Chapter Text
Zoji finished the repairs on the section of the frigate she was working on and wiped the sweat from her brow. Menae was hot, but she heard Palaven got hotter. She honestly was glad the turians didn’t want to build the frigate on Palaven. A small laugh escaped her lips at the thought as she crossed the item she had completed off the master list on her datapad. Imagining the humans on the other side of the compound complaining about the radiation and heat would’ve driven the turians more insane than they were already. They complained too much for her tastes with things the way they were, and she rarely had to deal with them. She had been thankfully sectioned off on the turian side of the compound. She shivered at the thought of the turians and humans together in the same room and the arguing that must have occurred when blueprints for the frigate were formulated.
She delivered the part she completed and waited patiently for quality control to sign off on it and headed over to the parts area to get her supplies and new assignment. Passing military personnel as she did so, who scanned the area from beyond the compound while a few scanned the people within it on a platform that was on the perimeter. She glanced up at the stars as she walked, letting her strides slow to enjoy the sight. She was ahead of schedule and could take the few extra minutes as a break to enjoy the night sky. A small smile formed on her face as she saw a comet flying past in the distance
She made it to the parts hut and handed her datapad to them to be assigned a new task. The turian took it and walked off, leaving her with another turian male behind the desk who looked over at the vextra and then smiled. His eyes danced along her narrow waist, wide hips and thick thighs. Eyes catching their attention on her fluffy tail that wagged uncomfortably behind her. Her pointed ears up top of her head began to flatten as the turian continued staring. Her small feline nose twitched before scrunching up in distaste on her wide face.
“I have to say, if I had the choice I would’ve skipped building this frigate with the humans and only built it with the vextra. You all work a lot harder than the humans do and I don’t think I have a heard a single complaint come from one of you”
Zoji laughed lightly as a light flush appeared on her muted pale jade hide growing more prominent on her face. She wasn’t used to making conversations. But she wanted to try, she had become pretty lonely in the last year or so she had been thrown into this position. She just had to follow the rules set out for her before she left her homeworld of Wejesu.
“The humans can’t be that bad” she teased with a playful smile showing off twin canines on either side of her mouth.
The turian groaned, his sandy plates on his face forming into a grimace as his mandibles expanded off his face as he rolled his yellow eyes. “They are. They complain about everything. Their work is often shoddy too and they are making the timetable skid to a halt”
Zoji hummed and gave him a sympathetic smile as another turian handed her her datapad with her new assignment and the remote to the pallet hovering off the ground due to mass effect fields. She gave them both a respectful nod and the pallet followed behind her as she turned and walked away
“How difficult do you think it is to get a vextra into your bed?”
The other turian scoffed “You should be lucky one even talked to you. Usually they are so focused on their work to bother with conversations, especially that one. She doesn’t even talk to others of her own kind”
Zoji grimaced as she overheard their hushed conversation. She was hoping she wasn’t being as obvious as it seemed it was that she avoided the other vextra. She realized she hadn’t been doing the best job at it.
She brought the pallet over to the work area of her tent and began unloading the pallet when a light flashed in her area signaling her lunch break. She frowned at the half-unpacked pallet and groaned. She hated stopping a task halfway but lunches were given at specific time to keep everyone on task.
She left her area and filed over to the lunch area line. Humans, turians and vextra ate together, but even still the species seemed to seperate naturally. Zoji grimaced internally when she saw the amount of vextra eating during her time slot, she preferred it when there were not many there. She grabbed a tray and a few prepackaged dextro food items and looked at the limited chairs not filled with people.
“Hey baby, want to sit next to me. I promise I can make it enjoyable for you” A man drawled as he flashed her his pearly whites. Zoji grimaced and backed away from his table and decided to try and eat with her own kind.
“Aww you scared the pretty kitty away you oaf” another human at the table complained, pushing the one who spoke to her hard on the shoulder.
Tail slightly weaving between her legs she went to the table with five other vextra and sat quietly down in the vacant seat and kept her head down as she opened up a nutrition bar and took a bite.
The moment she sat down the conversation amongst the vextra stalled. Heads turning towards her. Zoji didn’t know these vextra personally, but her coloring differed from theirs and even without seeing her facial markings it was obvious what family she was in
“What are you doing, Slanai?” A vextra with Huzro family markings on her face asked venomously. Zoji’s family name spat like a curse. Her ears drooped. She just wanted to eat peacefully, not create drama.
“Go eat somewhere else. Better yet go jump off a cliff or off yourself some other place. No one wants or needs your kind here” Another vextra, this one with Yoqil family markings on his face hissed at her
“I just want to eat” Zoji whispered, taking another bite of her nutrition bar, trying not to move quickly or speak loudly to give the other vextra a reason to do anything rash.
It had the opposite effect.
The vextra seated next to her with Xree family markings took her tray and flung the contents of it on the ground, keeping the tray in his hand
“Eat from the ground like the woeata your kind came from” he hissed before grabbing her smoky wisteria hair harshly and forcing her out of the chair by it.
A yelp of pain escaped her throat and tears formed at the edges of her eyes.
The eating area became silent as they turned to watch the vextra throw her to the ground next to her food.
Zoji landed hard on her hands and knees
“Just fucking die you worthless piece of shit” the vextra spat before taking her tray, a glint forming in his orange eyes and then using it to hit her on the head as Zoji gathered her food off the ground quietly, trying to become less of a target.
The tray did not hit her. Instead it found a turian hand that stopped it. A twang of metal against metal resounded in the air causing Zoji to look up, realizing what almost occurred.
The turian looked furious. He was dressed in armor, signifying that he was part of the military personnel that watched over the compound.
“No violence is allowed” he seethed, light blue eyes flashing as they met the orange eyes of the vextra. “Sit down now. If something like this occurs again I will personally make sure you will no longer continue working here”
The vextra haughtily sneered at the turian before turning to sit down at the table again, Zoji’s tray still in hand, sliding her tray off the table so it crashed to the floor
The turian crouched down and grabbed the tray and helped Zoji pick up the remaining items from her lunch.
“Are you alright?” He asked. Zoji shook her head
She was far from alright. She liked being in the shadows and still felt a lot of eyes on her from the other species confused and intrigued why something like this had occurred. The vextra were quiet and reserved, to lash out like they did was incredibly out of character.
The turian offered her a hand up and gently pulled her up, remembering previous warnings of how light vextra were.
He motioned with his head as she dusted herself off, keeping her head down, ears plastered to her head in her discomfort. “Come eat with us. We’ll make sure nothing happens to you”
Zoji nodded very slightly once and followed the turian while keeping her head down. He pulled out a chair for her so she sat in between himself and another turian who was part of the military security personnel.
“What on Palaven did you do to upset the others so badly that they would intentionally be loud?” the turian next to her with sand colored plates asked. His head was tilted, and his white facial marking seemed to glow in the light.
Zoji wrung her hands in her lap, her tail wrapping around her stomach tightly, ears flat against her head as she tried to make herself small and invisible. The turian that had intervened grumbled.
“What. I’m curious! Most of us have barely heard a word from them and now they not only rose their voice but tried to attack her”
The table went silent. A weight of expectation seemed to continue to push down on Zoji’s shoulders
“You don’t have to answer if you don’t want to. But if we know we can make sure it doesn’t happen again” the turian that intervened told her quietly
“It’s because of my family” she whispered
The turians at the table stopped eating
“They attacked you because of your family? Do they know you?” The turian next to her with sandy plates asked concern woven in his dual toned voice
She shook her head no “My family is just really… hated” she explained barely above a whisper.
“If they don’t know you than how did they know you were part of your family?” the turian who intervened asked. She looked up at him, finally getting a good look at the one who bothered to save her from pain. His stone colored plates made the cobalt markings on his face stand out. His ice blue eyes met her jungle green colored eyes and his breath caught in his throat as he watched them turn silver from the light for a moment
“My facial markings signify my family. Even without seeing that, it is pretty clear from the color of my hide and hair.” She explained before her eyes drifted downward again
“That makes things interesting” The sand colored turian next to her mused. He looked down at her tray “Vextra eat dextro?” she nodded her head ever so slightly. Still not moving to eat. His subharmonics let out a bunch of flustered tones that caught Zoji off guard. She looked up. “You need to eat, darling.” He took her food and put it on his tray before taking his trash and putting it on her dirty tray, getting up to deposit it. She watched him leave feeling uncomfortable
“We aren’t going to bite” the turian still sitting next to her joked as he opened his ration and activated the heating element, he glanced at her from the corner of his eyes as she remained still, obvious signs of discomfort in her body language. “Here” he added softly. “You can have mine” he put his nutrition bar on her tray and she slowly went to grab it. Silently opening it and began nibbling on it. “I’m Tesserarius Garrus Vakarian” he introduced himself “The turian who just left is Decurio Tulso Helvius, he is my superior, and one of the ones in charge of the compound” Zoji nodded, the other turians at the table introduced themselves but she found herself distracted at what the vextra were saying behind her loud enough for her to hear, but intentionally not in Kajefka so it wouldn’t translate to the humans and turians.
“I hope we find a way to kill you, it would bring such a relief to all vextra”
Zoji shivered, eyes widening as her breath quickened.
How did this all happen? She just wanted to eat.
“What is your name?” Tesserarius Vakarian asked, head tilting as he observed her spike in heartrate in his visor, eyes drifting to the other vextra, deducing the reason for her behavior was because of them.
“My codename is Zoji” she muttered quietly
“Codename? Are you military too? Wasn’t aware the vextra had a military” one of the other turians asked her
She let out a sharp laugh at the idea of being part of the Wejesu’s pathetic attempt of a military. She cleared her throat
“No, I’m not military. I’m just a…” she sighed “Just a mechanic” she lied
“Why do you have a codename?” Tesserarius Vakarian asked, relaxing more when the other vextra left.
“Vextra believe names are sacred. It comes from an old belief that those who know your name can control you. It is customary to only tell your name to one or two people” she explained, relaxing more without the other vextra around. Tesserarius Vakarian smiled, happy to see her come out of her shell. She took a bigger bite of the nutrition bar.
“Why is your species so tight lipped?” Another turian asked
Zoji laughed, the sound of it almost that of a song rather than a laugh which caught the turians attention
“We value our privacy for our protection” she explained with a smile on her face, her ears raising from her head more. “Our privacy laws are some of our strictest laws” she added as she took another bite of food
“What is the punishment for breaking a privacy law” Tesserarius Vakarian asked
She looked up at him in shock, not comfortable with the thought of breaking one of those laws
“Death”
That one word brought even more questions to the turians minds but their conversation was interrupted by the flashing of her tech telling her that her lunch break was over. She frowned in sorrow at the wasted food. It was strictly forbidden to bring anything but the tools and materials provided into their work area in their tent.
Seeing her frown, Tesserarius Vakarian took her food and gave her a smile “I’ll save this for you for dinner. When is your dinner break?”
She hummed as she tapped the holo screen that pulled up on her tech on her wrist as she looked up that day’s schedule “19:20”
“I will be working at that time but I am assigned nearby. I’ll make sure you get your food” his mandibles flitted outwards in a kind smile which she matched as she got up, dusting the remaining dirt off her coveralls and gave the turians a nod of respect before turning and heading back to her designated area
She quickly and accurately welded together the two metal parts together to be interrupted by the flashing light in her tent. She finished the welding she was doing and set the tool down. She deactivated the black out option on her visor that had expanded to cover her eyes. Did a quick stretch to loosen her tight muscles and headed to the eating area, slightly apprehensive after what happened at lunch.
She grabbed a tray as she scanned the area, noting the same five vextra glaring at her. She gulped, not wanting a repeat of what happened earlier. She grabbed her food quickly and turned to find a seat to eat. The vextra that had attempted to attack her earlier stood and began heading towards her. Her ears flattened on her head, eyes wide, her slitted pupils dilating as she took in all of their movements as he stalked towards her. Zoji stayed frozen to the spot. Watching and waiting for something to occur. Her muscles tensed as she got ready to dodge and run, eating be damned. She’d rather be hungry than dead.
Two of the turian military personnel flanked both of her sides, glaring at the oncoming vextra. Zoji looked to her sides in shock, not expecting the action, both were the turians that sat next to her during lunch. She felt herself calm down, feeling safer. The vextra scowled but took the hint as the two turians held their weapons ready, not yet pointing it at the angry vextra. He left, heading to the exit. Zoji let out a sigh of relief and felt a hand on her upper back. She looked up to see Tesserarius Vakarian giving her a kind smile and motioned with his head to the table they were at earlier, the table reserved for the military personnel, and the two guided her there, passing the table with the four remaining vextra who hissed lightly, eyes clearly wishing for her death.
She sat down at the table tentatively, feeling out of sorts as Decurio Helvius allowed his assault rifle to collapse and holstered it behind him, sitting down next to her. One of the other turians at the table pushed over her rations from lunch which she took with a grin and a hungry glint in her eye. She was starving. Tesserarius Vakarian lept onto the raised platform and watched over the eating area
She ripped open the nutrition bar from dinner after she activated both heating elements within the ration packs, scarfing down the bar as quickly as possible. She coughed as the dryness of the bar stuck to the moisture in her throat as she tried to swallow, grabbing her canteen and taking multiple chugs of water to moisten the bar more so it could go down easier. She breathed heavily, stomach grumbling insistently as she frowned and waited for her food to heat up
“Good to see you are eating” Decurio Helvius muttered
Zoji stayed silent as the silence seemed to continuously weigh down on her. She didn’t know how to respond to that
“Why the fuck are they so combative with you? Fuck, that one looked like he wanted to harm you” Decurio Helvius seethed next to her, activating the heating element in his ration as he huffed. Tesserarius Vakarian was on a ledge looking down at the eating area, his rifle in hand and looked annoyed after hearing what his superior had said. Decurio Helvius sneered back at the subordinate turian
“They do want to harm me” Zoji admitted quietly as she took her fork and moved the ration around so it heated evenly.
Multiple turian eyes landed on her, as she made herself as small as possible.
“We won’t let that happen Zoji” one of the turians at the table told her as he flitted out his mandibles
Decurio Helvius nodded curtly before giving her a curious look. “Why do they want to hurt you?”
“My family… they…” She pondered how to explain without disclosing information that would get her and these turians that were showing her kindness killed. She took a deep breath “They did some horrible things in the past and are seen as a dark stain on vextran history” she explained quietly, barely above a whisper. The turians didn’t ask further questions about how, assuming she couldn’t explain more than that.
“But you didn’t do those things, right?” Decurio Helvius asked gently
She shook her head no “But they blame me solely because of association” she added. The turians nodded, understanding a bit more.
“What do vextra like to do for fun? All we ever see you guys do is work” a turian with red facial markings asked. Her ears picked up sound behind her, the eyes of the turians in front of her focusing behind her, watching multiple people behind her walk away. She could only assume it was the vextra.
She relaxed more when the others did. She let a smile appear on her face as she looked up, her ears rising as she felt more comfortable “We like dancing and music. We can create music together with the sounds we can make from our claws”
“You have claws?” Decurio Helvius asked, amused
“Yes”
“Why didn’t you use them earlier?”
“No violence is allowed” she responded
“You are allowed to defend yourself Zoji” another turian, with yellow markings on her face told her. She looked down.
“It will only make things worse” she responded a breath above a whisper, the words nearly disappearing in the slight breeze.
“Let’s see those claws” the turian with red markings goaded, gesturing with his hands to see as he changed the topic
She grinned and extended her arms and extracted her claws. Her claws more than doubled the length of her fingers, which were already squat and thicker than both turian’s and human’s.
Decurio Helvius leaned forward and inspected them.
“You keep them very sharp”
“I need to. It is helpful for climbing” she explained
The turians laughed
“When will you need to climb?” the lone female turian at the table asked
Zoji shrugged, retracting her claws and taking the spoon in her hand so she could begin eating her hot food “You never know”
“These turians are treating us as slaves. I don’t think I have ever worked such long hours before” a human behind her complained to another man who was sitting down. The turians glared, and Zoji rolled her eyes
She turned, frustrated and feeling bold, especially since the long hours imposed on the mechanics and engineers came from the shoddy work that needed to be repaired or redone from the human side of the compound. “Maybe if you kept to the timetable we wouldn’t have needed to extend our working hours” she spat venomously.
A man at the table glared at her “For such a pretty girl you have a dirty mouth that needs to shut up. Maybe you should before I find something that will”
Zoji glared, hissing slightly at his words, her ears tilting backwards “All I have heard from you humans is your complaining and making all the other species pick up your slack. Maybe you should focus on your duties instead of mouthing off and complaining.”
She heard a few light chuckles from the turians
“Watch yourself vextra. You don’t want me as an enemy”
“Ooo I’m so fucking scared” Zoji taunted, hissing all the while
“You were scared earlier. I can do so much worse than that male vextra”
She felt her face drain of color.
Decurio Helvius turned “Is that a threat, human?”
“No, tell your pet to shut up and focus on eating”
“I’m not a pet”
“You look like you are, eating at their table and eating the food they give you like a proper dog”
“I don’t know what the fuck a dog is, but I do know that I have been consistently ahead of schedule. Are you?” Her eyes flashed dangerously as she scowled
“Fucking bitch”
“Eat or leave human” The Decurio ordered curtly
“What about her?”
“She didn’t threaten you, instead just stating truths that you can’t seem to handle” Tesserarius Vakarian growled assault rifle ready, and issuing a silent threat with it. He turned to Zoji “Eat” she frowned at the order but complied. Turning in her seat and shoving the food on her spoon angrily in her mouth
The human let out a sound of exasperation and grabbed his tray and left.
Decurio Helvius chuckled. “That was entertaining Zoji, glad someone made those humans shut up” he purred before beginning to eat himself. Tesserarius Vakarian sighed as he hopped off the platform lining the eating area.
“It needed to be said. I’m tired of having to fix their mistakes”
“You felt comfortable standing up to a human but not your own kind. Why?” Tesserarius Vakarian asked quietly as he sat down next to her, facing the rest of the eating area, leaning near her
“I know what happens if I do. It only gets worse and I don’t need a repeat of… I don’t want to talk about it” she told him just as quietly
Tesserarius Vakarian nodded and frowned at her words. She seemed closed off, clearly not wanting to delve more into why. He dropped the subject and leaned both his radial spurs against the table behind him, one of his legs resting on his knee as he relaxed and watched the other mechanics
“Why did you leave your homeworld?” He asked, trying to lighten the subject
“To get away from that” she gestured to the now empty table that the vextra were at. She sighed “I wanted a better life. I hoped I could find it by leaving. It took me years of work before I was chosen to leave and more testing to be chosen to be a mechanic here” she explained. She shoveled more food into her mouth to shut herself up
Tesserarius Vakarian hummed in his dual tones that seemed to vibrate inside of her from the table they were both touching. She paused at the feeling of it. It made her feel secure and safe. It was almost nostalgic. Feeling that way startled her and she forced those feelings down.
She was not completely safe. Yes, these turians protected her twice but she wasn’t in a safe situation and they could not guarantee her safety. Letting down her guard would be dangerous and stupid, especially after the threat that was issued to her earlier.
She took a deep breath and tried to think of how to navigate this situation. The only friends she had, Sri and Ven, were not made organically, they were forced into a team and over time became fierce friends. She had never made a friend outside of a situation like that.
“What do you do in the military? Just security?” she asked, her jungle green eyes meeting his icy blue
He smiled at her, mandibles flitting out wide and showing off his sharp teeth briefly “Right now we are assigned to defend and secure this compound. I’m a marksman.” He explained. Zoji smiled, pressing her lips together as she struggled internally on what else to ask, and how to continue the conversation. She shoveled more food in her mouth to stall as the area where her brow would be furrowed as she thought.
“What is Palaven like?” she finally asked. Tesserarius Vakarian stiffened slightly
“How long have you been here?”
“About a year”
“And you haven’t gone to Palaven yet?”
“You need a sponsor”
“The other vextra have one” he prodded gently, watching her scowl slightly and shove her food around somewhat aggressively
She stayed silent
“It is a lot hotter than it is on Menae.” He began “Our sun gives off a lot of radiation so you’d need to wear a suit because you haven’t evolved like turians have to protect yourself from it. Most of Palaven is quite peaceful.”
“Where-” she got interrupted by the flashing of her tech and sighed. She quickly shoveled the remnants of her meal into her mouth and stood to deposit her trash as Tesserarius Vakarian’s omni-tool flashed. He took the tray from her.
“I got it. Have a nice rest of your night Zoji” He swiped his wrist over his omni-tool towards hers. She looked down when her tech chimed. “If you need assistance, let me know” he gave her a small smile and walked away. She watched him leave for a minute before standing and heading over to her assigned work area as she thought over the events of the day. She left after a quick stretch and shrugged, she had work to do and she wanted to get the next task on the list finished before the end of the day.
Her area flashed a red light signaling the end of day. She had one hour to herself before curfew hit. She walked away from her work area and found herself looking at the stars again. Her home world was settled in caves and before leaving it she had very limited time to look up at the sky. Instead of heading to the area to the wash area she found herself heading out of the compound to have some alone time to get lost in her thoughts and relax. Decurio Helvius nodded at her as she passed through the compound checkpoint and she gave him a small smile and a nod of respect as she headed a bit away to sit and look at Palaven amongst the stars. With a sigh she fell backwards and let her mind wander as she studied the stars above her. There was a barrier that protected the compound from the high radiation, but it did not do anything to change how the stars looked.
Her tech flashed the warning of curfew approaching and she could not find the motivation to get up. It flashed again, giving her one last warning before she heard footsteps coming towards her. She sighed.
“Everything alright Zoji?” Tesserarius Vakarian asked as he looked down at her
“Just thinking, Tesserarius Vakarian” she explained as she made to get up. He stopped her “I’m assuming I need to go back to the compound and go to bed?” she asked quietly as she pulled her knees towards her to rest her chin on
“Decurio Helvius said you could stay out here a bit longer after the day you had, but only with an escort.” The turian explained
She gave him a small smile in appreciation
He sat down next to her and let his legs sprawl outwards. Letting his body relax. She lay down again
“You were going to ask a question during dinner break”
“Where are you from?” she blurted out. She heard him chuckle and looked up at him, feeling slightly embarrassed and feeling her smoky jade hide darkening.
He pointed to an area on Palaven that was bright with city lights even from where they were in space. She got up on her elbows to be able to see where he was pointing
“That area there is called Cipritine. That is where I am from.” He explained.
She looked at him, studying his face as he looked at Palaven himself
“What do your facial markings mean? Are they familial like with the vextra?”
He looked at her, tilting his head slightly, his eyes glittering despite the darkness around them, his eyes soft as they looked at her
“They are colony markings. The design itself signifies the area I am from, the color the clan”
She pondered his words for a moment and sat up
“I overheard during dinner saying you could make sounds. Is it the same as subharmonics?” he asked
“Sub…harmonics?” she asked slowly
Tesserarius Vakarian grinned at her and let loose a few notes, her eyes widened at it
She extracted her claws slightly and with a few soft movements a few notes came from them, soothing sounds that relaxed the turian as he heard them with closed eyes
“You vextra are so full of surprises” he purred as he opened his eyes at look at her. She smiled while looking down, embarrassed and flushed and not sure why.
“Makes me wonder what other secrets your species is hiding” he murmured as he looked back at Palaven, missing her response completely as she stiffened briefly and went wide-eyed.
“Why did you join the military?” she asked suddenly to change the subject
He growled “I didn’t have much of a choice. Mandatory service is required by the Hierarchy” he spat bitterly.
Zoji felt awkward, not knowing how to respond once more and feeling inadequate in her ability to converse normally
Tesserarius Vakarian sighed, releasing the bitterness within him
“What is your homeworld like?”
“I can’t answer that” she explained “The location of my home world is a tightly kept secret and is one of our strictest laws”
“Okay. Um…” He looked just as awkward as she felt in that moment
“What do you like to do?” she asked, remembering the question asked of her during dinner
He smiled in thanks for ending his suffering before answering “I enjoy calibrating things so they work the best they can. I also enjoy dancing.” He answered.
“You said you were a marksman…” she stalled, the area above between her eyes furrowed as she struggled to think of her question
“I’m a sniper” he answered, ending her suffering like she had with him just moments earlier. She gave him a small smile “Can you shoot?”
She looked away and forced herself to slow her breathing “A bit.” She lied, hoping it wasn’t obvious “It was part of training”
“Training. Was it needed to become a mechanic?” he teased. She laughed slightly, the sound making his heart soar
“No, it was part of our day. From 6AM to lunch was training, running, sparring, and shooting. Mostly the former. We learned to shoot to protect ourselves as needed” she explained, hoping it was enough “After lunch we would go into our duties until dinner at 19:00”
“Half the day was filled with mostly running and sparing?” he mused.
“Yes, we usually started the day with a 25km run”
“What?!” Tesserarius Vakarian asked in shock “That sounds like torture” he added with a grimace. She found herself laughing at his reaction, it felt good to let go and relax
“It was a good workout. I feel like I am severely out of shape from the lack of running” A glint formed in her eye as her eyes took on a silver color from the angle in the limited light around them. “Do turians not like to run? Does that mean I can outrun you?” she bantored. He growled playfully, the dual tones making them span farther and caused her a shiver as the vibrations hit her bones and made her body tingle
“We may not like running long distances but I highly doubt you could outrun me” he playfully growled. She smirked at him
“You just said a 25km run would be torture” She prodded teasingly
“It is. Turians evolved to run after prey, but not distances like that” he defended himself and his earlier comment, ending with a short huff. Another laugh exited her mouth, looking up at him with a gleeful grin on her face as she enjoyed the playful banter.
“Oh, you poor turian, not able to run a measly 25km” she jested
He did not look pleased at her teasing and she ended up laughing again at his reaction. He found his mandibles flitting outward at her reaction though, happy to see her relax around him and come out of her shell more. He would never have imagined she was as playful as she was when in a relaxed environment from her earlier behavior.
His omni-tool chimed and he answered the call from it, a small holo screen showing Decurio Helvius “Tesserarius Vakarian, are you two finished blowing off steam?” he growled his joke in a somewhat authoritative manner. Tesserarius Vakarian stuttered at the comment. Zoji tilted her head in confusion
“Blowing… off… steam?” she asked
“Sex, Zoji.” Decurio Helvius explained without missing a beat. She was not shown in the holo call but Garrus watched her face of shock and her face deepen to a lovely jade color at the connotation
“We… weren’t” she squeaked out, her voice an octave higher than normal. Decurio Helvius laughed.
“Escort her back to the compound will you Tesserarius, I want to make sure she gets to bed safely”
“Yes, sir” Tesserarius Vakarian responded, still shocked at his superiors’ words. Decurio Helvius fitted his mandibles out to a wide mischievous grin and winked at his subordinate and ended the holo call, leaving both turian and vextra in stunned silence for a moment.
Zoji slowly stood and dusted the dirt off her coveralls and looked down expectantly at the Tesserarius who was still sitting stunned on the ground.
Zoji tilted her head “I believe I am required an escort after curfew Tesserarius Vakarian” she reminded him gently. He looked up at her and blinked before getting up. He looked at her outfit
“Aren’t you cold?”
She laughed softly “No, Tesserarius Vakarian, Menae is quite warm. Thank you for your concern” she replied pleasantly with a bow of her head with respect for the turian.
The two walked the short distance back to the compound. He walked her to the wash area. She knew she wouldn’t be able to wash the day off of her in the shower so she settled for washing her face and brushing her teeth. Tesserarius Vakarian watched her with fascination as she began brushing her hair
“Doesn’t that hurt?” He asked. She stopped and met his eyes in the mirror
“Hurt?” She asked confused. He gestured to her hair
“Your fringe”
Her mind connected the dots quickly and she shook her head “No Tesserarius Vakarian, it doesn’t hurt to brush my hair.” She explained gently.
He hummed as he continued studying her “You can call me Garrus if you like” She met his eyes again in the mirror and gave him a big smile
“Thank you Garrus. You can call me Zo if you like” she responded back, intentionally using the same language
She finished brushing her hair and then turned to head to the locker room to change. He waited outside while she did so and then escorted her to her work area. Her bed and rest area were a small section right off her work area, all under the same tent. Garrus watched her as she untied the area to step inside the closed off area “Good night Zoji”
“Good night Garrus. Thank you for today. I really appreciate it” her tone of voice told him how genuine her words were
He bowed his head, mirroring her earlier behavior and gave her a small smile “Sleep well” he told her, she nodded and tied the tent flap once she was inside. He stayed where he was for a moment before heading back to his post.
He wasn’t sure what to think about the vextra. She was interesting, but he wasn’t sure if that was based off of her species' need of secrecy or if she herself was interesting
Days passed and she found herself feeling more and more at ease as she ate with the turian military personnel who insisted she sit with them.
They seemed to accept her with open arms and made sure to keep her away from the other vextra for her safety. For the first time since being separated from her friends, she felt safe and welcome.
A part of her felt grief that she couldn’t find that among her own kind.
Zoji began learning more and more about turian culture, finding it fascinating. The turians enjoyed regaling her with stories from their mandatory service they were currently doing, missions that were no longer classified, or stories that embarrassed the others. She found herself opening up more and more to them. They seemed to make it a competition to see who could make her laugh the hardest.
Decurio Helvius intentionally had her schedule changed so either he or Tesserarius Vakarian would have their meal breaks at the same time so she always had someone at her side to keep the vextra at bay.
It seemed to only aggravate the vextra more.
Zoji finished her latest task, and took the remote to have the mass effect fields bring it to the collection area to be inspected before getting her next task to complete
“Didn’t you get assigned to make that only a few days ago?” Garrus asked as he hopped off the platform to join her
She laughed softly
“This task was really easy”
“Most of the others take at least a week to finish each of their tasks”
“Maybe they have too many distractions” Zoji joshed and playfully bumped his hip with hers. He looked at her as she looked up at him, her playful smile and glinting eyes showing how much she enjoyed the playful conversations between them. Garrus grinned
If she wants to play I can too he thought
“I would be happy to distract you from your duties if you’d like”
She laughed
“Garrus, as much as I appreciate the thought, I enjoy working at the speed I am” she grinned up at him, her eyes crinkling into horizontal crescent moons, his intentions going right over her head
“Well, if you need a distraction you know where to find me” he purred, making her laugh and shake her head
She handed the remote to the turian quality control officer waiting at the inspection area as he looked over her work critically. She waited off to the side as she was expected to
“The next off day is tomorrow. Did you want to go to Palaven?” Garrus asked
“I need a sponsor, remember?” she teased
“I’ll be your sponsor”
“What?” she whirled to look at him in shock, finding the whole thing unexpected. He laughed at her reaction and smiled at her
“I will be your sponsor” he repeated
“I… I… how do I get a hotel?” she stuttered
“No need, my family has an extra room you can stay in.”
“Oh”
“Do you have a suit?”
“Y-yes”
“Good. The shuttle leaves at 9:00” he told her with a smirk as he saw her flustered state
“Th-thank you Garrus”
He grinned before turning and leaving, continuing his duties with a smile on his face. He was excited to show off his planet to the vextra.
Zoji was given the okay by the inspector to bring her finished piece of the frigate to the collection site. Having her datapad signed off once it was taken from her hands so she could collect her next task
“Back so soon?” the turian taskmaster behind the counter asked when he saw her
“Yes, I guess so”
He looked at his console as the other turian went to get the materials for her next task.
“So, later tonight, you want to blow off steam? I’d love to hear you scream my name in ecstasy” the turian purred at her.
Zoji stiffened and stammered
“No, thank you. I… I’m not interested”
The turian sighed
“Why are you vextra so difficult to bed? You are aware of our work ethic, right? That work ethic transfers into the bedroom. Imagine how long we could give you pleasure” he added with a purr, as he leaned on the counter.
Zoji gulped, her face heating to a brighter teal
“Oh” she responded in a high pitched voice from her discomfort, not really sure how else to respond in a situation like this. The other turian returned with another pallet
“Damn Mercacius, leave the poor vextra alone. She already said no”
Mercacius growled at the other turian who rolled his eyes and handed her the remote to the pallet
“Ignore him. Not all turians are that unpleasant, I hope it doesn’t make you think less of us”
Zoji was horrified at the strangled sound that came from her throat as her reply. She stammered as she took the remote “N-no, of course not. He isn’t as bad as the humans” she attempted to lighten the blow
Mercacius laughed “Spirits! That good to hear”
She gave them both a small smile before promptly turning and leaving the area quickly. Incredibly uncomfortable with how she was feeling in the moment. Cursing her luck at being born into her family and cursed with the lack of social skills as a result.