Alice Morgan (onlypractically) wrote in valarlogs, @ 2013-09-18 02:16:00 |
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Entry tags: | !complete, alice morgan, commander tyra shepard |
Who: Alice Morgan & Commander Shepard
What: Face-off
When: 9/16
Where: Department store in Santa Ana
Rating: PG
Status: Complete
After the weekend she’d had with Raven and her odd doppelganger, Alice had wanted a bit of retail therapy. She’d done her best to get the blood out from under her fingernails, and now she was looking for a few things to liven up the next couple of nights. And a new black dress, for the stupid coworker she’d told Raven about. She’d need it later.
Shepard was glad to be out and about, and had stopped in a store to pick up something before having lunch with a friend. She wasn’t sure just who the outfit would be for and wouldn’t admit it to herself, let alone anyone else. It might even be a dress. Yes, folks, Shepard could wear a dress. Awkwardly, but she could wear it.
Alice was looking in her size, fingers idly dancing over the racks like a lizard running on water. She only looked up from the options when she saw another hand. “Oops. Pardon.”
"Sorry," the purple haired woman said. "Just a little distracted." She glanced at Alice, and something made her feel a little wary.
“I love your hair, if it isn’t fresh to say.” Alice was even being serious; she wouldn’t have been able to pull off such a shade, but on this woman it suited very well.
“Thanks.” Shepard relaxed and gave her a warm smile. “Some people weren’t too thrilled with it, but their opinions don’t matter anymore.”
“Stupid people’s opinions never do.” Alice chuckled. “You do appear to be a grown woman, capable of self-determination.”
“You don’t know the half of it,” she replied, holding out her hand. Her arms were well built and the military style tattoos on her biceps and shoulders peeked out from under the cloth of her shirt.
“Tell me.” Alice was curious about people, especially those who wore their competence on their sleeves.
“I’ve had people under my command. I know when it’s time to be serious, and when it’s time to be silly. I dyed my hair because it was a little dose of controlled crazy, when I needed control in my life.”
“Stands to reason.” Alice said. “Interesting that you’re in the military. Or were.” She had used the past tense. “Military people tend to be control freaks. Or have none at all. There doesn’t seem to be a middle ground.”
“Depends on the role.” She rolled her shoulders, studying the other woman. Alice seemed dangerous - the sort of dangerous that reminded her of Zaeed, and would have been a recruit.
No, not Zaeed. Morinth.
“Command requires a bit of insanity, I would imagine.” Alice laughed, a tinkling, socialite’s expression of amusement. She could feel that this woman was wary; they were not from the same world. “I tend to be more of a lone wolf myself, I’m afraid.”
“I’ve encountered plenty of those. Under the right circumstances, a lone wolf can join a pack.” She smiled the confident smile of the Alpha Bitch.
“Uh oh. Are you the forceful sort?” Alice laughed. “I mean, I’m English, I can’t be in your armed forces or what have you, but were I in the market, I might listen to you.” She liked teasing, and she also liked to see what people did when she teased them. “The only team I’d ever really be inclined to join would be a wholly illegal one.”
She clapped Alice on the shoulder. “Oh, where I come from, allegiance doesn’t really matter, not in the face of a common goal.” Illegal one, hmm? Shepard decided to pry. “What sort of illegal team?”
“Oh, I didn’t have anything in mind.” And she really hadn’t. “I just meant that I’m not really one to join up in the service of something. I fly better under the radar.” Interesting. Best not give this one her name. “What, are you in law enforcement now or some such?”
“Kind of an independent organization, really. Just me and some old friends that respond when things got a little crazy here.” Which was only a half-truth.
Best to shy away. “That must be handy. Especially with all the lunacy that goes on.”
“Yeah, I get some workouts.” Shepard raised her eyebrows at the other woman.
“Were you here when the Las Vegas affair happened? I heard about it; I was living in New York at the time.” Alice tried to sound innocent.
“You could say that,” Shepard replied. There was the sort of darkness in her eyes that spoke volumes of the things she’d seen. They were hard. Any killer would recognize it. “We’re still dealing with the fallout.”
Alice, in that moment, could smell her own. “You committed a lot of murder, didn’t you.” It wasn’t judging, just inquiring. “I know it’s still essentially a wasteland.”
She narrowed her eyes. “I was a marine. It’s kind of part of the job description.” She wasn’t going to say anything about Vegas until Alice tipped her hand.
“I have intimate experience with the aftereffects of traumatic events,” Alice explained. That was sufficiently vague enough, and really, it wasn’t a lie. “I’m sorry to be so pushy. I tend to come on a bit strong when I hear something that fits into my field.”
“What’s your field?” She asked, trying to push into Alice’s territory instead of her own. She could be pushy too, and she wanted to see if she could get this woman off balance. She took it as a personal challenge.
“Crisis and trauma management.” Alice lied swiftly. “Seeing how people respond to horrors and how they cope afterward.” She did have enough psychological understanding to fake it. And she did rather enjoy watching people when they imagined no one was looking.
“Right,” Shepard replied. Alice sounded like she might have been right at home as a Cerberus operative, and she couldn’t shake the feeling there was something lurking in the darkness. “OC might just be the place for you. Have you talked to any Vegas survivors?”
“Yes, a few so far.” Alice looked suitably grave. “I honestly don’t know how some of them are going to handle it. Obviously, I’m sure, being military you’re all too aware of how quickly PTSD can come on.” She was only half baiting the woman; she’d seen her own brother turn into a bloody alcoholic after he began to feel remorse over their parents. It hadn’t been pretty.
“Anyone and everyone can be affected by it. Sometimes years later, when you least expect it.” There were still days when Shepard felt like she was a ghost walking through a devastated wasteland, and everyone around her were moving corpses superimposed on a destroyed landscape.
“Yes, of course.” Alice shook her head, calling up her own memories. “The trick that I’ve found is to make the person aware that they are in fact anchored to reality. Easier said than done, of course.” The more someone was aware that they were real, that everything around them was real, it was easy to manipulate the situation as she saw fit. Reality could bring extreme joy or terror, after all.
"Harder to do in the Orange County, where reality tends to split itself into different images. Different versions of yourself." She folded her arms. It wasn't defensive, but casual.
“Have the different parts of ourselves begun to split?” Alice actually looked confused for a moment. That would explain the odd encounter with her annoying doppelganger.
“I’ve heard some things about that. I don’t really know. But there’s me, and there’s the woman I dream about, and I don’t always know which reality I’m anchored in anymore.” She gestured around. “This one, or the other one.”
“Oh, the dreams.” Alice shrugged. “I’ve dreamed of things very similar to my own life. My parents died when I was at university - home invasion - and the same thing happened in my dreams. Nothing much has changed. I almost would rather some mad dreams about pirate ships or superpowers.”
“Trade you,” Shepard replied, not missing a beat. That hardness had returned to her eyes. Like she’d seen into complete darkness and somehow come out of it alive. Her parent’s lives for a galaxy? That was a trade Shepard would make, as harsh as it sounded.
Alice hadn’t expected that, honestly. “I didn’t feel that way about my parents,” she said carefully. “Obviously, a home invasion was traumatic, but we simply weren’t close. I would prefer a better life now.”
“No, I love my parents. But sometimes you have to make hard choices.” She shrugged a shoulder. “My dreams are just that bad.”
“My sympathies.” Alice shook her head. “My name is Irene, by the way. I’m sorry.” She smiled, sticking out a hand, curious to see if the woman would take it.
“Shepard.” She took Irene’s hand and squeezed it, like she was greeting another soldier.
In essence, she was. Alice refused to live like a civilian. She wasn’t stupid enough. “I’m sure I’ll see you around. Is it ... Captain? Major?” Some high rank. This woman moved too awkwardly as a civilian.
“Depends. Commander. Grand Saviour Lady of the Galaxy.” She flashed Alice a grin. “Major in this life. Roughly the same as Commander in my other.”
Alice raised an eyebrow. “Grand Saviour of the Galaxy.” It sounded like something out of a science fiction film. “Well, that’s certainly something to put on one’s resume.”
“Lets just say I earned my retirement.” She felt a terrible pang in her chest, thinking of Liara and their half-dozen children.
“Clearly.” Alice sketched a salute that might have been mocking or just jolly. “I’ll stick with Commander, if you don’t mind. But it’s been nice to meet you; I should likely stop taking up your time.”
“All the time in the world, Irene.” She said, turning towards the dresses again. “All the time in the world.”