Tuesday 3 September 2013

A Child's Dream - Part 2

Warning: May contain language some Quarians may find upsetting.

Emi walked up to the nearest Quarian on the deck. It was a man who was wearing a red environment suit. He was looking at an orange terminal - buying some sort of medical equipment.
She quickly cleared her throat to grab his attention. If it wasn't for her helmet then she'd have been blushing. She felt rather silly asking someone how to use a nerve stimulator.
The man turned to her, "Yes?"
"Emi'Derik," she said. Since most Quarians looked similar, it was part of their culture to say their name as they addressed someone.
"Yuo'Hasaf," the male Quarian responded, "What do you want?"
Now came the embarrassing part. She instinctively gripped her hips with her hands as some sort of nervous twitch, as if she was subconsciously trying to make herself smaller, "... I'm wondering, do you know how you use NerveStim Deluxe Edition? ... I'm not that good with technology..."
Yuo'Hasaf tilted his head, "You do realise that to the wrong person, that could sound like a chat up line?"
Emi nodded, "... But it isn't. I really don't know how to work it..."
Yuo switched off the terminal, "It's rather easy once you get used to it. Deluxe Edition is meant for people who have upgraded from Basic and Premium so it isn't exactly the best thing to do if you have had neither of them. Activate your Omni-tool and I'll show you how to work it."
She activated her Omni-tool, her arm lighting up with a holographic wireframe covering. She selected 'Settings' and then scrolled down to the appropriate programme. Two dials appeared on the small screen.
"Right," said Yuo, "These two dials toggle between the options. The one on the left sets the nerve intensity - low, medium or high, and with the one on the right you can activate and deactivate the nerve stimulators on the different parts of your body. Just try it. But don't press the red button underneath."
"... Why not? Does it self destruct?"
Yuo laughed, "No. Not even close. It just tends to be a little painful. Run some basic tests and you should be up and running in no time."
Emi nodded, "Thanks."
She turned away from Yuo'Hasaf and started turning the dials. She decided to start with some simple things - the lowest setting on her feet.
Emi lowered her three-toed foot to the floor of the ship. She giggled. It felt funny. Slightly warm and it tickled a little. She began prodding the floor through her suit with her toes repeatedly. She would have looked extremely strange to the surrounding Quarians but she didn't care. She was enjoying it. It was a new experience.
Then she turned the setting to 'medium'. It tickled even more and she couldn't help a slight laugh escaping her lips. She took a few slow steps and savoured every moment of them. It felt weird but it was almost addicting. Her feet felt all... nice and warm and sensitive.
Emi decided to be adventurous and set it on to high, but as she did so she accidentally knocked the red button.
"Ow! Keelah!" she yelped as pain exploded through her feet. The next thing she knew she was laying on the floor having tripped over the base of a terminal. She quickly pressed the button again and her feet stopped hurting, though they still tingled.
Yuo'Hasaf turned back to her and laughed, "Not used to it, huh? I told you not to press the red button."
"... It was an accident..."
"Just try not to have accidents with that thing."
"... I'll try not to."

"Keli'Ria craved love so much. Her heart ached every moment of every day - it almost drove her crazy."
Emi knew the feeling. As she walked she kept probing the cold floor. She felt the thin paper of the book beneath her fingers. She never realised how rough it was, in comparison to how smooth it looked. She corners felt sharp - sharp enough to hurt her a little. But she didn't mind. It was good pain. She couldn't help but poking the edges.
The spine of the book felt smooth and soft as it was made of leather. She hummed happily to herself and as she explored the gold lettering on the front cover. It was raised slightly above the leather and felt... interesting. Rough but soft at the same time.
As she put the book back in her pouch she knocked her hand against her thigh by accident. But the sudden feeling made her yelp - normally she wouldn't have even felt it. It felt interesting though. Kind of nice too.
She poked herself in the shoulder and giggled. Then poked again.
"Are you alright?" someone asked from behind her. They must have seen her poking herself and laughing. It must have looked rather odd.
She felt red rise in her cheeks and she turned to face the girl who had addressed her. She briefly recognised the bright colours of her suit from her brief time in schooling. Her name was Bei, if she remembered right.
"... Yes, I'm fine... I just got NerveStim Deluxe Edition and... everything feels funny."
"Oh! You're going on your Pilgrimage in a few days, right?" Bei responded.
"... Yes. I think I'll go to Earth."
"Earth? The human world? Why?"
Emi's cheeks grew hotter, "... You know I like humans..."
"Who could miss it? All you did in school was draw pictures of the Alliance ships and their logo. I'm pretty sure everyone knows that you have a thing for humans. But they're always causing trouble. Cerberus? They're all humans. And they're not exactly the nicest of creatures. I prefer Asari, but each to their own."
"... But Asari still believe in slavery..."
"But they have tentacles! Isn't that great? When it's my Pilgrimage I think I'll go to Illium."
"... Each to their own..."
"Illium is so interesting, though. Nothing ever happens on Earth."
"... No slavery, humans, lots of opportunities, home of a Council species... there must be something I can bring back to give to my next captain... and it sounds perfect for me."
"What, do you think a human will just fall in love with you? They call us Suit-Rats. They have no respect for our people."
"... Suit-Rats?"
"Yes, Suit-Rats."
"... What's a rat?"
"I think it's some sort of small furry rodent."
"... But I'm not furry."
"Well we know that. But I think it's a term that's supposed to be hurtful. It's not nice, in any case. I better get going anyway, I have an element zero drive core to fix."
"Goodbye Bei."
"Bye Emi. Good luck with your Pilgrimage."

Emi sat on her small bed, turned the setting to max and started poking her own shoulders, shivering in delight as she actually felt it. It was artificial, yes, but it was nice.
She ran her fingers down the back of her neck and over her spine to as far as she could reach, then stroked the base of her spine too. She liked that. One of the nicer places to touch. It relaxed her and she felt all warm inside.
After nearly-thorough tests of the programme and herself, she had deducted several things.
1. Back = nice.
2. Feet = funny.
3. Hips = nice.
4. Hands = interesting.
5. Shoulders = nice.
There were several places that she resisted to set the nerve stimulator to. She saw no point. If she ever fell in love, then maybe. But definitely not in the cramped conditions of the starship.
She gently poked the underside of her foot and giggled. No matter how many times she poked herself there it still gave her exactly the same feeling.
Emi pushed her hands down on to her shoulders and moved her shoulders up against her hands. The friction set the artificial nerve stimulation going and she hummed happily and felt herself relax. All the worries about her pilgrimage were gone.
She could actually feel. She couldn't believe it. She never thought, unless the Quarians decided to try and retake Rannoch, their homeworld, that she would ever be able to feel anything. And a strike of that scale was extremely far away. The ability to be able to feel excited her and made her feel like anything was possible.
But still not for a human to love her. Suit-Rats? Why would they call the Quarians Suit-Rats? It made no sense... Maybe not all humans were like that. Maybe there was good in them. She still liked them, though. A lot. They were... interesting.
She leaned backwards so her head was resting on the smooth, soft pillow. She had never come to realise just how soft it was before. She could feel each individual strand of Quarian cotton - and it felt good.
Emi knew she'd never take it for granted. It was such a rich experience. It was something she had never had the chance to do before and she would never forget how nice it was to be able to feel.
She cuddled her pillow, feeling the soft material inside compact as she slowly put pressure on it.
"Emi," her mother's voice called as she ducked underneath the blanket, "There's news. The Geth have stopped their attack and retreated and the Captain has ordered that your Pilgrimage has changed dates. You can set off tomorrow."
"... But... I thought... I'm not... keelah..."
She burrowed her fears by drawing her book from her pouch and began reading again.

2 comments:

  1. Cuddling a pillow IS a nice feeling. But I doubt she'll like the first time hitting her toes. Or her elbow.. ^^

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  2. I love the warning at the top of the page. XD

    I'm happy for Emi. :) The chapter does make you think how lucky you are to be able to feel things, which is a good thing, beacuse thinking about the world in different ways is always good imo.
    So I think my main opinion about the chapter would be that it was interetsing, and interestingness is good so . . . yeah. :)

    #ChaseForBookNine

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