“SHEPARD.” The loud rumble echoed up from the elevator even before the doors had opened, signalling that Grunt was anxiously waiting within. Once the elevator dinged you could hear the squeak of the rotors as he began to bounce anxiously. It was only after the doors opened that he settled down a bit, his eyes scanning the mess hall for his Battle Master.

With a half-hearted wave Addie let out a small grunt to tell the Krogan where she was. Her attention was firmly rooted on the wok in front of her. It was her most recent purchase from the citadel.

With a careful hand she hesitantly flipped the egg noodles, it being her first real attempt at lo mein. There was this cheap little Chinese place back on earth she often went to when she was young. She only ever got the lo mein and in recent weeks she’d gotten an intense craving for it. So she decided to give it a try. Managed to snag a bag of MSG and everything.

With a happy rumble Grunt made his way through the mess hall to the little kitchen, shuffling in next to Addie with a smile. “What are you making?” he quickly asked, his original thought forgotten for the moment.

“It’s called lo mein. A noodle dish they make back on earth.” She explained, a small smile forming as she mixed in the veggies. Addie was pretty happy with herself at the moment. Her lo mein actually looked pretty good. “I used to eat this all the time as a kid.”

“It looks good…” With a low rumble Grunt leaned in a bit more but before he could snatch a noodle Shepard swatted him away.

“Not this time, I’ll make you some later.” She quickly stated.

Stepping back Grunt grumbled like an upset child. “Fine…”

With a small chuckle Addie glanced his way. “What did you want when you came up? You sounded pretty excited.”

Bouncing back quickly Grunt began to shift back and forth. “I want to be a paleontologist!” He announced proudly.

Pausing for a moment Addie’s brows knit together. “A paleontologist?”

“That’s the word right? I looked up how to say it and everything.” Grunt asked. “They hunt dinosaurs on your planet.”

With a small laugh Addie nodded. “Something like that. Dinosaurs are extinct so some people back on Earth dig up their bones to study them.”

“They’re the awesome giant lizards right? The ones that eat everything?” Reaching out for the wok again Grunt tried to snatch a noodle but Addie quickly swats his hand away.

“They were. They’re gone now, all of them died off millions of years ago.” Taking the wok off the little stove Shepard scooped the noodles into a bowl. “Sure you want to be a paleontologist?”

Thinking for a long moment Grunt sighed. “So I can’t hunt them?”

“Afraid not.” Addie responded.

Turning away Grunt opened up his omni tool and took dinosaurs off a little list. “No…” He grumbled. Taking a few steps away he was quick to regain his enthusiasm. “Zaeed told me about sharks.” With that he marched off to the elevator, now thoroughly excited to study sharks.

Standing there a moment Addie watched him leave with an amused smile. She always did enjoy his enthusiasm. “Have fun.” She called after him.  With a content hum she scooped up her bowl, along with a pair of chopsticks and headed off to her favorite little hiding spot.

went a little crazy on my artfight card for this year