January 14th. It's mid-morning when Ilyna and Li arrive at Redrock HQ.
#RedrockAgency – March 26, 2025
Ilyna starts heading for her office as soon as she enters the lobby. "I'll be up in a moment," she says to Li. She's wearing a black winter coat.
Li is already running up the stairs, backpack bouncing and winter boots making loud thumps against the steps. Her target? The rec room, ready to set up camp as she has so many days while Ilyna is working.
Vasquez emerges from her office, blocking the asari's path before she can get very far. "Ilyna. Perfect. I'd like a word," she says, gesturing in the direction of the open door. She's in her usual workwear, combat boots and gray fatigues over her tanktop. Her scowl could just be her standard morning scowl, but there's something a little different about it. Less irritable and more wary.
Jason's voice comes from further down the hall as Li approaches the rec room door. "Hey, small fry!" The timing implies he was probably alerted by Fergus. He's dressed in a white shirt, jogging pants, and sneakers, towel draped over his shoulder. As he approaches, he takes a swig from his water bottle. "You got a minute?"
Ilyna is about to give her usual unheeded admonishment about about running in the stairs, but she stops as she's interrupted by Vasquez; raising an eyebrow. She hasn't even gotten a chance to take off her coat, so this must be urgent, and the wary scowl means it cannot be good news she has to discuss. "Good morning, Linda," she says. "Has something happened?" She does turn a bit towards the office, but waits for
Li comes to a stop when Jason appears, adjusting the slipping strap of her bag. "Hmmm... okay!" she chirps with a smile.
Vasquez doesn't seem to have any intention of entering before Ilyna, remaining in place with an expectant look. "Could say that. Get in," she instructs, gaze sweeping briefly across the corridor.
Jason gives a nod down the hall in the direction he arrived from, indicating they'll be heading to the gym. "So what's the news?" he asks with a smirk as he waits for Li to join him. "Big plans today?"
Ilyna is starting to get anxious now as Vasquez glances down the corridor, but she complies and steps into the office. "Could you tell me what's going on?" she asks.
Li frowns as she follows alongside Jason. "You said you were gonna teach me beach clearing!" she reminds. A vague promise made days ago, before Justice upended the week's plans, but clearly one that Li latched onto.
Vasquez follows Ilyna in, the door closing behind her. "Fergus, lock the door and disable all monitoring for the next hour."
The door interface turns red with a click, and Fergus' voice sounds out with a "Of course, milady." before going silent.
Vasquez crosses her arms as her focus falls entirely on the asari in front of her. "Ilyna, what the fuck were you thinking?" The words are sharp, almost hissed, cutting through the confined space of the office.
Ilyna raises her brows at being locked inside the office, and she takes a step back as she's confronted by Vasquez. "What are you talking about?" she asks, confusion written all over her face as her mind races to consider what misstep she had made in her absence that's severe enough to be confronted behind a locked door.
Jason allows a snicker to slip out before offering a quick correction. "Breaching and clearing. And-... I know, I know. I promise we're gonna get to it." he assures, taking his promise every bit as seriously as she is. "But-... uhh-..." he pauses as he reaches the gym door, hesitating to go in for the moment as he turns back to Li, "...something came up that's kept me busier than I expected to be. Actually it's a-... uhh-...
friend of mine. Wanted to get him all settled in before I introduced you to him." he explains. It sounds better than 'I needed to make sure that Linda would approve of keeping him.' Last thing he'd want is for Li to get attached to the dog only for them to have to get rid of it, so he's done his best to keep it incognito when the young girl was around this past week. His smile gives away his excitement as he directs her
Vasquez ' right hand lifts to tug back her left sleeve and tap against the omni-tool wrapped around her wrist. A projected image springs to life between them. A short clip of Ilyna and Halisi kissing on the roof of the building. Vasquez pays no attention to the by-now familiar video, her attention entirely fixed on Ilyna's face. She doesn't say a word, just deadpan staring at her.
Justice is just behind the door, tail already wagging to-and-fro as he eagerly waits for it to open. The moment the pair enter he quickly and excitedly begins inspecting the unfamiliar girl, sniffing curiously.
Jason is quick to close the door behind him and give Justice a few headpats to calm him down and keep him in place, working as a barrier between the dog and Li. "Hey, buddy!" he offers enthusiastically, dropping to a knee to try and keep Justice's focus as he studies Li's reaction.
Li startles, pretty obviously not having expected the large, curious animal, and pulls her arms in close to her chest, eyes on the floor as she presses back against the door.
Ilyna closes her eyes after seeing just the first frame from that video, which is more than enough to realize what this is about. "Oh, Goddess," she mutters, before opening them again and looking at her. Ilyna does have a wary look on her face as she picks her words cautiously. "I know how that must look, but... I can explain."
Vasquez disables the projection with a quick swipe and raises an eyebrow, making no attempt to hide her skepticism. "That so?"
Jason splits his attention between Li and Justice. The young girl's reaction isn't entirely unexpected. "This is Justice." he introduces, casting a quick glance Li's way as he continues to pet Justice and keep him from approaching her both before she's ready and before Justice has had the opportunity to feel things out. "It's alright, he's friendly." he assures, rustling the fur on his back for emphasis. "Has Fergus taught you
Justice tries to approach the girl a few times, but with Jason blocking his path he quickly seems to get distracted by headpats as his tail flails wildly behind him.
Li shakes her head, but starts to relax a little with Jason's assurance, no longer pressed up against the door. She watches Justice with wide eyes, still wary, but there's curiosity there too. "TV has dogs..."
Ilyna sighs, still looking wary about being cornered, even if she can understand why Vasquez would do that now. "You have every right to think I'm stupid for that stunt up on the roof, Linda," she says, "but that's the only part of this was that wasn't thought through." She pauses for a moment, glancing up at the camera. She still doesn't trust it fully, hence the removable section of its cable in her office. She
decides to continue regardless, in a lightly more even tone, "Whenever someone I care about and trust this much gets close to me, I... explain my condition and it usually ends there."
Vasquez lets out a scoff. "Thought through...? I don't even-..." She shakes her head, at a loss for words. "Doesn't look very fucking ended to me."
Jason gives a few nods, shifting in place to give Li a better line of sight to Justice. "Right!" he agrees. He keeps one arm draped over Justice, the sidehug position allowing him to pet the dog's side as well as keep him in place should the need arise. Thankfully, Justice seems to be a pretty calm, well-mannered dog, undoubtedly attributed to him being so used to being around unfamiliar people. A perk of galavanting across the
stars on an old cargo freighter. Noticing her curiosity, he offers a bit of advice, "Here-... put your hand out. Like this." He demonstrates with his free hand, setting his bottle on the floor and extending his hand low, palm open.
Li takes a cautious step away from the door, looking at Jason's hand and then mirroring the gesture, slowly extending her own as her eyes turn to Justice.
Justice immediately abandons Jason once he has stood up, far more interested in the unfamiliar, outstretched hand. He cautiously approaches, head low as his wet nose presses against Li's hand and he begins to acclimate himself to her scent. After a number of sniffs, he begins licking her hand.
Jason snickers, lopsided grin returning to his face as he watches the pair interact. "See? That means he likes you." he explains.
Li lets out a surprised yelp, flinching back a little and closing her eyes, but her hand remains outstretched, and when she adjusts to the licking one eye opens, a nervous giggle slipping out as her attention shifts between Justice and Jason.
Ilyna nods, but it takes a few seconds to respond as she carefully picks her words. "I said usually," she says. "Alyssa two years ago, and now Halisi did not want to end it at that, and... neither did I." She looks defensive as she continues, "I am not being careless about this, I'm taking things a small step at a time, and I've been down this path before."
Vasquez stares at her in disbelief. "Ilyna... are you fucking kidding me? This is careless. You shouldn't be doing it at all. You should know better. Both of you should." She uncrosses he arms to gesture for emphasis, face a mixture of frustration and concern. "Doesn't fucking matter how 'small' the steps are if you're still taking them. Gonna lead somewhere nasty eventually. You get that, right? Fuck..." Her gaze is fixed
Jason snorts, big smile crossing his face and he steps closer. "It's okay, you can pet him." he says, once more dropping to a knee beside Justice and petting his back for emphasis. "Justice here is gonna be staying with me and Linda, so you're probably gonna be seeing a lot of him from now on. Since he's new around here and he-... uhh-... doesn't have many friends yet, I was hoping-..." he shrugs, gaze turning from Justice to Li
Justice's tail becomes a pendulum swinging back-and-forth from Jason's side to Li's leg as Jason flanks him. He continues to lick at Li's hand for a few more moments before calming a bit and sitting on his haunches, curiosity still fixed to the young girl as he stares up at her expectantly.
Li nods seriously. "Yeah... okay." She hesitates slightly before reaching out to pet Justice's head. Another giggle quickly slips out. "He's fluffy!"
Ilyna shrinks a bit at first as Vasquez retorts, before anger starts to bubble to the surface. Even if she knows on an intellectual level where she is coming from and what's at stake here, the distrust stings deep. "I need... to think," she says, her voice even; though it's clear as day she's holding back tears. "Please let me out, I'll just be in my office."
Jason snickers, giving a couple of nods. "Uh huh." he agrees absently, expression suddenly scrunching up in distaste as Justice turns and unexpectedly begins licking his face, causing him to tilt away, nearly falling onto his ass as laughter slips out of him. "Alright, alright! I like you, too, buddy!" He stands back up to avoid any more facelicks, using the towel on his shoulder to give himself a quick wipe. "Anyway-... having a
dog around means there's probably some things I should go over with you. But I think that's a conversation better had over a bowl of cereal." Cereal and ice cream. The foundation of all of their important Redrock business meetings. He gives a nod in the general direction of the rec room.
Vasquez remains in place at first, staring Ilyna down, but then her expression softens just a little, and she chews on the inside of her scarred cheek as she considers her words. "We're having this conversation because you and Halisi are my friends," she says, stepping aside. She leaves it unsaid that the alternative, if they hadn't been, would've been a kick out the door, or, more grimly, a bullet to Ilyna's skull. "You need to
put an end to this. It's a bad fucking idea, and I think you know it, or you wouldn't have been hiding it." With those words, she reaches out to tap the door interface, the lights turning green before it slides open. Her arms cross once more as she watches from the side, waiting for Ilyna to leave.
Li laughs out loud at Justice's shenanigans, before tempering it back into a smile as Jason speaks, nodding in agreement. "Affirmative!"
Ilyna relaxes a little bit to mirror Vasquez' softening expression, but her face is still a mess of emotions. A tear manages to escape before being quickly wiped by the asari. "That's not why," she says, lowering her voice as she door opens, "but... I'll talk with her." With the door open, she is careful about what to say even if she doesn't think the nearest camera can hear her. She then starts walking out of the
Vasquez nods, frown remaining in place until Ilyna is gone. Her shoulders slump a little once the door has sealed behind her, running a hand over her head and back to the root of her ponytail as she looks up at the ceiling and sighs.
Ilyna blinks her tears away and composes herself as she leaves the room, heading immediately for her office with brisk steps. Once inside and the door is locked behind her, the camera properly disconnected and the cable yanked, she slumps down into her chair and buries her head in her arms as she keeps trying to hold back tears. Her winter jacket is still on.