Pieces were intertwined with the visions but flashed by too quickly to be grasped. Liara didn't sense discomfort in the connection as she tried to isolate where exactly the Prothean beacon has embedded itself in the Commander's mind. The wealth of information never ceased to amaze her, and she was better able to understand some aspects of the Eletania memories now that she had another chance to rewind, listen, interpret and reflect. It was insight into a language hidden in another language, learning a little of the human's culture in the process.
What disturbed her was seeing things through the eyes of Shepard sometimes, however, seeing starvation in the streets and other orphans that the Commander seemed to collaborate with as a child - possessing an uncanny cunning no child should find the need to facilitate, panhandling on the streets by intentionally using youth as emotional blackmail.
What amused her was catching snippets of a very passionate argument that Shepard made, insisting she should be allowed in the pub since she was exactly eight years and seven days old.
"Would an... Orphan... Truly know how old they are, exactly?"
Focus tethered her back to the visions, despite being pulled in separate directions often. On one hand, curiosity demanded to know more about the Commander, if she was so allowed. On the other hand, dedication reminded her of all the years of research she toiled in soil in. She tried to weave down along that path, but there was an almost sentimental pull back to a memory. She smirked a little over the warm voice that purred in her soul.
"I should've been allowed in the pub. I had the weekend off, after all," Shepard chuckled, a reminiscence drifting in her voice.
"And you were eight, as well. A perfectly legitimate age for a child to go to a pub, I take it?"
"Of course. Hailey was allowed to hang out in there, so I should've been able to stay in too."
"To quote the bartender: for her daddy's birthday party."
"Why you gotta be like that? Don't you know nobody likes the details?"
"On the contrary, I'm thoroughly enjoying learning more about these particular details of you."
Liara tensed a little, realizing a touch too soon how that came off - and how she could feel that rush of heat flooding through her. There was a moment the memories and visions broke away, returning to the sea stack with no ocean or sky surrounding them anymore. Shepard's concentration was breaking in favour of entertaining mischief, and it was all to painfully clear to feel that devious grin as if it was pressed right up against Liara's aural.
"There are far better details to go digging for in me, doc." The flirtation dropped off quickly, and it was a debate for the ages as to whether or not the return of a more serious connotation was good or bad. "I can hear yer bleedin' heart any time y'see me beggin', hear you get upset too for the times I'm trickin' the poor sods. I can't help it though, yeah? I'm trying to show you more'uv the good shite but it's... I dunno."
"Your memories are intertwined with the Prothean visions in order to embed and transfer information, it's not exactly a choice you can make when I am navigating through that information." Liara suppressed a sigh as she took a brief break, searching for Shepard's corporeal translation in this ethereal plane at risk of fading away. "You aren't troubled that I'm seeing these memories?"
"Not really. I mean, not really a secret, innit? You can read all about me if y'look me up in my files. I'm not gonna apologize or make excuses for how I lived, I did what I had to to survive and now I'm here. I admitted my whole list o' shite when I applied to the Alliance - heh, the recruiter that interviewed me thought I was either stupid or serious about enlisting. I said both." Shepard came back a little stronger, the sea stack formalizing with her standing at the edge of it like the madwoman she truly was. "I'm doin' good work now, doc. If the past defines the future, I'd be a dirty rat in the gutter all my life." She shot over a cheeky smile. "Would like t'think I'm a pretty rat now, at least."
"It doesn't define the future," Liara rushed to amend, sensing there were some misinterpretations over her work. "Nothing is capable of doing that. There are predictions of course, but not every hypothesis or calculation is absolute. I study the past as I seek to understand it, understand why there are some things occurring in the present. But I do not judge it - it is not my place nor priority to."
Somehow, for some reason, there seemed to be skepticism. It didn't quite fit with the woman that's been so casual about their differences. She had a feeling it wasn't just a matter of differences, though.
"Somethin' tells me you'd be judgin' if you saw some things, just natural, innit? I try not to, but I catch myself judgin' pretty damn hard, sometimes. Like with what happened on the Worthington. Wouldn't y'say you did a bit of it yourself, then?"
"I..."
It caught Liara off guard, a little, and a large part of her wanted to deny it - but she couldn't. She nibbled on the corner of her lip and reluctantly conceded.
"I suppose I did."
Silence fell upon them, a solemnness that seemed to lurk uncomfortably, but not due to Liara. She sensed that there was something Shepard did want to tuck away, but wavered and wondered. The sea stack was losing it's sharp attentiveness to all the finer grooves and holes, blurring and melting into one smooth surface. The sounds of gulls faded along with the crashing waters, the abyss splotching into their surroundings. She was losing focus on maintaining this place of calm, instead swept up in the sea of disjointed memories that'd flash in and out, among the Prothean visions.
"Commander, you're growing fatigued - as am I," Liara murmured softly. She approached with hesitance, her hand itching to reach out and grab in... In what? Solidarity? Melancholy? She was beginning to sense that sympathy wasn't 'necessary' or welcome. Walls that didn't exist before were now slowly building up, shielding and shutting out.
A small chuckle surprised her, but it felt forced in this connection of theirs. It seemed to be felt in return, and there was a knee-jerk reaction on Shepard's part to put on a more forceful act.
"There are parts of me I can't hide, aye, I know. But part of me wonders if you'd still talk t'me if y'saw the darker parts. Not uppity snob 'bout it, like all the other asari. But I don't wanna scare y'off, y'know? Is it wrong of me to try and show you the good and bury the bad? There's a reason why it's buried, why it should stay buried. It don't do anyone any good."
Answers flooded through Liara, defences and debates alike, but she had to quell the archaeologist in her and the curiosities now ignited from such ominous statements. Or at least try to.
"I am the last person you would want to ask that question and expect an answer in your favour, Commander," she teased.
Laughter surrounded her, felt deep in the belly and soul. Shepard turned with a more genuine smile. "Aye, daft of me, innit? You're biased as fuck." She raked her hand through her hair and closed her eyes, the sea stack fighting to stay corporeal here.
Liara decided to end the meld instead.
She took her time and kept her eyes closed as she tuned in to solely her own consciousness, the sensations tingling throughout her body and where each limb was situated in space. A healthy mental check to ensure she'd disjointed safely and was not plagued with echoes of thoughts that should not be there, yearned and yielded from the mind she'd joined with. Her hands still cupped shoulders, now tensing and even more rock-hard than prior to the initiation of the meld.
Instinct coaxed her fingers to knead the tension away, while minding her breathing rhythm as she settled down and reflected on the wealth of information she'd learned. The visions were burned into her mind with fervour so that she could replay it over and over again just like the data discs, trying not to be overly giddy over the new things and words she'd learned to understand - she had to remind herself that there was something much larger than science and knowledge at stake here, all at the risk of being destroyed just like the very culture and race she'd dedicated her life to studying.
"I do not want to become a part of history repeating, so that someone may stumble on my remains someday and try to solve the mystery of such fossils."
"...Doc?" Shepard asked tentatively. "Are you okay? Not that I mind th'free massage I'm gettin' here, but I kinda wanna know you ain't brain dead here."
"Oh," Liara opened her eyes and looked down, smiling with a timid chuckle. "My apologies. I take great care when I transition out of a meld, especially with a restless host that's..." A quirk of the corner of her lips. "More terrifying to maintain a connection with than anything else."
That seemed to be a point won in pride with the way the Commander grinned. "Well, unfortunately, we're on me bed instead of the sea stack. Such a shame."
"Such a shame indeed," Liara laughed softly with a shake of her head. "How are you feeling? Anything that doesn't feel like it is you? I would imagine it's more jarring for a human than an asari to desist a meld like that."
"Ah, well, it's all weird, innit? Was weirder being able to 'feel' your thoughts and shite then comin' out of it, though, so... Yeah, I guess I'm alright."
Shepard seemed to be reluctant in pushing herself up on her elbows, breaking the remains of their connection with Liara's hands slipping away from shoulders. The Commander shimmied down the bed, and for some reason, somehow, there seemed to be some kind of shift in the air - a war that had returned. Liara observed and studied, curiosity piqued, concern slowly brewing. She was beginning to doubt herself and whether she'd pushed a boundary, crossed a line that proved to be discomforting for the vanguard now that she had time to reflect on their meld in the sanctioned privacy of her thoughts.
True to flighty ways, Shepard derailed to an entirely different topic, and her tone of finality seemed to mark the end of any chance Liara had to probe and yield more truthful answers.
"When we dock at the Citadel, I've got some Alliance business I need to take care of. After I'm done, y'wanna hang out?" Shepard collected her bottle of whisky. She poured herself half a glass, only to fidget and swirl the liquid around inside it as if to play rather than drink it instead. She turned and leaned against the table with the kind of smile that spelled trouble. "I got some ideas now, thanks to that meld."
"Absolutely no climbing," Liara blurted. She wasn't surprised to goad a hearty and mischievous laugh from that.
"Wouldn't dream of it, love. Don't wanna scare y'off, remember?"
Shepard seemed contemplative, for a moment, her varren eyes losing that feral edge they usually held. Then she set her glass down on the table, leaving it unfinished as she approached Liara. She stiffened when the Commander stood before her, and the vanguard seemed troubled as to what she wanted to do with her hands. She reached, awkwardly stopped to hover, before decided to rest on Liara's shoulders as she hunched over a little.
"I'll pay y'back for th'massage someday," Shepard murmured warmly, her thumb daringly skirting up and down to where the crook of Liara's shoulder met her neck. "I... Uh... I'm not trustin' in what I'm readin' from you right now 'cause I'm a wee bit tipsy on hope here, think I'm seein' what I wanna see. But the things I felt in that meld... I gotta ask so I won't be pushing you by accident: do y'reckon we would make good mates after all?" She leaned back, the warmth of firm hands lost - but the words instilled a heater in Liara's cheeks. "I wanna know if it's alright t'peck ya on the cheek, but I wanna make sure y'didn't feel like y'had to play with me to get the Prothean visions. It okay if we get to pucker without 'em, now?"
Fierce heat came knocking and Liara blushed, her gaze dropping to solder onto the floor as if it was going to solve all of the universe's mysteries. She closed her eyes, revelled in the comfort of weight on her shoulders, tentatively broaching her border and politely knocking on the door. She felt guilty that Shepard thought it was all because of the visions - but truthfully, Liara couldn't quite deny that the Prothean beacon had gravitated her and her curiosities to the Commander in the first place.
Now? Now she was lost without a clue of what to do, worried she was just going to find her foot in her mouth if she ventured on with this. But her curiosity didn't end at the Prothean beacon.
Courage couldn't quite venture alongside her curiosity, though.
Seconds felt like centuries, when she was able to muster enough bravery to shake her head, squeezing her shut eyes even tighter. She sucked in a shaky breath. "I am... I wasn't..." Another shaky breath, scrambling for a sentence amidst the thousand words slamming her mind now. She wavered upon hearing footsteps fade away from her. "N-no games, Commander. I wasn't... Playing..." Her bottom lip was recruited between her teeth. "I admittedly am not used to dealing with your species. Thus, intimacy is..."
"Scary, innit?" A soft chuckle. "Well that's alright, love. Chin up, yeah? You lookin' like a guilty pup there. There's nothing wrong with tellin' me no for something you aren't ready for." The footsteps came back, and clothes rustled with a rush of air. A hand slipped over the asari's knee with a gentle grip. "I want it to be fun for you, not scary. So you tell me any time you're scared, yeah? And I'll back off. Can y'open your eyes now, love? It's a shame for those pretty blues to hide away."
Liara swore her face was going to melt right off her head. She wasn't used to compliments at all, preferring her solitary life. It was going to take time to grow accustom to them - especially with how brutally honest this human seemed to be. It was a force to reckon with, the war waged inside of her that demanded she keep her eyes closed.
With an encouraging pat to her knee, she was able to eek out one eye, smiling sheepishly when she'd met the Commander's gaze. Shepard beamed an easy smile right away.
"See? Not so scary, this part, innit?"
"Well..." Liara could debate upon that, certainly, but she nodded along. "Everything about this is terrifying. Are all humans this forward about their emotions?"
"Anyway..." Shepard grunted as she popped up into standing, heading over to the table of goods. "I'm gonna clean this up and catch some sleep before we dock. You familiar with the Citadel?"
"I've explored a couple of the wards, but I haven't visited often, no."
"Hm... Well, let's just play it by ear about where we'll meet up then, yeah?"
Liara's brow knit in confusion. "Play it by ear? I'm afraid I don't understand that colloquialism."
It seemed to be Shepard's turn to look confused. She mouthed something to herself, it appeared, as she turned to collect the dishes. Then she shrugged with a shake of her head. "Right, yeah. Slip of the tongue on my part. Well, you know humans got ears and, well... Asari don't... Uh... Play it by ear means, like... Hm. Well, I guess literally it means playing music without reading the score, yeah? What I mean is that we'll just figure things out when we get to the Citadel, rather than plan where we'll meet up now. That okay with you, doc?"
Finally, an easy answer, for once. Liara nodded. "Yes. I foresee no issues with that, and I am sure I can manage." A beat. "I hope."
"I'm sure you can manage too, love." Shepard chuckled as she left for the door. "I hope."
Liara blushed again, hating this situation she always found herself in where her foot landed square in her mouth. She plucked imaginary pills of fabric on her lap and glared a hole in the ground when the doors hissed open, then shut, announcing that she was alone. She sighed as she all but rushed right off, hoping to escape here and find a place to hide before the Commander returned. She sought out the closest bathroom to rinse her face with ice-cold water.
The heat never left her cheeks, for the question never left her mind.
{...do y'reckon we would make good mates after all?}
Hordes of people manoeuvred the Citadel as if they owned this place, and Liara was just struggling to comprehend the plethora of signs that attempted to guide her. She was randomly stuck with Shepard's sweater, for some reason, receiving no other explanation other than a request to hold onto it until they would meet up later.
"How later is later?" Liara inwardly lamented. "I do not know how I am to find her if I cannot find my way out of here..." She sighed and gave in, mustering at least enough courage to approach a C-Sec officer for directions. She was immediately rudely rebuffed into the direction of the signs and struggled not to groan as she returned with growing despair. She decided to just take the elevator that said to lead to the Presidium - maybe there would be someone there that could point her in the direction of wherever the main hub of archives would be on this majestic station.
News flitted by her aurals, nearly drowned out by the roiling apprehension coiling in her stomach. Her interest was briefly captivated by Hanar protesting research endeavours, citing religious grounds. A small smile quirked the corner of her lips in sympathy of the scientists, having found herself in similar precarious situations often thanks to the nature of her findings.
"I wonder if the archives will even yield any valuable information on the Protheans that I can utilize, with so much information safeguarded and censored from the public. But there must be something I can find on their dialect that will assist me with the data discs."
As soon as the elevator doors opened to the Presidium, she struggled not to be completely overwhelmed by the sheer vastness of this space. She tried to escape all of this on her home planet and the veneers often painted on in the political path mother pursued. Here she was again. She tried to ignore the flashes of heat that surged up in her as she embarked on her journey, making a beeline for the Avina terminal as soon as she overheard someone else access it for assistance.
Eye contact was persistently avoided, wrapping Shepard's sweater tightly around her forearms as she used it to fidget and occupy herself before she was lost in this sea of crowds. She suppressed her urges to frown whenever she overheard the wealthy speak ill of the downtrodden.
There was an image firmly embedded in her mind, of a dirty child's reflection in a food store's window.
"They know nothing of what they speak of, and to assume people have a choice... Who would choose to be in that situation - especially a child?"
Fire licked her nerves the more she caught snippets of conversations - but when she had to cross through the wards, she still heard many speaking ill of others, and was equally disturbed by assumptions made of those who would be considered well off. Like her. Many would regard her to be a snob, someone who thinks themselves superior to everyone else.
"Is this what Shepard thinks of me?"
It didn't sit well with her. Through her ventures, she learned a harsh lesson early on - it did not matter how strong anyone was, how smart they were. They would be bones in the dirt someday anyway. All species today had siphoned from the Protheans one way or another, and now nobody could even solve the mystery of them - until now, with the beacon. The Reapers clearly did not discriminate who they eliminated, with the trace of an entire race wiped from existence.
Distant gasps and hollers peaked behind her and piqued her curiosity. The rush of footsteps kicked her heart into gear and her muscles tensed in anticipation, ready for fight or flight. She'd barely twisted before she caught a blurry whirl of red, and a yelp was caught in her throat as hearty laughter surrounded her with a firm arm around her shoulders.
"All done my shite," Shepard grinned, puffs of breaths kicking away. "Rushed it so we can get more time outta this shore leave. C'mon, love!"
"H-how did you even find me?" Liara asked incredulously, yet again receiving no other explanation other than a sweater tugged away from her, and a hand slipping over her elbow to drag her.
"I rented a sky-car, it's parked on the lower level here. We can go anywhere we want. I got a couple places I gotta take ya to first, though."
This hurricane slammed the poor archaeologist out of nowhere, and the winds pushed her along. Before she knew it, she was unceremoniously shoved into a sky-car and had half a mind to wave to someone to help to make them think she was being kidnapped. She pretty much was.
She was about to be taken on a ride with a woman that literally dove off of cliffs in the worst vehicle ever fathomed into existence.
"It cannot be as bad as the mako. We're hovering and flying. There will be no-"
She hoped too soon.
Turbulence wrecked havoc on her when these cars were designed to be as smooth of a driving experience as possible. Liara rarely wished ill upon people, but now more than ever, all she wanted to do was choke the instructor that gave this madwoman her license when she drove a land-car into a literal tree.
Speed picked up and her hands shot out to hold onto for any kind of stability, one on the railing over the window, the other latching onto Shepard's wrist when the audacious driver relaxed one of her arms on the center storage unit. To make matters worse, pipes blared inside the cabin and Liara was tempted to tamper with the radio with her biotics.
Or break it.
Other sky-cars zipped by them, and she yelped every time Shepard weaved through traffic. At one point they were even upside down. A lump grew in her throat and her voice squeaked pitifully the way it did when she'd yell about the cliff they were about to race right off of.
"T-truck...!"
"Yeah love, I c'see that," Shepard drawled teasingly. "Got two eyes of me own, yeah?"
"Well you need more of them," Liara blurted without thought, focused only on her heart hammering it's way out of her ribs. She looked over when the vanguard had the nerve to laugh. "You're insane!"
Fuel for pride, apparently, with the way the Commander grinned so cheekily now. She was thoroughly entertained by this, the obnoxious human!
"We're almost there, gotta squeeze out every minute we can. Shore leave's gonna fly by before we know it."
"May I please point out that we are not going to fly at all if we crash and burn, Commander?"
Shepard's brow arched in amusement as her eyes flicked over for a second, before focusing back on the traffic - thank the Goddess for that, at least. Then that grin grew.
"You may."
Liara groaned.
Another sharp swerve of the sky-car had her grips renewed with vigour. She was sure she was going to end up leaving a bruise on Shepard's wrist, and honestly? She kind of wanted to as punishment for this torture. This had to be another devious scheme like the drills in the gym. When they arrived at their destination, she learned it was a devious scheme in a different sense. She laughed when she read the large sign emblazoned on the front of the building.
The Citadel Archives.
This ranked as one of the most daft ideas Gale has ever had. Not only did she go to the very last place she would ever rather go to, but in her attempt to educate herself about the natural habitat of a book worm, she had...
Lost T'Soni.
"C'mon Liara... Where the hell are you?" Gale sighed, raking her hair back out of dwindling patience. She was so sure this would be an absolute hit, a way to break the ice and help the archaeologist feel more at ease around her.
"How m'I supposed to break the ice when she ain't even 'round to fall through it with me?"
God damn was she ever regretting this. There were thousands of aisles here, and she swore she had checked every single Prothean section there was. The librarian was going to kick her out if she went up asking them for directions again.
"So where the hell else would she be?"
Gale wandered and checked the clock often, frowning as she saw precious shore leave time dwindle away. She still wanted to take Liara to the Flux - it was basic street knowledge that university students threw the best parties, so even someone like the shy doctor would know and enjoy a good time at a club, right? At this rate, it was just going to have to be the very first place Shepard would take her to the next time they'd have the opportunity to have a few hours of R and R.
"At this rate, I'm gonna have to send an order to her omni-tool to return to the Normandy on her own, if I can't friggin' find her here."
Hope was trickling away. Gale was never much for planning, and even though she didn't really have any plans per say, she still had plenty of ideas and questions she wanted to explore. She wanted to find a cool view overlooking the Presidium and the traffic, a high place - a secret place - that only her and Liara could share the view with. She wanted another Old Man of Hoy in her memories, another place they could start and end with.
Now the asari had gone off to nest in her own little secret place in these goddamn archives.
Desperate to salvage something out of this informal 'date', Gale sent off a message to the elusive archaeologist and asked where in the hell she was. Hopefully Liara wouldn't draft another bloody thesis or host a Q and A session before she would finally provide the answer. The vanguard waited aside impatiently, casting annoyed looks about whenever her heart would surge with hope over spotting something blue, only to see it wasn't the asari she was searching for. She tore into her omni-tool the moment she felt the slightest buzz at her fingertips, and her eyebrows knitted in confusion over what she read.
[X-05 T'Soni: I'm in the section dedicated to tracking the evolutionary process of homo sapiens.]
"Homo sapiens?" Gale mouthed silently, grumbling under her breath. "Why the hell ain't it translating? Don't think I'm chasin' a book worm here, but a bloody dictionary..."
Off she went, armed with her latest clue, pestering the librarian for directions. As soon as she was out of their sight, she took off jogging and kept muttering the directions under her breath to remember where to go. She rounded the corner and was stunned to see Liara had gone off and made herself comfortable sitting on the floor cross-legged, books and datapads surrounding her. She looked up with the kind of smartarse smile that demanded a penalty kiss, in Gale's opinion, but she restrained herself as best as she could.
"Running isn't allowed in here, it disturbs others' research endeavours," Liara stated seriously, but there was just something about the way her tone bounced subtly that hinted otherwise.
"Uh huh. Yeah." Gale plodded over, trying to figure out where she was supposed to sit. She was kept a decent distance away with all the material on the ground, plucking a book in her hands as she tried to make sense of the cover, even if she couldn't read the asari alphabet. Her brow cocked up and she smiled over at the asari, who seemed to shrink in timidity again. "Uh huh. Yeah." She held up the book to her face for the striking similar comparison. "This doesn't look like a Prothean to me, doc."
"Firstly, I wish to point out that nobody knows what Protheans look like, with no facial structure known to have been discovered in order to even speculate their evolutionary traits. Secondly, they have nothing valuable to contribute to my research on the Protheans here," Liara defended, but it sounded so weak and shaky. The way her gaze fleeted off down the aisle was telling. "So I decided to research the evolution of humans, to better understand your mind." She cleared her throat. Noisily. "To better understand how it's adapted to assimilate Prothean knowledge and survive without being fractured."
"Mm hm." Gale leaned forward with a grin. "Is that the only reason?"
"I... Yes." Liara seemed to have a huff to her movements as she picked up a datapad with finality. She stretched it out to the vanguard. "There's a translation page included with this source. It discusses neuroplasticity - not suggesting that your brain is similar to plastic, of course - in which it explores in depth of the human brain's complex ability to change and adapt as a result of experience. It was intriguing to see how your species consolidates and acquires new information, then thus commit it to memory. Your information processing starts with input from the sensory organs, which transform physical stimuli such as touch, heat, sound waves, or photons of light into electrochemical signals. The sensory information is repeatedly transformed by the algorithms of the brain in both bottom-up and top-down processing and..."
Liara immediately trailed off when Gale held up a hand in a pleading surrender. She reluctantly took the datapad in her other hand, her gaze combing the screen with puppy eyes that just couldn't commit to the strenuous task of reading such complicated shite.
But the asari had stronger puppy eyes than her.
"Fuck me, this is gonna do my head in... But I can't tell her I ain't that good at readin' or she's gonna get the kicked puppy eyes instead."
Gale scrolled down the screen, but she didn't bother to read further than the premise that was already filled with scientific jargon she would have to look up definitions for. Her gaze flickered up when the archaeologist was imbued with a sudden burst of energy, her hands frantically combing the other datapads and pages of books she apparently memorized off by heart what was where. Liara set off on one of her passionate tangents again, just like her information sessions, and the vanguard did her best to keep up. She couldn't ever tear her eyes away from how bright those blues would get, how they were so contentedly lost in all the questions that arose from the digging Liara had done so far.
Slowly, datapad by datapad, Gale was able to set them aside so that she could inch closer - and settled for being able to rest her back against the archaeologist's back as books were handed over the shoulder for her to 'read' what Liara had learned from those passages.
"Does her brain ever breathe?"
It was a sight to see, to be sure, and it was strange to get so caught up in this excitement even if she didn't understand a single thing coming out of the asari's mouth. Gale smiled away and closed her eyes, leaning against the back a little more firmly as she relaxed and listened. She chuckled softly when a datapad hadn't even waited for her hand, falling over Liara's shoulder and sliding down the vanguard's front.
"Leave it t'her to think humans are more interesting than I do. Shame she won't learn reality in her books, or, well, s'pose that's for the best."
Old hunger pangs - that didn't exist anymore, and she made sure of it - gripped her bones, where muscles ached with phantom bruises. There was something that tethered her, spoke to her, guiding her to listen to it as she twisted in her seat. She pressed her mouth to the back of Liara's shoulder. It didn't stop the train of questions and brainstorming session of possible solutions to benign mysteries, and she didn't expect it to. She settled back in her relaxation and smiled as she listened away to the passion prattle on.
"I could get used to this. Listenin' to a bonnie voice that could melt chocolate? She could talk 'bout them sweet and salty worms right now and it'll still be me lullaby."
Peace lulled her and she began to drift, unaware that she was leaning more heavily. It was the cruel catalyst to stop Liara, up until Gale felt herself carefully manoeuvred so that she had laid against the shelf instead. She listened to pages turned, to datapads clacking as they stacked.
Pressure nested against the side of her arm, a comfortable weight settling beside her. There was something subdued inside of her that was screaming incoherently at her, but that powerful lull was dragging her farther and farther away. She smiled sleepily when she heard snippets of Liara muttering to herself, saying little things like 'that is fascinating' or humming 'interesting'.
Then Gale felt a swift shy press to the top of her shoulder.
"...Not my most daft idea now, innit?"