tfw no scientist gf

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>your personal package you asked Vetra to get finally comes in
>you didn't really ask her how she got it, but "acquiring" things is apparently what she does
>you gave her the amount of money she asked for, you told her what you wanted, she told you a date she would have it by, and that was it
>on the day, it just showed up on your desk in your quarters
>a brown wooden box, only a couple kg in your hand, with a little note on it that read "enjoy, Pathfinder" with a little hand drawn winking Turian face
>you hide the package under your bed until the time is right

>a few days later
>have some time off between missions
>decide it's a good time as any
>ask Suvi if she would like to spend some time together
>she says "I'd love to, Roidah. Let me finish up these drift charts, and then I'm all yours"
>with butterflies in your stomach, you head off to get ready
>with mysterious package in hand, you head down the Tempet's landing ramp and are met by Eos's glaring sun
>as your eyes adjust to the glare, you hear the hiss of the door behind you
>Suvi greets you with a smile, and the two of you head out
>after a few minutes of walking, Suvi stopping occasionally to investigate any interesting rock formations along the way, you reach the cliff overlooking Podromos
>the picnic blanket and plastic container you arranged earlier are still undisturbed, and the supplies you hauled out here are not missing
>you both sit and enjoy the view of the entire settlement; supply shuttles coming and going to the landing pad, and people below going about their day
>"This is wonderful Roidah" Suvi says, looking out at the miles of desert
>"Yea, I thought it was pretty here, I came across it while exploring one day not long ago"
>"I also wanted to share something with you" you say, fiddling with the box's clasp
>she turns to you and sees the box and frowns slightly, "Oh! I'm afraid I didn't know we were exchanging gifts, I don't have anything for you"
>"Don't be silly, you just being here is all I could hope for"
>your corny line makes her smile
>finally getting the box's clasp open, you lift the lid slowly to look inside
>"when we first met, you shared the last of your tea from Earth with me. I wanted to do the same"
>opening the box the rest of the way reveals rows of tea leaves, pressed and dried and stored away hundreds of years ago for the journey to the Heleus System
>"oh Roidah, that's wonderful. Thank you so much"
>you pop open the plastic container near the blanket to reveal a small portable heater and some water, and you begin making tea
>the next few hours enjoying the view and the tea with Suvi go by quickly, and before you know it, it's time to head back to the ship, time to return business


-------------------


The door to the bridge of the Tempest opens with a click and the hiss of hydraulics.

"Have you guys seen Ryder?" Liam's voice calls from the doorway.

"She was here a little while ago, but she disappeared when I checked an alert on my console." Kallo's head slightly cocks to the side as he thinks. "She must have gotten an urgent message from SAM in her head or something. I would check her quarters I suppose".

"Haven't seen her either Liam!" Suvi's voice calls over, rather quickly.

"That's where I just was, she wasn't there either. Oh well, I guess I'll keep looking. Thanks guys." Liam says as he turns to leave the bridge and continue his search.

He is stopped by the sound of sharp inhalation of breath, coming from Suvi's direction.
"You ok over there?" he asks, making sure the sound wasn't anything to worry about.
"Ohhh yeah, I'm just, ah, not feelin' too well. Must'a ate something that disagreed with me. Thanks though" she says, as quickly as before.
"Sure" he says, and leaves.

Kallo returns his attention to piloting, and out of the corner of his eye, sees that Suvi is making the usual sort of motions involved in her astrogation and ship's sensor suite managing, but something seems a little off. She is pausing and freezing still every 10 seconds or so, as if something is completely distracting her, before she seems to snap out of it and continue to work. Odd, he thinks to himself, but nothing noteworthy. She reported to Liam that she may not be feeling well today, so that must explain it.

A moment later, however, his concentration is broken by a slight moan coming from the opposite side of the bridge, that sounded like it was purposely quickly silenced, so only lasted a half a second. Enough to notice, however.

"Everything ok over there?" Kallo asks, concerned his fellow bridge crew mate really must not be feeling well today.

"Oh, fine Kallo. T'ings are great over here; more than great, actually" she replies.

They're interrupted by Jaal, Cora, Liam, and Lexi all opening the door together.

Lexi speaks up first, "Liam came by and asked if I had seen Ryder, and I realized I had not seen her for a while. When everyone asked each other, we all had not seen her. She's not in engineering or her quarters or the refresher. I'm a bit worried, where and why would she be hiding? I'm concerned something may have happened, maybe with SAM or something".

At this, a faint groan is heard, from the front of the bridge, but definitely not from Suvi herself. It sounded more like...under her console.

"No, wait, they'll go away in a second" Suvi whispers...to herself? To her computer in front of her? The crew can't quite tell.

At this, a supremely embarrassed and red faced Sara stands up from under Suvi's nav console. "Hey guys! Fancy meeting you here..."

Suvi is looking down and away, covering her embarrassed and equally red face in her hand.

"So..." Sara continues "what did you need from me again? Something about Aya?" Sara's voice wavers nervously.

"Ohhhhh" Liam says with a grin on his face, as he backs out of the doorway. "Nothing Ryder, I'll catch up with you later".

"Is this normal for human vessels? We Angarans usually kept fraternization for off duty hours" Jaal states frankly but with a hint of teasing.

"Ugh! I'm right here!" Kallo says, bewildered at the revelation as to what was happening a couple meters away from himself without his knowledge.

"I told you it was a bad idea Ryder..." Suvi says, her face still hidden.

"I'm happy for you both" Lexi begins, "but you should keep your personal time to off duty hours, like Jaal says" Her lecturing, matter-of-fact doctor voice contrasting the amused reactions of the others.

"Yes ma'am, of course ma'am. Won't happen again" Ryder says quickly, wanting this moment to be over more than anything. Maybe a Kett attack will save her.

"Alright, I'm glad we found you. And...sorry to interrupt" Lexi says before turning to leave.

"SAM?" Sara says quietly

"Yes, Pathfinder?"" SAM's monotone voice answers.

"Can we test your ability to kill me again? But this time, don't wake me up?"


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    >you, Jaal, and Cora attend Suvi's comparative religion club
    >chairs all arranged in a circle
    >you all take a seat
    >4 people, but 5 chairs
    >Suvi comes in, and sits in the 4th chair
    >5th chair is still empty
    >she takes a rock out of her bag, and puts in it in the 5th chair
    >you see that the rock is "wearing" a little necktie and some glasses are resting on its "face"
    >it has a little nametag that says "Hi, i'm Rocky"
    >the meeting starts, you all share a bit
    >pretty good meeting, Heleus religions aren't all that different from Milky Way religions, pretty interesting to see some similar themes develop separately
    >everyone has shared a bit, people are mostly sitting quietly thinking for a minute
    >Suvi shifts in her seat a bit to face the rock, which has been quiet thus far, naturally
    >she says "your turn Rocky"
    >you exchange sidelong glances with Cora, but you wait to see the joke or whatever it is Suvi is doing
    >everyone is waiting quietly for about 30 seconds
    >Suvi is nodding, as if listening to someone talk
    >she gives an occasional "hmm, yes" as if answering a question
    >this goes on for about 2 minutes
    >you, Jaal, and Cora exchange glances and eyebrow raises and shrugs
    >finally, Suvi says "fascinating, Rocky. Thank you for sharing."
    >she turns to you guys, and addresses everyone present
    >"well, I think that was very interesting and insightful. Thank you again to all of you for joining us, and I look forward to next week's meeting"
    >she stands up, and places the rock back into her bag, and walks out the door towards the bridge



----------------------------



"This seems entirely impractical, Pathfinder" SAM's monotone voice drones inside your head.

Seated on your bed in the Tempest's Pathfinder quarters, you and Suvi have finally set aside some time for something you had been planning for quite some time.

"It's for fun. Lot's of things people do are impractical SAM, surely you noticed that by now" you reply.

"Ah yes, 'fun'. I didn't understand it at first, but after I realized the long term mental health benefits of relaxation and hobbies, I began to understand why humans opt to reduce their efficiency for what they call 'fun'"

"That's the spirit SAM. Us humans can't be on the clock 24/7 like you are."

"Oh, and Pathfinder" SAM says in a lighter tone of voice.

"Yes, SAM?" you reply, expecting another question about human habits.

"Don't call me Shirley".

"Good one SAM. Those humor algorithms are really coming into their own. I'm proud of you". Behind you, Suvi giggles. At least she appreciates SAM's jokes.

"Other 'fun' activities usually feature games or entertainment of some sort. The joy Ms Harper derives from her plants eludes me as well. I do enjoy the literature you suggest from you book club, Ms Anwar"

"Thanks SAM. You read my suggestions in one second, so I'm afraid I can't keep up with you. But I appreciate that you appreciate them" Suvi says with a warm smile.

"Zero-point six five seconds actually, Ms Anwar. War And Peace took zero-point zero one extra seconds, as I had to reference many historical contexts from the time period".

"Yeah yeah SAM, very impressive" you interject. SAM didn't realize he was interrupting what was supposed to be a private evening. Not his fault, but nevertheless unfortunate.

"This activity, however, I simply cannot fathom". SAM says, imitating an incredulous voice inflection, "If the ship were attacked at this instant, your combat readiness would be delayed by tens of seconds!"

He was right, of course. He probably calculated the exact number of seconds it would take for Suvi to use the scissors you have on hand to cut the ropes that encircle your elbows and wrists.

"Yeah, I guess we'll just have to trust the Kett to give us a weekend off, won't we?"

"Pathfinder, I don't think-"

"It was a joke SAM" you say, flatly. Suvi giggles again from behind you. She had been excited for this evening too. She said she watched lots of educational extranet videos on something called "shibari" and wanted to practice it.

"SAM?" Suvi says in a sweet and warm tone of voice

"Yes, Miss Anwar?" SAM replies in an earnest tone.

"Could you excuse us for just a moment? I'll tell you all about this after Ryder and I are finished"

"Of course, Miss Anwar" SAM says with a flicker of his glowing interface projection, which then zips into the wall and disapears.

"You aren't really going to tell him *everything*, are you?" you ask, with a slight waver in your voice.

"That depends" Suvi says with a smile, "let's see what there is to tell". She emphasizes her words by pulling one of the ropes tightly, bringing your elbows touching each other, and she moves on to the next diagram in her instructional holovid.


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    >Suvi invites you along for her geology expeditions
    >you collect samples together
    >she's always really excited by all the new samples on the alien planets
    >Eos is her favorite
    >you really love the excited look on her face when you find a new sample
    >she says the dry rocks are fun to lick
    >she always gets you to lick the rocks too
    >eventually you just sort of start doing it
    >some weeks of doing this together
    >you like being around her, and you start to get into rocks and geology as a result
    >learn about rocks, catalogue new finds, and lick them all
    >one day, as you are closing up the lab and turning out the light, Suvi comes in
    >"oh hey Suvi. I was just closing up. Want to walk home together?"
    >"I had another idea" she says in that accent you love
    >she crosses the dark room, towards you and the shelves of geological samples
    >"that's a lot of samples" she says, running her hand along the shelf, just one of several along the wall
    >"I suppose so! We've had a busy week"
    >She stops, and turns to you, "That's a lot of licking"
    >"Oh, ha, yeah I guess I sort of picked the habit up from you along the way"
    >She turns to you, with a slight smirk, "I was hoping you would..."
    >"huh?"
    >"well, let's put all that practice to good use"
    >"w-what" you stammer as she sits in one of the lab chairs and swivels it around to face you
    >"Come here" she says, with an uncharacteristically sharp tone that you've never heard before
    >you step over to her, and she holds out her hand. You place your fingers in her palm
    >her face is framed by moonlight. She's as beautiful as ever, but she has a seriousness in her expression you haven't seen before
    >"Kneel"
    >you have never heard her talk that way before. This is a totally new side of her that you would have never guessed existed
    >not that it's unwelcome
    >you oblige
    >you interlock fingers and your palms embrace, while her other hand finds it's way running through your hair until it grips a handful...