Mass Effect: Inspiration
That Spark
Disclaimer: I do not own Mass Effect
At first, it was something small, something he could easily forget. This human was crazy and insane, to a point. There was nothing interesting about her; she was a human, whoopdedoo. Though, even as he kept telling himself this, he couldn't help but constantly think about Commander Reynolds. Kandros sighed, it wasn't like three days ago when he caught himself checking her out as she walked away, no, this time it was different. This time she kept lingering on his mind, he kept wondering what she was doing currently, what was the story behind the scar on the side of her face, why did she act the way she did sometimes, and where did she go when she spaced out? More importantly, why did she space out?
There was something Tanil was hiding, Kandros could feel it, but he had no idea what it was, though it may in fact be her job, and whatever secret things she needed to do for the Alliance as well as the Council. Amazing, a human working for both the Alliance and the Council to deal with the death of a spectre, he never imagined it would be so hard to deal with the death of a spectre. Why the hell was he even thinking about her right now? No, he was probably never going to see her again since she was too busy with… whatever she was doing for her job. Kandros quickly shook his head, shaking off the thoughts of Tanil, focus on something else. Kandros glanced around, enjoying the beauty of the Presidium, in peace, and without a human tagging along. Though Tanil was right, the artificial sun light did make the Citadel seem more… homey. Spirits, he was thinking about her again….
Kandros continued walking through the market, keeping his eyes to the scenery and enjoying the sights, trying his best to stop his mine from wondering back to the image of Tanil's scar. He was failing at it too… Spirits. Kandros's eyes stopped wondering towards Apollo's Café, at a lone human sitting at a table with a data pad in hand. It couldn't be, if it was she looked like a wreck, even if all he saw the back of her head. Her hair looked like a mess and she was sort of… stooped over the table while she was looking at her data pad. Maybe Tanil got some bad news recently? Kandros took cautious steps towards the human at the table, was it even her? Tanil wasn't in her uniform, nor was she wearing the jacket she had on the other day, instead she was wearing a white T-shirt and pants. The thing that really made Tanil look like a wreck from a distance was the fact that her hair looked like she had just been rolling around in her bed all night and her clothing looked way too big for a human her size.
Kandros kept steadily approaching the table with the woman, a little bit closer and he would be able to notice if she had a scar on her face or not, lucky for him in the spot she was sitting he could see the left side of her face. Kandros suddenly froze, his eyes instantly landing on the scar that rang down the length of Tanil's face, so it was her; she looked like shit. Kandros could see now that Tanil's eyes were blood shot, now it was obvious that she hadn't slept.
Tanil stood at the table, a cup full of cold coffee sat next to her elbow that was propped up on the table as her hand held the data pad, her other hand rested in a ball against her cheek as she studied the information on her data pad. She was in her own little world as her eyes scanned across the endless amount of words on the pad, she didn't even know that Kandros was standing over her next to the table. The spark that was usually in her eyes had diminished and were now replaced by blood from her lack of sleep and about any color had completely drained from her face, the only color being the redness of her scar.
"Spirits, you look like shit."
Tanil moved, blinking some tears into her eyes, she felt like she had been staring at the damned data pad forever that she had even forgot to blink. Tanil slowly moved her head, catching the figure at the corner of her eye and making her head tilt up to see a Turian looking down at her. The familiar white stripe on his mandible caught her eye, and his body language automatically told her he was concerned; she quickly forced a smile from her lips. "Kandros, thanks for noticing." She said, her voice was a hoarse and she quickly coughed to clear her throat. "Sorry about that." Her voice was normal now, but she could tell that didn't make Kandros worry any less.
"What's happened to you? I only let you go three days ago." Kandros noticed, taking a seat at the table, he didn't care if Tanil didn't invite him to sit; this was serious.
Tanil sighed, lowering her data pad and slowly running a hand through her hair. "Nothing, I'm fine, just not used to living in such short days. Twenty-four days and then down to twenty, I'm just not used to it." Tanil said, trying her best to sound normal, Kandros obviously wasn't buying it.
"Don't lie to me, I can tell when you're lying to me. Spirits, have you seen yourself in a mirror?" Kandros asked, the amount of blood in Tanil's eyes was scary. Tanil held back her laugh, he could tell when she was lying but she could read Kandros like he was a book. Kandros was right, she had refused to look at her reflection since she first did when she entered her apartment for the first time that first night, seeing the scar brought back to many memories, but even without seeing it, she still couldn't sleep.
"I'm fine Kandros. I've just been busy doing homework for the Alliance." Tanil explained, blinking a couple of times to try and bring back some life to herself.
"Homework?"
Tanil held up the data pad. "I got a message from the Alliance the other day. They want me to deal with the entire crew of the Normandy. Thank them for their service to the Council and the Alliance, blah blah. They want me to give them compensation for their help in the battles against Saren and the Geth. They're giving me everything at my disposal to make the crew members happy. Unfortunately, for most of the Alliance troops, I'm essentially firing all of them, an "honorable" discharge for their unwavering service to the Alliance. For all the alien crew members I have to say thanks but we don't appreciate having aliens within the Alliance. The compensation I'm giving the aliens has to be good enough for the Alliance to look good, unfortunately… I don't have their personnel files to even think about any type of compensation." Tanil explained, dropping the data pad on the table. "I've been reading through the entirety of the reports that Shepard submitted to the Council for any sort of clue on the non-Alliance crew members but I got nothing. Once I figure out what to do for them I then have to go through miles of paperwork to let it slide, the Alliance will let it happen no matter what, I just have to fill everything out."
Kandros listened intently, lightly scratching his mandible as the thought about it. "Maybe I can help you at least. One of the crew members was a turian, if I recall."
Tanil picked up the data pad, quickly skimming through the alien crew members. "A quarian, a krogan, an asari, and… one turian, Garrus Vakarian." She said, surprised by the fact that Kandros knew there was a turian in the crew.
Kandros nodded, "Of course, Vakarian, how could I forget. He used to work for C-Sec until he ran off with Commander Shepard to take down Saren. I can give you an easy answer for what to get him." He said, smiling a little bit.
Tanil's eye brow raised, curious that Kandros could even figure out what the hell to give Garrus when she couldn't. "What?"
"A sniper rifle."
Tanil quickly covered her mouth to muffle her sudden burst of laughter. "I'm being serious! I can't just give this guy a sniper rifle! I have to give him something more a job maybe! He quit C-Sec too, that's even more of a reason for me to get him something more other than a damn sniper rifle!" she said, still holding back laughter.
"A job? You can do that?"
Tanil took a deep breath, calming herself from the stupid answer… a sniper rifle, spirits… what? "I can do anything remember. The Alliance and the Council is giving me anything for compensating the crew of the Normandy. I can get Vakarian a job, hell I can do that for anyone. I already have that down for the majority of the Alliance crew members. The only problem is what job to get those who aren't Alliance; I don't know their skill sets or what they're interested in. As far as I can tell the asari, Dr. T'soni, is a scientist who researches Protheans she was the daughter of a matriarch. The quarian, Tali'Zorah nar Rayya, you know quarian on her pilgrimage; the best thing I can think of doing for her is sending her a bottle of antibiotics. The krogan, sp-.." Tanil stopped herself from saying spirits. "I'm tempted to buy him a pair of testicles from a random alien."
"I would suggest, for a krogan, just some medicine for his people. I'd prefer you not go off and chop someone's…" Kandros stopped; no, he was not going to say that. "I can't help you with the quarian, but might I suggest something for Vakarian and the asari?" Tanil nodded, though it looked like she was up for any suggestions at this point. "Vakarian is an excellent soldier, good with a sniper rifle. I can easily pull a few strings to get him his own squad. After working with Commander Shepard, he probably has a sense of justice now, you can use that. Give him the resources he needs to make a difference where it matters, I would suggest putting Omega into his head, a lot of difference needs to be made there." Tanil considered it, rubbing her chin; Kandros was right, she had never been there, but everyone knew what kind of dive Omega was.
"As for the asari, they can make for pretty good information brokers. It sounds like Dr. T'soni already knows a lot about Protheans, and that's information a lot of people want to know, that can be her starting point as a new job, if she finds and interest in it she can expand her business. As for where to start as an information broker, send her to Illium, it's the best planet for her to start at." Kandros said, despite his best efforts, he found himself leaning forward as he talked with Tanil; he was actually enjoying talking with her again.
Tanil rubbed her eyes slightly, the lack of sleep was getting to her a little. "That's not a bad idea. I can definitely get her some clients to start with as well, and I can more than easily get her transportation to Illium." She said, instantly opening up her omni-tool to jot down the notes for Dr. T'soni and Vakarian. "At least with this now I'll have less homework to figure out when I finally get back to work at my office." She closed down her omni-tool and rubbed her eyes, she was exhausted but she finally organized what the hell to do for the majority of the crew members now. Tanil sighed, looking up at Kandros who was now looking very pleased with helping her, and relaxed to be around her. She didn't smile, but it was nice to know that Kandros wasn't actually annoyed to be around her anymore, granted she wasn't being strange and crazy today, she was actually… normal, so to speak. "Thank you, Kandros. It wasn't much, but you really helped me out." She said, grabbing the cold cup of coffee.
Kandros smiled, and found himself reaching out and resting his hand on Tanil's forearm, making her look up with surprise. "Anytime, Tanil." He said, Tanil found herself staring, unsure of what the hell she was reading off of Kandros; she knew body language but this, she had no idea what this was that she saw now. Kandros stood up then, letting go of Tanil's forearm. "Take care of yourself; I'll be looking forward to that drink you said we'd share." Kandros turned, and walked away, Tanil quickly turned and watched Kandros leave. Tanil continued to stare, watching as Kandros looked over his shoulder for a second to see her still bewildered expression and it made him grin.
Tanil leaned back, looking back at the table as she tried to sort out what the hell she just saw from Kandros. She had a lot of experience with emotions and facial expressions, as well as body language, but right now, she was at a loss of what she just saw from Kandros.
Tanil was in her apartment, the data pad with information on the Normandy's crew was sitting on the desk next to the bathroom while Tanil sat at the foot of the bed with her knees pulled up to her chest. She was still busily trying to sort out what happened today with Kandros, but at the same time, she was trying to get herself to fall asleep, good luck with that.
When Tanil was alone, it was hard to enter the mode to get rid of the thoughts. Even now, she could feel her hands shaking slightly as she held her knees to her chest, she kept her breathing steady but she felt her whole body trembling. Every time she tried to close her eyes she saw the same thing over and over again, she saw it even now, but she had to keep her cool. The side of Tanil's face burned, it felt as if the scar was no longer scar, but the deep gash that she had received during the battle. Blood dripped down her face, rolling down and dripping at her chin.
Tanil shook, keeping her eyes straight, ignoring the feeling of blood now on her hands. There were people screaming, gun fires, people running by and screaming or falling over, dead. Tanil watched as the events started to unfold in her apartment, there was a dead body in front of her, a friend of hers who got shot, blood and guts spilling out of him from the intense puncture wounds. A pistol was beside her, the very same N7 Paladin that she carried around with her now, it had saved her then, and she kept it on her person ever since. A dead batarian was nearby, the pirate that took an omni-blade to Tanil's face, giving her the bleeding gash on the side of her face. Alliance troops were falling back, there were just too many batarians, they came looking to wipe out the colony, and there was no way they could stand a chance. Tanil glanced over at the pistol and took it in her hand, she left her dead friend there, and shooting down as many batarians she could before retreating with the rest of the Alliance troops.
Tanil sat at the foot of her bed still, the pain from the scar was gone, and the feeling of blood was no longer there. She stared forward, closing her eyes slightly as she buried her face in her hands, so much for sleeping tonight. Tanil got up and went to the data pad sitting on the desk, at least she could do more work to burn through the night, it was only 6 hours on the Citadel at least.