(Untitled)

[janeshepard]

Characters: Open
Purpose: Enjoy lunch, explore the rest of the train, and potentially meet new people.
Location: Dining Cart
Time: Lunchtime
Warnings: N/A

Summary: Having found herself in a new, foreign environment, Shepard explores the Valkyrie Express, only to pause for lunch in the Dining Cart.

Comments

[spectaclebobber]

Ran sat in a table near Jane's, toying around with a cold bowl of soup that had been sitting in front of her for the past twenty minutes. Like most days, she was feeling rather lethargic. Though, she continually glanced over at Jane, noting that she was most likely new to the train.

Should she greet her? ...For some reason, she felt compelled to. "...Hi."

[janeshepard]

She turns her eyes away from the window, and towards the voice across from her. The girl looks young, maybe high school age--maybe a little bit older.

"Hello," she replies, then realizing that she should offer more than just salutations, offers the girl her name: "Shepard. And you are?"

[spectaclebobber]

"Shepard? You don't look like a 'Shepard' to me." She glanced over her, taking some additional note of Shepard's uniform. It reminded me somewhat of that soldier woman she had teamed up with during the escort mission. "I take it you're new here."

[janeshepard]

Shepard has a difficulty hiding her amusement; the ends of her lips twinge up slightly at the girl's remark.

"Jane Shepard," she clarifies. "I just arrived on-board the train earlier today. I was briefed earlier about the situation, but I'm still unclear as to what's this train's purpose."

[spectaclebobber]

At the woman's change in expression, Ran couldn't help but also smile a tiny bit more. "Briefed? Judging by the use of that terminology, I'm going to take a wild guess and assume you're from...the army. Or some branch of the military, perhaps?"

[janeshepard]

"Alliance Military," she says. "I'm a Spectre." Judging from the girl's clothing, there's a good chance she won't be familiar with either term. Not that Shepard particularly minds; though she hates to admit it, it's a bit of a relief not to be heckled for favors for once.

"What about you?"

[spectaclebobber]

This was very useful information. Since she needed to find out more about the current passengers for...reasons she'd rather not divulge, she'd decided to try getting it the easy way. By asking.

"A Spectre? I've never heard of such a thing." Ran did not bother responding to Jane's inquiry, almost making a point of not doing so.

[janeshepard]

"A Spectre, a member of the Special Tactics and Reconnaissance branch of the Citadel, the nexus of the galactic community. We're answer directly council, and are given free reign to act as we see fit. Because of that, there aren't very many of us around."

Shepard, however, hasn't forgotten about her earlier question, though Ran may have diverted her attention before. "Your name?"

[spectaclebobber]

"I'm Ran Billows." A simple answer, which she hoped would suffice for now.

"I don't believe we've had anyone around like you before. That is, nobody that's a part of the 'galactic community'." She got up, leaning against the table Jane was currently at. "I'm unsure of whether or not I should feel...intimidated."

Her words probably made her seem more suspicious. However, she was used to having people react that way to her already.

[janeshepard]

Shepard doesn't seem to regard the girl with suspicion; in fact, she seems amused.

"No need to feel intimidated," she reassures her. "Not unless you're doing something wrong, anyway."

She takes another bite of her sandwich, and once she's thoroughly chewed and swallowed, she turns her attention to her bespectacled companion. "Have you been here long?"

[spectaclebobber]

Good.

Jane's reaction pleased Ran.

At least she wouldn't have someone else think of her as a reclusive weirdo around these parts... "I've been here since early December. I believe it's April now, so it's been a good while. Traveling around on the train so much makes time fly by fast."

[janeshepard]

Being around that long must mean that she knows something about the way this train works. Or at least more than she does.

"Someone told me earlier that the train stops occasionally. He mentioned something about missions. Do you know if those missions have anything to do with us being here?"

[spectaclebobber]

"Those missions are assigned to us by the conductor. I believe they have some purpose that she's unwilling to tell us about." explained Ran with a shrug. "During the last mission, a group of us fought an undead Nazi. I'm not sure if you're familiar with the term 'Nazi'...but it's basically someone who is very bad."

[janeshepard]

"She's unwilling to tell you?" There's a twinge of suspicion in her voice. "What could a train conductor possibly have to hide?"

Shepard pauses to remember, mentally sorting through the information yielded from history classes so many years ago. "Germany, right? I've always had a hard time with history," she explains. "Too much to keep track of in the present to remember every detail of the past."

[spectaclebobber]

Again she shrugged nonchalantly as she pulled her PSP from her pocket. "Clearly, she has a lot to hide. You're new here, so you haven't had enough time to see for yourself or hear about it second-hand, but whenever the subject is brought up, the conductor never comes clean about anything that's going on."

[janeshepard]

Shepard leans over the table, her brows furrowed. "Do you have any idea what her intentions are? Is there any clear pattern in the missions she takes you on?"

As intense as Shepard can be at times, this might seem like the beginnings of an interrogation.