footsteps footsteps behind me

[goingsilent]

CHARACTERS: John Shepard & Kasumi Goto
LOCATION: Room 006 >> 124
WARNINGS: None.
SUMMARY: Kasumi decides to drop in on her old temp CO, just to say hi.

Two Shephards. Kasumi had been about to say hello, honestly. Or maybe hello and "better late than never" and "what sort of lunatic, life-threatening adventure have you dragged me on this time, Shep," but at least hello. Only then there was two of them, and Kasumi, as Kasumi so often did, had decided to take a step back and watch from the shadows to see how things played out first.

Even now, she isn't sure what to think, but there's a limit to what distance reconnaissance can achieve in her opinion. (Something Ariadne and Arthur could stand to learn, also in her opinion.) So she goes hunting for her unknown variable. It's not difficult to dig his passenger number out of his unencrypted posts and then even less difficult to find his room, given all the crawling around the halls she's done over the past few months.

Why she waits and watches, cloaked just down the hall, for a moment to slip in as he leaves is a question much harder to answer. Possibly the only real answer is just that she can. And once it's done, she settles herself, cross-legged, on the end of his bed and waits for him to come back.

Comments

[vanguard_charge]

The last three years of his life have proven to Shepard that whenever he thinks he's seen something truly bizarre, the universe always has something stranger to offer just around the corner. Sentient starships bent on the destruction of all organic life in the galaxy are a hard act to follow, but being plucked right from his ship and meeting his alternate reality double still takes some time to process. He's glad to have a space of his own to escape to to think about it, even if it it's not quite as well-stocked as his personal cabin on the Normandy. It's easy enough to slip out for a few minutes and pick up what he needs.

Something's out of place when he returns, however. Shepard blinks. He looks at the bed, then back at the door, and once more at the bed.

Things that were not on his bed when he left: the galaxy's number one thief. She's certainly there now, though, and looking very much like a smug cat that knows she's not supposed to get up on the furniture - but one that's too well-liked to be shooed off.

"I couldn't have been gone more than ten minutes," he says, though from his tone it's clear that he means how did you do that.

[goingsilent]

It's worth it. It's so worth it for that split-second, double-take reaction in the moment before Shepard's face settles back into its default "seen it all, done it all" soldier routine. Kasumi hadn't quite been able to keep her smile under control from the moment she heard footsteps outside the door but now, she doesn't even bother trying and lets herself grin instead.

She props her hands on the bed behind her and tilts her head. She considers answering that unasked question, but the math works out in favour of not for the moment. A girl has to keep a few mysteries, and Shepard, by virtue of their time working together, already knew a few too many of hers.

"Hey, Shep," she says. "Fancy meeting you here."

[vanguard_charge]

"Likewise, Kasumi," he says, and he doesn't bother hiding an answering smile as he moves to join her at the edge of the bed.

He strongly suspects her sudden appearance has something to do with him failing to lock the door on his way out and her ability to render herself invisible, but he won't press. As long as she's still working on his side he's not going to begrudge her a bit of fun in her off hours. Provided that she also keeps her hands off of his model ship collection once he's able to rebuild it, of course.

"Should I be checking underneath the bed for drell assassins?"

There's a touch of hope in the question - not because he's keen on the idea of lizard men stalking him at night, of course, but every familiar face he bumps into reassures him. Shepard is more concerned for his team's safety than his own.

[goingsilent]

One corner of her mouth ticks up a little further, and it changes her smile instantly from something mischevious to something nostalgic. Thane. She hasn't thought of him in months. It had been a long time, actually, since she'd thought about anyone from back home, save Joker (who was here) and Keiji (who was as much here as anywhere).

But now isn't the time for indulging in those kinds of thoughts, so she shakes her head, both to say no and to clear the cobwebs of old friends away.

"I wouldn't want to underestimate a drell assassin's choice of hiding place," she says, "but I haven't seen any around." She lifts her shoulders in a short shrug. "And I've had plenty of time to look."

[vanguard_charge]

"That's too bad. I guess there's only so much room in the shadows," he says. It's unfortunate; one more person here would have meant one less person whose current location he had to worry about. Then again, until he's figured out exactly how safe this ship is, he probably shouldn't wish it on the rest of his crew.

He takes a seat next to Kasumi, setting down the food he'd picked up beside him.

"Just the five of us, then - sorry, six," he quickly corrects, shaking his head. "I still haven't gotten used to the idea of another me walking around. Have you met her yet?"

[goingsilent]

The other Shepard. Or maybe this one is the other, and that one is just Shepard; who gets to make that call? Either way, it's one of those moments in life when Kasumi is particularly glad she has her hood shadowing her eyes. It makes it easier to duck her head and hide the momentary ripple of expression that passes over her face: a pensive second of doubt. Two Shepards, in Kasumi's ledger, doubles the chances that Ariadne and Arthur aren't totally out of their mind with the suggestion that this is all a dream and that some of them, Kasumi included, might not be quite real.

She doesn't say it out loud, though. Let Shepard deal with what's in front of him now, she figures, and bother him with that idea later. (Maybe. He's a soldier not a philosopher, after all.)

"Not yet," she says, smile still firmly in place. "At first, I was wondering if someone had tweaked one of those VIs of you as a practical joke."