11, 13, and 17 for your OTP? š
Hey Cap! Going to continue doing my personal Shepard/Samara on these. If you wanted something else, just let me know!
11: What do you love about them?
They're both very similar characters, but seek outlets (or lack thereof) in different ways. I guess I'll just toss my personal mental background for both of them here?
Shepard lost her family at a young age, and developed a deep, deep hatred of slavers and raiders. There's a lot of anger in her that causes her to throw herself towards problems or the targets of her rage with little consideration to her own well being. The Alliance attempted to temper this and make a good soldier out of her, but her actions on Torfan showed that time wasn't going to ease any of her hate: with a narrow decision, she's put into a position to act as the Alliance's attack dog instead.
Shepard notes her new position quickly, and is rather resentful of it. She recognizes that some of the people who give her orders are as bad as the people she's tasked to eliminate, but she has no other prospects in life and goes through with it. It hardens her over time, and by ME1 she doesn't even recognize her more renegade actions for what they are - they're just work that needs done.
Her death shakes her more than she lets on, and she's forced to confront her actions when she wakes up to find that a terrorist organization sees her as the epitome of humanity.
Samara spent her early years doing the typical self-indulgent maiden work. Seeing her friends lose their loved ones again and again pushed her to seek asari-asari relationships despite the stigma, simply because she wanted to avoid the heartbreak. She eventually settled with her bondmate, bore her daughters, and had a few decades of joy. She lost both her bondmate and Mirala/Morinth in a single incident, and handled the loss badly. As all of her daughters were taken one-by-one, she bottled up all her anger with no outlet. Morinth escaping, and other asari blaming Samara outright for daring to bond with someone she loved pushed her over the edge, so she sought to become a Justicar. It was the only action she could take in what she felt was a deeply unfair universe.
She expected to die in the trials, but persevered through them. Every time she heard of a death related to ardat-yakshi, she added it to the pile of anger she'd built over the years. She didn't agree with the Code to start with, but deferring her judgments to it made life easier for her. A couple centuries later, killing was such a normalized action to her that she barely took note of it. Like Shepard, it was just work that needed doing.
When Shepard sees Samara break the Eclipse merc's neck without a second thought, she imagines herself doing the same action. It fits too well for comfort. Shepard appreciates Samara's honesty and views after a while though, and seeks her out for advice that Samara is happy to give. When Shepard tries to open up about how miserable she feels, Samara emphasizes that life is often unfair. It's not good to burden others with your own issues.
It'sā¦ not a healthy relationship to start off with. After a while, they do start to work some shit out. Eventually.
13: How would the pair do in an escape room? What kind of room would they choose and would they get out?
Together, with no one else to help them? They do absolutely horrible, especially if it's a timed room.
Shepard feels the clock ticking and tries to brute force her way through clues, but the room is such a sensory overload that she falls for every red herring, and gets increasingly frustrated when they don't go anywhere. At some point, some prop she absolutely refuses to believe isn't related is going to be broken to get the item she's completely sure is inside. When it comes out empty. she throws it and lets out a string of explicatives that will probably have the room operators consider calling it early.
Samara has the problem of going too slowly for the whole thing. She considers every option, going over the details, and checks every nook and cranny for possible solutions. This would normally be a good method, but again she's going too slowly. As Shepard gets increasingly frustrated, Samara finds herself managing Shepard more than actually looking for clues to the solution.
Something important will probably be broken by the end of it, and they'll both be banned from the location.
I'm imagining neither of them being interested in doing an escape room prior, but they received tickets from Traynor who loves escape rooms. Shepard grumbles about not accepting gifts from her again.
17: What do they do that makes their partner think, "Damn, that's hot."
I already answered this one here!
Butā¦ it's been a while, so I'll repost:
Shepard's background gives her a single-minded focus when it comes to slavers and raiders. She'll pursue an enemy to the edge of the galaxy if it means she can ensure they won't harm others again. Samara is almost always happy to assist. She'd never admit it, but she gets a little burst of pleasure watching Shepard gun down an outlaw or slam a biotic punch down onto their heads. The first time Samara watched Shepard blow a merc to pieces with a charge+nova combination, she experienced a discomforting attraction that she hadn't felt in centuries.
Samara (plot, not gameplay; she's a squishy wizard in gameplay) is an exceptional biotic and athletic fighter. Shepard's always had a thing for people who keep themselves in shape and can break a person in half over their knee (it's a shame Ashley is straight, or she'd have jumped on that immediately; fraternization rules be damned). So Shepard loves watching Samara take down an enemy, or biotically rip something apart. She has a Greek Olympian's eye, loving to see feats of skill and strength that would put anyone else to shame.
In down time, they'll spar with each other to work on their abilities. They're competitive with it, and by the time they're done, they're ready to pin each other to the cabin bed rather than the cargo hold deck.
