Normandy was certainly a larger ship than I was expecting. Which I'm glad for because otherwise Serenity probably wouldn't have fit. Shepard had left with some dark skinned human named Jacob and Zaheed to recruit Mordin. Something about a disease targeting aliens had convinced me that I should stay behind. I stayed in the hanger, venturing out to get some food and to check up on Garrus who was recovered enough to joke about his new scars and derail any potential conversation because of calibrations.
Sitting in shorts and a tank top with a mask covering the lower half of my face, I held the paint gun and sprayed the violet colored paint over a Gladiolus stencil. Just underneath the word Serenity in the Asari language, I was adding more designs, starting with the flower. In my second life I had discovered a small talent for art and enjoyed it.
Painting and fashion seemed to be my main two things. Which was surprising because back when I was human I didn't have much of any interest in either of those things. Not that I actually ever bothered to look, what with most of my life being consumed by my work and eventually my family or some combination of the two. Which is kind of depressing now that I think about it.
Anyways, I make it a point to change around the designs on my ship and person every so often. There's no set time when I change things, the exception being the bones from that goddess-damn beast from Einganna. Going to be wearing that fucker for awhile. Loud electronic music played from a speaker that I had set up, filling the hanger with loud and vibrant sounds. The paint gun hissed as the paint sprayed over the design, my head and shoulders moving to the beats.
A slight movement at the top of eyes caught my attention. Looking up, I noticed a much more relaxed Shepard standing on top of Serenity. No longer wearing her armor, she had traded for a black and white pants and shirt with the sleeves rolled up.
I turned the music down to much more reasonable volume. "You like art huh?" She asked. "Love it. Best way of expressing yourself." I answered, my voice sounding slightly robotic because of my mask. Shepard hummed for a second before asking, "Can you cover this up?" She turned her shoulder and showed me the Cerberus symbol on it.
Yuck.
I picked up the paint gun and started going through the paint capsules that I kept in a case. "Can a Krogan eat a lot?" I answered. I glanced at her eyes before selecting a color. Twisting the knob so that they spray came out in a narrow line instead of all over the place, I quickly and easily covered the Cerberus logo with a forest green flower.
"What's the flower?" Shepard asked.
"It's a green Chrysanthemum. My older sister grows and sells flowers in all kinds of colors in Nos Astra. She tells me that this one means hope." Shepard smiled and thanked me. "Looks so much better now." She said.
"It does." I said in agreement.
"Mind if I ask you a few questions?" Shepard asked. I shrugged and went back to painting.
"Knock yourself out."
Shepard frowned. "Why would I do that?"
Oh damn it all. I did that sometimes. Using way outdated slang and phrases from the twentieth and twenty-first centuries. "It's..never mind. What did you want to ask?" I said, quickly skipping over my mess up.
"Tell me about yourself." Shepard said. "What, you mean my skills? Because there's plenty of them." Shepard chuckled as she watched me paint. "No I already know how well you fight, and Garrus had nothing but good things to say about you."
I preened a little at that. "I'll start at the beginning then." I said, continuing to paint.
"That's a pretty good place to start." Shepard cheeked. I rolled my eyes at her before giving her the short version of my life. "Born on Thessia, Krogan battlemaster and Huntress for parents, third child of nine and I decided to follow in their footsteps. Was on the Citadel when Sovereign attacked. Went and trained for a bit then came to find you to stop the Reapers. Anything else?" I asked.
Shepard seemed to think. "What about James?" she asked after a moment. I groaned and rolled my eyes. "What's to say? I told you the truth on Omega." Shepard nodded and moved to get a better look at my work. "You did. But you didn't tell me everything."
"Yes, for a reason. I can take care of myself." I said, feeling a twinge of annoyance. "I believe it. I also believe that there isn't any shame in asking for help."
I rolled my eyes. "There isn't. But this is my personal life and I can take care of it on my own. I handle my own problems." I said with a deal of finality. Shepard looked at me for a second before nodding. "I like your art. I think you should paint other parts of Normandy. Give her some color."
"Oh I can absolutely do that."
Shepard left and deftly jumped down from Serenity. Just before she could leave the hanger, I spoke up and said "James and I were together for a couple years in the Terminus systems. I meant what I had said. I helped him with whatever and what I learned I passed onto the Matriarchs." I paused my painting before turning to look at Shepard, who stared at me with rapt attention.
"I was a mercenary and a smuggler during those years. Aside from the occasional mission from Thessia, I did whatever with James and his crew. I had fun and don't regret it." I turned back to my painting and finished it with the last couple strokes before leaning back to study it fully. Deciding that it was fine for now, I started putting my supplies away.
"That was until I found the cargo that we were going to smuggle for this job. A bunch of kids. Different species, all taken from their parents. All scared out of their goddess-damned minds. I didn't ask where we were supposed to take them. When James refused to even consider letting them go, I killed him." I snorted. "I thought I killed him. And now he's back."
I jumped down and landed in front of Shepard. "I liked him a lot. Dodging pirates and everyone else to smuggle whatever all over the Terminus systems. But there are some things that I don't forgive anyone for doing."
Shepard gave another of her genuine blinding smiles. "I knew I had a good reason for liking you. Welcome aboard Normandy." I smiled behind my mask even though Shepard couldn't see it. "So where should I paint first?" I asked.
"Why are you asking me? You're the artist."
"Yes, but this is your ship."
Shepard thought for a second and then smiled. This time with a great deal of mischievousness. "I know the first place that you should paint." She grabbed my hand and nearly yanked me off of my feet as she pulled me towards the elevator. Shepard didn't answer any of my questions until we reached the galley and Shepard directed me a door on the left side, behind Gardner.
"EDI, let us know if anyone tries to open this door." Shepard said.
"Understood Commander Shepard." A female voice responded.
"Who was that?" I asked as I started to picture what I could paint on the door. "Oh her? That's EDI. She's an AI and helps run Normandy."
"An AI?" I asked and at Shepard's cheerful confirmation I shrugged and said, "As long as she doesn't go all Skynet on us I'm not going to say anything. Hi Edi. I'm Moira."
"Hello Moira." EDI responded and then fell silent.
"Skynet?" Shepard asked as she helped me get set up. "Skynet is a reference to Terminator, a series of movies made in the late twentieth and early twenty-first centuries about a hostile AI sending machines called Terminators into the past to kill the future heroes of the human lead resistance. Skynet is the name of the hostile AI that leads the machines and is responsible for the nuclear Armageddon that kills most of humanity." EDI explained.
"Ah." Shepard said, sounding kind of like a Vorcha, though I wasn't going to say that out loud. At her questioning look, I shrugged and said, "I like a lot of things. Now, let's get started on this painting. What do you want?"
"Something funny and that makes fun of Cerberus."
"Done." I already had a good idea of what to make. I started painting, and Shepard quickly jumped in trying to help. She wasn't much help because she didn't have any experience at all, but she made the time go by quickly and the whole thing was filled with laughs. A little more than an hour later, and our masterpiece was finished.
An upside-down Cerberus logo on a pink circular background with a dwarf like caricature of Miranda dual wielding pistols on top of the now upside-down logo. The best part in my opinion of the picture was the bubblegum pink hairdo that I gave Miranda's er ...portrait. Opened mouth with a stupid grin and the words "I sniff butts" in all capitals in a speech bubble completed the ensemble.
I'd like to note that I never wrote the I sniff butts thing. That was all Shepard. My sense of humor is much more mature than that as befitting a member of the Asari race. Which is why my personal touch was the pink hair and the green cloud directly beneath Miranda's backside. Which due to it being a caricature I was not able to properly give justice too. Perhaps another time.
"This was fun. Perhaps we can do Garrus next if we can get him away from his precious calibrations." I said, admiring the art work. Part of me wondered where this particular door led to, but I didn't really care enough to ask at that moment.
"Do Garrus how?" Shepard asked and I laughed at her suggestive tone. "I'm up for whatever if you are." Shepard gave me a roving eye and then did a wolf whistle! "I just might be up for whatever." I think my mouth was somewhere through the decks of the ship. "I think I might be dreaming. No. I have to be dreaming. Or EDI's pumping something through the air." I cheeked and unclipping the mask and dropping it on my art supplies.
"There aren't any hallucinogenic or foreign bodies on board the Normandy." EDI cooly informed us. "Oh well in that case." I said as I dropped an arm on Shepard's shoulders and pulled her to face me. Shepard grinned and let me pull her towards myself. Before anything else could possibly happen, the doors opened to reveal a surprised and incredibly confused Miranda.
Looking behind her I could see a desk covered in datapads and a bed.
Oh.
So that's what the door lead too. Miranda's room. "Shepard? Moira?" What are you two doing?" Miranda asked. I dropped my arm from Shepard and gave an innocent smile. "We were just discussing art." I said. What? Not entirely a lie. Miranda looked decidedly unamused which really isn't that much of a change from what I've seen of her. "And this includes having your arms around each other?"
"It does when you're discussing suggestive art." Shepard said smoothly. Miranda rolled her eyes as she stepped forward and the door slid shut behind her. Shepard and I stared straight at Miranda, being as careful as we could to keep the smiles off of our faces and not look at the painting behind her. Out of the corner of my eye I spotted a Salarian walking from the kitchen towards the starboard side of the ship.
"Is that Mordin? I should go and introduce myself!" I announced and walked away quickly, dodging Shepard's attempt and grabbing me and making me stay. "Moira you!" I didn't know what most likely unflattering things Shepard was going to say because Miranda said something about having too much work to do and that she was going back to her room. I had just crossed the threshold to Mordin's lab when a voice shrieked "Shepard what the hell is this?!"
The door slammed shut and I stood for a second to offer a silent prayer to Shepard and hoped that she would survive Miranda's wrath. Turning to Mordin, a Salarian wearing a lab coat over his commando armor bustling about his lab. I noticed the scars on his face and one of his cranial horns was missing. This guy has seen and done a few things. I was instantly curious about him. Introducing myself, I listened as Mordin rattled off various facts and answers at his rapid pace (without even stopping for a breath!)
We eventually started talking about the Collectors and the mission. Mordin discussed the counter measures that he was creating and I tried to follow along as best as I could, seeing that science had never been my strong suit. Still, Mordin seemed to appreciate that I at least attempted to understand him and he didn't seem to mind having to explain himself.
As Mordin talked in his rapid fire manner, my thoughts turned to Shepard and painting with her. Specifically what might have happened after we had finished. I wasn't sure where anything would go with her and wasn't entirely bothered by it. If something happened, then that would be awesome because it's Shepard! If not, well flirting is still lots of fun and either way I have a new friend to kick ass and create art with.
What else could someone want?
A bit of a break before going onto the missions. The next chapter is going to be pretty long so please give me time to write it. I decided that this could be a stand alone chapter to make my life a little easier.
I hope you all enjoyed.
-C.H.