Nathan ‘a gaze is forced to Leah’s, the emotions in his chest threatening to bubble over. Her words reach his ears, but have trouble processing in his frightened mind. The crushing grip of anxiety and fear tries to keep the words from burying and taking a hold, to bring him back into focus with their task. Yes, he will try everything in his power to protect Tara, to keep her safe. Just as he did with Jasmine. But
#Kalus'Compound – February 2, 2019
it wasn’t enough, was it? She’s dead while he still lives. How is that fair? Why was he chosen to live above that girl? He sucks in a deep, shuddering breath and reaches up to her hand. However, instead of placing it above hers, he gingerly takes her wrist and pulls her hand away from his cheek. “I-... I...”. His words flounder on his lips and he bites hard on his cheek. “...I’ll do everything I
Leah looks down at Nathan through big green eyes. She brings her hand back to rest on her thigh. "I know you will..." she says softly, her words falling off into silence. She tries to force a smile, but it doesn't quite manifest. Not because she doesn't believe him. There's not a doubt in her mind that he'll do everything that he can. It's just who he is. But because she knows there's nothing she can say that will take his pain
away. She draws a breath in through her nose as she absent mindedly bites at the edge of her lower lip. It comes so naturally to her to fall back into routine. It's not that she's any less concerned about how the following day will play out, she's just able to bury all of her worries beneath the mission. Address them when it's over. When she's had time to breathe. But it's easy to forget that not all of them are
soldiers. The thought causes her to give a glance to the side, assessing the work completed on the hole so far as she clears her throat to try and dislodge some of the emotion settling in. They still have work to do. "How's the hole coming along?"
Inside the building where the group has taken up temporary residence, Tara has been keeping busy. By the time Jattic enters, everyone's sleeping things have been moved to one of the barracks, and the portable stove has been unpacked and set up on a crate of suitable height. She's just about finished cooking up some hearty pea and meat soup. The process was little more than heating it up, of course, since the food was canned, but still.
She's stirring the simmering soup idly, the hot steam rising from the pot a welcome comfort in the large, cold space. A couple of smaller crates, a floor blanket, and, in Emma's case, a camping stool, have been gathered in a semi-circle nearby. It's presumably Tara's work, she must have taken the liberty of setting things up. A stack of plastic bowls and cups wait next to the stove, along with a jug of water, a plastic bag of bread buns,
Nathan uses the change of subject to momentarily quieten the thoughts in his brain and takes a step back to observe the pit. He grabs the shovel and rips it out of the dirt, heaving a tired sigh. The mere thought of digging again already causes his muscles to ache. “We’re nearly there. I can’t tell you how tempted I was to drop an incendiary into the whole to just make it easier.” His tone implies a joke, but
the annoyance in his eyes as he looks at the ground suggests he may have seriously considered it at one point. He clicks his tongue and looks back to Leah, giving her a light shrug and a faint smile. “Shan’t be too long now. Maybe.” He glances off towards the direction of the buildings and waves his hand idly towards them. “So... did you manage to talk to our tag along?”
Jattic stomps into the warehouse with a chip on his shoulder. He braces against the smooth floor, grunting as he forces the door shut. It groans as the mechanisms inside are forced to work, unpowered, and the door slides into place. As he turns around, he levels all four eyes onto Tara, the anger and frustration still plain as day on his face from his encounter with Emma. His gaze lingers a moment before pointedly turning
Leah gives a hollow snicker at the mention of using explosives to get the job done. The mention of Emma causes her to brace a hand against the ground and swivel at the waist to glance in the general direction of where she and Emma set up the sniper's nest. When she looks back to Nathan, she lets out a sigh that materializes in steam. "I did." she says simply. "She overheard us talking at the Respite the other day." she
explains, the expression on her face making it clear that she's not too happy about the eavesdropping. "I guess fighting an unknown quantity of hostile slavers sounded like a good time to her, so she decided to invite herself along."
Nathan tisks and rests the shovel on his shoulder as he talks. “Oh, she did, did she? I didn’t even notice her in the Respite...”. He sighs and rubs the bridge of his nose. “I don’t trust her. Something about her really rubs me the wrong way. Like, like I got a target painted on my back, you know? If we knew her better and she did that, it would annoy me, but that’s about it. But this? It just strikes me
Tara startles slightly from Jattic's frustration-filled enterance, watching him shove the door shut. She's quick to lower her gaze deferentially when he looks her way, noticing the anger in his face. She stops her stirring, but keeps a grip of the ladle in the pot as she stands in silence.
Leah lowers her gaze, nodding along with Nathan. His concerns aren't exactly unwarranted, but they're not shared by her. "I'm not too happy about it either." she sighs. "But she's a trained marksman. We have no idea how many of them will show up tomorrow, so having another shooter on our side can't hurt. Not to mention if she's with us then that means she's not back in Freedom Falls running her mouth to the others." She tugs at
a loose strand of fiber on the thigh of her pants for a moment before looking back to Nathan. "I don't think you need to worry about her, Nate. She-..." she trails off, wincing slightly. Despite the woman inserting herself into Leah's business, something still feels wrong about putting her business out there. But the last thing she needs right now is Nathan questioning Emma's motives rather than focusing on the task at
hand, so she draws in a deep breath and gives a small shrug of her shoulders. "...She's from Mindoir." she says tentatively, hoping he knows enough about the planet to be able to fill in the blanks on why that's relevant.
Jattic squares up his shoulders, straightening his posture as if making a conscious effort to try and stow away that lingering frustration left behind by Emma but it continues to show through on his face. He gives a respectful tilt of his head to Tara as he approaches in silence and collects a bowl. "Is the meal ready for consumption?" he asks in that guttural batarian tone of his.
Nathan glances up at Leah for a brief moment, before letting out a small, “Ah.” He falls silent, simply gazing off to the side in quiet contemplation before he shrugs heavily. The shovel falls off his shoulder to swing by his side before he sticks it into the dirt, burying it deeper with the sole of his boot. “Then we should probably keep her and Jattic as far away from one another as possible. But... if you
think we can trust her to cover our backs out there, then I’ll defer to you.” He finally looks back to her and gives her a firm nod. His concerns are likely a manifestation of his crippling fear and paranoia about the whole situation, so these are much easier to control than the other emotions that rampage in his body.
Tara 's gaze briefly darts up, and she returns the gesture with a respectful headtilt of her own, a small nod following in response to the question. Her motions remain a bit skittish as she fills the ladle with soup, carefully pouring it up for Jattic before looking his way again to try and judge if he wants more.
Leah lets out a puff of air in discomfort, relieved that Nathan seems to understand the implication so she doesn't need to get into it. The last thing they need to be discussing the day before going toe-to-toe with a house of batarian slavers is a human colony utterly decimated by batarian slavers. "Can't say I'm too pleased about the idea of a teammate listening in on my private conversations, but-..." she relents with a
deep breath, nodding to herself as she puts her glove back on, "...but yeah. I'm pretty sure she wants the same thing that we want."
Jattic watches Tara as she fills his bowl, her unease not going unnoticed. Stacked ontop of his previous encounter, it causes a deep sigh to slip out. He pulls a bun from the bag and plops it into the bowl of soup in silence before moving on to filling a cup with water.
Tara seems to judge that Jattic is content with the amount of soup he's gotten, returning the ladle to the pot and resuming her stirring as she watches him collect bread and water. She remains silent as ever of course, although her unease seems to have faded with Jattic's frustration, the sigh causing her eyebrows to furrow slightly.
Nathan nods again. He looks about ready to get back to work digging this hole, but he pauses and looks back up to Leah. His brow crinkles in a faint look of concern. “You okay? I know you’ve been keeping that soldier mask on for a fair bit of our time here... it makes you hard to read. Which... I suppose is the point of it.” He breathes a half assed laugh, before his lips draw into a thin line.
Jattic drops a spoon into the bowl of soup, pausing to study Tara for a moment before collecting his things and taking them to a nearby crate that he takes a seat atop. He sets the water at his side and the bowl of soup on his lap and begins to eat in continued silence.
Leah allows a small, but genuine, smile to briefly manifest at Nathan's concern and she gives a tired shrug of her shoulders. She presses a gloved hand against the edge of the hole and hops down into it with him. "I'm fine." she offers as she steps over towards the shovel left behind by Mendez. There's not much effort put into the lie, and it ends up coming across as the sort of thing one says because they think they're
expected to say it. But, after everything they've been through together, that's not fair to him and she quickly backpedals, resting both hands against the top of the shovel as she looks his way. "I will be." she corrects, "Once this is all over and Tara is safe." Is that even true? Sure, it's said in earnest. But she hasn't even begun to process everything that happened on that ship and just thrusted herself right into
another fight. But maybe that was the point. Stay active. Push it all down and keep moving forward. "Sorry-..." she continues, wincing slightly as she reads into the implications behind his statement about her being all business. Cold. Clinical. Efficient. Organized. "I just want to make sure this is done right, Nate. That's all..."
Tara is certainly no more talkative than Jattic, and when it seems that he has settled in with his food her attention is fully returned to stirring the soup, more to keep busy and feel useful than anything, since she could probably lower the heat and put a lid on the pot if she wanted to.
Nathan watches her hop down, gaze never leaving her as she talks. And he’s actually a little surprised that she didn’t go into motormouth mode. But then again, this whole operation is very close to her. Hell, this whole thing was planned to protect Tara and to ensure that she can have a life free of the fear of slavery. He can understand, even just a little bit, the reasoning behind her cold and calculating
persona. It still unsettles him a little, however. It’s a side of her that he still struggles to see, reminding him too much of someone he was once close to back in Sandbeck. “I know.” He offers a tiny smile and a gentle nod, looking to the shovel in his hand for a moment before turning back to her. “I know... and it will be. She’ll have a-... a normal life. With you, your dad.” He nods again,
Jattic shovels a few spoonfuls of soup into his mouth, glancing Tara's way awkwardly every now and then. Eventually, fatigue clear in his voice from both the physical work and the encounter that followed, he speaks up. "You fear me." he says, her previous unease seeming to have stayed with him. It's both a question and an observation.
Leah gives a few nods in response, her smile returning at his final sentiment. "That's the plan." she says as she tugs the shovel free from the frozen ground, holding it in both hands. "I pulled her out of there. I made that choice. So she's my responsbility now." She takes a small stab at the ground, eyes widening briefly as the shovel basically just bounces off of it, sending a vibration throughout her arms that she tries
very hard to downplay in front of Nathan and cover up by continuing to talk. "...But we've got a solid plan. A good team. Everyone knows their roles. So long as we execute it quick and with precision, it should all be over before Fasha even knows it began." she assures, a bit of that soldier-y peptalk inadvertantly slipping into her tone.
Tara blinks, looking Jattic's way when he speaks. She doesn't respond to his assumption, just studying him in turn as she waits for him to continue speaking, her expression neutral but attentive.
Nathan nods in agreement, although her little shovel incident doesn’t go unnoticed. And he makes sure she knows by the faint smirk on his face and his eyes flicking to the shovel. “Yeah. Quick and precise.” He hums for a moment before he stabs his shovel into the ground with a bit more strength than Leah displayed. He steps over to her and reaches for her hands, taking them in his own and giving them a small,
but reassuring squeeze. No words. Just the small action that he hopes brings her at least a minuscule amount of comfort.
Jattic draws in a slightly frustrated breath, looking off to the side for a moment, and then back to the bowl in his lap. He pokes his spoon back into it, pushing the bread around a bit so it sops up some of the soup. "I do not blame you. My kind have taken much from you." he continues, sounding a bit defeated as he continues to dwell on Emma's suspicion. Was she really that off base? The only thing standing between her and a
Leah gives a roll of her big green eyes as Nathan lets it be known that she might not be the swiftest with a shovel. "I will hit you with this." she teases, lifting the shovel in a threatening manner as he begins to approach. But when he arrives over by her and reaches for her hands, she places the shovel back against the hard dirt. The playfulness drains from her face and she sucks in her lips, eyes meeting his. It allows a
temporary reprieve from the nerves she's been keeping at bay. That high strung tension that comes along with any operation momentarily evaporates as she studies his face. She wordlessly rises on the toes of her boots and presses a small kiss against his lips before dropping back onto her heels. Her gaze lowers slightly as her heels hit the ground, a bit of that embarassment creeping back in as it all still seems a bit out
of place to her. She doesn't say anything, merely hoping there's an unspoken agreement between them that they'll both see each other on the other side of tomorrow.
Tara furrows her eyebrows, a bit of confusion entering her expression. She seems to hesitate for a moment, almost looking like she's going to ask something, but her worry over speaking out of turn gets the better of her and she remains silent, watching Jattic still.
Jattic glances back to Tara in time to catch her hesitation, causing him to give an inquisitive raise of his brow as if awaiting whatever it is she has to say.
Nathan returns the kiss with a soft smile, lightly running his thumb across the back of her hand. As she settles back on the ground, his hands shift to wrap her in a tight hug, his wordless answer to an unspoken agreement. The fear, the anxiety... it’s still there. Even if everything goes to plan tomorrow, he’s not sure that even that will get rid of it. It’ll always be a part of him. But right now, knowing
that Leah is here, the others... it gives him something that he didn’t have back then. Hope. A faint glimmer. And that’ll have to be enough for him.
Tara 's discomfort returns when she realizes that Jattic is expecting her to speak, and she swallows faintly. "Your kind...?" she asks hesitantly, clearly not very comfortable with asking for clarification from someone she doesn't know, but feeling compelled to speak since it's clear she's expected to. Her batarian is perfectly fluent, but delivered with an alien softness.
Leah draws in a breath and presses her forehead against Nathan's shoulder as her hands come around his waist. She shuts her eyes, enjoying the warmth of the moment despite the cold chill in the air, allowing herself to melt into his arms. A bit of that soldier exterior peels away and she gives him a gentle squeeze, completely oblivious to the fact that they're literally standing in an open grave.
Jattic is quick to respond. "Batarians." he says, concise and to-the-point. He's not one to beat around the bush.
Tara seems a bit puzzled by that take, but she doesn't respond, instead returning to silently stirring the soup, furrowed eyebrows returning as she considers Jattic's interpretation.
Nathan lingers for a moment in the embrace, just appreciating the stillness. And yes, he’s ignoring the fact they’re in an open grave. After a few seconds more, he steps back and offers her a gentle smile and nod. “We should get back to work,” he says softly, gesturing to the shovels. “It’s... going to be a long day and probably night."
Jattic furrows his brow, unsure how to interpret Tara's reaction. He turns his gaze back to his soup, idly pushing it around for a few moments as he falls back into his thoughts. "I only wish for you to know that-..." he trails off as Emma's words continue to burden him. "...When your captors arrive tomorrow, know that I stand beside you." He stares into his bowl for a moment longer before shoveling another spoonful into his
Leah's eyes slowly open and she releases her grip on Nathan as she feels him pull back, causing her to look up at him. She swallows and gives a few small nods. "...Yeah." she agrees despite her reluctance to let go. She draws a deep breath of cold air in through her nose which seems to kickstart her brain once more and she collects her shovel, giving a brief look around the grave. "Yeah." she repeats with a bit more conviction
behind it. "This still-... we still need to go a bit deeper if we want to make sure the wildlife doesn't get to it." she explains distractedly. She throws an arm out to the side as she rotates at the waist to look about. "And you've got all of the charges to plant and-... and I should probably stow some spare thermal clips out by my position for tomorrow. And the digging! There's still a lot of digging-... so much
digging!" she rambles down a checklist, as if giving excuses to herself why they can't just stay out here cuddling up. In an open mass grave. In the middle of the freezing cold. She grips the shovel in both hands with a shake of her head at all the work still left to do and gives it another swing at the ground. She doesn't fare much better this time, but the tip embeds itself into the frozen ground. She kicks a boot
against the back of the blade but, given her weight, it does little to help. Scrunching up her nose, she hops up and stomps on the blade with both boots as if it was a pogo stick. A ridiculous sight, no doubt, but it does the job in burying the shovel a bit deeper. "Theeeeere~ we go!" she says in a grunt as if she's found her technique.
Tara looks over to Jattic again, blinking when he speaks. His words cause her to lower her gaze, not sure how to respond to such a statement. In truth, the fact that all these people are here for her sake is very strange to her, and it's a situation she's not sure how to deal with. So she resumes silently stirring the soup. She's tempted in her hunger to scoop up a bowl for herself, but she's hesitant to eat before the others.
Nathan breathes a small laugh at her actions, just watching her for a moment in silence before nodding to the shovel buried into the dirt. “That’s a flawless technique you got there. Truly you are a master of digging.” He buried his own shovel into the dirt, slams a foot onto it, then scoops up a pile of the frozen earth. He discards it onto one of the few piles outside the pit. “You want to grab someone else
to take over for me? I’ve had a few ideas about planting some additional charges in the outlying buildings near the predicted landing zones. I’m guessing that the slavers, if they get the chance, will try and take cover inside them.”
Jattic glances over to Tara, but soon enough looks away again, taking her silence as a wish for him to let it rest. A wish he reluctantly grants.
Leah gives a bright, toothy smile Nathan's way upon hearing his sarcastic assessment that's joined by a middle finger. "Oh-..." she says, brow furrowing briefly as Nathan begins to run through some plans. "Yeah. Sure." she agrees, rising on her tippy toes to try and get some height to glance about for Emma. "You know what? It's fine. I can handle this on my own for a bit." she says when she comes up empty, the depth of the hole
on top of the large mounds of snow around it making it difficult for her to see much of anything. "You go ahead and do what you need to do. If you see Emma just send her my way, alright?"
Nathan perks an eyebrow up high, looking at the shovel, then back to her. He buries his into the dirt and leaves it there, before he slowly raises his arm and activates his omni-tool. “You know we have these things that can call people, right? Unless we haven’t added her to our contacts list?” He cants his head at her, a small smirk on his face.
Tara continues to quietly tend to the food, a somewhat uncomfortable silence settling into the large room.
Jattic continues to eat his meal in silence, allowing the clanking of silverware against dishes become the only sound to fill the room. Eventually he sets the bowl aside and washes his meal down with a long drink of water. "It was an acceptable meal." he says, choosing his words carefully in a small attempt at paying compliments to the cook despite Tara's role in it being little more than heating it up.
Leah cocks an eyebrow, probing at her back teeth with her tongue in amusement. "Well, well, well~" she says in a singsong voice. "I think we've got a genius on our hands!" she continues sarcastically. "Thank you soooo much for bestowing suuuuch great wisdom onto me." she keeps up before adding a quick, if somewhat endearing, "Dickhead." She levels a none-too-serious glare at him for a moment before relenting, scrunching
up her nose, and stuffing a gloves hand into her pocket in search for her omni-tool because, well, he's right. "Go! Get!" she shoots him off. "Explosives aren't going to plant themselves!"
Nathan laughs, the most genuine one he’s given since they got here. He gives her a thumbs up before he begins to climb on out of there. As he crests over. The edge, he looks down at her with mock concern and says, “Will you be able to climb out of there, or should I get a ladder?” He then has the good sense to immediately back pedal out of range of any retaliation, pulling up his snood to stave off the biting
Tara 's attention turns to Jattic, the approval met with a faint hint of a smile and a deferential tilt of her head. She's far more used to cooking properly, but with their current situation there wasn't much choice. It's not like they brought much in the way of raw ingredients with them. "Do you want more?" she asks, ladle at the ready.
Leah has already gotten back to shoveling, a few heavy grunts escaping her by the time Nathan has climbed out. His remark causes her to snap towards him, but he's already out of sight by the time she does. "Ho~ ho~ ho~ You are soooooo funny!" she calls out, just a disembodied voice somewhere beneath the snowline. "Hi~lar~i~ us~ Keep it up and I'm gonna use your face as a ladder!" she continues to call out, whatever
that means. There's a brief grunt and, a moment later, a tightly packed snowball comes sailing out of the sky like a mortar shell, surprisingly accurate given the blind throw and the high arc.
Jattic gives a shake of his head as he stands from the makeshift seat and returns his bowl to a spot near the others. "Later." he says. "Have you eaten yet?"
Nathan turns to reply and... WHAP! The snowball hits him square in the face, the ice stinging against the bare skin that his clothing doesn’t protect. He splutters and wipes away at the snow, shooting a glare towards the pit. A few rude hand gestures and muted swear words later, he turns to continue towards the old building ruins and map them out for optimal explosive fun.
Leah falls silent for a moment. "Did it hit you?!" she calls out loudly as she hears the muffled muttering, muffled by the snow between them. "It hit you, didn't it?!" she adds, the smile on her face practically audible. "That's what you get!"
Tara shakes her head slightly. "I... was waiting for the others to eat." she explains, the question seeming to cause a bit of curiosity.
Jattic continues to study Tara, well aware of the behavior engrained into those who have lived a lifetime of servitude. Intimitely aware, like a black stain on his conscience. "Because this is what you were taught." he observes matter-of-factly with a disapproving grunt. Not disapproving towards her, of course. Though she might not interpret it that way. "You are free of them now, are you not?" he asks. "Yet you still allow
Nathan ‘s response is silence. Because that’s the mature way to respond to getting pelted with a snowball.
Tara is quick to lower her gaze, flinching a little at the disapproval. "I'm sorry..." she's quick to reply, her reflex still to apologize rather than explain herself. It's the safest thing, even when you don't know what you did wrong. Of course, in this case she does. Leah has already tried to push her towards changing her behavior. But offering excuses is rarely a good idea.
Jattic draws in a breath. It's not the most comfortable of encounters for him, like looking into his past. All the more reason it's so important for him to be here. "You apologize because it is what was expected from you." he continues to assess her behavior. "Again I must ask: Why?"
Tara blinks, gaze darting up towards Jattic's face, and then back down to the soup as her discomfort over being questioned grows. She shifts uneasily, remaining silent for a while, but eventually a response comes. "I... am trying to learn." she says finally, sounding apologetic, and almost ashamed, over her inability to live up to the expectations of those around her. At least that's how she perceives it.
Jattic allows an inkling of a smile to take hold at the acknowledgement of a desire to change. "Then you will." he says simply. "Of that I have little doubt. It is clear that you have many who care for you." Something that plenty of those escaping captivity lack. Left on their own to fend for themselves until someone tracks them down. "Who are willing to fight for you." he continues. While he doesn't know her, he counts himself
among them. He doesn't need to know her to know that what Leah and the others are doing is the right thing. There's an uneasiness in his tone as he communicates with Tara, as if worried that his mere presence might be troubling for her. As if he doesn't have a right to communicate with her. His usual stern, assertive nature shows cracks, his gaze mostly settling on the soup rather than the young woman he's communicating
Tara nods softly, her gaze remaining low now. "Yes." she says quietly. It seems like that knowledge causes her more unease than it does comfort, however, her frown deepening a little.
Jattic seems to hone in on that discomfort and, lacking the natural human instinct to avoid such topics, he speaks up. "This troubles you?"
Tara shifts a little, seeming surprised by Jattic's observation. She nods, looking up, but... offers no elaboration.
Jattic waits for a number of moments until it's clear that there will be no explanation given. "Why is that?" he presses, though he's quite confident he already knows the answer.
Tara draws in a breath as the questioning continues, taking a moment to stir the soup just to buy some time, before realizing that she's going to have to answer. "I don't want anyone to get hurt." she says finally, briefly meeting Jattic's gaze as she voices the worry already expressed to Leah.
Jattic gives a small nod, watching the soup moreso than Tara. "It is a potential outcome." he confirms with a heavy breath. "But it is an outcome they have deemed worthy. You disagree?"
Tara doesn't seem quite sure how to deal with Jattic's insistent, but well-intentioned directness. She returns to silence for a time, not really stirring anymore, just shifting the ladle slightly back and forth as she hesitates to respond. Eventually she offers a small nod, still looking down at the thick soup as it simmers idly.
Jattic nods once more, none too surprised by the response. It is the way of many batarian houses. Slaves are looked at as 'less than'. It's not the way they all operate, of course. Plenty treat their servants with respect. But it's far too common for them to be broken down. Mistreated. Devalued. A broken spirit is the easiest way to prevent one from standing up for themself, after all. "Where I am from we have a saying. 'If
you wish to discover the worth of one, ask the ones at their side.' " he says, a small fondness showing through as he recites the familiar saying. The irony, of course, is not lost on him that the phrase has a home amongst a culture who thrives on the literal worth of people. "The meaning is simple. You are surrounded by those ready to kill for you. Ready to die for you. You do not believe
Tara definitely doesn't know how to respond to that, and she falls back into silence, swallowing hard as she stares down into the soup. How could her freedom possibly be worth such trouble for everyone here? There's also the fact that even if everything goes perfectly, a lot of people are ending up dead in her name. That doesn't sit well with her. Not at all.
Jattic doesn't know many of the details of Tara's enslavement. Only what Mendez has told him. But he knows it was bad. The thought that Tara might be bothered by the fact that her captors- her tormentors- will suffer such a fate doesn't even occur to him. But perhaps some of that shortsightedness is a result of the crushing guilt. The fear that affording them any forgiveness or mercy brings him one step closer to his past. To
a long hallway, stained with blood... Barriers flickering on both sides... He falls silent as he watches the soup alongside Tara. "It is a worthy cause. Even if you do not yet see it." he says, his voice little more than a low growl at this point. He shifts in place as he attempts to clear his head and dispel those dark thoughts before they can take hold. "I-... should return to the others. There is still much work to
do." he decides in a sharp change in direction. "If you are hungry, you should eat. It may be hours yet before the others come in." he offers, back to Tara as he starts towards the door.
Tara is brought out of her thoughts by Jattic's sudden words. After a moment's consideration she nods, although it's really only to herself since the batarian is already on his way out. She pours herself a bowl of soup before lowering the heat and putting the lid on, sitting down to eat in solitary silence.