Two ✦ Video/Open ✦ A Stranger in a Strange Place
[The video is a view of Tali's helmet lit only by the orange glow of an omni-tool. It reflects the book dizzyingly in her visor, glares sparking whenever she turns her head, but the lack of real light renders the image ominously monochrome. Normally Tali would simply look into whatever part of the journal she considered to be the 'camera' at a
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[Don't even start with her, Turian shipmate.]
-I'm not...entirely sure. It's like the walls moved when I looked away. I know it doesn't make any sense, but there's no way this corridor could be this long... I should have at least come to a door, by now.
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[He listens, then shakes his head.]
Stay put. I'll see if I can find you.
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Another wall?
What is this?]
Oh, Keelah, what next?
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[Because that's not a good thing to hear in combination with "what next"?]
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[This is not the tone of a confident Quarian. This is the tone of someone who's just found out exactly how screwed she is.]
But it won't do any good. It looks like whatever this place is doing, I'm stuck for now. Some kind of cell.
[The video shows a very narrow stone cell by the dim light of Tali's Omnitool. It's not even wide enough to lay down in, though she could sit comfortable enough if she kept her knees bent. The stone walls look identical to those found anywhere in the keep...it's just that a box like this, with no doors and no windows...]
It's a good thing I have my suit's air filters, or I'd really have to start worrying.
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Maybe we can find a door. Something. You got in there one way, you can get back out again.
[This is Garrus Determination here. Learned from Shepard herself.]
... How long does the power on the filters last?
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[she sighs and shuts down the video, shuts down the omnitool too, and anything else that she can- including the HUD in her visor. Bulkheads and section seals, a Quarian's suit is like her ship. And when Life Support becomes the only priority?
Tali is abruptly aware of every breath. She sits in the dark and tries very carefully to remain calm. Panic and panting would only make things worse.]
A few days, if I conserve power. Hopefully it won't come to that. Maybe Diol will figure out what happened and everything will go back to normal. Whatever that is, anymore.
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[And now it becomes the bickering. Or something like it. Since one of them is trying to conserve oxygen, and the other is stomping out his door with a gun in one hand and visor options engaged.]
I don't put any hope in that guy. He only shows up when something goes wrong, and even then, doesn't stick around to help out.
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[Because however she got in, she's trapped now and trying to conserve oxygen, Garrus.]
Don't go anywhere without a light! Shepard doesn't need to lose both of us.
[It's not fatalism, it's realistic. People die every day because of careless mistakes, just like this one.]
...I can't even imagine how angry she must be.
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[But that makes him hesitate -- he's already in the hallway. He figured, if he could see, he'd be fine. After all, that was why the damn visor was so customized.]
I can see just fine right now, Tali. Stop shouting at me.
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[It's terse and there are a few unspoken but clearly audible curse words attached. Get a light, Garrus, unless you're already too far.]
Shepard mentioned that it could take less than a minute in the dark to get stuck like this.
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[He's mostly talking to himself, there, and he doesn't expect a real answer.]
[But he flicks the light on his omni-tool to life anyway.]
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...
But she does leave the line open because they might argue, but Garrus is still practically family. And she's worried; Tali can't just sit here alone in the claustrophobic dark and not know that at least someone, somewhere is listening.]
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