Chakwas shut her eyes in despair as Legion walked past her, having locked the door to the AI Core behind it, rifle on it's back. The Geth could do nothing about the dilemma, accept return in one piece and end the torture by going back to it's usual 'hang space'.

Minutes ticked by as Shepard's team went down for their latest mission. And then...

Chakwas flinched, squeezing her eyes shut tighter as a long, lonely yowl split the air from the other side of the door.

It was like this every time! Legion would go off for a mission, and lock Socks in the AI Core so the kitten couldn't get into trouble while it was gone. And the kitten, in return, would yowl his little heart out until the exact moment of the Geth's return. And who was left to deal with it? Chakwas, who couldn't leave her post to escape it while the team was on the ground, lest an emergency happened. She couldn't crank up some music to drown out the noise, either; that just made Socks yowl louder.

They had yet to find someone on board the Normandy who could settle the creature down while his synthetic handler was away, so they were just stuck leaving him in the AI Core. And there came a point when Socks switched from just yowling, to making a complete mess of the place, like the little guy was throwing a Krogan-sized temper tantrum.

And it truly was unbelievable just how loud such a tiny kitten could be! Part of her longed to open the door and see if she could somehow tame the beast, but so far Legion was the only one he would actually listen to. Everyone else got the 'pet me so I can go back to pretending you don't exist' treatment.

"Chakwas." Mordin greeted, striding cheerily into the room. "Need to borrow medical equipment. May have found treatment for Garrus' fringe rash-"

He was cut of by another angry yowl, followed by a rapid, light pounding on the door. Socks was trying to beat through his obstacle with his tiny back paws, but his flimsy mortal from was unable to overcome the hard metal.

"Angry Socks?" Mordin questioned sympathetically, and Chakwas nodded tiredly. She swore, that yowling haunted her in her nightmares...

The Salarian hummed thoughtfully, before approaching the door that kept the kitten at bay. Chakwas watched, half unexpecting, half hopeful; most of the crew, Kasumi included, had tried to cat-sit the animal, but it usually ended with Socks getting bored and somehow tracking Legion's scent(did Geth even have a smell?) to the airlock, and finding the kitten trying to activate the controls. A Geth Legion may be, but coming back to the ship to be told your pet had spaced himself while you were away wasn't exactly a pleasant thing to come back to.

"Have you tried-"

"I've tried everything, Mordin. Food, petting, heck, I even tried catnip, but we all remember how that went." If it were organic, Legion would have been apoplectic when it had come from one mission to find Socks totally out of it and high as a kite; the kitten had broken the container for the catnip and totally OD'd on it. Mordin made another thoughtful sound, crossing his arms. For a few moments, listening to the yowling, he considered his options.

He hadn't interacted with Socks much since he came aboard, actually. It came as a shock, even to him, that he had forgotten. It was a unique and fascinating opportunity to study synthetic-organic interactions, to chart Legion's social progress. The Geth had certainly gotten a little more attention since taking in the Kitten, and was seen outside the AI Core more and more often.

"Could be interesting." he agreed with himself. He unlocked the door, and it opened to reveal an angry, tiny, ginger and white Socks sitting in front of the door, yowling with his little jaw parted to reveal a shockingly pink mouth, lined with tiny white fangs not yet stained with age or use. He ceased yowling as the door opened, and tipped his head to the side with a questioning mew. Mordin crouched down to the kitten's level, and held out his hand, smiling.

Tentatively, the young cat sniffed him, investigating, amber eyes wide. His wet nose bumped against Mordin's finger, and he slowly moved his hand, scratching the fluffy being behind the ears. He let out a mrrow of protest, but seemed to enjoy it immensely when the Salarian switched to rubbing him under his chin instead. Purring, he rubbed his whole body along Mordin's hand, in full expectancy of a complete petting.

"Not so loud and menacing when content, are you?" the scientist chuckled. Such a simple creature, with simple needs. "Could use companion while running tests, hmm? Don't think Legion would mind, keeping an eye on you until then."

Keeping in mind proper grip positions for holding cats, Mordin picked the fluffy tabby up in his arms, and made his way over to the counter to preform his tests.


Consensus was that Socks would be in the same state he was always in when the platform returned.

Intervention of Mordin Solus was not expected.

When Legion arrived in the med bay after the mission, it was to find Mordin running tests on one of the far counters, talking to himself as usual. Or, in this case, talking to Socks, it seemed. The kitten was curled up in a sleepy ball of ginger and white fluff next to the Salarian's work station, faint rumbles of a purr barely audible as the scientist's free hand worked in repetitive circles on the kitten's back.

"No, no, will not do. Would cause scale flaking. Make things worse. Perhaps-yes, yes that might do. Might do very nicely. Your medical opinion?" he was asking the cat. Socks merely looked up at him and yawned widely. "Hm. Thought as much."

"Mordin Solus. You have allowed Socks out of his confinement?" Legion questioned as it approached. The Salarian gave a small jump, whirling around. Legion's eye plates flicked upwards questioningly, and Mordin recovered from his fright quickly. He was still getting used to how silent the platform was on approach.

"Yes. Heard yowling, thought I could assist." he waved one hand, before setting it back on Socks. "Socks not as aggressive an escape artist as data led to believe. Expected another fabled attempt to breach airlock-never happened. Seems to enjoy my presence; feeling mutual. Outlet for fidgeting. Also, good for moral support."

Legion's eye plates contracted and expanded as it processed this new data. Many complaints had been filed about Socks' yowling. Nobody else seemed to be able to keep the Kitten in line and away from the airlock. Mordin Solus, however...

"Would you consider undertaking temporary custody of Socks when this platform is not present?" it asked. Mordin looked surprised for a brief moment, but then nodded with a smile, looking down at Socks.

"Of course. Could always use companionship in lab. Very tame when he isn't trying to escape."

Meanwhile, Chakwas watched the exchange with a sigh, leaning back in her chair with her hands resting behind her head. Peace at last...


Alright, just a little bit of Mordin-Socks fluff I thought we could all use. I'm working on Grunt's one-shot, I SWEAR, but I just needed to write a piece involving something fluffy and cute. I'm glad you guys are receiving this work so positively! And don't worry: I have a one-shot planned for just about every character.

Not certain if I'll do the Andromeda crew. It depend on when I get the game and if I like it, and how attached I get to the crew. I'll tell you, it's going to be hard not seeing any of the old gang... They should totally remaster ME1. It would be GREAT to play the game, and be able to take scenes seriously instead of laughing at the fact the character's eyes are glitching through their lids. And there were other things that game could have improved upon as well.#ihatethemako

Also, if you guys haven't checked it out already, be sure to read my full-time ME fic, How to Be a Rogue. It may seem odd at first, but I think people will like it once they give it a chance. At least, they'll like it until Andromeda comes out, then they probably won't give a turd about original trilogy AU's. Just a guess.

To be honest, although I REALLY like Mass Effect, I think I'm more excited for Destiny 2 than Andromeda. I got super attached to the characters of the original trilogy, and their absence alone docks points off the excitement list. Plus, it looks like Bioware pulled a "Breath of the Wild"(a Zelda game; that doesn't look or feel like a Zelda game should). What I saw in the trailer looks like too drastic a change ffrom the universe's usual MO. Sure, it's a new time, with a new mission, different elements.

But it just doesn't look like ME. If not for the fact that I PLAINLY saw a Turian and a Krogan beside Ryder, I wouldn't think it was ME at all. In fact, after seeing that battle sequence...

I would have thought it was Final Fantasy 15.

In space.

#warpstrike.

AND DANG!? Is that my author's note? Man, I better shut up before I tell my life story!

Once upon a time, a baby was born. An insane baby. As in, some people were dropped as a child, but she was clearly thrown at a wall, slipped on the stairs, bounced upon the ceiling, and flew out the second story window out into ta glorious sunset while riding a unicorn-

And without further ado, read and REVIEW!