1st Survival | Video

[killsfishes]

[After some fiddling on a tool that looks like it's more than a 100 years out of date, there's some muttering that people with good hearing can probably hear as "This is the last time I let Garrus take me out for a celebratory drink." After deciding that he's done fiddling and got the right result, he addresses the camera.]This is Commander John

Comments

[killsfishes]

[and here he was totally expecting being shot at. You know, like all those times he gets knocked out and wakes up somewhere.]

Thanks. Never heard of a planet like that, though. Where in the universe are we?

[killsfishes]

So we aren't the only ones, then. [A mass kidnapping? Well that definitely sounds familiar.] Do you know if the people you were with are here with you?

[hatespolitics]

[There's a stunned silence on the other end of the line, the feed crackling with white noise as if someone had hit the reply button and then forgotten to speak.

She hadn't expected this. Part of her had thought she might never see him again at all, that if she met any other Shepard in these places it was bound to be one that wasn't hers.

And then there he was. Her voice is low, quiet, and unlike her.] John?

[killsfishes]

[She wasn't someone he would expect to see after being potentially kidnapped. But he could remember her voice anywhere.

That and she was one of the few who called him by that name.]

...Ash?

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[hatespolitics]

[Ashley swallows. Her nickname in his voice jolted her, making her remember... Oh heaven, it was him.

She takes a moment to school her face, then switches the camera on.] It's me. Where are you? Are you stuck in the morgue?

[killsfishes]

[There's a certain feeling of relief when it's confirmed that it really was her and she looked uninjured. He wasn't sure what he'd do if it was otherwise... but then again Ashley always knew how to take care of herself.

He raised an eyebrow when she mentioned the morgue, though.]

I have no idea. It's kinda dark. Why do you think it's a morgue, though?

[Did he die again? Because damn it, he needed to stop doing that with her around.]

Permanent Video

[betrayer]

..."Shepard"?

What nonsense is this?

[killsfishes]

[Thankfully, Ashley already told him he's alive. Still... doesn't he remember him?]

It's nothing much. Just wondering if there might be some brain damage involved in your resurrection.

[Considering the circumstances of the rogue Spectre's death and all.]

[betrayer]

Shepard is already here, and Shepard is a human female. But then, your pet human does recognize you for who you say you are, doesn't she?

[More of that alternate reality nonsense.]

[killsfishes]

Don't call her that. She has a name.

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[fortheoptics]

[What. Just.... Just what.]

Commander John Shepard? [A pause - then, in the voice of one who doesn't even expect sense to be made anymore,] This is a city named Abax. It's completely empty besides the people who started appearing in the morgue a month ago, and we can only access two small areas - a central area and the part that just opened to us.

The technology here is both two or three centuries out of date and permanently broken. [This being the part clearly still annoying her the most out of all of this.]

[killsfishes]

[Why was Tali talking as if she never heard his first name before? Then again, he wouldn't be surprised if that's true. It's not like a lot of people uses his name.]

a few centuries out of date? Ouch. That must be annoying for you, Tali.

[a pause as something hits.]

...a month?

[fortheoptics]

[Tali is trying her damndest to put this together in her head. She's watching this Shepard intensely as he speaks, watching for behaviour similar to her Shepard - Jane Shepard. They don't... really look similar, but she can't much tell with humans.]

You know me well. [That said a little dryly.] I've figured out these phones, but everything else is going to take a little more time.

I don't think it's been as long as a month, it just feels like it. There's no way to keep track of time beyond watching the clock carefully and checking off days manually. I haven't been keeping up. I arrived a few days after the first of the arrivals, I think.

I have a question, Shepard. What's the last thing you remember before waking up here?

[killsfishes]

[He nods, because if anyone could get those electrical things working again, it'd be her.

He had questions about her being here longer, but for now he'll speculate that it's probably because he's just been asleep that long again.]

The last thing? Huh... I finished that... [he probably shouldn't mention the details on the public feed.] assignment from Hackett. Then we all finally got to go on that shore leave party we've been putting off since the Collector's.

[And maybe he shouldn't have drank that glass of ryncol, but it's too late to regret now.]

Are the others with you?

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[destroystosave]

Welcome to Abax, the city of nothing.

[killsfishes]

I guess 'nothing' explains the lack of good lighting. And the crappy phone.

[destroystosave]

Wait until you get outside. But agreed on the phone. Old technology is not fun to play with for too long.

[killsfishes]

Can't wait. [at least someone's already coming to get him out.] My friend said everything's broken too. Are you also an engineer?