December 21st. It's late afternoon when Jason steps in through the Respite doors. Dressed in his usual attire, he takes a moment near the door to kick the snow off of his boots and shake off a bit of the cold before glancing about the room.
#Miner'sRespite – January 15, 2020
Va'ynna is standing behind the bar, looking over the datapad with all the drink recipes. It was invaluable to her early on, and she still finds herself reaching for it when an unusual order comes it. The reason for her current exploration of it was to prepare for when she's going to go over it with Varisa later tonight. She spots Jason entering as she casts a curious glance to the opening door, and puts the
Jason shoots Va'ynna a smile from across the bar as he catches her eye. He passes a few nods to familiar patrons as he crosses the room. "Hey, V." he offers as he approaches the bar, scooting out one of the stools before taking a seat. His gaze turns to the datapad in her hands, brows pinching together. "...Busy day?" he asks, assuming it has something to do with work.
Va'ynna pushes the datapad back into its hiding spot. "Hey," she says after he sits down. "Yeah, like every day," she says. "The housekeeping has fallen on me... after Shyva'Nahl quit, so... it's even worse now." A small smile shows up as she continues, "Enila has...- D'Inea's substitute has hired someone today, though."
Jason's smile slips away at the mention of even more duties falling onto the asari's shoulders and for a moment it looks like he's about to say something but the comment that follows causes him to bite his tongue. "Well that's-... something, at least." he mutters as he begins to unzip his winter jacket. He shoots an idle glance up towards the drink menu as if there's a chance in hell that he might order something different.
"I'll have the usual." he offers idly, surprising no one. "How is she?" he asks as he gets back on topic, eyes briefly turning towards the asari as he slings his jacket over the back of his seat. "Aylena's stand-in, I mean." he clarifies, "She treating you alright?"
Va'ynna gives a small smile as he orders the usual, not midning that in the slightest. She goes to get the ingredients and starts mixing it in an ice-filled glass. It's only then that she responds, for it's not as simple as yes or no. "Yeah, she is," she says. "I think she means well for the Miner's Respite too, even if... she's made it clear that running a business is not her field, and... she doesn't seem to
Jason settles against the bar now that his jacket has been taken care of, synthetic forearms coming to rest atop the counter as he awaits his drink. Va'ynna's response regarding Enila's shared sentiment towards Aylena gets a humorless snort. "Yeah, well-..." he says, casting a glance out towards one of the windows, "...can't exactly say I blame her. That woman is a trouble magnet. Just seems to follow her like a shadow. Speaking
of which-..." he continues, turning his attention back to the asari as she prepares his drink, "Any word from her since she left?"
Va'ynna lets out a sigh when Jason speaks, but she does nod along in agreement. "Not from her directly," she says, her smile fading. She closes the pair of bottles, but she sees no point in going back with them yet. "There's... been more trouble," she says with a lowered voice. "An attack, but... NAPF has it under control, it sounds like." Va'ynna brings up her omni-tool to send over an article from an
Illium-based news source. "Oh, sorry," she mutters as she quickly picks up the drink and places it on the counter in front of him.
Jason straightens up in his seat when Va'ynna mentions more trouble in relation to Aylena. "Of course there is." he mutters with a frustrated roll of his head. When his omni-tool beeps in response to Va'ynna working on her own, it's enough for him to realize she was probably sending the details over and he leans to the side to fish the device from the pocket of his jacket. "This is why it's a bad idea to just go running off
without saying a word to the people you're paying to keep you alive." he complains as he swipes through his omni-tool. Realizing he's raising his voice, he casts a brief glance about, drawing in a breath to try and temper the spike in his blood pressure. One thing after another. He shoots an apologetic glance Va'ynna's way before scanning across the article, lips moving silently as he reads through the story and the updates
that follow. "Life-threatening injuries. Critical condition." he reads the worrying phrases aloud, a bit of the anger in his features visibly dissipating with a dip of his head. "...Fuck." He takes a long pull from the glass that's sat in front of him.
Va'ynna looks down at the counter as he speaks up, not disagreeing in the slightest. "I... told Gren to go after her when she left yesterday morning," she says, "but the article doesn't mention a krogan, so I... don't think he did." She looks at her omni-tool again despite having read every piece of text in that article many times already, and sighs. "What... can we do about it now?"
Jason gives a frustrated shake of his head, omni-tool pinned against the counter with one hand as the other idly rotates his glass. "I don't know, V..." he admits, gaze fixed to his glass. "It sounds like she pulled through the surgery, but-..." another shake of his head follows and he brings the glass to his lips once more. "I don't know. I'm gonna shoot a message her way but who knows how long it'll be before she's in any
condition to respond." His mind already mulling over the details, his gaze shifts to Va'ynna, "Nos Astra's police force." he says. "Are they competent? Is she gonna be in safe hands?" he asks, as if Va'ynna might have some sort of inside information.
Va'ynna raises her brows at the question, finally looking up from her omni-tool. "I'm no authority on that...," she says. "I was on Illium once when I was very little, and... last time I was there I barely left the spaceport."She refreshes the article once more, then shuts off her omni-tool.
Jason draws in a deep, frustrated breath. His own experiences on Illium hasn't left him particularly confident, but he gives the asari an appreciative nod nonetheless. "Then let's hope they do their job and she pulls through this." he says before adding in a mutter, "...So she can continue being a pain in my ass..." Of course this would happen to Aylena-... Janysa-... whatever she's calling herself today just as soon as he
needs to speak to her. Because that's just the sort of luck he has. Just another wrench thrown in the way of getting to the bottom of whatever it is Va'ynna has found herself mixed up in. The sentiment causes a sigh to slip out and brings his thoughts back to why he came in the first place.
Va'ynna gives a small agreeing hum. "It sounds like that was going to be... the end of her trouble, though," she says. "She was very confident in how that lawsuit would go." She was also very confident in that nothing was going to happen in the short time before it, but Va'ynna doesn't voice that.
Jason attempts to dismiss his own cyncisim that reminds him that it's never that easy and props up a lopsided smirk at the sentiment, though it doesn't quite fully manifest. "Would be nice..." he says, moreso to himself than to Va'ynna, something else clearly on his mind. His attention turns back to his glass and he goes right back to rotating it in place for a moment before taking another long sip, letting the burn hit the back
of his throat. His eyes turn back to the asari once he sets his glass back down. "I-... uhh-... the reason I stopped by was that I wanted to let you know that I managed to get in touch with your-..." he catches himself, cutting his sentence short out of respect to Uvena. "...With Nari."
Va'ynna raises her brows and lays her hands on the counter. "Oh, you-..., how?" she asks in disbelief. Just hearing the name brings up bitter feelings, and she can feel a lump building in her throat. "Uvena said she didn't... have the contact address anymore, and T'Iavay deleted mine."
Jason idly taps his thumb against the side of his glass, a soft clank sounding out each time the synthetic material makes contact. "I guess when Renala wiped the program from your omni-tool, she kept a copy. Said she thought you might change your mind." he explains. "She was able to-... to uhh-..." he trails off, gaze turning towards the counter briefly. Shifting in his seat he brings both hands up, holding them out in front of
him, as if holding a large ball. "She-... you know-..." He moves his hands, as if running them along the perimeter of said invisible ball, his shoulders teetering rhythmically. "...And-... and-..." he winces, well aware that his in-depth explanation isn't doing much explaining. Technical word! Technical word! Use a technical word! "Software!" he just blurts out before giving a shrug of his shoulders. A chuckle follows and
he gives a small raise of his eyebrows, as if to sell that he knows exactly what he's trying to say. "With the-... uhh-.... the-....." he swallows, releasing his invisible grasp on the invisible ball and runs a hand through his hair. ".....the....." He purses his lips, biding his time for a few awkward seconds before a sigh overtakes him and his shoulders bounce in a frustrated shrug. "I don't fucking know!" he admits,
Va'ynna does not appear amused by his stumbling explanation of how Renala did it, instead frustration is slowly seeping into her expression. "But... I... I told her to get rid of it, completely," she says. "Even if... it helped you contact her, I-I don't like that she lied to me." She tenses up as she asks, "So, what... what did she say?" She is not sure if she even wants to know that, the betrayal is still
fresh to her and Nari being the second mother figure to do wrong by her makes it all the worse. The lump in her throat grows worse, and she is struggling to keep herself composed.
Jason gives a sigh, a frown crossing his features. "I'm not trying to defend her, but I think Renala was just worried that you might regret cutting off contact, V..." he explains, deciding to leave it at that since it's not really his place to get involved. "As for Nari?" he continues, sucking some air between his teeth with a shrug, "Not much, unfortunately." He offers the asari a small, apologetic tilt of his head, well aware
that this isn't the easiest of things for her to discuss. "She wasn't exactly offering up information, at any rate. But I guess I should've expected that, given her position..." Feeling the need to sugar coat what is essentially bad news and more dead ends, he reaches out, giving the top of Va'ynna's hand a comforting pat. "For what it's worth? I didn't get the impression that all of this trouble was her fault. As a matter
of fact, it sounded like she might be doing her own thing to try and get to the bottom of this..." he explains, bringing his hand back to his side of the counter. "I don't know if-... if, uhh-..." he trails off and shakes his head with a sigh, "...I just thought you should know, V." he offers sincerely.
Va'ynna gives an unsure hum at Jason's explanation of why Renala did it. It doesn't make it right to her, but she leaves that be for now. It's a conversation for another time with the asari in question, though finding time to leave the Respite right now is not easy. She lets go of the counter and steps back after he relays what Nari had to say, or what she didn't. "It's not like her to talk about her work," she
says, her tone flat as she is still contemplating what he said. "I got used to the words 'classified' and 'confidential'... very early." Va'ynna takes a deep breath as she struggles to keep herself together. "I'm... I'm angry at her for... putting me through all this, and... I'll tell T'Iavay to erase it for good, but... I... I don't doubt her about that."
Jason listens as the asari speaks and, just from his limited interaction with Nari, it's not difficult to imagine life with her being difficult. He gives a few shallow nods, studying the asari from across the counter in silence for a moment. "You've got every right to be pissed at her." he finally says. "Just..." he hesitates, well aware that what he's about to say probably isn't what Va'ynna wants to hear, "...think it through
before you go making any decisions, V. If you really think it's for the best?" he relents with a bow of his head, "...Then you do what you have to do. But I-..." he trails off eyes tilting downward as a shade of discomfort crosses his face and brings a hand up to rub at the back of his head. He lets out a sigh before meeting the asari's gaze again, "...Just make sure it's what you really want." he says, biting back on his
Va'ynna closes her eyes and lowers her head as she listens to him. "I... I've made the decision already," she says. "I thought I did." She draws a trembling breath. "But... I... I... I... I'm... I." She lets out a frustrated sigh. "Nari was a good... mother," she says sadly, tears forming under her eyes. "She was a patient listener, and... and... she always had time for me, and... that is-... that's what...."
Jason lets out a heavy breath as Va'ynna's emotions bubble to the surface, a somber look crossing his face. He brings a forearm back against the countertop and leans heavily against it. "...Sounds like she cares a whole lot about you." he offers softly. "When I spoke to her, she said she owed it to you to do whatever she could." Sure would've been nice if that included extending a lifeline his way, but he doesn't dwell on that