With an hour left before their estimated arrival to the Citadel, Liara had surprised Gale with an entire shift of the topics she usually regaled - and what was more, was that it was not an archaeological discovery she made herself. She had gone delving into recent articles on discoveries humans had made, and her eyes lit up as she shared the articles on her fancy board.
This time, she announced and elected to learn alongside Gale.
"Geo-archaeologists worked with underwater archaeologists and have discovered embers of an ancient inferno that pinpoint the worst extinction in Earth's history, coined 'The Great Dying', or more formally known as: the Permian-Triassic mass extinction event. During this event, most of life was wiped out under ash-filled skies. What was fascinating to read in this article, however, was that the archaeologists pieced together chemical traces trapped in rocks and ocean sediments. In their research, zinc and nickel have been used to link changes in ocean chemistry to the massive volcanism and loss of marine life."
"Is she going to breathe?"
Gale worried, tilting her head as she'd observed the archaeologist turn to face the board as she'd lost herself in her learning. The vanguard struggled not to grin and nodded as seriously as she could manage whenever those blue orbs would shoot over the shoulder to ask her what she'd thought. She never had the chance to answer before T'Soni would turn back to the board, and articles bounced around all over the screen as she'd navigated it with touch rather than her pointer.
Something something paleoclimatologist, something supercontinent Pangaea something, mercury isotopes, sulfur isotopes - it never ended.
"That suggests that the event itself wasn't just one big whammy that happened instantaneously," Liara murmured, piecing together the correlations scattered among the vast sources of information. "It wasn't just one bad day on Earth. It took time to build, and instead of a single deathly event, it became multiple extinction episodes that occurred in waves over a hundred thousand years."
"She's pretty damn cheery over somethin' pretty bloody grim, ain't she?"
Shepard wasn't personally perturbed, but she knew there were some on the crew that might not exactly appreciate this enthusiasm over something that only, oh, tried to murder their whole species.
"Givin' me the wrong signals here, doc," the vanguard suffocated her chuckle.
But it gave her the best idea.
"I'll bet I can find somethin' in the archives that will get her chuffed to bits like this - something that won't be as hard for me to keep up."
Not that it seemed like T'Soni remembered she was supposed to keep the vanguard in the loop of all this. Gale bounced off the couch, the blanket wrapped around her as she waited for her uniform to dry. She strode up and decided to envelop the body that looked oh so bloody cold with all this talk of ashes and stuff.
That was the story she was going to go with.
It took a bit before Liara realized she was restrained by arms wound around her shoulders, sharing the blanket. Then she stiffened. Her mouth finally stopped spouting facts and what she'd found so intriguing - for a moment, Gale felt bad for putting a stop to all this pouring passion. She couldn't help but smirk at the sight of burgundy growing at the neckline of the asari's nape.
True to her promise, though, Gale didn't ramp up the pressure beyond what she'd hoped was an acceptable measure of touch. She nonchalantly propped her chin on the archaeologist's shoulder and squeezed them in her arms. "Hey, love, do you know how many things we're allowed to take from the archives, by any chance?"
That seemed to pique Liara's interest, and she'd even not blushed like a beet when she looked over her shoulder. "You mean to check out, correct?"
Mischief tugged that smirk wider. "I might feel like liberating them if-"
"Absolutely not."
Gale laughed. She squeezed again. "Just teasin', love. So? How many things?"
"I'm... Not sure to be honest. I never needed to check things out."
"'Cause you brought a sleeping bag with you in there, I bet. Aye, I bet y'even said screw the bag 'cause it's not like you'd sleep anyway, and packed light with a pillow."
T'Soni huffed as she looked back at her board, her shoulders square and armed with a rebuttal to justify her action and defend her honour.
It all fell apart in an honest whisper.
"...Maybe."
With a chaste kiss pressed to the nape, Gale shrugged. "Not judgin', love. I think it's bloody adorable, if anything."
"That's worse," the archaeologist mumbled shyly. Her hands blindly searched beneath the blanket until she'd clasped the Shepard's wrists and squeezed, thumbs idly rubbing. "You're very warm."
"Too much? Need me back off?"
"N-no. Stay, please. This is..." Liara clasped a little tighter. "This is pleasant." Her focus returned to the board, and she sighed. "I'm sorry. I'm just now realizing that I might've gotten carried away."
"Nah, no need to apologize, love. Was nice to see you like this again. I promise I was listenin', but it got a little hard to keep up when you started to make all your connections. Gave me some ideas on what I can search for in the archives, though."
Liara glanced over with surprise again. "You're going to check out archaeological articles?"
"Well I dunno if I'll find anythin' as interesting as the stuff you got, but yeah. I'll take a lookie to see if they've-"
Within seconds, the body in her arms spun around and it was her turn to be surprised when lips clasped over hers. The dainty hands shot up from her wrists to cup her jaw, and the clumsy mouth tried so endearingly hard to pour everything into the kiss. She'd been pushed along until her back hit the window pane for good reasons that she certainly wasn't going to complain about. She made an immediate mental note - and confirmation - that she needed to try those bloody bicep curls with books next.
"Wasn't meanin' to do this t'her, but I sure as fuck am gonna try now if this is what comes out of her. Dunno why the hell this does her mind in but I ain't complaining."
Half-lidded eyes bore into her when Liara opened them, the deep blue sea storming aggressively with heated emotions brewing. It was a stark contrast to the usual serenity the asari usually carried herself with, and Gale groaned when teeth experimentally copied her past methods as they'd pulled on her lip.
"Fuck, love..."
A new war was waged as Gale struggled to keep her hands only on the asari's hips. She'd lost the battle with another pull, and twisted them until she'd pushed Liara against the pane, her hand furiously navigating to find the stupid lip of the suit. She wormed her hand underneath and the elastic fabric stretched to accommodate, where she felt her way up the spine to splay her hand between the shoulder blades.
Desperate to get the upper hand, she turned her fingertips in and gently raked her nails down to the middle of the asari's back, where urgency slammed into her again as fraught fingers weaved into her hair. She lost her momentum when those nails skirted along her scalp, and she melted like putty when those pleasurable tingles buzzed happily along her scalp again.
"She's learned a little too fuckin' fast with that bloody massage," Gale grumbled inwardly. "I got nothing to work with here. S'just not fair. I gotta remember to liberate some asari anatomy books too."
Abruptly, T'Soni tore away and this wonderful experience fell apart in an agonizing heart beat, broken out of her stupor when the Normandy PA announced they were docking. She breathed raggedly, her expressions shifting constantly, her eyes still dark and stormy. She flushed fiercely, then, and turned around to escape the rec room after a quick fix of her dishevelled suit.
Gale wanted to wail dramatically to express the depth of such an excruciating woe.
"Oh my fucking god I am gonna fall apart - and not just in me pants - if she's seriously gonna do this t'me every time she gets bold."
There was no way she could survive and still retain sanity - and neither did she want to subject herself to the iciest showers for the rest of her life. She was shameless with her new mission, slinging her wet uniform over her arm and protecting her modesty - more so on the behalf of someone else - as she twisted the ends of the blanket to tighten around her. She rushed for her quarters and hadn't even bothered to make it to her bed, barely having enough sense to lock her door before she'd begun to touch herself. She bit on the corner of her blanket to muffle herself, throwing her head back to rest against the door as she closed her eyes.
It didn't take long to get her end away when she imagined those stormy blues watching her.
Awkwardness nearly compelled Liara to stow herself in her room and never emerge once again, but Tali had shown up at her door - perhaps Gale already suspected her plans - to group up with her for what was apparently the designated ground team that was to stop the Commander from punching people.
"A mission doomed to fail from the start."
Eye contact was rigorously avoided when they'd met up with Shepard outside the airlock. Suddenly, T'Soni began to notice so many things about the Citadel, details that had often gone amiss due to her anxieties of crowds - or the fast-paced changes in the environment due to the human's flighty ways. She found comfort in Tali's presence and the two often chatted, especially about the news reports in the elevator, or curiosities among each of them.
Every time Tali asked her a question, the asari couldn't help but sneak a glance over at Gale, both surprised - and deeply concerned - that the Commander was so quiet.
"Is she upset with me? Oh... Tides take it all. I should've stayed and just tell her that it was getting overwhelming. It's my fault that I had lost inhibition to begin with."
Heat collected and throbbed beneath her cheeks when she'd remembered why, and it stirred those terrifying urges within her again. Her gaze escaped as soon as emerald eyes met hers.
Chuckles turned up the heat in this elevator. She wasn't sure what to make of them - whether the vanguard thought she was still 'adorable' like this, or if it was bitter sarcasm striking again. T'Soni lost compulsion to fill the silence with inquiries of the quarian, and her own answers were short whenever Tali would chat her up. She massaged her temples and issued the quarian a quiet apology, blaming it on a headache that didn't exist.
New fears recoiled through her stomach when the elevators halted, and the doors opened to the expansive Presidium. The Commander took off with that dizzying brisk pace of a stride as she'd always had, her energy never dampened for a moment. Her posture betrayed nothing of what she was planning to do with Nassana, but memory did.
{That fuckin' Nassana cunt is gonna get a taste of me fist, I promise.}
Old angers coiled around Liara's stomach, then, wiring up around her lungs to squeeze the air out of them. She loved how those emerald eyes were so bright and proud before entering the base, and it seemed to mean something to Shepard to be a 'dashing hero' - and she hated how those eyes fell to their dull dark jade upon realizing there was no room for heroics, for manipulative machinations were at play.
The Commander signalled for them to stand by before they entered the bar. It was probably to save face from being in her company for what she was about to do... But Liara looked around in the corner to watch. She winced when the table jostled loudly upon an armoured hand slamming palm down on it, with Gale seething menacingly in the politician's face. The asari smiled smugly, seemed to say something to further incense the rabid varren.
Eyes all fell on the pair in the room. Those dull jade orbs were painful to witness. Tali wrapped a worried hand around T'Soni's wrist, tugging lightly. She shook her head and stood her ground.
Though she could do nothing to aid the Commander, she would at least see this through, in solidarity.
For a moment, it seemed as though Gale really would punch the asari. She seemed to think against it though, and she smirked viciously as she'd leaned in far too close than what Liara was comfortable with. Her stomach lurched in protest. Whatever the vanguard had to say seemed to make the politician look panicked, then furious. Shepard engaged her omni-tool for a moment, then left with her head held high with pride once more, and her easy-breezy charisma returned to her as she'd almost jauntily strode back to her team.
"Alright. That's squared away. We've got some time to lounge, only half an hour though. The Council forwarded intel that will help us zero in on Saren's location."
With that, Gale breezed past them and took lead. Liara didn't feel like justice had a fair chance to get what it was due. She'd looked back at the politician, who's anger transcended upon navigating her omni-tool. Perhaps the Commander had sent something to her that was implicating and disastrous for her career?
Regardless, Liara needed to do something too - but she wasn't as creative or daring, nor had she had much time left to devise anything as Gale had gone off. She decided to add to the misery of the politician's day and utilized her biotics to tip over the fresh cup of coffee. She quickly ran off to catch up with her team, unable to stifle her smile when she'd heard curses in the asari tongue. She was stumped when Gale had twisted and begun to jog backwards, and her smile seemed tight - it didn't reach her eyes.
"Oi, doc, I'm gonna go on ahead on me own, okay? You an' Tali have fun!"
T'Soni slowed drastically. She barely had enough sense to wave back. "O-okay."
This confirmed it. The Commander was upset with her. That promise about the archives wouldn't be fulfilled and it was now shrouded in uncertainty whether it ever would. An excited quarian took her away as Tali regaled something about some tools she wanted to pick up from the markets, asking if Liara happened to have extra credits just in case. She nodded dumbly, watching for as long as she could until the human's body disappeared from view, and her heart plummeted with disappointment.
"I must rectify this immediately and apologize. It's clear I've hurt her."
Oh, but her mind could be so cruel and agonizing. It drove fear into her like a stake, conjuring images of a terrifying Gale sneering and exploding at her. She'd witnessed the human's wrath a fair share amount of times and most certainly did not want to experience that wrath personally. The whole ordeal about 'rich folk' was painful enough.
All she could imagine was lightning, where earlier she'd felt it coursing through her body. Now she'd stood helplessly as she watched it, lashing furiously. She tried to divert her focus to enjoy her time out with Tali, while her brain mused solutions and things to say, to try to give words to how she felt. It was impossible though, when she didn't understand why she'd reacted as rashly as she did, nor what broke her out of it - and consequently ran.
One thing was certain, their next meeting would be nothing short of tumultuous thunder for all the wrong reasons.
Okay.
Nothing was certain anymore.
She really needed to start expecting that winds could change at any moment, and that they would when she least expected it. Or perhaps it was her perception that needed revelation?
Before her, Gale wore some kind of bizarre outfit and beamed a comfortable smile as she'd stood beside the lesson board, laser pointer in hand. "My turn for a fancy lesson, doc." Her drab khaki pleats contrasted her energetic personality. She seemed very proud of her gear as she unzipped her leather jacket to unearth a safari-style shirt that was half unbuttoned, leaving little to the imagination.
Liara flushed and immediately diverted her eyes over the shoulder to glue them to the window pane. "What is the meaning of this, Gale? I don't see books or articles."
"Aye, that'll come later. I've got 'em all in my quarters so I can read them and figure out what the fuck I'm supposed to even be learning from 'em."
"All?" The archaeologist mustered bravery to make eye contact again. "How many?"
That mischievous grin struck with a purpose. "Don't sweat the details, doc."
"Oh, Goddess. I've inadvertently become an accomplice to the Citadel Archive's greatest mystery and theft."
"Anyway, gotta immerse myself, y'know? That's why I'm dressed like this." Gale cheekily tipped her gaudy fedora, before she'd bounced over to sit on the couch, audaciously bumping shoulders. "Let's see if this even works, first, then I'll dim the lights and go make us some snacks before we watch the movie."
"M-movie? You mean a documentary?"
"Yeah, that," Gale brimmed with chuckles, eager with her remote as she'd navigated - and struggled with - the menus on the holographic board.
T'Soni leaned over to take a good look at what buttons were being pressed on the remote, giving her advice of what to do to set up whatever necessary technology and format the vanguard wanted. She couldn't stop from combing over the outfit, struggling herself as she stifled her smiles and chuckles over this strange need to 'immerse' oneself in a documentary.
Documentaries were plenty immersive with the breadth of knowledge they regaled alone, after all.
"Raiders of the Lost Ark? What is this discovery about?" Liara asked, her head tilting with confusion upon the intro of a comical looking title. Humans appeared to have a more creative approach to their crafting of documentaries.
"It's the first movie about humanity's greatest archaeologist," Gale explained, grinning as she'd read the title aloud. "Indiana Jones. The Nazis get absolutely fucked by spirits in this one."
Apprehension gripped the archaeologist, and her stomach kicked with dread. She glanced over to try to determine if this was another mischievous trick.
She was terrified to find Gale serious.
Relieved everything was in working order, the flighty human bounced off to fetch the promised snacks. The lights were dimmed on her way out, and she wasn't gone long - her ragged breaths upon return a testament alone on how fast she'd pushed herself to run. T'Soni truly did try to be supportive and keep her mind open about these turn of events.
By the Goddess, why did Gale always have to make it so hard to do so?
Well, this was her trying to relate to Liara. It was still endearing. She had to keep reminding herself of that as the movie began to play, with popcorn crunching noisily beside her. Hopefully there was something about archaeology rather than some false romantic fantasy about to skew Shepard's perception of archaeologists in general.
Never before had T'Soni been challenged to not roll her eyes.
"This is her attempting to get to know me and to share my passion. This is endearing." She looked over beside her, and noted that there was a magazine pinched under the vanguard's elbow, on the couch arm rest. Her heart cried out in despair when she'd read that it was one of the monthly editions of True Archaeology. "Why didn't she start with that?" She blanched as she watched a mug of tea being set on it. "Goddess... She's using it as a coaster!"
Emerald eyes suddenly snapped over to her. "Oi, love, you're givin' me the wrong ideas here. Do I need to button up the shirt t'get you watching the documentary?"
Liara's face flamed and she glued her gaze back to the treacherous screen, her protest incoherent as it bubbled out her chest. "This is not a documentary."
Please, please somebody rescue her and tell her that the Commander did not genuinely believe that this was non-fictional. There was no other way. This had to be yet another devious joke. The nature of which was never illuminated as she was condemned to watch this blasphemy.
...But it wasn't so bad.
There was something that plucked at her whenever she'd glanced over as Gale vocalized or engaged with the screen, popcorn flying at times. There was an inordinate amount of curses and 'get fucked!' thrown about. The way her foolish hat fell forward added to her eclectic charm. Liara was caught smiling, but she didn't hide away this time.
Gale seemed confused by it. "What? Why you lookin' at me like that, doc? Haven't seen this one before."
Mystery compelled it to stay as such. The asari leaned over and affectionately kissed the forehead, whispering. "Thank you for this, Gale. This has been a wonderful experience."
"Yeah? Y'like this movie too? Good news for ya, then - I got four more!"
...Liara died inside.
It was back to the brainstorming board. Gale was so sure Indiana Jones would be a hit, but it didn't seem to get Liara riled up the way... Whatever riled her up before.
The only hint was that she'd caught Liara referencing a list of humanity's greatest archaeologists. Did that mean she didn't enjoy Indiana Jones' adventures? It seemed to line up more with what the archaeologist was doing now in her line of work, beating up baddies, unearthing cool mysterious artifacts, and on top of all that?
"Being smokin' hot. Hotter than Jones, hands down."
With Virmire about ten hours away, it was plenty of time to ache her brain. She paced about in her quarters as she glanced over at the other objects she liberated from the archives. Maybe she should show the lamp to T'Soni? Surely even the asari would be curious and intrigued as to how Gale pilfered a bigger object like that. Or - wait, no, she was all goodie two-shoes. She'd be horrified. The lamp would have to hide in the closet for now.
"I've got to set the mood." Gale brought out a bottle of whisky, the perfect thinking tool, and browsed her collection of liberated books. It's not like anyone was really going to miss them, with where she'd found them, caked in layers of dust.
"It's my first real excavation," the vanguard grinned proudly. She carefully swept her hand along the cover of True Archaeology, then poured herself a glass to enjoy alongside this reading material. "Geezer Gerald should've been hookin' me up with this. I'd've learned my shite so much faster if I wasn't being bloody tortured with his damn fun-ix. Best way to read, innit?"
Within minutes, she'd closed the magazine. She couldn't get into it and she knew she wouldn't even if she was full on wasted. It just wasn't the same... T'Soni was always engaging and made it way more exciting. It was like she was being Indiana Jones with all the science-y facts and tantalizing mysteries.
Gale glanced over at the rest of the outfit on her bed, having discarded the jacket and hat. She didn't bring the whip into play. Her gut warned her that it'd probably make the asari run for all the wrong reasons.
"Especially now that I know she gets ideas too."
It was back to the parts she was curious for. She'd taken out her three asari anatomy books, thanking god for indexes... And floored at just how many parts were segregated to cover the entirety of the asari nervous system. She swore this would take her whole damn life to read and specialize in. She reluctantly flipped the pages until she landed on the first section, and swore her soul left her body upon seeing all the coloured pathways as to how many nerves they had.
"Oh my sweet fuckin' Jesus, there ain't no way Karin didn't feel like this, learning this shite when we brought Liara on board. What the fuck is this? Gives me anxiety just lookin' at it."
Despair was rapidly swallowing her right up. She set the book aside for now so she wouldn't be so disheartened, and focused on what she knew she was good at. She had always been a hands-on learner, and if the doc could learn something from a simple massage, then she was sure as shite that she'd learn a whole bunch of somethings from a simple massage. It'd be nice to have these books on the side, still, to absorb information for curiosity's sake - but for her current mission right now, it wasn't the most efficient strategy for what she wanted to accomplish.
That was the story she was going to go with.
Eager to switch environments to see how much more she could learn, she sent off a message to Liara if she'd like to do the next lesson in her quarters. It would mean the rec room would finally be free to use for the crew, since she'd been selfishly locking the door every time they utilized it to make sure there wouldn't be any mishaps.
She was surprised to hear a knock, and then a chime to let her know somebody had requested entrance.
"Did she think I meant now?" Gale wondered as she head for the door. She definitely didn't mind, and went over to the door. She deflated upon seeing Kaidan. "Ugh."
Alenko's eyes widened with surprise and confusion, followed by a half-hearted chuckle. He regarded her peculiar outfit with a smirk. "Sorry to disappoint, Commander. Just had a report for you."
Brow pinched with concern, she took the datapad. It was more sensitive intel provided by the Council as to the nature of the salarian STGs that had been sent ahead to Virmire. She nodded in thanks and issued her dismissal, sharing an idle salute as she'd wandered back into her quarters. She sat at her table and nursed her whisky as she studied Captain Kirrahe and his team's dossier.
Another knock and chime, and she groaned. "Just barge in here Kaidan, I don't care for manners. Door would be locked if I wouldn't want anyone in."
The doors hissed open, and she caught blue in her peripheral vision. Her head shot up and she immediately tossed the datapad on the table with an eager smile - one that dawned with realization and strained to an apologetic one. "Sorry, love. Just now realized I could've sent off another message that I didn't mean now." She swiftly gestured to her table, then scrambled to grab another glass to pour her whisky in. "Come in, though. I'm just reading this report."
Hesitantly, T'Soni tip-toed in as if the quarters were some kind of minefield instead. The asari had her usual meek smile. She glanced about as if trying to figure something out.
"Somethin' I can help with, doc?" She stretched her arm with the new glass of whisky.
"Hm?" Liara fell into step and seemed to melt a little as she approached to accept the offer, glancing around the quarters again. "I'm wondering where to set up my board."
"No need to wonder 'bout it for long: in front of the bed, for sure. Best spot." Gale's brow arched and she tried to keep her face blank of a grin when a fierce blush slammed the asari's complexion. "Way comfier than the couch. Promise I won't fall asleep during your lesson, though. We can bring the chairs over s'you can kick your feet up and relax too, let your fancy pointer do all the work. Here, let's just relax for now. I'll help ya bring your board after." She went back to her table to retrieve her glass, and beamed a reassuring smile as she clinked her glass with Liara's. She couldn't help but chuckle at how tense the archaeologist so obviously was. "Relax, doc. If it makes you that nervous, we can stay in the rec room. I just started to feel bad about lockin' it up from the crew so we could have our privacy."
Among the other reasons, but it wasn't really a warning to know that the full truth of it all would just annihilate Liara's nerves.
"O-oh... I didn't realize you were locking the door... Yes, in that case, it would be more prudent to set up in here." T'Soni sipped away at her whisky. The vanguard always enjoyed taking a break just to observe all the expressions of something that clearly tasted alien to the asari, but it seemed to be becoming an acquired taste.
What a lovely notion it was just to think about kissing her now, to taste that smoky spice in her mouth - but Gale wanted to keep things tame between them. She would prove she was serious. She strode to her table and gestured to her array of asari anatomy books, before plucking out one at the bottom of the stack and sliding it to the other end of the table as an invite for the archaeologist to sit down.
"Here, I grabbed a human anatomy book for ya too. I took a look through the nervous system with the asari, and-"
There it was. There was a flicker of those stormy blues, darkening quickly, and Gale fought to keep her smug smile off her face as she maintained her momentum, delighted to have these wealth of observations to work with.
"-you have like six fucking novels about your nervous system in the index. That's just crazy, doc. You're gonna be bored as fuck and learn the human system in like... A day. I need all one thousand of your years to learn yours." She went back to the book to find her passage, jabbing a finger at the asari's head. "Like what the fuck is that, love? It's like a crayon had a nightmare, tangling up your nervous system - but your head is all kinds of messed up."
Liara chuckled. "Sometimes I can't help but wonder if the things you say land you in trouble."
Not knowing what she was on about, Gale simply grinned and nodded. "Oh all the time, all me life. Why? What'd I say that'd get me in trouble?"
"The entirety of the last half of what you said," the asari smirked, and it was a delectable one that was asking to be punished. She leaned forward to take a look at where the apparent offensive finger was jabbed, chuckling again. "Well, if you think about it, we must have a lot going on in order to have the capability to meld, as we do. We're connecting our nervous system with another. That makes sense."
"Can even you make sense of this, though, the actual crayon-nightmare parts?"
"Not at all," T'Soni shrugged, "But thank the Goddess I decided to be an archaeologist rather than a doctor. That gives me anxiety just looking at it."
"I knew it!" Gale laughed, "There ain't no way Karin didn't have a heart attack learnin' this shite, then!" She set her glass down and moved for the door. "I should go tease her for it."
A hand snared her wrist to stop her. Liara looked like she was trying to come up with something suitable, but the jig was up the moment honest lips smiled what she'd thought. Shepard just wanted to capture them again, to taste the whisky, to bring out the smoky spice she knew was hiding deep in the asari too. She succumbed to her greed and leaned down as she tentatively pressed her mouth in, tongue swiping along the bottom lip before it was chased by teeth.
"Sounds like I'm hard liquor," Gale mused with amusement. "I like the sound of that."
T'Soni turned in her chair, and heat comfortably radiated from her face when she bravely splayed her hand over the vanguard's sternum. It was a reminder that the shirt was still unbuttoned, and Gale tried to glance down at herself without breaking the kiss. She almost smiled insufferably smug when she'd noticed how it had hung forward provocatively.
"Pretty sure I'll be smelling all the colours of that crayon-nightmare screwin' up her head, soon."
Goosebumps rippled down her spine when the dainty hand continued to explore, albeit shyly. She groaned in the kiss when tingles chased the nails that skirted the base of her throat.
"That felt good too?" Liara inquired in between kisses, as if confused.
"Light touch always does - anywhere, I wager, not sure, don't get gentle often," Gale rushed out. She gently clasped the asari's hand to guide it up until the web of skin connecting between thumb and index had hooked under her jawline, pressing into her trachea. The bold move seemed to unhinge the archaeologist then, who's hand darted away as the heat turned up another degree.
"Fuck... I have to be careful not to push her, but it's so bloody hard. I just want us to touch each other, we don't gotta rut and get our end away."
That smoky spice was sucking her in, and temptation goaded her to suckle on Liara's tongue. There was a hint of control stripped away, with the slight urgency in the way hands came back to squeeze Gale's arms. She experimented where she thought innocent, making plenty of notes that there was good news for having such a complicated nervous system.
"Everything seems to feel extra good, and I don't gotta do much."
Exploring like this was... What was it? It was more than just a simple turn on, the way she was aroused for dominating those that thought of her as inferior. As much as she hated to admit it, there was something scary about this. She still had trouble coming to terms that she wasn't tainting innocence here - and knew she was being selfishly greedy, touching anyways.
"I know this is gonna make you clam up, love... And I promise it won't go where your mind thinks it will. Can we take this to the bed?"
Degrees shot up, as expected, and Gale leaned back with a reassuring smile as anxiety shone bright in those stormy blues.
"I'll talk before I do anything - like now. I want to take it to the bed, because I want to kiss your back next. That's all I'll do today. I'll stick to your lower back so your suit won't ride up so high. Is that okay?"
"M-my back?" Liara's brow pinched, puzzled. She nodded, after a time, her own curiosity greedy for answers.
Slow and steady, Gale pulled the archaeologist's hand to rise and walk. There were several moments where brakes were put on, heels scraping the floors. The vanguard waited until T'Soni was the one who would continue, but she had the most difficulty when they'd reached the bed, and she stood awkwardly before it. The puppy eyes were strong with this one, when she'd looked over at Shepard, who couldn't help but chuckle. She shook her head and rushed out her apology when there was an admonished look.
"Sorry, impolite, I know. Swear I'm not teasing. I'm just happy, you know? I get that this means a lot to you, love, and I swear I'm gonna keep my promises. I won't kiss, then, if you're that nervous... But how 'bout a massage of your own this time? To pay back for the one you gave me."
"That was... Th-that was to help you relax, though, when we were supposed to meld. It wasn't really..."
"Well, it still felt nice. I want to do the same for you. You can't be the only one givin' all the time, y'know? It's okay to take too. I got a feelin' that'll take time to get used to, but just... Just don't hesitate to ask me for stuff, yeah? I'd be happy to do anything y'want, no matter if you think it's small or daft. None of it's daft." Shepard bounced her head to the side, to gesture to the table. "But only if you're okay with it. I'm chuffed to bits with you here either way, yeah? We can just go back t'drinking if all of this is too much pressure. We can look through some of those books and stuff."
T'Soni looked over at the books.
Just one simple look, and Gale knew she'd offered the perfect escape. She couldn't help but deflate - though did her best not to show it or feel it too roughly - when the archaeologist handily chose the books. Or rather... Book. Liara returned with a shy smile, the book she'd chosen turned so that Gale could read which one it was.
Asari anatomy.
"Palpating often comes with learning anything about physiology," the archaeologist explained timidly. "Perhaps this will assist you, referencing the charts before finding it on me?"
Gale stared, dumbfounded. She couldn't help but laugh at a silly thought.
"Somethin' tells me I'm gonna have a book by my head when I eat her out."