Yes, yes, go out again tonight, but during the day try and interact with Ali's parents a bit. Be affectionate and friendly to them, too! They don't seem to like us, and that's a problem, since they have all the power in this place.
+1 are there any chores we can help with?
You consider Dad. You know now that's not really his name. It's more of a property, like "credits" or "dragon". You've seen people called dad in holovision, after all, and they're definitely not Dad. But it's hard not to consider him as Dad when that's what Ali usually calls him, when that's the first name you had for him.
Your relationship with Mom and Dad is mediated through Ali while you keep your distance, both figuratively and literally. You've been fine with keeping it that way, since most of your interactions with them usually end up with you being yelled at or pushed. And you always get the feeling they don't like you.
Perhaps if you were nicer to them or did something for them, they'd be nicer to you in turn. After all, they are the ones providing food and resources to you (and to Ali who gives them to you) and you wouldn't want to risk losing that. Maybe with a better relationship, they'd even be willing to provide more. Furthermore, if your relationship improved then there would be less tension in the house, less fear, you'd be able to relax more. And Ali would be happier.
That just leaves the question of what you could do for them. You could always take care of the green biped that comes to collect the rent, it should be coming the night after tomorrow, but even though
you think it would be good for them you don't know if they would approve.
Maybe something more mundane would work better, something like a gift, like finding more plastoid tape for Dad. Hmm. But what if they deduce from your gift that you went outside? They wouldn't approve of that.
What about things they do in the house? They prepare things in the kitchen, so maybe you could help there? Maybe you could get Ali to teach you what this "cooking" thing is. But from what you've seen it requires a lot of hand-work, so cooking for them could be hard, not to mention tiring.
And then you have a great idea: cleaning! Dad and Mom often go through the house with the broom, a noisy device at the end of a stick that floats over the floor, sucking up dirt and debris. But it looks like it's hard work for them, moving the heavy thing around, getting it under the furniture. You're closer to the floor, four steady legs. It should be quite easier for you to clean and you should be more effective.
Once you get out of the shower you grab the broom, bring it to Ali and get her to remove the stick from it and activate it. You grab it with your mouth and start moving it around the floor. Mom comes home a few minutes after you begin cleaning. At first she scolds Ali, tells her the broom is not a toy but Ali responds that the two of you just want to help and that she should rest while you take care of things.
Mom considers this for a few seconds and then relents, thanking Ali (but not you, you notice). She observes you attentively instead of resting like you intended. She steps in to correct you a couple of times and show you how you're supposed to be doing things, but she doesn't yell and you even catch her smiling near the end. You think you did a good job.
...
After dinner the entire family sits down in front of the holovision to watch a holovid. Instead of going up to Ali so she can pet you like you usually do, you go up to Dad instead and lie down next to him, resting your head on his leg. Both Dad and Ali look surprised. Ali smiles but says nothing and continues watching the holovid. Dad looks at you for a few seconds more and then says something stern-sounding, something about not petting you. You remain silent and don't raise your head from his leg, merely look up to look into his eyes. Dad grumbles something about puppy eyes and rests his hand on your head, scratching you gently. It feels nice.
Sneak out, and look for a meal. Check out that hyrophonic place again.. maybe they have more food in some of the other rooms there.
+1 but be very cautious when approaching the lab. they may have increased security.
Once everyone is asleep you gather your things and leave the apartment. It's easy making your way out to the streets and then to the maintenance tunnels. There's a chilly wind blowing, damp and foggy, the cold water droplets stinging whenever they touch your scales. In response to that people don heavy jackets, keep their heads down and quickly walk to their destinations, making the streets emptier then usual.
The situation in the maintenance tunnels is better. Most are too deep for the fog to reach them and the warmth of the buildings helps counteract the cold wind. Some humans must think so too, for you see them sleeping in a corner of the tunnels, wrapped in heavy blankets.
You make your way to the Hydroponic Pool and find that the entrance you created is still open. You dive into the pool and look around. The sonic rifle is still there, as are the remains of the security droid you destroyed. There are still a few of those hard-shelled creatures you ate last time but it looks like their population hasn't yet had a chance to recover.
The gardener droid is still doing its work, only beeping angrily at you whenever you disturb its plants. You try saying hello to it. It beeps and boops. You say that you will work for food. It beeps and boops. You say credits are good too. It beeps and boops. You don't think this conversation is going anywhere. If it is speaking and not just making noise, then it keeps repeating the same thing over and over.
You decide to explore further in. You come across a room where leaves float inside vats. Tubes come out of the vats, glowing with a faint red energy. The glowing tubes merge above a rumbling machine, combining into a bright red stream that occasionally crackles with static electricity. The stream disappears inside another, larger vat. A flat droid on wheels is moving leaves around, placing them into the vats. It sees you but it just ignores you.
Moving on further in, you start hearing speech. A male human and one of those green bipeds are speaking. The green biped is speaking in its language, so you only catch half of the conversation. It's not that interesting anyway. Something about the weather. But maybe if you waited around for a while they'll speak about something more interesting. Or maybe they'll come your way so you can ambush them and interrogate them or kill them.
Age: a few weeks (hatchling)
Size: about the size of a large dog
Status: hungry
Health: fine
Weapons: claws and teeth
Armor: soft scales
Abilities:
- Glide: You can glide in order to survive falls and quickly move great distances, though your wings are too weak to allow you true flight. However you can use favorable winds and updrafts to increase your glide time.
- Rudimentary Human Language: You are able to understand human language to a very basic degree. You won't understand everything though and there will likely be misunderstandings. You can also attempt to speak, but you can only form simple, short sentences and it's very hard for others to understand you.
- Pack with plastoid tape modifications (equipped)
- Half-used medpac (in pack)
- Ali's Apartment (Lair): A tiny 2 bedroom apartment. The little human Ali lives there with Dad/Jobal and Mom/Ania. Room 327.
- Ali's Apartment Tower: Apartments arranged in a circle. Clean, bright, mostly locked doors, few hiding places. Little traffic during the night.
- Eiwhyl's Clinic: Sells medpacs and other healing items and provides treatment. Warning: stabby. Room 509.
- Streets: Dirty streets, parked hovercars, shops, building entrances, street vendors, little traffic during the night.
- Maintenance Tunnels: Interconnected tunnels, small and large, going low and high. Connect various streets and buildings. Wires and pipes. Dark, dirty, with old machines constantly rumbling. Scavenger-vermin and hunters-of-vermin.
- Garbage Pit: A large room with mountains of garbage half-submerged in a sea of sludge. More garbage frequently arrives from holes in the ceiling. A monster lurks here, may pull prey underwater.
- Hydroponic Pool A room with a large pool filled with plants. A ceiling full of bright lamps. A spherical gardener-droid takes care of the plants. An armored security droid used to patrol this area. Other rooms are unexplored.