This logfile is imported from aitelogs2 and may contain errors or wrong timestamps.
#Omega – March 6, 2016
The door opens up into a wide pathway, the very same one she was captured on in fact, only four doors further down from the alley. A group of salarians and a krogan are walking down the street from the direction the plaza is in. They pass by, little attention on the open door, seemingly engaged in conversation.
Leah lets out a deep breath as the door opens, revealing their freedom. She glances back one last time to make sure nobody is coming up behind her, then at Astrid. "We're free, Tara!" she says as she steps out of the building, still gripping her Mattock loosely in one hand.
Tara follows Leah out of the building, her gaze wandering briefly before returning to the path ahead.
Leah takes a few more steps down the footpath before placing the Mattock onto her back and stopping in place to give the woman a chance to catch up. "Come on." she says as Astrid catches up. She looks at the woman with a small smile. "That's the last time anyone is ever going to treat you like that." she adds, placing a hand gently around the woman's wrist again as she trots out of the alley,
Leah keeps her eyes to the ground as well, not particularly interested in gaining anyone elses attention on her way back to her small, cluttered apartment. "So, do you have any family? Anyone we can try and get in contact with?" she asks with a sigh. "You don't understand a word I'm saying... We need to get you a translator..."
The taxi ride back to Leah's apartment is pretty uneventful aside from the dread that hits Leah as she pays the fare and realizes just how few credits she has left. The apartment itself is a palace of shit. It takes multiple presses of the button before the elevator actually recognizes her input and rumbles upwards. Leah paid the first month up front for a 'fully furnished' apartment. What she got was a single room with a built-in
kitchenette bisected off from the sleeping area and a small bathroom off to the side. A small bed is against the far wall. A light fixture is missing from the ceiling, causing exposed wires to dangle freely from the hole. The small kitchen table has a chair on each side of it, but one of the legs seems to be slightly longer than the others, causing it to wobble a bit if anyone were to touch it. The floor looks as if it once had
carpet, but whoever lived here before Leah must've ripped it all up and the walls aren't in much better condition. You get what you pay for.
Leah sighs as she steps through the front door to her lovely abode. "Home sweet home..." she mutters.
Tara follows Leah into the apartment, studying it briefly to get a sense of the layout before returning her gaze to the floor.
Leah instantly begins plucking off her armor plating, having some difficulty given her shoulder wound. She tosses a few pieces onto her bed and makes her way over to the kitchen area. With her boot, she pulls one of the chairs away from the kitchen table and nods at it. "Go ahead. Sit." she says, giving exaggerated gestures towards the woman in hope that she'll understand.
Tara starts making her way towards Leah, hesitantly, upon noticing the wound, but when the chair is pulled out and gestured at, she is quick to take a seat, sitting straight with her hands in her lap, glancing at Leah with an unsure look on her face, as if to see if she interpreted the command correctly.
Leah gives a smile and nods once, causing her ponytail to bounce. "Ooookay. So! First things first! We have to get you a translator!" she says as she reaches over and unslots her omni-tool. "I don't have the credits to get you something like that..." she says, giving an apologetic tilt of her head, "But I'm sure we can find an app for that. At least for now, right?" She bites her lower lip
and furrows her brow as the omni-tool interface opens before her. She holds the small device in the palm of her left hand and pokes at the glow with her right hand.
Tara is starting to look a bit distressed as Leah continues to talk to her. Her eyes dart to her hands and their immediate surroundings in search of any indication of what she's being asked to do. She remains seated.
Leah pokes at her omni-tool for a bit longer, downloading the first translation app she can find. She opens it and sets the omni-tool on the table which bathes the entire room in a slight glow. "Alright, Tara. Now we just need to figure out what language you speak." she says, setting the translator for her own language. "Speak!" she says, a bit giddy that her plan might work, although she
immediately scrunches up her nose in distaste as she realizes it sounds more like she's talking to a dog. "Ummm.... talk?" she requests, pointing to her mouth. She opens and closes her mouth a few times, pantomiming as if she's speaking. She then brings her right hand up and does the universal 'pac-man hands' sign for speaking. She has to understand the 'pac-man hands', right?
Tara looks at Leah, studying her in silent confusion at first, but eventually she starts shaking her head, lowering her gaze back to the floor.
Leah crouches down, placing her forearms on her knees for a moment as she studies the woman in confusion. She places a gauntleted finger on the woman's chin, raising her face to meet her own gaze. "It's okay. You can talk to me!" she says with a smile. She opens and closes her mouth a few more times and does the goofy pac-man hands quickly. "We'll get this all sorted out! You just need to
Tara flinches slightly as her chin is touched. She ends up meeting Leah's gaze briefly, but is quick to avert her eyes. She shakes her head again.
Leah sighs. "You.... can't talk?" she asks, obviously not expecting a response. "Well, then we're just going to have to do this the hard way, I guess..." She reaches up and grabs her omni-tool from the table and sets it on the floor beside her. She plops back onto her bottom and sits flat on the floor as she begins the long, difficult process of switching the translator between each available
Tara looks nothing but confused throughout most of the languages, but when reaching various batarian languages she looks up briefly when adressed in an older dialect. Her eyes dart up to Leah every few seconds, otherwise remaining on the floor.
Leah scrunches up her nose again. "Batarian?" she says with a sigh, "Guess that makes sense... How long did they have you?" Now that she has it narrowed down to batarian, she goes through them, one by one, including the ones she has already tried. "If you can understand me, please nod your head. I want to help you." she says, slowly and clearly.
Tara nods faintly, her confusion starting to resurface as she shoots another glance at Leah before looking back at the floor.
Leah lets out an 'Aha!' as she narrows in on the proper dialect. "Great! Do you have any family...?" she asks, climbing up onto her knees as she studies the woman, "Anyone I can contact?"
Leah sighs and runs a palm over her forehead. "You're free now. You understand, right? Those people don't own you anymore. I-..." she trails off, worried that she might not be getting anywhere. She pats the woman on the leg and stands back up. "I'm sorry... You're probably hungry. Do you want some food? I don't have much, but you're free to help yourself to the fridge." she says with a gesture
Tara seems only more confused by the first statements, but upon Leah mentioning the food she hesitates and then stands up, walking over to the fridge. She reaches for the handle, and upon grabbing it looks back at her for to see what her reaction is, clearly not sure she's understanding correctly.
Leah nods a bunch of times. "Yeah! Eat! Whatever you want! There's some kind of-... I don't know, weird.... Omega salad...?" she says with a disgusted look on her face, "I decided it might be safer to not eat whatever that is. But it's in there! And-... I don't know if you know how to cook. Can you cook?"
The inside of the fridge is a fair bit cleaner than the rest of the apartment, obviously due to Leah's compulsive scrubbing. A small plastic container with said salad is sitting on the top shelf. It has wilted lettuce-like stuffthings and a strange, pulled meat laying across the top. A few standard human foods round out the rest of the fridge's contents. Eggs. Bread. A few strange sliced meats. Full, unopened condiments. A few
strange fruits. They all come with an undisclosed understanding that, given their location in the galaxy, these things probably aren't exactly what they're advertised as.
Leah shifts from one foot to the other as she watches the woman. "Ummm... Just help yourself. There's a couple of cups and plates in the cabinets. I don't have much right now... Just got here." she says, moving back over towards the bed to continue removing the heavy plating from her undersuit. "Oh, you might want to let the tap run for a minute before getting water. It's-... finnicky. And
Tara stands there studying the various unfamiliar food items for a while, and then takes out eggs, bread, meats, salad and condiments, placing it all on the counter and then searching the cabinets until she finds something to fry the eggs in, placing it on the stovetop. She hesitates slightly before cracking the first egg, but seems relieved upon finding that it is more or less what she expected. While keeping an eye on the eggs she
cuts the bread with whatever decently clean instrument she can find, and proceeds to make a sandwich with the available items, inspecting each of them briefly before allowing them in the sandwich. The smell of fried eggs start to fill the room meanwhile.
Leah continues to dismantle her gear over by the bed. Once she's down to her undersuit, she digs through the duffle bag near her bed and disappears into the bathroom with some clothes. A few moments pass before she reappears, dressed in a pair of tight black pants and a short-sleeved light blue top. She quickly slips her boots on, having no interest in walking on the dirty floor without shoes,
but doesn't bother to tie them. "That smells great." she says, "So... Ummm.... What did they do-..." she begins but pauses, worrying she may come across as insensitive. After a moment, she realizes there's probably no way to properly handle this situation. "What happened? I mean, why can't you talk?" she blurts out, hoping the woman may be able to communicate her answer somehow.
Tara glances at Leah briefly but says nothing. She finishes with the eggs and place them as well on the sandwich before closing it, inspecting her work for a moment and then carrying the plate over to the kitchen table, standing beside it and looking at the recently changed woman expectantly.
Leah returns the look with a smile. "Looks delicious." she says with a nod. She proceeds over to the counter and grabs a few eggs to begin cooking her own food, completely oblivious to Astrid's intentions. After a few moments, she glances back at the woman, cocking an eyebrow as she spots her just standing near the table. "Ummm.... You don't need to wait for me. Go ahead and eat! I'm sure
Tara quickly regains her former confusion. She's starting to look worried as her gaze darts between Leah and the food.
Leah reaches over and rubs at her shoulder, a groan escaping her. "Hope that blade didn't go too deep. I don't have the credits if I need to head down to a clinic. Not to mention my do-..." she trails off, deciding better than to speak her thoughts aloud. She glances back at Astrid sheepishly, but quickly looks confused. "Ummm... Are you going to eat?" she asks, leaving her eggs unattended
for a moment as she steps towards the woman. She points at the plate and then at Astrid. "Eat. That's yours!" She pantomimes lifting food to her mouth and chewing, then points at Astrid, suddenly keenly aware that the software isn't providing a perfect translation. Must be an unrecognized dialect of batarian.
Tara 's confusion gives way to surprise. She looks almost stunned for a moment before bowing her head in thanks, remaining that way for several seconds before sitting down, looking at the sandwich as if she's unsure where to begin. Eventually she grabs it and takes a small bite, but not without another hesitant glance in Leah's direction.
Leah smiles and nods before returning to her own meal. "I'm not sure how we're going to get past this language barrier." she sighs, her back to the woman as she leans over the stove. "It's really just me out here. Halisi would know what to do." she continues, speaking mostly to herself by way of Astrid, "But I can't call her. Not this soon... There has to be someone on this station that
can help us out." She frowns and tilts her head to the side, poking at the eggs with a fork to check them before she turns off the stove, "...But I'm guessing whoever those people were, they're probably not going to be too happy about losing you. Can't risk bringing you all over the station."
Tara shows no obvious sign of having any strong opinions about this, but it's clear she's making an effort to listen to Leah while eating the sandwich. She starts out taking small bites, but soon she's shoving in as much as she can as quickly as she can, as if expecting someone to take it from her at any moment.
Leah dumps her eggs onto a plate and carries it over to the table, taking a seat across from the woman. She gives a chuckle at the woman's table manners. "There's plenty more up there if you're still hungry." she says before scooping a bite of food into her mouth. "Should probably get you out of those tattered old clothes, too. I'll see what I've got for you once we're done eating."
Tara shoots Leah a look and then shakes her head several times in response to the comment about more food, mouth full. Upon the mention of clothes she glances down at her tunic, and suddenly looks worried again, but continues to eat the sandwich in silence. It's not long before it's all gone.
Leah takes her time with her eggs, remaining mostly silent as she eats. Once finished, she stands from her seat and claps her hands together. "Alright, Tara!" she says enthusiastically, bouncing over towards the dufflebag by her bed, "We're going to get you into some more comfortable clothes." She lifts the bag up and brings it over to the kitchen table, dropping it beside Astrid's meal. "Go
The bag is stuffed with numerous pairs of jeans and pants similar to the ones she's currently wearing. A few pair of workout shorts and more comfortable sleepwear is also inside. As for tops, they're mostly short-sleeved shirts along with a few hooded sweatshirts. The tops all seem to be of varying shades of blue.
Tara glances at Leah and then the back, slowly grabbing at the edges off it and leaning forward a bit to take a look inside. She grabs lightly at one of the clothing items, a pair of jeans, and yet again looks to Leah for confirmation.
Leah nods a couple of times. "Yeah, that's fine!" she says, leaning over the bag and pushing a few items aside before pulling up a simple, dark blue t-shirt. A white M overlaps a white U in large font in the center of the shirt. Leah holds it up in front of Astrid, sizing her up. She gives a couple of nods and tosses the shirt over the woman's shoulder. "Perfect!" she says, nodding towards
the bathroom. "Go ahead! Get changed out of those old clothes." She gives a look over Astrid's current clothing and shakes her head, "Those don't look comfortable at all..."
Tara blinks, taking both items of clothing and standing up. She puts them down on the floor and then proceeds to pull the tunic over her head, leaving her standing naked in the middle of the room. The full extent of her scars become apparent, the burnmarks especially covering both back and chest in the same net pattern. She starts to step into the jeans and pull them up, seemingly completely unfazed by Leah's presence.
Leah puts her hands up. "Oh-.. nonono-...." she begins, trailing off as it's too late to stop the woman. She frowns as she's unable to look away in time to avoid seeing the scarring. "Oh my-... that's-... that's horrible..." she begins before immediately becoming aware of the situation and growing extremely uncomfortable. She simply plops down at the kitchen table and lowers her head to her
hands, turning a bright shade of red as she stares down at the top of the table. "Okay. Uh-huh. So, that's a thing that happened...." she says, "...That's what we use the bathroom for. So Leah doesn't get a facefull of boobies. But that's fiiiine. Nothing wrong here." she continues to ramble, nodding to herself.
Tara finishes with the jeans and the picks up the t-shirt, slipping it on as well, seemingly oblivious to Leah's rambling. The clothes are a surprisingly good fit. When done she looks to the woman and seems a bit unsure of what's going on as she notices the embarassment. She remains standing in place for the moment.
Leah keeps her gaze pointed at the table until it sounds as if Astrid has finished getting dressed. She tentatively glances out from the blinders she has made with her hands, only moving her hands completely once she's sure there's a booby-free environment. "Great!" she says, still a shade of red, "They fit. So that's food, clothes, now what?" she asks aloud. She tilts her head to the side
as she stares at Astrid silently for a few moments. "I really wish you could speak... I'm in way over my head here." she adds with a sigh.