With Pride and Blood 9 (Patreon)

With Pride and Blood 9 - or ‘Time to make Humanity the Greatest Ever, at the Expense of some scum from outer space!’ (Mass Effect, Senator Armstrong!SI)

Liara T’Soni was happy about some of the actions she went through in recent months.

Some may think it was just the fact she had been authorized to study Prothean technology on Mars, but the truth was a bit more extensive and somewhat embarrassing to any member of her species that had yet to concede any form of ‘interest’ for humans.

The research had given her plenty of notes to add to ever-growing journal on the subject. It was clear the Mars Station was one of the biggest sources of Prothean Technology that has ever been created. And the Monolith that was safely contained also held some new data that was slowly being retrieved through specialists of the ‘art of code-cracking’.

In fact, despite her knowledge, Liara found it troublesome to find the reading key behind some of the security folders contained in the monolith’s basic system. And the information found on ‘surface-level’ was promising.

It was clear the monolith held a degree of ‘biotic DNA’ that would trigger any dormant trait in regard to it. It should theoretically work on humans and it could be possible for them to harness its potential through the nanomachines but…

Despite these wonderful discoveries, Liara was more interested in something else.

It wouldn’t be wrong to say that she found President Armstrong a friendly figure. He had this sense of mystery to him, that deep look that was cleverly hidden through a perfectly-crafted political smile that turned him into an individual to both praise and question his ‘value’. He was important to Humans, but his value as a person felt above that.

His charisma was born from simplicity and simplifications. He was ‘homely’ with his words and quite understanding. He didn’t hide a degree of ‘xeno-related unease’ around those that may bear arms for the sake of ‘strict rules’ that could conflict with the Systems’ Alliance.

A quick look into the constitution proved that, albeit democratic and free in its regulations, its ‘sacred rights’ tended to clash with some strict paradigms of the Citadel and other cultures.

Not a surprise for sure, but it still didn’t stop Liara for being an inquisitive Asari and asking the President about those. Each visit was painted with two sides: her current understanding of the Prothean situation, and Steven’s own view on this civilization.

It was not too dissimilar from the talks she was with her own mother, but where in both Liara would seek a degree of understanding and agreement, she felt compelled to find the President’s own thoughts to an extent greater than those of her mother’s.

Why? She was quick to find the reasoning, blaming the fact this was a novel individual- a friend at that. How many friends did Liara keep after so many years? Not many, and generally not of the kind she keeps close tabs with.

Steven was that odd ‘alien’ friend that was busy, but keen to give her time. He was stressed, and tended to get crass with his tone when too ‘drained from playing nice’.

Such a term was mostly implied to be correlated to the phrasing rather than the thoughts and, truth be told, she could see why such a job would be exhausting for an individual.

At the same time, Liara was not that ‘awake’ during some of those visits.

Those tended to deplete what little mental stamina she had left to use. And one of those occasions, which usually ended with her making it to her new living quarters and falling asleep, saw her lean on his arm and shoulder and fall asleep as they sat by the couch in the office.

For four hours, Liara was asleep and she was vulnerable. Many things could have happened and… waking up in the same spot, with Armstrong still awake as he was reading a book truly surprised her.

She didn’t say much beyond apologizing for what happened, but once back to safety she looked into her Omnitool’s security cam and… she could confirm that nothing had happened beyond Armstrong trying to shake her awake for a moment, failing in the process, giving her an unsure look and then deciding to not move.

He didn’t want to drag her out of sleep from the looks of it and, the sight of him just standing there, giving his shoulder as a pillow, sure felt much to her. He didn’t abuse the trust, he didn’t do things to her.

She checked her body thoroughly for surprises, but no nanomachines were there. She was clean and… she couldn’t help but think a bit too much about Steven’s muscles. The way those felt both strong and soft, good to crush and also hug people.

As an Asari, masculine traits were what mattered and not the gender. It was also true that Liara didn’t get much luck with fellow Asari and that… she found humans to be close enough to her kind to consider a potential relationship in the future.

Despite that, the thought of even considering Steven in a romantic and intimate way felt the weirdest thought ever. Sure, they were quite cordial, they chatted frequently, she liked how he smiled, the fact he was not trying to sound too ‘big’ despite his size and role, and it felt like he was the safest person one could rely upon.

It was a terribly wonderful idea, and one that she was quite nervous about. Did that mean she was growing close to him? That he may be the one? The fact he was the ‘ruler’ of humanity pretty much set the standards of dating him quite high and…

Am I hitting way above my station right now?

The sense of inadequacy was nothing new to Liara, but this was a new level of it that left her unprepared, confused and, worst of all, pushed into actually contemplating it. She just couldn’t drop it.

Like she couldn’t stop thinking of that marvelous smile, and the exposed muscles of his now that she found his ‘military calendar’ in Humanity’s ‘Internet’.

—-------d-d-d-d—---

AN

Liara likes ‘em boys beefy and protective.

Next time will be a ‘ship-building porn’ chapter. Prepare for some details in regard to the Navy’s updating its designs and fitting its ships with new weaponry and advanced systems. Plus Nihlus making his papa proud.