(No particular order)

vanguard_charge	bestmakodriver	redshirting
John Shepard — spacezombie v.1 —	Jane Shepard — spacezombie v.2 —	Nihlus Kryik — spectbro —
John is his canon Shepard, and probably his closest comrade. Having gone through a suicide mission, long chats in Life Support, and a chance for redemption with his son, Thane is intensely loyal to Shepard.	He admires the other Shepard's drive and fiery personality. While it took a second, he's just as devoted to her cause as John's-- talking to her now is like talking to an old friend, and he genuinely worries for her.	Nihlus is a new acquaintance, though he'd heard of the Spectre before. Thane respects the turian's levelheadedness, ability, and penchant for minding his own business; he'd tentatively call him a friend.

thearchangel	coolstorybrogan	keelahselai
Garrus Vakarian — fellow bamf —	Grunt — kind of a jerk tbh —	Tali'Zorah vas Normandy — d'awww —
He has a professional respect towards the Archangel and his Omega adventure. On a personal level they haven't spoken much, but there's a casual working relationship there.	Krogans are about as far from drell as possible. Still, the two of them get along fine, with slightly more ribbing than his other crew relations, and Thane finds Grunt interesting and often surprising.	His polar opposite. Sociable, emotional, and capable outside of just battle, he views Tali as an enviable person. He empathizes with her family situation, but doesn't really know how to talk to her.

barefaced	username2	username3
Saren Arterius — rude —	Hope Estheim — Flavor Text —	Julian Keller — Flavor Text —
Saren was before his time. Morally gray himself, Thane has no personal grievances with him-- and to some degree, pities the man. They aren't friends, but he doesn't go out his way to antagonize.	Phasellus vitae luctus tellus. Nam dapibus semper felis, vitae interdum metus sollicitudin sit amet. Praesent vitae purus mauris. Aenean a lectus justo. Ut arcu ligula, laoreet in convallis a, pharetra ac ligula.	Nam eget arcu risus, eu fringilla purus. Pellentesque habitant morbi tristique senectus et netus et malesuada fames ac turpis egestas. Aliquam id odio nisi. Mauris blandit auctor massa in bibendum.

username1	username2	username3
Burke — Flavor Text —	CHARACTER 2 — Flavor Text —	CHARACTER 3 — Flavor Text —
Cras at dolor purus. Aenean et eros elit, ac viverra nibh. Morbi egestas urna tincidunt massa malesuada eu consequat diam tempor. Cras cursus risus id tortor consectetur sit amet feugiat dolor cursus.	Phasellus vitae luctus tellus. Nam dapibus semper felis, vitae interdum metus sollicitudin sit amet. Praesent vitae purus mauris. Aenean a lectus justo. Ut arcu ligula, laoreet in convallis a, pharetra ac ligula.	Nam eget arcu risus, eu fringilla purus. Pellentesque habitant morbi tristique senectus et netus et malesuada fames ac turpis egestas. Aliquam id odio nisi. Mauris blandit auctor massa in bibendum.

Player Info
Name: Nu
OOC Journal: scaleless
Over 18? y!
Email/IM/Plurk: the scaleless (AIM) / scythed
Current characters: n/a

P L A Y E R   I N F O R M A T I O N
Your Name: Nu
OOC Journal: scaleless
Under 18? If yes, what is your age?: n!
Email + IM: erashure at gmail . com ; the scaleless (aim) ; scythed
Characters Played at Ataraxion: n/a

C H A R A C T E R   I N F O R M A T I O N
Name: Thane Krios
Canon: Mass Effect
Original or Alternate Universe: CRAU
Canon Point: ME2, just after the suicide mission
Number: random's good

Setting:
Timeline and summary of events.
More on Thane
More on the drell
More on the hanar

History:
The drell originate from Rakhana, a stunning example of what not to do when you cultivate a planet. Already a dry, rocky place, the drell overindustrialized and caused a huge population boom; over time, this degenerated into war. They died by the thousands over minuscule amounts of food and water (though desperately trying to keep track of available resources is why they now have photographic memory), and would have easily driven themselves into extinction if left alone.

Thankfully, another race with space-travel came upon this massacre. The hanar— which are physically reminiscent of giant pink jellyfish— decided to take as many drell back with them as possible to Kahje, their homeworld. In the end, this amounted to about 375,000; the other 10 billion drell perished in waves.

The two cultures went hand-in-hand. The hanar were a successful spacefaring (if elusive) race, but being sea-based creatures they were physically unwieldy on other planets. The drell were incredibly thankful to their newfound friends, and were much more capable on land. This lead to a tradition known as the Compact, where drell would enter servitude under the hanar, which is still in practice. While many find this to be eerily similar to slave labor, entering the Compact is done by invitation with no repercussions should it be declined. Drell rarely refuse, as it is seen as a great honor to join. Barring some unavoidable outliers (hanar that view the drell as second-rate citizens, drell that grow fanatical in their service, etc), the drell and hanar still have a respected, symbiotic relationship, and those in the Compact often grow to be close friends.

...But there's one fairly obvious snag. The hanar are ocean-dwellers, and the drell came out of a desert. Though the latter live in climate-controlled cities, the fact that Kahje is 90% water has a few complications. The most unfortunate being Kepral's Syndrome, where the excess humidity causes drell lungs to form lesions and suppress the uptake of oxygen. Eventually this spreads to their other organs while their equivalent of hemoglobin begins to deteriorate. While not contagious, it is fatal, and is still the leading cause of death among drell on Kahje. Regardless, most drell are happy enough to live there, so the rest of the galaxy is fairly unlikely to see them ever.

That all sounds very general: so where does that leave us? Thane Krios was born on Kahje, where he was given to the Compact when he was six. He topped the charts for the hanar's proficiency tests, and his reflexes were literally trained to kill from then on— he would end his first life when he was twelve. For years, this was Thane's life, and having started so young it was all he really knew. Not to imply that the hanar mistreated him; he was, in his own words, both a tool and a person to them. They regretted that the former was a necessity, and appreciated the latter as a friend. Still, he grew up in an odd state of mental detachment— disconnected from reality and the possibility that there was more to the world than what he was given.

The turning point to all this was when, on a routine job, he lines up his spotting laser to take the shot and a bystander steps into the way. A complete stranger to both him and the target, the other drell was fierce in her determination to stop him; and for a moment, he hesitated. In that moment, Thane, predictably, became completely infatuated with this woman: Irikah. Once he found her later, he threw himself at her feet and begged her forgiveness... which she gave, eventually. As most of these stories go, she taught him that there was more to life than his narrow perspective, and they fell in love, later getting married and having a son named Kolyat.

The hanar released him from his compact to raise his family, and that should've been the happy conclusion right there.


Of course, it's not!

Thane, in a mix of wanting to provide for his family and only knowing his work, went to freelancing; as it would turn out, he was one of the best assassins in the entire damn galaxy. From this he made a name for himself, becoming an often-sought man of his profession. Having to roam around several different solar systems for his work and trying to keep his family out of it eventually led to him not being around much at all. As Thane puts it, he abandoned his family, but there was no big explosion or fight or drama. It just grew from a quiet distance and good intentions.

Eventually, he kills the leaders of a batarian slaving ring, and someone somewhere wanted revenge. Disgruntled men connected to the bosses he'd killed went to the Shadow Broker, an infamous information seller/buyer with dirt on basically everyone, and bought Thane's identity. Not wanting to deal with Thane himself, and despite his general precautions to keep his family hidden, they found and killed Irikah instead while he was out on a job (which was basically always).

"When my wife departed from her body, I... attended to that issue."
Thane returned to Kahje for her funeral, stunned. He left Kolyat (who was furious with him for not protecting them) with aunts and uncles, and vanished again. From there, he went and found every last mercenary, slaver, and ringleader behind Irikah's death and killed them; where he was taught mercy and to work without cruelty, he made sure they suffered. He 'cleans house' at the Citadel, and goes on a killing spree on Omega (known as the One-Hour Massacre). It would be the first and only time Thane killed for the sake of his own emotions. Afterwards, he stayed away from his son, not wanting Kolyat to follow his destructive footsteps.

And just to top it all off he's eventually diagnosed with Kepral's Syndrome.

What happens to Thane in the next several years, both pre and post diagnosis, is murky. It's known that he does continue to take contracts, but after his illness he takes them on with decreasing frequency. Burdened by guilt, he begins trying to make the world a better place. But Thane states that his soul was dying all the while, and eventually he just went about life numbly, letting his body do as it wanted while his mind gave up. Eventually, he takes on the job of killing Nassana Dantius; a coldhearted businesswoman who kills all her competitors, protected by flocks of mercenaries. He fully expects to die in the process.

"The measure of an individual can be difficult to discern by actions alone. Take you, for instance. All this destruction— chaos. I was curious to see how far you'd go to find me. Well. Here I am."
In his investigations and efforts to reach the top of the tower Nassana had holed herself up in, he notices something is off. There's another group around the city, looking for him-- and they're racing to get to Nassana themselves. His professional pride on the line and driven by curiosity, he works to get to the target first and kills her while she's in mid-conversation with the other group.

Of course, this turns out to be Commander Shepard (a goddamn space hero and main character of the series) and his crew. He asks him to join him on a mission to stop a race called the Collectors, who are going from system to system abducting entire human colonies. Concerned for said colonists and similarly unconcerned that it's practically a suicide mission, Thane joins along for the ride.

"Kolyat, I've taken many bad things out of the world. You're the only good thing I ever added to it."
Character-important moments in the actual course of the game post-recruitment include his 'loyalty mission.' Through his network, Thane discovers his son accepted an assassination contract. Distressed at how many horrible implications this has, he asks Shepard if they can take a detour to the Citadel, the galactic center for politics and commerce. As they track Kolyat down, it's clear he was hired because he shared his father's name, and that he's basically never committed a crime in his life. When they finally catch up with the younger drell, Shepard makes sure his target makes it out safely. Meanwhile, Thane attempts to talk to his son. He admits that it was his fault that Irikah died, that he should have stayed and taken care of his family, and that Kolyat was the only good thing he's put into the universe. Despite Kolyat's shock and anger at seeing his father again, the two slowly begin to patch up their relationship from there on.

After that, Thane noticeably brightens up, trusting and opening up to Shepard as they continue against the Collectors (aforementioned human colony kidnappers); it's clear that he's completely won his loyalty. He devotes himself to the mission in its entirety, growing to be close personal friends with Shepard as well. At end-game, the Normandy crew finally goes through the Omega-4 relay and fights the Collectors at their own base-- in this particular telling, all of them survive the battle.

Aaaaaand he'll be taken shortly after Shepard blows up said base at the conclusion of Mass Effect 2.

Personality:
Thane was toted around as ‘The Assassin’ for good reason. He’s introduced as a member of a mysterious new race with a gritty voice, clad in entirely black leather, hopping around, taking names and shooting mercs. The crew, the people you meet, your inbox, your secretary— they all press that image on him at every given opportunity.

But that’s about where we can drop the trope. Thane is far from a sociopath, and he has the hanars' impeccably civil approach to others, regardless of who he’s speaking to or how they treat him. He’s well aware that carrying the title of an 'assassin' tends to carry dark implications and even worse reputations, and takes it in stride. In fact, he rarely rises to insults, never uses profanity, and hardly ever works to use words for their venom. When he kills, it's as quickly and painlessly as he can make it, with as many innocent lives spared as possible. It's a jarring contrast to the mercenaries in the rest of the galaxy, who tend to be right in your face and extremely rough around the edges; Thane is distant, rarely showing powerful emotions or letting them influence him, while remaining pleasant and a consummate professional. It's actually kind of astounding how calm Thane is unless you really get to know him/really piss him off.

The next oddity that tends to surprise people is his intense spirituality. Deeply religious, Thane prays before and after nearly ever mission, spending much of his personal time in meditation. Shepard's conversations with Thane are rife with mentions of the soul, morality, and philosophy. While it seems odd for an assassin, it may be more apt to say that drell philosophies can be a little odd, period.

In this way, Thane's personality is invariably linked to his race and culture. The least notable trait is that the drell are exceptionally good at blending in; having to communicate with a race that speaks in such a way they can't see (bioluminescence) and that literally has the body language equivalent of a jellyfish, they tend to suffer very little culture shock and learn to read a stranger's body language quickly. Thane exemplifies this to a T, generally being more curious and morally relative than the rest of the crew.

On the note of morality, most drell are much more literal in the concept of a spirit— to Thane, the body and the soul are two separate entities attempting to work in harmony. In this, he feels no guilt over his contracts, because he views his body as a weapon. The person at fault is his employer, much like blaming a shooter instead of his gun. While Thane is nice enough outside of his job, this lack of remorse is a reminder that he can still be a stone-cold killer when the situation calls for it.

Moving on, the drell have eidetic memory; they remember every detail of their life with perfect clarity and all sensory input at the time. Which is a blessing for obvious reasons. It is also a huge influence on Thane’s success as an assassin, as he relives every hit and every mistake several times over. However, it can be difficult to control, and makes negative emotions practically impossible to relinquish; Thane can be both a little too introspective and broody when he’s upset. There's also an interesting dichotomy between this and the drell idea of mind vs. shell, as being unable to forget everyone he's ever killed slowly grows to be a heavier burden that his soul-body isolation can't totally solve.

Finally, there’s Kepral’s Syndrome. Thane’s mental current state is in large part due to his disability; he adopted a fatalistic view on his body’s lifespan, but tries to do ‘good’ things before he dies. He’s (usually) very accepting and eerily calm about his own death, to the point that he had taken on a suicide mission before Shepard came along (in which he then agreed to another one...). While the thought of death does eat away at him at some level, he hates that it still gets under his skin, and tends to downplay it as much as possible when speaking to others. He genuinely tends to come across as serene in his best moments, and almost self-destructively apathetic at his worst.

In terms of actual interpersonal skills, there’s the aforementioned politeness and patience, which makes him easy to talk to. However, within Shepard’s crew Thane is one of the absolute worst at actually getting out and socializing (which is impressive). This is partly because if he isn't praying, he’s meditating. And if he’s not meditating, he’s exercising. Or reading. Or some other very solitary activity. Usually the picture of grace, the easiest way to trip Thane up is to ask him deeply personal questions— he turns evasive, and on occasion, downright awkward. The man rarely gives anyone the opportunity to get past that initial phase of cool civility. For example, Shepard is the first friend he’s made in a decade, and even then Thane still finds it difficult to ask for his help. Thus, while he certainly doesn't hate the people on the Normandy, Thane is largely a product of his upbringing: he doesn't even eat with the crew because having his back exposed around that many people makes him uncomfortable. While he’s slowly beginning to accept having others to fight with, the transition from being a lone wolf to a team player is strange (but not unpleasant) to him.

Once he actually connects with someone, Thane does lighten up. And he tends to be a loyal and actively caring friend. In the gap between games 2 and 3, Thane tries to keep in touch with Shepard, and is clearly concerned for the commander in his correspondence. There's a selfless streak to him; he would literally pick himself up off his deathbed to help those he cares for, and use his last words to pray for someone else's well-being.

What's most tragic about Thane might be that for someone who is so bad at connecting to others or knowing what to do besides kill people, he is this sort of warm, generous individual at heart. He's a romantic and intellectual who does what he does is in hopes of leaving the world a better place. Due to his reserved personality, it's easiest to see his more sensitive side with a female Shepard romancing him. He finally opens up to her, showing that he does feel a great deal of emotion and some degree of distaste towards himself— he just never shows it off. Furthermore, if you break up with him for Kaidan, another primary love interest, when they’re both in the hospital (classy I know) he’ll promise to look after the other man while he's recovering. Rejecting him period will lead to respectful understanding and similar kindness. For Thane, loving someone means making sure they're safe and happy, even if it doesn't necessarily mean it's with him. He used the same logic with his son, where he would rather have Kolyat hate him than be around and be a terrible role model (though both Shepard and Thane can see this as just him trying to justify why he ran out on his family). Generally a class-act, he does tend to put his health and happiness on the lowest rung of the ladder; it’s always taking care of others, the mission, whatever.

That being said, Thane’s love for Irikah was overshadowed by his job, and he was undeniably an awful father. Why? Partly because he's a workaholic, partly because he avoids personal situations and problems rather than dealing with them, but he also doesn't have the most well-balanced personality when all is said and done. He's a mess of contradictions. Humble at first glance, but driven by pride. Responsible for every sin and mishap in his life... except for all the murdering. Warm and genuinely well-meaning and somehow excessively distant. Also, while Thane is level-headed and cool 99% of the time, his anger is that much more awful. Unsurprisingly, the game doesn't actually show him losing his temper (closest show being him punching a table), but his wife's death sent him over the edge. He hunted down and murdered all of Irikah's killers, making sure they suffered, before he basically went into hyper-recluse mode for a decade. He had given up on life, and his soul shut down while his body went on assassin autopilot. He retreats back to this if you fail his loyalty mission, in which we see the worst side of him: an exceptionally bitter, inconsolable man who's cynical to the point of hopelessness, focused solely on the mission at hand. Furthermore, he knows little about life besides his job, so even though he truly did love his family he was just. Not around. It wasn't a lifestyle they supported, but it was also the only one he really knew how to live. One of his greatest character conflicts is his inability to allow others into his head, and he's abandoned people because of it. His illness and battered relationship with his son, sadly, does improve this a little, but he's still got his flaws.

Also I have made this way too broody, so on a lighter note Thane does have a sense of humor. It's not to the level of spouting out one-liners forever, but however subtle, it's there! He's also been encouraged by Shepard to interact with others more, and recognizes that he tends to isolate himself by accident, so he should be capable of forming meaningful connections with people if he wants to. In Mass Effect 3, he reaches a state of true peace and contentment after he stops trekking around the galaxy with Shepard and spending several months with his son, but that's not likely to happen without Kolyat around.

Abilities, Weaknesses and Power Limitations:

”The way he moved... one was dead before they even knew he was there. He snapped another's neck, then shot a third, all in the space of a few heartbeats. It was incredible. He moved like a dancer, grace and power in constant motion.”
Thane was recruited as one of the best assassins in the galaxy (or the best, depending on who you ask), and as such he has all the tools of a great infiltrator (finding security gaps, physical weak spots, strong underground connections, etc). Strength-wise, he’s comparable to a larger, human soldier (drell muscles are denser, hence why he’s tougher and heavier than he looks), but in the end he's all about finesse. He moves in silence, and is economical in his actions, knowing from experience exactly how to get in, snap necks, and get out. As a sidenote, apparently Thane is really dramatic (‘aesthetic perfection,’ as the game puts it) to watch in action and you get a weird e-mail about how inspiring he is from a salarian fanboy because why not.

While he prefers short-range weaponry and hand-to-hand combat, he’s also an exceptional marksman and proficient at biotics: the use of mass effect fields to manipulate matter. What mass effect fields really are is left a little vague, but the jist of it is that they increase/decrease mass content of space-time. While not as ridiculous as some other races, he can use these powers to take down barrier defenses and get in on a target, move objects/people, form small protective bubbles, etc. He also has the ability Warp, which generates unstable mass effect fields around a target and shreds it/weakens its structural integrity. This isn't as hugely destructive as it sounds (you never see someone get 'shredded' in canon), but it's damaging (and very flashy!).

All this being said, Thane is no longer in his prime due to having the alien equivalent to cystic fibrosis. While he presently functions without much issue, the disease is terminal, and any injury/sickness can rapidly deteriorate his condition. As months go on in the story, Kepral’s Syndrome basically confines Thane to a hospital for daily medical treatment; within a year he still has all his technique, but his body just can’t keep up with it anymore. Additionally, while Thane is noted to be exceptionally good at violence, he lacks practical skills; due to his upbringing, he struggles to adjust to anything more 'normal' long enough to make a lifestyle out of it. And there's nothing supernatural to note about him; enough mortal injury to do in a normal human can be expected to kill him too.

Other random tidbits include being able to see ultraviolet light and photographic memory.

Inventory:

- his default outfit
- a handgun (more specifically, the M-5 Phalanx)
- an omni-tool
- a small video-hologram disk
- a plain white coffee mug

Appearance:
Drell were designed with a bizarre set of bird and lizard features in mind. His overall appearance is very obviously reptilian, complete with varying-shades-of-green scales, two sets of eyelids, and partially webbed fingers. His eyes are seemingly pitch black, but in the right lighting he does have visible irises. In terms of attire, he seems to prefer tight-fitting, unobstructing clothes aka a trenchcoat-suit hybrid. He also commonly wears a necklace, or 'earrings' (as his face frills are pierced). His collar is always popped, and sometimes he rocks really dumb sunglasses.

No one ever gets a height in Mass Effect because that would be too easy, but he's shorter and slighter than a male Shepard, which would probably put him a little under 6'? He's in-shape, but wiry, especially compared to the team beefcakes (AKA most of the other males).



Age: 39

AU Clarification:
Thane spent several months in a city named Abax (abaxcity), which served as a dimensional nexus and had alternate universe shenanigans as well; he's already accustomed to people he knows experiencing different pasts or being dragged back from the future, as well as bizarre, supernatural elements from other worlds.

As for the setting itself, Abax is an extremely low-tech world in comparison to what he's used to, and he's effectively lived under regular, supernatural duress without sunlight or electricity for about half a year. He'll be a little thinner and worn around the edges, but as a character he'll most certainly still be Thane. In terms of medical progress, he's not on the throes of death or anything, but he's in worse shape since the canon point he was originally drawn from and will certainly feel it if he overextends himself (where it was hardly seen affecting him at all in-game pre-ME3). { on a bit of an ooc note, I saw the mod response to the last Thane's question of how Kepral's would progress, and I'm assuming that's what I should roll with? Feel free to yell at me if this isn't the case!! }

In terms of game events, he was rattled once by a siren imitating his wife, and generally doesn't make a point to talk about it. Otherwise, he was usually on the less dramatically affected side of plots; going into Hell to drag his friends out, rather than being stuck there himself, etc., usually dealing with the emotional aftermath. Maybe because of that, he's kind of gotten used to people coming to him to unload inane personal matters. Which is strange to him, but he's a good listener.

Despite how generally shitty the situation was, Thane made a good number of friends (though I'll tone down/ignore previous CR unless I'm sure the player I'm tagging is okay with it!); he didn't grow to the point of being particularly open about himself, but he did reach out to people and try to help them when he could. So he's marginally less awful at personal relations then he was before! He also grew very close to both a male and female Shepard, so he'll recognize either. Overall, he's worn past some of the initial reluctance of interacting with other people, but all of his character flaws are certainly still in-tact.

Also! Mass Effect itself tends to have a ton of AU situations, as players decide the game's events themselves. To keep it simple, Thane's Shepard was a male vanguard who completed every mission and side-mission, and made exclusively Paragon decisions. Simple stuff.

S A M P L E S
Log Sample:
The word 'reckless' usually brings to mind youth; too much fire and energy and will and not enough direction. Thane considers for a moment that none of that ever really applied to him. Brash assassins had pitifully short lifespans, and the hanar had always praised how measured he was. The drell never charged in unprepared, never ran into a job blind. At times he'd have to be a little creative, and not everything always went as planned, but all-in-all structure and safety were comfortable places to be.

Still, as he walks across the huge, plush office, Thane knows he's being stupid. It wasn't the loud, obnoxious flailing that usually went with the word, but it was reckless nonetheless. His steps are soundless, deliberately and unusually slow. At this point he should be crawling through the ducts, making his way out before security even knew anything had happened. There's a cold, unpleasant pressure in his chest, heart a beat faster than it should be— his body knows better than to linger at the scene of his crimes. Confidence was a boon, but arrogance is a mistake you don't get to make twice. So he finds it difficult to move in the direction he wants, and there's a half-hearted wonder for when his physical self had taken priority in his existence.

He gingerly avoids the dead guards about the floor, hardly giving the dead businessman seated at the central desk a second look. It's all committed to his memories anyway; he'd review later. Optimize. Rewind, run through it one more time for good measure. Double-check his equipment. Arrange a meeting with the doctor. Schedule to phone Kolyat, then schedule something (anything) else. Time would free up (too much; he'd start thinking too much), and he'd take on his next contract when his fingers started to itch from idleness. He shouldn't think anything of his targets, but lately he only takes on the corrupt, the 'bad.' It comforts him in a way that shouldn't.

Rinse, repeat.

But for now, his mind is occupied by business much more important than the future; far too sentimental things, like how this was clearly the lair of a man who'd spent too much time thinking about money and business to remember much else.

As though you are a fair judge, his own thoughts chide.

Finally, he reaches the window that spans the back wall of the office. He looks out over the city— watches the streaks of late-night flying car headlights, the thousands of holo-ads flickering in a glorious range of neon, the few bright stars that stab through the smog, and he remembers seeing such things countless times in countless places in passing, but—

His expression softens. It was a lovely view.

Comms Sample:
[ looks like some bizarre alien guy got into your gardens, Tranquility. given the circumstances, he looks pretty calm— and from the tiny, almost birdlike headtilt as he looks up at the sprawling flora, sort of enamored with the place.

it's only a moment before he speaks, voice even scratchier than usual, which makes it sound like he's been gargling gravel or something. ] I've never seen so much foliage aboard a ship. It's quite beautiful.

—Ah. [ his eyes flit back to the phone ] Forgive me, I don't mean to waste anyone's time. I'm looking for directions to whatever library— or libraries, perhaps— are available. [ a beat; his tone is even, if slightly guarded. ] And the last records of one Commander Shepard.

Thank you.

[ he ends the feed with a polite little bow. ]