It took Roy a few minutes after the strange nightmare to wake himself up fully, shuffling out of bed and groaning with his head in his hands wondering why his body felt like a musty old sarcophagus.  Then he remembered the last moments before he blacked out on the Citadel.  The steel monster screaming down towards him, which he briefly tried to shake off from his mind with a deep shudder before getting up, his left eye still rather bruised from the punching blows that James gave him.  His jaw also ached too, throbbing and cracked.
	"F-fuckin'...god...uuuugh...ah need a shower."
His room aboard the ship was rather spacious, empty and void with rectangular grey other than the long horizontal window to the right of his bed.  But it had its personalisations in the form of his book bag within a drawer filled with personal possessions, the skyhook in another drawer and his Great Knife laying firmly against the corner of his bed.  He knew only one person had been able to put it there out of all his friends, placing it close at hand to be ready for anything.
Roy slowly walked out of his room to find himself in a large spacious corridor, one that connected to a much wider central room with the lights of an operating theater hanging above a single large table with comfy linked seats all around it.  Hallways spiralled out like tentacles in five directions from the centre of this main room, veering off towards separate areas from counterclockwise.  The cockpit, kitchen, bedrooms, bathrooms and cargo hangar.  The look of the ship was Asari-based, curved halls and sinuous walls that made everything flow freely, like a chakra painting on someone's back.
The place felt almost clinical however in its stark white and grey, as Roy walked towards the central table which was now used for food and discussion.  One chair was heavily reinforced with thick sturdy welds almost like a throne, sitting at the top of the table with artistically-placed rivets running through with folded steel over the frame.  No one seemed to be up yet, but he decided to try his luck at the bathroom shower and see if he could get some time alone to himself.  Veering off towards one direction, southeast of the table area, he found it was unfortunately occupied by the voices of two females chattering away inside.

He wouldn't get time to himself for at least another half hour, so he decided to clear his head and walk around the ship.  The bathrooms there were only two of, and one was currently in a state of disrepair due to a rather unfortunate accident involving an entire piping system being half-removed by a stuck faucet in a krogan's hands.  The bedrooms were all lined up in a long hallway that spanned across the width of the ship, all of which had their own customised nameplates one could place or remove from slatted placeholders on the doors, somewhat similar to the ones in hospitals.
Roy had his room on the west end of the ship along with the additional phrase "and Puttz" in small brackets underneath his name.  Another door had the name "Alestia" with the door beside it being "Nirethia" at the other end of the hallway on the east side of the ship.  The name "Calun" was opposite of Roy's and lastly at the very end of the hall closest to Alestia, was the name "Dhar Khern".  He dared not to knock on any of them as he walked discreetly away, hoping that somebody else was up around the same time as him.  Sometimes he hated the fact that he was an early riser.
His prayers were soon answered however at the sight of the kitchen being occupied, but Roy simply left it be not wanting to disturb any breakfast plans made.  The cockpit was vacant, the ship running on autopilot and simply keeping itself in orbit over a rather beautiful-looking planet of verdant blue and white scuttling clouds.  It almost looked like Earth, but Roy knew better.  Between the central dining area and the cockpit was a meeting room repurposed to become a living room, with vid screen and two couches settled around it.
The cockpit he found to be rather beautiful in its aesthetic.  Smooth arching windows that covered the entire front and side sections of the three main seats, with two further back being reserved for communications at their own separate terminals.  The room was sectagonal-shaped, the pointed top being the exit in a rather oddly-shaped door of an outward triangle bent that simply slid away into the floor, with communication panels on either side of it.  The other pointed end was the front itself being the pilot seats and viewing area, all of which was in a most transcendent amethyst colour.
After enough wandering back and forth between the main hall and the cargo area, which was locked down anyway for sake of safety, he finally found someone waiting at the table.  A huge krogan hunched over the white table, sitting upon the steel throne before the more regular comfy seats linking up on both sides of the table.  Roy noticed the krogan was naked, but the anatomy was still armoured and well-concealed concerning his body, right down to the intimate parts which were covered by natural plated skin.
	"Mornin'."
	"Hmm?  Morning."

The krogan looked up nodded humbly, the dark emerald-coloured crest that made up his forehead plate shining in the light above as Roy walked closer, seeing a deep valley scar across the left of his chin.  The krogan's body was just as heavily scarred, deeper than a normal one should be with what he assumed were caustic burns, acids and the like that somehow did not penetrate his entire flesh.  He sat down beside the beast, dwarfed by at least a foot and a half when seated beside him.  His voice was deep and crackling with age, like a raging bonfire that burned deep from inside a well as Roy asked him:
	"Sleep good?"
	"Like death."
	"Ah...wuz that you in the kitchen just now?"
	"Mmhmm...makin' kranlat.  Flat hard pastry with mincemeat wrapped inside of 'em."
	"Sooooo...more like a burrito."
	"...what the hell is a bureetoh?"
	"Never mind, sounds good either way.  Might wanna take a shower 'fore eatin'."
	"Eat first, shower later, your hands might get greasy.  Besides, the girls are probably in there already."
	"Yeah, ah heard 'em...you seen Puttz anywhere?"
	"Probably in the bathroom with them, he likes to take his bath with the girls."
	"Hhhhah...right, course he do."
	"Glad to see you finally awake," said the krogan, "you were out longer than usual."
	"Sorry sir...heh...musta looked like a real coward to you huh?  After whut happened."
	"We all have our fears Roy.  You are young still, you cannot be expected to take everything head-on with perfection."
	"Man ahma fuckin' knight, ah HAVE to take everythin' head-on with perfection!"
	"A knight never had to fight a monster made of steel.  I'm sure even the first krogans back when we still used stone to club each other to death, we would be terrified of a steel beast too."
	"That's not thuh point, ah KNOW whut a train is an' ah know why it scares me.  Ah just...ah just wish ah could man up right an' stop havin' panic attacks lahk that, over sumthin' so damn STUPID!"
	"Enough.  Let's not worry about mistakes, they're not bad enough mistakes if nobody got killed because of them."
	"Ah guess...mmmmmmnnnngh...got more important problems to deal with anyway...just so long we don' have to ride anythin' other than this ship an' transit cars."
	"I highly doubt that we will be riding anything else."
	"Right...this ship always looks weird to me, lahk it's all curved an' smooth."
	"It was a medical ship before my wife and I repurposed it for our family.  The Chakino used to be for transporting patients and this was the central operating theatre, hence the light above you."

The krogan pointed upwards at the glaring light, spotlighting the entire world around them into darkness but the table.  Before Roy could ask anymore questions, the sounds of other people started coming from the bathroom hallway, as two asari girls with rather feisty young bodies came walking through.  One was of a crimson violet colour making her entire skin resemble a glossy port-wine stain.  The other was more indigo taking on a much purpler hue as she continued talking with the other.
	"So then he's like 'ugh you are such a bosh'tet' and I'm like 'scuse me personal space let's NOT breathe on me' and he was like 'bitch I am drunk and I can't find any good straws in this place!' and I was like 'well that's not my problem is it?!'"
	"What'd you do?!" asked the redder one.
	"Shoved him away an' he fell off his stool, fuggin' knocked out cold!  Thought I killed him for a moment but he just walks away and just starts talking about looking for straws!"
	"What.  A weirdo."
	"I know right?  Hi daddy, HEY ROY!"
	"Heeeey Roy!"
	"Hey girls!" said Roy happily.
	"You finally awake!" said the purple one.  "Goddess I was so worried, you were out fer like two days!"
	"Ah wuz?!"
	"Yeah!  Puttz was so worried about you too, he stayed in your room allll night...PUUUUTTZ, cummere!"
The sound of something trampling through the hall came right up behind them, in the shape of a rather strange dog-like creature the size of a German Shepherd.  While canine in its build, its head was most definitely reptilian with the jaws of a snake and the eyes of a fish, with scaled body to boot.  This particular beast with sharp long fangs pointing up from the lower jaw, was coloured a chocolate brown along his back, and a paler grey for the underbelly as it rushed up towards Roy and hungrily pawed at him, slobbering a thick tongue across his face.
	"W-WOAH d-down boy!"
	"Awww he's so happy!" said the reddish asari.
	"What is it with boys and monsters Alestia?" said the asari sister.
	"No idea Nirethia...but they're both just as messy, you loved your bath didn't you?  Yuzh you did, yuzh you did didn't you?!"
	"Puttz love water!" said the growling monster in Roy's face.  "Puttz love big lizard friend too!"
	"Hahaha okay okayyyy" said Roy, "come on, ahm alrigh' let's eat."
	"Puttz love food too!"
	"Yeah ah know you do big guy, come on."
The creature hopped off of Roy and sat waiting beside the table, whilst the krogan went off back to the kitchen and soon came out five minutes later with food.  The group sat down to enjoy their meal, a thick breaded paste with an unusually rocky texture with meat rolled up inside of it to resemble something like, as Roy said, a burrito.  All of them, including Puttz, got a separate dish to eat as they talked among themselves, despite the dog-like creature being more greedy.

	"Puttz want more food."
	"You had enough," said Roy.
	"Puttz strong, Puttz need more food for muscle!"
	"Ahm stronger than you an' you don't hear me complaining."
	"Awwwwrrrr..."
	"You two are so adorable," said the purple Nirethia, "it's like you almost understand him."
	"Whut can ah say?" said Roy shrugging kindly.  "Ahm good with animals."
	"Don't feed him your food," said the krogan, "he'll start begging more."
	"You need all the food anyway daddy," said the red Alestia.
	"I have my own share as it is, I don't complain."
	"That's whut ahm telling Puttz!" said Roy.
	"I would call you insane for talking to a varren, but I've seen plenty worse crazy people."
	"I think it's cute," said Nirethia, "I mean Puttz and Roy really get along you'd think he was HIS varren!"
	"Puttz still want more," said the varren.
	"You ain't getting anymore," said Roy, "ah told you, yer daddy tellin' you no too."
	"Puttz not scared of daddy Khern, daddy Khern plays with me when no one looking."
	"Ah know, but don't you tell any of them."
	"Tell them what?" asked Alestia.
	"...sorry, ah promised Puttz not to."
	"Awwwwwhehehehee!  Goddess you two are adorable, I really wish I could understand what he was saying."
	"Trust me...be glad you don't."
	"Oh, like you do?  Really?"
	"...naaaaah, ah just know thuh type."
	"Hhhhhh morning."
The voice that came wheezing from the bedrooms belonged to a squat grey-steel volus with black strips down his rotund belly, waddling his way over towards the table as he sat up happily to partake in the meal.
	"Mornin' uncle!" said Alestia.  "You sleep good?"
	"No...hhhhhh...thinkin' about fractions all night long..."
	"Bad insomnia again?" asked Khern.
	"Yes..."
The volus gently fed his food into his mouthpiece by a carefully-processed opening that gently depressurised just to let the food in, before locking and closing for him to eat inside of his suit, through what can only be called a small airlock the size of a tube.  Roy was fascinated by the very concept just so the volus could digest food without exposing any of his body towards the gravitational pressure that existed outside of the suit, his eyes like the lights of a car glinting towards his food solemnly.  He eventually spoke with a tired voice saying:

	"I haven't found any further signals...concerning your friend, Roy.  He might not have...left the Citadel yet."
	"Hmmm yeah?" asked the raptor.  "So why'd we leave?"
	"We had an important mission...specifically requested of us."
	"Yeah?  Where are we now anyway?"
	"Heading to...hhhhh...towards the Sentry Omega cluster.  We're getting more stuff for Dr. Solus, he asked us...hhhh...to obtain more samples...from Virmire."
	"Huh really?  Whut he want now?"
	"Seaweed samples...from...the Virmire sea."
	"Isn't it awesome?!" said Alestia in red.  "We can go out and like enjoy ourselves in the sea, have a little family vacation!"
	"Soooo glad I got that swimsuit on sale," said purple Nirethia, "I mean, two months back at Zara's, navy blue, thank YOU."
	"Hehehee, I got mine already from like eons back, something pretty, something black.  You gonna come out and swim with us too daddy?"
	"With my two girls?" said Khern with the softest smile.  "Course I will.  We need all the memories we can get."
	"How long HAS it been since we last been on vacation?"
	"Hmmmm...three years ago?"
	"Yeah that's it, Kahje was it?  Like, oh my goddess it was sooooo beautiful."
	"I know right?" added Nirethia.  "The hanar got it good with the perfect homeworld, ninety-percent water and just clouds forever.  Like, literally forever, they just LITERALLY don't stop, just the entire planet wrapped in one single cloud like...like-"
	"A blanket woven by angels themselves," said Roy.
	"...yes...wow that was kinda beautiful Roy."
	"Hmhm...man...ah thought we were done with Dr. Solus after Eletania, wuz sick of all them damn spores an' that fuckin' monkey stole mah gun!"
	"OH my goddess hmhmHA that was hilarious!  I'm totally gonna put that up on Vine-cubed."
	"WHUT nooo dammit ahll be a laughin' stock!"
	"Too late!  Hehehee."
	"You're such a bitch," said Alestia.
	"You recorded it!"
	"I never said I wasn't as well!"
	"Girls don't humiliate our guest," said Khern.  "At least...not too much."
	"Heeey!" said Roy in protest.
	"A little humility will do anyone good.  As for Virmire it sounds pretty dangerous.  If this were half a year ago back when Saren was here, this would be cleared off."
	"This thuh guy that fucked up thuh Citadel right?"
	"Mmhmm, summoned the Reapers."
	"Man the shit he pulled sound lahk fuckin' Lovecraft, know whut ah mean?"
	"No.  I don't."
	"Well he wuz a fiction writer on Earth, wrote stories about summoning infernal gods from beyond thuh veil to fuck up humanity."
	"The Perseus Veil?" asked the volus.
	"Nah nah Calun, ah mean lahk the mortal veil, the veil of reality.  So there's all these crazy-ass gods that are so ancient an' impossibly powerful that they either see humanity as nuthin' but a speck of dust...or even less."
	"What...kind of creatures were they?"
	"Well you got uh...Cthulhu, uhhh Yog-Sothoth, elder race of Yith, Dagon, Nyarlethotep who disguised himself as a pharoah, that shit wuz nuts."
	"And this was just fiction right?" asked Nirethia.  "He wasn't some crazy guy who went up to a beacon like Shepard did and got all those visions in the head?"
	"Naaah...guy wuz lahk, whut, circa 1920?  Ah think we were only just findin' out about cars back then.  Hell anthros didn't even exist in mah world fer lahk another three hundred years."
	"In your world or ours?" asked Khern bluntly.
	"...ahma get back to you on that but let's say mine fer reference sake."
	"Alright...can always check the library if you want to read that."
	"Mmmm been a while, ah mean it's an alternate Earth so he might never have existed here...wouldn't mind readin' sum stuff again from him, been a while since ah read anything."
	"What was the last thing you read?" asked Alestia.
	"Lusty Argonian Maaaaaaai...d?"
The two asari sisters cocked their eyebrows at him as he turned nervous at his slip, the raptor blustering:
	"It's historical fiction!  Very important stuff, lahk, relevant to culture an' shit!"
	"Suuuure it was," said Nirethia winking to her sis, "and Fornax is just a sociopolitical publication."
	"Oh-ho suh-NAP!" said Alestia high-fiving.
	"Aww dammit."

Roy simply put his head in his hands and groaned with shame, the two girls laughing as the conversation kept on flowing.  Calun the volus finished up last due to the time he had to take in digesting, losing his appetite a little before finishing the last quarter of his dish which he offered to the varren Puttz.  The dog-beast happily ate it up, nuzzling the volus affectionaly despite practically matching his height with intimidating stature before paddling off back to Roy's room.  Roy himself decided he needed a shower to clear away the weight of his body.
Two days or so in a bed unconscious was shameful to him, an early riser by default who despised oversleeping, not that he could even tell what time it was in space.  The one thing he hated the most about this world was time.  The inability and affectation of it constantly changing from place to place, beyond the simple point of just time zones over one planet but entire DAYS across stars and planets.  It was mindboggling to him, and it was only by the grace of his omni-tool clock that he even knew what time still remained for him.
It seemed to turn to the point that people now had their own biological clocks running back and forth, almost like no one was in the same rhythm as another person.  A salarian arrives on Earth, he feels it's Tuesday, but the human he's making arrangements with has clocked in to Thursday.  Wednesday never came to the salarian whilst it was already gone for the human.  A never-ending cycle of time forever lost within the great abyss that was the galaxy.  Roy's head started to hurt as he stopped trying to think about this dilemma, entering the shower alone.
	"So much easier back on Earth...back when you only had to worry about time zones everytime you took a plane...damn...ugh...why'd you mention that argonian book dammit, now ah can't stop thinkin' about it...shoulda kept a copy fer mahself...then again..."
His mind wandered briefly on the images in the story, smirking as he locked the bathroom door and slid off his pants, dropping to reveal sturdy black legs of thick brawny muscle.  The perfect kind of muscle to come charging cross the field, the gridiron in sight always.  He was thankful that his journey had not allowed his muscles to slouch, his arms thick and rippled all the way up to his shoulders as he flexed slightly in the mirror, admiring himself briefly.
	"Least bein' in space didn't fuck up mah muscles much...then again ah never got much chance to be in zero-gee."
It wasn't the only impressive muscle he had on his body as he stepped back slightly, looking over his thick snout and blue-ringed eyes before looking downwards at the length between his legs.  A semi-hard tautening length that was begging to come up, the raptor gently groping himself as the thoughts in his head refused to go away.  A fine scaled lady wearing the most revealing of clothes, despite her servant duty as a maid in a desperately-cliched scenario playing out in his head, as he smirked from rereading pages of the book mentally.

The bending over of the maiden to reveal a luscious pair of green cheeks was all it took to make his cock throb, as he stepped into the shower and turned on the hot water.  The shower itself was huge, big enough to house two krogans easily behind a sliding door which was good considering the inhabitants on board.  Roy wondered if anyone even dared shower with Khern, but his mind quickly shoved that out of the way to refocus on the scaled maid.  As his loins began to warm up, the water did in turn whilst running over his body, hot rivulets of steam simmering off of black skin.
He took care of the washing first before other business would come at hand, thankful that Puttz's shampoo also worked on Roy for having the closest similarity of scales.  It was weird at first but the lavender scents washed that over gladly as he applied the scale shampoo.  His naked body glistened like an ebony statue, tight wide back and shoulders with a pair of buttocks beneath more firm than the pavement, his tail long and swishing behind him softly like a muscular python.
The raptor brought his tail around by hand and washed it over firmly, before working on his thick chest and stern abs that remained tight as a drum.  A little looser than they had been originally, but certainly not out of shape as his claws clacked softly on the shower floor.  Once he was sure he had every part of him wettened and glossy, he slowly moved down to his unsheathed penis, grasping it in his three claws of the right hand as he began to stroke.  The length had now fully hardened to a gifted eight inches, a pinkened glans pointed at the very tip, his balls nonexistent and internal within his body.
As he began to reminisce on the old book of yore, another image came to him.  The fictional maiden of another world in servant clothing was soon replaced slowly by something he knew was much more beautiful to him.  Something he wanted more in this case.  With a silent apology out of respect, his mind moved away from the argonian maiden and towards a familiar little cabin, a homely stable farmstead that he knew well.  The warm summer grass, the thickest hay and the musk of horses that always followed as he began to visualise her.  A natural, earthy scent that always brought her clear as day to his memory.

Her long golden locks of white-blonde hair covering her face partway, the strong legs of a hardworking girl and the scents of summer she always had around her.  He could see her once more, the soft brown eyes with a firey strength inside of them, covered halfway by her hair.  In his mind, he wrapped his arms around her, breathing upon her cheek as he gazed upon her eyes, reflecting his own darker brown back at her.
He laid her down within the hay, soft yet thick to make a good bed as his snout slid along her belly, kissing down further and further until he reached her firm legs.  He clasped one of her limbs and stroked her lovingly, sliding claws across the top of her chest just below the neck, inciting a shiver from her body.  Rubbing his claws up and down teasingly, he felt himself reach slowly towards her rear, her smooth curved rump spread out before him with the most beautiful flowering vulva.
The taste of bitter strawberry came to his mind as his tongue flicked out, eating her, tasting her sweet thin juices as her moans rang out in his ears.  His memory ran through his eyes wildly, closed tight as he subconsciously felt himself stroke off harder and harder, bucking against the shower wall as he moaned and mouthed his lips, flicking his tongue in the air to taste her.  Eat her.  Savour her lust.  Her lust was incredible to him, something he never expected he would ever taste in his travels but he tasted it still.  His words poured from his mouth as he bucked his hips in preparation.
	"Hhhhh...hhhhohh Lizbeth...hhhhh...ohhh god yes..."
His mind began to change gears, switching from lips to penis, bucking hips harder as the scene swiftly convulsed in his memory, seeing himself against his love as he held her legs wide open.  His cock rubbed against her darkened netherlips, watching them thick and pulsate slightly with desires they both now shared.  He watched her eyes pleading, waiting for her to say yes.  She could only nod with a hoarse breathless gasp, her body revealed before him as he slowly plunged in, watching his cock disappear inside a tunnel of pure heat.
Roy desperately tried not to open his eyes, not wanting to remember where he was.  He wasn't in the shower of a ship hovering in space feebly clinging on to past memories, not now.  He was in a stable, empty of all but the two of them, rolling in the hay with a strong girl the size of him, one he was thrusting his way into, hearing her quivering gasps and shuddering throat with moans of lust, giving the same to her as he laid down on top.
	"Hoh god...hhhhoh ffffuck....Lizbeth...NNNGH Lizbeth!  Ah...ah...ah need you, ah need you again...a-ah...NNGUH!  NNNGH GOD!"
His passion grew too much, his memory waxing for a scene of passion he had not visited in so long that it almost felt as if he was experiencing it for the first time in his life.  The hunger and the love, the pounding hips, the scents of sweat and musk, the tightening of muscles as he grabbed onto her tight, their tongues meeting in one final shot as his seed began to come, pulsing out between his fingers to spurt thickly upon the shower wall.
	"GUUUH!  NNNGH!  Hhhh...Lizbeth...hohhh...hoh god Lizbeth...hhhhh...hhhhh...ffffuck..."

Struggling with weaker legs he stroked himself off hard to the very end of his climax, wanting to milk every single drop of his seed to ride out the wave of pleasure.  It had been a long time since he had time alone to even think back to those days, panting hard as he watched his length pump load after load, only to become small clear splat marks upon the wall.  Feeling more rejuvenated, he began to wipe down the wall weakly, the sensation of tiredness and some remorse soon flickering back to his heart.  His shame was no longer there, but now there only remained a yearning.  He needed to feel her next to him again.
Trying not to sully his mind with such lonely thoughts, he washed his hands and made sure all particular traces of fluid were gone from the shower before drying himself off, glad to feel clean again as he walked back to his room.  The table area was now empty and cleaned up as he passed by it before seeing Puttz was back in his room, lying on the floor happily curled up beside the bed.
	"Good bath?"
	"Shower, but yeah."
	"All bath to me, water is water."
	"Right right."
The varren sniffed the air lightly with a smirk on his lips.
	"Smell horny."
	"Whu-no I don't!"
	"Naughty fun in shower."
	"Ugh, dammit, ah keep forgettin' about you animals an' all your extra senses."
	"I smell good.  I smell lots of things."
	"You smell like lots of things."
The raptor sat up on the bed as the varren looked up at him, idolising him as Roy started to remember something.  He looked into his drawer and pulled out his bookbag, still containing all his items as he gently checked the small pocket for miniature items.  A particularly shiny coin glinted in his claws bewitching Puttz with its texture.  Gold and gilded with a strange hat-like shape marked on the side.
	"New shiny thing?"
	"Hmm?  Oh, just a gift from a friend of mine, ah had a dream about it so ah remembered."
	"Shiny thing good?"
	"Just a coin that's all...it...kinda helps me think about things when ah feel it in mah fingers...not sure why."
	"Shiny can I have?"
	"Hahah, naw dude you'll prob'ly eat it an' get sick."
	"I not eat, might not be tasty!"
	"It's not, trust me."
	"......would like to test just in case it tasty."
	"UGH, Puttz, give up already please, it's just a damn coin, ah bet you eat plenny other things off thuh floor!"
	"...not as shiny as thing you have."
	"Ugh goddammit."
	"Other shiny thing nice, so happy to talk to new friend!"
	"Huh?  ...OH, yeah uh the ring, right?"

Clasping the coin in his left hand, he felt along the pale ring on his left finger with the right hand, tenderly tracing across its serpentine layout.  It looked far less impressive than the silver ring on the finger next to it, but to him it was far more important for what it allowed him to do as Puttz said:
	"No one ever talk to Puttz before you."
	"Well you got a family who loves you right?"
	"Puttz love family, but they not talk to Puttz, do not understand.  They feed Puttz, they love Puttz, they make silly noises to Puttz that feel nice to hear, but they not talk to Puttz like you do."
	"Hmmm...long as you appreciate 'em, ah don't wanna be stealing your affection from them."
	"Puttz just happy to have friend who understand."
	"Heh...same to you man, yanno yer a cute little dog-eyed fish...thing.  Nice to know sumthin' good came outta this."
	"Good?  Is bad too?"
	"Kinda...not only can ah understand animals when they're happy...but ah can also understand 'em when they're in pain...a lot of pain."
	"Pain?  Who in pain, need help?"
	"Nah just..."
He gently rubbed the ring between his clawfingers, rotating it softly on his finger.
	"Sumthin' that happened to me a while back, just...hearin' a lotta animals that were needin' sum help an-yanno whut let's not talk about it."
	"Okay, bad things, no talk.  Other shiny thing good?"
	"The coin?  Yeah it's good."
	"What dream you had of shiny?"
	"Oh that...wuz kinda weird, ah wuz talkin' to mah dad an' someone else ah knew ah thought wuz there.  Then ah wuz in this cavern all dark an' scary."
	"Puttz love dark!  Puttz love to sneak and kill pyjaks when they not see."
	"An' there wuz this guy ah knew...an' he tried to kill me, blamed me fer sumthin'...blaming me..."
A wistful realisation slowly came to him, wondering to himself silently as his eyes drifted off towards the wall.  Puttz tried to look at his face, walking slowly from where he sleeped as he stood in front of Roy, propping his claws up on the foot of the bed.  His head cocked curiously to the left, wondering aloud:
	"Roy?  You stop talking."
	"Nah...just a dumb dream, don't worry about it."
	"Okay, dumb things, no talk."
	"Heh, right."
	"Can I have shiny now?"
	"NO you can't have the damn shiny dammit it's mine!  You can find your own shiny out there one day."
	"Puttz want to have a whole mountain of shinies, sleep on it and num things while he sleeps."
	"...heheh...maybe you were a dragon in a past life."
	"Dragon?  Puttz like name, DRAGON!  Sound fierce!"
	"They are, trust me."
In the time before their arrival to Virmire, the crew simply sat around with their various chores and pieces, keeping to their own routines.  Khern was largely responsible for cleaning and kitchen duty, tending to the ship like a servant as his aged body kept everything pristine with slow hunkering steps of methodical scrubbing.  From floor to table without stopping.  Roy insisted on helping as a means of repaying, but the krogan was insistent on doing it himself before eventually shooing him off away to do the dishes instead.
Puttz simply slept, dreaming the dreams of creatures such as him with odd fits and snarls in his sleep, panting sweetly with eternal fields forever running across them.  The two sisters, despite having separate rooms, constantly moved from one place to another in order to show things off, share videos, or just talk about whatever.  There was never a time when they were more than fifteen minutes out of each other's rooms.  Sometimes the girls watched a movie with Khern in the living room before the cockpit, the small odd family curling up on the sofa together.
Lastly there was uncle Calun.  He was the quietest, never leaving his room as the sounds of ticking away at keys and calculations were heard loudly from his door.  Roy didn't understand him, and frankly he was rather worried about wanting to.  Khern he understood, old and worn-down for just trying to keep his family together, keep everyone together even.  But Calun was an anomaly to him, despite being opposite of Roy's own room.
Even more suspicious was the fact that Khern never spoke of what his purpose was on this ship.  The volus eternal, locked in his room until he decided to leave for either food or bathroom breaks.  Roy had seen every other room on the ship but never Calun's, and even the asari sisters had never seen the inside.  Puttz mentioned that Calun had a constant stench of fear around him, but not the usual sort that came from being afraid of something physical.  Whatever the case, Roy always wondered about his mysterious allies as he reminisced on how he first met them.  Back four months ago.