Spring Again After: Playing Bioware Games

Yes, excellent, good looking out for Ann. She does not say much other than "Okay, I'm ready" but presumably it IS comforting to have a friendly space marine next to her. Something to consider even when Leviathan takes over and everything is terrifying. (Unfortunately, Rae does not have friendly company when she's stuck at the bottom of the ocean and Leviathan's messing with her brain and everyone else is up above).

I always like to take James along for the previous mission, partly because the bridge control kicking is funny and partly so Ann has the context of "oh it's one of those guys who helped rescue me" instead of just "that's one of Shepard's crew."

Mission let-Leviathan-take-over-Ann is a go and she almost immediately starts flailing around, so it's really good that James was there.

Rae switched to her I'm-talking-to-a-Reaper-like-creature-that-I-want-answers-from-and-frankly-don't-trust tone.

Shepard: Listen to me. I found you. And the Reapers are right behind me. Leviathan: You have brought them. YOU ARE A THREAT. Shepard: So are you. I've seen what you can do. The war needs you. Leviathan: THERE IS NO WAR. THERE IS ONLY THE HARVEST.

I was a little dubious of the reasoning behind "we need the creature that can control people's minds to fight the other monsters that can control people's minds" but then I remembered that nobody knows that there's a destroy-all-Reapers-and-hopefully-also-Leviathan option so I can accept that Rae and co. are grasping at straws.

Rae checked in with EDI - who was in charge of tracking the signal - and EDI got a partial lock.

James: You heard her. We got enough. I'm hitting the shield.

Partial lock is definitely good enough for Rae, who told him to go for it.

Lots of anxious huddling around Ann, aw, and asking her if she's all right (she thinks she is).

Ann: Commander, I sensed something else. Anger.

Rae was not particularly worried about that ("It knows we're getting close").

Ann: I think it wants to kill you.

Squadmates presumably do hear about this part (if nothing else, James tells Cortez about the whole thing with Ann, as Cortez mentions later) so that's a fun additional worry later for the guys (poor Kaidan) on top of the whole "what do you MEAN you're diving a mech underwater by yourself" factor.

Rae gave Ann a pat on the shoulder and said, "Come on, let's get you some help."

Rae is absolutely being too hard on herself about not being able to stop Bryson's assistant, because "guy who has not been around unshielded Reaper tech suddenly getting possessed by a Reaper-like creature" is not even remotely a scenario she could have planned for. Little bit like Ash beating herself up about the geth on Eden Prime.

Ann wanted to see her dad's office, so off to the Citadel.

EDI commented on the ship that she'd "formulated a psych profile for Dr. Ann Bryson. She is not used to death, but she might be quite capable under stress." Correct!

Poor Ann. :(

Rae - who was very much refusing to think about her own dad right then - asked Ann how she was doing.

Ann: My father and I didn't leave things in a great state. Shepard: An argument? Ann: Yes. It was trivial. A disagreement over how to file some of the specimens. Ann: I was mad about something else. I don't even remember what. I took it out on him. So stupid.

This was followed by Ann elaborating on her complicated relationship with her father and saying things like "Sometimes I felt the same way [that I didn't get a chance to know him]. He was a great man. A pioneer. I felt like an inconvenience growing up."

Rae: *genuinely sympathetic but also silently going "Oh no. Oh, this sounds like me and my mom" at that

Shepard: You sound angry. Ann: I was angry. Still am, I guess. Ann: But sometimes he was so full of stories he nearly burst. I loved that about him. It's why I signed up for this work. Ann: I can't believe he's gone.

:(

They talked a little more about how Rae needs her help and Ann wants to find what's on the other side of the artifact; Rae asked her if she was sure she was up for this.

Ann: Yes. Ann: When Leviathan took control of me, I remember being somewhere cold and dark. Ann: But my father taught me to never be afraid of the dark.

Go, Ann, go!

More chatter on the way into the lab - Ann's father thought her dissertation on the rachni was a waste of time 😬 (She and Liara SHOULD be science friends!).

More chatting by the artifact:

Ann: Unless it needs something, Leviathan doesn't bother communicating. Ann: I guess it and my father had something in common.

I like to think that Shepard shows Ann her father's log about keeping the decryption key from earlier "close to my heart" and that it's on nine-year-old Ann's drawing of her father; maybe that will help a bit.

I refuse to believe my Sheps go from "literally unconscious" to "upright and having a coherent conversation with Ann" in the space of about a minute. Nope. Time to get entirely knocked out of action for a day or so instead of doing the usual "well, I fell off a building but I just had to keep on going."