A/N: Yeah, old turian perverts are not fun. Especially for our intrepid hero.

By the way, for those of you that caught the Once Upon a Shooting Star shout-out with the Shepard siblings? You get free cookies via wireless connection. So yeah.

Anyhow, last time, we got Wrex's armor back. So you'd think Virmire will be coming soon, right?

Not so fast, bucko! We've still got geth to look out for! So we'll take a chapter on the Normandy, and another one to teach Art how to use a sniper rifle. Go!

Chapter 11: Teenager's Games

It's been a few hours since I last talked to Wrex. He's been alone down by the Mako from what I understand, looking at his armor. At least, that's what I hear from Garrus.

I think it's time I checked in with him again anyhow. I'm sure he's wanting to talk to me again.

With this, I head down by the Mako, and I see the krogan there, the armor still in front of him. The remaining pieces are scattered about the floor, and he looks at them in amazement. Theres a glint in his eyes that I never saw before that makes me feel all fuzzy inside. Like I'm watching An Imitation of Life for the first time again. I walk over to him as he admires his armor, such that I'm standing right next to him admiring the armor. It really is a regal set, that much is for sure. And it seems to glisten in the light of the Normandy.

"So, the family armor..." I say.

"It was a gift to my family from the salarians for wiping out the rachni," says the krogan. "The entire galaxy would know the name of Urdnot. But... well, you know what happened after that."

I nod at this. "Yep, that we do," I say. "Shame, really. You guys really aren't all that bad."

Wrex chuckles at this. "Glad to think you think so," he says. "Most would just be afraid. But you're not like most."

Ah, so he's past the Avenue Q talk? Okay. "I'll drink to that," I say. "That's how I like it, and that's how I'll stay as long as I can."

The krogan nods his agreement, and then we're silent for a minute or so. Wrex... actually lets a softer side of him come through right now. He's very nostalgic. Hm... He's not so far removed from being that which he told me about. It only proves that we're all thinkers in our own little ways, I guess. I guess everyone thinks every now and again.

Well... except for possibly conspiracy theorists. They don't think with their heads; they think with the air bubbles inside their heads.

We look at the armor for a little bit more before Wrex turns to me. "I was wrong about you," he says.

I raise my eyebrow at this. Well... this is new. "What do you mean by that?" I ask.

"You're very far from being the weakling you were when I first saw you," he admits. "You tell me you're a weakling after all you've been through. Especially with Tonn Actus. I dare you to tell me you're weak."

I nod, chuckling at the wry bit of humor. "Well, when you put it that way..." I say. "I guess you could put it like that. Why do you say any of that?"

"You're fearless," he replies. "And if you're afraid, you sure as hell don't show it. And plus, you've learned how to use guns faster than any of us. That takes... something. You've got a quad on you, kid."

Oh, wow, he's already dropping the quad comment? Wow, I feel pretty honored. "A quad?" I ask. "Is this referring to the fact that krogans have... uh... four... well... you know... uh...?"

"...Yes," he says simply. "I'm surprised you knew that."

Oh, dear. This is getting awkward fast. "I..." I say, feeling the blood rush to my cheeks. "Uh... Well... You know..." How do I break it to him...? "Uh..."

And then Wrex just bursts out laughing. Ah, Christ, don't tell me he thinks... Oh, shit, no... Please no... Don't let him think-

"Don't worry about it, kid," he says. Okay, wow, he's calling me kid a lot. Well... he is 1400 years old, so I guess I can't fault him for that one. "Some things are best kept hidden, right?"

I nod very quickly. "You could say that," I say. Like you killing your own dad, I guess. "Especially when you're all bitter and stuff..."

The krogan is silent after this, and he looks to his family armor. I notice his foot moving slightly, and then he turns to me. "Yeah, I guess," he says. "You try killing your own father out of necessity one of these days."

At this, I jolt slightly. I knew he had killed his own father... but hearing it from his own mouth is kind of jarring. "You what?" I ask.

Wrex shakes his head. "You know how I am," he says. "My father... didn't like what I was. So he tried to kill me. I had to kill him first. The rest, you know."

I blink. "Damn," I say. "I... I don't know... Shit, man..." Yeah, that's enough to make anyone bitter. "Wow... No wonder..."

"Wish I didn't have to," says the krogan. "That's one of the most messed up things I've ever had to do."

I look down at the armor. "So that's the only thing of his you have left..." I say.

"From before he tried to kill me, anyhow," replies Wrex, looking down at it. "Reminds me of... better times. Before the genophage. When he was... better. A real krogan. I don't know what I'm supposed to make of it... All these thoughts... I'm not sure what to think of them..."

Oh, dear... "I see," I say. "The term humans would use would be 'nostalgia'. Where we look back and reflect on things." And then remember it so that others don't have to.

The krogan is silent as he contemplates this. Finally, he nods. "Yes, that seems to be what I'm feeling," he says. "Just thinking about the krogan my father was... It makes me wonder..."

Hm... Looks like it's time to get back with something. "I thought being a thinker would get you killed on Tuchanka," I say, holding my hands behind my back and smirking.

Wrex smirks wryly at me, and I can see that happy glitter in his eyes. "This isn't Tuchanka," he replies almost without missing a beat. "I think I'm allowed to indulge."

I roll my eyes. "Really?" I ask, beginning to pace by his armor. "How much?"

His smirk is constant. "As long as I like," he replies.

Aha! I hath softened him! Mission accomplished! Quick someone play the Final Fantasy victory music!

... And just like that...

"Aw, damn it, I just lost the game!" I shout. I frown and pound my fist in the air as I shake my head vigorously.

The smirk seems to fade slightly as he looks to me. "The game?" he asks. "What's the game?"

I shrug, rolling my eyes as I pause. "Oh, it's a thing me and my friends on Earth would play from time to time," I say. "Well... all the time."

Wrex shifts in his seat, seeming interested. "Tell me more," he says.

"Oh... well..." This is new. Wrex wanting to know about the game? This will be fun. "Well, the game is a mind game that is always played by everybody at the same time."

"Right," he says. "What are the rules?"

Oh, boy. "This is kind of where it gets wierd," I say. "See, the object of the game is to not think about the game. Because if you think about the game, you lose the game."

Wrex blinks, uncertain of what this means. "Wait..." he says. "So you just made me lose the game?"

I nod. "Yep," I say, smirking. "Now, whenever you lose the game, you get a fifteen-minute immunity during which you can make others lose the game. And once it's up and someone mentions the game, you lose the game. No matter what, if you lose the game in your head, you have to say it out loud. And then, you get to watch as everyone that knows about the game reacts to it with expletives."

The krogan's smirk returns full force, and his eyes gleam merrily. "I think I could get behind that," he says. "Don't think about the game. Right. You'll be hearing about it from me again."

I nod. "I look forward to seeing what you come up with," I reply, smiling.

"You better watch your ass," says Wrex, pointing a finger at me. "I'll find some way to make you lose it!"

"Bring it on!" I say, mock beckoning him with a hand.

And thus, the war of the game between Urdnot and ********* has begun. May the fireworks begin.

All right. Hm... No... 1, 2, 3... 4 hasn't been entered yet... 5, 6, 7... 8 hasn't been entered either, and neither has nine. Hm... Well, 4 can't go in that box because of various other things... Oh, wait, it can't go in that row either! So it must go... here! Yes, that must be it. And then 8 takes care of itself thanks to the 8 being in that box, and then 9 fills the only remaining slot.

And with that, I have a completed column. I feel smug, especially since I'm getting closer to completing the puzzle with each move I make. It's even better on a digital interface; it makes it much easier to check my work and see if I've fucked up somewhere. Ah, well. I guess another downside of being here is that I can't finish any puzzles that my grandmother has started. Probably good for her, as she absolutely hates it when I do that. (Even then, though, she only shows it in jest.) But then, there are a lot of other not so good things that come with that.

Like going to lunch at Deli Lane or Blu. Oh, I'll miss those days. At least, until I get back home, anyway. Going back home to Miami was always annoying, but I had my grandmother there. And I would always go to lunch with her at least once each time I went back home. It was always my favorite part of being back home from school. I'm just thankful I got to tell her that when I was down there last December. I can't imagine what it would have been like if I had never been able to tell her...

Ah, well... All this talk of restaurants is making me think about food again. Gah, mess hall opens up in fifteen minutes. And they won't have things like that incredible apple sandwich on raisin bread with swiss cheese that they make at Deli Lane. Gah, I could go for that or a burger any time now... Guh... I love to eat!

Well... I guess I'll just have to wait a bit sitting here. It probably makes me look stupid, but hey.

All right, back to the puzzle. Okay, so 1 can't go there, but it can go here and here. Same story for 4. So since 5 is the only number left in that row... All right, 5 goes-

"Hello, Art."

Gah!

I jump an inch or so off my seat, very startled and turn behind me very quickly. Oh, it's just Tali.

"Oh, Tali," I say, exhaling in relief as I speak. "Oh, God, I hate it when people sneak up on me like that."

"I wasn't interrupting something, was I?" she asks.

I look down at my omni-tool where the puzzle is still on a holographic projection before I shrug. "Not something overly important, no," I reply. "Just a way of killing time more than anything."

I then show her my omni tool. Looking at the grid of numbers, she gives me a rather strange look. "What's that?" she asked. "Some kind of game?"

"More like a puzzle, but yeah," I reply. "It's a number puzzle that we call 'sudoku'."

Tali tilts her head to the side, and I can sense her curiosity. "You mind if I join you?" she asks. "This 'sudoku' business sounds like fun."

Oh, hey, Tali wants to join me! I don't see why not. "Sure," I say, shifting at the table to allow room for her. "Take a seat."

The quarian takes well to the invitation, and she sits down so that we're side by side and she's looking at my omni-tool. With this, she looks at it and sees the numbers there. I frown briefly, bringing my other hand to the tool.

"A half-completed puzzle probably isn't the best way to introduce sudoku to someone," I reply, going about the menus. With a few taps on the holographic interface I bring up a new puzzle and show that to her. "All right, so this is a blank sudoku puzzle," I gesture to the puzzle. "It's a grid of 9 squares by 9 squares, sectioned off into 9 larger boxes sectioned off by bolded lines."

"Okay," says the quarian. "What are you supposed to do?"

I gesture to the grid again. "The object is to fill the grid," I say. "The point is to do it so that every number from 1 to 9 is used in all of the bolded boxes, rows, and columns."

"Oh, so it's a logic game," says Tali. "You mind if I try a puzzle?"

"'Course not," I reply. "Besides, I'd be a hypocrite not to let you."

With this, the quarian turns to me as we reposition ourselves so she can access my omni-tool. "Really?" she asks.

"Yeah," I say with a shrug. "I got good at this game by completing all of my grandmother's puzzles whenever she got stuck."

With this, she gave me a rather stern look that I could feel from behind the mask. "I... see..." she says, her voice a little stony. Yeah, I deserved that.

I shrug at this. "She took it with a grain of salt," I reply. "I at least have that. So... start wherever, and we'll see what you can do."

At this time, I notice how close we are. My arm has come around in front of Tali, and we're still sitting side by side. She's sitting to my right, so that makes things a little easier for me. My arm is out in front of her, and... well... we are sitting quite close... And... Okay, yeah, I'm dropping this now.

With this, Tali nods. She examines the puzzle briefly, and then she touches the holographic display on my omni-tool. Hey, she put a 2 there. Smart move. I guess. Oh, hey, she's moving around, and... Wait. No way... She's putting in numbers... And yet they're all making sense! Holy shit! What's the difficulty...?

Holy shit, I gave her a hard puzzle. And she's breezing through it! Holy shit! Yeah, this is crazy!

"There we go," she says, a slight cheer in her voice.

Holy shit! She completed it! Oh my... What...

"Jesus Christ on a pikestaff..." I mutter as I look at the puzzle. "A... Are you sure you had never heard of this until now?"

"Absolutely," she replies. "Why?"

I look to her with wide eyes. "I don't think I've ever met anyone who's been able to complete a hard difficulty sudoku puzzle in three minutes."

She rears her head back. "Really?" she asks, her voice curious. "I found it pretty easy. Why?"

I shrug. "We humans tend to have a harder time of it," I say. "But then, I guess humans have a harder time of salvaging geth memory cores too."

The quarian chuckles at this. "I see..." she says. "But still, it's a fun way to pass the time. I can see why you like it so much."

With this, I gesture with my shoulders briefly before I smile. "Well, that's sudoku for you," I reply. "A lot of the puzzles require some very interesting thinking. Of course, there are puzzles that are harder than that."

"Sounds like fun," she says. "I think I'll download it to my omni-tool sometime. Especially to see these harder puzzles."

I wave my hand graciously. "Be my guest," I say, smiling.

With this, we nod a little bit. "You know..." says Tali. "You never told me much about your family. What is it like?"

Oh, boy... "Well... I'll start with the summary," I say. "My parents always go worrying about their children too much, my sister is too much of a social butterfly for safety, and my brother is too innocent for words."

Tali seems to shift in her seat. "It must be wonderful having siblings," she says.

"Really?" I ask. "You're an only child, I take it."

Tali snorts softly. "Every quarian I know is an only child," she says.

Yeah... Being confined to ships is never a good thing. "Oh," I say. "Well... it has its ups and downs, just like any other family relationship. I was kind of going through a rift with my sister anyways. She's always the one that's all over the place and out there and not afraid to show it. And I was always the quiet one, preferring to keep to myself sometimes."

"That's definitely changed," replies the quarian. "But still... She was all over the place?"

I shake my head at this. "She does a lot of traditional Cuban dancing," I reply. "Or... used to, anyway. Something happened between a couple of friends of hers and herself that caused a major fallout where they're not even speaking to each other again. I'll probably tell you about it some day when the scars are healed." That, and I don't feel like betraying her trust like that. "But no, she was always very friendly."

Tali nods at this. "What was her name?" she asks.

"Anneli," I reply, shrugging. "Not a very common name for human women, either."

"Interesting," she says. "And you mentioned you have a brother?"

I nod. "He's... quite a bit younger than I am," I say. "At least, in mind. He's really only two years younger than I am, but still overly innocent." Should I...? Yeah, probably. There's Gillian in the expanded universe, so autism definitely still exists.

"Really?" asks Tali, shifting slightly where she sits. "Not exposed to the world? From what I hear, Earth is a place where people are never innocent."

I bite my bottom lip before continuing. "He's mentally disabled," I reply.

Tali is silent for a brief moment before looking down. "Oh..." she says, her fingers suddenly seeming to tense as she puts her arms on the table. "I... I see... That must be hard to live with..."

"Not as much as you might think," I reply, smiling. "Sure, he can be a royal pain in the ass sometimes, but he's often so adorable that it kind of evens out. He's also a very uncommon source of inspiration for us all."

The quarian nods at this, and I can see her eyes glimmer behind the mask. Well, shine, anyway. "So it's sort of like a parental relationship, only to those your age," she says.

I nod. "Kind of," I say. "Well, to your father anyway. If you can believe it, I'm actually afraid of my own father."

The machinist shifts uncomfortably in her seat, looking at me. "You're afraid of your father?" she asks. "I... I can't imagine how that could be..."

I shake my head. "He's one of those kinds of people that's convinced that he's always right," I reply. "And when you try to tell him otherwise, he throws a fit. I sort of... came to hate him, really."

"That's awful!" she says, looking at me and turning her body as she does so. "What kind of son are you?"

Son? Son? What about him? I'm not the bad son here! I'm the victim! I'm- I'm... "A son who's had it up to here with dealing with a stubborn, controlling hypocrite who calls himself my dad," I reply. "Sure, he does stuff for me, but I'm beginning to get fed up with having to watch my step every time I talk to him lest he fly into a rant. I can't even stand him when he's not mad. His sense of 'humor' is astoundingly idiotic."

Tali seems to shift slightly, turning her body so that we're both facing the same direction. "I..." she says. "I don't imagine I would know a quarian that would be like that."

I shrug. "My mom is not so bad," I reply. "Except for the fact that she worries about everything a little too much. But still, she looks out for me, and if I ever have a dispute with dad she's the first person I'll turn to. Especially when he pisses her off as much as he does me."

The quarian chuckles. "I know the feeling," she says. "I... never really knew my mother all that well... But there was my aunt, Shala'Raan. Your mother almost sounds exactly like her. Always overprotective, but their hearts are in the right place."

Really? Hm. I never got to know Shala'Raan too well from the game. So maybe I could met her in more detail... No, I'll be gone by that point in time. "I see," I reply, smiling. "In that case, I guess we've got more in common than we first thought."

"Overbearing mother figures?" she asks, her stance playful.

"Check," I say. I wink at her playfully when I finish saying this, to which she does something under that mask that I really don't know anything about.

And we sit there, talking about our families for a few minutes before the mess hall opens. I'm really coming to Tali a lot, I find. I just like her a lot for some reason. She's kind and very dependable, and always willing to listen to what I have to say. I think it works out for me, too, because I feel like I have a real friend again. It's odd. I had RoyalFanatic back home to confide everything to, and yet Tali seems to be doing the same thing here. It's just really nice to have a friend I can feel extremely comfortable around. The fact that I can actually talk to a phyical form helps too.

And so, we talk about things. And we actually end up lunching together, still in our conversations about various subjects as the minutes go on. We smile, and laugh, and... well... we just get along well.

And that makes the world go round.

When I see Shepard next, she's sitting there... wait, is she playing video games?

No way! I rush over to the couch of the rec room, checking out the controller in her hands as she plays a video game. "Is that...?" I ask.

"An Unchained?" she asks. "You better believe it is. Thought it might be good for the crew, getting an Ushiraga system."

Hm. Looks like Nintendo, Microsoft, and Sony all lost the console wars. I imagine Microsoft probably fell first due to that god-forsaken red ring of death, followed by Nintendo and then possibly Sony. Whatever the case, things are very different now. I look to the projection to see what game she's playing, and I raise my eyebrow. Hey, that looks kind of familiar. Third person shooter, walking down a dark hallway... And there's a wierd zombie there... that Shepard promptly dismembers in bloody detail with a gun. Wait a minute...

"Is that...?" I ask. Oh, dear, I hope it's Dead Space, because if they had that game in the Mass Effect universe, I would be the happiest man on earth. Seriously, it's my absolute favorite shooter, second almost to none, and really great.

"Contact Point 3?" she asks. Aw... Well, it's close enough. It could practically be a ripoff. "Yep. I played the first two games in the Alliance Academy and really liked them. I'm glad for this release. So far, I'm enjoying it."

I lean against the couch, watching her blast space zombies. I then eventually take a seat next to her. "You know, I really liked the first game of this series," I say. "I was never any good at shooters, but for some reason I really liked this one."

Shepard raises her eyebrows as she turns to me. "Really?" she asks. She pauses the game and holds the controller out to me. "You want to give this one a try?"

Oh, boy. Well... Hm... Oh, hey, this looks a lot like a PS3 controller. Two shoulder buttons, a select and start buttons, the face buttons with shapes (although different ones, I might add, but they're in the same place), the two analog sticks, a control pad, and the analog sticks can be depressed. All right, I think I got this.

"Sure," I say, gently taking the controller from Shepard. Okay, so last I remember it was circle to get out. Here, the symbol is an oval. Huh. That makes everything easier.

I press oval, and then I'm in the game. And I begin wandering around the decrepit hallways as the character, feeling some kind of strange tension. I walk down the hallway, and sure enough I see what looks almost exactly like a necromorph. I feel almost like I'm controlling Isaac Clarke as I gun it down and dismember its limbs. This is odd; the character I'm controlling is most obviously a woman... But hey, what can you do?

I walk into a room and see more alien life forms. I gun them all down in much the same manner. Huh. Good to know my gaming skills haven't diminished since I left Boston. I really love the immersive atmosphere of this game as I go around killing alien life forms. This is honestly almost exactly like Dead Space. Huh. And it's making me all misty and nostalgic. So much so that I actually have to press the plus sign (instead of X) to get something off of me. I do that, and I kick the... Lurker look-alike halfway across the room.

I already love it, and I seem to express it in the slightest ghost of a smile.

After playing the game for about half an hour, I turn back to Shepard, who also seem to be smiling. I pause and hand the controller back to her. "Thanks," I say. "It brought back some... good times."

She nods. "They're great games," she says. "I can't believe you know them. You would probably be 14 at the time the first one came out."

I shrug, smiling coyly. "Well, you know how being an Earthborn child is," I say. "Never easy, I can tell you that much. Thanks for letting me play, Joc."

She seems to return, unpausing the game. However, when the last word registers, she promptly pauses the game, and her face seems a great deal surprised as she turns back to me. She blinks, her mouth working. She finally purses her lip together and gives me a look.

"You ran into Al," she says.

I smile smugly and nod. "As a matter of fact, yes," I say. "Wrex and I ran into him taking care of some business at the Citadel."

She nods, smiling softly. "I guess he is a rather good target of running into various friends of mine," she comments.

I shrug. "He's certainly a nice guy," I mention. "A bit nervous, but nice nonetheless. Also very helpful when he commits to something. I have him to thank for helping us figure out where Wrex and I needed to go."

"He certainly is," says Shepard, looking up as she sets the controller down on the couch. "I remember when i was a teenager I would always go to him whenever my omni-tool broke." She smiles more warmly and chuckles slightly. "It was the most embarrasing thing ever. A 14 year old girl going to her 9 year old brother because she thinks her omni-tool crashed on her. And yet he always came around and fixed things for me."

I nod, smiling. "That's actually really cute," I reply. "Imagine, a nine year old fixing an omni-tool!" Wow, that image is actually rather adorable. I can see it now, the hands working at the bench to reassemble various wires. It's... cute, and very endearing.

"And then a 14 year old girl throwing it against the wall with biotic powers afterwards," says Shepard with a slight grin. "Oh, those were the days, I tell you. When we didn't have a care in the world." She pauses. "He was also a pretty good singer," she adds.

Holy shit, more things to connect him to the Explosive Underbelly V. 2 singer! "Really?" I ask. "So he was almost a musician?"

"Kind of," replies the commander. "But technology was always his love. He actually liked it more than his singing. He actually joined the Alliance to work with the technology of hacking into someone's stuff and finding things out."

Oh! Interesting. "I see..." I say with a smile. "He certainly took after the rest of the family tradition."

"We all supported him no matter what," says Shepard. "My dad told me that he was actually a little disappointed to find out that Al wanted to join the Alliance military."

"Disappointed?" I ask. Well, this is a first. I'd think military families would be happy about their children enlisting in the military. "Why?"

"Well, not in the same way I think you're thinking," replies the commander. "And plus, he didn't mind, just so long as Al was doing what he loved. Which he did, and still does."

I nod with a smile on my face. "Your family sounds like really nice people," I comment.

"They are," replies Joc. "I wouldn't give them up for the world."

"I can't wait to meet the rest of them," I say with a smile. "Well... should I ever meet them."

"You'd like them," she says, gesturing to me. "You'd probably get on their nerves, though..."

I shake my head with a goofy grin on my face. "Well, I always seem to find ways to get on everybody's nerves," I say. "Even amongst friends. So that's a given."

With this, she gives a soft laugh. "You've avoided doing that here, though," she points out.

Oh. Right. Well... "I mean, when you think about it, though... there is some looking on the bright side that needs to be done," I reply with a shrug. "So I guess we're less susceptible to getting annoyed. Maybe?"

She blinks before briefly turning back to the holo projector. With this, she shrugs. "I guess," she says. "Either way, I still can't believe you ran into Al!"

I nod with a mile as I face the holo projection. "It was certainly fun," I say. "You mind if I watch you play?"

Shepard picks up the controller. "Not at all," she says.

And with this, she resumes the game, and she picks up where I left off playing. It's around this time that I hear some footsteps behind us, and then a weight comes in on the couch. I look up and see Wrex there, looking at the holo projector as Shepard plays Contact Point. Otherwise known as Dead Space ON THE NORMANDY! Wrex looks at the holo projector before turning to Shepard and I.

"I see you're playing games on that thing," he says. He watches us for a brief period as Shepard cuts down zombies. None of us really says anything about it, but he seems intent on watching Shepard play the Dead Space copycat. Oh, well...

After a bit, he shifts slightly where he stands by the couch. "It looks like fun," he admits.

"That it is, Wrex," says Shepard. "Good thing this came out when it did."

"Yep," I say.

"Right," says the krogan, looking down to me. "I guess Art lost the game when you handed him the controller, eh?"

"I don't think he did," she says, turning to me. "Art?"

I smile, shrugging. "Well, I definitely didn't lose-"

Wait. That smug look on his face...

Oh... Oh, Jesus... Oh-! Mother-! Damn it, Wrex! Damn it all to fucking hell!

"Motherfucking asskicking cocksucking-! Fuck-! Shit-! Dick-!"

And all is silent as I stumble upon my word choice. Did I really just say all that? Shit... I think I did. I notice Shepard look at me in shock and terrible confusion as soon as I stop the swear string. Shit... I'm going to have to explain the game to the rest of the crew, aren't I?

Wrex bursts out laughing, followed promptly by Shepard and myself. I fall to the floor as Shepard nearly drops the controller. Shit, we're horrible people, but it's just so funny. It's just fortunate that we burst out laughing in a room cleared of zombies in-game. Ah, well. We're bonding anyway.

A little later... Wow, all these games have made me feel very nostalgic. I remember a lot of things from back home now. It's... Wow... it's making me all misty. Not good form for sitting in front of a game of solitaire trying to decide what moves to make.

Jeez... This shouldn't be getting like that. And yet I can't help myself. It really makes me think of home a lot.

I wonder how my family is doing. Especially Anneli and Augie. I feel so sorry for Augie now. My parents would have a hell of a hard time explaining what happened to me... Whatever happened. Jeez. If I disappeared... how would that be explained? At least a coma or death can be explained as him sleeping for a really long time (or as what happens to Master Oogway in Kung Fu Panda, now that I think about it). But disappearance, especially without a body? The poor kid would never know. I can't think of any words to explain how to tell a disabled child that, and I imagine my parents are at as much of a loss as I currently am.

Anneli... I imagine she's very concerned too. Even if we never really were that close towards the end. But still, she worked like a mentor before I came here. I wonder what she's thinking right now. I wonder, too, how this is affecting her friendships. No doubt it's got some impact on her; after all, she did come to me for a few days after the fall-out I told Tali about. I would know; it was the weekend I saw Avatar with her in tow.

Wow. I suddenly realize how much I miss that small track of land I call home. It's... tough, really. Thinking about it. Which I do. A lot. Well... I'll be back soon enough.

I hear someone come up behind me. Turning back, I look to see Liara approach.

"Something troubles you," she says, looking over to me as I turn my body towards her.

I shrug, not bothering to smile. "I miss home," I say. "I'm getting a wave of nostalgia just thinking about it. I haven't been gone for too long, and yet..."

Liara seems to look over to me. "We never really lose our sense of home," she says. "That's what my mother told me when I left home. But... we can live with memories. That is one thing we have."

I nod at this, looking at the solitaire game on my omni-tool. "Of course," I say. "I just want to be able to return after all this is over."

"Somehow, we always do," she replies, understandingly. "But know that it may be in a way we do not expect."

I nod at this, and I return my attention to my game of solitaire. Well... I think I know how I'm going home, so I'll leave it at that.

The asari comes to sit next to me, asking about what I'm playing. I then explain the rules to solitaire, but my mind isn't really on the game anymore. It's back home, where I left everybody hanging. I can't stop thinking of them.

Really, I guess I never will. But hey, there's some small comfort in that.

Just hang on for a bit longer. I'll try to rejoin you soon.