"Well," Tali laughed, "We did do all of the hard work! Well... us. And Liara... And Kasumi helped, too. And Dr. Chakwas.. and there was Jack... But Shepard was there."  She paused then sighed. "I miss her," she said simply. 

Garrus is here. | ’Open’

“HAHA! That’ll give those politicians something to think about.” Garrus sat down on the table and lifted up his arms to the sky, as if setting the scene.

“I can just imagine the Citadel Tour, ‘And on your left, you’ll see a monument of… the… great Commander Shepard monument… as a representation of herself… on fire.’ Then they go on and on about her story, no one believing her about the Reapers, yada yada yada. The dashing turian and beautiful quarian, helping to secure her mission against impossible odds!” Garrus paused then sighed, “And under that monument would be our special quote. ‘Just like old times…’, Now that would be a monument worth having!” The turian announces with pride.

"Oh, I remember plenty from the Normandy," Tali laughed softly. "...Sometimes, I thought he'd headbutt you just because you were there." She paused, for dramatic effect. "Not much has changed, really." While speaking, she flicked a few of the petitions around the desk, for something to do with her hands, glancing at the petitions. "Every block wants their monument," she said softly. "Of Shepard doing something heroic. I'd like to see just one of her playing poker... Or one of the times she ran around screaming 'I'm on fire, guys, help, I'm on fire!'"

Garrus is here. | ’Open’

“True, true. You should have seen us when we first met up on the Citadel with Shepard. The looks he gave me…” Garrus shivers sarcastically, then laughs. “Ahh, Admiral Raan you say? Remind me to give her a big ‘thank you’ hug.” Garrus chuckled as he examined the files on the table, many petitions from all over the galaxy were made. Especially to honor Shepard.

Colour Challenge | Tali in green requested by causeimaprince

"Even you and Wrex would grind on each other's nerves," she laughed, "And try to throw each other out of the airlock. It would be very tragic. I think Eve would miss the both of you." At the turn of conversation she gave an awkward, unable to handle the compliment shrug. "Admiral Raan has been indispensable," she teased. 

Garrus is here. | ’Open’

“Oh ho ho! I don’t think we’d have to much trouble… nah. Just kidding, we would probably all be flying out in space because the Krogan got sick of us or something like that. I’m pretty sure I’d be safe though, long as I was with Wrex that is.” He laughs as they approach the base. Busy work was happening everywhere, humans, salarians, turians, quarians, a couple of geth, krogan, and now the Reapers themselves. They were all working together. Helping rebuild all that was lost. “This truly amazes me, Tali. I’m sure a very special Admiral helped organize all this. Am I right?” He chuckles softly as he leans over a desk, covered with plans to help Earth.

Tali made a vague sound and her body language closed. "I'm not... injured. During the worst of it on Earth, we were flying through the galaxy..." Fighting, yes, but even the unbelievable terror of the suicide mission hadn't  shaken her like this. Her nightmares had the distinctive sound of the Reapers but also the mountains of the dead and injured without being able to do anything. "I... don't think I'm ready to talk about them, yet," she admitted. "I just needed to know it was normal."

A Project | Chakwas

Karin nodded solemnly. “Yes, I fear they are. I have quite a lot patients coming in suffering from nightmares and sleep deprivation. I had some serious nightmares myself. Liara helped me, because nothing else worked but usually just talking about them will help you and ease the terror at least somewhat.”

She regarded the young Quarian critically. She couldn’t see her complexion, or if there were bags under her eyes, she had to rely on Tali’s voice and her behavior alone.

“How bad are your nightmares? How much do you sleep a night? Do you want to talk about them?”

Tali sighed. "...Nightmares are normal after things like this, aren't they?" She finally asked, a little nervous. Though, she had to admit that the being afraid to sleep thing was probably not normal. Working until she crashed, maxing out the stims twice as fast as she was supposed to, she alternated between crashing and buzzing.

A Project | Chakwas

Karin noticed the somewhat solemn tone in Tali’s voice, the face plate preventing her from reading her facial expressions. She over the years spent on the same ship with Tali she had become at least party familiar with the young Quarian’s tone of voice and had become better at reading her mood without relying on her mimic.

“Are you all right Tali?” she asked a little concerned, leaning onto her desk and more toward the young woman. “You are always welcome here, for whatever reason. If you need to talk someone…?”

(Having a geth OC would be adorable :3 )

This one was kind of hard idk. Vivi is a sentient geth trying to pretend to be a Quarian, I guess. Difficult with the flashlight head. Trying to learn as much as he can while avoiding any bad reactions people might have to who and what he is. Currently suffering many many existential crises.

"I am learning that Udina is not unique," she sighed softly, absently walking with him towards the base camp. "Just in the scale of what he managed. A spot on the Council for humans and... well. Cerberus." She shook her head, "But they keep talking to me as if I know anything. I owe Shepard that much... rebuild her homeworld because she gave me mine back. I also owe it to the Quarians who came because I asked them to." Yes, Shepard had made the formal plea, and Shepard who had brought them about but Tali felt her own guilt at bringing them to die against the Reapers and away from their homeworld. "Anyways," she refused to wallow in negative emotions, "What would you Turians do without our liveships?" she teased him.

Garrus is here. | ’Open’

“I wouldn’t put it past them.” He chuckles, “They would for sure if Udina was still in office.” He looks at the small quarian as he found that he missed her as well. “I’m glad to see you here helping out though Tali. I’m sure you would’ve liked to go back to Rannoch after the war. Yet you stayed to help the humans. Respectable  but I must question why?” He thinks about the question for a moment, then sighs. “Nevermind, we owe Shepard that much; don’t we?” He asks thoughtfully.

"If nothing else, it will keep us from sulking and licking our wounds alone?" She didn't necessarily understand the human expression but she did understand the sentiment and she was definitely not considering herself in this, nope. It wasn't like she wanted to go back to the private space she shared with Kasumi and be alone or anything. She wouldn't want that. 

A Project | Chakwas

“That is a really good idea, Tali. We totally should do that.” Karin agreed with the Quarian. “And this shouldn’t feel so hart, but I don’t think it’s because Shepard is gone. It’s more that the common enemy is gone and now everything is starting to work towards their own goals again. But we can’t give up. We have to at least try.”

"We should get people around for a round of Skyllian 5, then," she told her and sighed. "I keep feeling like... Shepard would know what to do about everything. With supporting Liara and making sure we maintain peace. With all of us... we are all on different pages without Shepard holding us together."

A Project | Chakwas

(OOC: No problem. AS you might have noticed, I’m plenty busy:D )

“Yes, we were all devastated the last time. It was a miracle; one that Cerberus pulled off. The only good thing they ever did I guess. But I don’t think there’s much hope this time, Tali.”

Karin wished she had a way to comfort the young Quarian. Tali adored Shepard; like almost everyone she had crushed on the enigmatic commander, at least a little.

“There isn’t even a body Miranda could work with, even IF she had the resources. I think it is time we let her rest in peace this time. It’s time others stepped up and take over her mantle. We, her crew, her family, will make sure her sacrifice wasn’t in vain and that she’ll never be forgotten.”

She smiled warmly at Tali.

“And I don’t mean memorials or parades; I mean being friends and drink together, playing Skyllian 5. Leave a chair open for her and listen to that noise she called music.”

"Of course," she nodded. "I'm going to try to build the programming for identifying the ordinances independently though I want to see what algorithms you're using, but I will see how to make your monitors mobile." She kept fiddling with the ordinance, frowning while she watched the schematic.

New Tech | Liara

Liara nodded and turned to her terminals, pulling up a schematic of the targeted building. It showed on the screen with semi-transparent walls, a glowing red dot indicating the location of the bomb.

“That seems to be the most plausible explanation. It was detonated here,” she pointed to the dot, “a spot that had been in plain view during the previous searches but had become obscured by light rubble. As for scans, I have monitors that watch over all of the camp buildings, but it isn’t mobile. I can share it with you if you think you can create a mobile base for it so it can be moved from site to site.”

"Um, busy," she said, almost sheepishly, "We're... rebuilding everything on Earth." She had grown... used to the Reapers trying to help, even if it made her skin crawl when she thought about it too much. "I feel like humans are going to use this to make Earth the center of the galaxy," she was amused and a little teasing. 

Garrus is here. | ’Open’

“Tali…? There you are! Ha!” Garrus came down to greet his quarian friend, “It’s been to long, Tali. How are you?” He announced. He was still looking around Earth in disbelief though. The Reapers just roaming around here made him feel quite uneasy.

She nodded, "...So do you think it was planted after they'd swept the place first? I'm sure we can add in a detector for non-authorized lifeforms. It may even help find refugees buried under rubble... though, perhaps it needs to be developed as two different equipment sets for rescue crews..." They still didn't know what was happening with the supposedly helping Reapers and... well, it was just easier to have everyone else do the work.

New Tech | Liara

Liara nodded reluctantly at Tali’s question. It vexed her that she had been unable to do anything to remedy the situation so far. But Tali was brilliant and dedicated, and she was sure the quarian woman would think of something.

“Completely undetected. I’m not convinced it was there the entire time, to be honest. We’ve been able to pick up similar ordinances before…” She shook her head. “I can forward you schematics and information I have for untested detection units. They are incomplete, but they might have something you can use.”

(OOC: Sorry! I completely missed having an open thread D:)

"A baby is...growth and something new and good," she nodded, "The first time...we talked in the interim but I was so busy at the Fleet." She sighed softly. "I think we were all a mess after losing Shepard the first time." She started to pace for a moment. "And now, I keep hoping it's like it was the last time, that Shepard is coming back again." 

A Project | Chakwas

Karin chuckled quietly at the ever hyper Quarian.

“Calm down, Tali. I’m really excited, too. The first Normandy baby so to speak. But most of all it is good for Liara. It gives her something to live for. You were already back with the fleet when Shepard died the first time. Liara was … I thought we might lose her too. This time she is doing considerably better, probably because she has more friends now. And she has grown a lot since then. But she can’t do this alone, and we need to make sure nothing happens to them. At the moment secrecy is our best defense.”

Karin frowned a little when Tali mentioned trouble at the fleet.

“Nothing too serious I hope. And how are you personally Tali? You seem to be awfully busy.”

"Garrus!" Tali waved, quite enthusiastically. People had buzzed with the news of the returning Normandy, so she had run to be the first to see who came off. She stopped short of running up to him but she still bounced enthusiastically. She had missed him.

Garrus is here. | ’Open’

Garrus emerges from the Normandy, it’s been a long trip. He seems tired, didn’t get enough sleep last night. He’s been long awaiting the arrival back to Earth. To see the damage. But to his surprise as he leaves the Normandy, he doesn’t see Reaper corpses being dumped away or thrown to the fires to burn. He sees them helping. Helping rebuild from the carnage. “What… is going on…?” He wonders aloud.

Mass Effect: Fallout is looking for a new Miranda Lawson!

Shepard is missing. The Crucible was activated just a week ago and while the devastation has stopped, the Reapers continue to linger in the skies of a thousand worlds. The Normandy has managed to limp its way through the vacuum of space to return to Earth.

What will come? Where is Shepard? Will there be lasting peace or will the galaxy fall to recrimination and war over what resources remain?

Only time will tell.

——————————————————————————

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"Completely undetected?" she looked up and scanned it again. "It might have a dormant stage that requires a pulse to activate it..." She spoke into her omnitool to follow her thought process - perhaps like the latent forms of indoctrination? She could try using some of the codes for finding Reaper artifacts...

New Tech | Liara

Liara nodded, settling on her stool to watch Tali work. It was always entertaining, and frequently enlightening, to watch Tali manipulate technology that she herself barely understood. Listening to her talk tech, on the other hand, always walked a fine line between confusing and amazing. Right now, it was comfortably straddling the line.

“The drones have been assisting live squads, but I was hoping to boost them so humans do not have to be nearby. An ordinance similar to that one went completely undetected by all the sweeps. It was detonated after a squad arrived; three Marines have already died of their injuries.”