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@Fallenreaper and
@Mortarion
After their debriefing on Elysium, Khosin had stayed confined to the Borealis. The scathing remarks that their former employer had said, plus his recent chat with Dex, had left him with little desire to go out towards the human city of Illyria. Plus, he doubted that the sight of a Batarian walking amongst the city -no matter the fact he was in civilian clothes and unharmed- would be a welcome sight to any of it’s inhabitants after the recent Skyllian Blitz. As such, and without much else to do, Khosin did little more than staying in his room passing the time as best he could sans those few times he got out to either check on the ship’s engine or went to the kitchen to eat something, as was the case at the moment.
However, just as he was starting to prepare something for himself, he remembered Serena asking him to check on Vellios, who had decided to remain on the Borealis as well while the rest of the crew decided to go out to Illyria. Turning back towards where the crew quarters where, Khosin made a beeline towards Vellios’s door “Hey, Vellios, gonna prepare something for myself to eat, you want anything?” He asked as he knocked on the Turian’s door. While he wasn’t an amazing cook, he still knew how to prepare a dextro meal (courtesy of his time amongst the Blue Suns).
Vellios groggily raised an eyelid, his vision clearing quickly despite the blurriness of his mind between the past and present. From high up in his makeshift hammock, he tilted over the edge to holler back. His stomach rumbled but he ignored it, knowing the sleep would tame it, as he balanced himself from falling haphazardly.
“No, I'm sleeping. I'll eat later.” Khosin sighed as Vellios told him that he was sleeping and that he’d eat later. He had half the mind to go back to the kitchen but knew that if he did that he’d, most likely, get an earful from Serena, plus he had noticed that Vellios hadn’t come out of his room since they had come back from Virmire from what he could tell. “C’mon Vellios, don’t be stubborn, all I’m saying is come out to take a meal and then you can come back to sleep, not to come out and help me do maintenance to the ship’s engine.” Said the Batarian as he crossed his arms, waiting for an answer from the Turian.
Vellios grumbled and leaned farther forward on the edge, dangerously so, as he frowned at Khosin’s answer. He had been about to say no when his body’s weight caused him to lose his balance. His hammock’s unsure support immediately gave way causing him to topple from the roof and into the floor with a loud thump. On the way down, he curled his body so he landed hard on his back to spare his ribs any more damage.
Clutching his side, Vellios gingerly say upright when he spoke through gritted teeth,
“Shit, I said I was sleeping Khosin! Can't you just let me and lie to Serena? I know she put you up to this.” Khosin tensed when he heard a loud thump coming from Velios’s room, somewhat relaxing when he heard the Turian speaking to him again. He shifted slightly under Vellios’s accusation that he had been told to do that by Serena, debating for a second whether to lie or not before deciding to be honest with Vellios “Alright, you got me there, yeah Serena put me up to this.” Said Khosin as he pondered on what to say next “And normally I’d lie like you asked me to, believe me I understand wanting to be left alone, but I know you’ve been cooped up in your room since we got back from that shithole known as Virmire.” He said as he sat on the ship’s floor, his back rested against the wall next to the door to Velios’s room “So forgive me if I don’t believe you when you say that you’ll get something to eat later.” He said with a sigh “If you are that determined to be in your room, just tell me what you want and I’ll bring it here.” He added at the last second, waiting for an answer.
“It wasn't hard to guess since you never checked in on me before. Through I have to admit, you remind me of Bamis a bit, though you've been a little gloomy lately,” Vellios commented as he edged onto his feet, his arm used the wall to keep from falling down. Gingerly he made his way toward the door and popped it open, his head popped out to spot the Batarian slumped against the wall,
“Even got the same depressed look as him too when I last saw him.”“Heh, lots on my mind lately admittedly.” Said Khosin when Velios mentioned that he had been a little gloomy as of late, chuckling softly at what he had said earlier about it being easy to deduce that Serena had sent him since he had never checked in on him before. He looked as Vellios opened the door “Damn man, you look like a mess.” He said as he looked at the Turian before shrugging a little when he mentioned that he had the same depressed look as this Bamis he used to know “As I said, lots in my mind and none of it pleasant.” He said as he stood up, dusting his hands slightly before looking at Velios once more “Come, grab a shirt and let’s head to the kitchen.” Said the Batarian, motioning towards the direction of the ship's mess hall with his head as he waited for Velios to grab a shirt.
“You do realize my carapace covers more than human’s body hair, right? It’s not like I have those pink nubs they call nipless exposed,” Vellios replied as he retreated back into the room. He left the door open revealing him padding back to his suitcase and snatched up a discarded shirt from the floor, his nose sniffed then hauled it on over his head. Letting the thinner cloth cover his carapace, he turned to face the Batarian. He paused long enough to grab his last bottle of Turian brandy before exiting his quarters.
“I’m pretty sure there’s some rations still left in the kitchen freezer unit. Unless you’re aiming to cook because I have only enough skills to make the meal edible and that’s it,” Vellios said, stepping into the hall.
Khosin chuckled at Velios’s words “Alright, you got me there, but still, best to put something on unless you wanna get sick. And I’m pretty sure that where that to happen we’d both get an earful from Serena.” Said the Batarian, his lips twitching into a light smirk as he looked as the Turian went into his room only to return shortly after wearing a shirt and clutching a bottle of -what he guessed- was alcohol “That’s better.” He said, opting not to comment on the bottle of alcohol that the Turian was carrying with himself, as he made his way towards the hall.
“Eh, can’t be worse than the trash that they served in the Hegemony’s forces or in the Suns for that matter.” Said Khosin unthinkingly when Vellios mentioned that he had enough skills to make the meal edible and nothing more “But yeah, I do was planning to cook. Nothing too fancy, my cooking skills ain’t that much better than yours admittedly, but it’ll do.” He said as he knelt in front of the counter, searching for a few ingredients and opening the fridge to grab a bottle of Batarian ale alongside what few ingredients he needed that were on the fridge.
Vellios followed, his head swayed side to side to keep an eye out for Tanya. Eventually they would have to have their discussion but for now, the Turian wasn't in the right mood. Especially after the last dream. Shrugging the dark thoughts off, he tilted his head at the lowered Batarian and his comment. His right side of his lip curled up in a smirk.
“Keep in mind, I'm a dextrose so I can't eat the same food as you and I don't think me sitting on the toilet all day will make anyone happy… Correction, Tonka would love it and likely pat you on the back.”Khosin laughed a little at Velios’s comment on what would happen if he accidentally gave the Turian something else than dextro food “To be fair, I think Tonka would be just as happy if I was the one who ended up eating a dextro meal and ended up sitting on the toilet all day.” He said with a low chuckle as he double-checked that he had correctly picked up dextro ingredients. Once he was satisfied that he had the necessary -and correct- ingredients, Khosin began to cook a simple meal which was done after a while “Well, here it is, nothing too big and, honestly, I haven’t cooked a dextro meal in years so hopefully it’ll be alright.” He said as he handed Velios his plate before settling in front of the Turian with the meal that he had prepared for himself, taking a swig of the nearby Batarian ale once he had sat on one of the kitchens stools.
Vellios took the bowl and examined the stew like meal. There was chunks of harpix meat, juspin, and various other meat like vegetables floating in a murky broth. His fork jabbed a greyish chunk then eyed Khosin as he frowned questionably at the meal,
“I don't know why someone would want to learn to cook a food they can't eat. Seems rather pointless and fruitless because you won't know if you got it right.”He stabbed the bobbing meat chunk then popped it into his mouth. He chewed the soft meat and absorbed the taste, grateful it didn't have the same texture of leather or worse like his own cooking. He swallowed then dug into one of the vegetables. He decided to idly chatter while he ate,
“So, regretting how the last mission came out or something else bugging you about the crew?”Khosin chuckled softly when Velios asked him why he would learn to cook food they couldn’t eat “Ah, you see, I was in the Blue Suns and I picked it there along the way..” He said with a light shrug, no need to tell Velios that he had once been sent to prepare food for the entirety Blue Suns group that he was part of as a punishment due to an altercation with a comrade “And, as I am sure you know, they have quite the number of Turians so it was an inevitability.” Said the Batarian as he took a bite off of his meal.
“Hmmm, not regretting per say but I do think we could have performed a bit better. And I mean this both as a team and on the personal level.” He said with a slight frown as he stabbed a piece of meat with his fork, popping it into his mouth and chewing on it as he ate “I’m also worried about Kasyra, that seems like a loose end that might end up badly. Nothing against her, but I’m worried over her disappearance.” He thought with a frown “But I’m just being an idiot, this sort of stuff happens all the time, forgive me.” Said Khosin with a sigh, taking a swig from his ale to calm himself “Though, I do find it worrying that half or so of our initial crew has left the team by this point., probably says something about us or maybe this bolt of buckets scared them off.” He said, letting out a chuckle in self-deprecating humor.
Vellios busted out laughing at the mention of being worried over Kasyra,
“HAHAAA, you and Serena. Both of you worry over nothing and I swear, you’ll run yourselves rugged before you’re both grey and rocking on chairs if you keep it up.” Letting his laughter die down as he continued,
“Kasy can take care of herself and honestly, when she wants to turn up again then she will. We weren’t gang pressed-well correction, you weren’t- into this life and she’s lived this long. I’m sure we’ll cross paths but not for a while and until then, no point in worrying. As for mission… well, yes it could’ve gone better or worse. Why focus on the future or past when the present matters the most?” He inhaled then scratched his itching neck with his right talon, caring less if he drew blood or not,
“And yea, I miss a few of them too but I like to think they are doing better with their share then before. So knock off the gloom and worry or you’ll turn grey.” Khosin couldn’t help but laugh alongside Velios after the Turian mentioned that he, alongside Serena apparently, would run himself rugged before he was an old man “True enough I suppose.” He said, letting out one last chuckle as his laughter started to die down. He listened in silence as Velios continued to speak “Yeah, I do suppose you are right, no sense worrying over the past or the future when it’s the present that matters the most.” He said, nodding in agreement with the Turian’s words.
“Yeah, I suppose that is true enough as well. At the very least they aren’t in this rusted bucket of bolts.” He said with a chuckle, his eyes briefly glancing towards the Turian’s neck and inwardly wincing when he noticed the tell-tale scars that slave collars left “
Shit, someone else is a former slave.” He said inwardly, his thoughts briefly wandering towards Iosif before threatening to shift towards Mindoir. Grabbing his bottle, he took a long swig of ale before nodding at Velios’s last words “Ain’t that the truth.” He said with a chuckle as he continued to eat, deciding to focus on his meal -for the time being at least- rather and in his past and the mistakes he had made.
“If the scars make you uncomfortable, I can get a scarf to cover them,” Vellios stated, his head turned to spot the Batarian reach for his drink then take a ‘long’ drink. When he was younger, he had done that often enough to avoid thinking of it or shooting himself up with something to numb the emotional stress brought on by it. His fork continued to stab more food through only about every three out of five stabs made it to his maw. He decided to add another thing he hoped would’ve eased the Batarian’s discomfort,
“It also wasn’t a Batarian that put it on me but a rather fucked up turian captain and his krogan first mate. I’m pretty sure the krogan had a thing for me, despite me never asking before I escaped.” He scratched again then commented,
“Still itches like hell through.”“Nah, it’s fine, sorry, it just took em by surprise is all.” Said Khosin, shaking his head slightly as he settled down the bottle of ale. He listened when Velios said that it hadn’t been a Batarian who had put the slave collar on him, helping to ease the discomfort that Khosin was feeling although he was surprised when he explained that it had been a turian captain and krogan follower of the same captain that had put the collar on him. He was silent for a few seconds, struggling for what to say “Must have been hell.” He said quietly after Velios has mentioned that the scars still itched like hell, stabbing his dinner with the fork in his hand although he was quickly losing most of his appetite. Reaching for his bottle he took another swig of it as Khosin struggled for what to say next “If you don’t mind me asking, how did you meet Serena? As far as I know you two are the only ones that knew each other previously, weren’t you?” He asked after a while, hoping to guide the conversation away from possibly sensitive -and not to mention rather dark- themes.
“About a year ago, she was hired onto the same merc crew as I was. Being friendly and my usual charming self, I flirted a bit with her. Oh, boy did she turn redder than that fruit they call a tomato. I swore all the blood rushed to her face and I thought it was the cutest thing which only made her become more flustered. It got me laughing so hard I literally collapsed into a heap of giggles,” Vellios answered with a wide grin on his face over the memory, his talons lingered on the brandy neck before he rose up to get himself a glass. After a few loud clanks and shuffling, he produced a glass and lifted halfway upright. His eyes noted the ale was nearly down to three-fifths causing his eyes to tighten over it. He sighed and snatched another glass, pausing long enough to fill it with water on his way back to the bar counter.
Sliding onto the stool, he carefully gripped the Batarian’s ale and replaced it with water. Setting the ale at his left where it was farthest from his crew mate, Vellios explained his actions,
“Might want to ease up over the ale. You’re doing maintenance over the engine after all after this and if you can’t see straight, you might bolt a screw in your hand. Something that’s not very fun as I say from a first hand account and I think I’m injured enough for both of us, don’t you agree?” Khosin chuckled softly as Velios recounted to him how he had met with Serena “Sounds like quite the meeting.” He said, letting out another soft chuckle while shaking his head slightly. He looked on as Vellios rose up, brandy bottle in hand, and made his way towards the counter to get a glass for himself before turning his gaze towards the bottle in Khosin’s hands, the way he looked at the bottle not going unnoticed by the Batarian. When the Turian approached him, Khosin didn’t resist when Velios took the bottle from his hand and replaced it with a glass full of water
“Yeah, you are right on both accounts.” He said with a sigh, somewhat ashamed that he had drank enough ale from the bottle to the point that Vellios had felt the need to take it off from his hand “Thanks.” He muttered as he took a sip from the glass of water, his four eyes widening when he noticed that he had drank two-fifths of the bottle’s content “Wow, hadn’t realized I had drank so much.” He muttered somewhat sheepishly, not having fully realized the extent of how much alcohol he had downed already “Guess it’s a good thing I was eating while drinking, huh? Otherwise pretty sure I’d be completely drunk by this point.” He said, shaking his head before taking another sip from the glass.
“Than that would make you a lightweight, Khosin. Through honestly, I understand. Done it myself a few times just to forget things, but I think keeping busy is more productive than drinking. How much hand to hand combat do you know? I could use a sparring partner in a few weeks if you’re up to it,” Vellios offered as he sat back down and shuffled a bit to situate himself comfortably. His torso leaned against the counter to hear Khosin’s answer before pouring himself a glass of brandy and sipping it.
“Heh, haven’t drunk seriously in a while so, yeah, I’m a bit of a lightweight right now admittedly.” Said the Batarian before nodding in agreement with what Velios said next, grateful for both the fact that the Turian understood and for the offer of sparring with him, “Hmmm, not much really. I mean, I know how to throw a few punches and defend myself, but I do not have much finesse in how I fight, mainly hope that I get a good opening to throw a punch with my enforcement gauntlet or a biotic punch in case I can’t use the former.” He explained as he finished the glass of water
“So, yeah, I could definitively use a few sparring lessons.” He said as he stood up to refill his glass of water while waiting for Velios’s reply.
Vellios smirked then took another sip, his eyes watched the Batarian a bit over the explanation. He nodded his understanding as he popped in another mat chunk into his mouth and chewed the bland meat. Already he was missing Kasyra’s cooking but managed to swallow it down, thankful the food was softer than his own attempts to replicate something edible. Even Armis thought he was trying to tan a shoe the last time he tried to cook a Bryno steak and had to topple over at his confused expression over the statement.
“I could always use a challenge either way. Through I admit, I often avoided biotics as they tend to break more bones than I was willing to accept and I hated nearly starving to heal. It was annoying,” Vellios admitted and off handedly added,
“I hope you’re at least sleeping better than me. I personally need a different outlet and I’ll take your comment as a yes for both of our sanity.”He took a deeper drink of his brandy, draining it but didn’t refill it immediately.
“Don’t worry, I only pull the biotic punches on missions, not while sparring. I was merely explaining to you how I fought.” Said Khosin before he took another chunk of meat into his mouth, chewing the bland meat while Velios spoke “Hmmm, normally yes but as of late I haven’t been sleeping too well.” He admitted to the Turian, shaking his head somewhat, “But yeah, don’t worry, that was a yes because, honestly, I could use an outlet that isn’t performing maintenance to the engine every day. So I guess we are more or less on the same boat.” He said with a light chuckle.
Vellios hissed quietly at his own situation,
“Yeah, it’s not hard to recognize someone who is like you. Granted through I think I’m a little better off in the recovery and acceptance place,” Vellios bit his lip for a moment in thought then propped up from his seat. His arm reached for a pad of paper and a pen, his talons struggled to hold it upright in his thicker digits. Hastily he scribbled a extranet address for Dr. T’Vynas over it before he passed it over to Khosin,
“If you’re ever looking to talk to someone that’s not actually on ship and has experience in dealing with some fucked up individuals, try her. She’s the one that helped me recover after Haides and honestly, while I don’t know what’s eating at you… she can at least help if you’re not able to handle it alone. Just tell her Vellios Malkai suggested it.” He settled into his chair again and poured his brandy again into his glass, this time to the very top. Vellios gave another cocky smirk then sipped his glass,
“As for my part, best I can do is give you another outlet and keep your drinking in check so you haven’t any more regrets. Through for this to work… you’re going to have to resist drinking when I’m not around. You’re not as cute as Dex or likely as light sadly.” “Yeah, I suppose that’s right….still, thanks Vellios.” Said Khosin, feeling relieved to find a -somewhat- kindred spirit aboard the ship. He looked as the Turian reached up for a pad of paper and then for a pen, his surprise only growing when he handed him an extranet address “Dr T’Vynas….thanks Vellios, I appreciate it.” Said the Batarian as he looked at the piece of paper “
T’Vynas, and Asari probably….who knows maybe she can help me.” Thought Khosin, a small smile forming on his lips.
“Don’t worry, I promise you won’t find me passed out in the middle of the mess hall.” Chuckled Khosin “But thanks for your help Vellios, I appreciate it.” Said the Batarian as he reached towards the Turian, giving him a friendly pat on the shoulder and then settled on the stool again.
“I couldn’t save a friend on the Haides, but I can help you here and now,” Vellios treating the hand off as nothing much, his mouth still fixed in a pleased smirk, and reassured the Batarian again,
“She will try and honestly, isn’t that all you need in the end? She’s also able to do mind melding therapy if you visit her in person. It’s had some positive results and high success rate, but never been brave enough to try it myself. Mostly because I believe no one should live my hell but me.” Khosin nodded in silence when Velios mentioned that, while he couldn't help a friend on the Haides, he could help him now, a fact for which the Batarian was immensely grateful. He nodded when his Turian explained to him that Dr T’Vynas offered mind melding therapy in person if he found himself able to visit her in person “I understand, thank you Vellios” He said as he sipped his glass of water, his mind still processing what Vellios had told him.
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