The delivery by Courtenay (sp?) Taylor on that one was on-point.
Modifié par HYR 2.0, 21 mars 2013 - 06:44 .
Modifié par HYR 2.0, 21 mars 2013 - 06:44 .
Bitter dryness coated Shepard's eyes as he hunched over his private terminal, oblivious to the creature comforts that his cabin presented to him. Weariness seeped through his limbs, making his fingers move laboriously slowly as he put the finishing touches on his latest report. Behind him, the massive aquarium that covered an entire wall of his quarters gurgled quietly, while to his right the tiny little hamster in its cage squeaked in contentment. Underfoot, the ship thrummed as it raced through space, travelling hundreds of miles per second while her occupants barely registered the pull of inertia.
Leaning back in his chair for the first time in several hours, Shepard reached up to rub at his eyes, hoping to soothe the heavy lids before they rebelled and shut of their own volition. Running his fingers down over his face, past his chin and around his Adam's apple, he stifled a yawn, ignoring the mild ache in his cheeks as he reigned in the deep gasp for air, transforming the loud groan into a low growl.
Sitting back in the treacherous comfort of his chair, the Commander glanced around his room. Luxurious for the Commander of a warship, it was certainly more than he had grown accustomed to during his training, and even during his time as the commanding officer of the first Normandy. He had to admit, the Cerberus designers of this newest iteration of the ship had a sense of style. The living area of this deck, referred to as the 'Loft' by most of the crew, was spacious and comfortable, while the upper office area was neat and efficient, in spite of Shepard's own attempts to personalise the space. Model ships filled the massive display wall, and had begun to spill out across the desk area as the collection grew.
Next to his terminal, the Commander had placed a holo-imager that cycled through several shots. The crew of the first Normandy, just after receiving their commendations for their work in stopping Saren. A smaller image of the squad themselves while on shore leave, or rather those who remained after the Battle of the Citadel. Wrex had already left for Tuchanka by that point, and there was always the notable absence of Ashley. Shepard shuddered at the memory, shaking the thoughts away as the imager cycled on to the next shot, that of the SR-2 crew just after their successful mission beyond the Omega-4 Relay. All twelve squadmates, joined by a haggard, weary, but rejoicing thirty or so crewmen, rescued from the Collectors just in the nick of time. There, at their heart, stood a grinning Commander, relieved just to have seen his closest allies make it through alive, spitting in the eye of fate and snatching a flawless victory from the claws of implausibility. As Shepard gazed at the image, the warmth in his heart grew, mingled with the same amazement he had felt back then. In spite of all evidence to the contrary, in the face of everything logical, the crew of the Normandy had done the impossible.
He smiled as he leaned back in his chair, the memories sending a warmth running through his veins.
He’d almost slipped into the world of unconsciousness when the door to his cabin hissed open, a set of heavy footsteps making their way into his quarters. Suppressing a sigh, he turned to see the new arrival, halfway down the steps into his living space before she stopped to look about, not catching sight of him at first.
“Jack?”
“Shepard.” She started, put off balance as she made her way back up the steps. “Uh… Wasn’t sure if you’d be awake.”
“Just finishing up some paperwork. You alright?”
“Wanted to talk to you… wanted to apologise for avoiding you and being such an as***le these past few days.”
“Just the past few days?”
“Cut the s**t, Shepard. I’m being serious here.” Her tone grew harsh, her posture becoming more tense.
“Sorry.” The Commander apologised.
With a nod of his head, he guided her down to the couch in his living area, where the pair sat facing one another. Jack hunched forward, hands winding together nervously as she stared at the images on them, carefully picking her words.
“You gotta understand, some of the s**t from my past is hard to talk about. It’s been a long time since I had anyone I thought I could trust to talk about it with.”
“I can wait as long as it takes, Jack. You don’t have to force yourself to talk about whatever it is.”
“No, I want to talk about it with you, its just that, when you’re around, its hard for me to find the right words without sounding like a total pr!ck.”
Shepard kept silent, just watching her. Her sharp features twisted with indecision as her hands squeezed together again. Finally, the tattooed convict held out a hand, palm upwards. She pointed to a small image just on her wrist, or rather the ghost of an image. A tattoo had been burned off, the scarred flesh contrasting with the skin around it. Newer tattoos had been placed over it, making the image hard to make out.
“Used to have a pistol there. Tiny little thing, kinda lost in with all the other crap I got on my skin, but it meant a lot to me, you know? Murtock had the same thing on his wrist, same spot. Burned mine off after he…” Her voice caught. “After the squints got to us.”
“You wear the rest of your life on your skin, Jack. Why remove this part?”
“I got my inks ‘cause I wanna remember the s**t I’ve been through, tell the universe that I survived it and they needed to think twice before f**king with me. But this… I just wanted it out of my head. It hurt like f**k, and I couldn’t get away. Getting rid of the tat was the only thing I could do. But it still chases you, even after all this time.”
“So why bring this up now?” Shepard asked. “What’s changed?”
“I don’t know.” Her voice grew sharp, her throat tight as her confusion made white-hot anger rise in her chest. “I just can’t get it out of my head. Maybe it was seeing Jano again. Maybe it was dealing with that three-eyed as***le Varkun.”
“Are you worried about your past catching up to you?”
“The people who might have f**ked with me have generally ended up dead by the time I was done with ‘em. Doesn’t leave a long list of enemies I need to watch out for. If there’s anyone left out there who can ‘catch up’ with me, then they were obviously too much of a pu**y for me to think them worth killing the first time.” She shrugged, the tattoos on her shoulders rippling with the movement of the muscles underneath. “I’ve never worried about myself before, the war ain’t got nothin’ on what I grew up with, and I’m damn sure there isn’t anyone on your crew to make me feel so uptight. It’s gotta be you.”
“Me?”
“Yes, you!” She jabbed a finger at him, poking him square in the chest. “You keep running off, trying to save every last stray in the Galaxy, and I’m stuck here, stewing over what could go wrong. When s**t went down today on that planet, I damn near lost it waiting to hear what was going on. The Cheerleader rattled off her report, but there was nothing any of us could do with the Normandy grounded like it was. It was all I could do not to tear a hole in the hull so I could go out to find you myself!”
She rose, striding away from the couch. She stopped in front of the aquarium, staring at the fish for a silent moment. Shepard waited where he was, watching her carefully. He took a moment to absorb the sight of her, a dark outline highlighted by the blue luminescence of the tanks. Her tattoos faded in that light, little more than interesting contours covering her body.
“You’ve been lucky so far, but it’s only a matter of time before that runs out. You nearly bought it on the Eye, and even then you lost someone. And what about on Earth, outrunning a Reaper siege? How long is it going to be before I get another goodbye message set on a timer? ‘Looks like I bit off more than I can chew today, oh well. See ya Jack, it’s been real!’ What am I supposed to do with that?”
“I can’t guarantee I’ll make it back every time, Jack.” Shepard answered, rising to his feet. He walked over to her, placing his hands on her hips as he regarded the back of her head. “That’s part of being a soldier. Sometimes its our job to go into these dangerous places with no real chance we’ll come back.”
“Then screw the job!” She snapped “Screw the Alliance, and all those other as***les in charge! They’re the ones who turned their back on us when we went after the Collectors, and they’re the ones who sat with their thumbs up their a**es while the Reapers found a new way into the Galaxy. Why should you have to be the one to clean up this mess?”
“Because nobody else will.” Shepard reached up to place a hand on her shoulder, his thumb brushing the nape of her neck. “Because nobody else can.”
“At least… promise me you won’t leave me behind. When your back’s against the wall, and it looks like there’s going to be no way out, let me be right there with you, kicking a** and taking names all the way to hell.” She turned to face him, her head tilting slightly as she pressed her jaw against his palm.
“I can’t promise that.” Shepard said, his other hand moving up to rest on her other shoulder. “I could never knowingly put you in the way of a danger I thought I couldn’t protect you from. If it looks like there’s no getting out alive, I have to at least know you’ll be safe.”
“I don’t want to be safe!” She spat, reaching up to push his hands away, striding past him with an agitated air. She paced uncertainly. “How could I even sleep right, knowing that I let you walk into hell without me?”
She reached up, fingers brushing her temples as she shook her head.
“I can’t go back to being alone, not now.” She muttered, leaving Shepard to wonder whether she was talking to him, or to herself. “I’m not going back to being that messed up little b*tch. I’d rather die fighting than get out alive and have to live alone again.”
“Jack…” Shepard stepped over, grabbing her shoulder and halting her worried pacing. “It’s okay. I don’t plan to go anywhere.” He smiled reassuringly. “I’m sticking with you, all the way until Mordin finds the plughole of the universe and the Galaxy folds in on itself.”
Jack tensed, refusing to look up as Shepard watched her expression closely. Acting on impulse, he drew her in closer, wrapping his arms around her. The raw heat of her skin blazed against his cheek as he pressed his mouth against the hollow where her neck met her shoulder, his nostrils filling with the heavy, wild scent of her body. She froze, unresponsive for a long second before her head sank down, leaning in against his neck. The coarse bristles of her scalp tickled his ear as her arms slid around him, hands locking in the small of his back as she gently squeezed. He felt her chest heave against his as she sighed deeply, whether from relief, frustration or weariness being a mystery to him.
Finally, all too soon for his liking, the embrace ended, Jack now meeting his gaze as she stepped back. She shook her head as a small, weary smile tugged at the corner of her mouth.
“What the hell, Shepard. How did we end up like this?”
“What do you mean?”
“Why do you bother with me? What makes you think I’m worth dealing with? You coulda had anyone you wanted. You got half the galaxy’s women throwing themselves at your feet. S**t, you got Batarian women tearing each other apart for a chance to get at you, and you know how they hate Humans. So, in a Galaxy where you coulda had the cheerleader, or the little bucket girl, or any of the Alliance’s poster girls, or even Miss Thessia, why bother with someone as f**ked up as me? You don’t deserve me, you deserve much better. I deserve some lowlife scumbag, someone like Murtock.”
“Deserve’s got nothing to do with it. I don’t want anyone else. I want you.”
“But why?”
“Does it matter? In a Galaxy where giant space machines want to wipe out all life and tomorrow isn’t guaranteed to follow today, do you really want to question how I can think we can have a happy life together?”
Shepard stared into her eyes, stalling any further queries as he squeezed her shoulder again. She smiled again, this time with a little more warmth. Around them, the Normandy thrummed quietly, the only other sounds being that of the aquarium and the hamster in the office.
“I’d best let you get some rest.” She whispered, almost afraid to break the peace by raising her voice. “We’ll need the hero of the Galaxy strong for his next big feat.”
“If by 'big feat' you mean surviving the mother of all hangovers once we get back to the Citadel, then I think I could afford to lose a few hours sleep to spend time with the woman I love.” Shepard took her hand in his, interlocking her fingers with his own. “Stay with me, Jack. Please.”
Jack snorted, the sudden noise shattering the silence.
“S**t, Shepard, you sound like such a pu**y when you talk like that!” she chuckled. “Alright, seeing as you asked so prettily, I’ll stay. For a while. Now come to bed. I meant what I said about you getting some rest.”
Minutes later, the pair were curled up in the Commander’s bed, Jack nestled comfortably within Shepard’s arms, her hand still holding his. It wasn’t long before both had drifted off, the warmth of one another’s company reaching deep into their souls. For that short time before sleep took him, Shepard’s life was complete.

spirosz wrote...
From Nightfable
fainmaca wrote...
Hey Jack fans. Been a while, what with one thing or another, been a bit sporadic on here.
Anyway, been working on some Jack stuff for ITU, and I need a bit of feedback. I really suck at dialogue, and I want to make sure that this feels right for the character. I'd really appreciate if any of you could send me your two pence worth on it.
Bitter dryness coated Shepard's eyes as he hunched over his private terminal, oblivious to the creature comforts that his cabin presented to him. Weariness seeped through his limbs, making his fingers move laboriously slowly as he put the finishing touches on his latest report. Behind him, the massive aquarium that covered an entire wall of his quarters gurgled quietly, while to his right the tiny little hamster in its cage squeaked in contentment. Underfoot, the ship thrummed as it raced through space, travelling hundreds of miles per second while her occupants barely registered the pull of inertia.
Leaning back in his chair for the first time in several hours, Shepard reached up to rub at his eyes, hoping to soothe the heavy lids before they rebelled and shut of their own volition. Running his fingers down over his face, past his chin and around his Adam's apple, he stifled a yawn, ignoring the mild ache in his cheeks as he reigned in the deep gasp for air, transforming the loud groan into a low growl.
Sitting back in the treacherous comfort of his chair, the Commander glanced around his room. Luxurious for the Commander of a warship, it was certainly more than he had grown accustomed to during his training, and even during his time as the commanding officer of the first Normandy. He had to admit, the Cerberus designers of this newest iteration of the ship had a sense of style. The living area of this deck, referred to as the 'Loft' by most of the crew, was spacious and comfortable, while the upper office area was neat and efficient, in spite of Shepard's own attempts to personalise the space. Model ships filled the massive display wall, and had begun to spill out across the desk area as the collection grew.
Next to his terminal, the Commander had placed a holo-imager that cycled through several shots. The crew of the first Normandy, just after receiving their commendations for their work in stopping Saren. A smaller image of the squad themselves while on shore leave, or rather those who remained after the Battle of the Citadel. Wrex had already left for Tuchanka by that point, and there was always the notable absence of Ashley. Shepard shuddered at the memory, shaking the thoughts away as the imager cycled on to the next shot, that of the SR-2 crew just after their successful mission beyond the Omega-4 Relay. All twelve squadmates, joined by a haggard, weary, but rejoicing thirty or so crewmen, rescued from the Collectors just in the nick of time. There, at their heart, stood a grinning Commander, relieved just to have seen his closest allies make it through alive, spitting in the eye of fate and snatching a flawless victory from the claws of implausibility. As Shepard gazed at the image, the warmth in his heart grew, mingled with the same amazement he had felt back then. In spite of all evidence to the contrary, in the face of everything logical, the crew of the Normandy had done the impossible.
He smiled as he leaned back in his chair, the memories sending a warmth running through his veins.
He’d almost slipped into the world of unconsciousness when the door to his cabin hissed open, a set of heavy footsteps making their way into his quarters. Suppressing a sigh, he turned to see the new arrival, halfway down the steps into his living space before she stopped to look about, not catching sight of him at first.
“Jack?”
“Shepard.” She started, put off balance as she made her way back up the steps. “Uh… Wasn’t sure if you’d be awake.”
“Just finishing up some paperwork. You alright?”
“Wanted to talk to you… wanted to apologise for avoiding you and being such an as***le these past few days.”
“Just the past few days?”
“Cut the s**t, Shepard. I’m being serious here.” Her tone grew harsh, her posture becoming more tense.
“Sorry.” The Commander apologised.
With a nod of his head, he guided her down to the couch in his living area, where the pair sat facing one another. Jack hunched forward, hands winding together nervously as she stared at the images on them, carefully picking her words.
“You gotta understand, some of the s**t from my past is hard to talk about. It’s been a long time since I had anyone I thought I could trust to talk about it with.”
“I can wait as long as it takes, Jack. You don’t have to force yourself to talk about whatever it is.”
“No, I want to talk about it with you, its just that, when you’re around, its hard for me to find the right words without sounding like a total pr!ck.”
Shepard kept silent, just watching her. Her sharp features twisted with indecision as her hands squeezed together again. Finally, the tattooed convict held out a hand, palm upwards. She pointed to a small image just on her wrist, or rather the ghost of an image. A tattoo had been burned off, the scarred flesh contrasting with the skin around it. Newer tattoos had been placed over it, making the image hard to make out.
“Used to have a pistol there. Tiny little thing, kinda lost in with all the other crap I got on my skin, but it meant a lot to me, you know? Murtock had the same thing on his wrist, same spot. Burned mine off after he…” Her voice caught. “After the squints got to us.”
“You wear the rest of your life on your skin, Jack. Why remove this part?”
“I got my inks ‘cause I wanna remember the s**t I’ve been through, tell the universe that I survived it and they needed to think twice before f**king with me. But this… I just wanted it out of my head. It hurt like f**k, and I couldn’t get away. Getting rid of the tat was the only thing I could do. But it still chases you, even after all this time.”
“So why bring this up now?” Shepard asked. “What’s changed?”
“I don’t know.” Her voice grew sharp, her throat tight as her confusion made white-hot anger rise in her chest. “I just can’t get it out of my head. Maybe it was seeing Jano again. Maybe it was dealing with that three-eyed as***le Varkun.”
“Are you worried about your past catching up to you?”
“The people who might have f**ked with me have generally ended up dead by the time I was done with ‘em. Doesn’t leave a long list of enemies I need to watch out for. If there’s anyone left out there who can ‘catch up’ with me, then they were obviously too much of a pu**y for me to think them worth killing the first time.” She shrugged, the tattoos on her shoulders rippling with the movement of the muscles underneath. “I’ve never worried about myself before, the war ain’t got nothin’ on what I grew up with, and I’m damn sure there isn’t anyone on your crew to make me feel so uptight. It’s gotta be you.”
“Me?”
“Yes, you!” She jabbed a finger at him, poking him square in the chest. “You keep running off, trying to save every last stray in the Galaxy, and I’m stuck here, stewing over what could go wrong. When s**t went down today on that planet, I damn near lost it waiting to hear what was going on. The Cheerleader rattled off her report, but there was nothing any of us could do with the Normandy grounded like it was. It was all I could do not to tear a hole in the hull so I could go out to find you myself!”
She rose, striding away from the couch. She stopped in front of the aquarium, staring at the fish for a silent moment. Shepard waited where he was, watching her carefully. He took a moment to absorb the sight of her, a dark outline highlighted by the blue luminescence of the tanks. Her tattoos faded in that light, little more than interesting contours covering her body.
“You’ve been lucky so far, but it’s only a matter of time before that runs out. You nearly bought it on the Eye, and even then you lost someone. And what about on Earth, outrunning a Reaper siege? How long is it going to be before I get another goodbye message set on a timer? ‘Looks like I bit off more than I can chew today, oh well. See ya Jack, it’s been real!’ What am I supposed to do with that?”
“I can’t guarantee I’ll make it back every time, Jack.” Shepard answered, rising to his feet. He walked over to her, placing his hands on her hips as he regarded the back of her head. “That’s part of being a soldier. Sometimes its our job to go into these dangerous places with no real chance we’ll come back.”
“Then screw the job!” She snapped “Screw the Alliance, and all those other as***les in charge! They’re the ones who turned their back on us when we went after the Collectors, and they’re the ones who sat with their thumbs up their a**es while the Reapers found a new way into the Galaxy. Why should you have to be the one to clean up this mess?”
“Because nobody else will.” Shepard reached up to place a hand on her shoulder, his thumb brushing the nape of her neck. “Because nobody else can.”
“At least… promise me you won’t leave me behind. When your back’s against the wall, and it looks like there’s going to be no way out, let me be right there with you, kicking a** and taking names all the way to hell.” She turned to face him, her head tilting slightly as she pressed her jaw against his palm.
“I can’t promise that.” Shepard said, his other hand moving up to rest on her other shoulder. “I could never knowingly put you in the way of a danger I thought I couldn’t protect you from. If it looks like there’s no getting out alive, I have to at least know you’ll be safe.”
“I don’t want to be safe!” She spat, reaching up to push his hands away, striding past him with an agitated air. She paced uncertainly. “How could I even sleep right, knowing that I let you walk into hell without me?”
She reached up, fingers brushing her temples as she shook her head.
“I can’t go back to being alone, not now.” She muttered, leaving Shepard to wonder whether she was talking to him, or to herself. “I’m not going back to being that messed up little b*tch. I’d rather die fighting than get out alive and have to live alone again.”
“Jack…” Shepard stepped over, grabbing her shoulder and halting her worried pacing. “It’s okay. I don’t plan to go anywhere.” He smiled reassuringly. “I’m sticking with you, all the way until Mordin finds the plughole of the universe and the Galaxy folds in on itself.”
Jack tensed, refusing to look up as Shepard watched her expression closely. Acting on impulse, he drew her in closer, wrapping his arms around her. The raw heat of her skin blazed against his cheek as he pressed his mouth against the hollow where her neck met her shoulder, his nostrils filling with the heavy, wild scent of her body. She froze, unresponsive for a long second before her head sank down, leaning in against his neck. The coarse bristles of her scalp tickled his ear as her arms slid around him, hands locking in the small of his back as she gently squeezed. He felt her chest heave against his as she sighed deeply, whether from relief, frustration or weariness being a mystery to him.
Finally, all too soon for his liking, the embrace ended, Jack now meeting his gaze as she stepped back. She shook her head as a small, weary smile tugged at the corner of her mouth.
“What the hell, Shepard. How did we end up like this?”
“What do you mean?”
“Why do you bother with me? What makes you think I’m worth dealing with? You coulda had anyone you wanted. You got half the galaxy’s women throwing themselves at your feet. S**t, you got Batarian women tearing each other apart for a chance to get at you, and you know how they hate Humans. So, in a Galaxy where you coulda had the cheerleader, or the little bucket girl, or any of the Alliance’s poster girls, or even Miss Thessia, why bother with someone as f**ked up as me? You don’t deserve me, you deserve much better. I deserve some lowlife scumbag, someone like Murtock.”
“Deserve’s got nothing to do with it. I don’t want anyone else. I want you.”
“But why?”
“Does it matter? In a Galaxy where giant space machines want to wipe out all life and tomorrow isn’t guaranteed to follow today, do you really want to question how I can think we can have a happy life together?”
Shepard stared into her eyes, stalling any further queries as he squeezed her shoulder again. She smiled again, this time with a little more warmth. Around them, the Normandy thrummed quietly, the only other sounds being that of the aquarium and the hamster in the office.
“I’d best let you get some rest.” She whispered, almost afraid to break the peace by raising her voice. “We’ll need the hero of the Galaxy strong for his next big feat.”
“If by 'big feat' you mean surviving the mother of all hangovers once we get back to the Citadel, then I think I could afford to lose a few hours sleep to spend time with the woman I love.” Shepard took her hand in his, interlocking her fingers with his own. “Stay with me, Jack. Please.”
Jack snorted, the sudden noise shattering the silence.
“S**t, Shepard, you sound like such a pu**y when you talk like that!” she chuckled. “Alright, seeing as you asked so prettily, I’ll stay. For a while. Now come to bed. I meant what I said about you getting some rest.”
Minutes later, the pair were curled up in the Commander’s bed, Jack nestled comfortably within Shepard’s arms, her hand still holding his. It wasn’t long before both had drifted off, the warmth of one another’s company reaching deep into their souls. For that short time before sleep took him, Shepard’s life was complete.
I think it could do with a little more... something, but I'm not sure what. Thoughts/ideas/criticisms?
And no, the little something is not a three-way with Miranda/Liara/Tali/Wrex (god why?!?), so don't suggest it!
Modifié par Nightfable, 21 avril 2013 - 07:02 .
android654 wrote...
Damn...
Vertrix wrote...
i loved her with ME2 hairstyle.....imho, she's appearnce has been ruined in ME3.....i am playing ME3 again, i want to see how her romance developes in the citadel dlc....the scenes at the grissom academy were cool
I enjoyed Jack's style in ME3, she look like punk rocker. Although in ME2 her bald rough look is nice too.spirosz wrote...
Vertrix wrote...
i loved her with ME2 hairstyle.....imho, she's appearnce has been ruined in ME3.....i am playing ME3 again, i want to see how her romance developes in the citadel dlc....the scenes at the grissom academy were cool
That's the reason I bought the Citadel DLC and I loved what I saw, it what I personally asked and wanted from Bioware, but I don't know if that's the same for you.
Modifié par Nightfable, 25 avril 2013 - 05:36 .
Nightfable wrote...
http://lovelymaiden....final-367248370
The original image I used: http://img443.images...g00014lgad5.jpg

Modifié par Nightfable, 25 avril 2013 - 05:35 .