She nodded when you asked her name, and turned back to the flowerbed. She was still silent.
English
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Athera thought she understood now what happened. The Android was mute, most likely. Argus still didn’t get it, but that didn’t mean he was gonna interrupt. For now . “Did you happen to know that lady? Fie, her name was, right?” Athera asked, hoping to get something out of her.
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Theta seemed to shrink at Fie’s name. Her arms wrapped around herself, and she opened her mouth, but nothing came out. Instead, she simply nodded, as a tear rolled down her cheek.
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Athera simply smiled in a sad way, her hands moving to Theta’s shoulder, in an attempt to comfort her. “It’s okay; we’re trying to gather information. Bring justice to her killer; try to find whoever’s behind all this an stop them. We just need to ask some questions about her; is that okay?” She asked Theta as calmly as possible.
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She opens her mouth, and then points to it, before shaking her head again.
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“...right. Argus! Give her your little journal so she can write to us!” Athera shouted, as Argus pulled it out, almost...caressing it for a little bit. “And let someone else enter my personal shite?” He asked, Athera rolling her eyes. “You bought that journal last week, just give it to her. Or I break your arm again.” Athera warned, Argus immediately waking up to Theta, giving the Android his journal and a pen. “Don’t write past page 30; wanna keep it for me travels.” He stated, returning to sulking in his corner of the Gardens as Athera approached Theta once more. “If you want, we can find somewhere comfortable for you before we ask you anything.” She confirmed with a nod herself.
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She put the pen to the paper and began to write something out, but her grip was shaky. After a few seconds she began scribbling it out, and started to write something else before scribbling it out, as well. This repeated a few times before she stopped trying to write altogether. It seemed her inability to talk ran deeper than just her voicebox.
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“Hmm...” Athera muttered, thinking about a possible other way to communicate with Theta. Then, a thought crossed her mind. “You seem to be interested in these flowers. Maybe you can describe it to me that way since we’re here. How was Fie like?” She asked, assuming the flowers might be the best way for her to communicate with. Since they were here.
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She paused for a moment, then began writing in the book, before handing it back to you. There weren’t any words, but she had made a basic drawing of one of the flowers.
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Athera looked at the flower for a brief moment, before searching around their immediate area, looking for the flower that matched the picture.
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The drawing wasn't very good, but it seemed to be an attempt at drawing the flower right in front of you. When she saw you looked around, Theta looked up at the large tree in the center of the room with tears in her eyes, and made an effort with her hands to appear like she was drawing soemthing.
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“Was Fie...the root of your group? She was what held you together?” Athera assumed based on Theta’s motions, stating between the tree, the drawing, and Theta proper.
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She paused again, and took the notebook back. She began drawing on it again, drawing a rectangle around the flower she drew, and then a pencil connecting to the flower's stem, before handing it back. She seems to have begun writing something beneath it, but wound up scribbling it out. Still, you can make out an "Ar" before she gave up.
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“Ar...” aAthera repeated, trying to decipher what it actually meant. “Ar as in Argus?” Argus asked from his corner, only to earn a hard stare from Athera, as she looked back towards Theta. “She was sweet?” Athera asked Theta.
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Theta shook her head, then stopped, and nodded, before pointing at the pen.
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Athera simply moved the pen up, as to suggest what she should draw for Theta. Or more importantly, find out what she was saying.
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Theta turned away, having seemingly given up on whatever she was trying to tell you.
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Athera was not gonna give up that easily. She paced around for a moment, drawing in hand. She snapped her fingers for a brief moment in realization on something she could do. “Theta, when you usually communicate with someone and you don’t have something like a journal around, how exactly would you do that?” Athera asked, wanting to see if perhaps Theta could explain it without being forced to in a certain way.
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She opened her mouth, and moved her lips in a way that seems like it’d make words, but she choked before speaking, and the covered her mouth, as tears fell from her eyes.
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Athera sighed once more. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean for you try to speak.” Argus realized what he had. “Wait, mate. Would you happen to know anything about this?” He asked, walking towards them from his corner. He decided to pull out the sketch they found in Fie’s room, showing it to Theta, to see if she would know anything about it.
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She looked it over, and her eyes softened. She ran her finger over a symbol in the corner you hadn’t notices before; Φ. A single, quiet word comes out of her mouth; [i]”Fie...”[/i]
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“We found it in ‘er room. Looked like a mess.” Argus said, as Athera looked towards Theta. “Is there anyone you know who could’ve done this to Fie? Or anyone who might’ve been around her before this tragedy?” She asked, hoping that they could now make some progress in finding this information.
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She paused, and then began drawing in the notebook again. She drew two doors, side by side. One she marked with a Φ, and the one next to it with a J, which she then circled.
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“A neighbor of hers...” Athera noted, with the J. “Thank you Theta. This could go a long way in helping us.” She decided, just to cheer up the poor Theta from all her crying, to give her a hug. She probably needed it right now.
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Theta looked surprised when you hugged her, and didn’t seem to quite know how to respond. Instead, she just stood there, awkwardly, and it was hard to tell whether she appreciated the gesture.
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Athera just kept it up. “It’s a sign of compassion and thankfulness, Theta. At least out in space. And to us humans.” She responded, clearly hoping Theta would learn something from it. “Plus, I’m sure you need some type of support after what happened to Fie.” Argus simply stood in the corner, mumbling incomprehensible things.