#it'll get complicated after that but :) still going to end up going ahh FUCK IT we ball

[shepcdr]

@teltinsurvivor // plotted for a starter.

normandy's quiet tonight. too quiet, at least for Shepard's taste, though he knows he can't afford to complain. Quiet at least indicates the absence of trouble, and the absence of conflict at any moment bound to break out between the now many and varying crewmates that have settled aboard. The recruits, mostly drawn from the Illusive Man's dossiers, are shaping up to be a colourful bunch... almost more than he's prepared to handle. No matter the Illusive Man's resources, it's difficult to fill the roles of the SSV Normandy SR-1's crew when the majority of them had been handpicked by Anderson himself. And Shepard had followed in his stead the best he could — when Saren's betrayal forced the Council's hand, and the time had come to bring on a few of his own people. To make it his.

( He thinks he did a decent job. They had pulled through, didn't they? ... pity that the Illusive Man doesn't seem to agree. )

... the whole thing has been more hands-off than he expected, actually. Opinions of Cerberus outside the crew provided him are differing, few of them positive. For good reason. But dissent has been rare thus far ( except for one 'Cerberus, Shepard. Really?' from just the man he expected... and just how he expected it said, too ), and those Shepard took aboard have managed themselves cleanly and without much ruckus. They've found themselves corners and niches in which to etch their names and hang up their things, and — even with Zaeed, until now their greatest wild card, aboard — it's been, thus far, smooth sailing.

Until now... or so he thought.

Purgatory was a hell of a place, and a hellish one too, before they left it in shambles. Torn apart and burning from the inside out — serves them right. And maybe Shepard should have done MORE to it before they left. Done worse. Being left a corpse was the most pleasant thing Kuril should have expected when he tried to pull that con.

Being locked away in cryo for however long on a maximum security prison ship — one would think Jack would be itching for a fight. Shepard knows he would be, however and with whomever. But it seems she's been more than content huddling beneath engineering now that she's got access to all the Cerberus files she wants.

( ... maybe he's a little disappointed. Better outcome or not, it's certainly anticlimactic. )

In his search for a place that isn't as dead silent as his cabin, he's made his way to down to engineering; it's the thought of Jack that veers him onto the stairs leading down into the subdeck.

The hum of the drive core on the engineering deck rumbles around him as he descends. It's a welcome contrast to his quarters. Stowing herself away down here — dark, quiet (not too quiet), hard to find — Shepard can see the appeal. It's not unlike the hideaways he might seek out himself if the Normandy wasn't in the picture. Without it, places like this would be the closest thing he knows to safety.

( Without the Normandy. That's not a future he likes to consider, but he supposes something has to come after this mission. If he survives it. )

' You could go pirate. Live like a king. ' Still. It's a tempting thought once the colony attacks are taken care of... once Cerberus is out of the picture.

Either way, the idea draws a soundless huff of amusement out of him and a trace of a smile as he steps down into the subdeck. Coolly, but steadily and with care: announcing his approach long before he's seen.

" It's been a minute. " Not terribly long, but enough that maybe she's unearthed something interesting from the database. If not, fine by him — Shepard can think of at least a few other things to ask Jack about. Just so long as she lets him. " You busy? "