Don't fuck with Aria (queenofomega) wrote in valarlogs, @ 2018-01-07 23:22:00 |
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Entry tags: | !complete, aria t'loak, neena thurman (domino) |
Who: Neena and Aria
What: Meeting for an after hours drink, and Aria reveals she isn't human.
When: Early December
Where: The Inferno
Warnings: Pretty low
Last Call at The Inferno always came just a bit earlier on a weeknight. By 1am there was hardly anyone left at the bar but those last few stubborn regulars, and she hated making people work when there wasn’t much left to do. She also hated having to pay people to do more work than necessary, so by that hour the only people still in the bar were herself and those last few hangers-on that she didn’t have the heart to kick out the door yet.
Neena was in the process of clearing off the bar when Aria walked in. She waved at Aria and cracked a grin, “Hey you, we’re closing. But I’ll make an exception for you. You came all the way down here, after all. Shot?”
Aria did have a sense of timing. Though she would have come earlier, but she’d had some business matters of her own to attend to. Apparently someone was up to something at her Los Angeles club. She would be handling that in person tomorrow. For now, it was contained and put on ice.
Most likely literally.
She gave a smirk in return as she approached the bar. “A shot sounds excellent currently,” she said as she sat down on a stool. Unbeknownst to any who weren’t Dreamers or who hadn’t seen what she actually looked like, Aria was in disguise currently. Her omni-tool had been enchanted to give her a human disguise. She looked like she belonged in a death metal band, which only added to her ‘don’t fuck with me’ attitude and statuesque physique.
It was a look that flattered her. Neena wasn't one to appreciate the good looks of women, but the way Aria wore her hair had a way of turning heads. Including hers, and she was certain Aria noticed. Nothing much at all seemed to slip its way past the woman's scrutiny.
Neena slid aside the tray of glasses she'd been collecting and pulled some bottles down from the back bar. "Kitchen's closed but for you I'm pretty sure we could come up with something if you're hungry. Or if a shot isn't enough I could pour you up one of my new specials. Guaranteed to bleach your brain clean."
She lit the shot she'd poured on fire and then slid it over to Aria. "Ta-daaa."
The way Neena’s head turned definitely did not go unnoticed by Aria. While she wasn’t one to miss details about anything, she had a keen awareness when someone was checking her out. She was attractive and eye-catching and she both knew it and used it to her advantage. Though she wasn’t playing an angle here yet. Aria was trying to get a better understanding of Neena while appreciating her appearance as well.
“That is quite the promise on drinks that can bleach my brain clean.” The look on Aria’s face was one that spoke to her mind being a rather less-than-wholesome place to be. When the shot was delivered, Aria looked it over for a moment, admiring it before she extinguished the flame and took the shot. She set the shot glass down quickly enough that she didn’t run the risk of burning her fingers or anything in the process. “Not bad. I do like a good, showy drink like that.”
"I certainly hope so, considering that's the bar's brand new signature shot. I'm glad we went with the bacardi instead of the Everclear. I think the flame's prettier." Neena grabbed the shot glass and tossed it onto the tray, not really bothering to check if it was still warm. Her fingers were used to severe temperatures at this rate.
"I had this psychologist in here the other night who told me to surprise her. So I poured 151 and jalapeno vodka into a glass with some Absinthe and Everclear, which... I think might actually be an illegal combination. She's not dead of course, but three of them were enough to make me call her a cab."
It was probably irresponsible to keep serving that drink without a warning, come to think of it. Neena made a mental note to print up some waivers for people to sign.
“That is an inspired choice, and I agree. Bacardi is the better choice there.” Aria was no bartender herself, but she knew her way around hard liquors. She also had a particular taste when it came to them.
Aria chuckled a bit. “That definitely sounds like an illegal drink, but she didn’t seem to complain about it. If she even remembers it.” She had a hunch that the psychologist had a blank spot in her memory from those drinks. Any normal person would. “I take it business is good?” One would think it would be difficult to get customers with so many bars around, but they each had their own draw.
Aria was still trying to find her own succubus to be her bartender. And possibly still trying to figure out a way to lure Logan’s away from him.
"I'm pretty sure she does remember it, she's been back in for more. Still, I probably need to think about printing up a waiver."
Aria hadn't asked, but Neena went ahead and poured her another shot, this time skipping the fire show. "Business has been alright. The place is still fairly new as bars go, but I get enough people to keep it... mostly in the black. Happy hour shots help out, and I've got that new deal running with the pool table and drinks that brought some new blood in last week. Might drag in more of the college scene."
Neena shrugged a shoulder, "If I could get these damn dreams to go away we'd be doing alright."
Aria tended to carefully pick and choose when, what and how much she’d drink. But when Neena was pouring her another shot, she wasn’t going to look a gift horse in the mouth.
“Sounds like you’re carving out a niche for yourself. There are quite a few college students in need of entertainment.” Aria’s entertainment was geared towards a different niche. Or, well, niches considering Afterlife was both a strip club and a dance club.
“I have found that no matter how much we wish the dreams to go away, they never do.” She took the shot, her own dreams having their moments of torturing her. She still wasn’t over Cerberus murdering her daughter and taking Omega from her. They were all going to die painfully at her hands for their transgressions.
"So I guess everyone in the OC gets them, then?" Neena was still unsure how it all worked. Rose had mentioned 'the dreams', and she hadn't been the only one on the network to reply in that fashion. It was obviously a phenomenon that was widespread, but how many people were really experiencing it? "Just wondering how many people that come in here dream about some other lifetime."
She motioned the lingering customers toward the door so that she could lock up, and pondered pouring herself a drink. It was bad form to drink too much with or in front of the bar's guests, but it was late, and Aria was a special case. While she gave in and grabbed herself a glass, Neena added, "Do you mind me asking you about yours?"
“Not everyone, just those of us who use that Valarnet site.” Aria may not talk to most people on that site, but she did read the posts, silently kept tabs on who was who. Information was power, after all. She glanced at the other customers as they left before turning her gaze back to Neena.
“Not at all. My dreams take place in the future in the late twenty-second century. They take place in space, specifically in the Milky Way. There are many different space-faring species, humans being a recent arrival. I, however, am not human. I am an asari, an alien.” Aria crossed one leg over the other and watched Neena’s reaction. “I suppose you would say asari look humanoid, our bodies have the same shape, but an asari skull is very different. And our physiology is highly unique.”
Neena's eyebrows nearly rose up into her hairline as Aria spoke. The future? Aliens? Specifically a certain type of alien? She blinked her eyes a few times and poured herself a larger portion of alcohol than she'd been planning.
The customers had all left, and she held up a finger. "Let me just lock up."
That process would give her time to... well... process. Not that it was that hard to wrap her head around most of it. She dreamed of a different reality too, after all. One with super heroes and mutants and, at times, technology that far outshone the kinds available in the real world. When she finally returned, she grabbed her glass and took a seat on the barstool next to Aria.
"OKay. So you're an alien. And your world is a future where we lowly humans get to meet a bunch of alien species? But you don't... look like an alien. And space is a thing. With spaceships. You know, about a month ago I'd have already called the psych ward but right now you could say I'm a little more receptive to this."
Aria let Neena take her time to process what she’d said. Not everyone could easily accept the whole alien thing. Though it hadn’t escaped Aria that she’d have a killer costume for Halloween and science fiction conventions if she ever felt the desire to go as herself for anything. But she wasn’t one to go to conventions, and she wouldn’t necessarily prance around as her asari self on Halloween either.
When Neena sat next to her, Aria turned a bit to face her. “I’m actually wearing a disguise. An acquaintance of mine who used to live here cast a spell on something for me so that when I wear it, I look like I did before my dreams changed me.” Aria tapped her left wrist, her forearm became encased with a see-thru orange hologram-looking thing. Given they were the only ones there, she felt safe in showing Neena this.
“This is called an omni-tool, a handy little device that pretty much everyone in my dreams has. It can do just about anything. It’s far better than a smartphone.” Far simpler to use as well. “If you want to see what I really look like, I can take my omni-tool off. But I won’t until you are ready.” She didn’t want to shock Neena, after all.
"Uh... are you sure? It looks a lot more complicated to use than a smartphone. I can barely get mine to just make phone calls." Neena stared down at the glowing orange gadget, noting how quickly it had appeared and the fact that before Aria had tapped it there was no indication her wrist would do that.
She poked her finger out towards it, wondering if her hands would make contact with what looked like a hologram, or if her finger would go right through it. But before her hand made the distance, she stopped. Aria's personal space was to be respected at all points. Of that, Neena was sure. "...you'd really show me what you look like? That's a pretty big deal, I think. Like a... trust thing."
Aria smiled. “To me it is. But this is called an omni-tool for a reason.” There was much that it could do, though its various functions weren’t always needed in this life. It wouldn’t stop her from using the hacking tool if it would be to her advantage, of course.
“To some it can be. To me, it is what I really am, and I have no qualms showing it to those who dream of other lives. Plus I trust you not to shoot me on sight of what I really look like.” Aria hadn’t seen a gun anywhere near Neena, but that didn’t mean she didn’t have any weapon on her. “I’m humanoid, so it’s not like I look like a giant slug or something.”
"Even if you did look like a giant slug, as long as I knew it was you, you'd probably be fine." Neena decided, nodding her head and smirking a bit. The gun was in a special holster that she stowed somewhere behind the bar, and not in the most obvious place. Usually, patrons didn't need to know she was packing heat and most of her staff wasn't aware, either.
But there were definitely people she'd shoot if she had to. Neena decided not to mention that. Aria felt safe enough and could probably take care of herself. "So... show me what you really look like, then. I can take it. I already know who you really are 'cause I doubt that changes no matter what you look like on the outside."
She could handle this. She was 98% certain, anyway. Especially since Aria had just assured her that she did not, in fact, look like Jabba the Hut.
“I’m glad that I’d probably be fine if I was a giant slug,” Aria quipped with a little smirk. Aria was unarmed as far as weapons went. However, she did have her biotics, which tended to pack more of a punch than guns did. Especially with her biotic ability. But that was something she wasn’t going to divulge just yet.
Aria gave a nod and deactivated her omni-tool. She then took it off of her wrist and set it on the bar top. The instant she’d taken the omni-tool off, her human appearance disappeared. She looked at Neena, watching her reaction. The only thing aside from her clothing that looked the same was the blue color of her eyes. Otherwise, her hair was completely gone, and her blue skin was rather apparent. As were the purple markings on her face.
“So, what do you think?” She definitely did not look like Jabba the Hut. Far from it.
Neena sucked in a breath. That was... not what she'd expected at all, though she wasn't sure what else she'd been expecting to begin with. The blue was a nice shade, and Neena'd always been a fan of the color, herself. Some part of her was also keenly aware that she found this form just as attractive.
She wondered how often Aria got remarks like that as she slid off her stool so she could give Aria's new head shape a better look. "So you've got... tentacles instead of ears? How do you hear stuff? It's got to be different from the way humans pick up on things."
That was possibly the most boring thing to say in response to all this, but it was the first thing that popped into her head.
Boring or not, it was definitely something Aria preferred to someone shrieking in horror. She remained still as Neena stood and got a better look at her. Aria well knew her head would be a point of fascination. She did chuckle very softly at the question, but she took it seriously nonetheless. She expected questions.
“It is different, yes. My hearing is about as good as a human’s. I have yet to really notice any difference in the range of hearing. The tentacles don’t move, though there are rampant rumors in my dream world that they do move.” She had to shake her head a little. “You can ask any question you wish about my physiology and appearance. I will answer them.” She anticipated curiosity on the matter.
"Well that was gonna be my next question..." Neena said, snorting out her nose. "It sounds like the future filled with aliens is still one gigantic bag of perverts. Do your... I guess race? Get a lot of that?"
Neena decided to pour herself a stronger drink. A guy she'd slept with had shown her his super awesome razor claws of death recently, and that had been a hell of a trip. This seemed tame in comparison, but she was starting to wonder if anything at all was like it seemed. Was Rose going to reveal herself to be some sort of monster? Maybe a wand-waving Wizard?
Walking back behind the bar, she opted to just grab the whole bottle instead of refreshing her glass. "I bet we all find blue skin to be titillating. That has to be annoying as hell."
Aria chuckled, watching Neena retrieve the bottle from behind the bar. “There are plenty of perverts across all races, yes. I’ve punched more than my share of them to keep them away from me in my life. Asari do get a lot of that. We are possibly the one race that every other races find attractive.” She shifted in her seat, eyeing Neena.
“Asari are actually monogendered. Male and female have no meaning to us. We use female pronouns, and we are female where anatomy is concerned.” Aria let that hang there. She’d save the whole ability to reproduce with any gender and species for later. Unless Neena asked how asari survived if they were all one gender.
“Us asari are unique and exotic to all races. I’ve had lovers from various races. Asari, turian, salarian, human. I’m more interested in who a person is than what they look like, but I know there are people who just want me because I’m an asari in a position of power. The oldest tale of wanting what you can’t have. I use that to my advantage.”
That was a lot of information all at once. Neena squinted at Aria for a few seconds at the mention of gender, or - she supposed - the lack thereof. She poured herself another glass and placed the bottle on the counter, making sure there was a glass within Aria's reach in case she wanted to pour one, too.
"So... I mean, why not, right? At least here it's still a man's world. We gotta use every asset we have just to get shit done, and if you want to stay in power that's double true. You'll have to explain to me what all those other race names are about at some point." Not just then, though. She was still trying to process the ins and outs of Asari and their mono-gendered... how did that even work.
Knocking back her newly poured drink, she shrugged a shoulder and said, "So I guess Asari are pansexual? That's the one that's more about personality than gender, if I'm understanding all that right. And if you're neither male nor female does that NOT make me suddenly bisexual?"
There was a lot more to reveal about Asari, let alone the other races she’d mentioned, but Aria was going to leave it where it was and let Neena guide the rest of the conversation regarding her being an alien. No need to completely blow her mind in one fell swoop after all.
Aria took advantage of the glass and bottle and poured herself a drink, a smirk on her face. “Yes, I believe pansexual is the best way to describe Asari. We are not picky about species or gender. Though if that is a confession that you are attracted to me, I think pansexual might fit you as well.” Aria said, taking a sip of her drink. “However, it is whatever you wish to call it. I am not one to put a label on it. I like what I like, details like gender are irrelevant to me. Even before I ever started dreaming, I didn’t care about those kinds of details.”
"That's pretty much me admitting I'm attracted, yeah..." Neena ran a hand up into her hair as she confessed that detail, tugging on her ear for a second and squinting one eye. Though not necessarily at Aria, and more at... whatever it was going on in her headspace. "And I mean, even before you showed me your blue self. That's all pretty new to me, I don't know. I never had a 'college exploration' time like they talk about on tv. Maybe it's better not to stick a label on it."
She'd been as straight as anyone else she was aware of for most of her life. Neena wasn't sure when, exactly, it was too late to figure out you liked women too. And she definitely still liked men. That wasn't even a question.
"So are you a kind of... matriarchal society then? Politically, and all that."
Aria smiled a bit. “Take it at your own pace. Though, know that the attraction is mutual.” Neena had caught her eye right away, but Aria hadn’t been entirely certain about Neena’s preferences so she hadn’t made any overt moves or flirtations towards her. Now that she knew, however, she could work with that. And she could certainly wait for Neena to come to terms with it, if she hadn’t already.
“Yes, though that is a bit of an ironic statement. Asari have three life stages that we refer to as Maiden, Matron and Matriarch. Aside from the Maiden stage, there is not set age that an asari moves into the next stage of life, that tends to be dictated more by biology than turning a specific age.” She eyed Neena for a few moments. “Perhaps this is the point where I should tell you that an asari lifespan is about one thousand years, thus the life stages.”
She just let that sink in a bit. If asked her age, Aria wouldn’t give a specific number, but she was definitely pushing one thousand.
"Mutual... heh." Taking it at some kind of pace was probably good, but Neena filed that one away for some night when she wasn't drinking heavily. If she did decide to pursue that, she wanted to do it sober and fully aware of her own thoughts.
She glanced over at her bottle and decided one more glass couldn't hurt her. The pouring gave her more time to think. One thousand years was a really, really long time. That was at least nine human lifetimes, if the human was actually healthy enough to live to 100 - and most humans weren't. Logan had told her all about his healing factor and how long lived it was going to make him, and she still couldn't get her head past that. "... What are the chances you're going to outlive all of us now? Or is that something you don't think about. And I know better than to ask you what stage you're in. Other than fit and in charge of your life, anyway."
Yes, things like pursuing something mutual were better left for when alcohol wasn’t involved. Aria didn’t like having outside influences on such things. She preferred being completely present in a moment rather than letting alcohol or something cloud her mind.
“Depending on whether something here kills me or not, I’d say my chances of outliving those of you who aren’t immortal in some way are somewhat decent.” Aria skirted around revealing just how old she was, but she knew that she could get a little more out of life than others could. Her asari physiology couldn’t sustain her indefinitely, but there was a lot to be said about staying alive based off of sheer will. “I may be older than I look, but asari don’t precisely age like humans do. We don’t get all wrinkly with age. Our breast size, however, can increase with age, even into the Matriarch stage.” She said with a bit of a smirk.
"Well now I'm just jealous. Many years from now I'm gonna be over here with my boobs falling into my pants, laying the makeup on thick to cover all my new and interesting creases and you're just gonna be on the other side of my bar looking as hot as ever. I can't even deal with the idea that your breasts are going to get any bigger. If we're lucky mine'll fit in an A cup when this is all over."
Neena snorted. She was of the age where women started getting self conscious about these kinds of things, but she didn't ever mention that to people. It was better to pretend otherwise.
Aria let out a hearty laugh. “It will be an experience, though I started out with decently sized breasts. Not certain I really need more of them. I’ve already done my share of shaking them for money.” Shaking them privately, however, was something she still did on occasion. When Logan was a good boy, she’d give him a lap dance, and even make use of that stripper pole she had in her bedroom.
And unlike some exotic dancers, Aria never had breast augmentation done. She hadn’t needed, or wanted it. She preferred staying natural. “Though you strike me as the type to age well, if I may say so.”
"Well it's not really about shaking them for money though, is it? I mean, I have no opinion about that, shake it if you've got it, but... You know, for me, it's about the private show." Neena looked down at her own chest, and then shrugged a shoulder. "I've got breasts, they're there, but it's just... you know, they're not phenomenal anymore. They were, when I was twenty."
She shrugged a shoulder and then added, "But thanks. That's... I'm actually blushing. Apparently your approval means a lot to me."
“No, it isn’t. I definitely prefer private showings far more.” Even in her dancing days, Aria had always preferred the private showings. “You’re welcome. It’s good to know I can still make a grown woman blush.” Sometimes it was harder than it seemed, not that she set out to make anyone blush. But sometimes she liked getting that reaction.
“Still, everyone’s body changes as they get older. We all change in different ways. If I wasn’t an alien with a long lifespan, things would be different.” Aria didn’t miss being human. Perhaps it was a bit odd how well she’d taken to being an asari. Then again, after the entire month it had taken her to change from human to asari, she was definitely going to greet it with open arms.
"Somehow, I'm feeling like maybe they wouldn't be as different as you think." Neena replied, smirking a bit. Aria'd probably taken very good care of her body before she'd been an Asari. Neena hadn't met her then of course, so she had no way of knowing, but the woman was just too smoking hot. Looking that good didn't just happen overnight.
"... anyway, I think I'm gonna put this bottle away before I'm too drunk to drive myself home. Maybe you should put your hot human appearance back on for now. Which is not to say I'm not gonna have more questions later, but this is already enough to process."
“Perhaps not,” Aria responded, mirroring that smirk. She had definitely taken care of herself, and her human disguise was an exact replica of how she’d looked as a human. So in that sense, it could at least give Neena a sense of what she’d used to look like. Sometimes Aria still missed her hair. She’d been horrendously vain about her hair. Though she had to say, in some ways being asari made getting ready a lot easier. There was no hair to brush or style. She didn’t need or wear make-up. It tended to just be choosing what to wear that took the longest.
“You may certainly ask questions whenever you feel like it. I do not wish to overburden your mind with too much to process.” Aria said with a little chuckle. Grabbing her omni-tool, she slid it back onto her wrist and her alien self disappeared beneath the human disguise. It was undoubtedly jarring to go from looking at the tentacle things on her head to the long, multi-colored hair. Though the hair wasn’t real, it was just an illusion.
It was just as jarring for Neena to watch. She'd almost gotten used to Aria as she really was, and then there was the hair, as brilliantly colored and perfectly styled as ever. She couldn't help but reach a finger out to poke it. "Yeah, I still can't believe this. It's even soft like real hair."
Maybe she was already a little too far gone to drive home. She let out a little snort and jangled her keys in the air. "I'll... just go unlock the door for you."
Before this got any more awkward.
“My friend was very good at what she did.” The touch to her hair did nothing for her given it wasn’t real and she couldn’t feel it. But it needed to look real, and it definitely served its purpose in that respect.
“Thank you for the drink. Perhaps I shall return the favor.” Aria said as she got up. “Take care. I’d hate to hear that something untoward happened to you on your way home.” Aria still had her wits about her enough to drive back home.