Tay disappeared earlier in the day, driving off to places unknown, to do mysterious things. She was gone for... well, most of the afternoon and into the early evening
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Samus knew other people lived here. She was shown here, for one thing. But despite that vague knowledge that the Gauche was inhabited by people other than her, she hasn't really seen them in her examination of the complex. Not that she's been actively looking for people, only using the fitness room and supply rooms when she has to be in public areas, otherwise skulking about like she expects some monstrous creature to ambush her at every turn.
So when Samus sees the blonde girl, she's a little surprised. The girl seems young to her, but she can also recognize something familiar in the way she carries herself, the way she's also skulking through the complex, trying to avoid contact. It jars something within Samus, something she has to fight to suppress quickly again.
Against her better judgment, against everything she's been trained to do and trained herself to do over the years, Samus finds herself approaching the girl. She won't speak to her, not at first, but just to get a closer look. The recognizable something that she can't
( ... )
Not that this is a Big Unexpected Thing. But she notices her, in that oh-so-casual glance and the obvious filing away of information, even though she doesn't immediately acknowledge her. There is a tall woman approaching from my left. She seems to be approaching me specifically.
It's one of those things that Normal People Don't Do.
When Samus gets a little closer, however, Tay glances over at her more obviously and slows down, tilting her head.
Samus is a little surprised. She expected to pass by Tay and get a feel for her, not without notice exactly, but without comment at least. She pauses in passing by the girl, looking down at her.
"Hm?" she asks, taking a moment to register the question. "Oh, yes, I'm new here." Samus is about ready to start wearing a nametag, as often as she introduces herself. "Samus Aran," she says, offering her hand. She may not miss the fame she had back home, but she misses the fact that she didn't have to tell anyone her name.
"Tay Barnam," she replies, shaking Samus' hand firmly. Warm hand, but not warm enough to be a demon. Good. Humans, she can handle much easier. "So, you just new to Chicago, or did you get sucked in by the Rift?" she asks easily.
Yes, Tay's doing risk assessment. She's a guardian angel to the guy that runs the place, sue her already.
Tay has a strong grip. Stronger than Samus would have guessed from a girl her age and size, but at least it confirms her suspicions. Not that she's one to underestimate anything or anyone, no matter how harmless it may look.
"I was pulled into that Rift," Samus confesses. It's getting a little easier to admit that, at least. No pangs of fear or panic to push down, no images of the Space Pirates finding Adam, floating unoccupied through space, with her suit free for the taking on board. Not until it was time for bed.
"And you?" she adds, not just out of a desire to figure out what it is about Tay that she can't put her finger on, but because she welcomes the distraction. So much for getting better at pushing those things down.
"I'm...definitely not from around here," she confesses. She's not even seen a map of the Unite States yet to grasp what Tay means by "east coast", but she figures that means just how it sounds.
"The rules for the building? Those are up in the lobby, aren't they?" Samus asks, wondering if there's some other set of rules that she hasn't been told yet.
"Yeah, that's the ones." Tay glances around like she's checking to make sure no one else has come out, and then looks down when her stomach growls. "Sorry, I'm been out all day, I should go grab some ramen or something."
Samus should just let the girl go. She has no time or place in her life for other people, really. That always ends up badly. But there's still something about Tay that's bothering her, and she wants to figure out what it is before sending her on her way.
"I was about to make dinner," Samus starts, awkwardly. She's not one to initiate or prolong socialization, and thus, not entirely sure how to go about it. "I...seem to be a decent cook, if you'd...like to join me."
And that's another thing that still perplexes Samus, who, prior to coming over the rift, had never been near a stove in her life. Food just happened where she's from. Even growing up, the Chozo figured her duties as a warrior were more important than making her self-sufficient in the culinary arena, so food just seemed to appear at appointed times then, as well. And now she's not only cooking, but making the best tasting things she's ever tried in her life. She can't even put a name to most of the ingredients (unless they're marked), let alone the end result.
Tay was not expecting that, honestly, but it's... nice. She smiles in a startled way, and nods. "Yeah, that'd be nice. I'd like that." She hasn't had a proper home-cooked meal in quite a while. It's not like she or Buffy can cook.
Samus smiles a bit, then turns around, her expression changing to a thoughtful one. So she's taking Tay home with her. This is...pretty much unprecedented, actually. She's not sure what to make of this.
She leads the way to her apartment. It's no different than any of the others in the Gauche, really. She's added no personal touches, or really taken an opportunity to make a mess of things. There's dishes in the sink, as she's yet to get the hang of that particular domestic chore, but not many, suggesting she's washed them at some point since crossing over the Rift.
"You can get comfortable," she offers, heading toward the kitchen area to examine the ingredients she has. Already that new instinct is kicking in, putting together what she sees into various combinations in her mind, letting her envision the tasty looking results. Samus somehow doubts she'll ever get used to that, as she begins taking things out of the cupboards.
Tay perches on the edge of a chair and watches Samus go through her food. Tay's never been much for cooking. She can do some basic stuff, but it never turns out tasting much good - of course, she learned to cook from the angel equivalent of old military men, so it makes sense.
Samus works on getting things going on the stove, cutting vegetables, chopping meat, all automatic for her. She doesn't even have to think about what she's doing, her body goes through the motions for her.
"Far into the future," Samus answers. "From the Ooromine System. It's in this galaxy, not far from the Sol System." Anything more specific than that gets complicated to get into, so she hopes that'll suffice. She really doesn't want to have to explain why her planet of birth and where she grew up are not one in the same.
"Huh." Tay watches her, kind of entranced by the smooth and practised motions. It's something she'd probably not do too well at even if she was taught. That's just Tay for you.
She rolls her shoulders a bit and shrugs out of the light jacket she was wearing, getting up to wander around, feeling a bit antsy even now. Her shirt has a low back - it's a relatively popular style in Chicago, for reasons the mundane people don't know about, and reveals two rather prominent scars down Tay's back, starting at her shoulder blades.
She doesn't think about them ever, because really, how much do you think about parts of yourself that you never see? But they're there.
"I can't cook worth shit," she comments. "I mean, I can do burgers and pasta okay, and stuff from boxes. But that's about it."
Samus throws some of the ingredients she's been preparing into pots and pans. If she were at all familiar with the food, she'd notice she's making stir fry and rice to put it over. She takes a spatula out of a drawer and begins to turn the ingredients in the pan.
"I never cooked before coming here," Samus confesses. "I didn't have to, and I didn't know how. It just...sort of came to me, I suppose." She tests the rice for consistency, not entirely sure that's why she's doing it, then continues to work on the meat and vegetables.
"I don't even know what I'm making right now," she adds rather dryly. "Or what I'm making it with. Not that I'm going to argue. At least I'm not starving here."
Tay wanders into the kitchen and peers over the various foods cooking. "Looks like stir fry. Stir fry's good, haven't really had much Asian food since I moved here. My cousin liked to get Chinese takeout? Great-grandfather always told him he was gonna get clogged arteries, angel or no, but he never listened."
She sounds a little sad as she talks about her family. She misses them something fierce, being here. Being what she is.
So when Samus sees the blonde girl, she's a little surprised. The girl seems young to her, but she can also recognize something familiar in the way she carries herself, the way she's also skulking through the complex, trying to avoid contact. It jars something within Samus, something she has to fight to suppress quickly again.
Against her better judgment, against everything she's been trained to do and trained herself to do over the years, Samus finds herself approaching the girl. She won't speak to her, not at first, but just to get a closer look. The recognizable something that she can't ( ... )
Reply
Not that this is a Big Unexpected Thing. But she notices her, in that oh-so-casual glance and the obvious filing away of information, even though she doesn't immediately acknowledge her. There is a tall woman approaching from my left. She seems to be approaching me specifically.
It's one of those things that Normal People Don't Do.
When Samus gets a little closer, however, Tay glances over at her more obviously and slows down, tilting her head.
"Don't think I've seen you around, you new?"
Reply
"Hm?" she asks, taking a moment to register the question. "Oh, yes, I'm new here." Samus is about ready to start wearing a nametag, as often as she introduces herself. "Samus Aran," she says, offering her hand. She may not miss the fame she had back home, but she misses the fact that she didn't have to tell anyone her name.
Reply
Yes, Tay's doing risk assessment. She's a guardian angel to the guy that runs the place, sue her already.
Reply
"I was pulled into that Rift," Samus confesses. It's getting a little easier to admit that, at least. No pangs of fear or panic to push down, no images of the Space Pirates finding Adam, floating unoccupied through space, with her suit free for the taking on board. Not until it was time for bed.
"And you?" she adds, not just out of a desire to figure out what it is about Tay that she can't put her finger on, but because she welcomes the distraction. So much for getting better at pushing those things down.
Reply
She rocks back on her heels a bit. "They told you the rules, right?"
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"The rules for the building? Those are up in the lobby, aren't they?" Samus asks, wondering if there's some other set of rules that she hasn't been told yet.
Reply
Reply
"I was about to make dinner," Samus starts, awkwardly. She's not one to initiate or prolong socialization, and thus, not entirely sure how to go about it. "I...seem to be a decent cook, if you'd...like to join me."
And that's another thing that still perplexes Samus, who, prior to coming over the rift, had never been near a stove in her life. Food just happened where she's from. Even growing up, the Chozo figured her duties as a warrior were more important than making her self-sufficient in the culinary arena, so food just seemed to appear at appointed times then, as well. And now she's not only cooking, but making the best tasting things she's ever tried in her life. She can't even put a name to most of the ingredients (unless they're marked), let alone the end result.
Reply
Reply
She leads the way to her apartment. It's no different than any of the others in the Gauche, really. She's added no personal touches, or really taken an opportunity to make a mess of things. There's dishes in the sink, as she's yet to get the hang of that particular domestic chore, but not many, suggesting she's washed them at some point since crossing over the Rift.
"You can get comfortable," she offers, heading toward the kitchen area to examine the ingredients she has. Already that new instinct is kicking in, putting together what she sees into various combinations in her mind, letting her envision the tasty looking results. Samus somehow doubts she'll ever get used to that, as she begins taking things out of the cupboards.
Reply
"So... where are you from?"
Reply
"Far into the future," Samus answers. "From the Ooromine System. It's in this galaxy, not far from the Sol System." Anything more specific than that gets complicated to get into, so she hopes that'll suffice. She really doesn't want to have to explain why her planet of birth and where she grew up are not one in the same.
Reply
She rolls her shoulders a bit and shrugs out of the light jacket she was wearing, getting up to wander around, feeling a bit antsy even now. Her shirt has a low back - it's a relatively popular style in Chicago, for reasons the mundane people don't know about, and reveals two rather prominent scars down Tay's back, starting at her shoulder blades.
She doesn't think about them ever, because really, how much do you think about parts of yourself that you never see? But they're there.
"I can't cook worth shit," she comments. "I mean, I can do burgers and pasta okay, and stuff from boxes. But that's about it."
Reply
"I never cooked before coming here," Samus confesses. "I didn't have to, and I didn't know how. It just...sort of came to me, I suppose." She tests the rice for consistency, not entirely sure that's why she's doing it, then continues to work on the meat and vegetables.
"I don't even know what I'm making right now," she adds rather dryly. "Or what I'm making it with. Not that I'm going to argue. At least I'm not starving here."
Reply
She sounds a little sad as she talks about her family. She misses them something fierce, being here. Being what she is.
Reply
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