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Lady Argentum Draconis Vice Captain
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 Posted: Sun Apr 08, 2012 2:49 pm
"Tali." Andy said looking over the other femme. "That's...really pretty I like it." she picked up her bag and put it over her shoulder. "Well, I might be able to figure something out with the bathroom and food, one of my mom's and my grandfather are engineers. They might be able to come up with some means of sterilizing everything for you so you can use it." she pulled back her sleeve and glanced at her watch. "I gotta run, I'm pushing late as it is." she looked around the room. "You'll be okay otherwise?"
She watched Tali nod and assure her that she'd be fine, then Andy ran to the other room and grabbed her keys and phone, and then darted out the door to her car. She sighed as she got in and started it. It was really tempting to call in, there was something about the mysterious femme in her apartment that made her want to stay, and get to know her better. There would hopefully be time for that later, right now she just had to get through her shift at the lab.
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Posted: Sun Apr 08, 2012 4:22 pm
Tali watched Andy leave then carefully got up herself and decided to look around. The apartment was pretty simple in and of itself, a kitchen area that doubled as a dinning area, living room connected to that, just the one bedroom though and bath. The thing that got her attention though was the sheer number of electronic books, parts, and set ups around the apartment.
Tali couldn't help herself and poked through all of them. Even though at first impressions Andy had seemed more like some of the soldier's she'd known, it was obvious there was more to the other woman. Some of her work was incredibly detailed and must have taken her hours if not days to complete. Better yet, some of it used old pieces that she'd obviously re-purposed herself for their new uses. Tali could respect that, resourcefulness was something that her own people prized above all else. She smiled behind the mask and couldn't stop herself from figuring out what all the devices around the apartment did. She only remembered to stop and eat some of the processed food she carried on her once she started to feel lightheaded.
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Lady Argentum Draconis Vice Captain
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Lady Argentum Draconis Vice Captain
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Posted: Sun Apr 08, 2012 7:41 pm
Andy made her calls to her family while she was at work. With any luck the group of them could come up with a way to keep at least part of the apartment clean for Tali's use. Of course there was no guarantee that Tali would stay...but they could always try and make it portable...something she could take with her if or when...she left...a thought that rather depressed Andy for some reason.
Andy sighed, she had no right to get all worked up about some girl she rescued from a bar last night, but something...something about her that made Andy want to make sure she'd be okay.
Andy had never been so happy to see the end of the day, she picked up some food and then drove home and was surprised to see her grandfather leaving the apartment. Well credit to the old man he did move fast when faced with a project. She skirted around him and said good bye then went to the kitchen while Tali closed the door. "So I picked up some stuff...not sure you can use it...but maybe..." Andy gave her a half smile.
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Posted: Mon Apr 09, 2012 6:21 pm
"I appreciate the thought none the less." Tali said making sure the warmth was in her voice. It was so hard sometimes being unable to actually express how you were feeling. Some things were easy to convey with body language, nervousness, fear, sorrow, but then there were things like happiness which relied heavily on facial expression. She knew of course that her posture said a lot about her mood no matter what...but...sometimes Tali just wanted to smile and actually have people see it...to have those conversations with the face that didn't require words. Her suit was her lifeline, but it was also her prison.
Tali came closer to the counter and watched Andy pull food stuffs out of bags. "I...wanted you to know...that I really do appreciate everything...We just met and you've done so much to try and help me, I just...why?" she asked spreading her hands. "There's so much involved...and the cost...I know it will be staggering...its not easy for my people to exist outside the flotilla...it wasn't even easy existing then. There was always danger, something could go wrong so easily...I just..." she trailed off at a loss.
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Lady Argentum Draconis Vice Captain
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Lady Argentum Draconis Vice Captain
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Posted: Mon Apr 09, 2012 8:18 pm
Andy stopped what she was doing and looked towards the other femme. Even though she couldn't see Tali's face she could sense the relief that radiated off of her, well that and confusion. She'd been worried about this sort of stuff, things Andy took for granted everyday were serious business for this girl and obviously her race on the whole.
Andy swallowed and drummed her fingers on the counter. "Ah...well..." she sighed. "You...just look so lonely...and worried. People don't drink like that unless they're troubled, I would know...seen it lots." she paused. "And...well you obviously have problems." she glanced towards Tali feeling foolish. "I just..." she felt her cheeks starting to heat. "I want..." she played with the edge of a plastic bag. "I just want to make sure you're okay." she said looking at the counter.
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Posted: Mon Apr 09, 2012 10:08 pm
Tali blinked watching Andy. She was...was she really embarrassed, and concerned about her? Tali felt her own cheeks heating and was glad for once that her mask obscured her face. "I...thank you. Thank you Andy." Tali looked down at her hands and wrung them feeling a bit nervous. There had been a lot of people who'd looked out for her over the years, but this woman, this stranger, was going further than anyone else she'd ever met. "I don't know what to say..."
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Lady Argentum Draconis Vice Captain
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Lady Argentum Draconis Vice Captain
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Posted: Mon Apr 09, 2012 10:51 pm
Andy blushed harder. "You...don't have to say anything, Tali. Hey, if we can make this stuff portable, you can take it when you get your feet under you and get your own place." she tried to toss it off lightly, but deep down it bothered her that Tali would leave.
"Uh...Anyway, the stuff I bought." She slid a gallon of what claimed to be sterile water over to her. "Think that will be okay? I also got some food, maybe we can find away to uh...do something about it." she slid the packages over. "Microwaves emit radiation and might be possible if I fiddle with the settings to do something that way...at least temporarily." she glanced up and waited to see what the other femme would say. "I can always figure something else out if this doesn't work."
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Posted: Tue Apr 10, 2012 6:09 pm
Tali nodded absently. "Leave...right..." she got the impression that for some strange reason that bothered Andy. Why she had no clue, but it was still there whether she liked it or not. She wondered for a moment if she should reach out and touch the other femme, but was immediately blocked by the gallon of water in front of her. She blinked and picked it up turning the packaging in her hands. The plastic declared the water inside to be sterile, but Tali was sure she'd have to probably filter it again anyway. The prospect though...thrilled her. Being able to have a drink of water without having to practically break it down into its base components to get it clean. "Oh, Andy...thank you!" she said hugging the jug to her like a toy.
She looked over the other packages of food and nodded about the radiation. "It would have to be very carefully done..." she said turning them over to read the backs. Mostly it was freeze dried items like meat, fruit, and veggies, all of it of course would have to be processed again for her, but the prospect of having a real meal was in fact there, instead of the tasteless processed food she kept on her. In fact combining some of the veggies and meat with the water would make a serviceable soup maybe. Tali bit her lip trying to keep from tears. She reverently set the jug on the counter and came around slowly, then unable to stop herself flung herself in Andy's arms. "Ancestors bless you, Andy Clarke. Bless you!" she managed to get out around tears that she couldn't control. Her body shaking gently against Andy's.
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Lady Argentum Draconis Vice Captain
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Lady Argentum Draconis Vice Captain
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Posted: Tue Apr 10, 2012 10:00 pm
Andy tensed up as Tali threw her arms around her. She wasn't exactly sure what she should do, but found herself putting her arms around the slender femme and holding her close, stroking her back as she cried. "So'kay..." she smiled a bit and hugged her tight. "You've obviously had it rough, sounds about time things got better for you." she reached down and tilted Tali's face up and smiled. "I got your back."
She stared into those glowing blue eyes and felt little fish swim up and down her back. She shivered slightly and then let go of Tali. "I..just want you to know that. I'm here for you, if you need me." she coughed and went to rummage in the fridge to cover the fact she was starting to blush again. A beer sounded good right about now anyway.
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Posted: Wed Apr 11, 2012 8:01 pm
Adjusting, at least in terms of sharing the apartment with Andy was the easy part for Tali. The big femme sectioned off a part of the living room for her and got her a cot and chest of drawers, she'd apologized that it wasn't more private, but Tali had waved away her concerns. She'd definitely had worse. Besides Andy wasn't terrible to live with. She was only home what seemed a few hours every day, most of them asleep, and the days she was home she never stayed in the living room past 10 or so unless they were watching TV or working on one of Andy's miscellaneous projects trying to make them functional.
After a few weeks though, and Tali's quiet efforts to procure her own employment had failed miserably, she'd started doing some of the household chores much to Andy's shock and quite possible horror. She'd sat down with the other woman and explained that she felt useless and needed to do something. She'd watched Andy crawl home exhausted on more than one occasion after working at the lab and then bouncing at one of the numerous clubs she worked, and felt that cleaning, laundry, shopping and doing the dishes was the least she could do.
"Besides, I owe you one." She'd said brightly at the end of the conversation. Of course Tali felt she owed Andy more than one. Between food, water, and the sterilization arrays the Clarke family and Garrus's had created and installed in the bathroom and in what appeared to be a toaster oven in the kitchen for using on her food, Tali felt she might just owe Andy her life.
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Lady Argentum Draconis Vice Captain
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Lady Argentum Draconis Vice Captain
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Posted: Thu Apr 12, 2012 7:42 pm
Andy hadn't liked it it all. Tali was her guest, but now she was doing everything but the cooking, and Andy was sure that one of these days she was going to find the other girl doing that too. On the other hand it was nice to come home and not have to spend extra time or her days off doing chores.
It also freed up a lot of time to just do nothing and be with Tali, and that of course wasn't a terrible thing at all. Andy had found that despite herself she had feelings for her unusual house guest. There was just something about her, the way she moved and conducted herself, she seemed to fit in the empty place Andy hadn't known existed in her life. She kept all that to herself though. Tali had enough on her plate without having to deal with Andy's emotions.
Andy absently watched Tali arrange some things in her little space while she sipped on a beer. It was amazing how many things Tali had produced from pockets Andy hadn't even know existed on the suit. She watched the other femme run her fingers over a reasonably sized rock then sigh and move to sit on the couch.
"What's with the rock?" Andy asked. "I've seen you sigh at it before." she meant to sound playful, but was afraid she came off as sarcastic.
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Posted: Fri Apr 13, 2012 8:10 pm
"Oh, um...that..." she said starting to wring her hands. "Its...umm...well its a rock..." she started to blush behind her mask and wanted to kick herself for sounding stupid. "Its...from my home planet..." she said slowly. The hurt was still fresh for her. Her people had come so far...and now she and many others were trapped, far away from the home world they had only just reclaimed and would likely never see again. Even if they started out today they would never in their lifetime, or even their children's see it again.
"For 300 years my people were in exile from our home planet. We made..." she hesitated unsure what to say. "Mistakes..." she settled with. "We created synthetic life and were then afraid of it when it started to gain sentience. We tried to destroy it...but..." she shook her head. "We were driven from our home world and all our colonies...forced to wander the stars. Its partially why our immune systems are so weak, confinement on ships." she said. "In a stupid move my people made an attempt to reclaim our home, we were successful, but many of us are trapped here now on your planet..." she gazed off into space. "I'm lucky...I...got to walk on the surface of Rannoch...take off my mask and feel the breeze against my skin...and I have that rock...its all I have left of my home."
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Lady Argentum Draconis Vice Captain
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Lady Argentum Draconis Vice Captain
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Posted: Sun Apr 15, 2012 12:46 am
Andy nodded slowly listening to Tali talk of her people's history. She swallowed hard and reached over taking one of Tali's hands in her own and giving it a slight squeeze. "I'm sorry..." she said quietly. "I...I can't imagine how you must feel...to have gained something that incredible only to have it taken away just as suddenly." she set the can in her hand down and slid closer putting an arm around Tali in what she hoped was a comforting manner.
She gave Tali a squeeze and then turned the other femme's face towards her own and looked into the bright blue eyes behind the mask. Andy wasn't sure but she was pretty sure she could see the sadness that lurked in the depths of those blue orbs. She had gotten fairly good at reading Tali's body language and seeing the very subtle differences in the other girls eyes. "Was...it beautiful? Your Rannoch?" she asked placing her other hand on Tali's waist.
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Posted: Sun Apr 15, 2012 2:55 pm
Tali stared straight into Andy's hazel eyes. She shivered a bit despite the suit at Andy holding her so close. There was a tenderness in the other woman's eyes, a look that made Tali forget herself and swallow hard.
"It...it was a desert planet mostly..." she managed to get out. "Life...only really survived along the rivers...and the coastlines..." she swallowed again having lost her train of thought. She just stared back at Andy one of her hands hesitantly sliding up Andy's arm almost of its own violation. She turned slightly making her face Andy more squarely. "But even then...not even the Presidium on the Citadel was more beautiful..." she managed to get out. She placed her hand just on the base of Andy's neck, her fingers threading through the blonde streaked hair. Were those streaks natural? She'd never asked...she thought they were though...she saw no sign of dye that most other people would have had to keep around to maintain such an unusual hair color. She felt silly wondering about Andy's hair when the position they were in was probably a larger concern. Instead of questioning it Tali's eyes fluttered closed and her head tilted up slightly.
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Lady Argentum Draconis Vice Captain
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Lady Argentum Draconis Vice Captain
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Posted: Tue Apr 17, 2012 9:13 am
Andy leaned closer, the fact that Tali was wearing a mask slipping her mind. At the last second she stopped and swallowed hard. "I'm...sorry..." she said and quickly let go of Tali and got up from the couch. "I shouldn't have. You've got enough going on right now..." she scratched the back of her head absently. "Sorry..."
She stood there for a few seconds and bit her lip, unsure what to do. "I...yeah I'm just gonna...yeah..." she managed to get out and walked over to her room and closed the door, not hearing Tali calling her back.
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