#RedrockAgency – January 31, 2019

Va'ynna steps out of it and starts on her way towards the building. This time, the sky car leaves immediately to return to the Miner's Respite. She's wearing a black winter jacket that she's borrowed from Victoria, a very long green scarf and mittens of the same color.

Ilyna rises from her seat upon getting a ping on her terminal that Va'ynna is approaching, leaves her office and heads towards the lobby.

Li is sitting in the rec room as she very often does when Ilyna is at work. She's playing with the educational VI on her omni-tool. It's a language program for children, teaching Galactic Trade. Her eyebrows are furrowed as she lies on her belly in the couch, typing away on the haptic interface.

Va'ynna greets Ilyna in the lobby, and exchanges a few words and a hug. It's the first time she has seen the other asari since the wedding, but while they had a lot of catching up to do, Ilyna had to get going. After being told where Li is, Va'ynna makes her way upstairs. She looks a little nervous, as she is well aware what Li has been through and what it might mean for her task of looking after her.

Li is still in the couch studying, oblivious to the asari's arrival. She seems to be struggling, but she remains focused.

Va'ynna stops in the doorway and looks around the room. She immediately spots where Li is due to the teaching VI, but remains by the door. "Hey," she says and a soft smile masks her nervousness for now. She begins taking off her scarf while waiting for Li to acknowledge her.

Li looks up from her omni-tool when she hears the soft greeting, blinking as she sits up and looks over the back of the couch. "Hi Vinna." she says, a shadow of her usual smile crossing her lips. It's not the enthusiastic greeting common to her in the past, perhaps unsurprisingly given its little over a week since the traumatic events of the Collector ship.

Va'ynna noticed that change as the same events are the cause of her nervousness around this, but she returns the smile. She enters the room, folds her scarf and puts it on the table. "How are you, Li?" she asks. "I'm sorry I didn't say hi to you at the wedding."

Li shrugs a little, arms hanging on the backrest of the couch as she watches Va'ynna. "I'm ok." she says quietly.

Va'ynna takes off her jacket and hangs it over the chair before heading over to the couch. "That's good," she says. Is it? Va'ynna didn't know what to say, really, but this wasn't exactly what she had in mind up for when she said she could get some time off to come see Ilyna and Li. "I'm okay too." She notices the nature of the VI when she gets closer. "Oh, I'm... interrupting your studies, am I?"

Li looks over towards the VI and frowns. "That's ok... it's stupid." she says, perhaps a little frustrated by her language difficulties. She turns around, sitting down normally in the couch as she picks up the omni-tool, poking idly at the interface. She's gotten used to navigating haptic interfaces well enough since arriving on Aite.

Va'ynna sits down beside her in the couch, watching her poke at the omni-tool. "How is it stupid?" she asks as she didn't look closely enough to know what subject was being taught.

Li 's frown deepens a little, and she gives an evasive shrug, stopping her poking. It shouldn't be hard to tell that she has a language teaching program open.

Va'ynna looks back up to her. "It gets... easier soon," she says with a small smile. "And then you can speak with... me and Ilyna without translation. That's... reason enough to learn it, right?"

Li nods softly, not looking up from the interface. "I'm trying..." she says quietly, shifting a little in her seat.

Va'ynna nods. "So, what... do you do aside from studying when... Ilyna is busy?" she asks. "Have you made friends with some of the others working here?"

Li gains a small, but honest smile, nodding slightly. "Yes. They're nice. But..." her frown returns as she trails off, looking down again.

Va'ynna tilts her head, studying Li's face as she asks, "But...?"

Li doesn't answer right away. "Everyone is really old." she says, glancing Va'ynna's way briefly.

Va'ynna frowns. "Yeah, I...," she sighs and looks away from Li for a moment. "I understand. I... I didn't have many friends growing up, and... it's a terrible loneliness to not have a peer to share your excitement with whenever you just watched, played or did something cool." Or a parent, she refrains from adding. Va'ynna looks back at Li. "We had schools where... I grew up, so that.. was mostly my fault, but...

Li blinks, tilting her head as she looks over to Va'ynna. "Your fault?" she asks with a confused look on her face.

Va'ynna hums thoughtfully. "Yeah," she says. "I... was a quiet kid that kept to herself, so... I had the opportunity to meet people my age but..." She closes her eyes for a moment and realizes that Li may not know her context fully. "I... learned from a VI like yours, but we had to go to a place for it where I learned along with others at the same age. There are assistants there to make sure we kept pace, but...

Li frowns slightly. "Oh." she says quietly, her gaze falling back to the omni-tool for a bit. "Why?" she asks when she looks back to Va'ynna, studying the asari again.

Va'ynna tilts her head. "I... don't know, I just was a shy little girl," she says. "Sometimes we don't know what we have until it's... not there anymore." She was also a pureblood, but there is a limit to how much she's dragging down the mood, and she is long past it, so she sighs. "Hey, I... just wanted to say I... understand how lonely it is, that's... all." She looks thoughtful for a moment, and then glances

Li nods slightly, seeming like she understands from the look on her face. The following words cause her eyebrows to furrow, as if uncertain, but she agrees with a small nod, even if the enthusiasm isn't exactly there. "Yeah. Ok."

Va'ynna suppresses a frown at the lack of enthusiasm. It's the clearest answer she could get to the question she doesn't want to ask, and she can feel a lump in her throat forming. She stands up and tries to push it out of her mind, because she still held onto a sliver of hope that she could lift her spirits. "There's also this human holiday coming up," she says. "With presents, seven kinds of cookies, a

Li furrows her eyebrows. "Holiday...?" she asks, a hint of curiosity shining through her otherwise downbeat demeanor. She scoots off the couch, shutting the omni-tool town and looking to Va'ynna.

Va'ynna gives a small nod as she puts on her jacket and zips it up. It doesn't fit her too well, but it's much better at shielding her from the weather than her own. "Yeah," she says. "It's in thirteen days, I think. The name didn't translate though, so... I can't remember it. It sounds really nice, though." She gestures at the door and starts making her way out into the hallway and downstairs, stopping if Li

Li grabs her own jacket and a beanie, struggling a bit with the stubborn zipper as she walks out into the corridor, immense focus on her face. Eventually she gives up without a word, walking after Va'ynna with the jacket misaligned zipper half-zipped up.

Va'ynna makes her way downstairs before she stops and looks at Li and her jacket, also checking if she has gloves on. "I... can help you with your zipper if you'd like," she says and crouches down, but she waits for Li's approval. "You can't go out with the zipper open like that. The weather is better than usual, but... it's still cold."

Li frowns a little at being defeated by her jacket, but relents, letting Va'ynna fix the zipper. Her gloves are not on, but they're sticking out of her jacket pockets.

Va'ynna unzips the zipper again, and starts over with slow and careful movements. "There," she says and stands back up. "It takes a... little practice, but once you get it right... a few times, it's easy." She starts putting on her own scarf as she heads for the exit, making a few turns around the back of her head and crests to compensate for her lack of head-wear. "So, have you built anything since last time?"

Li starts to follow after Va'ynna again, nodding slightly in response to the question. "Not in a while..." she says quietly, focusing as she puts her mittens on.

Va'ynna ties her scarf after making sure it's loose enough to turn her head. It's a bit awkward, but it will have to do. "I haven't, either," she says. "It has been... very busy at work, but... my employer gave me time off to come visit you." And Ilyna, but she remember the first time she looked after Li, and doesn't mention her. When they reach the lobby, she puts on her mittens and opens the door.

Li follows Va'ynna out into the cold, burying half her face against the collar of her puffy jacket. She says nothing, leaving the asari speaking to herself.

Va'ynna looks around for any good spots to do any building. "Let's find a good area to work," she says. "Do you see any?" Ilyna wasn't here, and for all she knew it was just her and Li around. That did terrify her a little, but she tried not to think about that, even if it does mean she'd prefer somewhere out of sight from the road. However, she wanted Li to take the lead as much as possible.

Li blinks, lifting her gaze as she looks around. She shakes her head slightly. As a lone vehicle drives by on the otherwise abandoned road she flinches a little, her gaze fixating on it until it's out of view.

Va'ynna also follows her gaze on the car, silently wondering why Li watches it so intently. Maybe she's still frightful after what happened, something that Va'ynna could understand too well even if her own experience barely compares. "Then... let's find a site together," she says and starts walking towards the corner where there's less of a reason to shovel. They're also a little bit more hidden to passing

Li 's attention eventually returns to Va'ynna and she follows silently after her to the drove of snow, her gaze low, watching her boots stomp through the snow.

Va'ynna comes to a stop just around the corner, and looks over the snow. They have materials in order, but she doesn't know where to begin. "So, do we start with the walls or-..." she looks over at Li who follows with a low gaze, and tilts her head. "Is something wrong, Li?"

Li doesn't look up at Va'ynna, remaining silent as a mitten-clad hand grabs her own arm.

Va'ynna turns towards her and crouches down to look at her face. "It's... okay if you don't want to tell me," she says, with a forced attempt at a reassuring smile that betrays her discomfort. "But if... you... don't feel like building with me, just... tell me and we can go back inside. We shouldn't do it if it's not fun for you, Li."

Li 's eyebrows furrow slightly, lifting her gaze to look at Va'ynna when she crouches down. She remains silent for a time, her thoughts unknown as she studies the asari, but eventually she shakes her head a little. "No, it's ok." she says, sounding more like she's reassuring Va'ynna than the other way around. "Do you want to build a new castle...?" she asks, tilting her head a little.

Va'ynna 's smile grows more genuine as Li seems still interested in this. "I don't know, it's the only thing I really know," she says, "but we... could try something else too if you have some ideas. It was you who showed me how to build towers."

Li smiles just slightly. It's faint, but it's there. She starts to climb up the side of the pile of snow, boots sinking a little as she awkwardly makes her way up. "We can build it on top!" she says, arms flailing a little as she nearly loses her balance.

Va'ynna follows after her thinking that she can catch her if she falls backwards, but the asari doesn't look any steadier. "Mhm, that... could look great," she says. "We need to be careful, though. I don't know how well it will stand on this snow, but... that's something to find out."

Li doesn't respond to Va'ynna, far too busy planning the layout of what is sure to be a magnificent castle in her mind. She sits down atop the pile of snow, starting to shape it, but she's sure to leave room for the asari as well.

Va'ynna crouches down at first, not too eager to come in too much contact with the snow just yet. "So, what... is the layout?" she asks with a smile as she starts to shape some snow further out as part of a wall. "A wall forming a ring around a great tower?" Her mittens weren't really great sculpting instruments, but she could always sacrifice the warmth of her hand for a moment to add some detail later on.

Li points to a spot at the very top of the snowpile. "You can build the tower there. I'm going to make a big wall." she instructs, already having started to shape the snow into place.

Va'ynna bows her head as much as her balance permits. "I'll get right to it, my knight," she says and moves up to the top of the pile where she starts to compact and flatten the snow a little to make the snow on which it stands -- hopefully -- stable enough. She brings in snow from further down to make up from lost height. "When you're done with the wall, we can... build the top of the tower together. Maybe...

Li doesn't comment on Va'ynna's suggestion, falling into a focused silence as she keeps building, although she occasionally glances the asari's way.