This logfile is imported from aitelogs2 and may contain errors or wrong timestamps.
#Omega – March 24, 2016
The humble little shack that Leah has been working at is smack dab in the middle of a marketplace. Tucked against the side of a clothing shop, the open-faced noodle shack is a small, prefabricated hut with a line of stools against the counter. The only cover afforded to customers is a small awning that hangs overhead, jutting out from the shelter at an angle. There's a large amount of foot traffic, even at this time, although given
that it is Omega that may not be too surprising. The stools are bunched up so tightly that if there were more than a few customers, everyone would be forced to sit shoulder-to-shoulder. Thankfully that's not the case right now. As Leah and Tara arrive, a light brown salarian is reaching up to the shutter above the counter, but he hesitates as he catches sight of Leah. "Mmm? Forget something?" he asks.
Leah raises her eyebrows as she notices the salarian is closing up. She passes a glance to Tara, then back at the salarian. "Nope, not a thing, boss." she says with a big smile, "Uhhh... Are you closing already? Thought I could show my friend here where I worked. I've been going on, and on, and on, and on about how amazing the noodles here are. Thought we might get a bite..."
Tara has been silent, and mostly kept her gaze on the ground in front of her as they made their way to the noodle shack, but not that they've stopped she's looking around curiously, but making sure not to look directly at any passersby.
Kired's eyes beam with pride as Leah compliments his noodles. "Ah, yes. Very delicate art. Tell me-..." he begins, turning his attention to Tara as he pulls his hand away from the shutter, "Interest in noodles merely as a delicacy? Or something deeper? Yes, humanity fascinating. So much culture. But nothing more fascinating than the noodle. Are you aware of how many different ways one may serve noodles? There is a limitless number
of noodle dishes. But, before we get into that, how can I get you started? Perhaps a soup of sorts? Many options to choose from. Sit, sit." he instructs, setting a pair of menus down on the counter.
Leah suppresses a chuckle as she takes a seat and waits for Tara to join her. "Whaddya think?" she asks the woman.
Tara can't help but stare at some of the aliens that pass by, her curiosity getting the better of her. When Kired starts asking questions she turns her attention to the salarian, equally fascinated by him. He is likely the first of the species she's seen. She takes a seat on the stool next to Leah when prompted, keeping her hands in her lap.
Kired tilts his head to the side as he gets no response from Tara, but doesn't seem to take offense to it. His attention, instead, turns to Leah.
Leah continues smiling brightly. "Mmhmm, soup will do fine, Kired." she agrees, "What about you? Why not have a bite with us? On me!"
Kired waves dismissively as he turns his back to the women and moves to begin preparing their food. "Oh my, no. Fascinating? Yes. Appetizing? No. Not sure how humans manage to eat them." he muses.
Tara seems puzzled by the strange salarian, but remains in place, crossing her hands in her lap as she studies the noodle preparation process.
Leah gives a quick chuckle and turns to face Tara as she waits for the food. "Sooooo~ what do you think? Nice to be out and about, hm?"
Tara looks to Leah as she is spoken to. She gives a hesitant nod, as if wondering what answer is expected.
Leah nods a bunch of times, too. "Exactly! Maybe Omega isn't the prettiest of places to walk around, but it's still better than being cooped up in that nasty apartment, right? You should've seen Aite." she says with a whistle, "Lots of land. Clean air. Good people. Not nearly as cluttered as this place." She frowns slightly as she suddenly finds herself missing her home and lets out a sigh.
"You'll see it. As soon as we're done here and it's safe to go home." she says solemnly. "But for now, noodles!" she says, giving a glance towards Kired and lowering her voice so as not to be heard, "They're not that good, but they're better than most of the slop on this station." Returning to normal speaking volume, her smile returns, "Maybe we should try and do this more often, hm? Get out?
Get you acclimated to being among people? Walking around, talki-..." she pauses, scrunching up her nose. "Am I talking too much?" she asks as she realizes the obvious answer, "People sometimes say I talk too much."
Tara listens to the talk of Omega, Aite and noodles with clear interest. When Leah finishes talking she shakes her head faintly at the question, seemingly content to just listen.
Leah blinks a few times, her smile widening. "And that's why we make such a good team." she says with a nod. She goes to continue on her ramblings, but is interrupted as a couple of bowls are placed in front of them. She looks over the soup and then turns to the salarian with an appreciative nod, "Thanks, Kired. How much?"
Kired gives a shake of his head. "On the house. Least I could do after you ran off those troublemakers." he sniffs, glancing over at Tara, "Must tell me what you think of my noodles. Have taken much time perfecting my recipe. Eager to see if you can taste the salarian influence I've added. Quite distinct."
The soup has thin noodles and a few unidentifiable vegetables as well as... other stuff. Stuff probably best left unknown. It's quite bitter with almost a sour aftertaste.
Leah shovels a bunch of noodles into her mouth. A loud slurping sound fills the air as she sucks up a few noodles. "Best noodles on Omega!" she says, mouth full with food as she tells the salarian what he wants to hear.
Kired bows his head in a nod. "Good to hear!" he beams, "I'm afraid I must return to cleaning before I close up for the night. Take all the time you need, there's no rush." he says as he looks between the two, "Tell me if you need anything else."
Leah nods a few times, noodles dangling from her mouth. "Mmhmm..." she mumbles, followed by another loud slurp. She covers her mouth and winces as she looks to Tara apologetically. "Sorry. I haven't eaten all day."
Leah follows Tara's gaze as she munches on some more noodles, "Hmm?" she mutters as she finishes chewing, "What's the matter? Never been around this many people?"
Leah uses one of her utensils to point at the bowl in front of Tara once she realizes the woman hasn't eaten yet. "Not hungry?" she asks.
Tara blinks, reaching for the chopsticks once promted. After a quick glance she tries and fails to immitate the way Leah is holding them, dropping one in the bowl, her shoulders dropping.
Leah lets out a chuckle as she watches Tara try, and fail, at using chopsticks. "Close." she cheers the other woman on. She holds her hand out in front of Tara so she can study the way she's holding them. "Like this." she instructs, clasping them open and closed a few times.
Tara fishes the other chopstick out of the bowl and makes another attempt. Upon trying to clasp them together again one flips over her hand and goes flying towards Leah's face.
Leah is poked in the cheek with a stray chopstick which then falls into her own bowl. She looks down at it, then at Tara, then back at the chopstick. She bursts into laughter, bringing a hand up to her mouth to suppress a snort. "Well, I guess your aim is better than your chopstick control." she says, fishing the stick out of her soup. "Alright, alright. One more time! Hold them securely so
Tara furrows her eyebrows, opting to lift a few strands of noodles out of the bowl with only the one chopstick in her hand, managing to get a few into her mouth before the rest drop back in the bowl. The efficency of the technique is dubious at best.
Leah closes her eyes as another laugh escapes her. "Kired!" she calls out, "Can we get a fork over here?"
Kired spins on his heels as he's called. After a few moments he makes his way over to the counter and sets a fork down. "Ah, yes. Much practice required to properly chop sticks. Almost an art form." he says before returning to his duties.
Tara looks at the fork, and after a moment's consideration relieves the chopstick of its duties, switching utensil and making another attempt at eating the noodles. She starts slurping them down quickly once she's able to, seemingly not minding the taste in any way.
Leah gives the woman a pat on the shoulder before setting the spare stick aside and returns her attention to her own bowl. "And if at first you don't succeed, just get a fork." she says with a nod.
Tara continues to eat, stuffing noodles into her mouth as fast as she can swallow them. She almost always eats with the same enthusiasm.
Leah raises an eyebrow, although her table manners aren't much better right now. "You know nobody is going to take that away from you, right?" she asks, "You can take your time."
Tara glances at Leah, gaining an apologetic look as she slows her eating, seemingly worried that she's done something wrong.
Leah smiles and reaches out to pat Tara on the arm. "At your own pace. Like I said, you're nobody's property anymore. Eat however you want, nobody is going to stop you, alright?"
Tara briefly gains a faint smile and picks up the pace again, and it's not long before there are no noodles left. She puts the fork down, turning her attention to Leah.
Leah slows her pace slightly, the sour taste putting a damper on her appetite. "So, whaddya think? Like the noodles?" she asks.
Leah takes one of her chopsticks and places it against the side of her bowl of noodles. "Goooood~" she sings, "Because I'm stuffed. Feel free to finish mine off if you're still hungry." she says, hoping to pass her gross noodles off without offending Kired.
Tara hesitates, perhaps uncertain if this is an okay thing to do. After seeing that Leah doesn't seem to intend to eat the noodles she takes the bowl and quickly finishes of the remaining noodles.
Leah drums her fingertips against the table as she watches Tara scarf down her noodles. a smile still on her face. Once the woman finishes eating, she shrugs her shoulders. "So..." she begins, "What now? Time to head home? Somewhere you'd like to go?" she asks, gesturing around with her hand, "You need anything while we're out?"
Leah pushes both bowls towards the opposite side of the counter. "Thanks for the delicious noodles, Kired." she says, "See ya in the morning?"
Kired turns as he's addressed, a stack of bowls in his hands. "Oh, yes, it's quite fine. Glad you enjoyed. There's far more that goes into a perfect noodle than most people suspect. Many believe you only need to-...." he pauses, glancing between both Leah and Tara as a short chuckle escapes him, "Oh my. Apologies. I don't mean to talk your ears off all night. I'll let you be on your way. Have a nice evening and be safe." He cocks
his head towards Tara, "And tell your friends about the noodles. There's no better endorsement than word-of-mouth, hm?"
Leah follows Tara's lead, raising a gauntleted hand to wave at the salarian. "Take care, Kired." she says, setting off towards the apartment.
Leah doesn't notice it right away, she goes through the motions of removing her weapon from her back and unslotting the omni-tool from her armor. As she makes her way to the kitchen, her eye is immediately drawn towards the device on the table. "What the fuck...?" she mutters, quickly picking it up and inspecting it. "Tara, stay by the door." she instructs, lowering her voice. She sets the
datapad down and pulls her pistol free from her thigh, setting her sights on the bathroom door. If someone was here, they're either gone or in the bathroom. She cautiously approaches the door and opens it up, one hand steadying her pistol.
Leah closes the door and lowers her pistol with a sigh of relief. "Looks like whoever was here took off..." she says, making her way back over to the table to check out the datapad. "It reeeeally skeeves me out to think that someone was walking around our apartment..."
Upon activating the datapad it goes immediately to a short text. There appears to be nothing else on the device (https://aiterp.net/story/Skf5gwhxcv6ew1ip)
Leah 's eyes scan over the message, her brow furrowed. "Fuck... They know where I am." she says aloud. She drops the datapad down onto the table and turns around, leaning back against the table as she brings a gauntleted hand up to the top of her head. Her fingers gently massage her scalp as she stares distantly at the bathroom door. "How did they find me? I was careful..."
Tara seems very confused about what's going on, not really wanting to stay in the door way she sidesteps, keeping her back against the wall. She looks to Leah for answers.
Leah sighs and pushes away from the table, making her way back over to the front door and locking it. "Cerberus knows where I am..." she says to the woman, completely unaware if she even understands what that means, "It was a threat. Either stop looking for information, or face their consequences..." She begins to pace back and forth, quite troubled by the thought of being in Cerberus' sights
again. "I can't just stop... Not after-... How do I even know they'll just give up coming after me? For that matter, how do they even know what I'm-...." She falls completely silent as a sick feeling comes over her. She pauses in her tracks and her eyes flutter somewhat. She sucks in a few deep breaths, sounding as if she's beginning to hyperventilate before she storms off into the bathroom.
Tara studies Leah with a concerned look as she rambles on, and her gaze darts to the corners of the room as if expecting someone to appear at any moment. When she runs off to the bathroom Tara follows, standing a bit behind Leah, unsure how to help the panicking woman.
Leah is standing in front of the bathroom mirror, lifting her eyelids and poking at the areas around her eyes frantically. "They had to have some method of knowing what I was doing. How else would they track me here!?" she explains as she spots Tara in the mirror, "I traveled under a new identity. New bank account. New omni-tool. There's no way they could have tracked me unless-.... Unless
Tara is not much help, having nothing to say in response to Leah. The look on her face is quite clearly concerned, understanding the basics of the situation from her previous ramblings. She puts a hand on Leah's shoulder, doing her best to express support.
Lifting the scarred eyelid might reveal to a close inspection gray threads of circuitry in the inner parts of the eyeball that would normally go unseen.
Leah is not relieved, despite her eyelid looking no different than it has since the implant was first inserted into her eye. She stops fidgeting with her eyes as Tara's hand grasps her shoulder, simply placing a hand on each side of the sink and leaning forward. Her bangs hang down over her face as she shakes her head back and forth. "I was careful..." she says softly, "...How did they find
Tara has no answers to offer, feeling rather useless at the moment. She withdraws her hand and continues to study Leah.
Leah remains where she is for quite some time, staring into the sink's drain. Eventually she turns to face Tara, tilting her head sympathetically. "I'm sorry, Tara. I don't know what to do... I came here to get answers. I'm not going to let a threat stop me. I knew when I came that it was most likely a one way trip..." she trails off, lowering her gaze to the floor. "I'm going to make sure
you're safe, okay? I'll get you off Omega before I push this any further than I already have. I have friends on Aite-..." she trails off as she looks past Tara. "...At least I hope I have friends on Aite... After what I did-..." she sighs, swiping her bangs from her face, "No. They're good people. They'll help you."
Leah reaches out, placing a hand on Tara's shoulder. She looks Tara directly in the eyes. "I wouldn't let anything happen to you. You trust me, right? These people will take care of you. Help you get a job. A home. You can start your own life..."
Leah frowns, maintaining eye contact with the woman. "What do you mean, 'no'? Don't you want your own life? To be far away from this place? These people?" She bites her lower lip for a few moments before continuing, "Tara, I'm in danger. Everyone around me is in danger. You need to get far away from me."
Tara starts shaking her head far more violently when Leah makes the last suggestion. She stops rather suddenly, perhaps feeling she is out of line, lowering her gaze to the floor and folding her hands in front of her again.
Leah reaches over and places a gauntleted finger on the woman's chin, gently lifting Tara's gaze to meet her own. "Please... Enough people have been hurt because of me, Tara. I can't risk you getting caught up in all of this. I told you I would protect you, and the only way I know how right now is by making sure you're far enough away that they won't come after you..."
Tara looks, as she is made to look at Leah again, genuinely terrified at the prospect of being shipped off to another planet on her own, or placed with strangers. She shakes her head again. "No... please." she pleads, her voice trembling, but louder than when she's spoken previously.
Leah moves her hand from the woman's chin to her shoulder. Her eyes move back and forth between each of Tara's as she studies the woman's expression. Her shoulders slump as she fails to come up with any way of rectifying the situation. "What are you afraid of?" she asks softly, "Do you think I'd let anyone hurt you?" She frowns, her features hardening, "Never!"
Tara goes quiet for a while, her gaze falling and then returning to Leah. "Please, ma'am..." she repeats, clear blue eyes staring at her rescuer. Her dread at the thought of being sent away is all too clear, despite Leah's assurances.
Leah sighs, shaking her head a few times. "I don't know what else to do, Tara. On Aite, my friends can keep you safe. Give you a real home. Not this-... this-..." she gestures around, looking to the floor with distaste, "...shithole. You deserve a chance at a real life, and if you stay here I'm only going to drag you down with me. " Her voice gets quieter the more she speaks. "What can I
Tara tilts her head, hesitating a moment before responding, her voice quiet as a whisper. "Come with...?"
Leah lowers her gaze back to the floor, slowly shaking her head a few times. "And just... give up? Cerberus ripped my life apart, Tara. If I go back, there's no telling whether or not they'll just come for me again. My dad... I can't put him in that sort of danger. I can't put you in that sort of danger." She pouts, torn about how to handle the situation, "Trust me. You're wayyyy better
Tara goes silent, backing up as her gaze falls again. She's clearly not equipped to argue, and ends up retreating out of the room, sitting down at the table, her arms on it.
Leah allows her own arms to droop down at her sides as she follows the woman. "Tara, I'm sorry..." she says dejectedly. She takes a seat in the chair across from Tara and looks at the table in silence for a long while, her mind running through everything that has happened. Can she really trust this mysterious stranger to keep his or her word? Would Cerberus really just give up on hunting Leah
down? What about her father? She can't just abandon him. But how would he feel about Leah just sticking this poor woman on a ship and sending her off to be 'someone elses problem'? Tara is her resonsibility. Her father would understand, right? "I just don't know what to do. Would it-..." she shrugs her shoulders, "...help if maybe I came with you to Aite? Just until you get acclimated and
Tara 's gaze darts up briefly at the question but quickly returns to the table. She makes several small nods.
Leah allows a small smile to cross her face. Her hand slides across the table until it's atop Tara's and she gives it a few pats. "Alright, then. It's settled. I guess we're going to Aite... Just need to save up some credits first, alright? Fair warning: You won't be able to get Kired's noodles on Aite."
Tara cracks a tiny, relieved smile, nodding again. As she closes her eyes a couple of tears escape, and she lets out a heavy breath.
Leah furrows her brows, giving the woman's hand a few more pats. "Hey now..." she begins, trying to calm Tara down, "I told you I wasn't going to let anything happen to you. I meant it. After all you've been through you deserve a chance at a real life, Tara. I'm going to do everything in my power to make sure that happens, okay? Even if that means I need to put a few things on hold for now..."