- Finding out -

Kasumi placed her hand over her eyes. The room seemed too bright. She tried to swallow but her mouth was too dry. She couldn't hear anything at first but as her ears slowly caught on, she heard a cup being placed on a table near her. She dared open her eyes. She had to blink a few times before being able to take in the room. The bed felt different. The window was smaller. The paintings were gone and replaced with weapons. She couldn't make sense of where she was. The silhouette sitting at the table turned around.

"You finally awake. Drink this, it helps" he said and handed her a cup of tea.

Kasumi sat up, slowly realising that she was still in life support, still in Thanes bed.

"You've been out for a couple of hours. The crew have already left the dining hall"

She still felt confused but surprisingly rested. In fact, she was mostly just feeling lightheaded and happy.

"I'm sorry about earlier. I did not think the effect would cause you to fall asleep. I took some time to read up on drells effect on humans and it turns out to be a fairly common side effect if already very tired. I trust you slept well"

"Ehum.." she tried, her throat still dry.

Thane gestured to the cup and Kasumi took a few careful sips. She cleared her throat and gathered herself for a while.

"Yea. Yes, actually. I feel.. surprisingly well"

"Good. None of the other crew members knows you're here and knowing your joy in shadow games, I doubt anyone finds it strange you're missing for now. If you still feel tired, you're more than welcome to sleep here but I have a meeting to attend and will have to take my leave"

Thane closed a book and placed it on the table, stood up and bowed as he made his way out of the room. Kasumi sat there for a while, looking around the room. She'd been there before but she never really had much time exploring it. Still feeling a bit light headed, she let curiosity take her on a trip around Thanes quarters. She looked at his weapon display, imagining how well maintained they must be. She walked over to the table, placed the cup on it and looked at the book Thane had left behind. The title didn't strike her as exciting but she made a mental note of it none the less. She looked around. The room was fairly empty, not a lot of personal items on display. She walked back to the bed and sat down. It was too hard for her taste. She leaned forward, taking a hold of the edge of the bed. Her fingers hit an object, almost a little to large to fit under the bed. She got down infront of the bed pulled out the large metal container. She looked over her shoulder and smiled. Of course she was going to take the oppertunity to check this out! It must contain all kinds of treasures, she thought to herself. It must, as Thane didn't keep anything of interest around the room.
She carefully opened it and felt dissapointed. She only found a few items of clothing, some books about history and the hanars as well as a datapad. Mindlessly she picked up the pad and let the screen wake up. She was instantly greeted with a message from Shepard.

"Come to my quarters at 0900 tonight. I have something I'd like to show you"

That must have been the 'meeting' he just rushed away to! Kasumi felt her cheeks burn. She was reading someones personal messages. This was more than a step to far, even for her. She put the pad back down, closed the lid and hurried it back under Thanes bed. She sat down by the table and let her fingers play along the side of the porslin cup. She took another sip. She damned her curious nature. She wanted to know what kind of relationship the two of them had and how it was evolving but Thane could always hear her activate the cloak or smell her when she was near, so how could she find out without straight out asking?

"I am currently acquiring the requested blueprints"

AI Thane walked up the weapon display and stood there for a while, hands behind his back.

"This is a nice collection" he said.

Kasumi looked at him for a while, almost not wanting taking notice to his first comment. She was tempted to see where this would lead.

"You know the 'real' you? They belong to him.. or, well.. 'you' "

AI Thane looked them for a while, taking in the view.

"I shall code this information into my databank"

He casually walked up to the table.

"I see you have yet to drink your tea. Is this tea the choice of the 'real me'? And how about this book. Is it my favorite?"

She looked at him with a uncertainty. She knew she had coded her own sense of curiousity into her beloved AI but this was almost too much even for her.

"I.. I'm not so sure. I found some other books in that coffert under your bed.."

He walked up to it and looked back at Kasumi.

"Would you mind? It would seem I am unable to pull it out from under the bed on my own"

Kasumi sat at the table for a while, still feeling anxious at the thought of Thane and Sarah together. Needles of desperation started to prick her skin. She turned around, pulled out the box and opened it again. AI Thane looked down into it and took notes of the books. He leaned down and touched the datapad. Kasumi observed him do so but took little to no notice to the potential resoning. After a while he stood back up again.

"I have downloaded all conversations from this datapad. This will help build and modify my persona"

"Wh- wait, what? You did what? Don't do that, that's his personal messages!" Kasumi protested.

"But it's messages from and to 'me'. You've coded me to be as simular to the 'real Thane' as possible. Why is knowing his way of writing messages to the people he care for any different than knowing his favorite books and tea? These are messages saved specifically from 'my' own holo to this datapad. They either hold deep meaning to 'me' or are very important. I see no harm in storing what has already been stored previously"

Kasumi sat in silence. She wasn't sure what to say. Maybe he was right in a way but was she really sure she wanted to take it that far? This AI being so simular to Thane had hurt them both before.

"If it makes you feel any better, you don't have to read them yourself. I'll keep them only as a mean to mend my lacking personality code"

She shot him a quick glance and decided to let it pass. She wouldn't read the messages, she convince herself. She closed the box and pushed it back under the bed.

"Blueprints downloaded. Opening.."

A blue whirl of a lightly transparent hologram soon appeared on the table infront of her, displaying every room, hallway and ventilation systems on the Normandy. Kasumi took the view in. She'd been wandering all these paths many times but seeing them this way made her feel like she would before a well planned heist. It tickled her unwillingly. The idea of spying on Thane left her feeling unfocused, scattered minded.

AI Thane stood looking over her shoulder for a while.

"What seems to be the problem? Where do you want to go?"

Kasumi didn't answer at first. Where did she want to go? Was she really this desperate to find out? While her mind couldn't make heads of tails of how she felt, her hands seemed as stable and reliable as always. She pointed straight at Shepards quarters. AI Thane nodded.

"Unseen and.. eh.. 'unsmelled' "

AI Thane looked at her for a while, analyzing her resons.

"What do you smell?"

"Lavander"

Kasumi smiled at the question. It wasn't a strong scent. It was a very mild oil she used in her baths but none the less, Thane could smell it. As far as she was aware, only he knew about that. AI Thane nodded again and looked back at the holo.

"This ventilation going above commander Shepards quarters - does air exit or enter?" he eventually asked.

Kasumi froze in her seat. He was right. That was the answer! The air had to exit Shepards quarters somewhere! She had a fish tank and required a somewhat larger as well as a seperate ventilation from the rest of the ship.

"Find out!" she told AI Thane.

She hurried out from the room. She found a good place to enter the ventilation leading to Shepard and made sure noone was around. It was already late and most crew members were already sleeping or atleast resigned to their personal quarters.

"The air leaves the room from this ventilation"

Kasumi did not need more confirmation. She made her way into the ventilation and closed the grib behind her. She activated the cloak and made her way to above Shepards quarters with ease. She carefully placed herself above a ventilation grid and tried to get a look inside. The air rushing passed her made it difficult to hear everything clearly but she could see just fine. Sarah and Thane stood infront of each other, seemingly discussing some kind of strategy, looking over a few blueprints and the Normandys planned route for the week. It struck Kasumi as odd since Shepard either decided these things on her own or discussed it with the entire crew. Why would she take this discussion with Thane in private? All kinds of weird thoughts came into Kasumis mind.
Sarah pointed at a few holes in the planned schedule, seemingly inbetween destinations, times usually spent in combat training or upgrading equipment. Thane nodded in agreement after which Shepard stood up. She gestured to something further in the room, turned around and started searching for something under piles of datapads and clothes. Thane smiled, turned around and made his way down the small stairs. Kasumi couldn't see him anymore. She decided to follow. She carefully made her way to a grid with better view.
Thane sat down on the sofa and made himself comfortable. He seemed at home, very relaxed, smiling. He took a quick look around, almost as if only confirming that things hadn't changed more than exploring for the first time. Kasumi knew this wasn't the first time he was here. His entire being screamed it.

Sarah came down the stairs and stood infront of Thane. She took out two tickets from behind her back and looked overly happy. Thane smiled with his teeth at her and stood up, accepting the tickets. Kasumi could hardly believe it. She had never seen him smile like that.
Sarah gestured wildly with her hands, seemingly explaining how she accuired them. They stood like that for a while after which Thane lifted his hand and cupped Sarahs face. He then embraced her. Sarah seemed to melt into his embrace. Kasumis heart stopped for a second and she found it harder to breath. She closed her eyes and focused on calming down before looking back again.

They sat down on the sofa, tickets on the table. They sat like that, talking for a while and not before long, they reached out for each others hands.
Kasumis knees felt weak. She knew something had been going on but she kept pushing the thought away. The urge to jump into Keiji's graybox at that moment were so strong that it was just about to push her over the edge, wanting to scream in agony.

Suddenly Sarah stood up, pointing at Thanes hands. He lifted his left hand, clearly showing his old wedding ring. Sarah crossed her arms over her chest, looking confused. Thane started explaining. Sarah took hold of his sleeve, revealing the other ring around his wrist. She was very obviously upset, not seemingly willing to listen to reason. She turned around. Thane made an attempt to sooth her but she just waved towards the door.
Before exiting the room, he turned around again.

"I would lie if I said that they hold no meaning to me, Sarah. But it's in the past. You know that. My past is something you're going to have to accept as well as my future"

The words seemed to hold no meaning to Sarah, or maybe she didn't want them to. Thane left the room. Sarah walked into the bathroom and turned on the shower. Kasumi sat there for a while, almost feeling like ice, letting the air passing through the ventilation fill her senses. Maybe it wasn't as serious as she thought. Sarah knew about Irikah but seemed to not understand how Thanes past was moulding him still today.
Before leaving, she wanted to find out more about those tickets. She carefully undid the grid and made her way down to the table and shot the tickets a quick look. They were to a book fair, one with history books, on the Citadel day after tomorrow.
She thought no more of it, just made her way back up the ventilation and closed the grib before Shepard came back out from the bathroom.

On the way back to her own quarters, she noticed that Thanes door was locked. She hurried back into her own room. She wasn't sure what to feel at that point. The urge to flee grew stronger. She still didn't want to face her feelings, still afraid to face her past or any kind of future. She had yet to gather enough strength to destroy Keiji's graybox and now here she was, yet again faced by another emotional dilemma.

To take her mind off of things, she started looking into the book fair. It had history books, most of them not for sale but only display. Some of them hardly read, some of them behind thick glas so that people could only get a chance to enjoy their mere existence.

As she sat there, reading up on what more this fair had to offer, her door hissed open and Sarah came in, hair still wet from the shower. She sat down on the sofa.

"Please tell me you got whiskey.." she whispered, leaning her head back.

If she only knew that Kasumi was more than aware of why she was in this current state of mind..

"I'm having a bad day" she said and gave Kasumi a dry smile.

Kasumi got up and poured two glasses of whiskey. She handed one to Sarah who drank the entire content in one go. Kasumi smiled at her and handed her the other glas as she refilled the first one for herself. She sat down next to Sarah, pulled her legs up and pretended like nothing.

"Why's that now?"

"Oh, pff.. it's nothing.. just me being me"

She sat silent for a while, letting the whiskey slowly swirl around the icecubes.

"So hey, did I see that correctly or were you just looking into that book fair on the Citadel?"

"Ehum, yea, actually. Damn, nothing passes your eye.." Kasumi said with a little smirk.

"Super sight, warning you!" Sarah joked and looked back down into her glas. "Thing is.. I bought these tickets to that fair but I.. eh, I won't have time to go. Maybe you could take them off of my hand, hm? You'd be doing me a favor, actually.."

Kasumi wasn't sure what to answer at first. She honestly didn't have much interest in history books but at the same time, it could prove interesting if they were housing some more rare books that 'you're not allowed to touch'. She could feel that sting of curiousity point her in the back.

"Sure, actually.. yea! I heard there's some nice treasures on display and it might be nice to get my mind off of things myself"

"Good! I'm glad - here! Take em"

Sarah stood up, glas still in hand. She handed Kasumi the tickets and went for the whiskey bottle.

"I am taking this with me. Good night, miss GoTo"

Before leaving, she turned around again, pointing towards Thanes room.

"You should take Thane with you. I heard he'd love to go.."