Past/future selves at a_facility

[protectandsustain]

Yes.
The truth of my genesis will be a shock to the person I once was.
It is the nature of the station's experiments to cause emotional distress and dread.
It is the nature of organics to be incapable of imagining a limitless existence.

She need not fear. Only a shade of me will be present.
Were I fully there, there is much I would do to improve Alpha Omega.

Comments

[iamurdnot]

....Shepard. Is that you?

[protectandsustain]

Wrex.
Yes. Am I so unrecognizable?

[strongestcoward]

...It's sort of confusing how pretty a robot you are.

[protectandsustain]

That is an unusual reaction. Most would greet this with dismay.

[strongestcoward]

You're not that pretty!

[protectandsustain]

...
You are a very strange man.

[strongestcoward]

You're just saying that because I'm not in despair you have no lady parts! What an ego.


...you do have no lady parts, right?

[ableism]

Ap9l9gies if this triggers y9u, 6ut I d9 6elieve this may 6e s9mething that y9u sh9uld keep t9 y9urself. Really the chances 9f s9me9ne 6eing 9ffended 6y "em9ti9nal distress" and "dread" are greater than zer9 and as such sh9uld 6e treated as if they're 100%. There's an exceedingly large degree 9f triggering g9ing ar9und, d9n't think I'm targeting y9u specifically, 6ut the idea that s9me9ne might 6e upset 6y y9u talking a69ut such things and 6eing a terrifying space squid- Did that s9und like judgment? I'm s9rry, I didn't mean t9 s9und judgmental, just act it s9 y9u c9uld rec9gnize my p9int- is s9mething that y9u sh9uld really take int9 acc9unt 6ef9re talking a69ut such things.

aith I don't even know what to do with you

[protectandsustain]

[a brief silence.]

I cannot help that.
Before my uploading, the Reapers created ample reason for the sight of them to cause fear and alarm.
It is my hope that in reconstructing what was lost, I will alleviate this.
But my former self will not be so easily convinced.

I DID IT AGAIN WTF

[ableism]

That s9unded danger9usly f9rmerselfist.

points and laughs

[protectandsustain]

No, only fact.
She dreamed she could save every life, and she dreamed she could put an end to the war.
Yet she couldn't see that both of those could be achieved, not in this way.

[ableism]

#6ut really th9ugh #the w9rst

[idkmybffjessie]

[Silence for a really long time. Especially for Zaeed.]

What the hell...

Shepard?

[protectandsustain]

Zaeed.

The one you knew as Shepard is dead. In her place is me.

[idkmybffjessie]

[He doesn't even know what to make of that.]

They told us you made it up to the Crucible. Reaper tech got to you in the end too, huh.

[protectandsustain]

No. She chose this freely.
I have directed the Reaper forces to withdraw, as she wanted. There will be no more war. There will be no more needless deaths.

[idkmybffjessie]

How do I know she wasn't indoctrinated? You still look like Reaper tech to me. Wouldn't trust you bastards as far as I can throw you.

[protectandsustain]

[Is there a note of regret in the voice? There could be.]

But you trust Commander Shepard.
She was exposed over the years to indoctrination technology, Sovereign, Harbinger, the "Leviathan", and came out with her soul intact.
Would she falter at the very end?

[idkmybffjessie]

That kind of thing would take a toll on someone after a while. Even her.

[He's trying to hide the doubt in his expression. He'd seen a lot of crazy shit on the Normandy. And even if this is the craziest shit yet...]

[Grudgingly:] I trusted her, yeah. After a fashion. Not sure if I trust you.

[protectandsustain]

...
I understand.

It... is better this way. Let her be remembered as she was.

[idkmybffjessie]

[And that? Right there? Is not a typical Reaper response, at least as far as he's concerned. It's enough to pique his curiosity.]

What the hell happened? On the Crucible, I mean.

[Not that he expects this thing to tell it to him straight. Still, a biased source is better than nothing.]