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Vetra knows she's got - what do the humans call it? A crush? - on the Pathfinder, of all people. She's been doing her best to hide it, to act like nothing's changed, and either she's doing well or no one on the Tempest is any good at reading turian body language. Except maybe Lexi but, thank the spirits, she hasn't said anything either.
But Sid is a different story. “You like her!” Her voice is shriller than usual, gone up a few notches in her excitement, and Vetra hurriedly looks around to make sure no one they know is listening.
“All right, fine, I like her. But you can't tell anyone, okay?” she pleads, fidgeting with the straps of her armor.
Sid shakes her head with a laugh. “I won't tell. But you should! How will you ever know if there could've been something if you don't say?”
Vetra sighs, air rushing through her mandibles with an audible click. “She's got Peebee.” For a minute she feels a dark resentment spread through her at the thought of the unusual asari, and she shakes her whole body to try and get rid of the feeling.
Then, as if on cue, Ryder and Peebee hurry past them, arguing about some incomprehensible minor detail of recently-discovered Remnant tech and completely oblivious to anyone standing by as they barrel through. Vetra can feel her body tense, as much as she tries to stop it, and it only gets worse when she looks over and Sid is trying to stifle more laughter.
“If that's how she and Peebee always are, I doubt she's ‘got Peebee’,” she says, looking down when the datapad in her hand chimes. “She just likes having someone to argue her science with. Now, I've got to get this, you're on your own with your love life, big sis.”
Vetra gives her turned back the dirtiest look she can muster, then rolls her eyes and walks away. She doesn't have anything else to do on the Nexus, but going back to the Tempest feels a bit like giving up, and on a whim she decides to go explore a bit of the Hyperion, to see where Ryder (and Cora, and Liam, and Lexi, she tells herself) were asleep for six hundred years.
The cryo bay looks similar to the one on the Nexus, stretching on for ages, with a med bay attached to one end. She knows one of the people in the beds is Ryder's brother - Andrew, called his middle name Scott to differentiate themselves - and she's trying to figure out which one it is when Ryder herself comes into the med bay, no longer with Peebee in tow.
“Vetra!” she says, her characteristic grin and warm voice making something sing deep in Vetra’s chest. “What are you doing here?”
Come on, Nyx, you pride yourself on being able to think on your feet. “Exploring,” she says, immediately cringing, but Ryder's wide smile doesn't change, and it's a few seconds before Vetra remembers that exploration would never be a bad thing to the Pathfinder.
She looks around for a moment, as if she's trying to see the cryo bay through Vetra's eyes, and then her smile fades. “That's Scott, over there.” Vetra follows her pointing finger and shudders, imagining what it would be like for Sid to be lying in a hospital bed.
“I'm sorry, Ryder.” There are better words, but she barely knows what you say to a grieving turian, let alone a grieving human. But Ryder pulls herself up to her full height - what there is of it, she's short even for a human - takes a deep breath, and looks up at Vetra, the smile coming back.
“You can call me Arynn, you know,” she says, and whatever it is deep in Vetra's chest sings again, because even Peebee only calls her Ryder, and she knows her subvocals would be a dead giveaway to any turian.
“I'd like that, Arynn,” she says, and Arynn's impossibly bright smile brightens even more.