pathfinder.

selective and indie pathfinder from mass effect: andromeda. est: december 2016.

[roadsonward]

MENDACITOR:

     Reyes laughs, crossing his legs.

     ❝I think we’ve all slept through a few birthdays by this point, don’y you think?❞

     ❝But try not to let that color your perception of me. It’s not a habit. I like to give gifts. Especially to friends who deserve them. Hence, the whiskey I shared with you.❞

     He grins.

    “ We’d all be in a hell of a lot of trouble if our friends charged birthday interest. ”

    “ I’ll keep that in mind. I don’t mind handing out the occasional friendship bracelet myself. I have a feeling that’s about to become literal. What else do you get the guy who can find anything all on his own? That’s kinda cheating. ”

[roadsonward]

THREELIMIT:

    Ryder’s cheating. And oh, how Reyes approves of it. If he had biotics, he’d easily be doing the exact same thing.

    It’s more difficult than it looks to find a flat, smooth rock. Most of Kadara is pockmarked from corrosion of the water. To think that the angaran once came here before the water filters in the port were in place makes Reyes’ stomach churn just a little. The last way he wants to go out is from his insides melting. He bends, picking up a suitable candidate.

    Reyes tests his arm in a dramatic fashion and closes one eye as if it’ll improve his aim. When the rock flies from his grip, there’s no blue of biotics to help him along. It skips once, twice, a third time before disappearing beneath the deep blue of the water with a disappointed splash.

    “Don’t worry, I’ll hold you to it for when we can,” he says, turning back to Ryder.

    “ Uh huh. We’ll see when we get there. ”

    Ryder hangs back just enough to give him room to pull back, get a good angle, and let the stone fly. It isn’t long before the toxic surface claims the better of it, disappearing and dissolving beneath the murky surface. She lets out a low, impressed whistle.

    “ Not bad, but you can do better. Go ahead, skip my turn. ”

    And not at all because Ryder’s going to cheat for him. Nope. Except that’s exactly why.

    She sifts through the fragments on the shore, careful to keep away from anything that recently touches the water, and hands him off something she’s fairly certain isn’t going to eat through his hand, as flat a chunk of rock as they’re going to find.

    “ All yours. ”

[roadsonward]

WARISANART:

“Earth,” she said, because she would deny that, never deny calling earth a piece of her, that birthplace of humanity, of herself, that planet that she had gone to hell and back to defend, through life and death. “Never really lived on a colony.” After she had gotten off earth, she had been with the Alliance, never really staying in one place for very long. Longest she had been somewhere was in the Lazarus Research Station. She nodded slowly, thoughtful as she considered her time spent there. “I saw Cristo Redentor.” The statue up on high; Christ the Redeemer. Then, she had become humanity’s saviour. Perhaps she shouldn’t have revealed that… more information made things more complicated, but she wanted Ryder to know that she understood her home, even a little. “Do you miss it?” She asked, but from the way Ryder talked about it, she felt like she already knew the answer.

    “ Yeah? Never stationed on one for a bit? You missed out. You see some interesting things out there. Then again, I guess we’re making up for that. ”

    Despite what Ryder’s gut tells her, it is an answer she has to think on. Life in the Milky Way wasn’t just one thing. It wasn’t just rose-colored glasses. It wasn’t just losing someone she cared about. It was everything in between. It was late night food runs after a shift. It was helping researchers secure their latest finds. It was calls at the crack of the dawn cycle, hoping her lazy brother was already up to hear them. How do you put a qualifier on that?

    “ Sometimes. Most times, actually. But with Mom gone and my old job a bust, I felt like it was just time for something else. Time to re-evaluate what I wanted. I don’t know if this is it yet, but there’s no turning back. ”

    A pause. “ And wow, this got a whole lot heavier than I thought. You’re good at this. ”

[roadsonward]

THREELIMIT:

    The datapad is the remnants of one of his latest jobs. There had been a line of cargo coming from the krogan settlement on Elaaden. There will be a lot of unhappy customers if he doesn’t retrieve the cargo. More so if he doesn’t retrieve the data he’d been running, as well. People will pay exorbitant prices for information on the colony, it seems.

    Not that he blames them. Without Ryder, it’d been the Milky Way’s only success. He laughs. “You take initiative. And have that fancy AI.”

    ‘ I was able to retrieve coordinates. Transferring. Stand by, Mr. Vidal. ’

    The connection between omni-tools establishes and finishes in the blink of an eye.

    “ Thanks, SAM. I guess it would be too much to hope there was anything about the site left on the datapad? ”

    ‘ Correct. ’

    “ Alright. Looks like we’re checking it out the hard way. ” Letting the interface extinguish, Ryder turns to fix Reyes with a look. “ So. Road trip? ”

[roadsonward]

THREELIMIT:

    “We weren’t before? Why, Hazel, you wound me,” he says, sounding the exact opposite of wounded. His free hand flies to his heart, while the chocolate bar is held aloft in the other. Reyes is very careful not to melt the precious gift. Then, he unwraps it and breaks half of it off before handing it to Ryder. “Don’t worry. Last thing I want to do is cause trouble with your crew.”

    Ryder’s maybe a little too quick to take the bar up in her hand, about to rip into it before actual reason dawns on her, gaze flickering between the chocolate, Reyes, and back again. “ Hold on. What kind of split are talking here? Half or what? ”

[roadsonward]

EXPLORVTOR:

       ❝  sentimental value.  ❞   spoken with a shrug.    ❝   that’s because that car is the only thing that kept me and our old man together as father and daughter. other than that? eh, i put a lot of work into that thing  ————————  i ended up selling it. we were leaving for andromeda. i may or may not have owed the blue suns some money.   ❞   a pause as index rises && a chuckle falls from lips.  ( wasn’t exactly supposed to mention that part there, nora. )          ❝  ugh  ——————  fine, fine. uh  ………..  nine other things? a bottle of milky way liquor, my old omni tool with everything on it  ——————————-  uh  …………… drawing a blank again.   ❞

    “ Dad sure didn’t make it easy, did he? Think the only thing we had in common was being too curious for our own good. ” The vastness of space, one assignment and on to the next. That’s when Hazel felt her own connection with their father. He tried, she thinks, but just didn’t know how. “ Yeah, that’s like three down. The car, the booze, the omni-tool. What did you have on that thing, anyway? Definitive proof that Bigfoot was real after all? ”

[roadsonward]

MENDACITOR:

     ❝Feel free to scowl. I’ll remember not to share next time.❞

     He folds his arms and shrugs..

     ❝I don’t have patience for people who keep valuable things around just to have them. What’s a bottle of whiskey if you’re going to leave it hidden in a storage room all day? It’s already been sitting around for six hundred years. By that point, it’s just begging for someone to drink it. As far as I’m concerned, we did that poor bottle a favor.❞

    “ Hey, whoa. I said I was stumped, not unappreciative of the gesture. Let’s not be hasty here. ” Spun that way -- which is probably the point, if she thinks on it -- it does sound like a good idea. Besides, she doesn’t know when the next time she’ll ever get her hands on whiskey will be. “ But I’ll be sure to keep an eye on any future gifts just in case giver’s remorse kicks in again. I mean, I think I slept through my birthday, if that kinda thing even counts out here, so you’re probably off the hook anyway. ”

[roadsonward]

AKASHENA:

“That’s putting it lightly.” The man crumpled beside him groans in pain, barely conscious and dribbling, then smacks his head across the floor, out cold. If Reyes didn’t know better, he’d say it was Drack who littered the bar with a quarter of Kadara’s population, but big things come in small packages… and Ryder has a talent for proving people wrong. 

Reyes makes a face of pure, fake exasperation.

“That’s the last thing I want,” he exclaims, feigning innocence. “There’s no shame in being the delicate one.”

    “ Aw, c’mon. Not even a little bit of cheering from the seats? ”

    Ryder keeps her part in the bar fight vague. A little mystery never hurt anyone. Not where Reyes is involved. It’s practically his bread and butter. She still can’t get a bead on him half the time, but some friends are like that, the ones who know too much and never tell enough.

    With a brief glance down, ensuring the guy headbutted for a loop is still mostly okay, Ryder lets her shoulders roll in a shrug. “ Is this a timely meeting or did news of the Tempest docking travel that fast? ”

[roadsonward]

THREELIMIT:

If you like long walks on alien beaches with sulfuric acid water lapping at your heels or romantic evenings in the most lawless spaceport in the Andromeda galaxy while also being stuck with another person’s tab, then Reyes Vidal is the man for you! Swipe left or right reblog or like if you’d like to interact!

[roadsonward]

THREELIMIT:

     Reyes follows, carefully watching the hills for any sign of activity. Roekaar, criminals and the entirety of those cast out of the port are always looking for an easy target to pick off and pick clean. He knows this well enough—his people do it too. It’s easy to “accidentally” fall into the water and disappear in a puff of sulfurous smoke.

     He watches his footing too, in case it doesn’t end up an accident.

     But looking at the hills, it’s easy to forget Kadara when he first arrived. The stench is something he’s become accustomed to. But otherwise? It’s beautiful. The alien curling plants, the deep blue of the water, and the patterns acid has carved into the rocks makes for one of the more beautiful things he’s seen. It definitely beats the dusty deserts of Eos.

     “All the time. But I can’t wait for it to stop smelling,” he says, his hands resting on his hips as he watches the last of the planet Hazel chucked into the pool dissolves. “Or the accidental acid spray. Seen it hit plenty down in the slums.”

    “ Patience. It’ll take a little time for the vault to work its magic. In the meantime, do what you do best: smuggle. Get some incense or something. ”

    Ryder bends at the knees again, carefully sifts through the broken down rocks along the shore -- mindful of letting her gloved fingertips stray too close to the water’s edge -- and grabs a stone. A toss here, another there, testing the weight of it before she pulls back and lets it sail over the water’s surface.

    Skip, skip, skip. Still going.

    And when it looks like it isn’t? A force not quite unseen ( no, the ultra blue of biotics is unmistakable ) propels it along.

    “ It’s not exactly a splash fight, but it’s a start. ”

[roadsonward]

EXILEDTODIE:

Local queenpin seeks adventurers to snark at and shoo out of headquarters. // ( Indie Sloane Kelly of Mass Effect: Andromeda! )

[roadsonward]

THREELIMIT:

@roadsonward 

Kadara’s waters are a beautiful, deep blue reminiscent of Earth. Except it’s more of a vat of corrosive material and the perfect place for dumping bodies than still waters that someone could possibly enjoy a dip. Which brings them to the reason they’re there. A badly burned datapad rests at Reyes feet. He doesn’t dare touch it.

He looks to Ryder. “I would say this day was going well, but we both know that’s not true. Having you here makes it slightly better.”

    Ryder looks from Reyes to the datapad and back again. He hasn’t been too forthcoming on the details -- he rarely is, Ryder notes -- but interest in putting tensions between the Initiative and Kadara aside remain her priority. So here she is, staring at the goopy datapad with a bemused expression.

    “ Let me guess. This was important to you or someone else. I might be able to piece something together from a scan. SAM? ”

    The AI’s voice chimes in via her omnitool so that both present can hear. ‘ Most data is lost to the damage. Trace fragments remain. Compiling. One moment. ’

[roadsonward]

WILLREIGNITE:

Well, that was a good question. How should she introduce herself in such circumstances? Probably they could see a similar vessel during the assault on the Citadel with Sovereign being a prime example. Maybe the best option would be just going with the usual, even though so much time has passed.

“I’m Commander Shepard and I’m here to help you.” She wasn’t lying.

    Commander Shepard?

    Everything about this raises Ryder’s wariness. No one once mentioned the Commander on board the Hyperion or the Nexus. By all means, she should be six hundred light years behind them and counting, perhaps as many years gone. All the more reason to get to the bottom of this.

    “ Meet us planetside. I’ll send you coordinates to our scheduled LZ. We can discuss this further there. Come alone. ”

[roadsonward]

THREELIMIT:

@roadsonward

“Your girl Vetra has some interesting things stowed away in her room,” Reyes says, his hands held behind his back as if to hide something. In truth, Vetra’s room is more like a shop. Or a storage container. Reyes can’t decide which would be more fitting descriptors.

Then, he holds out the very real, very carefully wrapped candy bar. “Cost me an arm and a leg, but I think it’s worth it. Wanna share?”

    “ Uh huh. You’d better not be digging where she said you shouldn’t. I’ve seen her fight. ” There’s no heat to the warning. If anything, Ryder sounds amused, perhaps even relieved, he’s settling in with the rest of the crew. “ Chocolate? Actual chocolate! Hell yeah I do. Reyes Vidal, you just made yourself a new best friend. ”

[roadsonward]

EXPLORVTOR:

        ❝  ———————  dad’s old car.  ❞     immediate response, no initial thought needed behind it. the head of the ryder clan && his oldest ( one minute counts! ) had never seen eye to eye on anything but that beat up OLD WORLD car he began to fiddle with once the ALLIANCE let him go. humble beginnings for a budding engineer. best way to learn ow something works? TAKE IT APART.          ❝  ……. and then nine other things?  ❞   a pause as digits began to drum along flat surface with thought.        ❝  ———————  uh? drawing a blank here…..  ❞  

    “ That old thing. I’m not even surprised. It was hard to pry you two away from it. What did you end up doing with it? ” The car wouldn’t exactly come with them. After all these years, she wonders if it’s still out there somewhere, passed down to someone else as meticulous about it as they were. “ That’s the game, a whole ten in total. Talk about tunnel vision. C’mon. There’s really nothing else? ”

[roadsonward]

MENDACITOR:

     No pretense of hellos. Her bluntness snaps him out of daze, where he’d been lost somewhere between sticky pleather seats and the muffled thump of club music beyond the door. Ryder takes a seat across from him, and a wry smile curls on his lips.

     ❝Easy. I’m the one that got it for her.❞

    Ryder’s face goes through a series of interesting expressions and finally seems to settle on a half-smile. Well, after the outburst of floored laughter subsides. Yeah, that isn’t the answer she expects. In fairness, she shouldn’t be surprised anymore. “ Wow. That’s the ultimate take-backsy. I’d be insulted if I wasn’t so stumped. Not sure if I should be applauding or scowling here. ”

[roadsonward]

WARISANART:

“Do give me a head’s up, hm?” Oh, but she’ll see it… how the threads of herself will unravel, tangle, how her skin will tear to reveal the essence underneath. She was waiting for it.  She had more or less invited the question about her past, as who wouldn’t be curious after a statement like that? Thus far she had made a good effort at revealing as little as information as possible, while still seeming friendly rather than guarded. “In an orphanage,” she said, so said her record, the same as her true life. But it had seemed easier to erase fake parents from her narrative. Less questions, less details. “And eventually I joined the Alliance.” She left out the large gap in between. That time… she had felt she’d had a family, until she hadn’t any more.  “So both.” While in the military, they had hopped from place to place, to wherever they were needed. Never long enough to really settle down. But she had always felt like she couldn’t, anyways. “And you? What would you consider your home?”

    That’s vague. walking the line between answer enough and answer too little. Ryder notices it, tilts her head, but doesn’t pry too much. Personnel files list all this stuff, sure. It still seems weird to go reading up when the person is standing in front of her. “ Sounds like you got a rough shake. Was this back on Earth? A colony? ”

    As the question turns to her, Ryder’s shoulders roll in an easy-going shrug. “ Wherever I am, so that’d be here now. I was born on the Citadel. We moved around a bit after that -- spent a lot of time in Rio when Dad was needed at the Villa. Ever been? I’ve seen a lot of places, but there was nothing like the city at night. All those lights. It was like hundreds upon hundreds of fireflies on the horizon. ”