January 21st, 2186. It's shortly after 10PM when Leah hops out of a shuttle just outside of the Respite.
#Miner'sRespite – May 14, 2026
Leah passes a few farewell waves as she steps out of the shuttle. She's stripped down her armor plating- which is likely stowed in the duffel bag hanging off her shoulder- leaving her in her black boots and undersuit, the collar of which peeks out from under her green canvas jacket. Although happy to be back in Freedom Falls, the day has been a long one. A fact that's reflected in the heavy smile she wears as she steps into the
It's a slow evening in the Respite owing to the foul weather that's rolled in from the east. Only the dedicated regulars, and a couple of salarians taking shelter from the sleet. A good thing, probably, considering how understaffed the place is at the moment. Varisa, the newest addition to the place's roster, is manning the bar, trying her best to look like she's paying attention to the miner droning on to her. "Uh-huh... mm. Yeah.
Leah does her best to prop up her smile at the greeting, tucking a rogue strand of hair back behind her ear as she approaches the bar. She exchanges a few nods of recognition with a couple of the regulars but, after the day she's had, appears to be in no mood to stop and chit chat. "Hey, Varisa!" she offers the woman in return as she reaches the counter, her presence drawing the attention of the man who had previously been
Wade swivels on his stool at the sound of a voice he recognizes. Upon setting sight on Leah he lets out an audible sigh of relief. "Hey! How did-... uhh-..." he stammers, looking unsure of what to say. "...Everything alright...?" the man decides on. "Hadn't heard anything after this mornin' and-... well..." he shrugs, "...didn't know what to think."
Leah draws in a breath, offering the old miner a few nods of her head as she takes a position beside him at the bar, leaning against the counter and wordlessly helping herself to a scoop of Wade's pretzels. "Yeah." she assures, smile brightening a touch. "And... thank you for your help, Wade." she continues, the man's dismissive shrug causing her to double down, "I mean it. Next time I'm working you can have a round on me."
Wade reaches up to rub at the back of his neck sheepishly. The offer gets a reluctant shrug. "Well... I guess I did come through, huh? Tell ya what, I'll let ya pick up my tab tonight and we'll call it even."
Leah tilts her head, making a show of considering it for just the briefest of moments before scrunching up her nose and shaking her head. "No. No, I think a round should just about cover it." she decides, popping a pretzel into her mouth.
Wade snickers. "Well... can't blame me for tryin'. So... what the hell happened?" he asks, brows furrowing.
Leah chuckles, but the question causes her to draw in a breath, gaze briefly turning towards the counter. "It's been a long day. I'll fill you in later but-... right now? I kiiind of just want to get home and collapse into bed." she explains apologetically.
Wade puts up a hand as if to stop her from explaining herself. "Say no more." he says. "But let pretty boy know I'm waiting on my paycheck!" he adds, offering a wide grin before turning back to his drink.
Leah snorts, offering a roll of her green eyes. She shifts, adjusting the strap on her shoulder as her focus finally turns to Varisa, smile looking just a little lighter than it had moments ago. "How was everything here today...?" she asks.
Varisa listens to the exchange, mildly bemused. When Leah's attention turns to her she blows out a puff of air. "Daytime was a little chaotic, and it's been a long day for everyone... but mostly we've all just been worrying about Va'ynna. It was good to hear she's safe."
Wade just listens, but at the mention of Va'ynna he raises his glass in her honor before taking a swig.
Leah rolls a pretzel between her fingers before popping it into her mouth. "She took a bump on the head-... nothing serious!" she's quick to clarify, "So they're gonna swing by the hospital just to get her checked out. I'm sure you guys will probably hear from her some time tomorrow after a good night's sleep."
Varisa nods, flashing a brief smile. "It must've been terrifying..." she says quietly, a bit of edge to her words, gaze falling away from Leah. "She's lucky to have such... well-armed people looking out for her."
Leah nods in turn, but the bartender's words cause her smile to slip a bit, undoubtedly aware of just how much all of this must weigh on Va'ynna. Especially considering just how dicey things got. "I'm just glad that we were able to bring her home." she says. It's an attempt at keeping things light. And it's certainly not an untrue statement just... sanitized. Devoid of the harsh details. The burning building full of bodies
and the corpse discarded in a patch of rain-soaked forest. The narrow margin for error that separated life and death for Va'ynna. But none of that is Varisa or Wade's concern, so she props up that bright smile of hers and bites into the last pretzel in her hand. "Is Tara in back...?" she asks, shooting a glance towards the door behind Varisa.
Varisa blinks and casts a reflexive glance around the bar. "Oh. I think she went upstairs...? After her shift she was talking to the human and the batarian while she was waiting for you. The ones whose room you covered?"
Leah furrows her brow, briefly looking concerned until she realizes who Varisa is talking about, causing her brows to furrow. "Oh... right." she says, idly kicking the toe of her boot against the ground. She does her best to tuck away that tinge of concern that lingers and, after a brief moment, she shifts away from the counter, offering the pair a smile. "Alright. Well I'm gonna put away some of this gear-..." she nods towards
the backroom, "...and go find her. Hopefully she's ready to go home because I. Am. Exhausted!" she continues with a snicker, shrugging at the strap of her duffel bag as she rounds the counter.
Varisa 's expression shifts slightly as she picks up on Leah's concern, but as she goes on her words are met with a small laugh and a smile. She offers her a wave and a nod as she disappears into the backroom, before moving to check on a patron at the other end of the bar.
Leah makes her way to the security office, quickly transferring her armor from the duffel bag back to the armor crate that it was so hastily taken from this morning. She decides to leave the duffel bag here for now as well. They'll be back for it all before they leave anyhow. As she turns to leave, that nagging concern gives her pause. Sucking in her lips, her gaze returns to the duffel bag perched atop the crate. They're
probably just hanging out and chit chatting. Right? It's not that she doesn't trust RC and Crux. Not exactly. She vouched for them, after all! But there's no denying that they didn't exactly meet under the best of circumstances. And you never really know. She doesn't linger on that thought for too long, opting to grab her Predator, its folded-up form fitting nicely into her inner jacket pocket. She heads back out,
shooting one more smile towards the people at the bar before climbing the stairs and making her way to the room registered to RC and Crux and buzzing the door.
RC is the one that answers the door, the hand not extended to press the interface hidden behind him at the small of his back, just a hint of tension in his shoulders, but he relaxes on spotting Leah. He's wearing a plain white t-shirt, revealing the tattoos on his biceps - on one, four stone pillars covered in thorned vines, and carved with intricate batarian script. On the other - a muscular, half-naked krogan surrounded by wreckage
and flames, wielding a battleaxe in one hand and looking pensively at a skull held in the other. He offers her a polite tilt of his head in greeting. "Leah. Come in," he says, stepping back to make room for her.
The room is one of the Respite's smaller ones. The desk is cluttered with miscellaneous tools, wires, and components. The space is fairly cramped, and like all the rooms, it has only a single bed. There's a few bottles standing on the floor next to it.
Tara is sitting on the edge of said bed, Crux on one side of her and an empty spot on the other, where RC must have been sitting just a moment before. She's grasping a beat-up, haphazardly repaired old game controller in both hands, face scrunched up in an almost comical level of focus as she watches the screen that's on the wall across from the bed - at least until she hears Leah's name, causing her attention to snap away in the
Crux ' attention is split between RC and the screen, until the former mentions Leah's name, which causes their focus to turn fully in that direction. They too are more lightly dressed than usual, wearing a cut-off dark gray shirt with a faded Fishdog Foodshack print. Like RC, the lighter look reveals tattoos - most of their right arm is covered by a sleeve featuring leafy vines dotted with flowers in different colors.
Leah props up her smile as RC appears on the other side of the door and gives an appreciative dip of her head. "Heyyy~." she offers. Though, as she studies him, her green eyes inevitably travel to the shoulder of the arm disappearing behind his back and she cocks an eyebrow. "Expecting trouble...?" she asks as she steps inside, his posture apparantly not having gone unnoticed. It's less accusatory in tone and more of a quiet
acknowledgement that she recognizes that play. She gives the room a quick once over but, as soon as she spots Tara, her smile blossoms into something a bit brighter. Suddenly feeling a bit silly over her previous concerns, she lifts her hand, giving the pair on the bed a small wave with her fingers.
RC shakes his head. "Just being careful," he answers, crossing his arms and lingering near the wall.
Tara looks relieved on seeing Leah, and seems about to say something, but bubbling noises and the distinctive grunts of a video game character taking damage comes from the TV, making her eyes go wide and snap back to the screen. She's quick to thrust the controller in Crux' direction with an urgent, imploring look.
Crux snickers and takes the controller, walking Tara's character out of the water and pausing the game, which seems to be some kind of fantasy RPG set in a lush, summery forest.
Tara looks relieved, offering Crux a quick, thankful tip of her head and turning back to Leah. "You're back."
Leah gives a simple nod to RC's words. Given everything that's transpired she can't exactly argue with that sentiment and, considering the folded up sidearm in the pocket of her jacket, she'd be a hypocrite if she even tried to. She watches the exchange between Tara and Crux with an amused look on her face, her own exhaustion forgotten for now. "I am." she confirms when Tara speaks up, smile widening. "What are you guys
Tara looks to the pause screen, the menu buttons ornate wooden signage. "It's... called Eon Otherworld," she says, speaking slowly to make sure she gets the name right, and looking to Crux afterwards for confirmation of that. "That's me." She indicates the character that waits on the screen next to the inventory, a lithe pointy-eared figure with floral clothes and long blonde hair. "I'm an... elf druid," she adds, once again looking to
Crux, and getting a grin and a nod in return. The text under the avatar confirms as much - Tara - Level 2 Elf Druid.
RC reaches down to grab a bottle from the floor near the foot of the bed, straightening back up and taking a sip.
Leah's smile only grows. As Tara turns her focus back to the screen, she seeks out Crux, mouthing a silent, 'Thank you'. It's nice to know Tara hasn't just been sitting downstairs, waiting for her to return. That she's been doing something fun. Something for herself. And maybe even making some friends in the process. "I like her outfit." she comments, studying the character for a moment longer before looking back to the
Tara smiles a little at the comment about the outfit, the question that follows making her hesitate for a brief moment before nodding, watching the character on the screen reach out her hand in an idle animation, a small songbird landing on her finger.
RC watches silently from the corner, bottle resting against the crook of his arm, a faint hint of a smile on his lips.
Leah had planned on suggesting they walk home. The roads looked clear tonight, so her armor crate shouldn't be an issue. Jasper had already offered to swing by after everything else was dealt with to give them a lift home but, after hours cooped up in a shuttle, the idea of getting out, stretching her legs, and enjoying some fresh, crisp air during a quiet walk home sounded like a nice way to clear her head after a long day.
And boy has it been a long day. A shower and the warm embrace of their comfy couch sounds really nice. But seeing Tara like this causes her to fish inside of her jacket pocket for her omni-tool, fingertips swiping through the interface for a few moments. "Welllllll~" she says as she types out a message, green eyes flashing between her glowing interface and the people on the bed, "Jasper said it's going to be a half
hour or so before he can swing back out this way to pick us up, so why don't you show me what this is all about." she suggests with a playful wiggle of her eyebrows, indicating the game with a small dip of her head towards the screen. After a moment's consideration, her green eyes widen and her focus shifts between RC and Crux, omni-tool interface dissipating as she offers one hand up, palm outward. "I mean-... that is if
you two don't mind company for a little longer...? I totally understand if you want to get to bed!" she backpedals with a snicker.
Crux looks a little surprised, but shakes their head. "We don't mind," they assure with a smile, offering Tara the controller back.
RC sits down at the very foot of the bed, half-angled away from the screen, leaving the spot he previously occupied next to Tara free for Leah.
Leah gives an appreciative glance RC's way as she takes a seat beside Tara, forearms resting against her thighs. She gives Tara a small raise of her brows and turns her focus towards the screen, sucking in her lips as she watches. The battery is certainly feeling depleted tonight. The pesky undersuit is clinging in all the wrong ways and that familiar shuttle-neck stiffness has settled in. It has been a long day. One that