Jason enters the Respite looking a bit more serious than usual. He marches up to the bar and takes a seat at an open stool, but makes no attempt at flagging down the bartender. Instead, he raises his arm and begins poking at his omni-tool interface.
#Miner'sRespite – March 23, 2014
Va'ynna descends the staircase, wearing a red dress she's seen in often enough. She looks around the place as she reaches the first floor, spotting a familiar armored figure at the bar. She makes her way over to him and takes the seat beside him, but waits for acknowledgement before speaking since he seemed occupied.
Jason bites his lower lip as he pokes at the interface for a moment. He glances at Va'ynna as she takes the seat next to him and flashes her a quick smile before returning to his omni-tool and finishing whatever he was addressing. After poking at the interface for a few moments it dissipates and his lopsided smirk returns. "Evening, V." he says, rotating on his stool slightly to better face the asari, "What's up?"
Va'ynna returns the smile. "Not... much," she begins. "I... still have a job here, but... D'Inea said I could have a better contract if I... find some place to live on my own."
Gregorij comes down the stairs in the company of his mech. He immediately heads over to the bar, leaning against the counter and running a hand through his hair with a frustrated grunt. "Drink. Whatever." He doesn't bother to look if the bartender is even there.
Jason raises an eyebrow, "How does that play into your contract? She letting you stay here for free?" he asks. He gives a quick glance towards the frustrated man beside him, but doesn't pay him too much mind.
Va'ynna | "Mhm," she says, "but... it means I'm not paid much in credits. I've... thought about it. I'll have about thousand credits left for myself each month if I take that contact and find a cheap place to live. If not, I'll only have a few hundred paid in credits."
Aylena nods, tapping on her terminal to view his last tab, and heads off to find a bottle of Whiskey. She pours a glass of it without any ice or mixers, then placing it on the counter before him before she walks off to serve another patron.
Jason gives her shoulder a quick poke, "You know that means you're gonna have to go outside, right?" he teases.
Gregorij nods as he recieves the drink and takes a sip while placing a datapad on the bar and sitting down. "Anna, did Adrian get back to us?" "No. Previous experience would indicate tha-..." "I know! Fuck." He takes a swig from the drink.
Jason goes to answer, but is distracted by the man's sudden outburst. He cranes his neck to look the man over and shakes his head before returning his attention to Va'ynna, "No... If you can save that many credits, you have to do it. Seriously, don't let one incident keep you from an opportunity like that, V."
Va'ynna glances briefly at the discussion between him an the mech, but not for more than a second. "I.... But here, there's... security," she says. "I feel safe in here..."
Jason places a hand on Va'ynna's shoulder and gives it a light squeeze, looking her directly in the eyes as he speaks, "It's time you start feeling safe outside of here, too, V. No more hiding. Freedom Falls is your home now, right? Shouldn't you feel safe in your own home?"
Gregorij starts humming a sombre melody under his breath, closing his eyes and sitting still for a while as he tries to calm down. After a while he takes another drink and shakes his head to himself. Completely unexpectedly he interrupts the conversation next to him. "Safe? Here? What kind of dream-world are you living in?"
Va'ynna looks over at the human with a frown. "Safer than... other places here," she corrects before looking back at Jason, uncomfortable at the interruption. "I know, but... I just... don't."
It's not fucking safe. Stuck between pirates and killer robots. "Safe". Not even outside the Alliance's reach either.
Va'ynna glances between them, looking a little tense as the pessimstic opinion of the human does nothing to make her feel at ease.
Alex jogs into the bar wearing a sleeveless shirt with fatigues. She approaches the bar and orders orange juice.
Jason glances at Va'ynna momentarily before swiveling in his seat to face the man. "Yeah." he lies, "Yeah I do. Sure, Aite is dangerous... But Freedom Falls isn't too bad. The militia seems to be on top of things around here."
Va'ynna glances at Alex as she notices her, giving a timid wave, though not really making sure she saw it.
Uh huh... they gonna keep the geth out? No, they'd run or die. The Alliance? No, they'd smile, take some credits, and let them through.
Va'ynna frowns. "Geth? Are... are they here?" she asks, sounding and looking very nervous. "Well... enough, I suppose," she answers Alex' question.
Aylena nods and goes off to find the bottle at the exact same location she found it yesterday. She makes her way back to the bar and pours a glass for her. "Here you go," she says as she places the glass on the counter before her. "Anything else?"
Alex shakes her head at the bartender, "Thanks!" She takes a sip and turns to Va`ynna. "You suppose?"
Jason snorts loudly at the man, "Geth? You're worrying about the geth? Come on now, after how hard they hit the Citadel... If the geth are a real concern then I've got bad news for you buddy... Nowhere is safe. And what's wrong with the Alliance?"
Gregorij stares at Jason in disbelief for a moment. "What's wro-... you serious? They're fucking facists. The shit they've done to their own people..." He shakes his head and takes a long swig of his drink before wincing slightly and moving a hand to his right temple.
Va'ynna nods. "Yeah...," she says, glancing between the two human males seated at the bar, not comfortable with the topic of discussion, but too polite to make that really clear.
Jason 's voice raises a bit. His smile remains, but it's clear that he's a bit irritated by the man. He gives a short insincere chuckle and shakes his head, "Oh shove it up your ass. If it wasn't for the Alliance the geth would've stomped all over the Citadel. Then you'd be right to be scared of the geth. I'll be the first to say that we've made mistakes, but you can't seriously think you'd be better off without the Alliance."
Gregorij is quite clearly getting angered. He lets go of his drink and stares at Jason with a mix of subdued rage and exhaustion. "You seriously believe that?" Anna tries and fails to interrupt: "Greg, you shouldn't be-" "How fucking indotrinated with their shit are you? I've EXPERIENCED what they've done, and I KNOW what they still do! I'm reminded EVERY FUCKING DAY!" As he raises his voice during the last part, Greg's whiskey glass jumps up into the air and collapses on itself until it is just a ball of shards hovering in place for a bit before falling back onto the bar.
Jason gives a sigh as the man rants, reaching up to rub at his temples. Once the glass begins to lift, he begins looking a bit concerned. As the glass implodes, he covers his face with a gauntleted hand, nearly falling off of his stool in the process. "What the fuck is wrong with you!?" he shouts as he grabs the counter to regain his balance.
Aylena watches his biotic display with a very unamused expression before walking over to him. "Hey!" she says. "Any more crap like that and you're out of here. We clear?" She picks up a pair of glove from under the counter, wears them and starts picking up the glass shards.
Va'ynna does the same as Jason, holding up a hand before her eyes, nervour to the point of shaking. "Goddess," she mutters.
Gregorij looks around with a frantic expression. Blood starts to trickle from his nose and he holds a hand to his head while stumbling slightly. "S-... I'm so-... shit..." Anna puts a hand on his shoulder and speaks with patient and friendly voice: "You can't stress yourself like this, Greg. Calm down and take your meds."
Steve exits from the back room with haste and slams a hand against the bar counter, just opposite of Gregorij. "I knew you were gonna be trouble." he mutters, shooting Aylena a frustrated look. "You want him out of here?" he asks.
Aylena shakes her head. "No, nobody got hurt," she says. "Next time, though; do it." She didn't really mind who would hear her as she was just finishing picking up the shards and throwing them in a garbage bin on the inside of the counter.
Steve nods, but keeps his gaze leveled on the man. "You hear that, asshole? Last chance. Stop breaking shit."
Jason turns to Va'ynna, figuring the outburst would have bothered her. "You alright?" he asks, standing from his stool.
Gregorij shows no sign of hearing Steve. He stumbles back onto his chair and takes out a pill bottle with a trembling hand. Anna helps him pour out a few and move the hand to his mouth, responding to Steve while she does so. "Greg meant no harm. He has a condition."
Aylena takes out a cloth of sorts and wipes over the glass' impact zone to get the really tiny pieces. "Sure didn't look like an accident to me," she says. "You'll be paying for the glass." She picks up the cloth carefully after finishing wiping the area and drops it in the same bin before walking over to a terminal.
Jason snorts loudly as he glances back at the man. "Oh, a condition?" he asks, "Well in that case feel free to break as much as you'd like. Wouldn't want to upset your condition!"
Gregorij holds up a hand as if to say something but ends up wincing again and burying his head in his palm.
Alex frowns at the man she has now dubbed as Rude Man Number Two, "I'm sure you wouldn't appreciate someone making that comment at you if you had a condition."
Steve watches the man quietly as he begins to feel slightly uncomfortable. "Look just..." he sighs, "Get your shit together and keep it under control, alright?"
Jason looks at the woman and gives a shrug. "If I had a 'condition' that might put others in harms way I wouldn't be hanging out in bars destroying shit." he says plainly.
Gregorij sits immobile for a little while before nodding and wiping the nosebleed away best he can - much sticks in his beard. He gets up from the stool and turns towards the stairs while supporting himself against Anna. "Apologies. I-... ngh... will pay." His face shows obvious pain as well as embarassment.
Steve slams his hand down on the counter loudly upon hearing Jason's remark, attempting to get everyone's attention. "It's over. Drop it. He's gonna pay for the glass. Let it go." he says before turning on his heels and marching back through the door he appeared from.
Jason smirks at Alex, "I don't even know what that means so-..." he begins before hearing Steve's outburst. "Hey!" he calls out as the man turns to leave, "I didn't mean anything by it..." he says, realizing how Steve may have taken the comment. He gives a sigh as Steve exits the room and retakes his seat on the stool.
Va'ynna twitches at his slamming the hand on the counter, snapping to his attention. She looks towards Alex afterwards. "How... are you?" she asks.
Jason watches as Gregorij heads off and gives a sigh. He looks towards Alex and bites his lower lip. Realizing it's the woman Va'ynna was sitting with the night before, he clears his throat and decides to make an attempt at apologizing, "I really didn't mean anything by it." he restates, "I mean... He just assaulted a glass a foot in front of my face, what was I supposed to do?" he asks with a shrug.
Alex copies his shrug once again. "It's fine, I just figured I would try to defend him. He's seems kinda blue..." She frowns slightly.
Jason glances at Aylena, then back at Alex. "A lot of people seem kinda blue around here." he says, followed by his grin widening in a way that one would expect to be accompanied by the wiggling of eyebrows and a 'Right? Right?' followed by a rimshot.
Aylena is currently serving another patron, and while she is within earshot, her attention is elsewhere.
Va'ynna brings a hand up to her mouth as she does her best to stifle a giggle, though is not entirely successful.
Jason blinks a couple times. "Uhh... sure. But, you know, my anger issues don't cause me to crush glass into dust with my mind." he says, "Although I did once throw a shoe through a window. Does that count?"
Jason shrugs, "I was fourteen. My uncle was being an asshole. Long-story-short: I had to take a summer job and pay him back for a broken window." he chuckles, "Point is... Uhh..." he pauses for a moment, trying to remember where he was going with it, "Don't throw shoes inside?"
Jason 's smirk returns as he gives the asari a nod. "Well, there you have it. Shit happens." he says before suddenly realizing something. "Oh!" he begins, thrusting his hand towards Alex, "Jason." he offers.
Jason gives the woman's hand a shake before withdrawing his own. "Back atchya." he says with a smirk, "So how long have you two known each other?" he asks. "I was under the impression that I was V's only friend." he teases, "I mean, aside from her sugar momma, of course."
Alex puts her hand back in her lap, and tilts her head to the side "Uh for three days, I guess.. Pfft 'sugar momma'?" She giggles.
Jason looks Va'ynna up and down, studying the red dress she's wearing, "That the dress she bought you?" he asks, clearly amused by the whole situation.
Va'ynna blushes a little as she's looked up and down, then shakes her head. "No," she says. "I bought that one... a couple days before I left Thessia."
It's... nice enough. I lived there for... a few decades. But... it was boring. I didn't really keep a job too long, and... wanted to see the... galaxy.
Alex nods, "I did too.. I don't know what I was expecting to see, but it's kind of better than I thought."
Jason | "Earth." he says plainly, raising an eyebrow at the strange woman, "Born and raised..." he adds.
Alex continues spinning, "Wow, that's pretty cool. I wanna go to Earth someday, it seems nice.... Where's Sanves?"
Va'ynna considers the question for a moment. "It's... an FTL trip from Thessia's system," she says. "It's an old asari colony."
Jason shakes his head, "You don't wanna go to Earth. There's nothing there that you haven't already seen. Take it from me..."
Jason 's omni-tool beeps and he raises his arm, looking down at the interface as the orange hologram is projected in front of him. After a few pokes with his finger, he smirks. A few pokes later and the interface dissipates. He gives Alex another shrug, "I mean... There's nothing wrong with Earth. It's just... I don't know... Less alive? I get it, Earth is where it all started for us... It's nice to see all that history. But out here is where history is being made, not just admired. You know?"
Alex nods and smiles "That makes sense." She begins spinning once more. "Jason, do you know of any jobs open around here?"
Jason thinks about it for a moment. He looks towards Va'ynna and raises an eyebrow, "Aylena moving you to the kitchen yet?" he asks. "Might be a bartending position opening up soon, if so." he says, directed at Alex.
Va'ynna nods. "Almost," she begins. "I still have a few hours out here every day, but I'll be in the kitchen mostly. But... you could ask her. One of the others resigned recently, so," she glances at the bartender, "she's been having the bar for most of the days."
Jason chuckles and shakes his head, "I think she meant from a legal standing..." he says, returning his attention to Alex, "This is the Terminus. I don't think they're gonna ask for a birth certificate out here."
Va'ynna smiles. "I... I'm not really a drinker," she says, "so... you don't have to be. Though, some... do ask for you to decide, which... is not easy if you're not one." She pauses, looking at Alex. "What is... the legal age for your kind?"
Jason shakes his head, "Eighteen most places, I think." he says, "Either way... I doubt that's likely to come up out here."
Outside of your odd job that might open up among the locals, there's not a whole lot to do if you can't handle a weapon.
Alex frowns, "Well that's something I can do, but I don't think I'd be all there if I did get a job like that."
Jason nods a few times, understanding her predicament. "I got ya..." he says, but shrugs, "Sometimes it's the only way, though. I've learned that there can be justification in the 'why' of it all. Sometimes hurting someone is the only way to protect someone else, you know? I spent quite a bit of time out in the Traverse during my time in the Alliance. Came across all manner of scum. Slavers. Pirates. You name it. You just have to be honest with yourself and why you're doing it. I don't always sleep easy at night, but even after everything I've been through... Everything I've done... I can still look at myself in the mirror."
Jason bites his lower lip and tilts his head to the side with another shrug, "Most days, anyways..." he adds with a forced smile.
Va'ynna frowns. "Oh...," she says. "I'm sorry to hear that." She pauses for a moment. "I... have a gun I bought on Illium before coming here, but the... last time I've... visited a range was a few years before these... clips."
Alex looks down into her lap, thoughtfully. "I'm sorry about whatever you had to go through. I don't think anyone should have to go through something like that."
Jason shakes his head, his smile growing a bit more genuine, "Nothing to be sorry about." he says as he turns his gaze to Va'ynna, "We need to get you back down to the range." he continues, changing the subject, "What kind of weapon do you have? I picture you as a shotgun-kinda-woman." he chuckles, "Something real big, right?"
Va'ynna just stares at him for a few seconds with a tilted head. "What... makes you think... that?" she says. "It's... just a cheap pistol. Four-hundred, I think I paid for it. I... didn't buy any clips, because... I didn't know about them."
Jason 's chuckle winds down, "Nah... I just have trouble picturing you with a weapon at all, V. You're too nice for your own good. But you should at least learn how to properly use that thing. We'll figure something out. Maybe when I have more time we can take a trip down to the range."
Alex signals for the bartender to pay for her drink. "It's getting kinda late.. So I'm going to be going, okay?"
Aylena sees her signaling, not being busy at the moment, and walks over to her. "Can I get you anything?"
Jason gives Alex a nod. "Sure thing. I should probably myself, actually. Have some work to take care of tomorrow..."
Aylena chuckles. "That it is," she says. "Have a good night." She heads over to another patron shortly afterwards.
Alex stands from her stool, "Goodnight to you too." She smiles to the bartender, then waves goodbye to Jason and Va`ynna. "Yeah, goodnight you two." She turns and heads to the door.
Jason gives a wave to Alex on her way out. "Alright, V, I'll see you soon. Take care." he says, standing from his seat and making his way towards the door.