#RedrockAgency – February 15, 2023

Li 's eyes widen. "That's a really long time!"

Halisi offers Holly a small smile. "How is Oxaris?"

Holly looks over towards the turian and furrows her eyebrows. "She's already talking about heading out into the woods. So... about what I've come to expect from these friends of yours." she says with a quiet snicker, before looking down at the crouching asari and extending a hand. "Uh, hello. I'm Holly, I work at the hospital with Dr. Halisi. Nice to meet you."

Steve seems to consider the asari's words for a moment before offering a small shrug of his shoulders. "S'pose when you're right, you're right." he relents, smile cropping up as he takes another swig from his beer. "Startin' to get tired of all this cold myself if I'm bein' honest..."

Nathan thinks the question over for a moment before he simply says, "I'll take whatever you're having. I'm not too picky tonight!" A bright smile accompanies his words, glancing over to his sister.

Sofia finishes off the last of her drink and offers the empty glass to Leah with a grateful smile. "Another glass of wine, please." A brief pause before she asks; "Would you like some help?"

Lucy swallows against the lump in her throat, and then sets her bottle down before joining Jason by the wall, plaque held gently in both hands. Her gaze lifts from the name that's been such a big part of her life for so long, scanning across the unfamiliar ones that decorate the wall. She doesn't say anything.

Leah meets Nathan's request with a small dip of her head, the colorful streamers in her hair swaying with her braid behind her. Sofia's offer draws her gaze towards the younger woman, considering it for just a moment before giving a nod. "Yeah, sure!" she says before continuing to lead the way over towards the makeshift bar set up at the other end of the counter.

Tara blinks as Leah and Sofia make their way down the counter towards the drinks, and she's left alone with Nathan. She looks over at him, studying him a little uncertainly. In lieu of saying anything she slowly lifts her glass of cider and takes a sip.

Jason looks from the wall to Lucy, allowing the silence some room to breathe as he begins to look over the plaque in his own hands. A plaque that bears the name of a woman who is almost entirely unknown to him, despite having died by his side. He wordlessly lifts the plaque to its spot on the wall and gently adjusts it so it's not crooked before taking a step back and waiting for Lucy to do the same.

Lucy 's eyes linger on Nadia's name for a few moments, a distant, contemplative look in her eyes, and then she lets out a quiet, heavy sigh, lifting James' to its spot. Her hands linger on the plaque for a moment, but then she steps back, looking to Jason next to her. She looks tired. Drained. But there's a soft, appreciative look in her eyes.

Va'ynna gives a small nod. "Mhm, it is," she says. "I used to be... quite good at it, though." She looks up upon being addressed by Holly. "I'm Va'ynna," she says, briefly taking her hand, but she doesn't stand up. "I... I'm here as a guest as well; I work at the Miner's Respite."

Nathan watches the duo leave to the drinks section and then promptly realises that he was left alone with just... Tara. Who, quite often, gave him at best wary looks and at worst was flat out giving him the stink eye. Shit. The man awkwardly cleared his throat and offered a smile to her. "Having a good time?"

Sofia falls into step besides Leah, happy to help. "I'll be honest," she says with a soft giggle, "When my brother first said he was a mercenary on some distant world, I assumed he had fallen into a bad crowd. Y'know, heavily scarred men and women with... knifes for hands and chew nails for breakfast kinda thing." A beat. "Hyperbole, obviously, you know what I mean. But here we are, streamers in hair, fireworks being

Vasquez enters the rec room after having gotten rid of her jacket, looking around at the people that have poured in since she departed to oversee the fireworks setup. Tara's dress brings the faintest hint of a smile to her scarred lip, and she decides to head for the food.

Tara offers Nathan a small nod, cradling her glass in both hands.

Jason watches as Lucy places the plaque on the wall, small frown creeping up on him. It's hard not to imagine what that must be like for her. It's bleak, but it's an unfortunate reality in his line of work. One day he might be hanging Vasquez'. Or she his. He tries not to let those thoughts take hold, forcing a small, heavy smile that doesn't overstay its welcome when Lucy looks his way. He gives her a small pat on the shoulder

Leah gives a loud snort as she comes to a stop by the drinks. "Well, as chance would have it~, I just had my knife-hands replaced right before you arrived!" she explains, punctuating her words with a few jabs at the air with karate-hands. "Good timing! Wouldn't want to have scared you off." she snickers.

Renala snorts. "I've been since the first snow," she says, "but I have a feeling we've barely seen half of it." She picks up her beer and takes a long sip of it. "I'm sure Aeyna would love the snow, though," she says with a chuckle.

Nathan hums softly as he looks to Tara's brief response. There's a pause as he turns his gaze towards where Leah and Sofia departed to. A quiet exhale escapes him as he folds his arms across his midsection and speaks quietly towards Tara, not taking his eyes off of Leah for the moment. "...You guys were right, y'know? Leah is a better sibling to you than I have been to any of mine." He looks across to the young woman,

Sofia breathes a laugh at Leah's antics and blows a raspberry at the woman. "No wonder you're dating my brother. You both have that same, stupid humour." Her words were spoken with affection as she pours a measure of wine into her glass. "The point of my little triad was that I'm happy my Nate is surrounded by good people. Like you and the others. It makes me worry a little less about him."

Tarkus collects a small collection of dextro food on a plate, he looks for a spot where he can eat before mingling again.

Victoria is quick to grab herself a beer and return to the pool table. Returning to her spot next to Ilyna, she takes a swig of her beer and continues to watch the game.

Lucy tenses a little in response to the hand on her shoulder. Jason's words are met with a shake and an uncomfortable grimace. "Ya-... ya don't gotta do that." she's quick to say, cutting him off. "Just..." Her gaze goes to the bottles on the bench, and she grabs hers before taking a seat, lifting it up as if awaiting a toast. "...have a drink with me?" she requests softly, looking up at Jason from under her hat.

Steve snickers. "Prolly. Unfortunately, I ain't exactly the 'sleddin' and snow angels' type." he admits. "So you can tell her she can have it."

Leah looks over the ice buckets of beer, reaching out to grasp one. It's a familiar dark brown bottle. She scrunches up her nose as she turns it in search of a label. There's no label to be found but, in its stead, is a piece of tape haphazardly stuck to the side of it. 'Jasper's Rump Wrecker' is scrawled across the piece of tape in what appears to be marker. '(Name Not Finalized)' is written smaller beneath. A look

Cynthia raises her bottle in greeting to Vasquez as she notices her entering the room, and then her attention returns to Shane, rolling her eyes. "Ignore him." she says to Ilyna. "I've got this."

Jason shifts, watching Lucy as she takes a seat. He lets out a heavy breath, heavy smile fortified by Lucy's words. "Yeah." he agrees, offering a small nod. "I can do that." Recollecting his beer, he takes a seat beside Lucy, cardboard box separating them, and lifts his bottle in turn.

Shane gives a bunch of nods to Cynthia's words. "Uh huh." he agrees. "She's got me riiight where she wants me." he offers to Ilyna dismissively as he leans over and sinks another ball with a precision honed by countless hours in hole-in-the-wall bars across the galaxy.

Holly 's eyebrows rise a little. "Oh! I've been meaning to go there sometime. From what I've heard it's a bit of a magnet for trouble, though."

Halisi lifts her glass in greeting to Vasquez, but remains where she is, people-watching while keeping an eye on Li.

Li looks a little curious at Holly's words, gaze turning to Va'ynna.

Tara furrows her eyebrows, looking from Nathan to Leah as the former speaks. As he trails off her attention returns to him, and a small smile crosses her lips as she offers a firm nod. "She is." she agrees quietly, but then her frown returns, studying Nathan with an odd look on her face. She looks like she wants to say something, but discomfort wins out, and she remains silent.

Nathan nods in agreement to her, glancing at her from the corner of his eyes. He catches onto her brief moment of wanting to speak and, usually, he'd just leave her to it. However, his own curiousity wins out. "Something on your mind?" He says, offering her a chance to speak her mind.

Sofia nods to Leah's words, humming in agreement. "I know that. Mother and I are the only two who haven't been in any form of military or force like it. But knowing he's surrounded by people like you... well, that's good enough for me." She looks across to Vasquez and offers her a polite smile.

Vasquez offers Leah and Sofia a small smile, and a nod each, lingering nearby for a moment as she grabs a piece of bread and tops with with a local spread from the market and some smoked space cow meat.

Leah turns her focus back to Sofia as Vasquez busies herself with food. "Nate made it sound like the military is something of a family tradition..." she muses aloud.

Ilyna can't help but chuckle at the bickering competitiveness on display. "It's not decided yet," she says in a poor attempt to stay neutral, even though she is aware of the direction the game is taking.

Lucy clinks her bottle lightly against Jason's before taking a long swig. She lets herself slump forward afterwards, elbows resting on her thighs as she looks down at the label on the batarian ale, turning it idly in her hands. "This sure ain't whiskey, but it ain't the worst concoction I've had. Gettin' the job done, at least."

Va'ynna frowns, and she glances at Li for a moment as she considers her answer. It would be a lie to deny it, but she wouldn't want to go into detail even if little ears weren't listening. "It's been a good lately," she says, "and I... think D'Inea's own trouble is taken care of."

Tara hesitates, tensing a little at being put on the spot. Her gaze falls to her glass, and then goes back up to Nathan. It almost seems like she's going to deny that there is anything, but then she speaks: "Why... are they not here? Your... family."

Victoria takes another swig of her beer. "Now if the champion of the table really wanted to cement their place at the top, they start doing trick shots." Seeing if possible to give Cynthia a fighting chance.

Cynthia 's expression sours as Shane's streak continues, Victoria's pity doing little to help. "Just keep laughing..." she mutters, shifting her weight back and forth as she waits impatiently for her chance to redeem herself. Come on...

Nathan was certainly surprised by the question. Of all the things he expected Tara to ask, that wasn't one he considered. But he wasn't going to leave her without an answer either. So, he lowered his folded arms to around his stomach and smiled somewhat sadly. "They're on Earth. My... my mother is ill. She can't travel far and has to stay close to the hospital. So my family stays on Earth to be close to her. And,

Sofia nods a little. "It is, mostly. But no one will begrudge anyone for not serving," she explains. "I wanted to persue my own dreams, just like mother did when she was younger. So that's what I'm doing."

Holly nods as she listens, even if she's not exactly very knowledgeable about local businessowners. "I'm glad."

Li listens in silent curiosity, but as her stomach growls her attention goes to the counter, standing on her tiptoes to try and see the food.

Halisi notices Li's struggle and reaches down to pick her up with a chuckle, holding her up securely and letting her study the buffet. "What do you want to try, Li?"

Sam is quick to chime in after Ilyna speaks. "You're wasting your breath. You're better off just waiting for him to choke."

Shane scoffs loudly at Sam. "I'm wounded. In case you haven't noticed, I'm runnin' the table." As Victoria chimes in he gestures animatedly at her. "Ya know what? That's a damn good idea!" he agrees cheerfully, seeming to relish an opportunity to further embarrass his opponent.

Sam shuts her mouth tightly, eyes widening as she looks to Ilyna, as if to say, 'Told ya so.'

Priya scrunches up her nose, silently nodding to Ilyna in agreement with Sam.

Shane rounds the table, eyes darting from balls, to bumpers, to holes. He leans down, lining up a bankshot. He sees the line. He does the math. He's calm. Composed.

Sam lifts up three fingers to Ilyna, not even bothering to watch Shane as she slowly counts him down. 3. 2. 1. The gentle CLANK of billiard balls clattering fills the room, followed by a frustrated "FUCK!" Sam silently mouths the word despite it having left Shane's mouth. She gives a knowing shrug, nodding a few times to herself. "...Told ya."

Shane shoots a glare Sam's way. "You jinxed-... She jinxed me!" he says, passing glances to the others gathered around the table.

Vasquez gets a few bites into her sandwich before stepping over to Gage. "Glad you could make it." she says, looking off towards the rest of Ironheart by the pool table just in time for Shane's cursing to be heard across the room, drawing a faint snort from her. "It's been good to have you all here."

Jason lightly clinks his bottle against Lucy's and takes a healthy swig. "Yeah..." he offers quietly, having had more than a few nights where his only company was a bottle of batarian ale. "Terrible hangovers, though." he teases, lopsided grin returning to his face. "I mean awful. Really. You're gonna hate yourself in the morning."

Leah props up a smile as Sofia speaks, nodding a bit to her words. "My family is pretty much the opposite." she begins before her eyes widen slightly, realizing how that could be misconstrued, "Uhh-... regarding the military, I mean! My parents would've supported me in whatever I did." she's quick to clarify. "But I'm one of the only in my family to actually serve."

Gage has just been taking it easy at the edge of the counter, watching the pool game from across the room. He pops a snack into his mouth as Vasquez joins him, briefly glancing her way and offering a polite smile. "We appreciate the invitation." he counters. "How are you holding up, Linda?"

Tara listens silently, a faint frown quickly falling into place, but it eases as he goes on. She sips her cider, hesitating briefly, and then speaks again: "You... don't want to be with them?"

Lucy lets out a surprised snort of laughter, a smile breaking through her somber expression, genuine and light, even if its short lived. "I reckon I can live with that..." she muses quietly, lifting the bottle to her lips once more. Afterwards, her head turns to Jason. "Tell me somethin'. About what's happenin' in your life. Somethin' nice."

Nathan shakes his head to Tara. "Of course I love being with them. But, I also wanted to be here. Celebrate with people who I've fought alongside, who have saved my life and many others. Another... another family, I guess." He gave a little shrug that was followed by a gentle chuckle. "Besides, Sofia is here. I have the best of both worlds in one place."

Sofia cants her head at Leah, giving her a reassuring smile that there was no misunderstanding in her words. "Your dad is certainly supportive from what I've seen. Hah, I wonder what a meeting between your dad and my dad would look like? Two massively opposite personalities."

Ilyna raises a brow as Victoria's suggestion is accepted, and Samantha and Priya's involvement and even she can see that her prediction came true even before Shane lets out an expletive. She tries to hold it in, but laughter does erupt to the point of almost spilling her wine. "You're still ahead, though," she says.

Va'ynna stands back up as well and regards the table of food in front of them. "These are pretty good," she chimes in, pointing at the tiny-pizzas she had tried earlier.

Vasquez finishes the last of her sandwich and crosses her arms as she continues to look out across the room, chewing and pondering the question. "I'm-... I'm doing good. We're doing good." A quiet snort. "Weird fucking feeling..." she mutters.

Jason snickers alongside Lucy, his own smile tempering back a little as she speaks up again. He gives a few small nods, "Alright-... well-..." he draws in a breath, shifting a bit on the bench. The silence that settles in as he searches for something to talk about is surprisingly brief, as there's plenty that he has to be excited about right now. "...I don't know if I mentioned it before, but, me and Vasquez? We've actually been

Tara is clearly paying close attention as she listens, although it's hard to say what's going through her head. Nathan's final addition makes her gaze shift over to Sofia and a small smile crosses her lips as she nods in agreement. "She is nice."

Victoria lets out a small chuckle. "But a bad shot like that really hurts the ego." A grin on her face as she takes another swig of her beer.

Cynthia makes no attempt to hide the cackle that sounds as Shane's hubris gets the better of him. She takes a long swig of her bottle to fuel her shooting before snatching up her cue and surveying the battlefield. "Uh-huh, yeah... shame."

Leah chuckles. It's pretty obvious to anyone paying attention that her father is her biggest fan. "That would be.... interesting." she settles on, another snicker slipping out. "He's not exactly the most social these days but-..." she gives a little shrug, "...he's getting better. Having Tara around has really helped so who knows? Maybe one day we can make it happen. Your dad can regale mine with stories of his service and

Gage studies Vasquez for a moment, smile at the edge of his lips. Her final addition causes a snort to slip out. "Might be time to stop waiting for that other shoe to drop." He shrugs apologetically, "Just a bit of advice from someone who has gone through many pairs of shoes. Trust me. Whatever comes?" he picks up another snack from his plate, assessing it for a moment before nodding, "You'll get through it." he says, popping

Sam sniffs, unbothered by Shane's accusation. "Don't blame me because you're shit at pool." she says smugly.

Priya reaches out and pats Shane on the back. "You were doing so well until you missed!" she offers in encouragement, though it only causes Sam to break into laughter.

Shane glares daggers into Sam. Priya's addition only seems to be salt in the wound, but he's unable to fight back a smile that her sincerity summons and he ends up rolling his eyes and turning back to Cynthia. "Must be your lucky night." he continues his taunting.

Li 's attention is immediately drawn by Va'ynna's recommendation, and Halisi has soon put together a plate with the mini pizzas and a few other selections at her urging.

Halisi sets Li down and hands her the plate. "Why don't you eat at the table?" she suggests. "What do you want to drink?"

Li frowns. "Mmm... red soda. Vynna you want to sit with me?" she asks, attention shifting to the asari as Halisi heads off to fetch the drink.

Holly snickers quietly as she watches the others, taking the moment to move on. Curious about the game of pool, she starts to make her way across the room towards the group gathered there.

Va'ynna nods to Li. "Yes, I'd love to," she says. "Just... give me a moment to grab some food and drink." She goes to fetch a plate and begins assembling it, picking a few unfamiliar pieces, not just breadsticks and mini-pizzas.

Uvena is content to continue watching the vid without forcing a conversation, but the commotion over at the pool table does draw her attention away from it.

Renala sighs. "I would if I could," she says, "guess I'll have to settle for finding a cold corner of Thessia the next time I go see her, no matter how much I love the warm Armali weather." She picks up a bite of food from her plate.