Mass Effect X-3: "Until Our Last Breath" [OPEN/ACCEPTING]

[JesterXI]

"I reckon we should set a vending machine on fire and toss it out the window! Viva la Resistance!"



Something Awkward indeed...

Veronica turned and nodded to Otium. He was right this meeting hadn't gone as planned, why couldn't Skipper have simply hugged all the women high fived the guys and returned to them without any hassle? " I know it seems bad now, but trust me if there's anyone who can convince a drunk down on his luck Skipper, its Nali. It could take a while, but I have a good feeling about this, Skipper WILL come back to us... . Ok that last part might have been a bit too much, but the last thing that Veronica wanted to do was dampen everyone's spirits by admitting that the situation was looking grim. She shot Jask a look of annoyance. " Hey... we aren't all crazy! I myself am pretty sane... right?.

Suddenly the lack of large lumbering cannibalisitc Krogan caught her eye. Their giant loud people eater had vanished! Veronica facepalmed. " Now our Krogan has vanished... what fun... ". No time to worry about that, he's a large and scary Krogan, only the downright stupid and suicidal would dare mess with him. She returned to observing Nali trying to convince their dear beloved Captain. She would have to gone to lend a hand in the persuasion, but there was nothing she could say that Nali hadn't said already.

[Captain Teeb]

"I'm like a freaking dead people factory."
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Owyn wasn't an Infiltrator, or a Sentinel, or anyone that might have more sense of someone following them. No, Owyn -- despite all of his labels as "former Spectre" and "stubborn b*****d" -- was just a marine in the Alliance Navy, a jarhead if you will. He was taught to solve problems when they presented themselves rather than n** them in the bud through dexterity. Therefore it was no surprise when Nali was following Skipper without the brown-haired soldier getting any the wiser.

Now then, Skipper and (unbenownst to him) Nali were making their way deeper into the Omega Slums. Skipper had a general idea of where he was going: back to where he called 'home' these days. But as always, plans rarely go as they should on Omega, and the deeper Owyn went into Omega's underbelly the more intimidating the shady characters around him got. Owyn's face was well-known, and the eagle-eyed criminals of Omega were eyeing him whenever he passed them. Perhaps for a bounty, perhaps a mugging and maybe even just a good brawl. Bottom line? Things were not safe at the moment. But that's just the way Owyn Skipper lives.

Owyn soon felt himself stopped by a hand, ruffling his leather jacket as a shady figure slithered his way into Owyn's way; he was a human, slightly shorter than Owyn and roundabout the same age. In the hand that wasn't holding Skipper (the former Spectre wasn't really resisting anyway) he twirled a bowie knife that glimmered in what dim light the Slums gave off. Skipper's eyes glazed lazily over the figure as he smiled a canniving grin and two of his fellow human buddies (weilding a dismembered pipe and a military-grade combat knife) completed the trio of surrounding Owyn Skipper. The leading man spoke. "Hey, we've seen you round here before. You're that Owyn Skipper, right?"

Owyn let the man speak for but a few instances. The ratty man spoke again. "Yeah, I knew I recognised your face! I'm sure the good Admiral Faust will pay a good-" the man's speech was interrupted when a powerful fist connected with his jaw, sending a few teeth flying out of it and the man wheeling towards the ground. He'd have made contact with the ground had Owyn's other fist not skillfully caught him in the temple on his way down with a powerful uppercut, sending the man a few inches off the ground and onto his back unconscious.

Owyn then wheeled around deciding not to let the other two get away. His spin was finished with a powerful kick to the first man's midriff, likely breaking or fracturing something. This man flew into his companion, who Owyn caught in the face with a vigorous punch, breaking his nose.

All three men lay on the ground. Owyn would have continued his beating, but that overzealous part of him was gone now. Instead he put his hands back in his pockets and continued his wander deep into Omega's slums.

Before long, the Spectre came to an abandoned old shack hidden among a great many others. This must be where all the more unfortunate citizens of Omega lived. In truth, Owyn lived here because anyone who came looking for him was less likely to go this deep into Omega. Omega didn't really like uniformed military men. Without looking over his shoulder, Owyn opened the unlocked door to his 'home' and sauntered into it.

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Where is he? Deep Omega Slums
And who's he with? Nobody
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[Kyugetsu]

Sindrest Taelon

Chief Medical Officer

indentIt had been some time since the doctor had returned to Omega. The last time he had physically set foot on the rock had been long before the crew of the Amazon's last bout here, when the Dark Moons had first been encountered as a real threat.

indentThe asteroid was indeed a haven for lowlifes, but that wasn't a bad thing given the circumstances. It housed a wealth of underground information brokers that could shed light on things some legitimate dealers may not want to touch, which was exactly what Taelon needed to find. As such, he departed from the shore party immediately after arrival, and went his own way. Though he didn't frequent Omega, he did have his contacts here; being a former STG operative had it's perks.

indentAfter some time, he stepped out of an X3M which had emerged back from some of the shadier underworld elements of Omega, finding the information he had gathered to be ...acceptable, but not satisfying. He lifted his omni-tool to access the location of Nali and the others in his team, and moved swiftly to rejoin them, surprising swiftness in his step, considering his age.

indentHe had arrived just in time to see Nali and Skipper leaving "lower" Afterlife with Skipper leading the way. Good. Found him. Could leave and get back to work. But closer observation revealed things likely wouldn't be so simple. They appeared to be storming out of the club, and Skipper seemed to have a mind to get away from Nali, rather than follow her back. The salarian gave a quick sigh through his nostrils and followed behind them, keeping his distance as they made their way deeper into Omega, and further into the slums. Better to remain a trump card, should something ugly arise. But from what he could tell by the unconscious male humans on the ground, Skipper was already clearing the way for them. He shook his head slightly and caught up to the Asari, his large eyes looking down at her as he walked beside her, "Guessing things did not go as well as hoped for. What happened?"

[707sTYPO]

❝If you don't stand for something, you'll fall for anything.❞

[kitties!]Come to think of it, it'd been a good several years since Nali had had to follow anyone like this. Of course, the last time, she'd been following a target as opposed to this time where she was actually tailing him at this point in hopes of finding a familiar landmark and making her way back to the others. Fortunately, it was rather easy keeping an eye on him in this setting. For all of his current scruffiness, he was still cleaner than most of the other humans lucky enough to find themselves in the area. On the other hand, nothing was looking familiar, and as whatever pleasantness left in the atmosphere melted away into the layer of grime she was sure covered this place, Nali became completely positive that she'd never been anywhere near this part of the slums.

[kitties!]"Hey, we've seen you 'round here before. You're that Owyn Skipper, right?"

[kitties!]Mention of his name caused the asari's eyes to whip forward, away from the "scenery" she was observing and up toward where Skipper was being accosted by a trio of stooges from the looks of it. As soon as they mentioned the words Faust and pay, Nali moved to grab the handgun on her thigh, but she was more than pleasantly surprised to see that Skipper could still take care of himself. Then again, whiny or not, it was just as she'd been saying: he was still Skipper. How was it that she could come in out of the blue and see that, but he couldn't? As the human moved, the asari continued to shadow him and oops, she'd just almost tripped over the pile of aching thugs Skipper had left in the road. An excuse to kick one of them in the ribs as she passed? No, not at all.

[kitties!]"Guessing things did not go as well as hoped for. What happened?"

[kitties!]The sudden address caused the asari to jump, and for a moment, she looked around, either to confirm that the voice belonged to the doctor or to look around to see if her heart had actually jumped out of her chest. Good news! It was just Taelon, and her heart was still firmly tucked away between her lungs. "He's being an a**," Nali's explanation followed a sigh, but when she realized Taelon was probably going to need a little more, she continued motioning a hand toward the human they were following, "He says he's given up, he's let everyone down, it's the end, all that jazz. He sounds like a weepy drunk." ...actually, he probably was a weepy drunk.

[kitties!]Finally, just when the setting couldn't have become darker or dirtier, Nali looked up to the shack into which Skipper had disappeared. "Oh, Skipper," the maiden mumbled under her breath, though disappointment was clear. It was no wonder it'd sounded like he'd lost all hope: this place was absolutely dismal. Yeah...you're my friend, Skipper, but if I'm gonna go in there, I'm gonna need to hear a yes from you... For a moment, she'd pondered on the irony that Lyrana actually owned a rather nice condo on Omega and probably would've let him stay there after the Union had no longer suspected her of assisting the Amazon...


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ＬＯＣＡＴＩＯＮ

ｏｍｅｇａ (ｓｌｕｍｓ)

ＷＩＴＨ

ｔａｅｌｏｎ

ＡＢＣＤＥＦＧＨＩＪＫＬＭＮＯＰＱＲＳＴＵＶＷＸＹＺａｂｃｄｅｆｇｈｉｊｋｌｍｎｏｐｑｒｓｔｕｖｗｘｙｚ: _ , ( )
ｅｎ ｒｏｕｔｅ ｔｏ ｔｈｅ ａｍａｚｏｎ ｃａｐｔａｉｎｓ ｑｕａｒｔｅｒｓ ｃａｒｇｏ ｂａｙ ｃｉｃ ｅｌｅｖａｔｏｒ ｍｅｄｉｃａｌ ｍｅｓｓ ｈａｌｌ ｓｈｕｔｔｌｅ ｏｍｅｇａ ａｆｔｅｒｌｉｆｅ ｎｏ ｏｎｅ ｓｈｏｒｅ ｐａｒｔｙ ｊａｓｋ ｋｒｏｇａｎ ｏｔｉｕｍ ｓｋｉｐｐｅｒ ｔａｅｌｏｎ ｖｅｌｏｒｉｘ ｖｅｒｏｎｉｃａ ｄａｒｋ ｍｏｏｎｓ

[Kyugetsu]

Sindrest Taelon

Chief Medical Officer

indentThe doctor scratched at the scar on his lip, looking to the home Skipper had entered, before looking back down to Nali and raising a brow. What happened on the Amazon was tragic, for the entire crew, and greatly for him as well. As a salarian it was far easier for him to cope---had to---but from his experience human emotion toward an event could span years at a time, possibly even a lifetime, and could continue to spiral further downward if it continued on.

indentThe salarian doubted if Skipper would actually kill himself, but Taelon did not wish to test that assumption by doing nothing at all. He gave a quick nod to the asari, "Will talk some sense into him myself.." Hopefully it wouldn't come to knocking sense into him, as potentially drunk and emotional humans were often extremely unpredictable, and acted disparately with their normal behaviors.

indentTaelon continued toward the less than optimal living quarters, taking a moment to decide how he would proceed. The front door would likely be locked, given that Skipper didn't want company---If so, easily hacked into, even for someone without infiltration training; doubtful Omega slums were equipped with state of the art security systems. No, something that seemed a bit more unorthodox would likely get the point of their desperation across better, show that they needed to get Skipper back. He quickly moved around the building, finding a back entrance of his own by taking full advantage of salarian flexibility as well as STG training, and made his way into the captain's home. When Skipper would come across Taelon, he would find the doctor casually sitting in one of his chairs reading information on his omni-tool, as if he had been there for hours.

[Captain Teeb]

"I'm like a freaking dead people factory."
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Owyn opened his doors to find Taelon sitting in one of his chairs, reading his omni-tool. Why was he not surprised Owyn pondered to himself as he massaged one of his temples and scrunched up his face. Owyn was tired and quite frankly a bit pissy at the moment. Grumbling out a very standoffish sentence, Owyn wandered over to a bottle of Jack Daniel's No.7 and a glass, pouring the whiskey into it before putting it back into the pile of either empty or half-full bottles on a desk nearby. "What do you want, Taelon?" he spoke without looking the salarian in the eye, but still turning to look in his general direction as he slurped up the whiskey from his glass.
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Where is he? Owyn's House
And who's he with? Taelon
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[Kyugetsu]

((Accidentally edited over the last post when I meant to come in, copy the post layout, and make a new reply.

More or less, Taelon told Nali he'd try to handle Skipper, and snuck into Skipper's house.))

[707sTYPO]

❝If you don't stand for something, you'll fall for anything.❞

[kitties!]"Thanks, Taelon."

[kitties!]Bah. She knew it wasn't personal. He wasn't doing it for her. He was doing it for (maybe) Skipper, but this was also imperative to their mission. Yeah, that whole mission where the objective is to survive and evade anyone in a uniform until they could prove that they weren't the ones they'd been trying to bring down this entire time. Regardless of why he was giving it a shot, Nali remained where she was until the salarian slipped from sight. She'd given it her best--kind of--but she knew Taelon was going to be willing to pull out all the stops to succeed. Despite what she'd said about "doing whatever it takes," there were certain tactics she really wasn't wanting to try. Not with Skipper, at least. For one thing, Nali really didn't want to hurt him while she was sure Taelon would've been willing to knock the man out if necessary. Still... I should've hit him harder.

[kitties!]The asari had been standing there for a while after Taelon had (she'd assumed) gotten inside. The maiden was kind of tempted to stay there, but she was starting to become aware of the eyes on her. Here she was in a rather filthy area of the slums in the filthiest place in the galaxy with clear skin, properly-maintained weapons, and full, matching set of armor that was actually kind of expensive. Nali directed glances to either side, immediately picking up on just a few of those who might've been sizing her up to mug her or...well, to be honest, that was the darkest her thoughts got on the matter. She was pretty confident she could've taken them all should things have gone awry, but this rabble really wasn't worth the few thermal clips she had on her person.

[kitties!]Go, Nali. You can be useful elsewhere.

[kitties!]The thought was first voiced in some sort of attempt to get herself up and doing something, but the idea of being useful elsewhere also meant she was useless here. And she was, actually. She'd thought, of all people, she would've been able to convince Skipper to come back, but even the sight of Velorix hadn't seemed to do anything to faze his unwavering weepiness.

[kitties!]Nali shook her head. No time for that. Either Dr Taelon will succeed and bring him back or he won't and I'll have to come back with the others to let them have a go. Once again, the idea of bringing an unconscious Skipper back to the ship crossed her mind, but...she kind of imagined something like that would've taken all of their efforts combined. It was actually kind of amusing in hindsight.

[kitties!]On that note, she turned around and headed back into the direction from whence they'd come. It was actually easier recognizing the area when she knew Taelon was on Skipper's case and--right, there's that pile of humans Skipper left in the road. Oops. Almost tripped again. For a moment, she noticed that there were only two of them, figuring that one of them must've woken up and left before she noticed the next "landmark," what looked to be a sick vorcha sitting on the side of the path. Then again, vorcha didn't get sick, so he was probably just tired. Or dying. Either way, Nali really didn't care.

[kitties!]"Well! That didn't work!" Nali said, an embarrassed smile forced onto her face after having finally found her way to the shore party waiting in Lower Afterlife. Well...most of them, at least. Krogan was gone. She knew where Taelon was, and of course, Skipper still wasn't there. "Goddess, I'd make a terrible negotiator. Don't know how Elara does it..." she mumbled, her hand coming up to the back of her neck.


◦ ◦ ◦ ▶◎◀ ◦ ◦ ◦

ＬＯＣＡＴＩＯＮ

ｏｍｅｇａ (ｌｏｗｅｒ ａｆｔｅｒｌｉｆｅ)

ＷＩＴＨ

ｊａｓｋ, ｏｔｉｕｍ, ｖｅｌｏｒｉｘ, ｖｅｒｏｎｉｃａ

ＡＢＣＤＥＦＧＨＩＪＫＬＭＮＯＰＱＲＳＴＵＶＷＸＹＺａｂｃｄｅｆｇｈｉｊｋｌｍｎｏｐｑｒｓｔｕｖｗｘｙｚ: _ , ( )
ｅｎ ｒｏｕｔｅ ｔｏ ｔｈｅ ａｍａｚｏｎ ｃａｐｔａｉｎｓ ｑｕａｒｔｅｒｓ ｃａｒｇｏ ｂａｙ ｃｉｃ ｅｌｅｖａｔｏｒ ｍｅｄｉｃａｌ ｍｅｓｓ ｈａｌｌ ｓｈｕｔｔｌｅ ｏｍｅｇａ ａｆｔｅｒｌｉｆｅ ｎｏ ｏｎｅ ｓｈｏｒｅ ｐａｒｔｙ ｊａｓｋ ｋｒｏｇａｎ ｏｔｉｕｍ ｓｋｉｐｐｅｒ ｔａｅｌｏｎ ｖｅｌｏｒｉｘ ｖｅｒｏｎｉｃａ ｄａｒｋ ｍｏｏｎｓ

[Captain Teeb]

"I'm like a freaking dead people factory."
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Skipper sighed and leaned on the table behind him casually, occasionally taking larger-than-average sips from his glass of whisky. Taelon went on for a while, Skipper listening with his eyes focussed more on the glass than on the salarian. Was that just because he longed for more alcohol, or because he didn't want to look his old friend in the eye? You be the judge. "I can take care of myself, Taelon. You of all people should know that." he said. "The whole ********' situation is dangerous, doc." that was weird, Skipper didn't seem in the state to be using pet names for anyone at the moment. "Nomatter how you go about it." Skipper finished, perhaps some uncertainty in his voice as his eyes wandered off to a particular cupboard in the corner, gazing at it absent-mindedly.
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Where is he? Owyn's House
And who's he with? Taelon
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[Jiggy_Jr]

J A S K--------------------------------

Jask glanced at Veronica in slight amusement and snickered. Perhpas not every human was crazy, but he'd been around them enough now to know that the majority of them were. Veronica was ok for the most part, but he had been more than a little surprised the first time he'd stumbled upon her during one of her 'pantsless wonder' episodes. He'd long ago stopped trying to make sense of the species.

He looked around when Veronica had mentioned that 'Krogan' had disappeared and shrugged, and he wondered how he'd missed him wandering off. Though he didn't really care. The krogan would be fine here by himself, better off than a lot of other people, he was sure. And someone would've had to be pretty desperate to randomly start a fight with a krogan.

Upon hearing Nali's voice, his eyes narrowed slightly and he turned to watch her making her way back to them. So she wasn't able to convince Skipper to come back to them then? He grunted in annoyance. He did want Skipper to come back, even though he'd never really gotten the chance to get to know him that well. He was a good leader though. At least, he had been a good leader. He was the first one he'd met when he'd arrived on the Amazon. Well, kind of. And he was the one that gave him a chance to actually stay with the others. Though he didn't know what to do. He'd never been an expert on 'cheering people up'.

"Could just ambush him." He suggested and sniffed. He'd never been that big on offering suggestions, either.

_____________________________________________________【☣】_____

[JesterXI]

"I reckon we should set a vending machine on fire and toss it out the window! Viva la Resistance!"



Nali had returned, but without Skipper around her shoulder. " Ah don't worry he'll come around. Maybe he's just disheartened like the rest of us, except he's only had Jack Daniels for company, we've all relied on eachother for support, he's had nothing. Maybe that's why he's so reluctant? The isolation combined with everything else thats happened has left him without the will to go on... maybe if all of us get together and try again? Maybe he'll change his tone?". It was probably wishful thinking on her part. Maybe Taelon would have better luck. Jask had his plans however, whether it was sarcasm or seriousness Veronica couldn't help but laugh.

" Now that sounds like a plan! Nali go grab a coil of rope, I'll go find a burlap sack and some oranges! We'll wait outside his home in hiding, Jask can distract him with the tempting delicousness of a fresh Orange, I'll jump him from the roof get him the sack, then Nali you come from the left with the rope and make sure he can't get out! We bring him back to the Amazon, give him an inspiring pep talk and boom. We have our beloved Captain and The Dark Moons can go back to pissing themselves at the mere mention of our name... sound good?".

[Kyugetsu]

Sindrest Taelon

Chief Medical Officer

indent"Indeed.." the doctor said as he uncrossed his arm and began to walk slowly around the room, his eyes on the captain. He noticed the man's eyes wandering toward the cupboard, and Taelon's muscles tensed up slightly; it was highly unlikely Skipper would pull a weapon from there, but Taelon had survived as long as he had largely in part from his own paranoia. 'Paranoia a good thing..' he would say, '..Keeps you safe.' Although admittedly, he had almost killed multiple members of the crew because of his paranoia when they had performed suspicious or even what he had assumed to have been hostile actions in his presence.

indent"Most of crew can take care of themselves on their own---Very self sufficient group of people.." He walked closer to the captain, still keeping a fair distance, his legs and arms swinging slowly as he did. "As self reliant as the crew is, Skipper, doesn't change fact that would likely all be dead without each other." He stopped walking and took a deep breath, looking the skipper directly in the eye if the man were to look at the salarain. "Take you for example. How many times has Velorix taken a shot on a target you hadn't noticed? Or Nali had protected you from enemy fire with her biotics?" He continued to stare Skipper down, the gaze from his large, alien orbs seemingly unyielding, "How many times have I been there to patch you up in the field, keeping you only inches from death..?"

indentThe doctor shook his head slightly, "If you wish to remain alone, punishing yourself for something that entire crew was responsible for..." he took another deep breath inward through his nostrils, his lower eyelids closing for a moment before opening again, "..Won't stop you. Not my choice to. Wouldn't prefer it, but free will is your own. Either way, all in same boat. None of us can hide forever, but at least rest of crew will have each other to fall back on when tide closes in.."

[Captain Teeb]

"I'm like a freaking dead people factory."
__ ____ ______ ________________________________________________________ ______ ____ __


Skipper listened to Taelon speak on, taking in every word while staring at the bottom of his glass again. Taelon was right in his own way, the crew had saved his life more times than Owyn could count. But Taelon -- like Nali -- was grabbing the entirely wrong end of the stick. Skipper knew the Amazon being beaten down and framed a year ago wasn't his fault; he wasn't there. Lerax alone was tough enough but three of his super soldiers? Even with Skipper there the result would be the same.

No, what had Skipper down in the dumps was the fact that on Antirumgon, regarding Velorix and the running away, Owyn could have done something. He could have tried to get Velorix out, or at the very least gone down with him and get taken to Purgatory. That way maybe the breakout would have been sooner, they'd both be back with the crew right now. But no, he'd chosen to stick on Omega and cower. He wasn't proud of it, and the crew was better off being led by Nali and Velorix. Owyn didn't say any of this though, maybe Taelon would figure it out and maybe not, instead the former Spectre chose to stay quiet, and stare at his glass. "Why're you all tryin' so hard, doc? If I'd stuck in Afterlife I'd have the entire crew all over me. What is it you want? You've got soldiers, plenty from what I saw." he said simply, finishing off his glass.
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Where is he? Owyn's House
And who's he with? Taelon
__ ____ ______ ________________________________________________________ ______ ____ __

[Kyugetsu]

Sindrest Taelon

Chief Medical Officer

indentThe doctor smiled slightly. To a degree he could tell by Skipper's subtle physical reactions that the Amazon might have been a small portion, but wasn't the whole picture. He avoided pressing forward into what it truly was though, not wanting the man to feel any more guilty for whatever was eating at him from inside---He wasn't a psychiatrist. Taelon thought about Fiona for a moment, and pushed the thought back down.

indentThe slender, scarred alien turned toward his body toward the front entrance, turning his head to look at Skipper again before shaking it slightly. "Cannot speak for reasons of others---Not my place. But fighting alongside my friend, and one of the few in this galaxy I genuinely trust, to whatever end may come... Cannot be replaced. " It was no secret that Taelon had very few people he felt close to; the salarian overall was extremely suspicious of others, even his own teammates. It took more than a simple friendly gesture and visit to gain true friendship from him, which made it all the more remarkable that Skipper had managed to do so.

indentOnce more, a deep breath came from the salarian as he thought about his words, "Cannot go through life without making mistakes, Skipper---Whatever they may be. Unavoidable. Can however move forward to atone for them.." He turned his head toward the entrance to the run down home, ready to walk out, knowing that whatever Skipper decided to do was his own choice.

[Captain Teeb]

"I'm like a freaking dead people factory."
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Skipper remained silent while Taelon talked, before sighing and gesturing towards the door with a simple nod of his head. "Thanks for dropping by, doc." before filling up his glass again with the last of the bottles and slumping down in a chair.

(SHORT POST CUZ TIRED)

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Where is he? Owyn's House
And who's he with? Taelon
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