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1-25-2186
[ CRESCENT NEBULA | TASALE SYSTEM | ILLIUM | VISTA COVA | MARA HORIZON'S LUXURY SUITES | MANSION 14 ]
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Tali's omni-tool rang as she chewed on her mouthful of turian steak.
She stopped chewing and looked down at her omni-tool.
Why is Prazza calling me?
John placed his empty plate back onto the breakfast tray before sipping his coffee. "You going to answer that?"
"Yeah." She answered before accepting the call by pressing a button on her omni-bracelet, "...Hello?"
"Hey, It's Juel."
"Juel? What's up?"
"We, uh…" There was a long pause followed by a hoarse sigh, "We fucked up last night."
"Juel…? What do you mean? And why aren't you using your own omni-tool?"
"It got stolen."
"Stolen." Tali repeated flatly.
"Yes, Tali. It's gone."
"Huh. Ironic." She remarked before finally swallowing the last of her meal. She gave John a pursed look, shrugged, and spoke again. "Someone stealing something from a quarian. Classic."
Juel took Tali's bad joke with another heavy shake of his head. "Not funny."
"How'd it get stolen?" She put Juel's voice on speaker so John could hear.
"Olasie and I… we got wasted. Woke up in some alley. Had to walk our asses back to port before finding Prazza."
"I don't see why losing an omni-tool is that bad… just get another one."
"It's not just that…" He grumbled while he shook his head and bit his lip, "There were two others with us."
He turned to face Olasie rubbing the back of her neck. "We lost them in the city."
"You can't be serious. Juel. Two of our own out there alone at as place like this?" Tali pinched the bridge of her nose, "Juel— they could be hurt. Or signed into slavery. Or—"
"I get it. I know. We're already looking for them."
"Who exactly did you lose?"
"Talukh and Teri."
"Olasie lost half her squad?"
"Yeah." Juel groped the back of his own neck awkwardly, "Did I mention Olasie got a tattoo on her leg?" The sound of a slap could be heard over the phone followed by muffled slurs coming from what had to be an irate woman.
Whatever Tali had been drinking went down the wrong pipe. "Juel. What did you do last night?"
"Keelah, Tali. I told you we screwed up alright?"
"Oh, lord." Shepard said as he cleared his throat.
"Shepard? You gotta help us out."
"I'll give the authorities a call. Hopefully we can find where they are." John replied with a grim-looking frown. Juel and Olasie would have to let go of whatever remained of their dignity for this one. If Vista Cova's surveillance cameras caught them in their drunken stupor, which they no doubt did, it'd be worthy for the news to catch wind of. The ex-spectre could only imagine the headlines that would soon follow after.
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QUARIAN DRUNKARDS CAUGHT HUMPING ELCOR OUTSIDE BAR. AWKWARD INNUENDOS TOWARD INNOCENT BYSTANDERS ENSUE.
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As great of a headline that would be, he'd rather it never exist at all. Hopefully, it wasn't going to end that badly.
"Thank you." Juel mumbled, "I have to go. We're going back to the alley we woke up out of to see if we can trace our steps. for however helpful that'll be. I don't remember anything from last night."
"Wish it'd stay that way" murmured Olasie not too far behind Juel.
"We'll be heading back into town, Juel. We'll meet with you soon after we get John and I run some errands." Tali said before frowning.
How Olasie, a senior member of Prazza's platoon, or more importantly, her neighbor on the Neema, took it this far was beyond her.
Was anyone in Prazza's platoon even remotely sober anymore? Or did they all get drunk?
She shook her head and sighed.
She was surprised the number of MIA's hadn't been far higher with how Juel was explaining it.
Before she could speculate any further on the matter, Juel spoke. "Fine. I'll message you whenever I can. Just tell me when you're coming into town."
"Okay." She ended the call after she gave John a long shake of her head.
"One problem after another. I don't remember the last time anything ending right."
"The story of my life, Tali." He muttered before taking a gulp of coffee and nodding bitterly, "Story of my life."
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Several hours later.
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If Tali could whistle, it'd definitely be now.
John, awkwardly, yanked the curtains aside before showing off the pricey exo-suit he wore. He decided to keep the color scheme neutral (Grays and Blacks) but relented to having Tali pick out a 'realk' (as she called it) with a classy piece of red and white striping.
You wouldn't have to look for very long to know he wasn't a quarian. The amount of fingers he had was an excellent indicator for disqualification.
That and his legs were way too straight for it to be normal. But that just made it exotic.
Maybe too exotic even. How many desperate single women open to new waters were on the Neema? Enough to know they'd sneak a second glance while he passed by. And not by curiosity alone. And that was fine, Tali supposed. They could look. Didn't change the fact that his ass was hers.
How do I look?" He fixed the realk around his helmet carefully.
"ooooh." She nodded happily and slid an arm around his, "Really good. Great butt, John. Straight legs. Mmm."
He rolled his eyes before stepping in front of a mirror. "Yeah, yeah." He mocked lightly against her obnoxious flirts, "I'm surprised they'd even have a shop like this on Illium. And to have quarian accessories here too?"
She nodded absently in agreement. It was true. The suit John was wearing was intended for long periods of exposure to worlds considered 'unlivable'. The stuff miners and die-hard archaeologists wore. Stuff they knew they'd be wearing for weeks to months on end. They even had package deals with 'convenient' accessories; like eating, breathing…
Or some of the unspoken things.
Like pissing.
Or shitting.
Tali even noticed on the brochure, which had been procured at the front of the store, that the exo-suit, if purchased with a product bundle, would come with a 'Levo-friendly laxative supplement, a catheter attachment with invasive/non-invasive inserts, and a list of liquidized food with a 'wide variety of Great Tasting Flavors!'.
She shook her head slowly during the entire read. John was going to have quite the wake-up call.
Nothing he couldn't suck up through a straw.
Ha.
She smiled stupidly at her joke.
"Should I even wear a realk over my suit? Doesn't that look a little… weird? I'm not quarian."
"Nonsense!" She snapped happily with a single pronounced snort before closing the brochure in her hands, "When you're on the Neema, John? With me? You'll be glad that you'll be wearing one. It'll give you a sense of individuality."
"Tali, I was in the military."
"Doesn't count. You still got to keep your face."
"Fair enough. If you say it looks good, then it looks good." He shrugged before letting an unseen smile loose. He had to admit. The N7's equivalent of a realk did look quite flattering. Well... it wasn't exactly an 'N7' realk. It just reminded him of it. He shook his head and shrugged inwardly.
The last thing he needed was some cross-species incident about culture mixing a quarian article of clothing on a human.
Earlier, during the ride to the shop, John tried to convince her that he should just keep the Alliance special-issue armor he had now. His justification for keeping it remained sound until she gave him a list of reasons why it wasn't a good idea.
He was completely convinced by the time Tali got to explaining that his skin would look a lot like a cast being removed.
"You better not show me off, either." He chided finally with a minor half-serious laugh.
"I won't." She rolled her eyes before crossing her arms, "…probably."
"Tali."
She answered the long drawn-out pronunciation of her name by patting him on the shoulder with a wide split-lipped grin.
"Should we give the police another call?" John asked as he stepped back into the changing room.
"They said they would call us whenever they would find something." She replied while dividing her attention with the large selection of colorful realks beside her. Her eyes darted wildly at the vivid display.
"I guess." He shrugged before separating the section seals lined across his body.
"Need help?" Tali asked while peeking at the crack in the curtain.
"Nope. I can handle it." He put a pointer against her visor and slowly pushed away until her helmet fell out of view.
"You sure?" Her head returned back to the peep hole.
"I am very sure." His beaming smile ended when his neck seal pinched his skin, "Ow. Ow."
"I have been wearing one my whole life." She continued with a sigh despite his obvious grumbles of pain. She yanked the curtain aside before crossing her arms and sticking out a hip. "Sure you don't need help, huneey?"
He swallowed his pride and nodded. "Yeah, I—...I need help."
Her gloved hands deftly separate the clamps correctly before tossing them into the container next to him.
"Need help putting on your pants too?" She slapped his butt and smiled. He rolled his eyes and put on an ambitious smile while shaking his head at her 'charming' innuendos.
"I love you."
"I love you too John."
Five minutes had passed before he buttoned his flat-front khakis. He gave the pants an odd look before putting on his shirt.
He wondered why he bought them at all. It wasn't like he'd be wearing civilian clothes again anytime soon. He shrugged before carefully folding his purchase into the container with Tali latching the buckles.
"Oh. I'm getting a call from the Police…" John mumbled before thumbing his omni-tool, "Hello?"
"Hi, this is Arah at Vista Cova's police department. I'm trying to get a hold of Mr. Shepard?" John made his way up to the front of the counter with Tali pulling out a credit chit to purchase the exo-suit.
"Yes. Speaking." Shepard stated as Tali conversed with the clerk.
"We've found your friends. They're waiting here at the station."
"Are they okay?" John eyed Tali, nodded, and gave her a thumbs up.
"They're drunk, nauseous, and very, very, dirty. Other than that, they're fine."
"That's great news, Arah. I'll be there soon. Sorry for your trouble."
"It's what I do. We'll see you soon, sir. Take care."
"Bye." John ended the call and let out a hoarse breath.
It was good to know they weren't dead.
"They found them?"
"They did." He shook his head, "Let's hope they didn't make a total ass of themselves last night. I'm sure they'll have something aired on the news later tonight."
"Don't remind me." Her hand brushed lazily across her visor.
"Don't need to tell me twice." He mumbled in agreement when he shouldered the small case.
"Then we should get going then."
They waved goodbye to the volus store keeper before stepping out onto the busy streets of Vista Cova.
Before long, they were speeding down the airway to VCPD's station to finally get a hold of the two sorry sots who'd drunken themselves to total stupidity.
John shook his head lowly and tried to let a smile come through the bitter expression.
If John were still under Alliance command and if these were his marines? They'd have a lot of explaining to do. Hell, he'd have a lot of explaining to do. He doubted his superiors would be happy knowing he had four of his own under his command go AWOL/MIA over a couple hard drinks.
"I know what you're thinking." Tali began without ever turning to regard him. She continued staring out the window to get a good view of the city below.
"What am I thinking?"
"About what you would have done if this happened to the men under you." She finally faced him and played with the edges of the crate in between them, "That and you were probably going to ask me what's going to happen to Prazza and Olasie when this debacle blows over."
"Am I that transparent?" He asked while tucking his arms at his sides.
"Only when you want to be." She replied curtly, "Everyone here's known each other for years though. The whole detachment is family. Don't think anyone's going to get punished."
"I just hope this was enough of a lesson for them. They might not be so lucky next time."
"True. But they deserved the rest."
"No argument there. They just need to be more careful."
She nodded absently before letting her gaze fall back out the window.
"Hey, Tali…? You know, I was just wondering, when exactly did you start calling me John?"
She turned back around to face him with a crooked brow.
"Uhm… I don't know. Why bring it up now?"
He shrugged and smiled at her. "I was just thinking about it all of a sudden."
"Well." She pat her hands against her lap and chewed on her lip, "I mean, I did call you John sometimes even before 'us'. But calling you 'Shepard' isn't something I'll ever do again."
He smirked and nodded to himself. "Yeah, you're right. John's just fine, Tals. I'd prefer it that way."
"Well, since we're on an unrelated topic. I was wondering when you'd actually be going to see your mom and dad." Tali chirped a little nervously and wrung some of her fingers together.
"Well? I haven't put much thought into it, really. Whenever the time presents itself, I suppose." John said before cracking his knuckles, "Soon, I hope. And I'd absolutely love for you to meet them. They'd love you."
"Heh…" She laughed anxiously and pried her hands apart before fiddling with the taxi's door handle.
"Don't worry. It won't be for a while." He pat her thigh to try and abate her antsyness.
"Look. We're here." Tali pointed to the police station with a gleeful eye as they set down against one of the many landing pads for sky cars.
John paid the robotic taxi its fare before stepping out onto the humid air with Tali already waiting outside.
"Whoah. It's hot." He put on his sunglasses (which he had also purchased from earlier today) before giving a good long stare at the wavy heat simmering off the car they just stepped out of.
"Come on, hun. Let's hurry up and get them so we can go. I'd rather not spend too much of my time here."
"Okay." She suddenly seized his hand and clenched it into a vice.
"Ow. Tali…?" He faced her angry glare that she kept resolutely forward.
"Liara. Is. In. There." The malice that suddenly dripped from Tali's tongue carried enough weight to ground a skyscraper.
Sure enough, when John peered through the police station's windows, he saw Liara standing at the receptionist's desk speaking to Talukh and Teri.
John's audible gulp fell on deaf ears.
It seemed the storm had enough time brewing.
Shit was about to go down. With John in the middle of it.