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Arynn swings down off the ladder and hurries into the crew quarters, an excited bounce in her step. Liam, Jaal, and Suvi are sitting around the room in various states of recline, each holding a datapad, and they all look up curiously as she enters.
“Game night!” she exclaims, continuing to bounce even though she's standing still. “Vetra got us some drinks to make it more interesting.”
“What games does one play at one of your game nights?” Jaal asks, setting down his datapad and straightening to give Arynn his undivided attention. “Angara have them as well, but I’m sure our games are much different.”
She shrugs, laughing. “Whatever you like! We can try anything once.” He considers this for a moment, looking as if he's about to say something else, but Suvi gets there first.
“So long as Gil doesn't bluff me out of all my credits again,” she says, trying to look annoyed and losing to her own grin.
Arynn nods, eyes sparkling. “Meet in my quarters at eight!” She's out of the room before her sentence is finished, and they can hear her start up her spiel again as she rounds the corner into the cargo bay.
Everyone does appear in the Pathfinder quarters that evening - even Kallo, who looks like he's not sure he wants to be there, and Drack, who's claiming loudly that there's no way whatever they play will be anywhere near as fun as the most boring of krogan games. There's a brief quieting down when Vetra opens her stash of booze as everyone searches for their preferred drinks, but the volume quickly picks up again until Arynn shouts over the din.
“What should we play?”
“Poker!” Gil says immediately, and everyone groans in unison. “What? I've even given you all tips on how to beat me -”
“Someone's gonna kill you over that game someday, kid,” Drack drawls, and Arynn looks around wildly to see if anyone has another suggestion before this conversation goes any further.
“Never Have I Ever!” calls Liam, and Peebee cheers in agreement.
“I am not nearly drunk enough for that game,” Cora murmurs, loud enough for everyone to hear, and a ripple of laughter rolls across the room. They eventually pick an asari card game that Lexi produces, despite Peebee’s continued protests that it's the kind of game only played by sticks in the mud, and everyone settles into a vague circle on the couch and the floor.
They spend far more time drinking and laughing at one another than they do playing the game, and Arynn grins as the warmth of the alcohol spreads through her limbs. The edges of everything soften as she lets herself get pulled into the game and the conversation, and she leans into Vetra's side, solid as ever.
They've long since put down the cards in favor of mostly telling stories when Peebee sits up and holds out her hands, fingers spread. “Never have I ever…had sex on the Citadel,” she says, a wicked grin spreading across her face as she looks across the circle at Liam and winks.
“Really, Peebee?” Cora groans, Lexi nodding in agreement, as Drack guffaws and Jaal looks between Peebee and Liam confusedly. After a few minutes of explanation and attempts to redirect to something different, they all finally settle down with their hands spread in front of them, Arynn, Cora, Suvi, Drack, Lexi, and Liam all with one finger down. Jaal glances around the circle, his eyes narrowing.
“Wait, we don’t all have the same number of fingers,” he says, raising his hand and pointing towards Peebee's. There's a beat of silence, and then Vetra chuckles.
“We just have to pick good ones then,” she says, and more laughter rolls around the room as everyone settles back for the new game. Peebee, still grinning, nods to Suvi, sitting on her left.
Suvi grins back before looking around the circle, stretching out the nine fingers she's got left. “Never have I ever held a gun,” she says, and Gil cheers as the field team all groans and puts down a finger. Everyone looks expectantly at Gil once the laughter has died down, and they keep moving around the circle.
When it gets to Cora, she looks around with a small smile on her face. “Never have I ever called my species homeworld home.” Her words are slightly slurred, belying the amount of alcohol they've all had to drink, but her gaze is steady. There's another resounding groan as fingers are put down, and Lexi looks as if she's going to say something doctor-like about the meaning of home, but Arynn starts to giggle and can't stop. She holds out her hands and wiggles her fingers.
“Can't catch everyone there, Harper,” she jokes, her own words slurred as well as she leans a little too heavily against Vetra.
“Can you do any better?” Cora asks, the challenge in her voice more sarcastic than competitive.
Arynn nods and sits up straight, taking a moment to look around the circle as Cora did but unable to control her giggles. “Never have I ever slept with someone of my own species!”
There's a chorus of shocked gasps, followed by more raucous laughter. Looking satisfied, Arynn leans back against Vetra's side as the others all start speculating.
“Wait, who have you slept with?” Peebee finally asks, leaning forward excitedly. Cora looks pained but doesn't say anything, seeming to resign herself to letting everyone dig themselves into this hole.
Arynn bumps her shoulder against Vetra's. “Two asari, a quarian, and a turian.” She tries to wink across the circle at Peebee, but it turns into more of an exaggerated blink, and Peebee finds herself giggling too hard to ask her next question.
Liam picks up the slack. “How do you sleep with a quarian?”
“Very carefully,” Arynn says, “or they have these stim programs in their suits -”
Cora finds her voice at this point, interrupting. “I think we're done for the night. Ryder, everyone, go get some sleep. Drink some water first.”
“You're no fun,” Peebee pouts, but she stands up when Arynn does and turns to leave with everyone else.
“Wait,” pipes up Kallo, the first time he's spoken in a while. The group turns back from the door, and he holds up both hands like Arynn before him. “Still can't catch everyone.”
There’s a moment of silence as everyone tries to gather their alcohol-fuzzed thoughts, and then the commotion is even louder than before. Cora’s trying to look pained, but she's laughing too, and Kallo’s self-satisfied smirk is a sight to behold.
“Well, we’ll just have to play again!” Arynn says, and everyone choruses their agreement.