DearTrickster

Mass Effect: Borealis

@Monochromatic Rainbow Yeah :D it took a while but I hope to get to do one for you too once I get to know Firuzeh more :).

Mass Effect: Borealis

Serena gingerly made her way through the hallways of the Borealis, cursing quietly under her breath, hoping the pain meds would kick in soon. They were already taking too damn long. And hoping that she didn’t take too much. She was quite certain that she was far from an overdose limit, but she didn’t want to find out how much it took to make her loopy.

As she made her way farther down the hall towards Vellios’ room, she began to feel better. The pain receded to a small, dull ache and she began to feel a bit...floaty. “Finally.” She muttered, rounding the corner and slamming smack dab into Dex. “Ooph!” She stumbled back. “I’m sorry I should have been paying attention...Dex!” She beamed at the Turian as a thought she had forgotten to ask Tanya popped in her head. “Just who I was looking for! How is everyone on the crew?”

“Serena! What are you doing out of bed?” Dex had been making her way back to her quarters after a taxing conversation with Khosin. She desperately hoped Khosin didn’t stop to talk to anyone on his way to his own bunk.

“Have to know if everyone is okay. That my fuck up didn’t get anyone else hurt.” Serena replied, somewhat stubbornly.

“Yeah, everyone is fine for the most part. Heard what happened to you from Iosif and Haze. Seriously, you shouldn’t be moving around right now.” The evidence of her injuries were clear as day, bruising, bandages covering the slice on her neck. The stab wound also under layers of bandages. Her eyes were dilated, assumingly from medication. Burns frayed some areas of her clothing. “C’mon let’s head to the common area to sit and chat.”

Offering her arm for Serena to hold onto.

“Thank you. I feel like shit and everything hurts. Which is probably what happens when you detonate an explosive crossbow bolt right in front of you.” Serena smiled happily at the Turian as she leaned on Dex’s arm. Then she frowned. “Wait. What did you mean ‘for the most part.’” Her eyes got wide with alarm. “Did someone get hurt. Did I get someone hurt?”

Dex frowned back down at the human, she had resorted to using a exploding crossbow bolt?

Beaten up? Those shits downplayed it.

“Dex. What do you mean ‘for the most part?’” She suddenly looked even more worried, almost fearful. “Did someone die? Did I get someone killed again?”

They walked to the common area and Dex explained, “Relax, the smugglers making contact didn’t affect much beyond getting yourself hurt.” She set Serena down and took a seat herself. Letting out a long sigh leaning back into the springy cushions. Her instincts were waving red flags at her again, was it the medication helping Serena along in jumping to conclusions or did she honestly think her mistakes got crew killed?

“Was going to wait to tell everyone when we all sat down and debriefed officially but Kasyra disappeared. Last I saw her was when we sold the guns, she didn’t respond to any of my calls. It’s unconfirmed if she deserted us or what her status is.” Dex said, casting a side glance at Serena. “Couldn’t go back to look for her. It was too risky.”

Dex pulled up her omnitool suppressing a yawn, “No new messages since we left Virmire.”

Serena’s eyes squeezed shut, attempting to block the tears that rushed into them. She failed. “Fuck. Not again. Why do I always….” She trailed off, opening her eyes at Dex’s yawn, and feeling even guiltier at how tired the turian looked.. “I’m sorry. You’re probably drop dead tired what with all the shit you went through in the camp because I was busy not doing my job. Get some sleep. Thanks for telling me about Kasy.” She got up to leave with a shaky smile.

Dex leaned forward and tugged on the back of her shirt.

“Sit. I’m tired but I’m not letting you run around the ship looking like you do. What happened to you didn’t fuck everything up.” Dex said firmly looking Serena in the eye. “From what I heard from Iosif and Haze it was a group effort. We don’t know if Kasy is dead or alive, Tonka’s theory is she ran off at the first whiff of Blue Suns. Point is, it’s not your fault.” Dex insisted. She all but forced Serena to sit again.

Dex stood up and said, “I’m getting you some water.”

Serena weakly struggled against Dex before sitting down and putting her head in her hands..

“Like hell it didn’t. It was my job to keep an eye on everything and report when things went wrong. Instead, I barely managed to report a problem before getting my ass kicked and the entire operation exposed by the smugglers. Which resulted in all of you being chased out of the base and Kasy being killed. Don’t give me that ‘we don’t know what happened to her’. Kasy was many things, but she wasn’t one to just suddenly disappear. And the smugglers didn’t just go ‘Oh hey, you’re part of that group that we know are fake and probably spies for the Alliance? Sign on board!’ I got her killed. Just add her to the god damned list.” She didn’t bother looking up as Dex returned.

Dex listened to Serena’s terrible reasoning to pinning everything that happened on herself. She didn’t know what happened down in the camp, the risk largely being created by what the Infiltration team orchestrated on their own. Putting the glass of water on the table in front of her.

“I’m about to blow your mind Serena, because shit still isn’t your fault.” She flopped down beside her again putting her arm up over the ledge of the couch. “Tonka created a distraction for Drono and I to sneak into the communications centre, while I was busy with my head in a console Drono and Khosin were trying to sabotage the best they could. You don’t know half of what happened and you’re assuming everything is your fault. How dumb is that?” She gave Serena a half hearted grin, noting the glassy sheen in her eyes.

“Kasy… Kasy isn’t our problem anymore. You’re not going to like it, regardless if she’s dead or not. Her disappearance still isn’t your fucking fault.” Dex tugged on Serena’s earlobe. “What’s it going to take for you to believe me? More cold hard facts… or let you have a good cry?”

Serena reluctantly looked up as Dex leaned next to her, already figuring out what she actually did wrong to get Kasy killed. “Alright, fine. You all exposed yourselves. I still should have alerted you when I saw Tonka’s shields dropping faster than an Elcor in freefall. You would have known and been prepared rather than caught by surprise when things went to shit. Instead, I was busy fucking around with a turret in a rainstorm, while the smugglers were moving against you. Drono and the rest were caught off guard, and Kasy probably was too. The smugglers don’t shoot to maim either.” She gave a bitter chuckle. “I can attest to that.”

She curled on herself more when Dex pulled on her earlobe. “Crying doesn’t help. It didn’t help for Janet, Silus, Barat, or any of the rest. It’s not going to help with Kasy.”

There it was, names and all. She’d lost teammates before and now was being painfully reminded of it with Kasy. “Serena… Taking everything that happened today and calling it your mistake isn’t going to solve anything. Like I said earlier it was a group effort. Every reason you just listed off was a should have done this or could have done that.” Dex said, sincere. “If the rest of those names on the list could see you right now, they’d be telling you the same thing I am.”

Serena gave a harsh laugh, though it was more of a wracked sob. “Silus got shot in the back by some mercs coming after us, protecting me while I fucked around with a locked door. Barat was killed by grenades because I wasn’t fast enough to cover him with a barrier too. But you can call those just dangers of the job right? Well I got Janet fucking captured by batarian slavers. We were supposed to be evacuated out. The colony was under attack and the mission was completed. Quick and clean.”

“Then I ran back out to go get someone who was lagging behind, and Janet was my protection detail so she followed. Harpooned through the leg and dragged behind their lines. Try and tell me that wasn’t my fucking fault. Try and convince me that the rumors I hear about batarians slaves are just exaggerated. I’ve heard it a thousand times over. Doesn’t do a damn thing. You want more examples about what a fuck up I am? I’ve got five other people dead because of me. Spencer, Omar, An, Hannah, Soban. All my-”

“That’s enough, Serena. I fucking get it.” Dex stopped her, glaring at Serena. She took a deep breath in. Her expression evening out again, “I get it, alright? We can turn this into a pissing contest on who has fucked up more in a vain attempt to make the other feel better. You can throw examples at me all day, but I’ll still be sitting right here. You’ll still be a ball of guilt but…” She gestured vaguely at their surroundings, “At least you’re not alone in this. You’ve got Vellios, Tanya...and me. Much like fucking up is a group effort, pulling your head out of your ass will be too. Yeah?” She smiled at her, genuinely hoping this time her attempt to make her feel better would actually work.

Serena stared at Dex for a moment, in minor surprise. Then she broke down and started sobbing, covering her face with her hands. Her next words were nearly unintelligible through her crying. “Why? Why do you care so much? I’m just going to get you killed too. I’m gonna create a fucking malfunctioning droid, or not be fast enough again...why. Why don’t you just save yourself while you can?”

Gently rubbing her back with her organic hand she quietly joked, “Maybe I see a little of myself in you. Maybe I’ve got a heart in this carapace somewhere. Who knows, I’ve got this mysterious spy rep to keep up. Keep you on your toes.”

“Besides, I get to be the only who decides on how I die. Fuck accidents, stray bullets and bad luck. You can officially not worry about getting me killed because I say so.” She let out a tiny chuckle, then asked, “Is it alright if I give you a hug?”

Serena gave a broken laugh, throwing her arms around Dex’s shoulders. “Of course it is. Silly question.”

Dex wrapped her arms around Serena’s torso, gently as she could. Patting her back, relief flooded through the turian with another wave of physical and mental exhaustion rolling over her. She let out a sigh and content hummed through her sub vocals. They sat together while Serena cried herself out, not much else needing to be said.

Serena pulled back, wiping her eyes. She eyed the turian’s clearly tired form and tsking. “Go to sleep Dex.” She ordered firmly, shooing the turian. “I’m fine now, and I’ll just crash on this couch. My bed is in the hangar anyway. Sleep. Now.”

Dex slowly pushed herself up and ran one eye over Serena, “You don’t have to tell me again. Good night, Serena.”

Mass Effect: Borealis

@DearTrickster

Personalized individual playlists for each character!

Abandon all other pursuits, ye!

@Monochromatic Rainbow

<Snipped quote by DearTrickster>

Come on. You got this! :D

@Rtron

Round two when I still got Tonka and Firuzeh to go.

Also Mono, did the thing for just about every character in the rp. :D

Check it ~ Playlists yO

Mass Effect: Borealis

@DearTrickster You should totally do Year 2 playlists for everyone. :D

@DJAtomika

Oh my god, I think I would die.

Mass Effect: Borealis

@Mortarion Go ahead and post our collab if you like :)

Mass Effect: Borealis

[Collab @Zombiedude101, @DJAtomika, and @DearTrickster]

Iosif had spent the duration of their departure from Virmire paying close attention to the display at his own little workstation, almost tuned out to the little touches he'd made since claiming it for his own.

Truthfully, he was a little relieved to know that any damage that had been caused by the intrusion of the local wildlife had been superficial at most. The last thing they would've wanted was to be dealing with a loss of functionality of any systems on the ship, especially not whilst they were out in pirate territory. Granted, he'd not forgotten that Tanya was a competent engineer, more than capable of handling the job, but he'd picked up on just how her verbal sparring match with Vellios had gotten under her skin. Not the best state of mind when you were in a rush to keep things running smooth.

And so he'd kept silent for the most part, only speaking to communicate the necessary information with Dex up and until they were about halfway out of the system. Only then did he finally speak up about something other than the immediate task at hand.

"We made a good call with the Kite. She handled rather well back there."

The cockpit crew were totally silent. Iosif and Dex were busy piloting the Borealis away from Virmire, and Hazan was making sure they weren't going off course.

He kept silent. The mission itself was a clusterfuck as soon the first hiccup had occurred. He wasn't sure if it was Tonka getting made, or the storm destroying their turrets, but whatever it was, the mission went tits up. And like it or not, people got hurt.

Dex smiled slowly, "The first chance we get to have a break I'm taking her out. Can't tell you how jealous I was you got the first chance to fly her. Never flown a Kite model before. Maybe squeeze in some target practice." She looked to her co-pilot, his injuries apparent. Then glanced at Haze, solemn but he fidgeted with anxiety.

"So, what happened out there today? Must of been bad, didn't get a response on my hails until we were leaving the compound." She adjusted the thrusters, acknowledging the course adjustments from Haze. "You two look worse for wear, haven't seen the others but I can take a couple guesses. Storm fucked up the equipment, the team sent up to Happy Cliffs made contact, whatever happened here at the ship that had you, Tanya and Vellios back here..." Vaguely gesturing at Iosif.

"I'll understand the piss poor communication skills when you guys tell me what happened."

Hazan sighed and shook his head. Still frustrated over Serena's lasting injury, he snapped at Dex.

"The storm fucked up our turrets. One got totally wrecked, the other started shooting at me and Serena. While she was getting it fixed, some smugglers from the camp found us. They got to Serena before I could, okay? That's why we didn't fucking communicate."

"Cool it, Haze. Dex was out there, too." Iosif grunted, hoping to temper the turian's frustration. It was bad enough that Vellios had been brooding over what happened to Serena without tossing another agitated turian into the mix. For a species of militaristic types, they sure got angsty over things.

But then, who was he to talk? That intrusion from the birds had left him feeling a little sore about the matter, literally in the case of the gouges in his shoulder from those damned claws.

Dex's mandibles pressed flatly as she glared at Haze for his attitude, irritation rumbling across her subvocals only for Haze to hear. In her mind, her calling him out was valid. Iosif thankfully made her point before she could snap back at him.

She believed the situation wasn't enough to excuse ignoring her hails, thinking of dozens of operations similar to today where she still managed to acknowledge a call... Then again they weren't in the military anymore, The Jury Riggers was a crew of mercenaries. She wasn't the communications liaison or in any position of leadership. Her expectations had to be reset.

She grudgingly admitted, "I get it, things went wrong and you called when you got the first chance to. It was better than nothing."

She continued straightening her back, "I heard the reports from the group of smugglers that attacked you while I was hacking the communications network. Believe it or not, I was worried. Persistent radio silence means something horrible happened and it
did."

"Well thankfully the only thing horrible that happened were the turrets and supplies that we lost back there. And, well, Serena getting injured."

He sighed and rubbed his hand over his crests. At least they were in safe hands now, away from danger and away from the stress.

The adrenaline and stress being decompressed in the past few hours took the edge off her anger over the issue of communication during the mission. It'd be a point she'd revisit in the team meeting. Her focus turned to Serena, without Kasy on board they were severely lacking in medical expertise or training.

"How bad are Serena's injuries? Is the first stop going to be a doctor?" She asked Iosif.

"She took a beating. But somehow, I doubt Vellios is going to trust anyone else with her care." He answered, finishing his sentence with an amused exhalation.

"A smuggler sneaked up on her and she got stabbed. She blew the guy up afterward with a point blank omni bow shot. I did what I could to stop the bleeding but once the shuttle landed, Vellios whisked her away and I've not seen her since."

"He's not her father, if she needs a professional we'll find her one." She replied bluntly. "So what brought Tanya and Vellios back to the ship and what gave you those nasty scratches?" She pointed to his organic shoulder.

"Yeah, Iosif. What happened? Last I heard from the ship you three had some troubles of your own."

Hazan swivelled his chair around to face pilot and co-pilot, a small hint of amusement in his sub-vocals.

"When the other two turned up at the ship, they accidentally brought a few specimens of the local wildlife back with them."The slavic pilot's head tilted slightly towards where he'd been attacked by one of the aforementioned specimens. "Vicious little cykas, like birds of prey, but larger, faster and more aggressive. One tried to tear out my throat and left me with these lovemarks." He snorted a little and directly pointed to the gouges in his right shoulder, then used the other arm to indicate the scuff marks on his cybernetic limb.

"Oh, and did I forget to mention that they were venomous, too? Tanya was on the receiving end of that stuff, it's out of her system by now but I'd suggest you avoid bringing it up with her. For both our sakes."

"Fuck, maybe a pit stop to see a doctor wouldn't be a bad idea. If not for Serena but you and Tanya." Dex suggested. "Moreover, why did Tanya and Vellios have to come back to the ship in the first place? Did his injuries start acting up or..." Dex said squinting at Iosif, why would Tanya not want to talk about some venom...

"Mind telling us why it would be a bad idea to bring up it with Tanya? Give us some context."

"Birds? I imagine they'd be smaller than, y'know, a varren or something. It'd be kinda funny if you guys got assaulted by little tiny birds."

Iosif shot Hazan an unamused look. "You're welcome to drop by the planet another time and see for yourself. It's not quite simple when you're trying to avoid shooting up the hangar. As for why it'd be a bad idea to bring it up with Tanya, she had a rough awakening. Just drop it."

Dex pushed, her instincts red flagging her for Iosif reluctance to tell them, "We're going to hear about it one way or another. I'd prefer to hear the objective point of view as opposed to Vellios or Tanya's version of what happened."

She looked at Iosif making eye contact with her co-pilot.

He gave a grunt, paused then finally shrugged with a degree of reluctance.

"When the other two turned up at the ship, they accidentally brought a few specimens of the local wildlife back with them. Little cykas attacked us, Tanya got a good dose of their venom and had to be taken down to medbay, to work it out of her system."

"She was hit with venom? What exactly gave her a rude awakening?" Dex urged.

"A bit insistent there, Dex? Maybe this was something, y'know, harsh on Tanya?"

Hazan folded his arms and leaned back in his chair, propping his legs up on a nearby console. Curiosity crept into his sub-vocals, but he was worried that Dex pushing so aggressively would turn the whole situation into something worse.

But it didn't seem to be particularly bother Iosif. His reluctance to discuss the matter was more out of respect for Tanya and an unwillingness to stir up more drama by bringing the matter up. He figured a little insight couldn't hurt.

"We agreed to restrain her just in case she woke up hallucinating or started having a seizure, something like that, but you know how Vellios can be a smug little fucker, right?" Iosif shifted his focus over towards Dex for a moment to emphasise his point, aware of the... chemistry between the two turians.

Dex nodded and understood what Iosif was laying down.

What an idiot.

"Thanks for clarifying that. I hope Tanya gave him shit for it. If I was in her shoes I would have probably reacted in a similar fashion. Regardless of how well I've come to know him." Dex said with a noncommittal shrug, she hummed with content. "Goes without saying, we're not always going to get along. Fights will happen when we're cramped together on a ship this size. We got lucky with a few level headed personalities to balance out the more chaotic ones. It sounds like you were the balancing act in this case, if no one has acknowledged that - I will. Thank you, Iosif."

She offered a smile.

He shrugged. "Things needed to be kept together. Can't have it all going to shit."

"Thanks, Iosif. And thankfully the team's meshed okay-ish with each other so far. At least, that's what I'm seeing."

Hazan nodded grimly and stretched his arms.

"Well, at least, we are. A good ship is nothing without her bridge crew, eh?"

Mass Effect: Borealis

HEY GUYS

Been working on updating the playlist I made for this game nearly a year ago, I think by now I've got a better grasp of what sort of music would suit it, now more than ever. Kept a couple songs from the original but generally overhauled it.

Here's the New Link - 8tracks - Borealis V2 :).

Alternatively: Spotify Link

The Tracklist:
Going for a Ride - David Newman
First - Cold War Kids
I'm So Sorry - Imagine Dragons
Babel - Mumford & Sons
Shadow on the Wall - Brandi Carlile
Call Me Newt - Ramin Djawadi
New Horizons - Flyleaf
Geronimo - Sheppard
Hard Way Home - Brandi Carlile
Stars - Jessica Rotter
End Credits - David Newman

11 Tracks - 36 Mins

Create-A-Hero: A Superhero RPG Season 2- New Horizons (Closed)

@ShyDot Here's a link for the It Is Enough - 8tracks playlist and the youtube playlist. <3

EnjOOoooY

Mass Effect: Borealis

@Zombiedude101@DJAtomika So with DJ's addition to the collab do you guys want to round it off or did either of you want to add anything else to it?

.:: ℤ𝕖𝕝𝕕𝕒 - 𝕎𝕙𝕚𝕤𝕡𝕖𝕣𝕤 𝕚𝕟 𝕥𝕙𝕖 ℕ𝕚𝕘𝕙𝕥 ::.

Okay started off the right tunnel collab~