outer_divide | 012 ⌥ VIDEO. re-entry.

[ The camera switches on, turning left and right briefly--she's looking the device over, because if she remembers right, she left hers in the dome and fuck if she'd ever get that back--then it focuses on a face. She looks... like she's seen better days, let's say. Shepard may have left her injuries on the Crucible, but she sure as hell feels like she came out on the wrong end of this one. ]

This is Commander Shepard of the SSV Normandy SR-2. [ But it's flat, a forced formality.

This is the part where she asks if anyone reads her, asks for a status update, asks someone to put her the fuck back in that pod so at least she knows how it ends... No. None of that's going to happen. She settles for a slightly (just slightly) more emphatic: ] Somebody tell me how long I've been out.

[ Because somebody has to recognize her. ....Right?

Some of those who don't might at least recognize the distinct OA-fashioned collar around her neck. Y'know, from back when they were the things that go bump in the night.

Shepard doesn't wait around long after the camera's turned off, though. She's heading for the mouth of the ship to see if that'll give her a good reading... ]

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[Shepard was keeping her distance, letting Kaidan do his thing, because if she'd run up with him she honestly figures it would've just complicated matters even more.

All the same, she's got her gun in hand while she watches the scene unfold, until he signals for her to advance. She moves out into the open, walking up to join Kaidan, sliding her gun back into its holster at her side. She's not in armor--today is one of very few days off-- but she's distinguishable enough as Shepard herself, the same walk, and even the same hoodie, though she's wearing a pair of jeans acquired from one of the local shops, rather than her uniform underneath.

She regards the other Shepard with slightly narrowed eyes, more studying than critical. She's been aware of the 'other' Shepard since her arrival here, but never actually expected to meet her. After a moment she raises her eyebrows, tilting her head to the side]

Commander Shepard? Nice to finally meet you.

[ Different 'they', Kaidan says. ] 'Different's pretty relative these days. [ So, so skeptical of all of this, but she's still got her hands up to show that she's not shooting anyone ~~for now~~, so she's really just bitching.

Meanwhile, Shepard's hopefully doing Kaidan proud by not explaining exactly how much the ability to take off the collar doesn't get them off the hook for putting it on her to start with. It's not even just the collar, really. Besides beating her all to hell and back, they tore through her mind like Jack with the Cerberus files. Putting shit in, taking shit out... File that under 'bullshit'.

But before she can say much either way, there's a new player on the field. She's stepping out of the ship at Kaidan's beckoning, confident and postured. The woman's wearing a hoodie like Shepard's, but that in itself isn't terribly strange--she's an ally of Kaidan's after all, Kaidan's as familiar with N7 stripes as any self-respecting marine. There's something unsettling about her, though. An uncomfortable familiarity that Shepard can't quite place.

She turns to the new woman now (turning her back on the OA, another small yield for Kaidan's sake), her own scrutiny slightly more masked. At the greeting, she offers a nod of acknowledgement, then asks: ]

Were you with Alliance?

[ Because she's trying to place the feeling she's getting, and nobody ever knew Shepard to beat around the bush. ]

[Well, expecting instant recognition probably would've been a bit much, since even with the vast and epic shenanigans revolving around the cloned Shepard, these two don't look nearly enough alike for that to make the assumption automatic.

Kaidan's would-be relaxation at seeing the dark haired Shepard turn her back on the Authorities is disrupted by the sort of steeling usually seen in a man having to peel off dried medi-gel from a former leg wound: one way or another, you're going to be losing hair, so it's best to do it quickly.]

Commander Shepard? Meet... Commander Shepard. This isn't like that clone on the Citadel, I swear.

Something like that.

[She smiles a little wryly at the other Shepard's question, before Kaidan elaborates on the situation. It's probably better coming from him. She does give him a bit of a look for bringing up the clone, but doesn't say anything, turning her attention back to the brunette Shepard]

You were here before, right? So you should be familiar with how the ship could potentially have people from several different versions of the same universe.

I am. [ Outwardly, she's unshaken by this revelation. Inwardly? It threw her for a hell of a loop. Because really, shit like this is always a lot different when it's happening to you.

It's this Shepard's turn to tilt her head, just barely. ] The other doubles were near identical. [ Which explains how she didn't pick up on it right away. Not gonna lie, she's definitely scrutinizing this blonde Shepard that much harder now, though she isn't making a show of it.

It makes sense, though. All of it. Kaidan probably survived Virmire, in that Shepard's world. The puzzle pieces are coming together, even if they are pointing strongly to the fact that the piece known as Shepard (this Shepard) was mixed into the wrong box. ]

You're both of you different from my universe's Shepard. She's earthborn, for one, and she's not a biotic for another. Infiltrator, actually.

[Because adding yet more proof of how varied their bit of the multiverse is is... supposed to help? Somehow? Kaidan scrubs his hand at the back of his neck.]

The mutants and the group that Stark's part of seem to be another case of similar-but-different, from what I've seen. The weird thing is that, for us, it seems like the Shepards are the only thing that changes. I mean, you both seem to know me, and Dr. Solus. Liara, Tali, Ash... everyone who's cycled through has been pretty much the same. So, ah, I guess Commander Shepard continues to be unique.

[Shepard frowns slightly as Kaidan points that out. She honestly hadn't thought of it like that, before. But then, she also hadn't realized how different she'd look from the other Shepard. Beyond the hair, at least, which had been pointed out to her several times, now.]

So we're both Shepard, not imitations or substitutions. Or, as the case may be, imposters. [Because there was enough of that in their own universes, already.]

[ This Shepard, however, isn't as bothered by Kaidan's declaration. She didn't realize quite how different his own Shepard is, but she always did know it wasn't her.

What gets to her is the list of names. Tali, Ash... ]

Tali and Ash were here?

[ Missing the point? Maybe. But Shepard has priorities, and around here, her squadmates are always at the top of that list. ]

Tali, I never really saw. It was... brief, and the timelines were messed up. Shepard-- Jane Sheperd[The amendment is hurried, as he tries to differentiate between the pair of first human spectres.] --would probably know more than me. Ash was here for a few months, though.

[He falls silent to mull over that, before running ashoal of the fact that there's really not much you can say when someone's gone back to the pods.

Kaidan changes the subject instead.]

So, ah, nobody really uses the Old City much any more, except the Outer Authorities who use it as staging space for patrolling the quarantine line. The Flop's still around, but it's in Poseidon, which you'd remember as rubble and is not a pretty decent little port town.

[Shepard nods her head a little at Kaidan's affirmations about Tali and Ashley]

Tali woke up while time was messed up, myself and several others were in the future of this place, and she joined us. She was gone shortly after time fixed itself again. Ash... not long after that.

[She doesn't rest easy with either of those losses, though Ashley's stings a little more. Getting a second chance with someone you lost in the line of duty was a gift, and losing them a second time wasn't easy.

At Kaidan's subject change she nods a little.]

As you saw the Authorities are a very different creature from what they were. They're more interested in working with us, rather than against us. There's also a local sheriff, and I work with her, so do several other people from the ship. Bandits are still a problem.

012 ⌥ VIDEO. re-entry.

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