[IC] Contact (maskormenace)

[youbastard]

Hello, you've reached the voice mail of Ellie Langford. If you leave a message with your name and number I'll try to get back to you as soon as I get the message.

Comments

[kanadian]

And that's dangerous. A messy breakup could be a disaster. I never bothered before... [ Well ] Well, before Shepard, but I don't think that counts here.

[youbastard]

[ And now she's just going to smirk a tiny tiny bit. ] So you and Shepard....? [ Are a thing? This is not unexpected. ]

[kanadian]

Uh --

[ Her face says that she was expecting it, but... was everyone expecting it? ]

Yeah, I guess...you could say that we are. [ A pause. ] I mean, we are it's just... still new. We're figuring things out.

[youbastard]

[ Her smirk turned into more of a smile than anything. ] I'm glad you're finally telling me and that you two finally spoke about it. [ Finally. ] I get the new thing, Isaac and I were...are? Sometimes still are like that. It can be complicated.

[kanadian]

I wasn't trying to -- not tell you, I just...don't know how this stuff really works. [ Honestly, he's just surprised he hasn't taken an ad out in the paper, but he's also surprised he's not just saying nothing.

There's supposed to be a balance, right? ] It sounds like you guys definitely have the complicated part down. At least it...keeps things interesting.

[youbastard]

It works however you want it to. Generally you tell your friends though. [ Is that a guilt trip? Maybe just a tiny one. Tiny tiny one. ] That way they can be happy for you. [ Yeah it's a minor guilt trip sorry.

She laughs a little. ] Complicated does keep things interesting which is better than having a boring relationship. I never last long in those.

[kanadian]

It's still...pretty recent. But I guess I just...feel kind of...like an idiot about it still. I probably will for a while.

Anyway, I think...boring's kind of overdone, anyway. Who wants that? We've got such interesting lives it would probably...just annoy us. After a while.

[youbastard]

How recent is recent? Did you bring it up or did he? [ And suddenly Ellie proves that at one time she probably did gossiping. ] You always feel like an idiot in some ways I think.

[ And a smile. ] Boring can be this place sometimes, it's a weird adjustment for people with lives like ours. At least we can count on interesting relationships.

[kanadian]

Uhh, about a week ago? And it was kind of -- [ There's that look again. That half-constipated look, and now it's coming together that it isn't a look of misery, but instead a flush. ]

We just... I mean, I kind of told him some things, but -- he just asked why I was so upset about trying to kill him -- [ There it was. There was the smile. ] I don't think he expected me to admit that I was mad because of... how I felt about him.

[youbastard]

That is not long ago. [ She watched his expression and tried to not look like she was smiling at that really weird look and flush. ]

I can see why he wouldn't expect you to admit it. You seemed pretty...you didn't seem to want to.

[kanadian]

I did but -- It's complicated. Back home I'd even written him an e-mail --

[ There's that constipated look, in full force this time. ] But then we showed up here, and he didn't know that we'd worked through some things and I figured...maybe it was better if I waited. He was from so far back that it felt unfair to just...keep throwing things at him.

[youbastard]

[ Someday someone would need to point out how bad that expression looked. Someday. Today is not that day. She rubbed the back of her neck. ] I get it. I do, time problems make it really...hard. Especially if you can't figure out how much to tell someone. I'm glad you're working on working it out though.

[kanadian]

Yeah. [ The face melted away to a grin. An actual grin. ]

Me too. I really am. I think...I was taking just a bit too much time. I should've done this a long time ago.

[youbastard]

[ Aw now he's just cute. ] Maybe, but you've done it now and so there's no point in thinking about when you should have. Now you just start moving forward together.

[kanadian]

Yeah, you're right.

I think that's what we all have to do, isn't it?

[youbastard]

Yeah, it is. [ She grins. ] Maybe we could go on a double date sometime.

[kanadian]

[ He laughed. ] I guess... yeah, we could do that, couldn't we?

[ The thought had obviously never occurred to him. ]

[youbastard]

If we wanted to. [ She was mostly just kidding although it could be fun. ] We could do anything. That's the great thing about this place we can do whatever.

[kanadian]

Yeah -- [ A pause, and then a grin. ] Yeah, we really can't.

Huh, it's something, when you think about it.

[youbastard]

Something good and something almost a bit overwhelming at the same time. [ What do you do when you can do anything? Sometimes she wondered when she'd wake up ]

It's nice to have people to share it with though. Even if I hadn't intended on it. I'd almost hoped I could keep Isaac and ...well, everyone at arms length.

[kanadian]

You think he's that bad? Or was it just...your world?

[ She seemed so prepared for Isaac to fall apart, it seemed likely that there was something happening there. That Isaac had been worse back home, practically like someone indoctrinated, or something even worse, maybe? ]

But you know, I think Shepard likes him just about as much as I do, so... anytime, I'm sure we'd like getting out and on the town.

[youbastard]

No, it wasn't anything to do with Isaac. I lost a lot of people, Kaidan. People that were my responsibility and people that I loved. It seemed like it might be easier to just keep my distance from people after that.

[ She gave a sad little smile. ] So no I don't think he's that bad. It's me, not so much him. I think...I worry about what could happen to Isaac but he's okay here. Better than home for the most part. Other than that one instance. As long as nothing like that happens or nothing reminds him of the Markers or he doesn't see any of the Marker language. [ If anything like what happened before happens or anything to do with Markers he'll be fine. She hopes. She really hopes. ]

We should do it then. He needs some fun. We all do.

[kanadian]

I guess...yeah.

Let's plan something.

I think we all need it. We've lost so many people, I guess sometimes I forget that you've made sacrifices too. That we all have.

It would be good, to move away from that.

[youbastard]

It's easy to forget, I think I'm vague sometimes with how I answer things or how I explain things. Maybe I shouldn't be. Maybe none of us should be. [ But they all sort of were. ]

It would be nice, you're right. I'd like planning something.

[kanadian]

No offense, but I don't think Isaac would be... into doing it, and Shepard would probably...forget. [ He likes him a lot, but, it's Shepard. ]

We'll get together for it.

And I think... you have every right to be tight with the way you say things. I mean, look at the kind of things we came from? I don't think anyone can blame us.