007 ⌥ VIDEO

[femshep]

[Welp, here's Shepard. She's got a lovely pair of parallel gashes across her cheek with the hintings of an attempted third, and the deepest spots may or may not be emanating a little bit of a red glow, but that's the least of their problems, because:]

I know we've got eyes and ears out west. Anyone want to tell me what the hell's going on? Whatever it is is driving everything with some kind of survival instinct straight through central. We've got wildcats, we've got oversized wolves by the pack, we've got-... shit, never thought I'd see the day that 'dinosaurs' were a plausible theory.

You'd think something like this would call for a goddamn status report.

[Shepard is Not Happy with the general lot of you. She's vaguely wondering what the use is of having so many goddamn military-men if they're all gonna circlejerk on one end of the city and leave their collective flank wide open.

Also? Liara, Kaidan, that's your cue to report in.

To all telepaths! She noticed the distinct lack of AU!Charles and it's making her antsy, so she's swallowing her pride and putting out a 'where the hell are you' sort of wordless ping to see if she can't locate him. She needs to know if he's in trouble or just idk brooding or something. Any and all telepaths can probably pick up on this ping if you'd like them to, though she may or may not bitch at them for it.]

Comments

yes!

[femshep]

No you don't. [Her response is immediate, echoed by a much firmer:] No you don't.

[Shepard knows when she doesn't have the full story and this is definitely one of those times, but she also knows that no good can come of him throwing himself into the flames, or whatever the hell the voices his pyro urges are telling him to do.]

I'm on my way. And if you take off into that goddamn fire before I get there, I'm coming in after you. [So stay the fuck out of the flames, Fox. She means it.]

I'll go with action because /LAZY

[fireofunknown]

Hell, I'll try. It's not exactly high on my own personal bucket list, but damn. Just. Damn.

[The pull was like a magnet, just because the negative charged little fridge magnet said "no me gusta" didn't make him snap any less closer to the positive, right?

...What was his brain even thinking right now.]

If you get here and I'm on fire you better shoot me. Uh-- somewhere non-vital please. Don't worry this ain't some....suicidal thing...I would..ra..."

[His voice trails off and eventually goes silent. Completely silent. Dial tone silent. Yep.]

[femshep]

Fox. [But somehow, she knows not to expect an answer. So she's hurrying now, aimed at his last known location.

When she gets close, her eyes scan through the smoke and the nearby flames:] Fox! [It's sharp, like 'report in!']

[fireofunknown]

[He doesn't report. Too focused now on the flame, he doesn't even notice as the phone he dropped sizzles and hisses with pops of melted plastic and sparks of breaking tech.

Not far from her he stands in front of a set of trees fully engulfed, a trail of flame seeming to float through the air and connect to his arm, blazing up to his shoulder. As if he was sucking the very heat from it. One eye seemingly on fire and other small flames burning at his pants and torso.

His entire body language has changed.]

[femshep]

[And after a second, she spots him. She doesn't even spare a second to assess--her jaw sets, and she closes the distance between them at a brisk but even pace.

Before long, she's setting a hand on his flame-free shoulder, firm and insistent.]

C'mon. [Quiet but steady. She doesn't expect him to listen. Not yet, anyway. But it's a start.]

[fireofunknown]

[Flame free or not, she'd feel how impossibly hot his body was beneath her hand. Like the top of a stove, though not enough to burn if she did not keep it there long.]

No.

[And he looks at her, straight in the face when he says it. Fox does not make eye contact. He never makes eye contact. Expression impassive and entirely not like him.

A flame begins to sport up where her hand is.]

[femshep]

[She feels it even through her reinforced gloves, but she ignores the initial burn-recoil reflex, out of stubbornness more than anything. Even as a flame lights up around her hand, she doesn't move it. If she can take a flamethrower to the face, she can handle this for a while.]

Fox.

[A little sharper now. Remember that time when you volunteered to be her 'underling', Fox? Now it's coming back to bite you in the ass. You gave her permission to metaphorically kick you in the face for this shit, and she's going to do it.]