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WHO: Tali'zorah vas Normandy & Ghost
WHERE: One of Ghost's safe-houses in bed-stuy
WHEN: A little more than an hour after the town hall meeting calms down
WARNINGS: None so far!
SUMMARY: Tali has some concerns about how Ghost is holding up, so she attempts to locate him.
FORMAT: Quick...? :>

[She knew that Ghost and Sherlock had been friends. More than that, she knew that they had been -- were -- good friends. She's not unfamiliar with the sickening feeling that betrayal can leave in the pit of your stomach, and she doesn't want him to be alone in it.

She isn't sure he's even going to be here in this run-down shack, but it's worth a try to find him.]

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I wanted to make sure you were all right.

[She turned to face the direction the voice had come from.]

I know you were close to Sherlock, and I've been betrayed like that before.

[They'd talked briefly about her father before, after all.]

[she had no way of seeing, behind the mask, his mouth working silently with no sound coming out as he struggled to process that. It was literally the last thing he expected to hear.]

Believe me....I require no consolation for betrayal at this time. The one who does is incarcerated at City Hall. I can give you coordinates.

[Likewise, he doesn't have much insight into how she looks right now behind the mask -- sympathetic, but her stance betrays that well enough.]

I'm not sure if I understand, Ghost.

[He was struggling to assimilate the information himself. The anger he had thought he had control of (belied by every bombed building), his hand inside her heart. He flickered, invisible, visible, invisible. Visible. Intangible. Drifting under cover of an alley, keeping her in his line of sight.]

I have killed many times. I do believe I am the vengeance for those who can't seek it themselves.

[tangible again as he reaches up suddenly to pull at a hanging belt and tighten it on his shoulder, to match the tightening of his throat.]

I was wrong. And pity is the last thing I desire.

[Being friends with Ghost requires a certain amount of ability to piece information together into things that actually make sense. She listens to what he has to say and follows him as he flickers in and out, trying to slide close when she actually sees his form.]

...you're regretting killing the first Skrull.

[Her mask tips down for a moment -- she's thinking -- as he reaches to tighten the belt.]

Why?

[No judgment in her voice, not really. Everyone regretted something from their life, whether they admitted it or not.]

She was collateral.

[collateral from rubble, he didn't need to see, though he could imagine. Collateral from--hypothetical burn victims and the handicapped, and people with spinal injuries--...]

It was a mistake.

[and even that confession is a lie. It was fury and fear that had driven him. And his mind is twisting on itself trying to find an escape and coming up with nothing. There is no justification.]

I am a monster. You should leave.

[More facial expressions that he can't see -- grimacing, frowning. Her voice is careful when she speaks again, glowing eyes from behind her mask focused on his face.]

You were angry that they'd taken your friend. Having feelings doesn't make you a monster, Ghost.

[She shakes her head.]

I can't leave you like this.

[She's felt guilty before. Stupid, even, arguing with Legion about the rules he was breaking by sending the geth evidence of her people torturing them when the quarians had been in the wrong all along with at least some things.

She takes another step closer, gingerly reaching out to rest her hand on his arm.]

[though he'd never admit it, the touch brings some small measure of calm to his scattered thoughts. He's so used to keeping these emotions hidden, he's gotten so good at it that the moment's breather is all he needs to turn back to her, to visibly straighten, running his fingers up her hand in slow, conscious awkward reciprocation]

...Thank you.

[he was recovering, slowly, locking down emotions again, burying the ones that threatened to overwhelm the reason and order he prized so much.]

[She's glad to help even if he isn't going to admit it. He's her friend, and she seems to be bleeding them at an alarming rate lately.]

We don't have to talk about this if you don't want to, but ... just know that I'm here, all right? Sometimes being alone with your thoughts is the most dangerous thing.

[She looks down at his hand on hers. It's -- nice, actually.]

Is that how it has been for you? To be alone with your thoughts?

[his fingers curl inward a little, not quite clasping her hand, unable to read her expression. Two people with masks like that are bound to have a bit of miscommunication...]

[She turns her hand enough to lace her three fingers with his briefly, nodding.]

I spent a lot of time after my finding my father's body blaming myself for not being able to see what he'd been doing. Death -- it happens on the flotilla every day, but it's always infection-related.

[examining her hand briefly takes his mind away from the problem, and he ponders her father for a second, feeling bad but not knowing what to say to alleviate it.]

Do you still feel that pain and blame yourself?

Sometimes. I had to move on from it quickly, since the mission was still going on -- but I always did have a lot of time to myself doing engine adjustments.

[As long as he isn't pulling away, she'll let him examine her hand as long as he wants.]

I see. [thoughtfully trying to change the subject] Your race evolved with hands like these... interesting. We must seem as though we have too many fingers, to you.

Quarians and Turians evolved this way, yes. We've got the same amino-acid chirality.

The other races, though -- the Asari, for example -- have humanoid features for the most part.

[She shakes her head.] It's -- a pain, really, to get weapons specially made.

Weapons are your main concern. [this fact seems to make him mildly sad.]

[She pauses at that.]

My people have been at war for hundreds of years, Ghost. But -- no, not really. That's just one of the few places where I find having a different skeletal structure can be troublesome.

Violence is often the first recourse. I have myself found... other ways, relatively recently, but they always culminate in violence.

[She's not going to get into the ways the quarians have made errors in their war, not right now.]

That doesn't mean it's always the right way. It's just the easiest, in some cases, and people don't like to look for a harder path.

I fight enemies with whom there is no compromise. [god that hurts, Tali. His voice is cold and apathetic, now, removing all the pain] You may have luxuries that I do not.

[Her gaze drops down to their hands.]

I wasn't accusing you of anything, Ghost. I'm the last person you need to tell that sometimes there's no compromising.

[Blah blah blah, heartless machines, etc.]

I'm sorry if you thought I meant...

[She shakes her head. He's not the only person who sometimes has trouble with this 'social interaction' thing.]

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