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Inhaling the sweet smell of freshly trimmed turf was a wonderful reprieve from the months of smoke and ash. The park appeared to be recovering nicely and it brought a smile to Cybele's face. Opening her eyes, she took in her surroundings. The blue and yellow grasses were dappled in the shade of newly-planted trees, all of which appeared to be healthy and no longer showing the horrors they survived.
Palaven was resilient.
Cybele only wished she felt the same. She still had trouble sleeping and was often woken, drenched in sweat as Reaper trumpets blasted in her dreams.
Cobalt blood soaking the grass beneath her feet.
Sina bumped her elbow with her snout, garnering her mistress' attention. Cybele ran her talons down the sides of the varren's dorsal spines, smiling as the beast lifted her back into the touch. Her pet was one of the few things that kept her sane, both then and now. She was careful around the newly-healed scars that dotted Sina’s hide, trophies from the husks that tore into her when they found themselves cornered just before the red blast ended the war.
Many of them were sewn shut by her own hand.
Cybele could vividly recall the way her heart pounded beneath her keel as she watched the pile of reaper dust shift and move as her little warrior lifted herself from the ground to limp over to her and collapse into her lap. She could still hear Sina’s whimpers as she quivered in her arms.
Looking up from Sina, Cybele watched on as other people milled about the park. Some were asari, but most were turians, both individuals and families enjoying the early afternoon sunshine. The sound of fledglings playing and the snap of insects made her smile. It had been much too long since Cybele had just sat and watched the galaxy move on.
A bark caught her attention. There were a few people playing with their varren on the grass. It was something Cybele would have loved to do with Sina, if not for the her pup’s inclination for biting. She scratched the said varren under the chin and checked to ensure her leash was still firmly attached to her collar. She wouldn’t be getting loose today.
Briefly, her eyes fell on a male turian off in the distance. The bright red colors of his workout clothes caught her attention. He seemed to be enjoying the whole park by jogging around the perimeter. She wasn’t sure why he, specifically, caught her eye. There had been a fair number of other runners throughout the morning.
She tore her gaze away and went back to casually people-watching.
With a sad smile, she noticed a couple that was -thankfully- too absorbed in each other to notice her staring. A man reclined against a tree, his talons tapping away at his omni-tool while his -she assumed- girlfriend laid with her head resting on his thigh, reading a datapad. Every now and again he'd run his hand over her crest, smiling at the purr she likely emitted, though Cybele was too far to hear.
She looked away, remembering blue eyes that use to make her heart flutter.
Damn it , she didn't come here to sulk. She came here to do the opposite- to get out and stop dwelling on some stupid guy that just left. Even if it was for Commander Shepard, had she really meant so little to him?
No notice. No goodbye. No nothing. Just gone. Just...
Sina bumped her elbow again.
"Sorry, Sin," she told her friend. "I know. I'm trying."
“That's an awesome varren you’ve got there.”
Cybele started at the sound of the voice, just barely reining in her subvocals before they could betray her. It was the male turian she'd seen jogging in the distance, evidenced by his bright red clothes and how he panted slightly in his speech. Sina perked up but mercifully hadn't started growling yet.
“Thanks,” she replied, her mandible flicking into an expression that she hoped was polite.
The man flared both of his white-lined mandibles into a bright smile that reached all the way up to his golden eyes. It was the kind of grin that only a big dose of nostalgia could inflict. “Tuchanka blue, right?”
She cocked her head to the side, not quite understanding what he meant until he looked briefly to her varren before meeting her eyes again. “I think so? Not really sure. She's a rescue.”
He crouched down to Sina's level, but his eyes remained on Cybele. Apparently he knew better than to stare at varren. "She's gotta be at least half. I had a Tuchanka blue when I was a kid. Best jogging buddy I ever had. Uh... may I?" The man held up his hand, still out of biting range.
Cybele glanced uncertainly down at Sina, her talons tightly wound within the leash. So far, she seemed to be fine with his presence. Her dorsal spines were relaxed and her black, orb-like eyes were soft and content. She didn't always bite and he did seem to know what he was doing. Maybe if he was careful…
“Sure, but fair warning: She bites.”
“Does she?” He glanced up curiously from his crouched position, seemingly undeterred.
"On occasion. She had to do quite a bit of that during the war."
The man's eyes roved over the myriad of scars that left craggy canyons in Sina's gray-blue scales. “A veteran, then.” Confidently, his taloned hand neared Sina's jaws, giving her the opportunity to either sniff it or take it off.
Cybele hummed. “The evac shuttles wouldn't let me bring her on, which I could understand. There's only so much space on those things... but I couldn't just leave her. She's my best friend, you know? So we weathered out the war here, together.” She felt heat rise at her throat. “That probably sounds stupid to you.”
The man shook his head and looked like he was about to say more but was interrupted when Sina trilled a greeting. She then dropped her maw away from his hand, granting permission for her brow to be touched. Not even Garrus could do that.
'Admittedly, I've probably shot more varren than actually pet,' Garrus had told her once. Maybe that's why Sina didn't like him?
The stranger ran the pads of his fingers between her pet's black eyes. “I can respect that.”
As Cybele watched her varren roll onto her back, presenting her belly to this stranger, she noticed his toned arms, also marred with vestiges of the war. No doubt, he had seen plenty of combat.
He was kind of cute too, she decided.
“I was C-Sec,” he told her as he ran his talons over the pale expanse of wiggly belly. Cybele wondered briefly if he would care about the grass stains he had to be accumulating on his knees. “I was on the Citadel when the Reapers came for it. If my varren was still around, I wouldn't want to leave him to face that alone either.”
“So you were stuck on Earth for a while,” she observed.
“Yeah,” he nodded, only now looking up from Sina to give her a lopsided grin. “Snow sucks, by the way.”
“'Sucks,'” Cybele echoed. That was a human phrase. “Seems like a bit of Earth came back with you.”
She was answered with an easy shrug. "Citadel life exposes you to a whole bunch of cultures. I guess some of it does stick with you. I like to think it makes me more colorful."
Cybele chuckled. “Yeah, I can see that.”
Before he could respond Sina reared up, her clawed forelegs colliding with the front of the turian’s cowl and sent him toppling backwards. Embarrassed at her pet’s behavior, Cybele tightened her hold on the leash and quickly rose from the bench. Her subharmonics pitched her apology as she began dragging the varren off, but the sound of spirited laughter subsequently loosened her grip.
“Gotta name?” He asked, clearly brushing off the assault as he opened his arms for Sina to return to him. He then moved to allow the varren to flop herself openly between his legs with her head resting on his lap and her tongue lolling out the side of her large, fanged mouth.
“Yeah.” Cybele couldn't help but smile at the sight. This was why she came out to the park today. To spend time with new people, in the company of her four-legged best friend. And if some socialization for her anti-social varren became part of the package, well that was just bone marrow on top of the massa . “Her name's Sina.”
The stranger huffed a laugh before turning his bright, golden eyes onto her, a mandible pulled into an amused grin. “I was actually asking for yours.”
"Oh!" Slightly embarrassed, she raised a hand to the back of her neck, cooling the influx of heat she felt there. “It's Cybele.”
From the ground, he withdrew one hand from Sina's belly and reached for hers- another human gesture. The motion was made with so much confidence behind it that she wondered if he was even aware of that fact anymore. Without waiting for a second longer, she placed her hand in his.
“Fidelus Veselin.”