|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
 Posted: Sun Sep 30, 2012 9:18 pm
Another day, another job, another stupid employer. The sound of Caecilius' fist smashing against the door was rather loud, and he waited for the door to unlock and open, but dealt another blow to the abused metal as he grew impatient. Storming between the two halves once they were barely wide enough for him, he headed straight for the bathroom with a snarl across his face, discarding the mangled remains of a rifle by the doorway. He was limping slightly, barely noticeable in his anger, but with how hard he was walking there was a bit of a blood trail across the metal plating of the floor.
He should have known from the start that this would be trouble, nobody in their right mind would go through Blood Pack territory with a light escort. Unless they were new to Omega, as it turned out. As much as he was loyal to his own kind, he wanted to strangle this guy. Aside from their route and destination, the guy only hired Cae as a body guard. And was himself unarmed. Cae almost called it off, but the employer offered to pay him double. Which probably wasn't worth it in the end, but he needed the credits... Then again, he was going to have to spend most of it in repair and recovery costs. If only it was a job from Anahe, he could have asked him to fix his weapons or something. Maybe he could get a frequent customer discount from the Salarian...
They didn't run into trouble until about half-way through their trip, a patrol spotting them and pinned them in a narrow alleyway. It was only Vorcha though, and they hadn't brought enough firepower to be a significant threat. If there had been more than just Cae to deal with them. With limited cover, he couldn't let his shields regen long enough, and ended up taking a few hits to his light armor. They were specifically made for this purpose, but he couldn't use them again in the condition they were in now. All the while the biotic was having a field day literally pulverizing the damn vermin, first with the rifle when he ran out of clips, and then with his augmented fists. Most of the blood that ended up on him wasn't even his own. Something he wasn't that thrilled about, but it still had him set on edge, even after the petrified businessman had transferred the credits. He still wanted to fight, even after the last Vorcha was splattered, something he was trying his best to reign in as he made his way to the bathroom.
Stripping the scored and shredded armor from his legs, he paused as he realized his left leg was bleeding. A lot more than he had expected. It wasn't anything major, the greaves had probably taken the brunt, no shots through the bones. Hell, most of the injury was probably from shrapnel. There was a nice set of bloody teeth marks though, he hadn't even realized one of the vermin had gotten that close...
|
 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Mon Oct 01, 2012 9:22 am
The banging on the door sent Tayce's heart racing as she jumped up from her 'nest'. Sending blankets and the random bits of clothes she'd been able to obtain as she scrambled off of the couch (now pushed against the wall to form something like a cradle, which had amused her but it did offer more privacy while she slept and was more comfortable).
Tossing aside some Asari clothes she was able to buy second-hand and a few underthings (now that was an amusing story. Poor Cae had been propositioned by an Asari wiggler, and instead of asking her prices had asked where she got her clothes...) she shut down the learning program she'd been scrolling through on her omnitool and let the aerogel screen fade away while she dashed across the main room.
Cae had already forced his way in and was in bad shape from what she could see, glancing at the rifle he'd already dropped and grimaced. What, did he forget how to fire it and just used it as a bat instead? Or... he could've ran out of bullets. Which would explain why he was literally dripping blood.
Hissing and wheezing as she followed him into the bathroom, Tayce looked around for towels and anything else she could use. The bleeding had to stop first, and there was just so much of it. Vorcha blood was red, same as human, though often was a bit darker due to oxygen levels. Not that Tayce knew that, or even knew what to look for. As far as she could see, Cae was covered in blood and that was about as far as her brain would process.
Stop the bleeding first, then clean. Stop first, then clean...
But there was just so much, and as he peeled away his armor she sucked in air sharply. Ears flat as her tail puffed, she slid over to his injured leg and wrapped a towel around it, above the wound, trying to tighten it enough to stop the blood flow before he'd lose too much. She didn't even ask for his permission, just started getting to work, keeping her worried hands busy.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Mon Oct 01, 2012 7:08 pm
Baring his teeth at the intruder, he threw his arms up in a sweeping motion as she attempted to wrap the towel around his leg, trying to shoo her away. He didn't need her help, certainly didn't want it. He would enjoy testing her mettle though...whether that was now or later, he wasn't quite ******** OFF TACE, I don't need your help!"
But by then she had already secured the towel around his leg, and Caecilius grabbed her shoulders, shoving her backwards towards the doorway and away from him. He growled a warning to her, triggering his biotic nodes and flaring blue, ears folded back. He didn't have much energy left though, and the flaming aura was more appropriate for simmering than it was for boiling.
Focusing back on the matter at hand, he checked his right gauntlet, blue aura fading away. He was relieved to find that the medigel hardware wasn't damaged. With how bad the armor looked he wasn't sure if the omnitool had taken any damage or not. He fumbled with the omnitool controls, trying to prep it for a dose of medigel, praying he had one left.
All he wanted to do right now was medigel himself, take a hot shower, and pass out for a few hours. Not deal with some mute house guest that didn't understand any common languages. He didn't have any patience left for her right now.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Wed Oct 03, 2012 11:20 am
Her ears folded as she growled in response to his tone, or tried to growl at least. Without tone it just sounded like a low wind against a windowpane. Her displeasure was obvious though, even if she didn't recognize all the words there was no mistaking his meaning.
Baring her teeth as he pushed her away, she glared at him defiantly, even as he growled. Though the blue flare- didn't it used to be green? Oh, because she'd seen it through her faceplate last- made her eyes go wide as she breathed in sharply; the sound a loud hiss.
Maybe that stuff was triggered by anger? Or was it some function on the omnitool she hadn't yet discovered? He'd shown her it could do more than just what she saw on the screen, but it still didn't make much sense to her. Odd planet, wherever they were. As if confirming her thoughts, Cae looked down at his own omnitool as the light disappeared.
Tayce didn't know whether to try and stop him from summoning the blue light again, or let him if it helped him... somehow. But she was afraid to touch him if the light was there, or would come back. Whining piteously, she took a towel to the sink and dampened it, approaching Cae once more with the wet end. She needed to clean up some of the wounds to get a better idea of how bad they were, and yea he'd b***h, but throwing a tantrum like a child didn't change the situation any. It's not like she knew how to get him to the hospital, or even how to ask for that, so her limited skills would have to do.
His bad temper be damned.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Wed Oct 03, 2012 2:36 pm
Finally setting the omnitool correctly, Caecilius reached down to the bite wound with his right hand, activating the dose. He let out a sigh of relief as the gel began to work its magic, the pain replaced by a blissful numbness. He didn't even know what was in medigel or who manufactured it, but he honestly didn't care, all Cae knew was that it was a lifesaver...
That taken care of, he stood up straight again, growling and staring down Tace as she approached with the wet towel. What was she thinking? He dismissed her with a wave of his left hand, then worked the armor off of his right, letting it drop to the floor next to his greaves. Inspecting the red-dyed skin, he turned his arm over. The armor had done its job for the most part, there were only scratches. Nothing that would need medigel at least, which was good, because it was expensive stuff.
Ignoring the female once again, he turned on the shower, tilting his head up and ears back as the water started washing over him. Cae was still mostly clothed, but he didn't quite care. That and it would probably give Tace the wrong impression. Or, maybe that would be a good thing for the moment, it might get her to leave him alone...
Back turned to his female guest, he started by taking off his remaining gauntlet, then releasing the clasp holding the chest straps in place.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Thu Oct 04, 2012 11:21 am
She tilted her head with a worried look when he sighed, the blue glow hadn't come back but... the omnitool obviously did -something-. She wilted under his glare though, shoulders slumping as he warned her off. Still, she hovered around him as he removed more and more, inspecting from a distance with hisses and wheezings. Why wouldn't he let her help? Why didn't he go to a hospital?
Then he started the shower and her eyes grew huge as she breathed in deeply. If his wounds were as bad as they looked, this was a stupid thing to do. He'd be pumping out blood and wouldn't even notice, and if he fainted what the hell would she do?
What if he died?
Worrying her bottom lip as she wheezed, approaching him even though he was in the spray, she took her now soaking wet towel and gently dabbed at anything red, trying to get a better look. Ignoring the water even as her clothing became uncomfortable, Tayce tried to figure out what to do. She could force him out of the shower maybe, though he might kick her out of the apartment for getting in his way. And he didn't seem to be panicking, just angry. Was this normal? Or was his default function simply rage?
Glancing at the bite, she cringed and brushed it gently, realizing it had a glaze on it. Clear... gel? Tayce's eyes widened as she recognized the distant numbness in her fingertips. It was that stuff he shot at her neck the first day she was here. Was this safe? Or maybe it was medicine? That made some sense, but this bite looked nasty and like it would get infected...
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Thu Oct 04, 2012 8:28 pm
He generally ignored Tace' hissings and wheezings, relaxing as the water washed away the blood, and some of the rage with it. Twitching every time the female touched him with the towel, his tail flicking in agitation, but he otherwise tried his best to just deal with her attention.
Letting the harness around his chest fall next to the rest of his gear, he followed that by working his shirt off. In addition to the blue nerve tattoos that extended from his arms, his back was broken up by red stripes that had more in common with ribs than anything else. Similar to the stripes that accompanied the blue nerves along his arms, but of course his arms didn't have ribs. Cae simply stood in the running water, his back scarred in places, but devoid of any serious fresh wounds from the run-in with the Vorcha.
Shifting his leg away from Tace's prodding, he turned to face her again, presenting his chest adorned with similar red stripes to her, a sketched circle over his heart as well. The blue nerves and red stripes ran the full length of his arms, and he flared his biotic aura menacingly for a moment. He growled again at the interference, though a little less anger behind it this time, now that most of the blood was washed away. Still holding his shirt, he plopped it on top of her ears. Her wet clothes brought his imagination back into play though, and he went back to rinsing off before it could convince him that pushing her up against the shower wall was a good idea. Where was the ever untimely cold water when he needed it?
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Tue Oct 09, 2012 2:32 pm
Ears folded down as she stubbornly ignored his movements, prodding until he pulled his leg away. Glaring up at him in consternation, she was going to reach to tend to a small series of scratches while pointedly ignoring his bare skin and odd tattoos when the blue flared again.
Pressing herself against the wall as he growled, her breath hitched in what would've been a squeak had her vocal chords worked. At least here she was out of the downpour, but the walls were still slick beneath her fingertips as she edged away from him.
Then the cloth came down, and she rightly panicked. Blinded by his sopping wet shirt, she skulked against the wall and away from him, flinging the shirt away as soon as she was a safe distance. Angry again now that she was safe, she bared her teeth and hissed at him in frustration, throwing her hands up as she left the room.
It was only a few moments later when she'd made her way back to the couch and was changing into dryer clothes (how she hated the feel of dry cloth clinging to a wet body) that a thought occurred to her.
Cae had stripped off his omnitool before turning on the shower spray, before the blue firelight came back. So it wasn't from the omnitool? He had still been wearing his visor, maybe it was from that, after all. Though, how had that withstood the water anyway? Or...
She sat on the couch slowly, tilting her head in thought. There were the tattoos he'd seemed to be... displaying, for lack of a better word. Or his anger? And how was the fire still able to light under the torrent of water? Wait no, she'd touched it before, it didn't burn. Not fire.
Tayce shook her head, not knowing what to make of the new/old puzzle, putting her head in her hands as she snorted. Frustrated, worried, and now tense, she felt rather useless as she sat there; unsure what to do.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Wed Oct 10, 2012 8:28 pm
He only smirked at her angry hiss before going back to his shower, grabbing his omnitool for a moment to close the door behind her retreating form. The goal was to get her away, not make the situation any stranger. But now that he was alone, he stripped the rest of his drenched clothes and went about cleaning up again, alone with his thoughts for now. Hopefully he wouldn't need to take a cold shower after this one though...
Her vocabulary was slowly growing, at least words that she could understand. She still had no method of speaking, but he was similarly starting to grasp some of her actions or gestures...when he cared enough. Or wasn't covered in blood. He had even managed to acquire some clothes for her, which...was for the better he supposed, now she could actually go out in public and not look out of place. Certainly better than just a towel...maybe.
He still wasn't quite sure how long he was going to be able to support the two of them. So far he had been getting lucky, but he was also pushing himself in order to make the extra credits, like with this contract. Letting himself slip into the quagmire of forgoing safety for money. As it was he would need to figure out a way to get his armor repaired, fix/scrap the rifle, and restock on medical supplies. And still have enough for food, and rent, and maybe something to help his guest.
Sighing and shaking the doubts from his mind, he shut off the water and dried himself off. There was no reason to dwell on what might happen, time was credits after all, and he needed those credits. Wrapping the towel around his waist, he slid off his visor, drying it off with another towel in the dark. It wasn't water-proof per se, if he went diving it would probably get fried, but if it wasn't water resistant he'd be blind the moment he got sweaty. At least those assholes had been kind enough to think ahead and design it for useability outside of a lab. Better job than they did on him for sure.
Cae slid the visor back on and grabbed his omnitool, heading for the door before memories swamped him again, leaving the rest of his armor and clothes in the bathroom for now. Looking around the small apartment as the door opened, he spotted Tace on the couch, not really sure what to do with her right now.
NO.
At least she had changed into dry clothes, he would be in trouble with just the towel on otherwise. He murmured an apology to her before turning for his bedroom, aware that he lost his head, but still not sure if he cared. It was the thought that counted anyway. All he wanted to do was drug himself and sleep, deal with everything else later...
"Sorry, Tace."
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Thu Oct 11, 2012 1:53 pm
Her face was still covered when her ears perked at the sound of the door sliding open. Tayce didn't bother to raise her head, not sure what she'd 'say' anyway. Rubbing her temples gently, she finally looked up at him as he mumbled something in her direction.
If she hadn't heard that word used so many times before,
"Sorry miss, this is the only shirt we have in your... size."
The Asari looked at the small-busted female with her best effort at professionalism as Tayce plucked at the shirt with all it's several 'stylish' peek-holes that seemed a constant in the mono-gendered species wardrobe.
----
"Sorry, I don't have anything else that needs to be incinerated."
Cae had said with a shrug and an amused if patience-worn grin as Tayce's ears fell and she stopped bouncing in front of the burny box. No more? But why?
----
"Sorry sorry sorry sorry!!!"
Her head had tilted at him, but he had already scurried back out of the bathroom where she was showering, before she got in the habit of locking the bathroom door.
she would've had no clue what he was trying to convey. It wasn't like he sounded all that apologetic.
Glaring at him as her ears folded down, she couldn't quite snarl due to the lack of sound, but her face was definitely one of displeasure. For a moment she was torn between getting off the couch to check his wounds and flicking him off. Not that there was much hidden from her view as it was.
Truthfully now that the gore had been rinsed away he wasn't in that bad of shape, though she didn't know where he'd run off to or what had happened. Huffing loudly, Tayce moved on the couch until she was balanced in a way that put her back to him, settling to flick her tail at him rather than something more derogative.
Seething, as much at herself as at him, her ears flicked back towards him for a moment before facing straight ahead at the wall; her spine going rigid as her air compressor hissed. She was smart enough to understand why he left every day, and had come to think of him as a gun for hire.
Which meant that everything he bought her was with money made by being lucky dodging bullets. Short of selling her armor, she had no idea how to improve the situation. Her efforts to get a star map to point out where 'home' was hadn't been effective, and what maps she had seen looked... odd. Her vocab wasn't wide enough to really be useful, and even if she could understand there was currently no way to relay information. It wasn't like she could write in this language.
She was effectively stuck and captive, surviving purely by Cae's good... or not so good, graces. The thought didn't settle well, especially when everything she'd ever needed had been provided before, the only requirement for it had been the simple command of 'perform'. Complete this battery of tests, secure this target point, get such and such score on the weapons range.
This world was completely different, and she found herself feeling more useless than ever before. Not a concept she liked dwelling on, to be certain.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Fri Oct 12, 2012 5:56 pm
Well, Tace certainly seemed angry about something. He wasn't quite sure if it was because he came home a bloody mess, ruined a perfectly good rifle she might have wanted (though shotguns were her preference, as it turned out), or threatened her until she left him alone in the bathroom. Probably the last one, though they'd had a few run-ins over the week. Nothing that boded well for his idle thoughts of course, but he was trying his best. Maybe she was upset at the insincere-sounding apology? Meh, it wasn't like him getting shot at was new, then again, he was taking more risks to bring in credits for the past week...
Shrugging off her obvious dismissal, he slid over to the kitchen area, snagging a protein bar from the opened box before making his way back to the bedroom. Discarding the gauntlet that held his omnitool on the floor, he quickly unwrapped and devoured the bar with a speed born out of necessity. Cae dropped the wrapper into the can by his dresser, shaking his head a bit as he remembered going through the apartment and letting Tace throw all of the trash into the incinerator, not quite sure why she found it so fascinating. At least it amused her for a bit at any rate.
He dug through one of the shelves on the wall, victoriously pulling out a vial after a bit, thank goddess for cheaply manufactured antibiotics. Almost guaranteed to take care of any infection the bite might give him. Hopefully. Drugging himself, he wondered if this would slow him down any. He couldn't afford to be hindered by his leg, he needed a place to stay, food to eat. Maybe he could just get his hands on some painkillers, otherwise he would just have to rough it out...
Now all that was left was sleep, and betting on his luck to see him through. Flopping onto his bed, he crawled under the single sheet, taking off his visor and placing it in the usual spot on the dresser. He had left his door open, but he was either too worn out, or simply sure that there was no reason to close it. He was under the sheet anyway.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Mon Oct 15, 2012 2:58 pm
Her back still to him as her tail twitched in annoyance, Tayce's ears followed him as he moved about the apartment; betraying her curiosity despite her ire. Sliding a quick glance his way, she watched him grab one of those special energy bars that he preferred her not to eat for some reason. Looking away again as he turned around to head back to his room, Tayce huffed quietly as he left.
Waiting out his bumbling until there was a very deep silence, she finally got tired of holding her pose and unwound herself from the couch; wrinkling her nose. She stood slowly, still feeling heavy and overwhelmed as she turned her head to look towards his open doo- wait a minute.
Ears training to the anomaly, her back straightened as she tilted her head at the odd sight. He always closed his bedroom door. Always. Kept it locked most of the time too, not that she tested it. Did he just forget? No. The doors typically closed, she'd noticed. Then why? An invitation? A necessity?
Running both hands over her face and then through her hair as she breathed out heavily, Tayce rocked back on her heels and debated with herself. She didn't know him well enough to, well, anything really. But... he didn't really know her either, and was taking care of her. As best he could.
She felt like curling up on the couch and just never moving again. Hurting and homesick, confused, her ears flattened as she crept closer to his room. She could see it was dark and there was a lumpy form on the bed. Stomach twisting oddly as she leaned into the doorframe, the Spartan made a face at the smell of boy that was both strange and familiar. For a heartbeat she felt the overwhelming need to just crawl into the bed and feel the warmth of another person, a reminder she wasn't alone. Things would be alright.
But then the memory of less than an hour ago. His anger, clearly directed at her. Did he blame her for being hurt? It was very possible. The riskier the job, the more pay; it just made sense. So... he was in danger so she could lounge about.
Trying to stifle the sound of her compressor as she took in a long breath, her eyes darted about the darkened space, noting his visor and other things. Including the omnitool. Glance lingering for a moment, her hand twitched at the mental suggestion that perhaps.... but it would do her no good. She couldn't read yet, not this language anyway. Couldn't write either, otherwise she would've written out where she needed to go and ask how to get home.
Sighing, Tayce shrunk away from the door and backed up. Sulking would do nothing, and neither would inaction. Her mind made up, she took her gear to the bathroom to suit up in peace, noting his own battered armor on the floor and wondered how much it would cost to repair it. Maybe she could help with that. Somehow.
Practice had made the movements quick, at a leisurely pace it still was less than three minutes before she strode out in full armor. Discarded clothes folded neatly and placed back on the couch, she'd opted to take her omnitool with just in case, but decided against taking any food. It wasn't really hers anyway.
Another brief pause to turn on her cloaking device and then she was out the door, locking it behind her before setting off to see what she could see.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Tue Oct 16, 2012 11:33 am
The sound of the door opening and closing sent him into high gear, or would have if not for being drugged and healing. Cae stirred, but refused to wake up so soon. Perhaps he would have been able to stop her if he had awoke. As it was, he woke hours later, not feeling much better. The drugs had been given enough time to start working though, that was all he needed for now.
Fumbling for his visor in the dark, he looked around the room once he had slid it in place, instinctively blinking to try and clear the shifting colors. Yawning and stretching, he got out of bed and grabbed the omnitool off of the floor, checking the inside of the gauntlet for shrapnel before sliding it on. No new messages, no missed calls, nothing that needed his attention. Other than his dwindling amount of credits.
He sighed lightly to himself, remembering how he had treated Tace hours earlier, she seemed pretty angry towards the end... Might as well see if she had calmed down at all, he doubted that trying to apologize again would do anything...after he got dressed at least.
Throwing on another set of his well-worn clothes, he slid his gauntlet back on and stepped into the main room of the apartment. No Tace. Well, he did have a bathroom, maybe she was in there. He checked the door, not locked. She had started locking it after he had absentmindedly stumbled in on her showering. Opening the door, he blinked at the empty room that stared back at him. There was his armor right where he left it. No Tace.
Okay...was this all something he had dreamt after being injured? He hadn't been hurt that much, but his supplier might have cut in something in the meds, either purposely or by accident. He turned back to the main room, looking for some confirmation that the mute female had been real. Food, nothing out of the ordinary, all things he might have eaten. No extra furniture, but they hadn't bought anything of that nature. Her armor wasn't anywhere to be seen.
There, on the couch, the clothes they had acquired so she didn't have to wear his. Neatly folded in a stack. Certainly not his clothes, and he wasn't crazy or desperate enough to have purchased clothes for an imaginary girl...right? He looked around the small apartment, trying to find evidence that she had been here. She hadn't really had many things, so much as done things. Shoved things into piles, pushed him into burning all of the trash, stuff like that. Or...the omnitool, that was something physical he had given her, and something he could trace...maybe.
He pulled up his omnitool, searching through his programs. There, he had used it to remotely control another, along with sending it some programs and access codes. He looked up at the door, locked, but that was something he had shown her how to do. Which meant she might very well have left on her own. And she only understood so many weird, not to mention being unable to speak. What the hell was she thinking?
But she had an omnitool had that he had remote access to, he could find out where she was...assuming she was still on the station at least. He activated the tracking function, pulling up the map of Omega to see where she was. He frowned as an error message blinked on the map.
Unable to establish connection. Location unavailable. Check settings and try again.
Error#268485
Poking around the now unfamiliar program, he eventually was able to get a bubble to estimate her location, but settled on an arrow indicating the direction from his omnitool instead. It was pointing downwards, so she had definitely left the apartment.
Letting the omnitool fade away, he ran into the bathroom, reaching down to pick up one of his greaves. On one hand, they were in pretty bad shape, but if he was going out into the station... Better to have some shrapnel poking at him than being unarmored in whatever sector she wound up in. He didn't expect her to understand the difference between a human-friendly area from something like Blood Pack territory.
Having geared up, he grabbed his pistol and holstered that to his hip, he locked the door behind him as he left. As an afterthought, he checked the door logs, last activity was...3 hours ago... Not good. He set out at a brisk pace, pulling up the tracking map on his omnitool to guide him.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Thu Oct 18, 2012 2:40 pm
Her little excursions out and about with Cae hadn't prepared her for this. Not by a long shot. Speaking of long shot? Her decision to go without a weapon was starting to seem like a foolish choice. Tayce had neglected to arm herself on purpose; not seeing a point when she felt relatively safe in her own armor now that she understood her surroundings a bit better.
She was now receiving a crash course in Omega and vowed to never leave anywhere without a weapon or several ever, ever again. At one point Tayce had been pretty sure she was witnessing a mugging in process and was about to intervene, only... the 'victim' had turned around while sprinting and shot their pursuer. Tayce had coughed in surprise and the gunman was suddenly pointing wildly with wide eyes. Slipping away and thanking her cloaking function several times as she made her escape, Tayce hadn't long to wait for her next misadventure.
The first hour alone was more excitement than she could handle; between the 'mugging', sneaking into (and back out of) a club of some sort, getting kicked out of two shops when she finally brought her cloak down, and having to run from a few very loud Batarians (which reminded her to turn her stealth net back on) Tayce was done. More than done. Only she had no idea where to go or what to do now, and no idea how to get back to the apartment even if she wanted to.
Miserable, she shadowed random passerby and listened to their conversations, hoping to pick out a familiar word or two. The only thing she'd accomplished so far was realizing that there was more than one language being spoken here. Clicks and grunts, rumbles and almost-barks, sharp hard noises and the soft rolling of too many vowels. Disheartened again, she took to recording the bits that sounded sort of like what Cae would speak in, trying to associate what was going on with what was said. Consciously pressing hard to try and immerse herself.
In time she started to realize that only the ones in armor were actually interesting. Those in just plain 'clothes' seemed to scurry about quicker, not talking much. Or were heading to the clubs. Or... offering themselves. Both make and female. Those had made her uneasy and she avoided them, instead following Batarians more often than not. The Turians seemed to guess at her presence, getting jumpy and continuously checking behind themselves as if they could hear or smell her. Salarians were a bit much to handle, and the Asari often went to unsavory locations, or would touch another and not say anything at all for long periods of time; which didn't help her much.
For a while there she became fascinated with a really large creature, watching as it seemed to hawk its wares while smoking.
Smoking, of all things.
Amused by this, she stayed in the bazaar for a long time, gravitating towards the shop stalls and recording the exchanges she heard as there was pointing and gesturing, trying to memories sounds with the things pointed at. Eventually another human happened by and Tayce glued herself to his shadow, having an easier time understanding him than the other people here.
Skulking behind "Azzshawle", as he seemed to be called, she gave up turning the recorder on and off as information whizzed by and just settled for constantly filming both sound and audio; deciding she could always review the footage to dissect and learn more later.
There was a brief and frustrating moment as he left where she debated with herself over staying by the shop stalls or following him. It had been hours since she left the apartment, and he'd been the only human she'd seen in all that time...
Ears flattening, she followed him into the unknown, stalking behind as she secretly mimed gestures and tilted her head at the vocal sounds. At one point he seemed to catch on to her presence though, becoming nervous and checking over his shoulder repeatedly before slipping into a building. Tayce ducked through quickly, sliding away from him to avoid bumping into his moving legs.
Scurrying as quietly as possible, which was considerable considering her sound dampeners, Tayce took cover as "Shawle" as she'd taken to calling him in her head scanned the area and did something to his omnitool. A lot of somethings, in fact. Minutes passed and he began to pace, making her tilt her head at him curiously. His body language suggested he was waiting for something, and somewhat nervous about it. A date? Pick up point?
An Asari showed up then, wearing yellowish armor that had a marking she'd seen on a few others. At least, it looked yellow through her visor. Could've been white. That wasn't her focus though, as her new human 'friend' seemed even more agitated as he spoke to her with stage whispers and wild hand gestures. The Asari was as frustratingly calm as ever, if a bit more aggressive than she'd typically seen. The conversation didn't take long though, and soon they had synced up their omnitools briefly before the female made a sort of sarcastic nod with her head and left, leaving the human looking a little pale and even jumpier. Shawle wore another line in the metal floor before leaving, and Tayce didn't make it to the door in time after him before it closed. Cursing her luck, she slunk away and waited, not wanting to open the door right after him when he would see no one there.
She'd either have to wait until someone else passed through, or would give it several long minutes to be safe. Whichever came first.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Tue Nov 06, 2012 10:50 am
Cae made his way through Omega, going as fast as he could while being cautious. He wasn't stupid enough to run around staring at his omnitool, but he was becoming more concerned about her welfare as the minutes went on. Sure, she was a fighter, whether that was due to her armor or her own abilities, but this was Omega. Not even the Council wanted to try taking care of all the criminal and half-legal activities going on here. If she got mixed up in one of the merc gangs on the station, she would be on borrowed time at best.
Her signal first led towards to one of the spaceports, a port he chose to steer clear of due to the club positioned by the airlocks, and more specifically the Asari that lorded over it. He did his best to stay out of Aria's radar. Thankfully the signal seemed to be pointed to the market district, though he rarely visited that particular one for the same reason. Having a destination, he moved faster, ignoring the tracker for now. Better to close the distance than waste time figuring out where exactly she was, for now.
When he arrived, he quickly scanned around the area, ears tweaking when he couldn't see her unmistakable armored form. Everything seemed calm, thankfully. He half expected there to be a pile of bodies from an encounter with Tace. She had combat skill for sure, but she didn't seem to use it that much. Cae had no idea why that was, he'd be off of this rock if he had her strength. With credits to spare.
He was getting distracted though, she didn't seem to be in the market, and checking his omnitool confirmed this. She had heading towards a shadier district near by, though she could have made her way to the other side of the station by now for all he knew. He still had no idea why he couldn't get an exact position on her. Maybe she was cloaked? But why would that matter, most cloaking devices he knew of were tailored around certain frequencies so the user wasn't cut off while going stealth.
Taking a bearing from the map, he headed off again, nearly running into another human. Though this particular human didn't deserve to be counted among the species. He was a rat, but somehow stayed alive to keep causing trouble. Cae flared his biotics and threatened the male, though he didn't have time to follow through even if he wanted too. Someone would take care of him once he slipped up enough. What an a*****e too.
The arrow was moving more as he approached a block of run down but not quite abandoned buildings, which was troubling. Fears speaking up, he hoped she hadn't been attacked and captured, he couldn't think of a reason why she would be out here otherwise.
Passing a doorway, the tracking arrow swung wildly behind him, and he stopped. Looking around, he walked around the side, watching the pointer stay trained on the unassuming warehouse. Mostly sure that she was there, and growing impatient with worry, he worked his way back to the front door. Cautiously opening it with his pistol drawn, he peeked inside, hoping to find anything but the countless bad scenarios that played through his head. A dark and empty room greeted him, and Cae double-checked the omnitool to be sure. She should have been here, and seemed to be moving...maybe.
Taking a few steps into the empty warehouse, he tried to get a better reading from the omnitool, with no luck. Looking around the dark space, his visor filled in some detail, but nothing was out of place. Residual heat that could be from anything, no other emissions that stood out. Cae scratched his head for a moment and re-holstered the pistol, then called out softly, a bit of worry in his tone.
"Tace?"
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Reply
