Like a Baby on Your Door Step (Tal and Rhi 8D)

[Nix]

Andrea had made it all the way to the Citadel by herself and now she was nervous. After managing to deal with her mom's death, packing up her shit and getting all the way here without so much as a word to her friends, let alone help, now she was scared. She could have stared up at the building forever, hesitating to actually walk in, but people kept brushing past her to go in. She adjusted her bag on her shoulder and took a deep breath before walking in. She had her chip scanned upon entering and had to go through a security check, because of course she was a civilian. Once she cleared the metal detectors and door security she picked her bag back up and headed to a large desk in the center of the big entrance hall. The man stationed there was obviously a Pilot, seeing as he was in uniform, but not the one she was looking for. Still, he looked like the person to ask.

Lufti was a bit annoyed at having to play Citadel receptionist today, not that he questioned being assigned to it. No, he did it without hesitation, but that didn't mean he liked it. He sat there telepathically scanning the minds of everyone who went by. The lower levels were open to the public, so they had to keep an eye out for anyone suspicious. Normally he wouldn't be alone on duty but the other Pilot was on break. It wasn't as if Lufti couldn't handle things on his own so it was fine. Everything was dull today. Even people's thoughts. Not that he wanted something to happen, he just wanted to be done for the day.

Wait. This one was interesting, nervous thoughts and determination to actually go through with it... and she was standing right in front of him too. He was about to delve deeper into her mind when she started to speak.

Ok, so this blue Pilot looked stern and scary. Did all Pilots have such serious faces? "E-Excuse me..." No. No pathetic whimpering. Ask him. Tell him. "I need to speak to Pilot Roman Rosales." Andrea said mustering all her courage and putting on as serious a face as the Pilot in front of her. "He doesn't know I'm coming but it's very important."

This girl wanted to speak to Pilot Rosales? Really? He pushed past her nervous internal monologue to find the why. Ah interesting. He had no idea that Pilot Royal Rosales had a daughter, and it seemed Roman didn't either. "Name." He asked while simultaneously pointing to a chip scanner for verification.

Andrea stiffened a bit. This was the first time she ever really dealt with a Pilot and it wasn't making her feel any easier about meeting her dad. "Andrea Rinbak." She put her wrist against the scanner and waited to hear the ping of recognition before removing it.

Lufti checked the data her chip pulled up on the screen. Andrea Rinbak, 16, mother deceased, father Pilot Roman Rosales (result of blood testing). So it seemed true. The picture matched this girl too. "I can call his room but don't expect anything. Should I say why you're here to see him?"

The Pilot's face was deadpan but his eyes told Andrea that he already knew the reason. Whether it was from reading her mind or the information on the screen (she wasn't sure if it had been updated after the blood test) she wasn't sure. "No... no. Just... that it's important I see him."

"Fine." Lufti didn't care if she wanted to tell Roman, or even if Roman refused to see her because he had no clue who she was. Actually it would be easier for him not to have to explain it. He was wearing a head set wirelessly connected to the computer and input the Pilot Roman Rosales and scanned his own chip for clearance before the call to the room was put through. He hated waiting for people to answer, but he did keep in mind that Pilot Royal Rosales was still recuperating.

[Rhi-Rhi]

Gabriel had been lounging on the couch when the phone rang. Stretching out lazily, he scooped it up. "Yo! You've reached the Rosales residence, this is Pilot Tierney speaking. How may I help you?"

"... Pilot Tierney? Right. This is Pilot Lufti. Is Pilot Royal Rosales available?"

"Define 'available', 'cause yeah, but I think he's on the toilet right now soooo want me to take a message or have him call back or something?"

"..."

"You there?"

"I did not need that information Pilot Tierney. ...I am on guard duty at the lower level entrance. He has a civilian visitor."

Gabriel laughed. "Alright, cool! I'll let him know! Who is it? Is it Opal? Tell me it's Opal. Opal's awesome."

"It is not Opal. Her name is Andrea Rinbak."

Gabriel paused. That was not a name he recognized. "...Andrea, huh?"

"I just said that, didn't I? I told you she is here and I trust you will pass that along to Pilot Royal Rosales."

"Uh, yeah. Alright. I'll let him know!"

"...Pilot Tierney."

"Yeah?"

"...Should I have her wait here, or should I tell her to wait in the cafeteria?"

"I dunno, uh, the cafeteria! Sure, why not! The cafeteria." Gabriel paused, then added, "Sooo...what's she look like? You know. So we can recognize her. And stuff."

"... About 5'4, black hair, blue eyes, wearing a purple shirt from some sort of gaming convention, cut off jean shorts, and a pair of mismatched stockings one pink and one teal. I trust that description will suffice."

Gabriel snorted. "Nah, you left out her blood type, dude!"

"Shall I give you her complete medical history as well then Pilot Tierney?"

"Yes."

"I do actually have more important things to do."

“No way! Absolutely nothing is more important than this. Right here, right now. This is the most important job of your entire career, Pilot Lufti.”

"I am hanging up now. Goodbye Pilot Tierney. Give Pilot Royal Rosales the message and my regards. I hope he is recovering well."

“Hanging up on the most important job of your entire career. For shame, Lufti. For shame! I hope you can sleep at night knowing that!”

"...If you outranked me I would humor your ridiculousness."

“Now that was just below the belt.”

"Goodbye Pilot Tierney." Click.

With a laugh, Gabriel hung up the phone. It was always fun to mess with the serious types--but in all seriousness, who was this woman? Not that he was jealous or anything. Haha, that was ridiculous.

"Hey, Romance!" he called, sitting up. "Pilot Lufti called. Apparently you got a visitor downstairs. Some chick or something."

[Nix]

Andrea stood there quietly, listening, but trying not to. She knew Pilot Rosales wouldn't be the one to answer, and when the bluish silver Pilot said 'Tierney' her hunch was confirmed. She tried to look like she wasn't listening, looking around idly, once she saw the man at the desk grow noticeably annoyed, even though it seemed that he was annoyed with the person on the other end. She tried to ignore when the Pilot (Pilot Lufti he had said) stared at her to give the description.

Lufti ended the call and let out an audibly annoyed sigh. It had to be Tierney that answered, didn't it? How Pilot Rosales put up with him, let alone let that idiot into his personal residence, Lufti would never know. Maybe it was a mentor candidate thing? Gods he was glad he'd never have to deal with that. He was just glad he wouldn't have to be around for the little family reunion. He hated being involved in personal stuff with his coworkers. He'd rather just not deal with it. Fortunately for Andrea it meant he was not a gossip. "He will meet you in the cafeteria." He said finally turning his attention back to the girl. "It's on the second floor, take the elevator there." He said pointing to the elevator door before turning his full attention back to scanning the people coming and going.

Andrea nodded and thanked the Pilot before getting onto the elevator and heading up to the second floor. There were more people and more Pilots here too. She sighed softly looking around for a place to sit. After finding a table she pulled out her communicator and checked her messages. Damn she had like 50 messages from Dthrani. She wanted to game and then was freaking out wondering where Andy was, and apparently she found out Andy's mom died too and was apologizing. Ughhh. Great, well better text Dth back.

Andrea: Hey, I can't really talk right now. I'm in Haviah- at the Citadel.

The response was immediate. Dthrani: The Citadel? Why? Don't you like, hate Pilots?

Andrea: I don't hate Pilots, why would you even suggest that.

Dthrani: You said they were 'overrated pompous jerks'.

Andrea: ...that is paraphrasing and we are not having this conversation now.

Dthrani: When will you be back?

Andrea: I don't know.

She really didn't want to be talking about this shit with a bunch of Pilots actually around was Dth really that stupid? It wasn't that hard to understand was it? This was only making her more nervous about meeting her dad too.

[Tally]

Roman had been in the middle of a lazy run through of some calisthenic physical therapy routines when the phone rang.  He let Gabriel get it, and put it out of his mind—until the tone of the phone call started to make him worry.  Goddamnit.  He should've known better.  He should've known he couldn't trust Gabriel with anything as simple as answering the phone without causing trouble.

He sighed, making his way through the apartment to the living room.  A visitor, huh?

"Do you harass everyone who calls me?  Is that what you do?  Who's the visitor?"

[Rhi-Rhi]

"Only Lufti," Gabriel said with the sweetest, most deviously innocent grin he could muster. "And, uh, pretty much everyone else, yeah. Anyway..."

He shrugged again, going for total nonchalance. "Iunno. Like I said, just some chick or something." He paused, eyed Roman. "Name's...Andrea? Lufti said she's gonna be waiting in the cafeteria."

[Tally]

Roman's mouth went dry.  "Oh um...Andrea, huh?  Huh."

He took a deep breath and rubbed the back of his neck.  "Right."

He was really really wishing he'd had the guts to tell Gabriel about this sooner.

[Rhi-Rhi]

"Mhmm!" Gabriel nodded. "Andrea."

He crossed his arms over his chest and arched an eyebrow. Roman was looking kind of shifty, which was making this whole nonchalance thing difficult. "She like an evil ex or something? Tell me she's an evil ex and I gotta fight her off like in that one comic."

[Nix]

Andrea sat there, feeling like people were reading her thoughts which was making her just a bit paranoid on so many damn fronts. The worst of which was the vicious cycle of 'being paranoid about people reading your mind in the Citadel is only going to get your mind read more'.

Dth really wasn't helping, bugging her about when she'd be back and if she was ok and shit. Of course she wasn't ok. She'd love to be back home gaming, with her mom still alive...

That wasn't going to happen though. And now she was here. Allowed to come and meet her father and thankfully have the opportunity to spend time with him before getting thrown into the candidate program. That is... if he even wanted to spend time with her...