002. [VIDEO]

[sassguard]

Yeah, alright, when do you want to -- [ Turning around, he narrowed his eyes at the comm that was obviously on. ] You couldn't give me a little damn warning before you turned it on? I'm not even done cooking! [ He gestured, with a fork, before turning back around, pointedly. ]

No time like the present. [ The broadcast’s coming from the commander’s communicator, and Shepard sounds relatively relaxed … for Shepard. ] Besides, this was your idea. It’s your show, Major.

My show? Dammit, Shepard, I was thinking out loud. [ The annoyance is obviously fake, and it sounds like he's used to putting up with Shepard's shit. ] Alright, fine.

We were talking about what the possibility for more spies is, after the shuttle malfunction, and I noticed that there were a lot of people that ducked out -- we figured maybe we weren't the only ones who found someone who wasn't supposed to be there. [ He wants to say more, but held up a finger, to turn around and focus on the pan. He's already burned things once today. ]

We also figured we might not be the only ones who got permission to travel out of the country. [ Shepard picks up where Kaidan left off without missing a beat.] We think we should put that opportunity to good use.

[ After a second, there's a moment where his head tips, like he's rolling his eyes, and then he turns around, crossing his arms over his chest while he rests against the counter ] Yeah, and what I'm really asking is if anyone...might have seen anything, or talked to anyone? We haven’t heard anything from the government -- and it doesn't sound like they're going to give any answers...

... If they have them in the first place. Which is why we’re going to look for them somewhere else. Unfortunately, going directly to the source isn’t an option -- we can’t travel into a country we’re at war with. [ Or more accurately: they could, but there are several reasons that would be a bad idea. And while Shepard’s normally a fan of bad ideas, it’s usually when he has a better idea of what he’s facing. ]

So.[ He pauses. ] If you wanted to do recon about Russian undercover operations, but you couldn’t go to Russia itself, where would you go?

That’s the big question, especially if we don’t want to waste any second, with how they keep catching us off guard -- [ And he’s back around, to save his food. ]

It’s probably safe to say that things are only going to escalate from here. [ Shepard tactfully turns the camera back to himself, face managing to be mostly serious despite the sound of Kaidan muttering darkly in the background. ] We might have caught their agents, but they accomplished what they were after. They’ll be bolder next time. Aim for something bigger. We don’t intend to sit around and wait for that to happen.

[ ooc; open to action for residents of #15! ]

Comments

[heralding]

I don't. As far as I know, anyway. I've only discussed the incident with those close to me.

[And they were not involved in those captures at all.]

[sassguard]

Good plan.

[ He pauses. ]

I don't think it's a good idea to get out there on your own.

[heralding]

In this case, I might enjoy the challenge.

[She's been ... limiting herself for a while.]

[sassguard]

[ She did take care of that agent pretty handily, with or without her powers. Shepard would prefer to think of it as just being caught off guard: he'll do better next time. Maybe. ]

Where do you want to go?

[heralding]

Somewhere ... with a nice coast.

[She says it slowly, as if she doesn't know anything about places overseas.]

[sassguard]

[ Shepard's never really been a fan of beaches, and definitely not after Virmire. ]

Planning on taking in the scenery?

[heralding]

I'm originally from a coastal town called Bodhum.

[sassguard]

[ He pauses, thinking. ]

What was it like?

[heralding]

The first thing that's important to remember is that my world is nothing like this one. So while the water was nice, the town was nice, it was ... different. I joined the military when I was barely sixteen, so I didn't enjoy it the same way many others did.

But since I grew up near the water, it was something that was commonplace. Placid, even if there were sometimes monsters that ran loose, and people who needed protecting.

[sassguard]

[ Sixteen's younger than even Shepard joined the military, and he's Alliance born and bred -- but as she says, her world is nothing like this one. Different rules must apply. ]

I'm assuming that protecting those people was the military's job. Was that what motivated you to enlist?

[heralding]

No. My mother and father died when my sister and I were rather young, so I needed a stable career to care for my sister. Joining the military seemed like a natural choice for someone like me.

[sassguard]

[ Shepard's been lucky enough to have his mother while he was growing up -- admittedly distracted by her duties, but present. He may not know what it's like to grow up an orphan, but he can at least admire the strength of will and determination it must have taken to do well despite less than ideal circumstances. ]

Sounds like you and your sister were lucky to have each other. You must have been very close growing up.

[heralding]

We were.

[The entirety of her disposition brightens somewhat, even if it doesn't necessarily completely overtake her tone. But it's still there, in how her phrasing is lighter, less as if she's trying to explain or talk in a distant manner.

If there is anyone that Lightning can be warm about, it's Serah.]

I had hoped that she would come here. I've missed her, and she would be a good teacher in this world.

[sassguard]

[ Shepard's not so sure he would wish anyone to come here; as much as he'd like to see some familiar faces, there's also the real frustration of not... knowing very much in general. It doesn't sound like Lightning thinks of it that way, though. ]

When was the last time you saw her?

[heralding]

I saw her briefly before I came here, so ... around six months. But before that, it was several hundred years.

[And perhaps for the first time, Lightning is aging herself. But she sounds uncertain about the years themselves. Valhalla is a very confusing place, after all.]

[sassguard]

[ Hundreds of years? What is she, an Asari? Shepard nearly blurts out the question, but manages to restrain it just in time. His mother didn't raise him to be completely tactless, after all. ]

Hundreds of years is a long time to be separated from anyone. You don't... look that old.

[heralding]

[No, she just sounds like one.]

I was in Valhalla for much of that. And a crystal ... dreaming, for another five hundred.

["It's complicated."]

[sassguard]

[ Valhalla, Valhalla... that rings a bell in his head, but he can't quite place it. ]

Must have been one hell of a dream, if it lasted that long. [ He kids. Really. ]

[heralding]

I think some people had better ones than me.

[sassguard]

[ He pauses, mulling this over. ]

Was that something normal? People being put to sleep for hundreds of years at a time? [ He thinks, irrationally, of the Protheans -- minds put into storage for decades, waiting out the end of the Reaper's destruction. ]

Why?

[heralding]

In one world it was far more common than the other, yes. It's because that is how the gods of my world used us. When their people succeeded, they were given this eternal sleep as an "award."

... My case was different. I needed to protect someone very important to me by sleeping, but I had more ... "choice" in the matter, you could say.

[Not much. But more.]

[sassguard]

Being put on ice for centuries doesn't sound like much of a reward. [ But his tone is interested now, and clearly so; there's a story in here that Lightning isn't quite laying out. ]

How was going to sleep going to protect them? Was it your sister?

[heralding]

It was. It was a way of protecting her soul.

[Lightning knows how that sounds. She doesn't go on for exactly that reason.]

[sassguard]

[ Shepard's never considered himself a particularly religious sort of person, but if there's anything his travels have taught him, it's to keep an open mind. ]

Could you tell me more about that?

[heralding]

[Her voice is somber as she speaks.]

She was a seer, granted an ability by a goddess. It was meant to be a thing to help, but it only hurt her in the end. For every vision she saw, a little of her life slipped away. When she passed on and came to Valhalla, chaos surrounded her, and I drew her close and gave my life up so that I could protect her. I knew that at some point in the future that she would be able to live, and before her death, she had sacrificed a great many things to ensure there was a future.

It was the least I could do ... both for myself, and for her.

[She draws in a shaky breath.]

I had only just gotten her back when I came here, but I know Serah is alive and well. I know that sooner or later, she'll either come here, or she'll go to a new world, and I'll greet her there.