Sara Ryder Meme or Something
I was tagged by @pinkcatpaw
Put my own (verbose) spin on it by answering everything with a tiny drabble...
I don’t even know who to tag who wasn’t already tagged? So all ye MEA luvlies following me consider yourself tagged if ye weren’t already. Show me your Ryders! :D
1. So, the basics! Name? Preferred nickname, if any?
Sara.
She had never felt any special connection her name. It was just that. Her name. She couldn’t imagine having another but that didn’t mean she wouldn’t feel exactly the same if the parents had decided to call her Vanessa.
But it was different when SAM said it. It felt significant. She was Sara. Not the Pathfinder, not Ryder, not her father’s daughter even. She was Sara and that in itself made her important. To SAM. Probably to Scott as well. It was a feeling of identity she didn’t know she had been missing.
“Thank you SAM,” she said, wondering if it was similar for the AI and if they knew how it made her feel.
“You’re welcome,” they replied. “Sara.”
She smiled. They knew alright.
2. What was their first impression of Nexus leadership?
Well now that was a downer. The whole of the Nexus leadership was not planning to help her out. After all she was Pathfinder for a whooping 7 hours or what already? No problem, she had it down. No need to interfere with her plans. Here, take the ship and go. And don’t mess it up or we’ll all die.
Sara couldn’t enjoy the view of the Tempest with those thoughts running through her head on repeat. Was a little more advice or guidance too much to ask? Or had none of them gotten their head out of their arse since their arrival. In a way, she was a mirror to them all – come into responsibilities they were not prepared for by a long shot.
That didn’t have to mean you bungled it automatically though. Even if most of them seemed ready to prove this at any cost.
3. Who are they closest to on the Tempest?
“Trouble, kid?” Drack rarely came up to the vidcon table. Nobody it. So Sara used it as a refuge in plain sight when she wanted to be alone but not really be alone.
“Yeah,” she sighed, making unnecessary room at the table as an invitation.
Drack took it. His bulk right next to her felt like a bulwark against everything; a small cone of safety in a galaxy that had none.
“You had nothing but since you arrived,” Drack said. “What’s different now?”
Sara sighed again. How was he so observant? Was is raising Kesh?
“A man, right? Or a woman? Someone?”
“Is it that obvious?”
“You should have seen Kesh when she realised she liked Vorn.” Drack laughed. “That squishy piece of brains and she fell for him anyway.”
“Well, humans are all squishy, so-”
“A human, then,” Drack interrupted her. “Interesting.”
“Why?” Sara asked almost offended. “Do I look so thrill-hungry that I wouldn’t take anything but the newest adventure? Did you expect to run off with Jaal or something?”
“He likes you,” Drack just replied.
“I know.” Sara sighed again. Half her vocabulary seemed to be sighs. A thing to sigh about all on its own. “It’s Reyes.”
Drack broke out into laughter, clapping her back.
“It’s not funny,” Sara said. “He’s shady at least. That he works against Sloane is nice but not a redeeming quality in and of itself. And-”
“And you like him anyway.” Drack finished laughing.
“I do.” She smiled when she admitted it. What could she do? And Drack seemed to think it funny.
“Be careful, kid,” he said. “He is shady. Don’t get blind-sided into crap. And if you do – bring me. I’ll teach him some manners.”
That was an image Sara would treasure. “Will do, Drack. Thank you.”
“Any time, kid.”
They stared ahead in shared silence.
4. How did they react to becoming Pathfinder?
If there was anything worse than losing your father to your own incompetence it was probably inheriting his job contrary to any sense and procedure. Plus a headache.
“I apologise for the headache,” SAM said in her head. It didn’t improve the pain but at least she knew where it came from. “I am adjusting to your physiology. Your hormone levels differ from Alec’s significantly, as does the general make-up of your brain.”
How nice to know that you were your own person. Probably. Why did she have to be Pathfinder? The transfer worked through half a galaxy; Cora had been right there! Sara was ready to curse her father. It wasn’t a new urge but now it was somewhat dampened by him being dead. It was not proper to curse the dead.
Even if they were the most selfish, block-headed, distant, thoughtless tit you could think of. Why would he do that to her? Arriving in Heleus had been difficult enough, nothing looked like promised. And now it was her job to make everything work. Everything!
How could he ever think this was a good idea? What did she have that Cora did not? The other way round, Sara could come up with a very long list of relevant abilities to being a Pathfinder. She only had herself and – well.
Sara put her head in her hands. Two hours was not long to come to grips with her new role. On the other hand, all she had to do was get herself killed to move the role of Pathfinder back where it belonged. That didn’t sound too difficult.
5. How is their relationship with their family?
If somebody had told her a day ago that the last thing she saw before almost dying was her father sacrificing his own life for her, Sara would have laughed. She would still laugh if only to avoid crying.
Alec Ryder had been distant, even when Ellen had tried to bridge the chasm. It had not worked. The awkward family reunion dinner was only one proof in an endless row. Alec Ryder cared about the success of his children, their careers, their progress, the mark they made for themselves. There was always a measuring edge in his eye when he looked at you. And frankly, most of the time you felt you did not measure up.
Having him die so she could live did not really convince Sara of the opposite. If she had measured up, if she had been the daughter he wanted, she would not have brought him into such a situation. The Sara Ryder he had wanted, would have found a way to let them both survive.
It didn’t explain his last actions. But Alec Ryder had always been distant. Who could hope to understand his motives?
6. Did they have any other personal reason for coming to Andromeda?
Nope.
7. Do they have any scars? What’s the story of how they got them?
Yes, but they’re purely for my personal aesthetic so no story behind them.
8. What do they usually do to relax?
“What do you mean this doesn’t count?” Sara looked around. They had just mowed through the huge kett facility north west of Prodromos. She felt pretty good.
“It’s not relaxing is all I’m saying,” Liam insisted.
“I consider it relaxing,” Sara replied. “Feeling really relaxed now.”
“But what do you do to wind down? Kick back? Calm down?”
“You mean like slowing down until your head starts to think thoughts?” Sara winced. “I don’t do that. I know why, trust me. Better like this.
She scanned the battlefield once more. Only dead kett and the first of the Initiative people come to take what they could use in Prodromos. The colony was floating on enough blood to tide the Armada. So did everything the Initiative had built. And the Pathfinder was their spear- and figurehead. No, she would not slow down to think. Not ever.
9. Do they have a favourite planet?
“We can’t even live there yet!” Liam said.
“Doesn’t matter,” Sara replied with a happy grin. “It’s called after me, so it’s my favourite now! Ryder-I. I like it.”
She looked down at the storm covered planet. It would take years to terraform it manually. She would certainly never see it viable enough to buy a home down three. But it was a legacy. The garden she would never see in bloom.
“I like it,” she repeated to herself.
10. Do they have an LI? What is their ideal date with them?
“I don’t think this counts as a date.”
“What?” Reyes spread his arms in surprised hurt. “There is music-”
“Cicadas of doom.”
“A romantic fire-”
“We blew up an Outcast outpost.””There is even-”
“If you suggest that the burnt flesh of our enemies makes for a nice picnic, I’ll scream.”
“Of course I brought provisions,” Reyes replied still pulling off the hurt act.
“For what?” Sara asked exasperated. “In case we had to starve them out?”
“I see how it is,” he said. “Let me – just allow me.” He took her arm and led her away from the flaming wreck that had once been an Outcast stronghold.
Sara let herself be led away. She was not angry per se. Fucking shit up with Reyes fun. Winding down afterwards was even more fun. Or at least fun in a more satisfying way. But calling the razing of an Outcast base a date was taking it a little too far.
They climbed a small hill and on the other side lay a string of springs, some steaming, some throwing an insane amount of bubbles, some lying still like dark blue crystals. Reyes walked straight towards them.
“I could not risk having the Outcast disrupt out date, could I now?” He grinned slyly. “And I know you get so high strung fighting. You need a safe way to blow off steam.” Without waiting for a reply, he pulled her into an embrace. “I hope you forgot your bathing suit, yes?”
11. What is their preferred fighting style?
“Sara don’t...”
She didn’t hear the rest of the sentence. With an excited grin, Sara charged into the group of kett jumping from the incoming shuttle. Then she scattered them with a Nova and turned to find the nearest target with her flame-thrower activated. That took down another enemy.
Still ginning Sara pumped a load from he shotgun into the closes Chosen before charging away again. The Anointed never had a chance, stumbling under he impact the full force of her krogan hammer smashed him into pulp. Scanning the immediate surroundings, Sara cam up with absolutely zilch kett. What a pity.
Then the noise of another incoming shuttle caught Sara’s attention. This party was far from over.
12. Finally, did they bring anything important with them from the Milky Way?
“Scott!”
Sara didn’t slow down until she had her arms locked firmly around her brother, almost keeling him over. He was alive. He was alive. He was really, really alive.
“Whoa there, big sister.” He returned the hug as intense. “You might think I was dead or something.”
“You almost were, you idiot.” She sat down next to him, checking for any signs of hurt.
“Wouldn’t dream of infringing on your territory.” He laughed but it was uneasy.
“I promised my doc I’d stop dying.” Sara looked at her hands. “Also, I can’t leave my little brother alone in this nasty new galaxy.”
Silence fell and Sara leant against her brother. He felt so real it was painful. She really coudn’t imagine being stranded in Heleus without him. She’d be more alone h´than ever, friends and lover or no. Nobody could ever replace Scott.
“Do you want to know how dad died?” Sara finally asked.
“Later,” Scott replied. “Let’s just,” he hesitated, “you’re here.”
“Yeah.” Sara closed her eyes. She was here. And so was he – finally.
