Mass Effect: Element of Kindness

by CommanderApplejack


Citadel

Chapter 14

Citadel

Take Liara [Light armor, biotic focus] 45%

Fluttershy and Liara stood at the Citadel docks as the Normandy released its clamps and took off away from the gigantic space station that served as the capital of galactic civilization. Shepard had given the two of them access to his private account of credits telling them to 'go wild' as he wasn't in that much need of the pile of credits he had accumulated over the years.

Choosing who to take with her had been a tough choice for Fluttershy as the options presented by Tali and Garrus all had their good arguments going for them. Garrus's opinion of getting her medium armor was something she had briefly considered but Tali's argument about limiting movement had convinced her that light armor was probably the way to go.

Then after having decided the type of armor, she had to pick her main way of offense. Tali had proposed getting intimately familiar with her omni tool and the offensive capabilities it had, though she admitted that Liara would probably propose using biotics instead of tech. Fluttershy, knowing that she had no experience with technology in the slightest, chose to go with Liara instead of the quarian.

Though she wouldn't admit it to the others she had also seriously considered asking Wrex to come along with her. Though a bit crude, the krogan still had a good two to three hundred years of experience that couldn't be ignored. But in the end, Fluttershy chose to take Liara anyway as, indicated by her medical scan, she apparently had a large amount of Eezo within her body which would allow her to wield powerful biotics.

"So, shall we go find a place to stay for the coming week?" Liara asked, Fluttershy nodded absentmindedly. This would be the first time in over a week that she was not accompanied by a large group of her friends from the Normandy, something that made her feel very uneasy.

Liara paid for a shuttle to bring them to a hotel on the Citadel's Zakera Ward. "Fluttershy, there's a couple of things I wanted to talk to you about, " Liara told the pegasus who finally snapped from her thoughts and nodded. "Good, there's actually three things. The first is about your hair, we need to cut it since hair that long will get in the way. Second is that we'll need to find an armorer that's willing to make you a custom suit, luckily Garrus gave me an address to one that he claims will do it for you. Then the third thing I wanted to speak to you about is getting a biotic amp but that's the last thing... uhm Fluttershy?"

Had the asari been observing Fluttershy she might have noticed that the moment the words 'cut' and 'hair' were uttered in the same sentence the pegasus had frozen. "I-I's cutting my hair really necessary?" she meekly asked, Fluttershy was reluctant to give up her long hair as it had always served as a good barrier to hide behind.

"Absolutely. Your hair will get in the way of running, it will obscure your sight and is heavy in general," Liara said resolutely, Fluttershy swallowed and nodded in agreement, she was already doing things she never thought possible so adding cutting her hair to that list wasn't too bad, right? "Perfect, now let's go find ourselves a hotel!"

The two of them stepped out of the shuttle and started walking past various hotels and businesses, Fluttershy noticed a few curious glances from various passers-by but none seemed to think of her as more than a novelty. The thought occurred to the pegasus that they might have just been assuming that she was Liara's pet of sorts. Internally giggling at that thought she and Liara entered a hotel. "Room for two please," Liara told the attendant, a human female, in the front of the desk who looked between Liara and Fluttershy, a frown forming on her face.

"I'm sorry, ma'am, but we don't allow pets in our rooms," she told the stunned asari while Fluttershy was having trouble not bursting out laughing.

Why am I acting like this?! I would usually be terrified in a situation like this one!

"I assure you that my friend is very much sentient, thank you very much," Liara said with a tinge of annoyance in her voice. Fluttershy simultaneously had opened her omni-tool and pulled up her ID, showing it to the attendant who's eyes went wide.

"I-I'm very sorry, I just assumed..." she stammered but was cut off by a smiling pegasus.

"Don't worry about it, my species isn't exactly mainstream knowledge," Fluttershy told the almost panicking attendant which seemed to calm her down a bit. "Now can you please get us a room for two?"

"Of course! do you want a shared bed or...?" the human asked making the pegasus blush furiously.

"N-no two separate beds please!" Fluttershy stammered, the attendant nodding and got the two of them a room which Liara paid for. After getting settled the two of them decided to get some food at one of the restaurants they passed while they were looking for a hotel. Picking one of them hadn't been too hard and soon the asari and pegasus were happily eating their food, Fluttershy being very glad to have something other than rations to eat. Even though she was told the food on the Normandy wasn't the worst it still wasn't going to beat the salad that stood before her.

"So, Fluttershy, have you decided what we should do first yet?" Liara asked as she cleared out her own plate. "I suggest cutting your air first so it won't be in the way when you get surgery to install the biotic amp."

Fluttershy nearly choked on a bit of her salad as she heard the asari's proposal.

Surgery?! What does she mean by surgery? Can't they just, I don't know, use implants like with the omni tool?!

1. We'll go cut my hair, I've come this far already...

2. We should go to the armorer first to give him time to design the armor

3. Is there no other way to get biotics?

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