not_a_whiner: (kaidan: approaching)
[personal profile] not_a_whiner
Jack hummed vaguely to himself as he rummaged through the cabinets for some canned soup, then frowned. Where did he know the tune?

It came to him -- it was a worker's song from Russia, something Irina Stephanova's friends had been fond of. Jack had never thought much of their folksongs, but apparently his subconscious disagreed; this was not the first time in the last several days he'd found his mind drifting to that Moscow winter. He permitted himself to sing a snatch of the lyrics as he poured the soup into a pan.


Kaidan
"Hey," Kaidan said absently as he came down the stairs. He'd been feeling a little off - probably the past week still weighing down on him. Hadn't really made him feel sociable, but at least he was trying on the motions again.

Jack
"Hey back," Jack answered easily. He could tell Kaidan was a little off; he assumed something had happened during one of his missions, but hadn't wanted to pry. "I was heating up some soup, if you want anything."

Kaidan
Kaidan ran his fingers carefully over his hair, and then his hand settled, restlessly, on the back of his neck. "Yeah, sure," he said. "Should probably put in some more calories."

Jack
Jack nodded, gave the pan a stir before stepping away. "Did you get hurt?" he asked. "Or just -- generally not a great week?"

This was not prying. It was friendly concern.

Kaidan
"Just preoccupied, that's all," Kaidan said, releasing a sigh. "Cerberus was involved. The more I find out about them... the more restless I get."

Didn't help he'd been dreaming about Virmire, either.

Jack
"No more luck getting anyone to listen to you about them?" Jack inquired. "I'm sorry."

Kaidan
"Cerberus? Nah, they recognize that's a threat," Kaidan started. "It's..."

...Knocking.

Someone was knocking on the door. "Huh."

Jack
Jack eyed the door for a moment, went toward it. "Student desperate to talk to one of us?" he suggested, then turned the doorknob.

It seemed safe to open without looking, despite the unexpected nature of the visit. Not only were they both powered, but in Jack's experience evil rarely knocked.

The woman on the other side of the door wore heavy white armor, and her hair sat tied up in a neat, tight bun on top of her head.

She also had the butt of a rifle peeking cheerily out from behind her shoulder.

"Hey," she said, her voice full of bravado despite the slight hints of insecurity in her eyes, "Skinny blond kid, can the LT come out and play?"

This was the right house. She knew it.

Jack
If Jack didn't like being called "skinny blond kid" -- and he didn't -- it wasn't immediately clear from his expression. Mostly because it was nice to see proof Kaidan had friends. He smiled.

"He's in the kitchen," he said, stepping back to let her come in if she wanted. "I'm going to take a wild guess you know him from the Alliance."

"Yeah, uh, you could say that," she said, barging straight past Jack the moment he got out of her way.

"Hey, Alenko?"

If the situation hadn't been what it was, she might've yelled. She certainly wouldn't have sounded this tentative.

Kaidan
Had Kaidan been a less composed man, he might've dropped something, or at least choked loudly on thin air.

As it stood, he looked up and felt his blood drain all the way out of his face. "...Ashley?"

No, he had to-- he had to be dreaming again. Too many dreams. Maybe he was hallucinating. Maybe...

Jack
Jack glanced from one soldier to the other, not sure what was going on. He knew Kaidan had mentioned an Ashley, but he'd been almost certain he'd said she died.

"I don't understand," he admitted. "Is something wrong?"

...Ashley
"I'm dead," Ashley said, sounding... well, sounding like she wasn't sure how to make Kaidan feel... reassured? Something? Maybe she didn't even know how she felt. "I... died. I'm just here for a little bit. Thought I'd come play catch up with the LT."

Her laugh was more of a brief huff.

"Look, I know this is insane, okay?"

Kaidan
"Insane doesn't really cover it, Ash," Kaidan said. He pulled himself upright and tried to process this, but his brain kept getting stuck on some stick in between the gears. "Jesus."

He took a deep breath.

"Jack, meet Gunnery Chief Ashley Williams," he said slowly, "First human recipient of the Salarian Silver Dagger and the Turian Nova Cluster for bravery in the line of battle... posthumously."

Jack
"Uh-huh," Jack said slowly, and it was a testament to his acceptance of the insane that he was able to offer his hand for Ashley to shake with barely a flinch.

"I'm Jack Priest," he volunteered. "Housemate. Nothing nearly as impressive about me as your honors, I'm afraid."

Ashley
"I didn't even know I had any honors," Ashley said, shaking his hand firmly (maybe a little too firmly; she didn't exactly have a weak grip). "Guess that means I beat the old Williams curse, huh, LT?"

She was going to make it through this conversation come hell or high water.

Kaidan
"Yeah. Yeah, you did," Kaidan said. He was still hanging back, arms crossed, not sure whether to barge in and hug her, or... find a glass of water to throw in his own face. "The things you did on Virmire..."

He cleared his throat. "It's Lieutenant Commander now," he added belatedly. "Or professor... out here."

Ashley
This was as good a moment as any to release tension by cracking up laughing, right?

"Professor?" Ashley said. "You? Come on, I'm dead, don't mess with me."

Jack
"He's been doing it six months," Jack put in. "Apparently he's not bad at it, though I've never spied on him in the classroom..."

Teasing Kaidan a bit was the less depressing option, it seemed.

Ashley
"Oh, come on," Ashley said, snickering. "The skipper must be laughing himself sick. Who'd you piss off to get put on babysitting duty?"

Kaidan
Congratulations, Ash - you'd sent all the blood flowing right back down out of Kaidan's face. "It's a long story," he said. Not weakly. Just like he had a frog shoved down his throat. "Look, why don't we sit down and you can tell me how you turned up here."

Jack
"I'm curious about that too," Jack said. Not least because he realized that if one dead person was walking around, it was likely others were as well. "Mind if I sit with you?"

Kaidan
"No, go ahead," Kaidan said, already halfway seated. "I mean - this has got to be some kind of miracle, or... something the island's done." A pause. "Not that I'm not really glad to see you. Honestly, I am."

Ashley
"I know, it's just all kinds of crazy," Ashley said, sliding into a seat by herself. "I don't know what to tell you, though. I just... I was dead, and then I felt something calling me. And when I realized it was you... well, if God's going to give me this shot, I'm going to take it, you know?"

Jack
"No other choice," Jack agreed, head bobbing. "So -- you said you're only here for a while?"

How long was a while, he wondered. If you had eternity, it might be years.

Ashley
"Just a day or two," Ashley said, sounding vaguely apologetic. "Just enough time to check in on Alenko, and Shepard, and my sisters..."

Kaidan
Funny. There was that frog back in his throat. "You haven't... seen Shepard around, Ash?"

Jack
Awkward. Jack cleared his throat, found himself very interested in the backs of his hands. He wasn't going to be the one to break this bit of news.

Ashley
"No," Ashley said, frowning. "Wait. What's that supposed to mean--?"

Kaidan
"Shepard's dead," Kaidan said. Funny. First time he'd said that out loud. Hurt less because Ashley was there. Hurt more because of it, too.

He glanced towards Jack. "Sorry about this," he added.

Jack
Jack shook his head. "Nothing to be sorry about," he said. "It just wasn't my place to explain what you meant. Anyhow, I'm not the one with -- no offense, Ashley -- a dead friend dropped by to chat."

In spite of the fact he knew the way the island worked, he was not adding a yet. But he thought it.

He ran a hand through his hair and, to Ashley, added, "He's told me about Shepard. It sounds as though he was quite something."

Ashley
"Shit," Ashley said. "Shit."

She'd leave the pretty words up to people like Jack, thanks. Shit. That about covered the load. "He can't be dead, it's Shepard, he's..." She swallowed. "Yeah, he's something. If he was dead, I'd know it, all right? He's not."

Kaidan
Kaidan rubbed at his face. "They blew the Normandy to hell and back and I let him run straight into it," he said. "The only way he's still upright and walking is if the island pulled the same stunt on me twice."

Not that he sounded too firm on that; he'd heard Jack's unspoken yet loud and clear.

Jack
"It might be in a repeating mood today. It did give me four imaginary children last spring," Jack reminded him. Because that was helpful.

He sighed. "But -- probably it's not being kind enough to have sent Shepard along."

Kaidan
"Probably not," Kaidan agreed. "Ash, if we got two days... we'll talk, okay? But not here."

He got up. "Jack and I were going to make some soup," he said. "You want some?"

Ashley
"Yeah, sure," Ash said, sending him a look that read quite clearly that this wasn't over yet, she just didn't want to ruin the thin blonde kid's dinner. "Later. I'm starving, anyway."

She turned her attention away from Kaidan for a minute. "So Jack, huh?"

Jack
"That's me," Jack agreed, with a somewhat wary smile. "I'll clear out of your way once I've eaten."

Ashley
"There's no rush," Ashley said, settling back for this one.

If she had to wait to have it out with Alenko, she might as well grill his, uh... "So how do you know the LC? Just the whole professor thing?"

Jack
"Actually no," Jack said thoughtfully. "We used to have a housemate named Ronan, and he invited Kaidan to move in back in the summer. I think we both like the company, so --" He shrugged. "Anyhow, I didn't start teaching until first of the year."

He could guess what Ashley was getting at, but he wasn't going to squash her active imagination too quickly.

"Oh, and there's another of us. Josh. He'll be around eventually."

Ashley
"What do you teach, anyway?" Ashley didn't really have the patience to dig for gossip, so she'd ditch that line of questioning. "This doesn't look like a military academy."

Jack
Jack snorted. "He teaches shop," he said, popping the p a bit for emphasis. "I teach supernatural studies. Not much military about anything here, I'm afraid."

Ashley
"Supernatural studies?" ... Huh. "What, like folklore or something?"

Jack
Jack tilted his head to the side delicately, weighing how much detail his answer should include. He remembered he was talking to someone temporarily back from the dead and decided not to worry too much about breaking her brain.

"Some of it is folklore," he agreed. "But there are plenty of people here from worlds where magic works, so for us it's just -- a factual discussion."

Ashley
"Huh," Ashley said. (Apparently the 'huh'ing was just a general Alliance marine trait.) "That... should really sound weirder to me than it does, huh. Or... maybe not."

She snorted at herself. "Nah, I should be making fun of Alenko for teaching high school kids how to fix cars," she said.

Kaidan
Kaidan sighed. He was still busy heating up the soup, but he had to throw in a, "It's primarily a diplomatic function. Outreach."

Jack
"It is," Jack said loyally. "But you have to admit the outreach piece where you teach people to weld things is at least a little amusing."

Ashley
"Hey, he is real good at welding things," Ashley said with a snicker. "Probably a good thing those skills are being passed on to the next generation. Commander."

Kaidan
"Not everyone's talent lies in drilling people between the eyes at a hundred meters, Chief," Kaidan said, rolling his eyes.

Ashley
"Ah ha," Ashley said, grinning. "Finally, he admits it."

Jack
"Gunnery chief," Jack reminded himself. "Right. I wasn't a bad shot when I was in practice, but I've lost some of it."

Witness: The still-breathing Alpha.

"But I'm still better at that than welding."

Ashley
"Well, the LC's a Sentinel," Ashley said, looking amused. "Mass effect fields or technology, welding's just what they do."

Kaidan
"You keep saying things like that, Jack, and she's going to drag you to the shooting range," Kaidan said wryly. "Be careful."

Jack
"I wouldn't complain," Jack shrugged. "Before Monday, I hadn't had a reason to fire at anything in a year. I should practice before I forgot which end does what."

He waved the idea off for a later time. "Anyhow, what's being a sentinel to do with welding?"

Kaidan
"Alliance soldiers are loosely classified according to ability and training," Kaidan said. He grabbed a wooden spoon to stir the soup with - it was starting to get real hot. "Sentinel's what we call a biotics and tech expert."

Ashley
"Hey, if your range is on the island, I can help you out," Ash added. She'd by now draped herself over the chair she was sitting on. Nice and comfy. "But right. Later."


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Kaidan Alenko

September 2016

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