Savvy

He didn’t intend to treat her like a child, that was not his intention but rather how he treats a foreign plant in his garden. He is careful and each action planned out completely as to not damage the confused little sprout. His smile softens as he brushes a thumb over her knuckles. 

“M’lady… You have so much to learn from the world around you and you have nothing to be ashamed or apologise for.” His voice soft as he turns his head as if he could see her. “I have my ways of seeing a beauty, perhaps if I get to know you better… I’ll show you how to see beauty from a blind man.” He murmurs softly hearing the sounds of what he assumed was an elevator that they were waiting for. It had been some time since he went this way home, not entirely enjoying elevator rides they tended to interfere and turn him around a little. 

He hums softly looking around as they stood in the elevator, glad to be lead out when they hit the floor they were looking for. He sighs softly knowing she was embarrassed by being so forward with him and he couldn’t help but pat her hand once more. “Ms. Teiner, I am not bothered by your forward action. I understand the importance of learning before you can understand life around you.” He smiles softly. “When I first lost my sight, I was a lost child that I couldn’t figure out what I should and shouldn’t do. It was like learning to walk all over again. But as the saying goes you can not run before your learn to walk, or in our case. Learn to stand on our own without falling flat on our faces.” He chuckles softly as he hums looking ahead of him. “You do not need to feel embarrassed or worried you will offended me. I’m a hard man to offend.” He smirks slightly as he could hear the chatter of people going about their lives around them. He could smell the food from the cafes that were several paces away from them. 

He seemed tolerant of her forwardness thus far, but if he’d wanted to see her, he would have. Forcing it would be beyond acceptable. Though, putting the breaks on her curiosity had always been a difficult thing to do. Perhaps, she would need scan her programming and adjust the settings accordingly, to lesson her curiosity some.

Her eyes roamed over his face when he turned to look in her direction. He was certainly pleasing to look at. “Perhaps, one day you will feel comfortable enough to show me how you would see me.” She found that she hoped she’d be able to spend more time with the intriguing man.  She wasn’t even in a hurry to get home. A familiar blue face filtered through. Talyn! What kind of being did that make her? When another man could turn her attention from someone she loved. her lips pulled down into a frown. Was she fickle? Talyn had a lover, but still. One did not stop loving someone...she’d loved him too long. Feeling anything towards Tak was wrong. She wanted to alter her programming to lesson her interest in Tak...but that would be defeating her reason for being given a self. She’d wanted to be real and with that came the boons and pitfalls all beings faces. She would not negate and cheapen the experience.

She was taken aback by just all that he did. How utterly unselfish the man was. Still, there was something he lacked. Self. if you give too much, eventually you burn out. It needed to be balanced. Perhaps, she could help him find hobbies...or at least one thing he enjoyed doing just for himself...to release self. To heal self. “You are a very generous and giving man. I imagine there is an endless supply of those needing help. But what do you do for you? To release self?” Maybe that was a question he did not have an answer for.  Or maybe she wasn’t explaining it right. It was how she saw it. And giving to others, no matter how noble the cause, did not...in fact, release self, but stroke self. It was not the same thing.

“I have been to many places here on the Citadel, I will be just fine guiding you to your place on The Strip. The Citadel has been my home for many years now and I have taken much of my time to explore and learn my way around here.” He smiles softly as he guides her through the rest of the gardens to the stairs out towards the rest of the Citadel. 

He moves to open the door for her before figuring out what topic to tackle next, deciding to explain to her what she seem to not understand. “M’lady, it is not that simple. I may not be able to see the beauty of a sunset, but does that mean I miss it? I feel the heat of the sun on my face, smell the night air creeping in as it becomes dark. I can hear the night life begin to awake, I see it all in my mind’s eye without the need for sight.” He hopes his words do not hurt the woman’s feelings but he hoped she didn’t think he was missing out on anything in his life. “I do not mean to seem as though I think you pity me or any of the sort. I just wish to let you know that I have learned to live without my sight and take it to full advantage.” He hums softly taking her hand to place it on his forearm once more head closer towards the outer limits of the garden. 

He tries to find the correct words to handle the more difficult statement of hers. “Ah I see, feelings are certainly confusing.” He sighs softly as he nods slightly. “I have been told by many that… I believe the correct words a woman used was… Bloody sexy.” He jokes shaking his head as he runs a hand over his ridges on the top of his head. “However, I have to admit.. I have never been told what I do to a woman and the desires I create in her upon only a couple minutes of meeting.” He smiles softly before patting her hand once more taking time to remember where he was heading as he dared to tackle a question he knew was difficult to answer even for himself.

“I fear… It would not be that simple for me to regain sight. The operation could very well kill me and it would also require some sort of… existing…” He trails off not wishing to answer the rest before changing the subject. “M’lady if you wish to visit the gardens you are more than welcome. I just hope you don’t mind if this old soul get’s distracted by his work and sings to his plants.” He chuckles softly though he feared he may have upset her with his words and wondered what her reaction might be. 

His words confused her. If she were to malfunction, she would repair herself. That he did not wish the same was something that was hard to compute for her. If something was broke, you fixed it, so that it would function at its best or as it was intended to. Pity. No, she did not pity him. She knew the meaning of the word, but did not feel the emotion. “Pity is not an emotion I feel,” she answered truthfully. Should she feel it? It is something she would discuss with Talyn. It was, apparently, an emotion he left out of her design, and she needed to know why. Her hand tightened on his arm. “I understand your other sensors - senses  have overcome  the limitation and you see, in a way, more than you saw before. But, I am not the sun, I am not something you’ve seen before, nor can you feel my heat upon your face. Do you not wish that you could see what I looked like? The color of my hair? My eyes? Are you not curious?” Her hair swished as she shook it. “I understand what a person looks like is not who they are, and indeed, looks can be deceptive...” her voice trailed off....She was designed to appear and pass for a human, even scanners could not tell that she was not organic. In truth, her looks were deceptive. She did not care for the reminder.

The smile is soft as she expresses her fears and worries to him as she tries to experience what he sees. “It’s okay.” His voice is soft as he takes her hand in his. “I wasn’t always without sight but it has been such a long time ago that I can not remember what anything looks like.” He murmurs softly before moving his head to face her. “It is something you learn to accept, something you know you can not change. The Gods have a reason for my sight to be taken from me and I do not curse them nor the people that took it from me.” He smiles softly towards her hoping to calm her and remove any worry she may have had. 

“I see a world so many don’t see every day with their own eyes.” He moves to look ahead of him as though he was staring at something far in the distance. He frowns slightly at her choice of words and decides to ask about it on a later date. He smiles softly as he inhales deeply and thinks of the best way to explain how he sees the world. 

“M’lady.” His hand give hers a gentle squeeze. “You have just shut your eyes at first it is dark, scary and lonely. But you rely on your other senses to fill in the blanks. I see with the smells around me, I can tell I’m in a garden from the scents around me. I know I’m near the back left corner of the garden because of the smell of honey coming from a plant three paces from us. I can hear the sound of the fans keeping the place properly oxygenated. It all comes with time and trusting your other senses to fill in the blanks. And in time you learn tricks that’s how I know you are confused and uncertain, though by what I have yet to figure out.” He gives her a slight smirk as he turns his head towards her. 

She looked at him closely as he explained his acceptance of the situation and it reminded her a lot of Thane, who had accepted his own death, at least until he fell in love and his son returned to his life. She wondered if such acceptance was a drell thing. “Have you considered implants or at the very least synthetic replacements? I know that is not quite the same as organic vision, but my...boss’ company produces the best synthetic parts and I understand they are highly.....responsive.” This was true, for she was a walking testament to her creator’s genius. She knew she was biased, but she was not wrong. 

She squeezed the hand that held hers. Seeing in the way that she did opened her eyes, so to speak. She saw the world so much more vivid...so differently than she had as a drone. She wondered if EDI felt the same...Though, EDI’s eyes were not as advanced as her own, as Savvy’s body was a later, more advanced model. “I agree...So many fail to see the beauty....fail to see anything in the world around them. They are jaded, unable to get out of their own heads...or, perhaps, disillusioned, too busy, or even just take it for granted. Regardless, they go through life with very narrow field of vision.” 

She switched her sensors back on and turned her head to stare at the flowers, her gaze catching sight of a small insect that flying around an open bloom. Yellow pollen dusted upon it’s tiny body. “I see such wonders everyday,” she said softly, deeply. “I feel for those who can no longer see those wonders. They are losing so much and they don’t even know it and even if they do know it, they do not know how to get it back and the loss tears at them.”  Her thumb swept across his fingers, little more than a whisper. “I admire your strength, your fortitude and the joy in which you still greet life. Many lose that, with far less reason to.”

When he mentioned he knew she was confused, but not why, she frowned, but answered him innocently and directly. “I’m confused by what you are making me feel inside. I thought I was in love with someone, always had been since my...for a very long time. I came to accept that he did not see me in the same light, but I continued to hope matters would change, for I knew nothing else. But when I met you, I stopped thinking about him. Forgot about him. That’s something that has never happened. Instead, I wondered what it would feel like to be held in your arms.” Her gaze fell to his lips. “To be kissed for the first time.” She shook her head, her blonde hair shifted softly with the movement. “You have me tied up inside, for I feel something different around you than I do around him and I do not understand why. It perplexes me,” she admitted candidly, not realizing that most people kept such things inside and did not speak so directly and baldly to someone they were not close with. It did not even occur to her to ignore the question, to redirect or answer with soft lies that soothed or comforted the askee, but did no harm,   

She looked at him with surprise. “You would not mind if I returned? I would try to stay out of your way and not bother you....,” she assured him quickly. “But the gardens are relaxing....beautiful...it is like being in another place...another time...peaceful. Though I hope you would not be offended if I watched you care for the plants. I enjoy watching you,” she admitted innocently. Her husky, sensual voice gave the words more life than she knew. But even that life spoke true. She did enjoy watching him. More than she should. 

Savvy reminded him of the one child he met that just loved to hang off him, didn’t understand what boundaries were after a life of being taken advantage of. And in her teens she was overly handsy and he knew how to talk to her and show her how to behave without making her feel embarrassed. 

He sat still as she drew close to him, he doesn’t flinch knowing that this was her way of exploring and trying to understand what he was. He allows her to kiss his brow ridges and brush over his cheeks. He knew she didn’t understand the action and effect it had on most drells. But once again Tak was use to curious hands touching him, he only hoped his glasses covered the scars around his eyes. 

“It is kind of you to show such generous actions towards me m’lady.” He hums softly as he hand moves to take hers from his face and scooting a bit to show her to sit beside him. “I know my lack of sight is rare among my kind. I do appreciate your understanding.” He smiles slightly before resting his other hand on her shoulder. 

He pauses for a moment as he turns his head to look in her direction. “You may call me Tak. It will do as any other name or form of address. I fear your human tongue would have trouble with my drell name.” He smirks slightly before nodding once more to her remark. 

When he remarked that he lacked sight, she was surprised. Though she should not have been. She knew people who lost or never had one sense could sharpen the others to compensate. Still, she’d never met anyone devoid of a sense before. She rose from the box, placing the exotic flower upon it and moved slowly towards him, her his swaying with every step. Her walk was not intended to be seductive, unless she was in a hurry, it was just a natural mode of movement. Perhaps, instilled by a vid she’d watched early in her development. It wasn’t something she even thought about.

He picks one of the blue and pink flower with hints of white and yellow, and places the strange shaped flower in her hand. “It apparently tastes like nothing in this cycle. It’s sweet like honey but with a citrus sour taste. A trained tongue and tell when the flower is too soon to be picked or too late.” He cups her hands around the flower. 

“Females would rub the spore on their necks in a sort of perfume. But they also.” He brought her hands to her lips and blew into them before opening them to show how the petals shimmered and glow. “Were pretty to play with.” He hums smiling softly as he let her hands go so she could watch the petals. 

She listened intently as he explained what the different parts of the flower could be used for. 

When he cupped her hand around the intriguing flower, she tilted her head, not knowing what to expect. And what he did was the farthest thing from anything she might have expected. He drew her cupped hands to his lips and blew on them. This was not any kind of species custom that she had knowledge of in her database. But then he released her hands and saw the flower shimmer and dance, letting off a soft glow. Her mouth fell open. She raised her cupped hands to her lips and forced a breath out of her artificial lungs. 

She smiled broadly when the flower shimmied for her. She raised her eyes from the flower to the drell.  “I’ve never seen it’s like before. Thank you...for sharing this gift with me.” She tilted her head, the smile remaining on her lips. “I do not even know how to address you?” Organics always had names and named everything. She wondered what his was. ‘

He smiles softly allowing her to lead him, keeping pace as he follows her knowing each plant and each path. The smile widening as she leads him to one of his favourite plants. 

“Ah m’lady you have such an exquisite taste. I found one remaining seed on a distant planet in a time capsule. Seems it had hidden itself away among the things an old asari dancer.” He smirks crouching to run his fused fingers under the petals before a weed that grew near it.  He stands softly as he offers his arm to her. 

“Miss Teiner, would you enjoy a closer look at any of the plants in particular.” His voice soft, never turning down someone who is interested in seeing more of the garden. He rarely had visitors and being in good with the council member gave him extra perks. 

“I can answer any questions you may have on any of the plants here.” He smiles finally able to hear her breathing, realizing he must be getting rusty if he couldn’t hear her. 

Her eyes sparkled. He was such a courtly gentleman...treated her like a lady. He was probably nice to everyone, but still she was impressed by his manners. 

Her grin widened and she took the handsome drell’s hand. “Thank you. I would be pleased to see them up close. I’ve never seen flowers up close before. All I know is based on the information I retrieved from the archives.” She was innocently honest, much like a child would be, and had not quite worked out how to word things so that she blended in with organics.   She forced herself to descend the steps slowly, rather than rush down. She was not a small woman, by any means. Without heals, she was 5′11″. Due to her height, she rarely wore high heels, but her pumps put her at eye level with the drell. Her sensors put him at about 6′2″. At the bottom of the steps she stood for a moment, her other hand started to lift to touch his soft cheek folds n curiosity, but she lowered it. She knew organics were not usually so forward..or so she’d been told over and over again. She studied his face for a brief moment, before she recalled a flower she’d been wishing to see up close.  She gripped his hand tighter and gave it a slight pull as she headed in the direction of the plant. She carefully skirted her way around the other. It didn’t even occur to her that she was being forward again. That people didn’t tend to like strangers holding their hand. 

He hummed softly deep within his throat, a tune he had come to sing to his plants while he cared for them. When he heard the voice his ears perked up and he looked around to figure out where her voice had come from. He stood slowly looking in the direction of the visitor’s viewing area, the only real access to the garden. He couldn’t hear breathing or a heart beat, he wondered if perhaps one of the Avon’s were given a new voice or maybe he was too far away to hear the woman. He could tell from her vocal and speech of those few words she had to be human in origin or asari. She had no true sub vocals or harmonics like drells or turians. 

“Hmm that you are correct m’lady.” He gave a slight bow as he moved through the garden with ease, avoiding any of the plants. “However, I care for these plants giving me the honour of being here.” He smirks slightly his ears still looking for the origin of the voice, his shades bouncing the light slightly as he moves his head. 

“Now the question to be asked is how you came to be here?”

She smiled as the drell moved in her direction. “I stand corrected. It appears you do have the right to be back there. With her hand sliding along the railing towards the entryway, she stopped. She did not have the right to be back there. “I heard there was a garden and I love beauty. I had to see it. I will not intrude. I was just cataloging the plants and enjoying their stunning colors.” every word a sultry tone. The glasses were a bit of a disappointment. Drell eyes were amazingly beautiful and she wished she could see his. But the rest of him was impressive enough. She loved beauty and as such, found herself drawn to the man.