Ali comes back and starts preparing the food. You watch as she places one of the synthsteaks into the autochef, inserts the flavor pack in a slot and pushes various buttons while watching the contents through a transparent lid. You watch as well. You're usually kept away from the kitchen while the autochef operates, so this is an opportunity to see it in action. That and there's something very enjoyable about the smell of burning meat, even if it's fake meat.
The cooking machine heats up the fake-meat, turning it from white into the pink hue you're used to. Then the machine sprays something on the meat and starts prodding it with a mechanical arm. The meat changes color, becoming darker, more red. Then the autochef plops a tiny glob of brown viscous fluid on it that starts melting from the heat of the meat. You are startled by a ding, jumping off the machine, your reaction causing Ali to burst into laughter. She opens the lid and uses an oven mitt to remove the still-hot container from the autochef. She lowers it close to the ground and slides it into your plate.
"Be careful, it's still hot." she warns you.
She holds the container upside down above the plate for a few seconds, trying to get as many drops of the brown liquid out of the plastic box and into your plate.
You approach the plate, trying to get a good look at the finished product. It's quite different from what you usually eat
and from what Ali and her parents usually eat. Much better, you would say. The way it looks and smells alone makes you drool with anticipation. Unable to restrain yourself, you open wide and give it a big chomp.
"No, wait!" Ali shouts as she tries to push you away, but it's too late. Your teeth are already in the meat and now that you've tasted it there's no way you're going to stop.
It's hot, but you don't care. You use your claws to hold the steak in place while you rip large chunks out of it with your mouth. Ali sighs in frustration but relaxes.
"Oh you. Stop worrying me like that." she says, trying to sound stern but failing due to the smile on her face.
Saying you simply 'ate the steak' would be an understatement. You 'made it disappear' would be more appropriate, as if you were trying to hide all evidence of its existence by shoving it down your throat and licking the plate clean.
Status lost: hungry When there's nothing left worth extracting from the plate, you turn to Ali (who is currently in the process of cooking the second synthsteak) and ask her about what the strange being with the datapad wanted. She shakes her head in response.
"It was nothing. Just some credits. It wanted to go home."
"Home? Why?"
"Not here. Its home, its family, in Roche."
She seems uncomfortable. You decide to stop speaking about this for now and let her focus on cooking.
The second cooked steak is placed on top of the table, making it off-limits to you. You wait impatiently until the third steak is given to you. Ali joins you, eating the steak that was placed on the table. You can tell she's really enjoying her meal. She probably chose the sort of ingredients she likes.
Status gained: satiatedYou finish your meal quickly and Ali sets about cleaning up. But before she starts doing so, she gives you a hug.
"Thank you for the food. It was great."
Age: a few weeks (hatchling)
Size: about the size of a large dog
Status: satiated
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.
- Large Sonic Rifle covered by old torn clothes (in Maintenance Tunnels, behind a pipe)
- Pack with plastoid tape modifications (equipped on left side)
- Half-used medpac
- 230 credits (1 yellow, 1 blue, 1 red)
- half-used roll of plastoid tape
- flashlight
- small can of droid oil
- small metal toolbox
- 3 synthsteaks
- 1 flavor 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. Patrolled by hostile gunmen. A corridor leads to other rooms. Storage room. Processing room. Other rooms are unexplored.
- Iyran Grower Shop: A store located deeper into the tower's streets. Operated by a cephalopoid. The grower sells cheap synthetic meat, amongst other things.