Best in the Business

I'm the best thief in the business, not the most famous. Need to watch my step to keep it that way. (Part of this closed RP group) (Sidebar im)age and icon resized picture from Mass Effect Caps. Background is "Children of Chimera from here.

[mishikaiya]

All but one person in my facebook friends day video are people from MERP. I’m not posting it but I just wanted to thank you all. Love you.

[memorystealer]

I know we're not active right now but I wanted to share this from my personal anyway.

[cerigg]

a Kasumi from in between commissions!

[memorystealer]

hi, im fairly new to the ME rp scene but i read your starter. you had shep as a girl in your descriptions, would you have any issue if i replied to your starter as my male shep? or were you looking for a girl shep to talk to

((I'm part of a closed, established rp already at meroleplay.tumblr.com))

[memorystealer]

Kasumi kept to herself as she filed out of the room to return to port observation. As she passed Shepard, she stopped to look straight at her. It was her way of letting the commander know that if she wanted to talk she knew where to find the observant thief. Briefly, she considered placing her hand on Shepard’s shoulder in solidarity, but a gesture like that wasn't something Kasumi was willing to do in front of the rest of the crew. She felt it would undermine Shepard’s presence in this instance. The commander was a unique individual. She carried in her bones a strength the likes of which could not be replicated. Undeniable. Unyielding. The thief refused to disrespect that strength and so she carried on after exchanging a look with Shepard, back to her room to mull over her own thoughts on the future.

[janeshepard-]

Shepard’s jaw tightened. “The Alliance’s official position is that the Reapers don’t exist. The artifact the team found in the Bahak system should have been used to prove that they do, but now all they have is reports of me going in to a batarian system and three days later eradicating it from existence. That doesn’t exactly look good.”

And no matter what other things had happened - no matter if the Alliance had declared her MIA and elected not to extract her from Cerberus when they found out she was back, no matter if she was facing a court-martial - Shepard was still a soldier and the military had been her everything ever since she was sixteen and sat on her first shuttle, being shipped offworld from Mindoir. Was she tempted to take her ship and hide somewhere in a remote system? Absolutely. But that wouldn’t keep the galaxy from being torn apart.

“We’re on borrowed time. What we need is to convince the Alliance, as well as every other major military force and eventually the Council, that the threat we’re facing is real and imminent. Right now that involves me going to Earth whether I want to or not.”

[memorystealer]

Kasumi had kept a stoic face through it all, eyes glancing about her crew members. But as Shepard spoke, Kasumi felt dread inside. The Reaper threat was something she liked to keep at the back of her mind, as much as that was possible on the Normandy. The thief preferred to take things one at a time when those things held the kind of gravity the Reapers did. Batarians were no one's favorite race but for so many to be sacrificed already...There was so little time left and Kasumi wanted to run scared. But there was no place to hide. All her skills, all her tech now useless against this foe. Had she not lost enough? Hadn't everyone in this room?

No witty quip rested on Kasumi's lips, no smirk. Nothing was going to break the tension here. And so she kept her mouth shut and glanced at Shepard. This woman had helped Kasumi when she had most needed it and in turn, the thief had opened up to her. But soon would come the moment when she would abandon the commander to save her own skin and she felt a pang of shame for her future self.

[scientistsalariansolus]

Mordin heard the ping, but, with hands occupied by a delicate reagent, ignored it for the moment. Three seconds, at most. 

One. Two drops of volatile poison. 

One point two seven. Noxious gas contained under fume hood.

Two. Replace beaker.

Two point five three. Sample infused into omni-gel. 

Two point eight one. Observe.

Two point nine five. Seal fume hood. 

Three. The Salarian flicks open his omni-tool, eyes dancing across the text. 

He swipes a quick affirmative and keys shorthand notes regarding this step in the experiment as he heads toward the CIC, humming under his breath.

Upon arrival, he smiles brightly—absently—at those few assembled, but returns his attention to the notes. Close. Very close. 

[memorystealer]

Kasumi had been staring at the page in her book for far longer than she cared to count. Her thoughts were far too occupied with what had been going on with Shepard to allow the thief to lose herself in far off tales. When her omni-tool alerted her to the message, Kasumi breathed out a sigh she didn't know she'd been holding. News was finally reaching her. Not that she hadn't been able to glean some from their current situation, but in this instance, she'd rather have first-hand details from the commander.

The thief, closed the book, placing it back on her shelf before leaving her room and making her way to the comm room. Once there, she settled herself in a corner, glancing at the others. A quip played at her lips but perhaps this situation was a little too delicate. The tension was palpable already and she'd spent plenty of time wondering just how quickly she might have to abandon the Normandy once Shepard had returned. Kasumi bit the inside of her lip in anticipation, glancing around the room another time.

[memorystealer]

((Like Shepard, I have created an about me page and linked my personal to it.))

[janeshepard-]

[memorystealer]

Kasumi listened to the chatter on the comms and briefly considered stepping onto Omega, hacking some systems, but it seemed their current team set-up would be more than enough to find the information needed to bring their commander back.

She looked over to Joker, the book still on her omni-tool. "What do you do to keep yourself busy when the team doesn't need you to fly the ship anyway? What's fun up here?"

[helmsmanmoreau]

"Well, I guess Wrex had enough to shoot at to not use our resident robot as target practise. So you’re winning that one, unless you wanna keep going and see what happens on Omega?" Joker replied with his hands running over the consoles, firing up the engines again and starting procedures to undock from the other ship.

He threw a quick look over his shoulder to see who had made it back so far and found Legion right at his side. “Should be a good 40 minutes back to the relay and then ten to fifteen until we’re docked. Depends on how much-” A quick beep from his omni-tool interrupted his estimates and he saw the coordinates of a certain dock pop up. “Fifteen it is. Thanks Liara,” he threw over his shoulder.

"EDI, shut the airlock as soon as everyone’s back and sever the connection to the other ship!" he instructed the AI and started typing a message on his omni-tool.

TO: ASHLEY WILLIAMS

FROM: JEFF “JOKER” MOREAU SUBJECT: CHANGE OF PLANS

We’ve found coordinates to a dock on Omega that we’re going to check out. We can’t risk losing more time, so if still wanna do this, I’d suggest you head there and join us when we arrive.

-J

[1 attachment - coord24.cdt]

[memorystealer]

"I will take that offer," the resident thief replied with a smile. "No sense in quitting now that Omega is on the table."

Kasumi pushed back into her chair and fiddled with her omni-tool, bringing up the latest novel she was reading. There was time to pass while en route and nothing more interesting was presenting itself for the moment.

[notastylishly]

Garrus settled back on to one leg once he heard the news, stitching his arms over his chest. “So our friends are tearing the ship’s automated defenses a new one. Got it.”

Maybe he was still riding the high after having not just survived the Collectors, but having outright defeated them; like they were granted some sort of temporary immunity by some greater power. Maybe it was just an ego thing. There was no excuse good enough for them to let their guard down, after all. He was far from being at ease, but also far from feeling that knot of dread in his stomach. The mention of Omega turned that around, though, and his brow crinkled as he felt something tighten in his chest.

"Always Omega," he tsked, his casual tone belying his expression. "Why can’t the bad guys ever hide away at a five star resort? You know, somewhere nice and sunny." 

[helmsmanmoreau]

"Bet is bet. You’ll get your damned credits," Joker grumbled. He already owed her an explanation for last night, so he wasn’t going to put more on his tab. All the jesting was certainly fun, but they’d have to talk about it at some point and for once Joker wasn’t really sure what he was going to say.

His thoughts were quickly interrupted by Liara’s transmission. Turning around to Garrus, he nodded. “Exactly! And when they do for once, none of us can come along, right Kasumi? Heard Bekenstein is supposed to be quite lovely this time of the year.”

As Miranda ended the conversation over the comm for now, he threw a quick glance at the time. Couldn’t be much longer until Ashley arrived, well good thing they had been successful so far. A positive attitude would surely be of help… Well, as positive as it could be considering the reason they were here in the first place. With this in mind he returned his attention to his consoles and started plotting a course to Omega, while keeping an eye on the external sensors.

[memorystealer]

"Bekenstein is supposed to be lovely any time of year, "she quipped as she rolled her eyes. "Besides, who else but Shep would have been willing to go on that mission convincingly in formal wear?" And who else would I have trusted with the reason we were there? she thought. Kasumi was close enough to some of the crew that she let the gray box information go semi-public on the Normandy but back then no one but Shepard was worth telling. Thinking about Bekenstein and the gray box had Kasumi's brain ready to spiral with thoughts of Keiji and then the night before.

Quickly, Kasumi returned to the conversation. "I didn't hear much complaining from the infamous Wrex. So I guess you get some credits too."

[memorystealer]

Legion came through on the comm just as Garrus walked up.

"There are numerous variables to consider. We agree with Kasumi Goto, however. Evidence that Shepard-Commander was present and with another human is preferable to an absence of such. It narrows our search parameters and raises several additional questions."

Kasumi pointed a finger at Joker, “Hah! You heard it straight from the walking computer. It’s only logical.” Turning towards Garrus, Kasumi answered. “No, the ground team is making easy work of some mechs.”

Then Thane’s discovery came through.

“Normandy, did you get that?”

The thief whispered to Joker, “You should probably get that.”

[helmsmanmoreau]

"Damn it," the pilot cursed. "Yeah, yeah, alright. You win this one, " he replied reluctantly. As he heard the approaching footsteps, he looked over his shoulder to see the newcomer. "Nothing they couldn’t handle."

When he finally heard Thane’s voice over the comm, Joker let out a little sigh at having given up so easily, but was also relieved that they were finally making actual progress.

"Yes, we heard you loud and clear! Grab what logs you can find and we’ll see what EDI can make of it once you get back here. Good job, guys!"

[memorystealer]

"I almost don't want the credits. Your admittance of defeat is almost as sweet as the addition to my bank account," the thief teased.

When the information from Liara reached her omni-tool, Kasumi scanned it real quick before commenting, "Back to Omega, huh? Should be a fun trip, don't you think?" she asked to anyone close enough to answer.

[yukaryote]

Kasumi Goto a la Art Nouveau.

Commission for the lovely mishikaiya! My eternal apologies for being so frakking slow about it.

BUT, thank you X10000 for commissioning this, because it’s definitely the most intensive, extensive work I’ve ever done, and I think I’ve come out a better artist on the other side.

<3

[memorystealer]

Legion came through on the comm just as Garrus walked up.

"There are numerous variables to consider. We agree with Kasumi Goto, however. Evidence that Shepard-Commander was present and with another human is preferable to an absence of such. It narrows our search parameters and raises several additional questions."

Kasumi pointed a finger at Joker, "Hah! You heard it straight from the walking computer. It's only logical." Turning towards Garrus, Kasumi answered. "No, the ground team is making easy work of some mechs."

Then Thane's discovery came through.

“Normandy, did you get that?”

The thief whispered to Joker, "You should probably get that."

[memorystealer]

"Consider it done," the thief smiled at Gabby. "We all," she hesitated, "have a vested interest and bring Shep back." Kasumi made direct eye contact with Gabby from under her hood, hoping it would help reassure her.

Still waiting on Joker’s reply, Kasumi squinched her face and directed it at the pilot, seeking a reaction.

[helmsmanmoreau]

"Oh, come on! All the evidence was already pointing towards this one ship. The chance she hadn’t been on it was so slim that not one of us stayed behind on the Citadel in case we had been wrong." That had been quite a bad idea, now that he thought about it.

He looked towards Gabby. “That’s the kind of important I was talking about.”

Silently he hoped for Wrex to make some sort of big announcement soon, but so far the second team had remaind rather silent.

[memorystealer]

Joker always brought out Kasumi's most exaggerated eye rolls and now was no exception. "I take it you would like to wait until the ground teams are finished scouting to tally the results?"

She didn't mind, of course. The fun was in the game, not the credits. Getting a rise out of Joker could be easy if one practiced and the thief intended to do just that. It proved a useful distraction from the serious air on the ship. And from what happened after the party. She had almost forgotten. Was that a talk she needed to have with him? Did she still have her own thoughts to sort out? Maybe. But not now. For now, she was going to keep distracting herself.

[gabbydaniels-blog]

"Oh, right," Gabby sputtered. "Yeah, request approved. I was just double checking."

Kasumi and Joker then bantered for a while, their easy humor belying the tense situation they were in. Gabby found it comforting. At a time like this, anxiety could lead to sloppy mistakes. Lifting the mood was important.

She frowned as a thought occurred to her.

"Hey, Kasumi, could you let me know what the ground team finds on the ship’s computer? If Shepard and Castro aren’t on the ship now, they had to leave somehow. A shuttle, or another ship, or something. A record of the departure should be stored in the system. Probably encrypted, but Legion might be able to handle it."

[memorystealer]

"Consider it done," the thief smiled at Gabby. "We all," she hesitated, "have a vested interest and bring Shep back." Kasumi made direct eye contact with Gabby from under her hood, hoping it would help reassure her.

Still waiting on Joker's reply, Kasumi squinched her face and directed it at the pilot, seeking a reaction.

[memorystealer]

Kasumi turned her attention from Gabby to Joker with a sly grin. “Tell you what. If you can sufficiently argue that DNA proving Shepard was on that ship isn’t useful, I’ll let you take this one.”

[helmsmanmoreau]

"Well, we all know that Shepard was definitely not on the Citadel anymore, last time we checked, otherwise you or EDI would have found her. So she must have left on a ship of some sort. According to our resident AI this ship was docked close to the party and it left shortly after the Commander was taken. She also didn’t find anything suspicious about any other ships that left the Citadel during that time frame, so I’d say Shepard having been aboard this thing was pretty much a given."

Feeling pretty good about his argument, Joker threw her a satisfied grin.

[memorystealer]

"Alright. So, then, hypothetically, if we didn't find any confirmation that Shepard or Castro had been on this ship, we would have to retrace our steps. Therefore, finding proof Shepard had been on this particular ship was quite useful."

Kasumi threw him her own grin, "Care to try again?"