[Open] Not The Absence, But The Ability To Cope

[earthborn]

Who| Shepard and Anyone Else who might come across her
What| Shep wanders around the capitol a bit, getting her bearings
Where| Random street locations (choose your own)
When| The day of her arrival
Warnings/Notes| Possibly language

This was, surprisingly, the absolutely strangest thing that had ever happened to Shepard. Blood sport, she'd had that, in both its clean, relatively safe, publicly sanctioned form and otherwise. Opulence like this could be found on any one of a dozen Asari worlds, and plenty of places on the Presidium as well. Even kidnapping, so far as this experience went, was...not entirely outside of her experiences. But all at once?

All it needed was a clone imposter, and it would officially make her day.

Damn, but if it wasn't surreal, and she had to stop and stare, looking up at the glittering high-rises and all the careless, meandering people. It was as if war had never come here. No Reapers, no hardship. Not six hours ago, to her mind, they'd hit Earth running and had been fighting uphill against Reaper abominations ever since, and then—

And then suddenly; this.

The skies were blue. There was the smell of lilacs in the air. Nobody was screaming. It made no sense, despite the explanation, and there was no way to recover from the whiplash of moving in one day from the grim end of the world, to the Capitol of civilization and indulgence. Even if it came with that familiar undercurrent of wrongness. Shit.

"Shit," she muttered, looking across an open expense of grass that divided a skyscraper from a cheerful little restaurant, watching a pair of clearly-involved teenages walking hand in hand. They were almost alien, the way they dressed, the ease with which they moved, living without fear. But it was peaceful. Happy.

It was the strangest thing that had ever happened to her.

Comments

[shambler]

R has to take a moment to remember, no thanks to the elbow in the face. He almost got his name elbowed right out of him

"Rrrr," the zombie groans. Kid? "You're...s...soldier?"

Because R's convinced anyone who hits like that's probably trained. He's attacked enough newbies to figure out who's on the ball and who isn't.

[earthborn]

"Yeah. Alliance Navy," she says, part-thoughtful but mostly just puzzled. Amend that; very creepy guy, and stoic too. Or maybe that was a speech impediment, or— "...Is that a muzzle?"

Yeah, weird.

[shambler]

Yikes, not someone he felt that comfortable around; he probably ate a SEAL or two, so this is...epically awkward. There isn't much of a Navy where he comes from, he thinks. It's more of a guess.

"Yeah...?" R's grunt is questioning. "Escort...picked...it. Said...make...good...impression."

R tries to look friendly and sociable behind the muzzle that's fairly blinged out (he suspects if this lady hit him in a different spot, she probably would've dented it - she nailed him that hard, so good arm on her.)

[earthborn]

Shepard's elbow has been known to concuss armored mercenaties and break lesser species in half— she doesn't begrudge him his dazed stare. Little does R know, the navy she's referring to has never sailed a sea of water.

"It definitely makes an impression," Actually, wait— alright, no, no blood on her arm. Lucky, "You're a tribute?"

[shambler]

Considering Shepard's elbow is a lethal weapon, R got off really lucky.

"Tri...bute," R repeats, like an echo. "R...District...Four. There's...fans out...there. Be...careful?"

Frankly, R's amazed he can get sentences out after getting clocked. R turns to stare at her, the red hair, the weird eyes that look like they're glowing.