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Vetra had never been one for sticking around in one place long enough to form any real attachments. Just another bullet point on the endless list of things that had changed once she had signed up with the Initiative. As weeks turned into months, and the Tempest had turned into home, it was difficult to place the feelings that had begun to stir inside her concerning the ship, her crew, and their Pathfinder. Especially their Pathfinder.
She knew the dangers that came with letting her guard down around other people, the risks of letting them get close enough for them to get hurt, for her to get hurt. She ignored them. It began slowly, like the small leak in a tank you only spot when half the water had already spilled. It was harmless at first, really. ‘Forgetting’ her datapad on Sara’s coffee table so she would have an excuse to see her, ordering food to Sara’s cabin instead of her own out of habit, keeping a change of clothes in the lower drawer that she knew would stay empty otherwise.
It was only this morning, after waking up alone in the Pathfinder’s bed, that Vetra realized just how much she missed the soft limbs that were supposed to be tangled up with her own. She had settled into a routine without realizing it, and it terrified her to the very core. Artificial sunlight filled the room through the windows, far too bright for someone that took pride in having a functioning sleeping schedule. Swatting the bedside table for her visor, and dimly remembering having it left somewhere across the room, she decided to settle for the easier solution.
“SAM? What time is it?”
“Good morning, Miss Nyx. 13:27 Nexus Time, 24th December, 2820 CE.” The light blue light of SAM’s interface flickered on the desk next to the bed. Vetra all but sprang to her feet.
“What?” She should have been awake for hours, spirits only know how many calls she had already missed. “Why didn’t Sara wake me?” reaching for a set of clean clothes Vetra strapped her visor to the side of her face. Nine missed calls, seven messages she should have replied to yesterday. “And where is she, anyway?”
“The Pathfinder has left the Tempest approximately four hours ago, furthermore she advised me not to wake you as you “work way too much” and “deserve to get more sleep than five hours once in a while.””
As it turned out, it was rather hard to be angry with your girlfriend when she continued to be as thoughtful as she was. Vetra was good with people, she had to be, otherwise she wouldn’t be as good at her job as she was. The problem with Sara laid with the simple fact that she wasn’t people. Not exactly, anyway. But then again, for all the people she had met throughout her lifetime, none were quiet like Sara. She was kind when she didn’t have to be, was brave when no one would’ve blamed her for running, truly, Sara was tougher than she had any right to be with that flimsy human body of hers.
And as much as she would’ve loved to give herself a few more seconds to think about how that flimsy form had looked on top of her last night, she had work to do. The door leading into the hall outside the cabin slit open, to reveal...snow? How did they get-
A ball of fake snow whirled past her and brushed against her mandibles before finding it’s target and hitting Liam square in the face. Looking around the room she quickly spotted the source of the artificial change of season, a buzzing machine in the center that continuously spat fake snow high into the air, only for it to rain down and coat the hall, that was wide enough to park the Nomad in it several times over, in thick layers of white.
Peebee was in the process of putting the finishing touches on a snow sculpture sharing a vague resemblance to an Asari, that looked miraculously intact considering the snowy warfare between Liam and Jaal. On the other end of the room Vetra watched Cora lean against a wall and survey the whole ordeal with a mixture of amusement and bewildered curiosity.
“I take it they ran...” unsure how to exactly describe the scene playing out before her, Vetra instead gestured around the room with her hand. “...this... past Ryder?”
“Oh yeah, they practically cornered her this morning.” Cora shook her head and smiled despite herself. “As long as they clean this all up later she’s fine with it… and they will, otherwise I got permission to space them all together in Peebee’s escape pod.”
“Come on, Cora, where’s your holiday spirit?” Peebee called, ducking just in time to dodge another volley of snowballs flying over her head. “It’s not like the ship is going anywhere until they finished the repairs on the hull.”
“You don’t even know which holiday you’re talking about.” Cora protested.
“Of course I do.” Peebee crossed her arms before her chest. “Christ… something, Christsas? Christkas?”
“Christmas.” Liam supplied.
“See? Christmas, just what I said.” Peebee returned her attention to her sculpture. “B’sides, I don’t need an excuse to enjoy snow with the added benefit of not freezing my limbs off, Grumpy Pants.”
Leaving Cora and Peebee to do what they always did, Vetra excused herself and turned back to the Pathfinder’s cabin. She had something that needed investigating, her contacts would have to wait a little longer.
“Hey, SAM? What’s Christmas?” Vetra asked as the door closed shut behind her and she let herself slump into the chair next to SAM’s glowing sphere on Sara’s desk.
“Christmas is an annual festival, commemorating the birth of Jesus Christ, a prominent figure in many of Earth’s religions. It is celebrated toward the end of the year, generally around the 24th or 25th December.”
“It’s a purely religious thing, then?” Vetra, rather evidently, didn’t know much about culture on Earth, but from what she could gather Sara didn’t strike her as the overly religious type. Not a moment later, pictures of houses clasped in brilliant lights and flashing colors appeared before her, images of families sitting around a tree, unwrapping gifts and laughing.
“Not necessarily, no. For many humans, Christmas is an opportunity to reconnect with their family and spend time with their loved ones.” SAM continued as more images of, what Vetra assumed to be, traditional Christmas decorations flashed before her.
Oh. As SAM’s words sunk in, Vetra could guess why Sara hadn’t been too thrilled as this holiday approached. With both her parents gone and Scott still in a coma, she hardly had any family to spend Christmas with.
But what if she did?
Their extended stay on the Nexus had been an inconvenience at first, but Vetra might just be able to use it to her advantage after all. She had some rather special inquiries to make, after all. Skimming through the contacts in her visor she rushed past the snowstorm outside the cabin and made for the airlock. She had but a few hours before Sara would return, and Vetra was determined to make them count.
-
Humans were a weird bunch. Vetra had her suspicions over the past months, of course, but after spending the last few hours scurrying the Nexus for various kinds Christmas decorations, she was all but sure of it. Getting the ornaments hadn’t been all that hard, even if they had been ridiculously overpriced in Vetra’s opinion. The real challenge had been in obtaining what the humans called a ‘Christmas Tree’. She could get information about virtually anyone in and outside the Initiative, but getting her hands on a few sticks with pointy leaves on them? Nope! Vetra didn’t like using Sara’s status as Pathfinder to get what she wanted, but today she felt like she had good enough a reason to make an exception in her rule.
Now, after having survived her shopping trip, she was in the process of pinning a chain of golden lights above the door frame. A process made significantly harder by the fact that she was just a bit too short to reach all the way too the top. Pulling the desk chair toward the wall, she tentatively climbed on top.
“I believe I am repeating myself when I tell you that what you are trying to do qualifies as a rank three safety hazard, Miss Nyx. You could very easily sprain a bone or hurt yourself in another of roughly 749 different ways, most of them equally as painful.” SAM chimed as Vetra reached forward and pressed the last bit of the chain against the steel wall.
“And I believe I am repeating myself when I tell you that I’m getting shot at on a semi-regular basis.” Something that didn’t help with the problem at hand, mainly that the chain wouldn’t stick to the wall properly. “I think I can handle a chair, SAM.”
“Miss Nyx, I-”
“What is it, SAM? Another safety hazard?” Vetra cut the AI short, perhaps just a tad aggravated from her loosing battle against the decor.
“Not quiet. You wanted to be informed when the Pathfinder would return to the Tempest. Sara is on her way to the cabin.”
Vetra’s eyes went wide, but she didn’t get any chance to react before the door sprang open and she lost her balance as the chair toppled to the side. She braced herself for the impact, but it never came. Instead she found herself in the arms of an amused pathfinder, lumps of fake snow dotting the black hair that framed her face and the chain Vetra held onto draped around her neck.
“I believe the expression is ‘I told you so.’” Vetra hadn’t known it was possible for the AI to sound so smug.
“I… I can explain.” Vetra tried, freeing herself from the Pathfinder’s grasp and getting back on her feet.
Sara took a moment to look behind Vetra, her eyes darting from the Christmas tree in the corner, which didn’t look quiet as spectacular as those on SAM’s pictures, to the wrapped box on the desk, to the various warm lights scattered around the room. “You… you made all this?” she asked finally.
“I had some help from SAM.” Vetra breathed, trying to untangle her girlfriend from the assault of Christmas lights. Sara’s eyes followed Vetra’s talons as they lifted the chain above her head, which was when they stopped and stared at the ceiling. She eyed the small bundle of leaves above her for a moment before returning her gaze to Vetra.
“Did SAM tell you what that is?” she asked, a smile tucking at the features of her face.
“It’s a Mistletoe, right? SAM wouldn’t go into detail when I asked him about it… I saw it on some of the pictures he showed me.” Vetra had to stop herself from rambling on. A sudden fear gripped her. “Wait, it isn’t something offensive, right? I didn’t really know what-”
Sara surged forward, pressing her lips to Vetra’s mouth plates and sucking all the air out of her lungs. Kissing was something Vetra wasn't sure she would ever get used to, it made her feel dizzy, made everything else fade away until only her and Sara were left in the galaxy. When they finally broke apart Sara beamed in a way she had never seen before.
“Merry Christmas, Vee.”