Benezia could remember it clearly, the day she bought her first human pet. It was a cool autumn afternoon when her good friend and fellow matriarch, Trellani Massa, was finally able to convince her to go out and purchase a companion for herself.
No matter what the other races said, the asari business of sexual companionship was not slavery, not really. All companions had entered into service willingly and enthusiastically. Added onto that were contracts preventing psychological or physical abuse from befalling any of the "pets", though said contracts usually only applied to krogan and batarian clients.
When Benezia and Trellani arrived at the companion villa, a large, lush estate with a sprawling garden dotted with fountains, they could feel an air of excitement among the gathering crowd of potential clients. Individuals of nearly every species, from high profile actors and actresses to respected politicians and officers, had converged in one of the villa's gardens, waiting to be led into the show room. Hushed conversations and lewd gossip was rampant enough for the two matriarchs to eavesdrop. As it turned out, the excitement was generated from the rumor that the villa had taken in a large group of humans, both male and female, a few months back and had since been training the new recruits in the ways of pleasure.
Humans, Benezia mused, the most recent addition to the galactic community, After their rather... explosive introduction to the turians due to a most unfortunate misunderstanding, the asari had stepped in to mediate a truce before things escalated further and caused more damage. While Benezia herself had not had any experience with the "barely evolved primates", as the turians referred to them, the asari diplomats who did told the matriarch of a brash, impulsive race.
Humans were impatient, way too emotionally driven, and, as one matriarch so eloquently put it, insane.
Many asari, including Benezia herself, would shake their heads in disbelief when they discovered that many of humanity's "Great Feats" were achieved for practically no other reason than to prove that they could do it. It just seemed so... petty.
But despite the Alliance's less-than-stellar introduction to the galaxy at large, many maidens (and a few matrons and matriarchs) couldn't help but be curious about this new upstart race. The turians called them primitive, hairless apes. Brutal, uncivilized pyjaks who got lucky at relay 314. The salarians simply referred to them as "krogan-lite".
With descriptions like that, they were practically daring young adventurous asari to flock to alliance space. These maidens were eager to discover new things, to learn about new cultures, and, most importantly, to add another dangerous alien to their list of "conquests".
With their return to asari space, each girl brought back a story of learning or of illicit romance and sex. They bragged about how they introduced some curious nubile native to the legendary asari grace and to the joys of xenophilia.
One such story came from one of Benezia's own followers, much to the Matriarch's surprise. Shiala was part of her security detail, a respectable and skilled commando with at least a century of experience under her belt. To walk in on her telling her tale to a group of the younger acolytes came as something unexpected.
Shiala had been bragging to her cohorts about her experience with one young human male, a C-Sec rookie to be specific. The commando told of how she spotted her prey in the midst of a lively nightclub, celebrating with his fellow officers over a recent big arrest. Shiala eventually lured the poor boy away from his herd, catching his attention with "looks", a subtle flirting skill most asari had refined into an art form. When she had him all alone, had him away from his friends, away from any that dare take his attention off of her, the huntress struck.
It was methodical, almost a surgical strike against his defenses, against his ability to think rationally. She whittled away at him, bit by bit.
First were the drinks, the key to getting rid of the tension. He obviously had not had much contact with asari prior, judging from how tense his body was, so she had to use something soothing.
It was a rule not to use hard liquor, like batarian scotch or volus rum shots. The goal was to get him relaxed, after all. If asari wanted to have fun later, it would help if your intended partner wasn't passed out drunk on your carpet.
In the end she chose to use a type of honey mead. It worked like a charm.
Next, she used her own movements, distracting him by accentuating her toned body. She fluttered her eyes a bit, did a bit of lip-biting. She even pushed her ample chest out, a part of her body already brought to attention by her form-fitting clubbing dress.
Poor thing never stood a chance.
Shiala smiled lecherously as she recalled slamming him against her apartment wall, kissing him ferociously until both of them could hardly breathe, their lips swollen. The hair growths that covered the skin on his chin, jaw, and around his mouth had tickled her, not an unpleasant experience. She told of how she had stepped back and ordered him out of his clothes. He had reacted immediately, treating his ruffled uniform as if it were poison, tearing it off with desperate haste.
Shiala proceeded to brag about making the strapping young man use his mouth and tongue on her, about how the so-called primate treated her like a queen, a goddess, lapping her up as if she were a delicacy. In return, she had used her mouth on him, a rather, in her words, "illuminating" experience.
Finally, she described how she rode him like a one would an enraged nathak, squeezing him tight until he had "popped like a bottle of warm champagne". That had drew some giggles and laughs from the group, even a getting a smile from Benezia herself.
A bell chime drew the Matriarch from her thoughts. She was in the companion villa once more, with her friend, Trellani, amongst a crowd comprised of the rich and powerful. The gathered party was being led into a large showroom, where the companions were being put out for all to see.
At the front of the room, before several dining tables with chairs and candles, was a large stage with a small walkway. Once everyone had been seated in the comfortable chairs and served expensive wine, they "pets" began to be brought out. There were the asari, young and graceful, the drell, lean and limber, the turians, proud and loyal, even a few krogan, strong and... durable.
Finally, after the crowd had gone through many bottles of wine, the humans were brought out before the crowd. They stood in a row, many of them, both male and female, naked as the day they were born, everything they had, out on display for all to see.
It was surprising to Benezia and Trellani how much variety there was in just this group of humans.
Tall and short.
Muscular and wiry.
Curvaceous and petite.
Dark and light.
And that wasn't even counting hair colors and styles.
Benezia's eyes roamed over the naked bodies before her, taking in the sights. The female humans obviously caught her attention first. Their full, curvy forms were very pleasing to the eye, as many asari would agree.
But there was something else, something nagging at the back of Benezia's mind. The human women were very similar to the asari, to the point where it was almost... unsettling. Benezia would later find that the humans had a term for this: uncanny valley. So close, yet not entirely there. It was a fitting description.
