharply.

The Grineer nodded. "Your height and this Margulis… ok, not gonna push those buttons. You get one more."

The Tenno's features softened. "Three?" She asked with a giggle "You give me three places where I'm safe?"

"We all have buttons that nobody should push." Sindr said neutrally "And three is nice and easy to remember."

Ria looked up to her. "What are yours?"

"Hurting people by accident."

"I noticed…"

Sindr closed her eyes for a moment. "And mentioning how many other Grineer I killed."

The air seemed to lose all warmth. Ria swallowed. "You mean the ones who went mad?"

"Let's just say that when you fight the infestation, you sometimes have to shoot before it gets the chance to turn them completely…" Sindr said coldly. An old feeling of anger flared up for a moment. Then she felt two small arms wrap around her torso.

"I'm sorry." Ria muttered while she hugged the Grineer tightly "I know you said-" A gentle hand interrupted her by tussling her hair.

"I said: If you didn't play nice." Sindr said with a smile "This is nice…"

The Tenno allowed herself a happy sigh. Then she let go. She had to, no matter how nice it was.
Then she looked up into two orange eyes that seemed very proud.

"Don't you have a ship to repair?" Sindr finally asked.

Ria nodded. "You're probably right…"

"Not kicking you out or anything. But I think we had our fill for now. Keep yourself busy for a while." The Grineer added "I'm not going anywhere."

"I'll leave the door unsealed." Ria said briefly "I would give you a tour, but you've already seen the whole ship." The Tenno didn't like to lie, but it was better if Sindr didn't get a tour and she wouldn't have to explain the entity that controlled the organic parts of the ship.

"Then it's a paint-can and not a ship! Nice gesture, but I like it in here. If we let the walls rust a bit, it's basically like home." Sindr said with a smirk and watched the Tenno get up.

Ria bowed deeply, much to Sindr's annoyance and turned to go. Halfway at the door, she stopped and turned around. "Sindr… just one question."

"Yes?"

"Elbow deep in my ass? Seriously, who says that?"

The Ginreer shrugged. "Fine, confession time" She raised her metal arm and grinned "This wasn't a Tenno. But it was fun…"

"You're horrible."

To answer to questions preemptively: No, I don't say that Lotus is a bad mother. Ria messed herself up. And yes, she basically wishes, she was the Stalker. What? Did you think Sindr was gonna be the messed up in this fic (don't worry, she is too)