#seaofbeachystars ✧ garrus vakarian.

[serabellyms]

❛  i'm sorry i didn't listen to you sooner.  ❜     ⤷ @seaofbeachystars ✧ garrus vakarian.

"That's kind, but unnecessary, Garrus," Miranda chided gently, smiling at her turian friend. At least... she hoped she could call him a friend. Now that she was no longer with Cerberus, that ought to be acceptable, no? Still... it felt strange, being on the Normandy again, being a part of things again. Miranda wasn't really used to being part of a team, not the way the Normandy was. Running a team, sure; but that was a professional relationship and nothing more. This... no, this was different.

Swirling her tea in her cup, Miranda couldn't help a chuckle. "Honestly, it wasn’t something I expected, either. When I joined Cerberus… we were supposed to be doing good things. And we were—or at least, the things I was involved in, or handling, were good things. You can’t look at the things we did—taking down the Collectors—as inherently bad. Questionable… maybe. But given the situation we’re in right now… if I hadn’t done questionable things like bringing Shepard back, then it’s likely we wouldn’t stand a chance.” If the Collectors had managed to assault Earth and taken most of humanity… The rest of the races would be left floundering without the Alliance’s aggressive tactics.

The entire galaxy would be dead in the water. Unfortunately… Shepard was the only person who could do something about their situation. So as much as people questioned MIranda’s decisions and actions, questioned the morality of what she did in bringing Shepard back to life, there was a reason she’d done it—and now, at least, they had a fighting chance against the Reapers.

[serabellyms]

“ don’t worry about me; are YOU okay? “     ⤷ @seaofbeachystars ✧ garrus vakarian.

Ashley was thanking her lucky stars they were armoured; without armour, there was no way they’d have survived that explosion. She’d been knocked pretty good by the blast, enough that she was dazed, but recovered after a few seconds. Damn biotics, hurling containers around like that to blow them up. Unfortunately, her turian comrade wasn't quite as durable as she was... well, in some ways.

It had been nice to fight alongside Garrus again, after so long. She was sad to hear that he'd ended up on Omega, but she really shouldn't have been surprised; after what they'd experienced, there was no way C-Sec could have been fulfilling for him. Ashley, too, had questioned why she'd gone back to the Alliance, until they'd pulled her for... well, this.

Talk about having the strangest method to get your officer's commission.

"Says the guy who got half his face blown off," Ashley quipped back at his worry, taking careful breaths as she could feel a little pain in her side. Probably a broken rib, but now wasn't the time for her to worry about that; Chakwas could take care of that once they were back on the ship. "Can't let the other half get damaged. How are you gonna pick up ladies at the bar? Or Shepard? You know, if that's your fancy." Oh, she'd seen the little looks he'd been given the Commander, and if she could use that to divert attention from her injuries, she damn well would.

[serabellyms]

❝I can fix it.❞     ⤷ @seaofbeachystars ✧ garrus vakarian.

Ashley paused, head craning in Garrus' direction at his offer, though she was... hesitant, to say the least. If there was one thing Ashley was possessive over, it was her guns, and being on a Cerberus vessel didn't help. Hell, she'd made a point to ensure her stuff wasn't kept in the armory; she kept it in her most preferred place, down in the shuttle bay where she could be ready to go at a moment's notice. That, and it kept her away from the majority of the Cerberus crew... most of which didn't dare to venture down here unless absolutely necessary.

Garrus, on the other hand, wasn't about to avoid her like they did, and she expected as much. Here she'd been, frustrated and fumbling with a part on her armour that had snapped, and at the moment they were too far away from any sort of port for her to get what she needed to fix it. Not having armour that was properly serviced was more than just a problem on missions; it was potentially deadly.

"You think so?" Ashley glanced back down at the piece, huffing softly under her breath. "I've been fighting with the damn thing for the last two hours, trying to find a way to at least hold it together. The last thing I want is a half-assed job if we have to go groundside, and no way am I using one of the Cerberus loaner pieces." Her armour was not only fitted, but had modifications and additions tailored to her unique needs. The time it would take her to modify a Cerberus piece of armour to fit any of that---and it likely wouldn't ever be perfect---wasn't worth the trouble unless it was an emergency.