This logfile is imported from aitelogs2 and may contain errors or wrong timestamps.
#Miner'sRespite – September 23, 2015
Jason remains quiet for most of the walk back. As they approach the Respite, he taps the door's interface and shrugs. "You know I'm here if you wanna just... talk about it, right? I'm not trying to just sweep it all under the rug. I just want to give you the time to talk about it when you're ready..." he admits.
Va'ynna is sitting alone in a booth near the bar, currently not at work. There's a half-finished baguette on the plate before her, and a glass of water. She's wearing a dark-green t-shirt and simple blue pants. She looks up at seeing Jason enter, and offers a small wave before getting back to her meal. (Ilyna_T`Rea)
Kanaya is standing behind the bar, currently pouring a drink for another patron. She's in a navy blue dress with red trims, which hugs her figure closely. (Ilyna_T`Rea)
Jason frowns at the silence, but quickly puts on his best smile as he spots Va'ynna and returns the wave. "Hey, V." he says as they pass her booth, "Gonna get a bite to eat. I'll catch up with you later, alright?" he says, giving an incognito nod towards Vasquez.
Va'ynna looks up at him, and nods. "Alright," she replies. "It's... good to see you're let out. You... didn't make an order this time, or have I... forgotten something?" She returns the nod to Vasquez, "Hey." (Ilyna_T`Rea)
Jason chuckles and gives a shake of his head. "Nah, V. Wasn't expecting to get out this soon, to be honest."
Vasquez seems eager to continue onwards - she contributes nothing from the conversation, her attention now turned alternatingly between the stairs and the bar.
Va'ynna sighs relieved. "I... That's good," she says. "I will see you alter, then." She turns back to her food. (Ilyna_T`Rea)
Jason gives a nod, "Enjoy your meal." he says. Realizing Vasquez' discomfort, he starts off towards the bar and hops up on a stool. "You alright, Linda?" he asks, "If you want, we can just get it to go and eat in the room..."
Vasquez goes to the bar as well, and nods faintly. "Yeah... let's do that." she says in a quiet, distant tone.
Jason smirks and nods a couple times before looking over at Kanaya and giving her a wave to let her know they're waiting to order. "What are you having?" he asks idly, just attempting to keep the conversation flowing.
Kanaya walks over to them. "Hello," she says with a smile. "What can I do for you two?" (Ilyna_T`Rea)
Jason gives Vasqeuz a wide smile and nods. "Couple orders of varren kebabs." he says, "To go. And to drink-....?" he glances over at Linda.
Kanaya tilts her head. "You've stayed here for a long time, Mr. Wolfe," she says. "Dinner service opens in the evening as it always has." She glances at the asari in the booth. "I could ask her to make it for you, though, but no promises." The bartender types on a terminal, and nods. "We do have orange soda, yeah." (Ilyna_T`Rea)
Jason winces a bit and glances over at Va'ynna. "I hate to ask but-... I'd really appreciate it. I'll pay extra for the inconvenience."
Kanaya nods. "I won't charge you extra for it, either, as it'll be a favor done in her free time," she says before typing the order on the terminal. "I'll keep you notified of your order's status." (Ilyna_T`Rea)
Jason glances over at Vasquez and nudges her shoulder playfully. "See that? Varren kebabs in the morning? No problem. I've got all the connections." he says with a wink.
Kanaya taps on her terminal and steps back, before looking at the woman beside him. "I don't think I've seen you before," she says. "Ms. Vasquez, I presume?" (Ilyna_T`Rea)
Jason remains quiet as the two speak, merely leaning forward and placing his forearms against the countertop.
Vasquez nods politely, but says nothing. Her demeanor is troubled, as is common for her, and the distant, pained gaze, large scar, and obvious neural implant doesn't make for the most welcoming countenance.
Kanaya walks off towards the booth where Va'ynna is now that she's done eating her lunch, and exchanges a few words with her. (Ilyna_T`Rea)
Jason gives a nod towards Kanaya as she walks off. "She took over for Aylena." he whispers, "Sounds like Aylena has a few problems right now. Had to leave in a hurry and sent her to run things for a while." He glances over his shoulder at Kanaya, "Seems nice enough."
Va'ynna drinks the remainder of her drink and stands up. She picks up her plate and glass and moves over to the bar. "It'll take... about thirty minutes," she says to Jason with a small smile. "I... can deliver it to your room, if you'd like." She walks over to put her place and glass on a tray below the counter. (Ilyna_T`Rea)
Jason smiles sheepishly at Va'ynna. "Sorry to put you to work like that, V. It means a lot to me." He glances at Vasquez, "To us." he corrects, "And yeah, to our room would be great."
Jason gives a big smile and spins atop his stool to turn around and stand up. "Well, still." he says, "It's appreciated none the less." He glances over at Vasquez and looks up at the stairs. "Ready?"
Va'ynna gives a small smile before she walks out through the door to the back, and towards the kitchen. (Ilyna_T`Rea)
Jason gives Va'ynna an apologetic smile for Vasquez' silence before she escapes. Once Va'ynna is gone, he follows Vasquez up the stairs. "Like I said... Don't be too alarmed. The room isn't in the best of shapes..." he says as they make their way down the hall.
Vasquez continues up the stairs without responding, going down the hall and then trying to the code they used when she lived there on the door.
Jason scurries up beside her and types in the new code quickly, giving her a chuckle. "Just... You know. Safety precautions. Had an unw-..." he shakes his head, "Nevermind. It doesn't matter. I'll tell you the new code." He taps the interface for the door to open.
The door opens to reveal a mess of a room to accompany a strange smell. Numerous stains mark the carpet in places, and it seems as though he hasn't done any laundry since Di Yu, merely tossing clothes into piles on the floor. The terminal screen has a large crack in it that was obviously left when someone punched it. Broken glass is all over the bathroom floor as well as a dried up, sticky liquid.
Vasquez scrunches her nose, looking around at the mess, and then turns to Jason with furrowed eyebrows.
Jason looks down at the ground. "I-... I was a wounded man..." he says, repeating his tired old routine that saw some success with the nurses. He slowly lifts his gaze to meet Vasquez' and places a hand over his chest, "Both physically and emotionally..." He glances around the room slowly and lets out a deep sigh, "I'll clean..."
Jason shrugs, unsure what 'the worst of it' even is. He begins to collect all of his clothes and shove them into a garbage bag. A garbage bag that he gets out of the garbage can. It is, however, empty. So... that's fine. Right?
By the time the food arrives the two have collected the clothes, picked up the broken glass, cleaned up the bathroom and opened the window to vent the room. Stains remain in the carpet, and the terminal screen is still broken.
Va'ynna approaches their room carrying a tray with two plates, glasses and soda bottles. There's also single use packs of condiments and seasoning on the tray. She stops by their door, and carefully balances the tray with one arm before knocking on the door. (Ilyna_T`Rea)
Jason makes his way over to the door and opens it. He looks over the food and gives Va'ynna a big grin. "Looks delicious as always, V." he says as he reaches out to take the tray from her, "Hope it didn't inconvenience you too much."
Vasquez is seated on the edge of the bed, having only just finished cleaning the room into a somewhat acceptable state.
Va'ynna hands the tray over to him, carefully as there's a few things that could tip over. "You didn't," she says. "I'm... glad I could help." She takes a step back. (Ilyna_T`Rea)
Vasquez turns her gaze to the door, attempting to catch Va'ynna's attention briefly as she says: "Thanks." with a simple nod.
Jason carries the tray over to the table and sets it down before returning to the door. He fishes a credit chit out of his pocket and hands it over. "Keep the extra." he says. On the chit is enough to cover the meal as well as a nice tip.
Va'ynna takes the chit with a small smile. "Thank you," she says, trusting that the credit chit is sufficient without checking it. "I'll... see you." (Ilyna_T`Rea)
Jason gives a nod. "See you later, V. Again... Thanks." he says sincerely. "I'm gonna have our things moved to the new building in the next few days. Once everything has calmed down, we can talk about finally getting you that tour."
Vasquez grabs her meal and wastes no time starting to eat - she's gotten quite hungry during all the time spent sedated.
Va'ynna nods, still smiling. "I'm... looking forward to it," she says before turning around and starting to walk down the hall towards the stairs. (Ilyna_T`Rea)
Jason waits until Va'ynna has made her exit before shutting the door. He takes a seat atop the table beside the food and begins picking at his meal with a big dumb grin. "Delicious." he says as he stuffs a piece of food into his mouth.
Vasquez scowls at Jason. "Get off the table..." she says before stuffing some more kebab into her mouth - she's almost halfway through her meal already.
Jason blinks a couple times. "Right. Right. Because we're just so damn civilized." he says with a smirk as he watches her wolf down the kebab. "Fine, fine. Your wish is my command." he teases as he hops off of the table and gives a little flourish and a bow before taking a seat on a chair.
Vasquez almost seems like she's going to break into a smirk at Jason's theatrics, but it never materializes. She continues to eat in silence, bite after bite of varren kebab.
Jason reaches for his drink and takes a long sip, imagining how much better it would taste if it just had a dash of vodka. He sets it back down and watches Vasquez. "At least you've got your appetite... That's good." he teases.
Jason glances down at his own plate, plucking another piece of food off and shoving it into his mouth. "Still hungry...?" he asks.
Vasquez chomps on the last piece of kebab and then shakes her head as she puts the fork down. "I'm good..."
Jason gives a nod. "Good." he says, picking up another piece of meat with his fingers and popping it into his mouth, "Cuz I'm not sharing." he adds with a smirk.
Vasquez 's gaze wanders from her food to Jason's face, and from there to his arms, watching him eat.
Jason continues to scarf down food, using his hands. Eventually he notices Vasquez' rude staring and he drops the piece of food he's holding back onto the plate. "They really bother you, don't they?" he asks, looking down at his new arms as well.
Vasquez blinks. She quickly averts her gaze from the arms. "I'm-... I'm sorry. It's not-..." she shakes her head with a sigh, standing up and walking over to the bathroom, locking the door.
Jason lets out a deep breath through his nose and pushes his plate away. "Linda, come on... Talk to me about it." he pleads as he stands from his chair and follows her towards the bathroom. As the door locks, he leahs up against the wall beside it. He stands there for a few minutes in silence before finally speaking up again. "I was worried about how you would react when you saw them."
he admits, sliding down the wall to take a seat on the floor, "With everything we just went through, the one thought that just kept running through my mind was 'what if she just cant' accept you like this'?" He gives a shake of his head before leaning it back against the wall, "I kept trying to convince myself how ridiculous that was. But it's not, is it?" he glances down at his hands,
opening and closing each fist, "Am I that hard for you to look at without being disgusted?" he asks. It's not an accusation, just an honest, hurt question.
Vasquez eventually emerges from the bathroom. Her hands are on her elbows. Her eyes move across Jason's arms, and then her eyelids close. "It's not you, Jason..." she says quietly before heading over to the bed, taking a seat on the edge of it that faces the window, looking out.
Vasquez lets out a loud sigh. "Jason, that's not what I-..." she trails off, searching for the words without turning to face him. "I did that to you. It's my fault. All I see is how I hurt you."
Jason lowers his gaze as he realizes what she means. "We've been through this, Linda. It was out of your control. I saw what Cerberus does to people who don't listen to them..." he says, recalling the asari, "You did what you had to do to keep us both alive. Stop beating yourself up over it."
Vasquez remains seated on the bed, turned away from Jason. She takes a deep breath, bringing her hands up to her face as she thinks back. After several seconds of silence she says: "I knew. I knew before we left. It was the plan from the start. I lied about why we were going there."
Jason nods a few times silently. He may not be the brightest bulb, but he's not a moron. Although he had hoped that she was out of the loop until Di Yu, he knew that this was always a possibility considering the timeframe of the implant. "It was the implant. I know, Linda." He shifts uncomfortably a bit at the confirmation. "Did you always know what they had planned for us...?" he
Vasquez chokes back a sob. "Yes. I knew. I knew everything. I knew about..." Her voice starts to break. "...I knew about the entire thing. All the-... Vaden, Fatsani... all of them... it's all on me."
Jason remains quiet for a long time, eventually letting out a simple, low, "Oh." Hearing it knocks all of the wind out of him and he sucks in a deep breath as everything goes fuzzy for a moment. He rests a hand on his knee and leans forward slightly as he begins to worry that the recently devoured varren kebabs might make a reappearance. "You didn't pull the trigger on any of them.
And you could've killed me, Linda. You didn't..." he says, attempting to be reassuring, but a part of him deep inside just wants to scream. She was willing to just leave him for death? He bites down hard and his eyes flutter somewhat as he resists the urge to speak his mind. He reminds himself that she had no choice. She had no choice. Right?
Vasquez just sits there, face obscured by her hands, elbows on her knees. There is nothing she can say for herself. Nothing to fix it.
Jason pauses as he finds himself unable to get over the gutcheck she just admitted to. He shakes his head. "You knew I would be okay, right...?" he asks, "You weren't trying to...?"
Vasquez doesn't respond right away, but eventually she speaks, her voice muffled by her hands. "I... don't know. It's all a blur. They said shoot. And I shot. I thought... I thought you were dead, Jason. I left you for dead."
Jason remains silent for a period of time, processing that bit of information. Unable to speak. Unable to cry. Entirely unsure of how to feel, he's just overcome with complete numbness. He climbs to his feet and slowly makes his way over beside Vasquez, placing a hand on her shoulder. "I'm not dead." he says, offering a weak smile as he pulls his hand back. He begins to collect the
few remaining clean articles of clothing he has left and balls them up in one hand. "And you're gonne be fine." he says, crouching down in front of the woman and placing a hand on her knee. "We're both gonna be fine. We'll put this behind us." he continues, saying it almost as much for himself as for the woman in front of him, "But right now I need a shower. Because I can smell myself."
He puts up his most trustworthy defensive mechanism, his lopsided smirk, as he studies the woman's face, "Alright?"
Vasquez slowly lowers her hands. Her expression is empty, hollow, but her eyes are as expressive as they always are. Confusion, pain, doubt and shame all swirl in her brown eyes as she she looks at Jason in silence. She opens her mouth as if to speak, but no words come, and she closes it again, breaking her gaze away from him. There was nothing she could say for herself. There was no
Jason pats her leg and stands up. "We'll figure this out." he says, hoping it to be true. He remains in place for a few more moments, unable to really say anything else. He wasn't about to shout at her, despite a small part of him urging to do so. He wasn't going to try and make her feel bad for what she had done. No matter how angry he was, he couldn't lose sight of the fact that
she was every bit as much a victim as anyone else. But was she really ready to just kill him? How could she? "I love you." he says, taking a few steps back towards the bathroom, "Don't ever forget that."
Vasquez flinches faintly. Jason's words hit her like knives. She wants nothing more than to respond. To assure him of her love. But she can't bring herself to say the words. She had no right. Not after what she had done. Instead she buries her face in her hands, summoning all the strength she has left to maintain her composure rather than breaking down right then and there.
Jason nods a couple times to himself before disappearing through the bathroom doorway. A few moments later the sound of water slapping against the shower floor can be heard.
Vasquez has spent most of the day getting caught up on the current situation with Redrock. She's refused to talk about Cerberus, and her overall mood throughout the day has been uncomfortable and distant, rarely acknowledging Jason's presence. The rain has increased in intensity throughout the day, and it is now pouring down, water drumming and slapping against the window with the wind. She is currently standing by the window -
she was reading a datapad, or at least pretending to be, but the hand holding it has dropped now, and she is simply staring out at the street.
Jason has been sitting at the desk working at the terminal to schedule deliveries and such for Redrock HQ. As he wraps it all up, he stretches in his seat and stands up. "Whew... It's really coming down out there." he says as he makes his way over to the window. He watches the rain hammer the street outside for a few moments before looking over at Vasquez, "You busy?"
Jason shrugs his shoulders. "You read my mind." he says, leaning over and glancing out the window again, "My favorite kind of weather. How do you feel about having a little company?"
Vasquez shrugs, turning around and heading for the door without saying anything. She steps into the corridor, heads down the stairs, and towards the exit, without waiting for Jason.
Jason paces back in forth in place and resists the urge to put his hand through the wall as the frustration continues to bubble up, but he sucks it all back down and jogs out of the room after her. "Linda, c'mon... Don't make me chase you all over..."
Vasquez continues out of the Respite, heading north along the larger street without waiting. The rainfall hits them as soon as they're outside, quickly starting to soak through hair and clothing, but the air is warm.
Jason continues to jog until he catches up with the woman, not particularly bothered by the rain. "Linda, stop!" he calls out, "At least slow down. Come on..." he groans.