#spaceguard

There she is. Oriana. She still has the same eyes as she did nineteen years ago when Miranda held her in her arms, a frail, small infant back then. Looking into the young woman’s face is almost like staring into a mirror; they’re identical. Genetically. But Oriana looks different, regardless, with an expression in those otherwise identical eyes of someone who hasn’t seen the kind of things that Miranda has. Fortunately.

Miranda made sure of that, those nineteen years ago, by saving her sister from her father. It’s a decision she will never come to second guess.

Miranda instinctively smiles as she looks at her sister. And just, like Oriana did as a baby, she returns that smile in an instant. Her adoptive parents are with her, loving parents that Miranda carefully chose because Oriana only deserved the best. She’s done it. She’s given Oriana everything that she could never have. A normal family, a normal life, friends.

Then, she turns to leave. The movement feels as if one of two magnets attracted to each other were pushed back with such force to prevent them from touching. It took every bit of strength she had in her to leave Oriana. Memories of the moment when she, a sixteen-year-old girl, had to leave Oriana behind, come to the surface. It had been the most heart-wrenching decision of her life.

“It’s for the best”, Miranda asserted. “Oriana has a normal life. I’ll just complicate that for her. The less she knows about me, the better.”

She cannot hide that insecurity in her voice. Miranda wants to sound pragmatic, but she can’t. The desire to get to know the sister she had been watching over from a distance for nineteen years is palpable in her voice. Shouldn’t she? Miranda couldn’t imagine the happiness from even just one conversation with Oriana, but how selfish would it be? Once she became part of Oriana’s life, there was no return.

But, if she stayed, she would hurt Oriana sooner or later, wouldn’t she? She wasn’t like her sister. Miranda had a reputation for being ruthless and cold and in a way, it was true. As much as she loathed Henry, Miranda saw parts of him inside her. And she couldn’t let Henry near Oriana. That extended to the parts within her.

Yet, for some reason, her squadmate manages to convince her to talk to Oriana. With a few mere words. Normally, it takes a chain of well-funded arguments to convince Miranda of something, and even that could prove futile. But when Kaidan argues that Oriana should know she has a sister out there who loves her, Miranda merely nods. “You’re right”, she speaks, softly, her voice not resembling her usual tone one shred. It’s strangely tender.

It’s only when she returns, she notices that her cheeks are wet with tears. Had Kaidan noticed? Hopefully not. She wasn’t comfortable crying around people. It’s the reason why she has avoided looking into Kaidan’s face since laying eyes on Oriana.

“We’re done here”, Miranda declares, back in her usual professional, authoritative tone. As if she didn’t just go through one of the most meaningful experiences of her life. “Oriana is safe. My father won’t be able to track her down anymore.” She assured, with her back still turned towards her squadmate. With a subtle movement, she wipes away the tears from her face with the sleeve of her catsuit. Then she takes a deep breath and turns to Kaidan.

She’s about to tell him they should head back to the ship, but then Kaidan speaks up.

“Letting someone see you that vulnerable, it’s a scary thing.”

Damnit. She wants to huff, or roll her eyes, but she can’t. The lieutenant and his tendency to say such profound things in the rare moment where it has the capability to affect Miranda.

In any other circumstances, she would’ve shot back with a witty remark. Something along the lines of her not being vulnerable. But in those very circumstances right now Miranda isn’t able to come up with anything like that.

@spaceguard

Beaten, battered, worn, covered in far too many different colors of blood; the moments after a mission were never pretty, and it was even worse when civilians were involved. A human colony on Therum had been taken over by a small time merc group hoping to seize the mining community and take over their operations in order to boost their standing among other mercenary groups.

The alliance had called Shepard to quell the threat and retake the colony, much to no ones surprise. The group was unexpectedly cunning, the fight lasting for what felt like hours in a deep underground structure were their leader had bunkered up.

Garrus did what he does best, popping heads until he ended up running out of thermal clips. He eventually had to resort to his omni blade, something he hadn't needed to do in quite some time. As a result he was painted green, red, purple, and of course blue. Most of it was his, if he was being honest, from a dirty hit to the head from a salarian of all things. If it hadn't been for Shepard's quick shot, Garrus was sure he would have gotten much worse.

Speaking of his Commander, he wondered just how long the Normandy was going to be sitting in orbit, Shepard having decided to stay behind to see over the recovery of the mine just in case the mercs had left any surprises behind. They had told him and Kaidan to report back to the ship in the meantime, "ordered' them to get some sleep after having to run around the colony rounding up mercs all day. Garrus protested, but was shot that look the Commander had, so he left with the Major in the transport cruiser with a touch less griping than usual when told to leave. He didn't like leaving Shepard alone anywhere, but their vitals were tagged in his visor should anything happen. That would have to be good enough.

Not actually planning on getting any sleep once back on the ship, Garrus let his mind wander to the list of things that needed to be done around the main battery. His guns parts could use some organizing, a few emails needed his attention, he needed to restock his thermal clips...

Being so thoroughly distracted by his own thoughts, Garrus hadn't even noticed the Major falling asleep beside him until the biotic's head had gently thunked against his shoulder. He dared not move, eyes shifting to look down at Kaidan in a quick survey of his wellbeing. He didn't seem injured, and Garrus hadn't seen him take any nasty hits in the fight, so was he just that tired?

@spaceguard sent  " at least i've got you here to take care of me, right ? "

hand steadier than expected work diligently. a careful application of medigel to stem the bleeding before applying pressure - it’ll be sufficient in the interim before they reach a proper medical station.  she notes the sickly stickiness of blood, a familiar sensation that coats on her fingers. building a human back together is far different than keeping one from falling apart. the alliance biotic is far from crumbling, however - perhaps something she should share as her palms press down, allowing the medigel a little more time to work in knitting back at least a small layer of tissue.  

“ not many would consider that a blessing, major alenko. ”  formalities, miranda recalls them even now. the muscle beneath her hand buck and twitch ever slightly, his heartbeat readily notable. “  clean shot, though.  doesn’t appear that anything significant was struck.  ”  well, besides the upper expanse of his knee.  

but she sighs for a brief moment, adjusting her place next to him. they’re lucky the encounter with the opposition had been brief and shepard already informed of their position. hearing the major injured, miranda recalled the soft panic laden in their voice  - it urged a similar dutiful protectiveness in her, at least to make sure that this man whom shepard cared for ( or seemed to, their reconciliation after the coup had not been something she delved too far into  ) didn’t bleed out on a grit crusted cerberus outpost floor.  

prompt. | @spaceguard

@spaceguard​ said: “they’re gonna catch us—” ( for miri )

Maybe Kaidan was right, and maybe it wasn’t the right place or time. But was it really possible to find the right place and time, when they were trapped in a war against the Reapers, without even knowing if they would make it ? She hoped they would, of course. She believed in Shepard and in every of her allies. But it was dangerous, even more than the suicide mission against the Collectors.

So at Kaidan’s words, she couldn’t help but chuckle before she kept her arms around his neck and kissed his lips. “No, they won’t.” She wasn’t entirely convinced herself, but she didn’t care much. “I mean, maybe they will have an idea of what’s happening, but I personally don’t care.” She pressed her lips against his one more time. “But if you want to keep this for later, if later ever comes, just tell me.”