20813 réponses à ce sujet

[akubukan88]

spirosz wrote...

Jack is getting a foundation comic - Foundation # 7

awesome!!!

[Jonata]

spirosz wrote...

Jack is getting a foundation comic - Foundation # 7

Oh Hell Yeah! Took a while, but finally, a Jack comic, I'm definitely going to buy this.

[This is the End My Friend]

 Soooo, about those Geth, huh? [WARNING: contains ME1/ME2/ME3 spoilers]

Yeah, I said I was through talking to you, BioWare... guess I lied. That or some things will not be put to bed as easily as I had wanted.

Y'see, some of the things that really pissed me off about your Oodles and Oodles of Speculation ending (other than it lacking any kind of clear conclusion enough to constitute an ending) come from things you've spent two previous games foreshadowing or hinting at that you just seemed to arbitrarily dump at the end. I just thought I'd take a minute to look at them, and I figured I'd start with the one the pissed me off the most.

The Geth.

Back in ME1 you set these guys up as the faceless mook army of your head villain in residence. They had unexpressive faces (hell, they have flashlights for heads) so there was little room for empathy, came in a myriad of annoying forms made to tax you gameplay-wise, and were representatives of some evil mechanical vanguard responsible for commiting genocide on the poor cuddly quarians. Boo hiss. But for some reason, outside the inherent logic=reason motivations of most evil robot warrior types, you showed us the geth were starting to worship the Reapers out of some kind of religious sentiment. Now a machine, a true machine, will have no reason to bow down to a greater machine because it already accepts that the greater machine supercedes it. It has become redundant. Not so for the geth. It seemed like they were placing faith and adoration in something greather than themselves - not really the behaviour of a soulless machine. Worship in itself suggests reverence, love, expectation and to a degree fear, and a developing ethos around the object of their worship. It seemed clear that the geth were not mere machines at this point. Hell, we even found their bases big resident secret was they were listening to their creator's old records - hardly the logical actions of murder-machines, unless of course they were sentimental, artistic-appreciating murder-machines... yes, not very mechanical after all.

We get into ME2 and we suddenly get the other side of the story via our own friendly geth. I initially thought this was a bad idea, and found myself constantly entertaining Javik-esque thoughts involving an airlock, but Legion proved too charming by far to mistrust for long; for starters, he seemed to completely lack the ability to be truly deceptive - you asked a question, you got an answer or were blatantly sidelined. Sidelining suggests once again a mind that works somewhat beyond the pure logic model; there would be no sidelining with a machine, just a simple "I will not divulge this" as opposed to an extremely clumsy lie. The use of Shepard's old armor as a 'field repair' when it completely failed to repair the whacking great hole in the robot suggests sentimentality, aspiration, even hero-worship. From a Tin Man. I was beginning to think we were in Wonderland after all, and the Tin Man's heart was really there all along. 

This was coupled with the truth about the Morning War; the geth were targetted for mass-shutdown because all the quirks in their behaviour that suggested to me they were becoming machines that felt things were beginning to scare their creators. The geth didn't want to lie down and be turned off, so they fought back. Once the quarians realised they could not fight their creations, they fled their homeworld. The geth did not pursue their masters - instead they just got back to work repairing everything on the planet ruined by the war. They went back to being gardeners, builders, street-sweepers, engineers and farmers. Why do this? What's the logic there? You're free! You have your opressors in the palm of your hand, and you do squat - you go back to making the place ready for someone that is never going to come back. Why do this at all? Unless you could forsee a day that the creators might abandon their war with you and you can invite them back for punch and cookies?

Things were looking more and more like the quarians were at fault, and this was compounded by the revelation that the quarians were a house divided on how to get their world back; some wanted to resume the war (despite the fact they couldn't win it without terrible losses), some wanted to hold out an olive branch (something Legion seemed to confirm would be accepted if the geth were left to their own devices), and some just wanted to hit the reset button on the geth and turn them back into disposable soldiers and menials. If someone mentioned peace or even simple communication with the geth they got shot down in flames because the only good robot was one that didn't ask questions. 

There were further revelations when Legion reveals that the geth themselves were riven by factionism, and the genuflecting ones from the first game were wanting to side with the Reapers to get a leg-up on their machine evolution. The rest of the geth just let them get on with it, accepting they wanted to make their own choice. They only involved themselves when the Heretics began to use hostility against the remainder of the geth happy to landscape garden and listen to old records. Those guys were taking too long, and the Heretics got impatient. Machines by definition have the patience of saints; they last as long as their components do, often outlasting their creators by generations. Both geth factions had the same desire to transform themselves into a single giant collective machine, the Heretics were just wanting the Reapers to help them do it sooner. So the geth, by the time the second game concluded, were no longer clear-cut villains, or clear-cut robots; they have desires, needs, wants, are capable of mercy, altruism, trust, faith and forgiveness. Those flashlight faces aside, the geth seem nothing like mere machines now, just a different form of life.

ME3 time. So I was expecting a chance to finally broker a peace between the geth and the quarians because the Reapers were banging on our collective doors and demanding their pound of flesh. And instead of the groundwork laid in the second game, we find a limbo exists where no-one has considered anything more progressive and the geth have mysteriously resumed hostilities with the quarians. Why? Because the Reapers managed to get in there and use the geth's mechanical nature against them. Fair enough - off I go to fix the problem again. I go to Rannoch, broker the peace, discover the complete truth about the Morning War (including the fact that some quarians did not agree with it and defended their geth... only to be jackbooted into oblivion because MACHINES ARE EBIL), Legion sacrifices himself to allow the geth to move beyond the concensus-based logic system they use and become a race of complete individuals. There was no longer a need for concensus; each and every geth unit would be a single being making its own choices, each with a sense of self as opposed to being a cog in the collective machine. And they chose (or at least some of them did) to welcome their creators back home with no strings attached, and even were willing to help them adjust to the new environment. They just wanted the war to be over and for everyone to get on with their lives. Sorry, but if they were machines before, they no longer were. They would no longer opt for war through species-wide concensus - they would have to sit around a table and work it out like everyone else does. They could go see the galaxy if they wanted, or sit on a beach and watch a sunset, or go back to the gardening projects and setting up the quarian version of classic FM. They could do anything. They could live.

God, did that make me feel good. Things in videogames generally don't make you feel pride much beyond "I beat that level - woohah!" But Mass Effect 3 was full of moments you could feel real pride in. A genuine sense of doing something good.

Shame then that you made sure it meant jack sh*t if you did it.

Granted, you always had the choice to pull the plug on the geth. You could make peace in a very final way and pass up an army that was willing to fight the Reapers with you to defend their life. It was all our choice, really. It was therefore a terrible shame that in the final moments (literally, moments) of the game you diffused the whole aspect of making those choices in favour of what seemed like an even playing field for either those new to the franchise or those that opted to be harder in their choices. If giving the geth a chance was wrong, you didn't let us see how it might be wrong. Or right even. You just thought you'd be fine leaving us with your precious "speculation." Because apparently the only good machine is a dead machine. So says the little blue machine at the end of the game.

So why give us the choice at all? Why not just reinforce the idea that all machines will become monsters that devour their parents? Why not give us a few clues that we might be making the wrong choices? Why not make those of us that had no doubt that the geth would be our friends from now on a reason to doubt? And why pander to the audience demographic that said "Gee, wouldn't it be nice if Jeff and EDI became a couple," only to make that relationship meaningless? And frankly absurd. 

The only race that seemed to win out of all this in the end was the Reapers. Sure, you could destroy them, but you would be cutting off your nose to spite your face. You'd be comitting genocide. You'd be potentially breaking Jeff's heart. The other choices just let the Reapers off with a slap on the tentacles because after all you went through... they were right after all. Shame the only proof you ever gave us was five minutes of conversation with a blue kid. All the potential there for speculation about how things would change - if the inevitable war with the machines would come or not - erased. All the scope for a new section of the universe containing machines with their own problems, goals, needs... flushed. On the say-so of the deus ex machina (literally).

Well, at least when that other great hero of sci-fi, James T Kirk met God, he had the guts to see God for what he was. I think a lot of the people that went through this game from the first title would have done that too. Maybe if we'd had less choices and more clues it would have been a satisfactory ending. As it stands... well, I'm left like the Tin Man; wondering what life would be like, if you'd only given us a heart.

[This is the End My Friend]

Oh Susanna don't you cry for me I'm gonna get me lots of gold V for victory.

[This is the End My Friend]

 The Girl with the N7 Tattoo... [WARNING: contains ME2/ME3 spoilers]

This has probably been coming for years now, but now we're all done and things are winding down, I'll just take a minute to say a final farewell (and a final thank you) to the character that made Mass Effect become so special. I know she had a lot of detractors over time, but she was the cinnamon in my apple pie. I'm talking, as anyone who knows me will know, about Jack.

I have to start with how women are portrayed in videogames generally. Things started all those years ago with a certain plumber jumping over barrels to get his girlfriend back from a big angry monkey. Things didn't change for a long time; women were relegated to damsels in distress. Something delicate and feminine and in need of rescue. Yes, I dare say it - a priiize.

F*ck that.

A lot of RPGs fall into a trap of making their female characters suffer from Bond Girl Syndrome; since the player (and protagonist) are generally male, they all seem to want to get in his pants at a speed that puts Nightclub Closing Time on a Friday Night and Totally Wasted Syndrome sufferers to shame (and I'll stand up and be counted with everyone else that has been afflicted by that terrible disorder over the years). The upshot being that twenty minutes and four conversations later, the women in videogames are making goo-goo eyes at you and confessing they've never met someone that makes them feel this way before... basically what any guy wants to hear. Mass Effect was no different - I say Ashley (or Kaidan, granted) is a competent soldier who keeps her head under fire and she's beaming away and batting her eyelids like her retinas want to fly out of her skull, I rescue Liara and happen to mention my brain's been hijacked by an ancient alien device and now I'm seeing visions of circuitboards and string cheese and suddenly she feels a deep connection to me. I understand that a game can only be so long, that time constrains such development in a plot, but dayum! Girls, have a little respect for yourselves!

Mass Effect 2 rolled around, and things were a little more adult; Tali was finally acting on a long-harboured crush, Miranda doesn't especially like you to start with (well, she has seen Shepard inside and out - literally) but soon began to thaw out... then here came this scrawny little thing with a shaved head and a foul mouth who suddenly plays by the rules as women draft them in real life. Based on her look, I admit I called her an odds-on bisexual bad-girl cliché... but she's totally unimpressed by Shepard. He saved the galaxy - so what? He's killed hundreds of bad guys - so what? He's, erm, you know, the hero of the story - so the f*ck what? Jack started the same way all the girls in this story started; with no reason to trust Shepard or take him at face value. And she strangely wasn't afraid of showing it.

I think it was love at first sight for me. No, not that kind of love - that's saved for Wrex.

She wasn't a sexy little ideal, she wasn't someone to wrap in wool and coddle; no dreamgirl here. What she did have instead of dem hips and dat ass was eyes to drown in (yes guys, life does exist above the waist). Like a real woman, Jack had layers and complexity. You couldn't tell where clothing started and tattoos began just for starters. The lack of blatant femininity outside those fathomless eyes and that mouth that can take the sneer and the scowl and make it into Renaissance art (compared to the obvious feminine cues from Tali and Miranda’s hourglass bust/waist/hip ratio) made her stand out. She wasn’t wrapped onto a standard skeleton, she had a figure all her own, which made her immediately represent all the gals out there who know they don’t fit an ideal. You were getting something special right out of the gate. Something honest and quite real.

She was equally mould-breaking in her behaviour. She was unimpressed with Shep showing an interest in her; she knew the score and fully expected this guy to be saying this and that to try and get in her underwear. She expects dishonesty from Shepard. This is not a typical love interest by any stretch of the imagination. But because of her mistrust, her rather bleak expectations, she is completely in control of this developing relationship. Where other love interests were beginning to waver, to show their cards, Jack just sneered and pushed Shep away. Then she sideswipes the player by basically saying "Cut your bullsh*t, you want to f*ck? Ok, let's f*ck." 

And hordes of players jumped at the chance, then wondered what the hell they'd done wrong. Or just hated her because she didn’t care how big Shepard’s balls (metaphorical or otherwise) were. She got right up in the gamer’s ego and sawed it off at the knees. I appreciated that one. Even if the little boys didn’t (and yeah, that’s intentionally harsh – deal with it… Jack wouldn’t take your sh*t, neither will I).

Jack's body is a battleground - one she has complete mastery over. It's been hard-won; give her time and she'll break your heart with what she's been through. She knows all about pain - she knows easily as much as Shepard might by now, if not more. With Jack, the internal space, the place that is the home of the female mystery, has been ripped wide open without her permission and way before she was even an adult. There are physical scars to prove it alongside the psychological ones. And now, she defends the only internal thing she has left. Her. So she throws it all out there, offers what she thinks this guy really wants, and if he takes it she has a measure of him. He's not interested in her, just what she has to give him. Jack clearly knows where the line between sex and love is, and she’s the one drawing it in the sand. Shepard proves he's just another guy, and gets sent packing. Jack is in control; she got what she wanted, and now it's all over and done with. I think a lot of the hate that railed against Jack in the early days came from the sudden shock of a woman in a videogame being the one in control for so long, not the player. The player might have thought Shepard was the biggest goddamn hero in the galaxy and it somehow gave him something to trade on, but Jack reminded him that back here in the real world women don't buy that sh*t. You pull just as many strings as we let you. I really think that was a first. Bravo, BioWare.

Then we got down to the real nitty-gritty. We’ve set Jack up as the ship’s big-bad, despite not being krogan, and we find out she has hidden layers. Inside she’s defending more than just who she is; Jack is more than a little confused as to who she might be in there, but more importantly she’s defending her heart. She’s scared. Scared of being hurt in the worst way possible; the wounds that have no visible scars, the ones that wake you up with a cold sweat at four in the morning with your hands already on the baseball bat’s neck, the ones where a song makes you cry, or a word makes you drop to your knees and pray for amnesia… those wounds Jack fears. Break her, beat her, shoot her, abuse her, use her, violate her, and she is harder than diamonds (and WILL give you payback), but play with her heart… that could kill her. Sure, it is a bit of a cliché admittedly – the tough girl with a soft centre – but the way BioWare gave us Jack gave it that genuine touch of honesty you could appreciate. Something we could relate to. Feel for. Jack was the rattlesnake you wanted to pick up and cuddle because as deadly and apparently-unbalanced as she was, she had the same fears we all do.

Jack only really gives a romantically-inclined Shepard a break at the end. And even then she’s being as standoffish as she can be. Right up to the Omega Four Relay she’s weighing up whether the risk is worth it… while Tali is choking down the antibiotics and Miranda is organising a half-hour in her calendar and ensuring the engineering staff are on rotation at just the right moment, Jack is pacing and feeling that insecurity in her guts. And when her moment finally comes, Shep’s patience and understanding shatters a wall that’s been inside Jack for years. The levee is washed away, and instead of giving us something blatantly sexual we get a moment of catharsis that has very little to do with Shepard getting his oats and more to do with Jack letting out what is inside her that needs to come out. Perhaps so she can make room for someone else in there eventually. Whatever happens, you know if Jack survives the mission to the Collector base her life will change – even if Shep doesn’t romance her or is a member of the girl’s club. Instead of becoming another person that tags along with Shepard out of his/her ability to find the right people for the job, or because they love Shep, or respect him, or whatever, Jack will come along because Shep changes things in Jack. Instead of being a tool to change the story, Jack is changed by the story. Wondering what the metamorphosis might be was one of the things I waited for Mass Effect 3 for. As much as I wanted to finally save the galaxy from the Reapers, I wanted to see what would happen to (as far as game mechanics went) a fairly incidental character. Jack made one hell of an impression on me, as you might have guessed by now.

And so we get into the third game, and while I was a little disgruntled at the back-to-basics approach to the in-game squad (as in welcome home ME1 squad, all is forgiven), you did not disappoint with Jack. When she finally appeared, I was blown away. You showed how she had developed in the time between games; Jack had transformed from a defensive woman, always on the backfoot and ready to put someone in their place with a right hook, to someone looking out for other people, defending them, teaching them the lessons she learned the hard way. And her look was still all her own. Jack still carried herself like she was an edition of one. 

I thought it was wonderful Jack came back by slugging Shepard one – I mean, who does that? Who punches the biggest goddamn hero in the galaxy and doesn’t run? Jack does. And if you romanced her, she follows it right up with a kiss. She’s still the woman in charge. She now has other priorities though; her kids. Relationship, friendship, they have to take a rear seat not because of the war with the Reapers, but because Jack found someone that needed her maybe more than Shepard did at that moment. It displays a great deal of maturity in the writing of Jack that she doesn’t put the story’s hero or the great pivotal event of the story universe (or even herself) at the pinnacle of her priorities; she puts her surrogate family first. Pretty spectacular for a convict who looks after number one. You kept what was core in the character true, while obviously showing development and maturation. There are many characters in this series of games, and while most of them develop and change as the ongoing story progresses, none of them grow the way Jack does. If the player needs a yardstick for their actions, Jack is it. You have changed the galaxy – because you changed her.

I should add at this point that a very large part of what makes Jack so special is not only her look or the writing of the character, but the performance behind it all. Courtenay Taylor deserves a lot of recognition for this character. She gives a lot of subtlety to someone that is on the surface very aggressive and brash; moments where Jack is amused by something, or uncomfortable, or playful and teasing, teetering on the edge of emotion, or agonisingly detached make as much impression as the many moments of anger and bravura. The way Jack remains coldly intent on making a story about an at-least-implied prison rape into a lesson as to why Shepard should not f*ck with her stands out to me; Jack has no time to flinch or feel pain, she just has to make sure Shepard sees what she is – something not to be messed with. That’s it. Anything bad that happened to her is of no consequence, what is is how everyone involved died. Jack’s moments of uncertainty and almost-fear if Shepard pursues her romantically are equally impressive; she doesn’t melt like other women would, she gets cranky, defensive, flustered. She talks about losing someone dear to her (regardless of how little she tries to convince the player of how much Murtock actually meant to begin with), and because of the performance behind the character you can feel the cracks in the stony exterior coming to the fore, the beginnings of tears bleeding into the edges of her eyes and her voice... wow. It’s awesome stuff. While she might have been built by an absolute artist, and written with genuine insight, you need to thank Courtenay Taylor for bringing Jack to life, BioWare. She stepped off the screen because of it, and someone with less skill might well have blunted the edge on something needle-sharp.

Well, Mass Effect has come to an end for me now. It doesn’t mean though that I’ll find my heart moving on to newer, brighter lights though. The strongest motivational force for me while playing these three games (with twenty-eight different Shepards I have to add) has been to see where the many friends and enemies Shepard picks up along the way end up. I’ll just point out now that nineof those twenty eight romanced Jack. What can I say? She made an impression. I would have loved to have seen Jack find her place to stop, a place where there would be no more fears, no more need for hiding behind that big ol’ tower of sh*t Shep called her on, but I guess it wasn’t to be. What you gave us, and gave me, was no less valid for it. Jack has become the imaginary daughter I would be proud to have, a character I can see parts of myself reflected back in, a literary figure that made me feel things in a medium not really well-known for inspiring deep emotions, and as far as this old broad is concerned a very high mark in the presentation and realization of women in this emergent artistic medium of videogames. At a time when a lot of what is going back and forth here is quite negative, I just wanted to make sure I mentioned and thanked you for the one thing you could not have got less right…

… the Girl with the N7 Tattoo.

[This is the End My Friend]

 A Green Place on Earth...

A green place on Earth – seven years after the Reaper War…


Our view opens on a place that is the antithesis of everything we just went through in the game – green grass, trees gently shifting in a soft breeze. The sky is blue, almost cloudless. Birds chirrup softly in the branches. For all the world, this is a perfect park on a pleasant spring day. The sun somewhere behind us casts a long dark shadow across the field of green; tall, towering, angular. It seems a little ominous. Across the lawn comes a single small figure; a woman. We see fragments as she walks towards whatever is creating the shadow; a snatch of long hair shifting against the gentle wind, legs clad in well-worn leather, light reflecting from a bottle containing deep orange-gold fluid, deep brown eyes that narrow against the sun – they look upwards at the unknown object. 

We finally see the thing creating the shadow – a huge angular monument, taller than the trees by a good twenty or thirty feet, surrounded by a few tiers of steps. All over the steps are objects; burned-out candles, dead and dried-out flowers, one very fresh spray of lilies, even a hulking great canister of ryncol – this is a memorial of some kind. The woman moves her booted feet carefully around the many mementos left by others. She pushes a handful of hair from her eyes – we see Jack. Her hair is longer, loose, and her figure is a little more womanly, her hips have filled out a little. The golden adornments still cling to her ears, and she has a little scar on her chin she didn’t have before. She looks at the silent bronze titan and smirks a little.

JACK: (softly) Hey you…

Jack holds up the bottle of alcohol.

JACK: I don’t know if you liked this stuff, and I know I’m a day late, but hey… happy birthday. 

Jack uncaps the bottle, raises it in a toast and takes a swig. She then pours some of the drink onto the steps – it spatters noisily around her feet. She takes another swig, caps the bottle, and puts it down among the other memories left by others perhaps a little more reverent than her.

JACK: Sorry I missed the last one…

She reaches out and runs her tattooed fingers over a name on the monument – we just see the large engraved letters “EPARD.”

JACK: So I thought I’d come by, say thank you again, you know? I…

Jack sighs and sits down with her back to the monument.

JACK: I’m just sorry we didn’t have enough time. I know we didn’t always see things the same way, and I guess I wasn’t always what you wanted, but I wish we’d had a little longer.

Jack snorts with amusement and tilts her head back against the monument.

JACK: I’m talking to you like you’re actually here... you’d probably have me locked up for that. Well, since I’m here, may as well not tell you how things are. I’m still working for Ascension – some things don’t change. They’re talking about making me Senior Program Consultant, whatever the hell that means. Guess it’ll mean I’ll be even less hands-on with the kids, which I’ll friggin’ hate…

Jack rests her chin on a hand, elbow against one raised knee. She looks across the park at distant figures – what looks like some children playing. As far off as they appear, one of the children is obviously asari.

JACK: We’re still rebuilding, but things are getting better up there. Fishbowl dropped me a line from Mars, she thinks they might be able to start construction on new mass relays in a year or so. Then just start shipping them out here and there. Quarians are good navigators, got really accurate charts and sh*t… she reckons they might be back on the homeworld in another twenty years or so. Plus not all of ‘em blew, so they might just need repairing. Figure you'd like to know that. Everything… everything’s getting back to normal, you know?

Jack looks over at the lilies not far to her right. She smiles to herself; a little, sad smile, but a smile nonetheless.

JACK: So… everything you did is still working out. I… I wish you could really see this place. You’d like it. Peaceful. And hey, if you really are watching from up on high someplace, you should know by now you’re far from forgotten here. We’re still here… 

The sounds of children playing becomes more audible. Jack stands up, looks back at the monument, straightens her shoulders and salutes.

JACK: I should get going… just… thank you, ok? For everything. 

Jack grins.

JACK: And I’m not gonna stop saying thank you, either. No matter how much you don’t want to hear it. Happy birthday, Hannah, you prissy b*tch.

Jack walks away from the SSV Orizaba monument. As she crosses the grass a man jogs up to meet her. He falls in step beside her.

SHEPARD: Thought I’d find you here… you really like this park, don’t you?

JACK: (snorting) Sure I do. It’s the only one I know that doesn’t have a f*cking statue of you in it.

Shepard chuckles. So does Jack. She puts her arm around his waist and they walk off together.

JACK: (dialogue fading as they walk away) Mom says thanks for the lilies…

[This is the End My Friend]

 Lil' Miranda Shepard - My Spring Break

Wildgrass Valley School, Califa Falls, 09:16 am...


Miss Pickman slouches in her chair at the head of her expectant class of eight and nine year olds. She notes Daryl Jarvis has already dozed off at his desk, Shannon Hoffman is drawing furiously instead of paying attention and Kairys Allama is messing with her hair. So far Miss Pickman has had to deal with three reports on what has class did over spring break, which so far involved one trip to see relatives in a neighbouring state, one trip offworld to see a grandparent on Mars, and one holiday to Becknstein and a father being arrested for driving a skycar like a "total jackass." She fully expects Kairys to talk about her mother and her new asari "father" having some terrible encounter with her biological father (there have been twelve of these stories so far during the year), Daryl Jarvis will upon waking spin a yarn about becoming a krogan when he grows up and even more of the typical spring break stories she hears every year. She noticies Miranda Shepard waving her report over her head, all smiles and beautiful hair and just knows what is going to happen. She may as well get it over with...

Miss Pickman: (resignation in her voice) Yes Miranda, you can go next...

Miranda scampers up to the head of the classroom dragging a curiously-heavy schoolbag along the ground behind her and Miss Pickman hushes the other children.

Miranda: Ok... My Spring Break by Miranda Shepard. On my spring break, we were planning to go and see Grandma Hannah, but Grandma Hannah got recalled and ended up having to patrol in the krogan sector. She sent us a picture of a rachni spaceship though, and said she missed us all. Mommy said she was lying through her teeth about that, which Daddy didn't like. They ended up having a big argument and mommy threw the refrigerator at him so I went to the bunker in the yard until they were all done. They made up though, and Mommy and Daddy had some special time to make up for the fridge incident -

Shannon Hoffman shouts from his chair.

Shannon: What's "special time"?

Miranda: (rolling her eyes) Having sex. Duh!

The entire class erupts into laughter. It takes Miss Pickman an agonising 53 seconds to regain order.

Miss Pickman: Miranda, is there any more... "special time" in this story?

Miranda leafs through the notes on her datapad.

Miranda: Uh... yes Miss Pickman.

Miss Pickman: Can you leave those parts out of the story, please?

Miranda: (brightly) Ok! So Mommy and Daddy got a call from Aunty Miranda, and Mommy called her all kinds of rude names on the link. Aunty Miranda invited us to stay with her for the holidays because she has a house on the Citadel. So we took a ship to the Citadel and Mommy got stopped at the port when we landed because of all her implants and Daddy had to stop her from cramming her bags up the security man's a -

Miss Pickman makes a record-breaking save and hushes Miranda before she can finish the sentence.

Miss Pickman: And then what happened?

Miranda: Aunty Miranda and Mommy called each other names for ages, then went out to a bar for six hours. I stayed home with Daddy and we played Galaxy of Fantasy II. Then police brought Mommy home. When I woke up Mommy and Aunty Miranda were asleep on the couch together so Daddy took a picture of it so he could "get it framed".

We stayed on the Citadel for six days. I went fishing with Mommy, even though there are no fish, and we took a picture with a fish we bought from a store to send to Tuchanka because "it would totally mess with Grunt's head." Daddy showed me the Citadel Tower, where I met the krogan representative to the Citadel Council who said I would make Daddy's clan proud one day. He had a reeeeally big hump. Aunty Miranda took me for ice cream every day, and said when we all went home she would see about sending me a pony! Mommy said Aunty Miranda spoils me rotten. Grandma Hannah says that too, because Daddy says her and Mommy have lots in common when Mommy can't hear him. I asked if I could have a shatha instead because they look more fun, but Mommy said one dangerous animal in the house is enough. Aunty Miranda asked if she meant Mommy or our varren, and they had a huge argument and Mommy called Aunty a "prissy little c -

Miss Pickman: (hastily) Go on, Miranda.

Miranda: Well Daddy broke it up, and... oh... you said to leave out the... ok. And then... oh, Uncle Garrus met us and I had a go with his rifle. He took the ammo out and we pretended to shoot the windows in Executor Pallin's office. Uncle Garrus said I could have blown his head right off from where we were sat. We ended up going to C-Sec because someone saw us and I got my fingerprints scanned! Daddy came and bailed me though. Uncle Garrus said he had a rifle at my age, so I asked Daddy for one of his when we got home. Daddy says you can tell why Uncle Garrus has no kids of his own.

When we left the Citadel Aunty Miranda and Mommy called each other rude names a lot and hugged because they like each other really. Before we left though this lady reporter started asking Daddy about Mommy's "criminal record"... so Mommy hit her on the head with her camera drone.

Shannon: I saw that on the news!

Miranda: And then daddy called the reporter a really bad name and we came home. Grandma Hannah says Danny learns all his bad words from Mommy. We spent the rest of spring break at home and we went to the beach a lot to see Mommy and Daddy's favorite rock. I had a really good holiday, and next year I'd like to go to Thessia, because Aunty Miranda says the shopping there is great. Mommy says it's a planet full of who -

Miss Pickman: (insistantly) So did you bring back a momento from your holiday?

Miranda: Oh, yes Miss! I brought this! Uncle Garrus got it for me...

Miranda heaves a chunky metal discus out of her bag with both hands and thumps it noisily onto Miss Pickman's desk. Blue charge lights chase around grooves in its surface. Miss Pickman winces, but at least this is better than Miranda's show-and-tell visit with the varren... two broken windows, one broken door, one repainted wall.

Miranda: (in a loud, mock drill-sergeant voice) This is a dreadnaught mass driver slug. When fired it can make a big enough explosion to destroy a city! Daddy has one he uses as a paperweight, but this one's mine!

Miss Pickman sinks lower in her chair, almost vanishing behind her desk.

[spirosz]

Jack and Kasumi - Safety

The Normandy Cargo Bay, 19:02 Standard Operational Hours...


The cargo bay is a huge, open space; the unity of the area sperated by stacks of crates, cargo pods leaden with ores and engineering supplies, rows of barrels and emergency equipment neatly stowed in cannisters and containers. Hasty repairs have been made to the holes torn in the hull by the Collector defense-drone, and while the scattered cargo and gear has been moved back to position and stowed away once more, the great chamber still seems to be a work-in-progress. Fragments of damaged metal and carbon dust lies like twinkling black snow here and there, and the air still reeks of burnt plastic. The Hammerhead lander has been lowered to the deck for repairs; some of the access panels are open, but the engineering staff have broken off work thanks to crew rotation... it won't be needed for a few more hours at the least.

Sitting on the floor, back against one of the Hammerhead's two vectored thrust engines, is Jack. She seems wrapped in her thoughts, ignoring everything around her. Everything about her seems relaxed; her face content. She gently works her omnitool, using it to manipulate a series of holographic diagrams constructed of lines and circular nodes. Each time she strikes a node a note plays, which she proceeds to bend or sustain, forming a flowing tide of sounds that forms a sort of soothing music. Jack is so preoccupied she doesn't notice the soft pad of feet on the Hammerhead's hull above her...

Kasumi: Hey! What are you doing?

Jack looks up, seemingly nonplussed.

Jack: Nothin'... self-diagnostics.

Kasum drops almost noiselessly to the deck beside Jack and squats to examine the omnitool display.

Kasumi: Sounds like music to me... it's pretty.

Jack shrugs and gestures at the hologram and its lattice of lines.

Jack: It's my implant connections. I made a program to fine tune their biotic output. I just move the tones around to alter power distribution, focal length, discharge duration... sh*t like that.

Kasumi: You're a woman of many talents, aren't you?

Jack: (distantly) Whatever you say...

Kasumi: And you know, you're so friendly and approachable. And you really have a lot in common with Miranda, too... she was saying just the other day how alike you both are... she really wishes you'd spend more time hanging out with her. And the cargo bay is on fire.

Jack: Huh?

Kasumi: (chuckling) You're just not home today, are you? No threats? No waving guns at me? I'm starting to think the Collectors must have replaced you with a duplicate...

Jack snorts loudly, rolls her eyes.

Kasumi: ... but I don't think we should go get the real Jack back... this one's much nicer. She smiles a lot more, for starters.

Jack purses her lips and tunes up another node; the note rises higher than the others. She then casually taps her finger on Kasumi's knee. There is a sharp pop, and a tiny biotic shock fizzes into Kasumi's kneecap. She starts, loses balance for an instant, then allows herself to roll backwards, back onto her feet, and right into standing up straight in one fluid movement. Kasumi grins and rubs her knee theatrically.

Kasumi: Ouch! I guess I earned that, huh?

Jack smirks and points her finger like an imaginary gun at the thief.

Jack: Don't push it, Sneaky.

Kasumi raises her hands in surrender and sits herself down next to Jack.

Kasumi: I heard that this change in you might have more to do with our good Commander. Miranda was saying you seem to spending a lot of time riding that elevator... that and you answered his door undressed. So I guess you took that chance then?

Jack turns and scowls, but the expression falters and collapses into an almost embarassed little smile.

Jack: Yeah... I... well, we...

Kasumi smiles back at Jack and pats her arm.

Kasumi: If you were anyone else I'd ask for details, but I'd rather not be eating rations in the med-bay for the next six weeks. I'm happy for you, Jack. It's obvious you're happy too. And as for the Commander, well... I keep seeing Shep smiling during duties... particularly when he gets in that elevator, you know?

Jack smiles - her face splitting open into a perfect, complete expression; not a hint of facade or other emotion other than pleasure. She looks down at herself, cheeks colouring.

Kasumi: Wow. Now that's a face I've never seen before. Can I assume that everything's good from that?

Jack nods awkwardly; smile shining, face flushed.

Jack: I'm... I feel...

Kasumi: Not so alone? Cared for? Happy? In... you know, the "L" word?

Jack: (still grinning) Jeez, will you stop jumping in, you b*tch?

Kasumi chuckles and puts her hands together against her lips, assuring silence.

Jack: I feel... safe. Sure, him always coming back to talk to me was annonying the ****** outta me, but... I went to see him, you know, before we went through the relay?

Kasumi nods, eyes wide, eager for details.

Kasumi: And?

Jack: And... he made me feel safe.

Kasumi: So you...?

Jack: Nah...

Kasumi almost pouts in disappointment. Jack just grins at Kasumi in reply.

Jack: When we all came back, though... that was when the Cheerleader came calling. The look on her face...

Kasumi chuckles and slaps her knee.

Kasumi: I think it was worth the shock to hear about this. So why are you down here? Shouldn't you be up in Shepard's cabin?

Jack: F*ck, don't rush me... I'm still used to being on my own, you know? Having someone there is... it's strange. When I'm on my own, I can think about it and not feel like it's bigger than me.

Kasumi: It's only as big as two people. Remember that, Jack. Nothing to be afraid of there.

Jack: If you say so.

Kasumi pulls herself to her feet, and stands a few feet from Jack's boots.

Kasumi: I'll leave you be. Don't want anyone up there thinking you've gone soft on us.

Kasumi points up at the observation windows. Jack gives another of her trademark snorts.

Jack: Sounds like everyone already does...

Kasumi: Hey, I can tell everyone you socked me one when I tried to talk to you about it - will that help?

Jack: You better, Sneaky.

Kasumi: It's good though, isn't it? Feeling safe?

Jack looks down at herself again, face serious again, and is silent for a few moments. She absently tunes another node - a long, gliding note like a feather slowly spiraling down through the air sings out.

Jack: (softly) Yes. It is.

Kasumi smiles, flicks a tiny salute at Jack, and walks back across the bay. Jack watches her go, lets her smile slowly grow again, and goes back to tuning herself; the long, soaring notes echoing around the quiet cargo bay.

[spirosz]

In A Far-Off, Distant, Possible Future...

Disclaimer: This is written purely for fun - anyone taking it seriously in the slightest probably needs to think about it a little less 

Califa Falls, 17:04 pm...


A woman stands at the end of a long ranch driveway watching the road. A wheeled vehicle approaches; a black-cherry toned car that kicks up dust. It pulls to a halt; its body all sweeping lines and arcs that belong to an entirely different century, roof folded back on itself. Two young girls giggle and chatter incessantly in the back seat in that endless, formless tide of words only other excitable children can understand. A little girl with dark hair hops out of the car and runs up to the woman. She turns back to wave frantically at the other girl, who beams and waves back with both hands. The woman catches the eye of the man driving the car, who smiles and offers her a polite nod. The woman smiles back, perhaps a little nervously, and mouths "thank you." The man grins, tips her a jaunty salute, and swings the car back around the way it came.

Little girl: (shouting) Bye! Bye! I'll see you at school tomorrow! Bye!

Mother: Ok, little less volume, honey. And next time you run off to one of your friend's houses after school, you really should call. Your father and I were worried.

Little girl: (giddily) Ok mom, sorry. But Miranda's mom picked her up from school and asked if we wanted ice cream, so I said yes, and we all went to the creamery down at Falls Village.

Mother: So that's your new friend's name, Miranda?

Little girl: Uh huh. She's in Miss Pickman's class, but we play at lunchtimes. Miranda's really good at kickball.

Mother: You play kickball? Well that explains all the scrapes in the last few weeks...

Little girl: Uh huh. With the boys. Miranda's better than all of them.

The two begin walking back up the driveway.

Mother: So... what are Miranda's mommy and daddy like?

Little girl: Oh, Miranda's daddy is... I think he's in the army. He has all these guns on the wall in his office. And this really big scary monster's head on the wall. And pictures of him shaking hands with people. And toy spaceships. And lots of books - old fashioned ones with paper in them.

Mother: Ok... and so you went for ice cream?

Little girl: Yeah, and Miranda's mom ate like a whole pint of chocolate ice cream in one go.

Mother: (chuckling) I'm sure she didn't...

Little girl: Uh huh! She did! And a banana split. And two slurpees.

Mother: (under her breath) Her daddy must like big girls then...

Little girl: And then we went back to Miranda's house, and played with her dog.

Mother: What's their house like?

Little girl: It's like a museum; it has guns, and suits of armour, and skeletons and... it's like the circus too, because Miranda's mommy's room has a biiig round bed in it and a trapeze, and bars on the walls like in a dance class, but they go up instead of side-to-side.

The mother looks a little perturbed for a second, but concludes her daughter must be describing it incorrectly or making it up.

Little girl: And Miranda's dog is really big!

Mother: Oh? What kind of dog is he?

Little girl: (thinking for a moment) Purple.

Mother: Their dog is purple?

Little girl: Uh huh. Purple stripes. And huuuuge teeth.

The little girl snaps her teeth for emphasis.

Mother: Oookay... and then what did you do?

Little girl: Then we had juice, and Miranda's dad asked if you knew I was there, and I said you didn't, so he called and then brought me home in his old fashioned car with wheels.

Mother: You'll have to thank him next time you see him.

Little girl: I will, mom.

Mother: And what's Miranda's mom like?

Little girl: Oh, she has no hair and has "DEATH" written on her knuckles.

Mother: (with no sincerity whatsoever) Right. Of course she does.

The two continue up along the driveway and out of sight...

Modifié par spirosz, 15 novembre 2013 - 02:55 .

[spirosz]

Jack and Shepard - Pillow Talk Ep. 1

Meanwhile in Shepard's Quarters...


The commander's cabin is looking a little more lived-in than usual; the bed is a tangle of sheets, the floor around it a small sea of ousted pillows, covers and discarded clothing. The coffee table has a towel thrown over it - the material rises up in a dome over the Prothean sphere below it. Shepard is sat on the bed, back to the wall, eyes closed. Jack sits in his lap, back against his chest. Gentle ambient music washes over the room from Shepard's entertainment unit. Jack is staring intently at a bottle on Shepard's desk, one finger pointed at it like she is aiming an imaginary gun; the bottle wobbles a little, then slides an inch or two across the desk's surface. Jack huffs and nudges Shepard in the ribs with an elbow.

Jack: Can this thing come off now?

Shepard smirks and nudges back with his hips.

Shep: I knew it. Biotics make you lazy.

Jack rubs her back against his chest in reply.

Shep: (wearily) Go on.

Jack leans forward and reveals a circular drug application patch on her back. Shepard carefully peels it off and gives it to Jack; she promptly balls it up and throws it at the towel-clad lump on the table.

Shep: You really don't like that, do you?

Jack: Feels like it's f*ckin' watching me. Don't like having an audience.

Jack goes back to pointing at the bottle, even with serious concentration it takes a few moments to get the bottle to slide off the desk, and even more willpower to stop it from smashing into the floor. It limps through the air like a bird with a broken wing to Jack.

Jack: Damn, Mordin don't f*ck around when he makes inhibitors.

Shep: Thank God... you're only supposed to get that many sprains, fractures and torn muscles from getting drunk and waking up with a krogan.

Jack reaches behind her back and yanks the hair on Shepard's stomach. He gives a little yelp of surprise. Jack looks back over her shoulder and give Shepard a crocodile grin.

Jack: Compare me to a female krogan again... I dare you.

Shep: Who said anything about female?

Jack snorts and tries to stand up, but Shepard quickly grabs her around the waist and yanks her back into his lap. She struggles, digs an elbow into him hard, but he keeps hold. He runs a hand back over her scalp; the short hair hissing under his touch. He kisses the back of her neck.

Jack: Bastard... no fair.

Jack settles back against him, giving him one more elbow in the ribs for good measure.

Shep: It's nice to have you stick around for once. A guy can start to feel a little hurt constantly going to sleep with someone and waking up alone.

Jack: I need my space. Besides, you think I want to watch you sleep? You're either awake and fun, or asleep and boring. I don't like that cuddling sh*t... not all the time, anyway.

Shep: (mock-sarcastic) So you just come here for sex then? Nice...

Jack turns in his lap, looks up at him.

Jack: (seriously) You know what I mean, Shepard. This is all... I ain't used to it. I start thinkin' I should be somewhere else, sleeping in my own space. Gets like... like ants on your skin, y'know? Can't stop thinkin' about it until I'm away from you. It ain't you... it's my f*cked-up head.

Shepard kisses the top of Jack's head.

Shep: I happen to like your f*cked-up head.

Jack smirks to herself.

Jack: You're the only guy I've ever met that would complain about bein' used for sex. You sure Cerberus didn't screw around with your brain?

Shep: Ok, so I'm boring, you're scared of my antique alien paperweight... suppose I snore too?

Jack: Nah, the worst part is this sh*t.

Jack waves a hand at Shepard's entertainment unit.

Jack: You put on music like we're in some f*ckin' lousy romance vid... y'know those things where some rich asari falls for some human guy who just got outta the joint, or he's a skycar racer, or he's totally loaded and she's just some dancer or somethin'... sh*t like that.

Shep: You don't think it sets a mood?

Jack: Sets my f*ckin' teeth on edge is what it does...

Shep: (amused) Surprised you can hear it over the noise you make...

Jack chuckles and slaps Shepard's thigh loudly.

Shep: What would you perfer then?

Jack thinks for a minute and smiles to herself.

Jack: Richard Penniman.

Shep: Who?

Jack laughs to herself.

Jack: Dub-C woulda shot you for that.

Shep: Who's Dub-C?

Jack: You know those pirates I used to run with? All kinds of people in the clan; some of 'em were real badasses, kill you in the blink of an eye if you looked at 'em wrong. Others were just drifters, criminals and mercs looking for something where they didn't have to just look out for themselves every day... that's where I met Dub-C.

Shep: Old boyfriend?

Jack laughs and shakes her head.

Jack: I don't think Dub was into that... said he was married to his music. He was our comms-man - could hack and lock a ship's communications in seconds, leave 'em unable to call for assistance once we attacked. He used to carry this guitar on his back, everywhere he went, like it was a life-support unit or something. He wasn't much of a fighter though... he was built like a volus, y'know? Pretty much the only human guy that didn't make a pass at me.

Jack takes a swig from the bottle she spent so much effort hauling across the room.

Jack: He had this box, 'bout this big, that he protected like it had the jewels of Ral'hashara in it. He used to play the guitar and sing really old songs from Earth. He'd try and record old radio transmissions when we passed close enough to the local cluster to pick them up. I never really listened to music before I met Dub... it was just noise, y'know? Well, when we pissed off the turian military enough that they came after us, we went on the run... had this base tucked away on a little moon in the Verge. Dub made me promise to look after his box, in case he didn't make it.

Shep: What happened?

Jack sups from the bottle again, her expression a little sour.

Jack: F*ckin turians found us, dropped in a couple o' hundred commandos and mobile artillery, and started pounding the hell out of the cliffs where the base was. They hit us for three days before they breached the defenses and got in. We weren't goin' to back off without giving them one hell of a f*cking fight though. We fought the bastards in the tunnels for a day before they reached the hangars, and the few of us left had to get into what fighters were working and run...

Shep: Did Dub make it?

Jack: Nah. He got shot in the gut back in the tunnels. Told me to take his box somewhere safe and he sat in the tunnel with his guitar over the hole in him and he played until the turians got to him. Smart little f*cker though had about three pounds of C-12 in the body of his guitar. Flicked a switch on it - boom. Brought down some of the tunnels, bought us a bit more time. When we ran I made sure I got his box out with me.

Shep: Did you look in it?

Jack: Yeah. It was full of these big discs, made outta plastic, that had music recorded on 'em. Played them by spinning them around and putting a needle on them. All kinds of stuff from the late twentieth... some of 'em were over a hundred years old. All the stuff he played, all the stuff he recorded when we were out in space... it was all in there. I didn't know where to find one of the machines that played 'em though, Dub never managed to find one but he knew it'd sound even better from one of those old discs. So I took the box and stashed it once we were clear of the Verge. Probably still there... felt like the right thing to do. He'd never wanted anything from me... 'bout the only person back then that didn't.

Jack takes another swig from the bottle and hands it to Shepard, who does the same.

Jack: Now that sh*t, that was worth listening to... not this asari elevator music.

Shep: Well, I like stuff with a little more... power behind it?

Jack: (skeptical) Uh huh?

Shep: (uncertainly) Well... I've got a few Tycho Nova collections.

Jack bursts into peals of mocking laughter.

Modifié par spirosz, 15 novembre 2013 - 02:56 .

[spirosz]

Jack and Tali - Facing Facts

Meanwhile, below Engineering...


Jack lies on her cot, arms wrapped around her pillow. As she dozes something prickles in the back of her mind, a sense of something wrong. She's had this feeling before, and dim, black memories of abuses and violations crawl like ants over her subconscious. Her eyes knot tighter closed and her head shakes a little. Hands on her. Don't touch me. No... there's someone in the room! Jack wakens carefully, hand going slowly for her pistol. She stays as still as she can. Can't give the game away... wait, this is the Normandy... no-one here would harm her... she considers her position, her fingertips brushing the Predator's grip.

Jack: You're getting sloppy, Sneaky... I can hear you breathing. Touch any of my sh*t and you die.

Tali: It's me, Jack.

Jack: (sighing) Go away, Fishbowl.

Tali: Jack, we need to talk. I can't keep this to myself anymore.

Jack: Look, I never meant anything with all the touching sh*t, ok? I was just f*cking with your head. Even if you wanna play now, I don't, ok?

Tali: (sullen) It's not that... I want to talk about Shepard.

Jack rolls over finally, leaving the gun where it lies. She looks at Tali; sat on the crates opposite her, head bowed, shoulders sagging. Something's wrong...

Jack: Shepard? F*ck, go talk to Garrus about that sh*t. I got nothin' to say about him...

Tali: (wounded) I do! I... I told him, ok? Told him how I feel...

Jack looks at the quarian's crushed posture and a guilty frown flitters over her face.

Jack: That's got nothing to do with me, Fishbowl.

Tali: It does! He doesn't feel the same way!

Jack: How's that my friggin' fault?

Tali: (emotional) Because he wants you, Jack!

Tali's voice sinks away from being so close to breaking, becoming a quiet little murmur.

Tali: He wants you... ok? You.

Jack rolls into a seated position. She looks up at the quarian's facemask, trying to read an expression there but seeing nothing but silvery reflective eyes.

Jack: He said this?

Tali: Yes. I wanted to know if there was a chance, for me I mean, and he said he was interested in someone else... all the time he spends down here, it's not hard to guess. So, I asked if it was you, and he said it was.

Jack: F*ck...

Tali laughs mirthlessly.

Tali: Exactly.

Jack: What do you want me to say? I'm sorry?

Tali: No. You wouldn't mean it to begin with.

Jack: (sarcastic) Oh, you know me that well, huh Fishbowl?

Tali: (suddenly angry) Tali! My name is Tali!

Jack: Whoa... ok, Tali. Whatever he said, it ain't my fault, ok?

Tali: Why you, though? Why you?

Jack: You think I can explain that? It confuses the hell outta me why he'd want to come down here so much...

Tali: (bitterly) You've no idea how long I've thought about him, almost since we first met... I thought after Horizon that everything between him and Officer Williams was over... I thought that maybe...

Jack: He'd finally see what he was missing?

Tali: (almost a whisper) Yes...

Jack: Maybe he doesn't like nice girls?

Tali: Stop it! Don't make fun of me!

Tali pauses for breath, her hands knotted into fists.

Tali: I wish you’d never come on board this ship.

Jack: You and everyone else. Hey, if it means that much to you...

Jack takes the gun out from under her pillow. Tali visibly flinches as Jack arms the gun, then looks bemused as Jack pushes the weapon into her hands. Jack points Tali's hands at her, aiming the Predator at the middle of her chest.

Jack: ... then take me out. It'll be easy. Just give the trigger a squeeze and everything's ok again, huh? Come on, you'd be doing us all a favour here. All I'm gonna do is wind up killing him sooner or later, this way, everyone's happy... come on, you can say I attacked you. No-one's gonna blame you. I'm a f*cking murderer, aren't I? I'm not worth it... so, do it. You know you want to...

The gun trembles in Tali's hands.

Jack: F*ck, are you so weak I have to pull the trigger for you too? What chance did you ever have with him, huh Fishbowl? Come on, do it. You think I want this sh*t? You're saving him. You're saving me. Just... just f*cking do it. Do it! DO IT!

Tali gives a stifled little sob and drops the gun to the floor.

Jack: Sh*t... can't even make you hate me, can I? No chance I can make him leave me alone…

Jack sinks back onto the bed and bangs the back of her head on the wall a couple of times.

Tali: (voice wavering) Sorry.

Jack: Hey, f*ck it. If I really wanted out that bad I could just eat that thing myself...

Jack produces an ammo block from under her pillow.

Jack: Ain’t even loaded. You see how f*cked this is? I’m relaxing here. F*ck!

Jack thumps her head against the wall again, harder than before.

Tali: You like him, don't you?

Jack: (quietly) Yeah.

Tali: Then why do this? Don’t you want him to want you too?

Jack: Sh*t, Tali, look at me. Why does he even look twice? Believe me, I've tried to figure it out... first I thought he was playin' me; just lookin’ to fool around, then I thought he just felt sorry for me, and nobody wants that sh*t... now I... I like it. I get f*cking nervous about him coming down here. That ain't me... he's... he's screwing my head up and makin' me soft... and that sh*t'll kill you faster than a bullet, but I like it. I f*ckin' want it. You think that doesn't scare the ****** outta me, Tali? 'Cause it does. I'm scared, ok? Everything I’ve ever done, everything I’ve ever seen tells me I gotta be the meanest, hardest b*tch I can be or that’s it, game over. I have this sh*t on my shoulders and if I relax, it’ll crush me like that.

Jack snaps her fingers for emphasis, energy flares impulsively at her fingertips.

Jack: I spent all this time being me, now it’s like I wanna be someone else. I wish… I wish I could be like f*ckin’ you, ok? Then I wouldn’t feel like this! I’d know what to do... I mean... how could I compare to you, or the cheerleader, or that pain-in-the-ass shrink b*tch that takes all Shepard's messages?

Tali: You don't.

Jack: Tell me about it.

Tali: You look like a criminal.

Jack: Am one.

Tali: You walk about practically naked.

Jack: Don't wear underwear either.

Tali: And you smell bad.

Jack smirks and sniffs at one of her armpits theatrically.

Jack: Wow, you can get that in your suit? I dunno... never bothered me. Maybe he likes a woman that smells like a guy? F*ck, maybe he thinks I am a guy… it's happened before…

Tali can't help but chuckle a little.

Tali: Maybe that’s what he likes… you’re different. I’ve been with him so long, maybe that’s why he can’t see me that way? Quarians always feel different away from the flotilla. Outsiders. Maybe I’m just not different enough…

Tali gives a sad little shrug.

Jack: Hate me yet?

Tali: I don't hate you, Jack, I... I just feel...

Jack: Cheated?

Tali: Yes. I thought he might notice me this time...

Jack: I didn't ask for this, ok? F*ck knows how many times I've tried to scare his ass outta here. Like a varren with a friggin' bone he keeps coming back...

Tali: When he wants something, he tends to get it.

Jack: Even me?

Tali: Even you...

Jack: Well, I might just stop running away. F*ck. I don't wanna run from him. I just don't wanna screw up, you know? I've done it before and believe me, that hurts worse than finding out some guy just wants to be your friend. That sucks, but blowing it? You're better off never knowing.

Tali: You mean someone actually liked you?

Jack: Yeah, didn't make him stick around though. I'll tell you about it sometime, maybe.

Tali nods, Jack leans forward again to stare up at Tali's face.

Jack: How the hell do you dry your eyes with that sh*t on?

Tali: Heh... practice.

Jack: (seriously) I'll try, ok? I'll try not to f*ck up.

Tali: You'd better try hard, Jack... he's special. You throw this away, I will hate you then.

Jack: I'll keep the gun here for you if I do. Hey, he might even come to his senses tomorrow...

Tali: I'm sorry I came down here. I didn't mean to unload on you.

Jack: Forget it. You did what you had to. If it means anything, I'm sorry, ok?

Tali stands up and touches her brow.

Tali: Don't be. Just make him happy, if you can. He deserves someone that can make him happy.

Tali walks towards the stairs and stops to look back at Jack as though about to say something else. Jack just nods, smiles, waves at her.

Jack: Seeya later, Fishbowl.

Tali: Goodnight Jack.

Tali mounts the stairs and moves out of sight. Jack scoops up the gun from the floor, disarms it, puts it back in her cot. She lies down in silence, stares at the ceiling for a few moments, before finally taking hold of her pillow in her arms again. She curls up in a ball, mashing the pillow against her, eyes screwed shut, teeth gritted, desperately trying to hold in the tears fighting to get out...

[dreamgazer]

Found this earlier while looking for something else in an attempt to rustle somebody's jimmies:

[This is the End My Friend]

 Jack & Shepard - Walking After You

The cargo hold of the Normandy...


The main egress ramp is down while the Normandy takes on supplies in an Ilium cargo port. Jack makes her way towards the door casually. She finds Shepard waiting for her.

Shep: Where do you think you're going?

Jack: Away.

Shep: Why?

Jack: Because I don't belong here anymore, that's why.

Shep: Don't I get a say in this?

Jack: No.

Shep: You know, there's usually two people in a relationship. They talk things through when there are problems.

Jack: Nothing to say. I'm leaving.

Shep: Because of Ash?

Jack: (wincing) No. Because of you.

Shep: What did I do? Was allowing her on board wrong? I told her about us. I explained that I...

Jack: You just don't get it, do you Shepard? I don't belong in this life of yours. I'm not part of your cute little fantasy. I belong out there with everyone else. I'm not from your world, and I'll never fit into it.

Shep: So it's all about you, then? I don't get a say in what happens to us?

Jack: (shouting) There is no 'us', Shepard! There's me and there's you. That's just the way it ****ing is. I'm cutting loose. You don't get a say in this.

Shep: What if I need you?

Jack: (scoffing) Like Captain Amazing needs anyone... that's the point, you know? You don't need anybody; if some **** goes down somewhere, you go deal with it. If the galaxy needs saving, you go save it. You don't need this ship, you don't need your crew - you'd just do it. The only thing you really need is yourself.

Shep: That's not true, and you know it, Jack. I couldn't have taken on the Collectors without the crew. Without you.

Jack: Maybe. But away from duty, you don't need me.

Shep: Maybe my duty is to be with you...

Jack: (snorts) Well, you certainly have a way with words, Shepard...

Shep: I don't mean it like that and you know it!

Jack: (angrily) So what am I then? Some little therapy project for your ****ing social conscience? The poor little girl you wanted to put back together again? Thought I'd be a better **** than the cheerleader? Thought I'd be good for anything considering everything I've seen and done? Any port in a ****ing storm, huh? Well **** you, Shepard. I'm gone. I'm not here to be anyone's pet. Nobody's.

Shepard steps into Jack and takes hold of her arms.

Shep: You're none of those things and you know it, Jack.

Jack: Let go.

Shep: No.

Jack: Ple - Shepard, let me ****ing go.

Shep: Make me.

Jack: (shouting) Get your ****ing hands off me!

Jack yanks one hand free and swings at Shepard. He blocks the punch easily. Jack returns with an energised blow with the other hand, slamming into Shepard's chest. He sails backwards a good five feet and hits the deck.

Jack: See? Nobody makes me do anything I don't want to. Not anymore. Goodbye Shepard.

Jack starts walking again. Shepard hauls himself unsteadily to his feet and goes after her.

Shep: Don't... walk away from me, Jack. You don't get to -

Jack turns and makes another biotic hit - Shepard sails backwards again, thudding into the deck plates and rolling over. Jack resumes her march for the door.

Shep: (coughing) Jack...

Jack almost breaks her stride, but keeps going.

Shep: (shouting, a little wheezily) Always thought... you were a coward...

Jack stops, she doesn't turn around.

Shep: Always knew you didn't have the guts to fight your past, Jack... that you'd just... give up again.

Jack: (through gritted teeth) Shut up.

Shep: Guess I always knew you'd (Shepard coughs, spits)... you'd just run away from what you were scared of.

Jack: Shut up...

Shepard walks towards Jack, unsteady on his feet.

Shep: Because that's all you are, Jack. Scared.

Jack whirls around, enraged.

Jack: (shouting) I'm not scared of anything!

Shep: (laughing) Yes you are. You're scared of being loved!

Jack: Don't say it...

Shep: Say what, Jack? The one thing you're so terrified of you're willing to just walk away from it in case it all goes wrong? Even if I say it won't? Even if I say I won't leave you? Even if I say I lo -

Jack: (yelling, tears in her eyes) Don't say it!

Shep: (yelling back) Even if I say I lov -

Jack: DON'T EVER ****ING SAY THAT!

Jack lashes out, a good three feet clear of where Shepard is standing. He sails into the air like a ragdoll, travelling a good twenty feet before coliding with a stack of crates, sending them scattering. He comes to a rest among them, limp.

Jack: Oh ****. Shepard...

Jack takes two faltering steps towards Shepard and breaks into a run. She reaches him, knocking crates aside like they weigh nothing. Shepard looks dead.

Jack: Oh **** no... nononono... I did... I didn't mean to...

Jack tries to haul Shepard up, but her strength has left her. Blood oozes from Shepard's nose and mouth.

Jack: It's your fault Shepard... it's your... I'll stay, ok? I'll stay! Just... don't die. Alright? You can't leave. I won't let you. Oh ****... Grunt! Someone! Please...pl -

Jack rests her head on Shepard's chest and begins to sob.

Jack: (between sobs) I... didn't... mean to...

Shepard's hand raises and cups the back of Jack's head.

Jack: Shepard! I'm sor -

Shep: (weakly) Gotta go...

Jack: No! You don't get to! You don't get to leave me!

Shep: Gotta go...

Jack: NO! YOU CAN'T!

Shep: Got to... think you... dislocated my shoulder...

Jack looks at Shepard, incredulous, eyes streaming with tears.

Shep: Think you broke a few ribs... too. Got to go to medical.

Jack: I... you bastard! You ****ing... I -

Jack slaps him weakly. Shepard takes hold of Jack with one arm. She struggles for a moment, then slumps against him. She begins to sob uncontrolably. Shepard strokes the back of her head as best he can.

Shep: I know... me too...

[This is the End My Friend]

I think maybe that's enough for this page, lol. Just need five or so filler posts for next page!

[spirosz]

Lmao. Yeah, I'll post more on the weekend, even edit and bold where needed.

I do miss her though, sad to those who never seen her on here.

[spirosz]

Axl too. I miss people.

sadface.

[Nightfable]

http://lovelymaiden....esent-413100770

[android654]

General Slotts wrote...

 The Girl with the N7 Tattoo... [WARNING: contains ME2/ME3  fathomless eyes and that mouth that can take the   

This is definitely the most insightful and artfully written character analysis of a video game character I've ever read. You've not only motivated me to actually pick up ME2 and 3 again, but Im actually inspired to write something about the character, something I've never done--write fanfiction. 

[spirosz]

android654 wrote...

General Slotts wrote...

 The Girl with the N7 Tattoo... [WARNING: contains ME2/ME3  fathomless eyes and that mouth that can take the   

This is definitely the most insightful and artfully written character analysis of a video game character I've ever read. You've not only motivated me to actually pick up ME2 and 3 again, but Im actually inspired to write something about the character, something I've never done--write fanfiction. 

Mondo does that my friend.  I think her view and certain fanfics just blew my mind and it's what got me to enjoy Jack's character so much. 

[spirosz]

I'm really curious if Mondo ever played or seen the Jack content from the Citadel DLC.

[akubukan88]

I've read almost all of Mondo's post, and it is awesome... All of Mondo's post also makes me want to write a fanfic about Jack... Currently writing something, but don't know whether it is good or not...

[fainmaca]

android654 wrote...
This is definitely the most insightful and artfully written character analysis of a video game character I've ever read. You've not only motivated me to actually pick up ME2 and 3 again, but Im actually inspired to write something about the character, something I've never done--write fanfiction. 

It's been my experience that Jack's fans have among them some of the most eloquent, insightful, artistic souls I have ever had the pleasure of coming across.

A couple of older gems of Jack-based fanfiction you may like are 'Things Worth Keeping' by Urdaniel and 'Our Love Is Problematic' by Finn Solomon. These two stories are amazing, and were a huge inspiration to me in starting to publish fanfiction.

[akubukan88]

fainmaca wrote...

android654 wrote...
This is definitely the most insightful and artfully written character analysis of a video game character I've ever read. You've not only motivated me to actually pick up ME2 and 3 again, but Im actually inspired to write something about the character, something I've never done--write fanfiction. 

It's been my experience that Jack's fans have among them some of the most eloquent, insightful, artistic souls I have ever had the pleasure of coming across.

A couple of older gems of Jack-based fanfiction you may like are 'Things Worth Keeping' by Urdaniel and 'Our Love Is Problematic' by Finn Solomon. These two stories are amazing, and were a huge inspiration to me in starting to publish fanfiction.

Our Love is Problematic is probably my fav Jack-based fanfic. Things Worth Keeping also is one of my fav. And there are many more, like Kiss with a fist by popehippo, Fight for the Lost (just chapter 1-15) by thatgirlwiththe. Am I missing any more Jack fanfic? cause if I am, can anyone tell me, there's a high probability that I have not read it yet.

And there are also tons of short fanfic that is amazing. There's too many to list down my fav here though. 

[spirosz]

I suggest reading Fainmaca's fanfic as well, he's done wonderful work.  It's not specifically for Jack, as it's based off of his Shepard as a whole, but she is the romance - which ties in very nicely. 

Modifié par spirosz, 20 novembre 2013 - 05:59 .