Mass Effect: Inspiration
The Presidium
Disclaimer: I do not own Mass Effect
"You know, it may be artificial, but it still has that homey appeal." Tanil said, her arms spread wide as she absorbed the "sun" that shined brightly throughout the Presidium. Normally she would pay more attention to the fact that many aliens kept walking by giving her lewd glances at her strange attitude. It would seem perfectly normal to see someone basking in the artificial sunlight, if that was all Tanil was doing. Instead of standing still to absorb the sunlight, Tanil stood on the railing preventing people from getting to the lakes in the middle of the Presidium, the more eerie part being the fact that Tanil was perfectly balanced on the top bar of the railing with her arms spread out wide.
Kandros stood off to the side, his talons covering his face as he sighed and shook his head; demanding to know why the spirits made it for him to escort this blasted human. At the same time, however, he was curious as to how in the hell Tanil was balancing so perfectly on the railing, was it because of her small figure? Doubtful. "Homey?" Kandros asked, confused at the word.
Tanil spun around, the audience that gathered all gasping to see if she would fall as she suddenly spun around on her toe, still perfectly balanced on the railing. "Yes, reminds me of Earth." She said, jumping down from the railing and giving a slight bow. "Thank you, I'll be here for a couple of years." Tanil said, bowing gracefully to a couple of asari who had taken notice of her antics. The asari giggled and wondered off, making Tanil smile as she turned to her frustrated companion. "I'm sorry, were you saying something?"
"No, not at all." Kandros groaned, letting his talons slide along down his face.
"Oh no, you were." Tanil started, tapping her chin. "You were grumbling to yourself about why the turian councilor would want you to escort an Alliance officer around the Citadel." She finished, looking at Kandros with a smirk. It was quite obvious her companion was annoyed now, like humans, Tanil had a knack for noticing emotional changes that are evident in posture, pupils, and any other action; the very way Kandros's mandibles twitched gave away his annoyance to the fact that Tanil heard every one of his little ramblings. "In fact, since Shepard was a Spectre, it only leaves to reason that the Council would also help oversee any loose ends. Shepard was an Alliance officer, and thus the Alliance found someone to deal with all the paperwork. I'm more then qualified to sit behind a desk and deal with all the factors that come in after the death of such an important individual." She said, matter of fact, glancing around the market.
"All you do is paperwork then? That's pointless." Kandros said. That's right, turians were more into action weren't they? Doing paperwork was probably tedious nonsense that no real turian would ever dream of doing. Tanil couldn't blame Kandros for thinking that about her current job, but someone had to do the paperwork, even if it was tedious, and it wasn't like she hadn't already seen her share of battles. Tanil's eyes narrowed as she remembered the scar along the side of her face, no matter how gruesome the battles were. "You're doing it again."
Tanil looked back up, noticing Kandros's annoyance again, his mandibles twitching, whoops. Tanil shrugged, walking along with Kandros following behind her. "Someone has to do it, my friend. Plus, it's something I'm good at." She said, freezing and instantly bolting over to a arms store to glance through its wares.
Kandros annoyingly walked up behind Tanil as she scanned through the weapons available for purchase on her omnitool. "Do you even know how to shoot one of those?" he asked.
Tanil froze, soldier mode time, she quickly snapped around, her N7 Paladin she had concealed under her jacket in her hand in a flash and tucked underneath Kandros's chin. "I'm sorry, was that some snark I picked up, soldier? Forgive me if I unload a bullet into your skull." That sure as hell caught Kandros off guard, his eyes widening and his mandibles flaring. Both of them were silent, even as the people behind the counter hid and stared, waiting for the worst. Tanil wasn't stupid, she could fire a gun, hell she could snap a squad of troops into attention without so much as a breath, being so small made her seem weak, until she went into her mode; hell, even now Kandros was a good head taller than her, he could easily take her down if it wasn't for the gun pressing against his plates. No, Tanil could face anyone, she made sure of that long ago, no matter how tall Kandros was, she could easily pin his ass to the ground, but he didn't know that.
"Fair enough." Kandros said, smirking. What? Tanil blinked, her mode suddenly shaken, wait a second. Kandros placed his talons over her hand and lowered the gun, seeing that it was safe to do so due to her bewilderment. "I misjudged you, Commander, seems you deserve more credit than I thought." Kandros motioned to the onlookers that it was okay, and they all started to breathe again.
Tanil brought herself back to reality, lowering her pistol and concealing it to its original spot on her back underneath her jacket. "You were testing me." She realized, glaring up at Kandros who still stood over her.
"I was curious to see if that scar was worth a story, seems it is." Kandros said, taking a step back and turning. Tanil's eyes twitched as she watched Kandros, what the hell was this turian getting at? "Though I would understand why you would never want to speak of it."
"You… what the hell is your plan?" Tanil demanded, catching up with Kandros to stand behind him as he observed the lakes.
"I was testing to see if there was more than just paperwork to you." Kandros said.
"Don't turians usually do that with sparring matches?" Tanil asked, folding her arms across her chest.
"I didn't take you for a sparring person, Commander."
Tanil smirked. "I may be pint size, but you'd be surprised with what I'm capable of." She said, looking towards the lakes as she stood beside Kandros. Standing so close to him she felt like an ant, but at the same time, it was reassuring to know that she had a friend who was foot taller than her, who now seemed to respect her.
"I figured there is a lot more that you're capable of then I ever could believe." Kandros said, glancing up towards the artificial sky. "It's getting late."
Tanil glanced up as well, noticing that the sky was darkening. Despite the artificial sky, the Citadel did in fact have days that passed by to make people more comfortable. "Great. Before I know it, it'll be Monday and I'll be back to work, plus days here are shorter." Tanil complained, rubbing the bridge of her nose.
"You'll get used to it, besides, what you do for the Council and the Alliance can't be too bad." Kandros said. Tanil chuckled, yeah, if only Kandros knew how hard it was to do the Alliance's dirty work, but that was a secret a turian probably shouldn't know. "I can take you back to your apartment."
Tanil shook her head, "No, I think I can find my way back to the wards by myself. Thank you for the tour, Kandros. Maybe we'll see each other again. In fact, you might find my body someday after the paperwork's killed me." She joked.
Kandros chuckled; his mandibles reacting the way Tanil knew they would. "That would be C-sec's job, not mine. Though Sparatus will be pleased to inform me of your passing." He said.
"Nice to know they'll notify the turian councilor when I die." Tanil said, spinning on her heel. "Maybe we can have a drink some time before then." She added, turning her head to see Kandros's look of curiosity, she winked and then turned back to begin walking.
Kandros stood where Tanil left him for a while, watching her walk away. She was small, that was for sure, but her small figure was made up with her flexibility and strength, something he didn't quite expect from her. It wasn't just Tanil either; he never expected such a thing from any human, just goes to show that appearances weren't everything. Kandros tilted his head, continuing to watch Tanil's fleeting form, although in this case, he hoped appearances were correct, he quickly blinked. Wait a second, did he just check out her ass?
The apartment was small, but just the same, it was all she needed in order to survive. There wasn't any kitchen, a small bathroom, a desk, and of course her bed. At least the bed was a queen sized, Tanil couldn't complain about that. There was a mirror in the bathroom that she head to first, resting her hands on the rim of the sink. There was only 20 hours in a day here on the Citadel, but it felt like a lot longer than that; then again, this was the first chance she had gotten to actually rest a bit.
Tanil stared at the stainless steel of the sink for a while before turning it on and letting hot water run from the faucet. She cupped her hands, letting them fill with the water before splashing it on to her face. She let the water drip off her face as she slowly glanced up, seeing her reflection in the mirror. There it was, so visible on the left side of her face. Tanil slowly reached up, tracing her finger slowly down the permanent scar that trailed down the left side of her face all the way to her collar bone.
How long ago was it?
"You suffer from PTSD. It's perfectly normal for a person in your case. The Skyllian Blitz was no small matter, you were at a young age and seeing that happen before you caused this disorder to take hold." The doctor said. "You'll be monitored, and I'm afraid to say, you will probably be taken off of field duty. Now that you've been diagnosed, things will be handled differently now."
"I didn't sign up to be a damned desk jockey!"
"There's nothing dishonorable about being off the field. You'll be working with high ranking personnel, but for now you will remain on Earth until your condition is deemed handled enough for you to be shipped off world. You're a good soldier, the Alliance needs officers like you, but we also need to take care of you. The scar you received during the battle is a bad reminder for you, and unfortunately that reminder will always be there for you." Damn doctors.
It was a deep cut, deep enough for the scar to still appear red and fresh to a point. Tanil continued to stare; she could almost feel the same burning pain on the side of her face as she had felt seven years ago. The Alliance had no attention of losing her as a solider due to her capabilities, but no soldier wants to hear the dreadful news that was "you can't fight anymore", what the hell was the point of enlisting if the Alliance stripped you of your command. That's why Tanil was a pencil pusher now, years of monitoring and pills, she was finally able to be shipped off Earth and to somewhere new. The Alliance couldn't help but appreciate the fact that Tanil didn't break despite everything, no, she had her mode, and as long as she had that, there was no way she was going to lose it.
Tanil shook her head, reaching for a towel that sat folded on the small shelving in the bathroom. Now wasn't the time to focus on the past, of course, it never was the time. Tanil dried her face and lazily tossed the towel back onto the shelves as she left the bathroom. Her bag sat at the foot of the bed, the desk sitting right next to her, pushed up against the wall to the bathroom. The foot of the bed was only a few feet from her; it was a small apartment, but it made due. Tanil took a few steps before collapsing onto the bed, in a few more days she would be back in that office, back in her uniform and back to work. Damn.
Tanil rolled over, her eyes to the ceiling of the tiny apartment, there weren't any windows, something she could live without. Tanil sat up, glancing at her omnitool, no doubt the Alliance had sent her a message to inform her what needed to be dealt with first once she got back to work. Tanil scanned through her messages, scrolling through the omnitools features before stopping as the one subject line that caught her eye iNormandy Pilot/i. Oh shit.
Tanil clicked the message, the entire email popping up on her omnitool display. Jeff Moreau, knowing her job, Tanil had already familiarized herself with the entire crew of the Normandy. Jeff "Joker" Moreau, he was an excellent pilot, despite his Vrolik syndrome, who just happened to be the pilot of the Normandy, great… Tanil's eyes suddenly widened as she scanned through the entirety of the message. One word caught her eye that made Tanil grit her teeth.
Grounded.
Tanil stood up, closing down her omnitool as she began to angrily pace the room. Damn the Alliance, they weren't just making her do the dirty work, they were making her ground a pilot, which any pilot knew was another word for: you're fired.