[OPEN] hey, you, look around, can you hear that noise it's a rebel sound

[normandysbest]

Who: Commander Shepard and YOU! (+semi-closed prompt for CR)
Where: All over the Citadel
When: During the Citadel Event! (April 1st-4th)
Rating: PG-13 for guns and swears, mostly
Summary: Shepard's home, and she knows it's temporary, but she's gonna live it up while she's got it.
The Story:

i. [closed to CR; personal apartment] alive, alive, alive is all I wanna feel

[She wakes up in her bed in the apartment Anderson gave her, and for a moment, she thinks it was all a dream.

She jerks up, looks around, and everything's where it should be. But she can remember. Shepard pulls up her omni-tool in a flash, pushes around the extranet, and... there's Wonderland's network.

It's an event. Her event.

She takes about an hour doing all the recon she can. What year it is, who knows what, where she should be in universe, and she balks when she finally finds it. 2186. The Reapers haven't landed. This apartment shouldn't even be hers, but the recordings from Anderson are around as if the war had already started (and she can't contact him, of course, can't contact anyone except the people in Wonderland, so she knows she's stuck here). So she pulls herself up. Checks around the entire place. And ends up with a cup of coffee, on her couch, watching the cars fly by.

Eventually, she walks into the study, and pulls up the call list, pinging as many friends as she can with the address and a simple message.]

Hey, it's Shepard.
If you've got some time, come up and see my place around here.
Let me know if you're coming.

[And she sits back down on the couch, messes around with her omni-tool while she waits for responses, and tries to hold the feeling of home as much as she can, with the time she has.]

ii. [open; docking bays] oh life can hurt when it gets too real, I can hold you up when it's hard to feel

[The next place she has to check is her ship.

Of course, she can't get through the airlocked door to go get it, and it makes no sense timeline-wise that it should even be docked here, but leave it to her to imagine a version of the Citadel without the war. She remembers standing here, thinking about going back to the war. She was standing in this very spot a year and a few hours ago, when Wonderland took her for the first time.

And now she's back. Almost like she never left.

She remembers that Cortez used to talk about how he loved stargazing here, and she tilts her head a bit to look out at the cosmos. She never thought she'd see this again. And yes, she knows it's fake, but... it's beautiful. The stars always are.

Regardless, if you're looking to stargaze, you've probably found her. And for once, she'll just be happy to talk.]

iii. [open; armax arsenal arena] you better find your voice, better make it loud, we've gotta burn that fire or we'll just burn out

[She sets her high score incredibly early, but that doesn't change the fact that Shepard intends to spend a lot of time in here. So she's suited up, toggling in settings downstairs before heading into the arena. Maybe you're here to play too and wanna tag team. Maybe you've been drawn in by the announcer proudly yelling Commander Shepard, the Hero of the Citadel, the first human Spectre, about to take on the Armax Arsenal Arena! from the speakers outside and you wanna watch some simulated carnage. Or maybe you've just been looking to beat her bet. Regardless, come one, come all, come tear apart some pixelated baddies.]

iv. [open; out and about] and it gets lonely when you live out loud, when the truth that you seek isn't in this crowd

[Shepard intends on going as many places as possible while she's back, so she tries to go everywhere she can think of. Spends a bit of time in middle looking at the huge lake, going shopping at the kiosks, and even (for some reason) sitting in the lobby of the Huerta Memorial Hospital. If you want to find her just around the Citadel, hit her up! She'll be happy to show anyone the sights or recommend a cool place to go.]

v. [open; wildcard] we'll take what's ours for once, and baby, run like hell

[Want a different prompt or starter? Hit me up through DMs or on plurk at cancerously and I'll set up a new thread for you!]

Comments

( armax )

[chantes]

( Leliana had been curious for two reasons -- she hadn't known what the Armax Arsenal Arena was, though she could certainly take a guess at what it involved, and Shepard had invited her... in away.

Leliana had taken a look around some other parts of the Citadel first, shopping with Robyn earlier in the day, before she'd heard the announcement. It was one way to get her there, especially if Shepard had been there all day.

She's watching silently when she first arrives, the weapons that Shepard uses are incredibly unfamiliar and the enemies themselves... space was a strange place )

Is your score increasing each time?

( She didn't know how a thing like this would even be scored. Wasn't there just a winner and a loser? )

[normandysbest]

[Shepard has her helmet off, wiping some sweat from her brow as she sucks down some water between matches. God, it feels good to be out and about like this again, just going all out and letting off steam. She perks her head up as Leliana speaks, giving a small smile at her approach.]

Not really. Each round counts as it's own score, and you get extra points depending on speed, finesse, and health. So it's not just what you do, it's how you do it.

[chantes]

I see. ( Sort of. In a way. She understood training, and repeating movements to perfect them and challenge your opponent -- to find a new way to beat them ) And how does it mark you?

[normandysbest]

The arena records data and translates that into numbers. So how quickly you take down enemies, how hard they were, and how well you hit. Single-kill zones like the head and heart are worth more points.

It's like sparring, except you can go all-out because the enemies are computer generated. Nobody actually gets hurt.

[Unless you mess up and like, fall off the map, but that's your bad.]

[chantes]

It sounds a useful training exercise.

( Cullen would no doubt have loved one to train up the Inquisition's troops with, and her own archers would benefit from some moving targets )

I may come see you work.

[normandysbest]

It'd be an honor. You're free to try yourself, as well. Or they let more than one person in at a time, if you wanted someone to show you the ropes.

[She'd be more than happy to let Leliana in on the fun.]

[chantes]

( There's a nod, Leliana's gaze looking out to the room again )

Then please, show me what I must do.

[normandysbest]

C'mon. I'll show you.

[She leads Leliana around the side of the ring, back through the lobby and down the stairs to the settings screen, pressing the keypad a few times and projecting the holographic screen in front of them. Shepard reaches out towards the screen, using her hand to scroll the different columns.]

So you can customize what the arena looks like, what enemies you want to fight, how difficult those enemies should be, and then if you want to add modifications, like no extra ammunition, your weapons doing less damage... things that make it more of a challenge. Then you can pick if you wanna go in alone, with your friends, or with provided AIs to back you up.

[chantes]

I think I may take a friend for this one.

( Or a companion, at the least. Though Leliana's gaze follows Shepard's movements, reading through the different menus seeing it -- being able to customise something like this is entirely new. There were far more options than she'd ever considered )

I'll take your judgement on setting it.

[normandysbest]

[She smiles in Leliana's direction, dictating the settings out loud as she selects them.]

Let's go with Reapers, since they're the native flavor of baddie, and elites, because you know what you're doing but it is your first round. Past that... let's give 'em a few extra shields so they stand a chance, and we'll knock the ammo refill packs. As long as you're accurate, you won't need em. We'll take the standard zone layout to start.

[She programs it in, scans her omni-tool at the keypad to code it to her experience, and waits for it to let out a small chime. At the tone, the screen turns into a progression of arrows, pointing to their right. Shepard waves Leliana along with her as they walk towards the door.]

The waiting room and armory's over there. You can either use their stuff, or they have mods to make your weapons shoot their ammo. What would you prefer?

[chantes]

Theirs may be more suited for this exercise.

( Given what Leliana had seen Shepard using she isn't certain, despite her skill, whether a bow would match up. Though, as well as showing her how this works, Shepard may also need to give her a gun demonstration )

I suppose I'll find out what these Reapers are soon. What should I know about them?

[normandysbest]

[Shepard leads Leliana into the waiting room; on the right, a circular elevator leads up into the arena, with a few people already suited up and waiting on the benches nearby. A screen displays who's up next, and another the current competitors. On the left shows a large wall of weaponry, controlled by a touchpad. Shepard strides over to it, beginning to scroll through as she speaks.]

They die like most things; headshots are best, but enough damage will take anything out. We should be dealing with mostly foot soldiers- Cannibals are big and lumpy, so named because they'll eat their fallen companions. If you take one down in a cluster they'll redirect to leave no trace, so sometimes you can pick them off from afar, but if they succeed in eating, they'll be stronger. We're also probably gonna be dealing with husks, which look humanoid. Move like you'd expect zombies to. Fast, weak, but always come in packs.

[She's got them up on a slightly higher setting, so there's gonna be more, too.]

We'll also probably see Marauders, which move more like trained foot soldiers, but they'll buff alies. They look like Turians- tall, lean, spikes on the crown. Take them out first. Ravagers, short and insect-like, huge sacks. Never close-combat them, they explode into acid, but have crazy good canons. And then since we're on a slightly higher levels, we might see Brutes- big fuckers, strong. Their biggest weak points are their head and fleshy asscheeks. I'm serious. But they'll charge you and they will win. Last is banshees. They've got biotic power- magic, basically. They'll send long-range attacks and teleport towards you quickly, and if they catch you, you die. No getting out of that one.

[This sounds... really stressful, hm.]

... I mean, uh, this is what happens on the field. These are all fake, so there's no real stakes. If one catches you, the game just shuts off.

You mentioned you liked archery, right? They've got bows and arrows here, if you'd prefer.