Independent selective roleplay blog for Adahlia A. Shepard;
Paragon Commander Shepard of the Mass Effect series.
"Do not mistake my kindness for weakness.“⊕ Detailed dossier, concise guidelines, thorough choices page.
⊕ 10+ years experience roleplaying, 8 months on tumblr
⊕ Chat / banter, single to mulipara, occasional novella
⊕ Mun and muse both 21+ NSFW themes welcome
⊕ Looking to plot more in-depth threads please!Formerly blxckwidowx.
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✮; “You’re… you’re what?” she repeats, not sounding so much upset or offended as simply… bewildered. “I— oh. I mean, I’ve certainly felt the connection between us, and perhaps it was silly of me to think you didn’t feel it too… unless you didn’t and this is a sort of human thing, and… goddess, I’m embarrassing myself so badly, aren’t I.”
The shy, socially maladjusted asari cranes her head down a bit, suddenly quite intent to focus on fidgeting with her hands as she tries to process the blunt admission that the commander was flirting with her. It’s certainly a pleasant revelation, but she has only a minimalised idea of how to process it. “No, no. You don’t have to apologise. I’m the one who should be doing that. I’m not used to dealing with humans, or… well, with anyone, really. Had I picked up on it at the time, I probably would have said something clumsy and awkward about how you have fascinating hair.”
The commander’s face took on a bemused expression. ”Fascinating, eh?“ The slight encouragement renewed her confidence and she leaned into the asari again, her body language returning to its previous openness. She took a moment to let Liara squirm before reflecting on her earlier comment. "Is that some kind of asari translation for an attraction? To say that two people have a connection?” She’d heard people use the phrase before but in a far more intimate connotation, as if to say that she and Liara were on a similar wavelength, and that made her uncomfortable. “Or did you mean…” She licked her lips and glanced away for a moment, suddenly focused on the floor plating before looking back at the other woman. “… something else?”
She didn’t acknowledge Liara’s apology. As far as Shepard was concerned, the crux of the matter was how interested she was, and if Liara was at all interested then her own apology had been unnecessary. It was difficult to tell, though. She was more flustered than anything else, but that was kind of cute. And, Shepard hoped, a sign of her feelings towards the commander.
Artist: The Neighbourhood
Album: I Love You.
Played: 0 times
Afraid - The Neighbourhood
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EDI heard what the commander had asked. She heard everything that happened in the ship, every second of the day. It was possible to switch sensors on and off in an instant to restrict what she heard to a single room, and that was what she did now. “The entire crew does not sleep at one time, many of the lower ranking personnel sleep in shifts. I will often communicate with them. This has, so far, kept me from discovering if an AI can grow ‘bored’. Did you know that Mordin talks to himself in his sleep more than when he is awake?”
The commander raised an eyebrow before adjusting her position in bed. “I did not know that, and I think it’s one of the most fantastic things I’ve ever heard.” She smiled. It was true that the crew never was entirely asleep at one point, they had a night crew and Shepard knew them well thanks to her insomnia. “My brother told me once when we were children that I talked in my sleep. He said he couldn’t understand a word I said, but that I was talking. I felt bad because at the time we shared a room. I don’t know if I still do.” She supposed EDI would know. Most of the time when she woke from a particularly vivid dream she was overheated like she’d been thrashing around the bed– though there was no evidence of that in the bed itself. She wouldn’t be surprised to hear that she did still talk in her sleep, though none of her romantic partners had complained. “It must be nice not having to sleep. Productive, you know?”
tagged as: #livingsynthetic #intelligence
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She’d been a good half second away from just slipping back into her work and trying to forget this conversation happened— after all, she practically idolizes the commander, who just treated her like a balloon being handled by Freddy Krueger. Of course, Kelly’s too nice to say anything about it, but thankfully Shepard does before walking away. “Commander,” as she looks over her shoulder, away from the terminal and towards those mournful-looking eyes.
“I’m truly sorry for anything that may have happened in the past to give you reason to be uncomfortable here, but I want you to know I understand your apprehension. Really, I do. But I hope you’ll believe me, regardless, when I saw this crew, on this ship, is here for the right reasons— we all care about humanity very much. We all have relatives living in remote colonies. Many of us have already lost friends, family, loved ones. We’re here because we want to make a difference, to stop the collectors, before we have to dig more graves. I mean that, and I think you believe me when I say it.”
Shepard did her best not to let the skepticism show on her face, though that got easier as Kelly touched on more plausible points like the crew having family in human colonies. "Ms. Chambers, I certainly do believe that the reason we’re all here is to keep our colonies safe. But as for understanding my apprehension, respectfully, you don’t. And I know you don’t because if you did, there wouldn’t be a Cerberus patch on your shoulder.” Her tone was much softer than it had been earlier. She wanted to reassure the poor girl, but telling her that her naivete was alright or that things would be okay was not truthful. In fact, Shepard was very certain that this was all going to end very badly.
If Kelly was as well-intended a person as she seemed, then one day she would realize what she’d gotten herself into and that disillusionment could potentially destroy her. It took the commander a long moment to come up with something positive to say, but finally she took a breath. “I do, however, appreciate that you want to understand my apprehension.” Maybe an acknowledgment of her good intentions would be the kind of reassurance she needed without lying to her. Things certainly hadn’t gotten off to a good start. Between arguing with Miranda and now this, if she kept on as she was she’d have everyone on the ship hating her by lunch. Except maybe Joker and Chakwas.
tagged as: #adegreeinpsychology #meeting the crew
“Please send this to an animal shelter for proper disposal as a warship is not an appropriate…” Oh that is not okay! He messed with my hamster guys. Now it’s personal. Guys? Were you gonna say something or… No, no, I get it. Hard to even find the words. Should we check on my fish? ‘Cause if he’s getting rid of all the pets… We should probably deal with him first, huh? All right. Sit tight, little guy. Anybody gives you trouble… go for the eyes.
—Shepard . Mass Effect 3 (via fyeahmasseffectquotes)
tagged as: #oh no not Winston!!
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“I’ll figure this shit out.” Jack said slowly, clutching the datapad in her hand as she listened to Shepard. Hell, she wasn’t going to ask Miranda for shit, the last thing she needed was the bitch to invade her space and condescend everything Jack stood for—again. Oh it’d be a mighty surprise that there was someone out there who genuinely cared about Jack besides the wicked and the lost. As for Liara? Jack would think on it, she’d appreciate the help but this was something she needed to figure out alone, she was once a pirate and knew how to arrange coordinates and how to follow them using a small freighter or transporting ship. “Again, thanks. I’ll see what I can—I mean I’ll look over everything. It’s fucking overwhelming.”
“You don’t get it, I’m askin’ to leave so I can get to know who this woman is, if I’m here helping you I can’t help myself.” Jack’s voice was deep, but gentle at the same time. She wanted Shepard to understand perhaps this was the right moment to part ways. If Jack was going to discover who she truly was then she would have to travel the galaxy collecting the fragments of her past. “I’ll be fine, I’m still fucking here aren’t I? I’ve made it through hell and back and I’m still kickin’, it’ll take a lot for some motherfucker to take me out.” She said with a grin.
Shit. Jack still wasn’t understanding what she was trying to tell her, and Shepard didn’t know how to elaborate without just coming out and saying it. You don’t even know you’re mother’s alive, that Cerberus didn’t take her, too, or that she wasn’t with them all along. Hell maybe she donated her child to science because of whatever fucked up logic Cerberus had fed her or maybe she’d never been a fit parent to begin with. Venturing into the unknown was dangerous territory in this circumstance, and wanting to prepare Jack for the endless list of potential outcomes, while noble, was a tricky business. For one thing the biotic probably didn’t want to hear that things might not be ideal, and that was a huge problem. It meant that if things went south later, she might not be able to cope or have an extraction contingency. “I do understand that, Jack. What I’m saying is that you should look into this person, this stranger, before deciding that you even want to meet her. People have a way of letting you down in life, and I just…” She heaved a sigh and trailed off. “You know what I mean.”
Her talk about the dichotomy of either helping Shepard or helping herself was also troubling. Clearly Jack didn’t think she could do both– and she was right in some respects. If they died going through that relay, then she could never develop whatever relationship might be possible with this woman. “I’m sure you’ll have time to go meet her before we make the jump, if you still want to. But our mission here is important. We’re protecting lives here, Jack. Lives of people just like your mom, whoever she turns out to be. I just don’t want you to cast that aside to chase something that might not even be there.” She lifted her shoulders in an awkward shrug. It was hard to know the right thing in these sorts of situations. It felt like there was no winning.
tagged as: #subjectzerozerobullshit #The Convict
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“It was not. All I needed was my people.” Something he doesn’t have anymore, and acknowledges, aside from a small number of awakened Collectors. And Javik wasn’t so accepting at first to them as much as he was to the more ‘primitive’ races. Much less so, in actuality.
“My sights could only be narrow, Commander. None of the ruling races of today had enough of a personality to be good or bad people. Like confused animals, primitives could be nothing more than subservient.” Javik let his arms down at his sides again, “That time does not feel as far away as it is. You as you are now is still a difficult concept to grasp, but all of you are not quite as far as you could be.”
Shepard shook her head. “I wasn’t talking about now, I was referencing something you said to me shortly after we first met. You said– and I might be paraphrasing so forgive any technical errors– but the gist of it was that the word ‘Prothean’ referred to an empire, not a specific species. That 'lesser’ races were given a choice to join or be crushed under your proverbial heel. I’m assuming, and this might be incorrect, but at some point there had to have been an original Prothean race that then assimilated others but never really recognized them as equals. I mean, it’s how my own people treated foreign humans back when Earth wasn’t globalized. Am I way off base?”
It was a potentially touchy subject for a number of reasons. Not the least of which being that she was bringing up people who were long dead, and Javik might not appreciate the tone in which she discussed his fallen comrades. Perhaps not as prevalent was the issue the Prothean himself repeatedly verbalized– his own lack of respect for current races, which might become increasingly more clear throughout their discussion of racial tension. It was probably best for the commander to back off. She gave a shrug.
tagged as: #shapedbywar #From Ashes
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✮; Liara can’t particularly tell if she’s being teased or not— she’s not even particularly good with social relations among other asari, without even beginning to consider humans, a species she has nothing more than third-hand contact with— so she opts simply to nod her head at first and hang it somewhat. Is that an appropriate response? She has no idea. Maybe she should laugh a bit as well.
“Well. They are an excellent type, or so I’ve gathered from my… admittedly small pool of characterisations with regard to your species,” she agrees shyly, though at this point her forehead practically feels as though it’s on fire from flustered embarrassment. "Shepard. I hope it’s not too forward of me to ask, and if I’m misreading the situation then I profusely apologize, but…are you deliberately attempting to tease me, or—?”
The asari’s direct question took the commander aback. Perhaps she hadn’t really understood how things were for the scientist. All her talk of preferring to be alone, maybe she was as socially inept as she claimed to be, although Shepard wasn’t entirely certain that was true. Liara was brilliant, articulate, and gorgeous. She imagined it would be difficult to maintain a high level of social awkwardness with that skill set. At first Shepard had even thought that the archaeologist was flirting right back, although her tone wasn’t necessarily right for that.
Now that it was clear Liara hadn’t been going along with her bit, Shepard wasn’t sure how to handle the situation. She licked her lips quickly and canted her head to one side. "I may have been trying to flirt with you. Apparently unsuccessfully. I didn’t mean to make you uncomfortable, I apologize. It was unprofessional of me.” She never really had been one for prim and proper. Wasn’t her style, her personality. For better or worse, she was rough around the edges. In this case, perhaps it was for the worse. Bullocks.
Take a tour of our closest galactic neighbors!
“100,000 Stars is an interactive visualization of the stellar neighborhood created for the Google Chrome web browser. It shows the location of 119,617 nearby stars derived from multiple sources, including the 1989 Hipparcos mission. Zooming in reveals 87 individually identified stars and our solar system. The galaxy view is an artist’s rendition based on NGC 1232, a spiral galaxy like the Milky Way.”