Juel, as he approached, saw something unusual in Olasie's hands.
"...What you eating?"
Olasie gave her pouch a slosh. "Ever try cereal?"
"...We have that?"
A happy nod. "Uh, yeah. John lets us pick whatever supplies we want."
"Including food?" He asked nonchalantly.
"Juel? Where have you been? We all get a daily allowance."
He gave her a perplexed look. "Not around here apparently. Where do we get access to this?"
"On the ship's computer. EDI'll probably be able to help. Or better yet, just go on your omni-tool and login to the Cerberus net. Get anything you want."
"What is it?"
"Money. Three thousand every two weeks."
Juel guffawed. "God. I probably have nine thousand credits just sitting in my account then."
A mouthful of flakes before a sip of milk. "Probably do."
Juel took a seat and brought up his omni-tool. "What have you been up to today?"
"got my work out in this morning with the others. Helped Garrus with some stuff on the main gun." Olasie said with a shrug, "I'm just walking around looking for things to do."
"Mm."
"What about you?"
"Woke up. Ate breakfast. Helped engineering with some coiling inspection. Took three hours."
"Sounds like a blast." Olasie said.
"Believe me. It wasn't."
"Howdy, guys." John said with Tali beside him. The two quarians sitting at the mess waved as they entered the lift to go up to CIC.
Two hands below her chin as she grinned at the couple. "Aren't they just so cute together?" Olasie said with a heartwarming sigh, "Haven't seen Tali this happy in all the time we've known her."
Juel nodded. "She wasn't the healthiest before all this, no."
Olasie nodded too, though solemnly. "Yeah."
"Remember way back? I think it was about a month in. After she returned to the flotilla?"
"I remember."
"Just popped up in my lab and asked if it was okay to share the space." Juel recalled vaguely with thinly pressed lips and a shrug. "Wasn't gonna say no."
Olasie just laughed.
"Tried staggering my schedule after hers so we wouldn't get in each other's way."
"But Tali always stays after her shift."
"I know." Juel said, "That was like the whole point of me changing my shift. To avoid her."
"That's so sad."
"Bless her heart, but you know she was a wreck."
"I know."
"Remember how she signed me up into your unit? Yeah. That was something else."
Olasie smiled. "I had such a good laugh at that. I always did nag about you joining. Kinda glad she did it for you."
"Well. Anyway. It's good to see her alive." Juel murmured, "Good to know who she really was before John died."
All she could offer was tilting her head deliberately.
"So!" Juel said in a happier note, "I wanted to ask. How's that tattoo holding up?"
"Oh. Is that what we're doing today?" Olasie said, raising her brows, "Make fun of me more?"
"Ever think of removing it?"
"Too close to the crotch to really consider." She said, shrugging with a dismissive smirk on her face.
Juel blushed slightly. "Don't blame you. But hey. It adds character."
"Pretty sure you said that in that alley we woke up in." She sighed before looking up at the ceiling, "Still don't remember a thing about that night."
"Me neither." Juel agreed before laughing at her expense, "I mean, what the hell did we drink that lead up to you getting a tat there?"
"My lovely looks, I guess. Glad I didn't decide to get it on my face or something. That would've ruined me."
"You think?"
"I'm not ugly, Juel. Keelah. At least I don't think so."
"I wouldn't know." He looked down momentarily and leaned back. "All of you definitely know what I look like though."
"You want to know what I look like?" Olasie murmured with a small and gentle smile.
"Can you blame me?"
"No. I don't blame you." Olasie said, feeling the urge to put a hand on his.
"I should probably take you on a date first huh?" He joked. He quieted when she squeezed his hand with hers.
"Maybe."
He was half joking. But the hand on his meant that she wasn't.
Interesting. A smile broke.
ㅤ ㅤ ㅤ ㅤ
ㅤ ㅤ ㅤ ㅤ
Bekenstein was a beautiful place. The human version of Illium John remembered someone saying— albeit with a little more human flair.
The calm ambient music in the background was very soothing to his ears, and he couldn't help but smile as he stared at Tali consuming her complete attention to the condiments on the table.
"Find the ketchup interesting?"
"Ha. No." She answered before setting the bottle down and taking another look around. It was really nice to see such a change in atmosphere. The lazy and cozy look to everything brought it all together. And the music was definitely something she hadn't heard before.
"So is this what earth's like?"
"You asked me that a long time ago. Remember?"
She nodded when she recalled that conversation they had years ago. "Oh yeah."
"In a lot of places yeah." He answered anyway before taking another sip of his hoppy IPA. People loved the bite of this stuff too much.
"It's beautiful." She murmured happily, studying the wood furniture, "Definitely different from Illium."
"A lot less flashy, that's for sure." John agreed as his order of Sunday roast Yorkshire puddings arrived. As the waitress set the plates down, she gave her customer a good once over before squinting her eyes at the connection she'd just made.
"Aren't you Commander Shepard or something of the like?" The waitress said with a grin on her face, "Gosh, your face looks so familiar."
"The one and only." He said with a small smile.
"The man who saved the galaxy wandering around these old parts of New Yorkshire! Very interesting, that is."
"Just tasting the great adoption of culture here." He shrugged.
"We're a fancy bunch, but a lad like you probably has better things than hanging around here." She said with a laugh, "Enjoy your meal, hun; I'll bring you some more beer. And don't worry about the tab. It's on the house."
"I appreciate that ma'am. Thank you." He rose his glass towards her and took another tasteful sip.
"How long do you think it'll take Kasumi and Garrus to finish?"
She was referring to the two scoping out Donovan Hock's home.
"Long enough for us to come out here on a date." John answered. To be completely honest, John had felt relieved when Garrus offered to help Kasumi with the reconnaissance work. Having to play his alter-ego and steal back that neural implant Kasumi wanted so badly felt like enough work on his plate.
Fortunately enough, he wasn't particularly worried about the logistics. Kasumi was, as far as he was concerned, the best thief in the galaxy. Breaking into the Normandy without EDI even knowing was something to respect, if not keep your guard up about.
But, as life would have it, they still had a lot of stuff to go over later. Kasumi may have laid the groundwork of her plan already, but there were nuances and intricacies that still needed settling. If they wanted her master plan to go right, they were going to have to execute everything perfectly. Not an iota could be out of place.
After all the planning was done, the heist, as the thief loved to call it, would begin. With him right in the middle of it.
John got a call.
"This is John. Go ahead."
"We're done." Kasumi answered from the other line, "Meet us back at the Normandy in an hour. We've gotta lot to go over. And bring Tali with you. We're going to need her for this."
"Alright." John nodded before ending the call. He took a breath, and resumed eating.
"Oh." Tali said with a nice smile, "I'm included. That's nice."
"Maybe you can pretend to be my date." John said, "You can wear a nice dress."
Tali guffawed and looked out the window to the pigeons waltzing around outside. Peering closer, she smiled softly at the peaceful looking sight of the passing cars and people.
John took notice and suddenly looked really unimpressed.
"Jesus Christ. Pigeons? We're on a different planet."
"What's wrong with them?" Tali asked, watching intently on the little birds pecking what seemed to be nothing on the ground, "They're kind of cute."
"On earth, we sometimes call them flying rats."
"How nice."
ㅤ ㅤ ㅤ ㅤ
ㅤ ㅤ ㅤ ㅤ
One hour and twenty minutes later.
ㅤ ㅤ ㅤ ㅤ
ㅤ ㅤ ㅤ ㅤ
Shoulder to shoulder, John and Tali passed their time with a little small talk until Garrus and Kasumi finally entered the conference room from behind them.
John uncrossed his arms and faced them. "You're late."
Walking past the two, Kasumi set down her large briefcase and wiped away the beading sweat on her brow.
Garrus just shrugged. "Sorry. Traffic."
John gave him a good onceover. "And... Garrus wearing civvies. Wow."
Tali bristled at the sight of his clothes. "Nothing but a shirt and a pair of pants?"
"Incognito." Garrus simply said, "Just take a look at Kasumi. Jeans and flip-flops."
John took a look at her shoes and gave them an amusing laugh. "What were you guys posing as?"
"A couple going out for a walk in the park." Kasumi answered with a grin before stepping up to the desk and asking EDI for a layout of Donovan's compound.
When the hologram materialized, Kasumi began explaining.
"Mr. Hock is having a lavish party and has spent the better part of a week preparing for it. For starters, a security detail keeps constant guard over the facility."
Tali took a look at the area and frowned. "This his house?"
"Yup. And he runs the whole operation underground, right below."
John scratched at the whiskers on his face in thought. "Alright. Give us the rundown of what you want to do."
"You and I are going in together." Kasumi said, handing John his suit attire from out of her case. Under John's suit, was Kasumi's dress. She rose it high into the air and watched the delicate red fabric unfold. She gave it an impressed smile and set it back down.
"Okay. So what does Tali need to do?"
"She's also coming with us." Kasumi's said gleefully when she reached into her case and handed Tali her garments.
Tali stared dumbly at the parcel of clothes in her hands. When the confused quarian opened up the bag and pulled out what could only be a bra, she began to feel flustered and blushed.
"Uhm... this is lingerie."
"Oopsie. Wrong bag," Kasumi laughed, "That's supposed to go with my dress."
All John did was clear his throat when Kasumi handed Tali the right parcel. When Tali reached in to hold up whatever Kasumi got her, she smiled. The realk sprawled between her hands was beautiful. The colors were vibrant and deep, and the fabric was freshly new, unlike the old and partially marred realk she was wearing now.
"Special just for the occasion." Kasumi said.
"What am I going as?"
"Your future hubby's alter ego, Solomon Gunn, is a womanizer. It follows that he'll be bringing two of his girls along."
Tali grinned at the joke. "How charming. But seriously though. Wouldn't it be better if Miranda did this instead of me?"
Kasumi gave Tali a gentle pat on the shoulder. "As much of a dirtbag Donovan is, he isn't racist. Even to quarians. He respects them, truth be told; a lot of the gear he sells is from quarian design."
"Wow." Tali murmured, caught between the gentle smile of the woman and the new realk, "Thanks Kasumi. It's beautiful."
"I know, honey. Maybe you can try it on for Johnnypoo later tonight."
Garrus sniffed at the terrible joke.