Haven in Hell (Atroxa & WorldEater)

[Atroxa]

​

Omega was about the last place you wanted to raise a child, but as it were, it happened all the time. Most people who were on the floating hellish rock weren't there exactly by choice, some were no doubt, but most were either there because they had no other option (usually they were wanted in Council space for one reason or another, leaving the Terminus or free systems), or they had come to Omega seeking their fortunes and instead found ruin, being forced into becoming permanent residents. The small majority of people who were on Omega by choice were a various assortment of criminals, mercenaries, con men, and other wastes of sentient life, rejects from society. Just about everything you could think of was legal on Omega, drugs, prostitution, slavery, and even the things what were technically illegal were only punishable if you effected some one who mattered. You could steal, rob, mug, assault, even murder, and unless you were stupid enough to get caught or target some one powerful enough to track you down, then you could pretty much get away with it.

Everyone who lived on Omega was either a predator, or they were prey, which you were could change in an instant, but there were definitely those who tended to be one more than the other. Coming to Omega either elevated you to being a predator, hardened and sharpened you like a steel dagger, or dragged you down to the rocks and broke you. More than anything it was hard for anyone born on the chaotic station to have a chance at what the majority of the galaxy considered a 'normal' life. They weren't likely to become functioning, contributing members of society, most of them never even left Omega. They either became too ingrained into the backwards society, almost institutionalized, or they died before having the chance to escape.

Teagan was too young to say yet exactly which of those two reasons were the one keeping her on Omega, but anyone who knew her would probably lean towards the first. Youth was not a determining factor on corruption or innocence here, and though she was only seventeen, the girl was as hard and mean as people twice her age. Living on the station was said to not only shorten your life expectancy but to condense what years you did survive, so that one year on Omega was equal to two years anywhere else as far as how much stress you endured and how many experiences you encountered. There was never a slow day. That being the case, Teagan was equivalent to being thirty-two, not seventeen, though that wasn't to say she was the most mature person or anything, but she lacked the naivete of some one her age from say, the Citadel.

Her mother had been a drug addict and a prostitute, and that was the world she had grown up in, she'd cared for herself for most of her life, making it official when she was fourteen. Ironically, the streets were safer than remaining with her mother. Three years later, and she was firmly on her own feet; she was still homeless, bouncing around from place to place when she had the option to do so, sleeping on the streets when she didn't. She wasn't dead though, and Teagan considered that a success. It was easy for people to look at her and think nothing of the girl, to try and take advantage of her in various ways, mistake her for prey. But Teagan was a predator. She was small, yes, the top of her head only just brushing 5'4”, and her frame lean, bordering on malnourished from a life of little food and what food she did get not exactly being of the best quality. Her natural hair color was a dark brown, but she generally kept it dyed some crazy color, currently cut into a mohawk that was dyed three different colors, vibrant green, yellow, and pink, and her green eyes were sharp and intelligent. Her pale skin was decorated with tattoos, her right arm almost completely covered by them, with a fair few on her back and left arm as well, with a few scattered about elsewhere on her body, and piercings in her ears, nose, lips, and eyebrows.

Teagan blended into the crowds on Omega rather easily, though that shouldn't be very surprising really, but it was required for her to make her living. The girl had done a lot since leaving home to survive, not all of it she was proud of but she was proud of surviving at all. Despite her rather rough nature, she didn't really like to hurt people, if only because it caused a lot of problems. You hurt some one, go after them in any sort of a personal way, and it always seemed to come back on you. So she kept things anonymous and quick, with as little contact as possible. If things went right, her targets would never even see her face. Teagan made most of her money being a pick pocket. She would occasionally have to do more complicated work to be able to at least eat, but for the most part, picking pockets let her get by just fine.

So far today though, she hadn't had a lot of luck. Once she'd been spotted and had to run, and then the other two people she'd picked hadn't had much on them, a common problem here. She needed to make this next mark a good one. So Teagan stood just off the side of the packed street, scanning the sea of people before she slipped in amongst them seamlessly. As she walked, she kept her eyes on the back of the head of the turian she'd picked out, walking up behind him carefully and then brushing past him, not even looking over her shoulder, as she moved past, sticking her hands in the pockets of her coat quickly to tucked his wallet out of sight.

 

[worldeater]

The streets before him were a crowded mess as he moved through with a purpose. He, a blue glint within the sea of muddy browns and gray, stood out from the crowds. Though there were others that had weapons on them, even some holding out their guns as menacingly as they could, the Turian’s cleanliness and professionalism gave him an air of self-importance and diligence. Funny, his job wasn’t as important as he made himself out to be.

Turians were said to enjoy being head in the cloud military types, but he never got to be that way. Daelic had always been an orphan and when he was forcefully enlisted into the army, he got to see what it meant to be a part of the hierarchy. That was when he had gotten his tattoos, but unfortunately for him, this change of look had not stopped the insults, only what words he would hear venomously spit out at him like bullets from a gun. So he got a gun himself and trained and trained and trained . . .

And then he left for Omega.

He had made his choice two years ago and he could still remember the bitter taste in his mouth as he left his military service. Turians had always talked of public service and self-sacrifice, but the way he saw it, how could he sacrifice something he never had. Turian honor and the idea of equating self with group had been something that could never sit right with him when he was constantly ridiculed by said group. What people were they to be associated with when they simply shrugged him off like the dirt that stained their clothes. Daelic still remembered every word he had muttered to himself when he left for Omega and, frankly, it wasn’t any better here than there, but at least he wasn’t being told to fall in line because of some bullshit principle. With the Blue Sons, it was more “follow orders or die,” which was something he could at least respect.

Still, the Turian had quite the journey coming to this point, what with all the odd jobs and merc trials he faced. When he passed through to full on membership, he thought he was going to be put into something big or at least substantial. NOPE! That wasn’t going to be the case for a long time and, even two years after the fact, he was still trying to do something interesting.

Daelic wasn’t the type to get bored on the job, but to say that he was thrilled to be where he was had to be an understatement. Patrol was a boredom driven task to say the least and the only difficult part of it would have been to keep vigilant through the monotony. That meant keeping watch and paying attention, something that Daelic had trouble doing when he knew he could have been at least escorting a stash of extra sensitive cargo or taking out a certain target.
The whole debacle with Archangel had now reached a critical mass, so much so that he had been tasked with keeping patrols around area where the other Blue Suns were setting up their ambush. He was the only one that was supposed to be in full gear, every other member putting on a disguise and what not. The plan called for him to put Archangel’s group in a false sense of security and lead them into an area where they could be taken out quickly and easily. Unfortunately, they seemed to be taking a long time because none of the others had given him the signal to start moving. In other words, he was some fat bait with a gun and a sign telling his targets to “shoot me!”

That didn’t sit right with him, obviously.

Sighing, Daelic stretched his neck left and right as he looked around. Even when he really did pull his attention from the signal, there wasn’t much that could hold his attention. The district had been chosen due to its lack of overall pizzazz, allowing for him to get noticed as well as helping his group notice the vigilantes try following him. Passing by a mirror, he glanced at it and tried to groom himself for the act.

The white tattoos he had given himself was still there, the three pronged shape that lined his brow and the middle of his forehead almost looking like a hand clenching down on him. He had thought that adding more white to his pale gray face plate would add to his look as well. Most of his upper mouth and his nose was covered in the stuff and the tattooist had the decency to mark his tendrils as well. It should have been a nice look; correction, it was a nice look, but the others back then still had to continue calling him other things. Before his tattoos, it had been barefaced orphan. After that, it was white stained idiot. A small surge of rage re-entered his head at this point and thus, he never did notice a certain human come around to steal his credit chit.

Daelic only noticed when he looked towards something that caught his eye, a dextro-street food stand. The broiling meat had caught his attention and when he reached for his pocket, he felt a hand slip into his pocket and take his money. Pulling around, he tried eyeing the area for the thief only to hear a crackle in his omni-tool.

“It’s the kid, with the weird hair and tats over her body. Right coat pocket with her hand.”

Daelic smirked, recognizing the voice, “Remind me to get you a drink, Gorric.”

A chuckle replied back as the Batarian’s low voice bantered back, “You should get your chit first, before you make promises like that.”

Nodding, Daelic pushed his way towards the human, trying to sneak up on her as best as possible. Right as she was about to turn the corner, he grabbed her right hand, pulling out both his credit chit and the sinister hand that had done the deed.

“Here’s some advice for you, human,” he began as he smugly moved his mandibles downward in a Turian smile, “you should tone down the fur if you wanna steal from someone.”

 

[Atroxa]

Teagan started to think she'd gotten off clean, moving along easily with the crowd, just a half a pace faster than everyone so that she moved through them rather than just with them, but not so fast that it looked like she was running away. Looks like she'd actually be getting a meal tonight, that would be nice. She was already starting to day dream about what she might get to eat, starting to turn automatically to get out of the plazza when some one grabbed her by her right wrist, pulling her hand right out of her pocket with the credit chit in her fingers.

The girl had a glare fixed on her face immediately, there was only a second of surprise, more like a milisecond, before she was glaring and angry, instantly trying to pull free of whoever had a hold of her. She did blink a little when she realized it was the turian she had just picked. Her jaw tightened at his 'advice' and her eyes narrowed, scoffing a little. “It's called 'hair' you bald turkey,” she growled at him, and then flexed her hand a certain way, sending a sharp jolt of electricity down the turian's arm as he'd grabbed a hold of her wrist with her omni tool on it.

With the shock causing both distraction and pain, Teagan jerked her hand free, credit chit still in her grasp, and took off through the crowd, pushing people out of her way as she ran as fast as she could. She wasn't quite sure where she was going, it just had to be away from here. That turian had looked well-armed, and that armor, he was a Blue Sun. She'd really messed up now. If she could make it to the alleys she'd be home free, there were crawl spaces and air ducts there she could fit in but no way he could. Then it'd be sell the credit chit, change of hair color, and lay low for a while. This certainly hadn't turned out how she would have liked, but she'd handled worse, it was no big deal.

 

[worldeater]

"Gah," Daelic said as he grabbed his hand. For a moment, he thought she had shot or stabbed it, but he quickly felt a familiar numbness set in to tell him that he still had his hands on his person. What really got his attention was when the human bolted away from him; that really got broiling. He considered shooting her or something along those lines, but then that would have alerted more than just Archangel's posse. Groaning out the pain, he sprinted for the woman with his years of military training coming to fruition.

"Take my place," he said into his com. He didn't even need to hear an answer when he began to follow her into Omega's more chaotic

Needless to say, following the thief was quite the challenge. The human clearly had far more experience navigating the loud streets compared to his bulkier form what with her able to slip through people without grabbing their attention while he ran through like a Krogan in a Hanar clothing store. Lucky for him, his omnitool had began to track his credit chit through the chaotic mess before him. After all, the human wasn't the first thief that made away with his things and he sure knew that she wouldn't be the last.

Seeing the human move down a corridor with his credit chit, Daelic moved around, trying to cut the girl's path. Several vorcha began give him weird looks, mostly because they were from blood pack, but also because of how they were with Mercs like him. Of course, he wasn't an idiot, nor did he look like an idiot. Still, that didn't mean they weren't seeing the guise of a prey that hid a true predator. Moving away from them, he finally waited long for the gal to rush through her alleyway. The moment began to make his finger itch, a common twitch he found when he was antsy for some blood. But when he finally grabbed her by the arms, instead of outright murdering the poor girl, he had the decency of pushing her against the wall.

"Not the smartest female of your clutch I see," he said as he gazed into her eyes. His hands tightened as much as they could before focusing on the credit chit. "Let it go, or you'll be losing more than just that thing you call 'hair'."

 

[Atroxa]

Teagan ran as fast as she could, she wasn't very tall, so it wasn't like she was really able to cover a lot of ground just on physical ability alone, but she was light and quick. The turian on her tail probably could have outrun her in a straight out race thanks to his strength and stature, but Teagan was able to dart and weave through the crowd. The goal was to lose him, and for a moment she thought she was going to succeed, running down an alley with a glance over her shoulder telling her that he wasn't right behind her. Then she reached the other side though, he was waiting for her, grabbing her by the arms and shoving her against a wall.

The girl let out a bit of a grunt, then immediately began to struggle, trying to pull and twist her way free, she was gutsy thing if nothing else, not seeming to give up easily. She couldn't have that kind of attitude living here on Omega, giving up got you killed. Teagan wasn't stupid though, despite what the turian was insinuating, so she stopped to glare at him angrily, blue eyes narrowed at him. His order to let go of the credit chit drew a roll of her eyes and she let out a frustrated growl as she complied, releasing it from her hand. “There, happy now?” she asked him bitingly.

“Now what?” Teagan sneered at him, bracing for the worst. Nothing he did to her short of killing her would be anything new to her, she'd been beaten, shot, stabbed, raped, some one had even tried to set her on fire once. She was a half starved little scare crow but she was tough as nails, she of course feared death, her life was shit but it was the only one she had and she was kind of attached to it you know? Still, she refused to show any fear, just glaring at the turian, angry and sullen, but determined.

 

[worldeater]

Daelic finally paused as he got a good look at the human and the first bits of info got him doing more of said pausing. A lot of thieves in Omega were the types that really got his gut rolling to kill them, people that reminded him of the hate-filled bigots that haunted his past. But then there were the others, the young starving sorts that only did what they did for survival and nothing else. With the way the human seemed to glare at him, he would have sworn he could a bit of himself in her.

Which was interesting considering how she was a human . . .

When he leaned down to pick up the chit, Daelic was smart enough to hold on to the human with one of her hands. Several taps later and he was looking through his accounts to find everything in order. Nothing on his person was stolen either and with that, he turned back to the human.

"Now, that wasn't so hard," Daelic said with a sigh. With her as skinny as she was, the Turian himself began to feel hungry. Perhaps . . . just perhaps . . .

Turning towards the numerous stands they had passed, Daelic murmured to himself before talking to her once more, "Hungry, human?"

 

[Atroxa]

Teagan tried to pull away when the turian went for the chit, hoping he would be distracted enough to let up his grip, but no such luck, so she was still stuck there as he turned back to her. Her blue eyes rolled when he spoke, then continued glaring, waiting for him to pass judgment on her. On Omega, there was no justice except for what you could reap yourself. There was no police force, just private security, so they only cared if they were being paid to. So if some one fucked with you, if you wanted something done about it you had to do it yourself, and unless you pissed off some one in the process, generally people left you alone to do it.

So she was surprised when he asked her if she was hungry. That momentary surprise quickly turned to a slightly confused sort of suspicion, her head turning a little to give him a side ways look. “Maybe... what of it?” Teagan asked, not sure why he was asking, or what he was planning so she gave as ambiguous an answer as she could.

Of course she was hungry though, she hadn't had a solid meal in days, just bits and pieces she could get here and there with change she scrounged up and stole or food snatched from some one too stupid to guard it more closely. If she got really hungry, she'd go dumpster diving. And if she got desperate, she traded the only piece of property she actually had, her body. That was rare though, and she avoided it if she could, for the most part she made it just fine pick pocketing, playing look out or messenger, and other little odd jobs she got here and there. Just the last few weeks had been a bit dry on work with all this Archangel bullshit coming to a head.

 

[worldeater]

"Here's the thing," he said loosening his grip, but still holding on to her wrist, "I may not know how you humans are, but I can tell when someone's hungry, desperate or nearly ready to collapse. So from one street rat to another, I think it isn't too bad to think of each other as . . . similar."

Motioning for the cart, he pointed at the many tidbits of food that lay there. Among the human edibles and dextro ones were treasure troves of golden opportunities, tasty morsels ripe for the picking. The price was quite normal, but Daelic figured that the human would have had her mouth watering by then. He himself was quite hungry as well, mostly because he had woken up without any sort of morning meal. Compared to her, however, he probably looked stuffed than anything. After all, being able to see a human's cheek bones had been considered to be something along the lines of "unhealthy."

"Come on," he said looking at the human. He could tell she was starting to break down whatever barriers she was propping up. Even if she did try to steal from him, Daelic wasn't ashamed to help another less fortunate person out. Spirits knew that he had been where she had been, though at least on Palivan, they took care of their orphans . . . as long as said orphans became productive members to their society.

Pulling her along, Daelic shoved her towards the cart and pointed at it, "Don't be afraid kid. Besides, if you ask questions," he began to chuckle, "I just might take back my offer."

 

[Atroxa]

Teagan glared at him suspiciously as he loosened his grip, mouth tightening into an almost frown. She wasn't sure what to say, on the one hand she hated charity, hated pity, but on the other hand, she was really hungry. She trusted this turian about as far as she could throw him, but she didn't think she had the willpower to say no to free food. In fact, she knew she didn't as he motioned towards one for one of the food carts, the salarian operating it hesitating a little before coming over. He probably wasn't sure if whatever he might get mixed up in with them was worth selling food but money won out in the end, as it often did.

She glanced unsurely at the turian as told her to go on, eyeing the cart with a mixture of apprehension and hunger, but he just pulled her over and pushed her towards the vender. For a moment, Teagan considered making a run for it, in the back of her mind her instincts were screaming at her to run. There was no way this turian was buying her food out of the good of his blue heart, he was up to something, or he wanted something from her. But her stomach growled and her resolve caved as he told her to hurry up before he changed his mind.

“Fine,” she sighed, trying not to seem overly eager as she turned to the vender, glancing at the turian one last time, “You're going to wish I'd just stolen your chit card though.” Teagan turned back and proceeded to order enough food for two, possibly three people. It was doubtful some one as small as he could really eat that much, but she was going to take full advantage of this turian's 'hospitality'. If he wanted something from her after well she was going to make sure that she got what she could out of the deal. Her arms loaded with food she stepped aside so he could order if he liked and moved over to a nearby bench, sitting down with her lap full and some more on the bench, starting to eat immediately.

 

[worldeater]

Daelic didn't know what to say. She certainly met with expectations when she said she was going to make him wish she had stolen his chit. He swore that what she was piling on was enough to feed two starving households, let alone one person. Still, he didn't complain or speak out against her. He let her keep piling on more and more until she pulled away from the server herself, allowing the human to dictate when she was ready. As far as he was disliking how much he was spending on her, some part of him told him to let her keep going. Perhaps it was that Turian side that spoke of the honor in his word or maybe it was the bits in his head that tried to remember how nice it felt as a child to find a feast. Whatever the case was, by the time he got to the vender, Daelic was glad he couldn't eat what the human could eat. A simple wave of his hand was all he did to pay for both her and his meal.

All he had was some dextro snack, something simple as he had already eaten a decent morning meal for the hunt. When he sat next to her, the comical comparison between the two, with one towering over the other but holding a single pack of snacks while the shorter of the two found herself under a mountain of food, was something that hadn't dawn on him. Eating slowly, he let the human glomp down on ever single part of her pile. Being as level-headed as he was, by the time Daelic finished his "meal," she was already done.

"I'm surprised you're not dead." he said throwing the garbage into a can. "As in currently . . . do you have a vacuum in your stomach?"

Snickering, he pulled up as he stretched his legs. His fellow Blue Suns had finally begun to move, leaving him out of the action for a while. Though annoyed with this, he simply knew that after what he was pulling, he'd be getting crapped on by his superiors. Spirits, why did things have to be this way.

"What's your name, human?" Daelic said as he fiddled with his visor. It was a simple request, nothing too forceful within the tone. His own empathy had accidentally seeped into his voice, but luckily, his body language still came off as cold.