#isla shepard

Tagged by @citadelsushi  Thanks so much! 

A bit more than a line because Isla spoke up and demanded to be heard and I’m all too happy to oblige ;)

Brown eyes, flecks of amber highlighted by the golden glow of the lights in her cabin, gazed into hers. His voice was low, husky, “You’re right. Now isn’t the time. I just…” he looked away, ran a hand over his hair and rubbed his neck. Taking a deep breath, he looked back at her intently, “I can’t lose you. I...I want to see if there’s something more, where it goes. You can be damn sure I’ll be waiting for you. Just, please, be careful...Isla.” Her mind got stuck on the fact he’d used her first name.

Then he’d turned to go and she called out after him, “I will, Kaidan. We’ll have time.”

Oh how wrong she’d been.

Commander’s log - 23 days since the Reapers invaded Earth

Pros of being a cyborg built with top-of-the-line robot parts by a human extremist organization: I can go without sleep far longer than I once could.

Cons: everything else.

Commander’s log - 30 days since the Reapers invaded Earth

Dr. Chakwas and EDI have tag-teamed to monitor my vitals 24/7 since the invasion. Doc tells me that when I read casualty reports for more than a few minutes at a time, my blood pressure spikes to dangerous levels. In her professional opinion, I should stop.

I wish I could, Doc. I wish I could.

Commander’s log - 47 days since the Reapers invaded Earth

Can you believe I used to update this thing every day? And more than a few sentences at a time? Yeah, me neither. Past me is torn somewhere between laughing at present me, and pitying the hell out of her. 

Commander’s log - 55 days since the Reapers invaded Earth

I went back in this log and looked up the entry I made on the day Garrus joined the crew. I wrote: “Recruited turian C-Sec officer today. He’s impulsive, hot-headed, and will stop at nothing to take down bad guys. I like him.” 

Now, three years later, he’s the only thing keeping me sane most days. 

Commander’s log - 63 days since the Reapers invaded Earth

Still reading the casualty reports. Those first few weeks after Torfan, I thought, “nothing can be any worse than this.” I was wrong.

Commander’s log - 68 days since the Reapers invaded Earth

It’s my routine, now: go off duty at 2100 hours, right when the sun’s setting on Earth at summertime. Sit on the edge of my bed, datapad in hand. Drink a cup of coffee. Look at the casualty reports. Brush my teeth. Think about sleeping. Get up and go back to work. 

Commander’s log - 72 days since the Reapers invaded Earth

Was in the middle of my routine tonight when I felt Garrus’s hand on mine. He took the datapad out of my fingers and set it on the nightstand. I thought about stopping him, but instead I reached up and took off his visor. He had the casualty reports scrolling there, too. 

Later, when we were in bed, I told him a story about the first time I ever saw a sunset after a childhood growing up on ships. I was still a kid: six, maybe seven. Mom and Dad took me to Earth for a rare visit to my grandparents, and when the sun went down I watched the sky turn red as fire. Freaked me the hell out. It blew my mind when Grandma told me Earth citizens actually considered sunsets beautiful. 

Tonight I keep thinking about what the skies must look like now, on Earth, on Palaven. I can’t imagine they think it’s beautiful anymore. 

But Garrus is asleep next to me, and I haven’t had coffee in nine hours. His leg’s curled over my hip as I write this, and he’s so warm I’m starting to feel drowsy. 

Thank you to everyone who has tagged me in the last month or so! I know I’ve been MIA, but your tags are appreciated and I’ve been holding on to them until I have something to share. The end of the school year is a busy time for me, but expect a lot more updates and tags once summer starts!

I still don’t have much to show, but here’s a little blurb that formed in my head while driving home today. As you can see, I’m deep in Mass Effect feels 😂 (New fic??? Maybe!)

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Commander Shepard was a private person. She offered almost nothing willingly, and so most of what Kaidan knew about her he had learned through observation in the last few months. He knew, for example, that she drank black coffee and cheap beer. She listened to jazz while she cleaned her guns. He couldn’t say what she did on her days off, as he was pretty damn sure he had never seen her take a day off, but he did know that, when passing by her through the tight quarters of the Normandy, she often smelled of ivory soap.

There was one thing, however, that everyone aboard the Normandy knew about Commander Shepard, and that one thing currently had him gripping the mako for dear life - she couldn’t drive for shit.

“Dammit, Commander, slow down!” Kaidan cursed as she launched them into the air. The mako hit the ground hard, slamming them forcefully downward by the shoulder straps. Shepard was white knuckled at the wheel, pedal to the floor as they raced over rocky terrain.

“Do you talk to all of your superiors that way, Lieutenant, or am I just special?”

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Couldn’t waste an opportunity to shit on Shepard’s horrible driving 😂

Alright, I swear I haven’t abandoned my dragon age fic, it’s coming as soon as school ends I promise.

But in the meantime I’m on a mass effect kick so here’s a possible opening to what is most likely going to become and femshep x kaidan fic

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Earth, 2157

Whatever was happening, Kaidan was sure it wasn’t good.

Nobody had been able to get a clear reading all day, but something was overwhelming the systems. Had that not been argument enough, the summons from Anderson had made it clear as crystal. The Captain approached in his dress blues, a deep-set line of worry fixed in his stony expression.

This was bad.

“Anderson,” Kaidan greeted. “I- Shepard?”

At first, he was sure his eyes were playing tricks on him - long hours in fluorescent lighting, maybe the start of another migraine - but there she was, back in an Alliance issue uniform and shaking hands with James Vega, a hulk of a soldier steadily making his way up the ranks. She turned slowly, a question in her eyes and a brow slightly piqued.

“Kaidan.”

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I’ve been a little MIA with work (almost done!), but thank you so much to everyone who has tagged me! I’ll be back soon!