Hi! Here's your Holiday Harbinger partner :) I've got a question: How do you imagine Rani's quarter(s) on the Normandy to look like? Anything personal she has there? Does it change a lot between ME1, 2 and 3? Thanks for any info!
I think they're probably not that different from what you see in game!
Her cabin on the SR-1 was pretty bare since she inherited it from Anderson so unexpectedly, and she was used to living in much smaller shared quarters so suddenly having all this s p a c e was a shock. She didn't really know what to do with it and she didn’t have much with her anyway, beyond her civilian clothes and personal devices. On the SR-2 she made a bit more of an effort to make her quarters comfy but, again, she kind of struggled to know how you fill a living space like that. She bought some colourful blankets and cushions and such (with Cerberus's money, decor is totally a reasonable expense. She bought a bunch of clothes very pointedly without Cerberus logos or colour scheme too.) to try and soften all that metal and make at least one part of the ship that was hers not theirs.
Rani's not much of a "stuff" person so her personal items are few, plus she lost what little she had on the SR-1. One thing she does always have is her holo-image of the goddess Durga, which usually sits on her bedside table. It's not a full-blown idol which would require rituals and offerings, just an image. She thought it lost when the ship was destroyed but found it among the wreckage —miraculously still functioning, if a bit melted— and brought it back with her, so it's only missing for some of ME2. It’s quite important to her. Someone got her a mug that says "I got better" on it; It just turned up one day, so she's not sure who to blame/thank, but she has her suspicions. She loves it and uses it whenever possible. There's also an extremely tatty green elephant plush toy among her stored possessions when she gets the ship back in ME3. It's one of her childhood toys, something her dad bought her when she was very little. It's another thing that just appeared without explanation, but she's pretty sure her aunt gave it to Kaidan to pass along and when he couldn't see her in confinement he put it among her things instead.
Beyond that I don’t think it changes very much between 2 and 3. Kaidan doesn’t fully move in because he thinks she needs the space to herself, but he does leave his mark- mostly as an absurd number of hair products in the bathroom. He also makes it a little tidier; Rani keeps her work areas scrupulously tidy and orderly as if always anticipating a surprise inspection, but —even with her few possessions— her personal area tends towards chaos, particularly when she’s having a hard time. He often picks up after her, sometimes in exasperation and sometimes because he knows she just can’t right now.