NAPS
i don't wanna sit still, look pretty.
______

indie oc.
penned by FAYE

art credit


amongstaars.

It was no real secret that Tali was among the youngest members of the crew. When she had met Shepard initially, in fact, she’d only recently started her Pilgrimage, and by her own people’s standards, she had very much still been a child. And everything they’d been through, the oncoming war… it had all served to make her seem so much older than she really was. And yet, in many ways, she still felt very much like a child here.

Everything that had just happened - the loss of the Alarei, a farcical trial meant to use her as little more than a political scapegoat, the death of her father, the inability to even properly grieve - felt like it cemented that.

“It’s amazing how much all of us have been through. Not just me.” She’d tried to talk to Garrus a few times, in fact, to see if he would open up about whatever had happened. But where quarians were social and open, a necessity when one lived their entire life in a suit that limited expression, turians didn’t exactly share that same proclivity. “And yet we endure.”

A little like stars, she mused. But even stars burned out eventually.

image

“Did I tell you there’s been discussion of making me an admiral? Me! I’m barely off Pilgrimage!” She snorted a bit, glad for the shift in discussion so that she could avoid dwelling on Rael'Zorah. “I would much rather be building. Up here, helping Shepard. This is where I belong, not debating policies all day. And in a way, this does help my people, in the long run.”

« 🔧 »      “No, definitely not just you.”

The words were quiet, shifted from one side of Leah’s mouth to the other. Garrus had been through hell. Shepard had been through hell. Leah had been through hell, too; enough that she didn’t really want to talk about it. But she knew. She understood where the Quarian was coming from. And, as always, a part of her wanted to scoop the woman up and keep her from the rest of this bullshit.

“Could be worse, though,” she added, and leaned against the wall. “I mean, we’ve been through hell and back by this point. If I had to put all of our experiences on a sliding scale of one to ten, right now is probably somewhere around a three. The Citadel– now that was a ONE. We’ve definitely done worse, my love.”

Didn’t make what they were going through any less shitty, but it did show that they could survive.

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“Wait, wait–” Puishing those thoughts aside, Leah stood straight. One hand went for her side, as though her communicator could make sense of what the other had just said. “You– You were suggested as a future Admiral? Oh. Oh, BOY, Tali, I’m fuckin’–” Her words cut off in a harsh, barking laugh. “I’m sorry. I’m sorry, Tals, but I just CANNOT see you as a fuckin’ paper pusher, or a politician. You’re too hands on for that shit.

“You’ve saved our lives more times than I can count. For them to confine you to POLITICS is a goddamned insult.”

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