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( voice | un: vakarian )

Now I haven't been here for more than a couple of months, but all these festivals? It makes me wonder if there is any sort of effort being made on our hosts' part to get people home. I like having a good time just like anyone else, but when the "good times" are a week long every month it's maybe time to start questioning how dedicated they really are. I don't think two to two and a half weeks without the distraction of another festival on the mind are really enough.

That is the Turian in me speaking, of course. The down time - even with all the strange crap that happens - is starting to get to me.

But no, really. What is the point in having a week long celebration every month?

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[ It sounds like some kind of sandpaper running over something, only slower and somehow metallic. Aoba doesn't know what it was, actually. ]

Ahaha, I got the same reaction. I felt bad right after saying it.

But I found out something interesting when I pressed them. Do you want to hear it?

I didn't. If anything it just pissed me off more.

[Because it's like admitting that they've never really thought about, at length, how something could go wrong. About mistakes and how to fix them.]

If it is interesting, of course I'd want to hear.

[ Ah, it's a good thing this isn't over video or in person. Aoba realizes he kinda... enticed someone whose eye he caught into giving him a bit more than orientation would. ]

One of the technicians said that when we go back, it's as if we never left. We get put right back where we left off.

[ The unique quality of his voice might have been something of a carrot, his vocal chords are different from a normal human's, and it creates a sort of passive effect to some people. It's always been like this, but as soon as he recognized that this was happening again, he had pressed him for more details. ]

He also said that while mistakes happen, it's more likely because I felt out of place at the time.

[Aoba you naughty boy. Garrus would approve of this, you know.]

Oh we can all just breathe a sigh of relief then. It's a force that can control or break time and space. Because nothing can go wrong with that at all.

[All the more reason to suspect it's not someTHING that happens, but someONE making it happen - like the Leviathan and the Reapers. While Garrus is being a sarcastic arse, it is a bit of a relief to know that he's not exactly missing out on anything.]

Kid, think about that for a second. How many times in your life have you felt like that?

Eh? How else would it work?

[ Please tell him, this goes way way outside his expertise. He's a tech guy, not a scientist or something. ]

N-no more than anyone else, I imagine. But I had recently moved to Germany and... [ Aoba flusters ] and who are you calling a kid?

[ And would he even know what Germany was? He knew nothing about most places even on his own planet so... ]

All natural events are bound by some kind of rules and structure, even if the parameters aren't known or understood by those studying it. Since I doubt that these portals are naturally occurring, then it is something artificial that causes them. If it's artificial, it's prone to malfunction. Think about the consequences of something that has the power to stop time and cross space malfunctioning.

I've already dealt with something like it on a smaller scale. It's not fun and people die. Lots of people die.

[But no. Garrus doesn't know where Germany is...]

Don't you think it's a little strange to think that the feeling of not belonging automatically means to these people that you'd rather stay here than go home? Any feeling of displacement? And isn't being sent here also actually being displaced?

Just some food for thought, Kid.

[There's a grin in that last sentence. Just so Aoba knows.]

Edited 2017-09-17 23:01 (UTC)

As I said, I'm not a --

[ ...

Aoba thinks about it.

He doesn't like what his own imagination concludes in that open ended statement. Doesn't like the fact that it suddenly casts a huge shadow of doubt over the trust he's placed in this place. The hush is clear and obvious on his end of the voice feed. ]

...What are you saying?

Edited 2017-09-17 23:08 (UTC)

All I am saying is to think for yourself. A good amount of skepticism is healthy and keeps the mind sharp.

...

H-hand on, after all that you're just going to tell me to think for myself?

[ Wow, he not only feels like he just got schooled, but what a let down! A total let down! Don't just walk off on him after making him go through all that, Garrus! ]

Don't just go around trying to sound cool like that!

I used to be a cop. What do you expect?

[Also a vigilante. But no one here needs to know about Omega, right?]

Things just don't add up. If the portals are natural, then why do only "displaced" people show up? That explanation itself is sketchy, since a feeling of not belonging can happen for a variety of reasons and yet our welcoming party expects that we don't want to return. A lot of effort is being made to make us feel comfortable, but visible effort to send people back? I don't see it so that makes me think they don't really want to send people back.

And why would they? If they are really the last bit of civilization on this planet, wouldn't be advantageous to get people to stay?

A... hm. [ Oh, he was a cop. An alien cop. From space. That's like several layers of cool, how dare he. ]

I just... I mean it has to be a big deal, right? That displacement...

[ He left behind just about everything of his old life. Granny, Koujaku. All his friends. His culture, neighborhood. It was like being on another world entirely, but at least he'd had Ren and Noiz. Still, he can't help but feel a little shaken knowing that wasn't enough.

Now Garrus has to go and shake that up too. ]

...You think they're just trying to keep us entertained?

[He is the coolest, it's true.]

Is it? I was the only person in C-Sec that wanted to track down Saren. The only Turian on the Normandy. Only a handful of us believed in Shepard and the Reapers. There are a hundred more moments where I felt like I didn't belong or "displaced." Yet I was picked up immediately after a crash landing on an uninhabited planet? When I was surrounded by people and the crew that I had known for years... The people I had just fought and helped save the galaxy with? I belonged with them and yet I still end up here. Convenient timing, isn't it?

Isn't it also a little convenient to bring people here that are either dead or dying back in their reality? Sure, it's a second chance, but who would choose to go back and die?

[See how shifty this all is? Why he can't think that it's just as they say and nothing more sinister?]

The easiest way to keep people from asking questions is to keep them distracted. Comfortable. Complacent.

[ Aoba's silence is interrupted only by some fidgeting. He doesn't know what Saren or Normandy or what any of that has to do with the (rather unfortunately named) organization looking for either? Or working on one of them. Whatever, he's struggling to keep up. ]

I wasn't one of those who was about to die. I was in a pretty good place, actually.

[ A veritable Cinderella ending, actually. But he felt like he didn't belong, that rang true. Also true was that he was lulled into a sense of security, knowing he could always pick up where he left off. Now he's not so sure, but there's just one problem.

That name, or at least how it sounded. Is it really something that sounds credible? ]

Was your organization really called 'Sea Sick'? [ Aoba, it's C-Sec. ]

[Of course it gets Garrus to stop. Seriously though... Aoba only gets that much from what Garrus is saying? What he's implying? Maybe people really just are not prone to asking too many questions like Garrus and a good chunk of the Normandy crew are.]

I'd say that I was about to be. No more Reapers. The galaxy was about to need a massive recovery effort, but all of the races were cooperating. The point being that using the term "displaced" is too broad a term. That feeling of not belonging is too situational.

[But maybe just getting the guy to think about it for a minute or two is enough.]

It's C-Sec. As in "Citadel Security."

[ He's basically the very definition of a normal, everyday civilian. One who lived in a modern slum, but still. He had enough time on his hands to fool around with video games. He's about as normal as a genetically modified/created humanoid whatever he is can be. ]

I... I knew that.

[ He sounds the exact opposite of convincing. You can practically hear the color flooding his cheeks with how he mumbles sullenly around the words. ]

I was just teasing you.

That's not a very effective way to tease someone...

Kid.

[ THIS AGAIN!? Look, he's a little defensive when people call him a kid. He makes an exasperated noise between his teeth. ]

Nnh! I'm 23 years old!

Saying that just makes you sound like... like a cranky old coot!

[Aww. Look how cute it is when it is all riled up.]

Twenty-three? Oh my mistake then.

[ WOW, that emphasis. You're not sorry at all, are you, Garrus! ]

...Do you even know how human age works anyway? I mean, does it work the same way for you?

I do know how aging works with humans. Earth and Palaven have similar orbital periods. We generally have about the same lifespan and reach maturity at around the same time.

Turians generally start families later in life, but that's do to mandatory civil service and drafting.

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( voice | un: vakarian )

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