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greenstickered2015-11-29 12:21 am
camalyng) wrote in greenstickered2015-11-29 12:21 am
Entry tags:
Mass Effect: Swipe Right ‣ 1: Like
Title: Swipe Right ‣ 1: Like
Rating: PG13 (may change)
Words: ~1650
Summary: Kaidan gets Ashley using a matchmaking app on her omni-tool. It takes her a few years to use it for its intended purpose. Eventual Garrus/Ashley.
Notes: Though this was mostly inspired by Tinder and the chapter titles are from it, I guess the messaging feature's more like Grindr or Facebook in that you can send one person a photo. I don't know, man, I think I'm swiping left too much. I didn't come up with "Enkindlr", and my friend who did disavows all knowledge of its creation.
"Hey," says Ashley, leaning on the wall next to Kaidan. "Over the view coming into the Citadel already?"
"I could say the same to you," he says absently, without looking up from his omni-tool. "You were the one all excited about it that first time."
"I think Joker gets sick of my backseat sightseeing," she admits. "What are you doing?"
"Looking for people to hang out with in case we get leave."
She watches him swipe photos left, and then it clicks. "Isn't this that hook up app? Enkindlr, or whatever?"
"Laugh it up, Ash," he says loftily. "I had drinks with some interesting people on Noveria while you were out at Peak-15. As much as I love everyone here, it gets a little claustrophobic sometimes."
"Okay, yeah," she concedes. "It would be nice to talk to someone who isn't crew or someone we're rescuing once in a while."
Her own omni-tool lights up with an Enkindlr invite from him, and she laughs. "Dream on."
"You don't have to actually hook up with people if you don't want to," he says, swiping right on a guy. "There are people in the galaxy who just want to have coffee or drinks with someone new."
She blinks as he starts chatting to the guy in the photo. "Kaidan, are you gay?"
"Bi."
"Oh," she says. She's fine with it; she just doesn't know what to say. "Uh, good for you."
Kaidan laughs at her, but not unkindly. "So? Gonna give it a try?"
Ashley considers. She could always just delete the app if she gets sick of it.
"Okay, fine," she says, starting to download the app. "Help me set up."
"Turn your distance down," Kaidan advises, as she adjusts her species, gender, and age filters (human, male, 23-33). "The default's within the same system, which is crazy enough on its own, but it's not perfect, so you sometimes get people a relay or two away. And do you really not have any more photos out of uniform or armor?"
"Most of my civvies are at my mom's house," she says. "Besides, if a guy's put off or intimidated or whatever by a military woman, I'm not interested."
"Thus the 'semper fi' and the -" He flexes one arm, and for a moment she tries to picture what he'd look like with a bit more muscle.
"Exactly."
"And the... 'golden languors'?"
"I want someone who's at least a little cultured," she says. "So if he recognizes it..."
Kaidan's photo pops up on her screen, and she chuckles. "Hello, you."
He grins, though he doesn't look up from his own omni-tool. "So? Which way are you swiping?"
"Isn't it weird to swipe shipmates right?"
"So far everyone I've matched with hasn't taken it seriously," he says.
"'Everyone'?" she echoes. "Who else is on here?"
"Joker, Shepard, Lieutenant Negulesco, Private Waaberi, Officer Greico," he lists off. "Did not know Greico was into men. Might be more."
Ashley examines Kaidan's profile, and on impulse, swipes right.
Her first match, and it's with someone she knows. Great.
Tennyson, Kaidan messages her. Madeline.
"Did you just check the codex?" she demands.
"I can't believe you'd accuse me of looking it up," he says. "No tranced summer calm is thine, ever varying Madeline."
She smiles down at her omni-tool, and reminds herself of his rank.
"Tali - are you any good with omni-tool apps?" Ashley asks without preamble, dropping down next to her in the mess and fidgeting with her omni-tool. "Social ones, I mean, not combat."
"Not really," Tali says dubiously. "I could give it a try, but I really am much more experienced in -"
Ashley holds out the omni-tool she's just removed from her arm with Enkindlr open.
"It keeps giving me aliens even though I set it to only show me humans," she complains, as Tali bursts out laughing and takes the omni-tool. "You guys are good friends, obviously, but for a boyfriend I want a guy who's a little more compatible."
"I know what you mean," says Tali, poking at it. "Mine's set to quarian and turian men. But I get the odd human or girl slipping through sometimes."
"I just got you," Ashley admits.
Tali tilts her head questioningly.
"I swiped left," says Ashley. "You're like my little sister. It's weird enough before thinking about the gender and species stuff."
"You're the best cross-species big sister a girl could ask for," Tali says, handing her omni-tool back. "But if I could fix this boshtet of an app, I'd have done it for myself."
"That's not even your first name," says Ashley.
"I don't like giving out my first name on the extranet," Shepard objects.
"You know, for most people, it's the other way around."
She'd never thought she'd see the first human Spectre sulking. "People always spell it wrong even though it's right there."
"There, there," she says soothingly. "And do you even have animals? Or model ships?"
"I had a dog on Mindoir," Shepard says, with a distant look.
Whoops. Ashley shifts, trying to draw Shepard's attention from the past, and says, "You know, I think the important thing here is that we're a match."
"I swipe all my shipmates right," Shepard says, but winks before heading into the elevator.
Ashley stares at the doors for long enough for the elevator to return.
It's the most vicious she's ever swiped left. If Joker was really the best pilot in the Alliance, he could have flown fast enough to save both her and Kaidan.
And if she and Shepard hadn't matched - to some extent in real life, not just on the app, because they've been talking more since then and she's had the feeling that some of it was a little over the edge of friendly - maybe Kaidan would still be alive right now.
In the debriefing, she'd called Shepard out on Kaidan being dead because of them, and she still can't shake the feeling even after Shepard accused her in turn of trying to fall on her sword for her grandfather. (She wasn't.
(Was she?)
She can feel Garrus's eyes on her from across the cargo bay, but she doesn't feel like talking. Instead, she keeps her eyes on her omni-tool, and opens up the Enkindlr conversation she and Kaidan had used as a platform to nag each other to visit, or complain about a mission, or simply dump links to interesting things on the extranet. For a long moment, she stares at their last messages to each other (a conversation about a biotic varren puppy video), and then she types in, Should've been you.
She and Garrus look up at the same time, and burst out laughing when they catch each other's eye.
"I can't believe you have Enkindlr," she says, heading over to his table with her drink in hand.
"Could've sworn I set it to turians only," he says. "I can't believe you're using it: I thought you and Shepard had a - thing."
Ashley glances at Shepard (dancing with Liara). Their night before Ilos together had been nice, but they haven't really discussed it; they've been too busy and also too awkward ever since. She's not sure she has the stomach to keep up the fraternization, and Virmire... made her feelings more complicated. "I think that might've just been a 'this is a one way trip' thing, with a little 'you saved my life' in there," she admits. "I'm keeping my options open."
They swipe at the same time, and laugh again when they match.
"I'm an option now?" Garrus asks, smirking.
"Sorry to get your hopes up: I'm not into aliens," she says. "Just thought we could use the messaging feature, especially since you're leaving soon. Kaidan and I used to chat on here, before."
She's surprised it hurts less to talk about him now, only a week later.
"Yeah, we can do that," he says, after an awkward pause for the mention of Kaidan. "But if you'd wanted my comm address or whatever, you could have just asked."
"I was working up to it," she says, shrugging. Something occurs to her: "Hey, do you think Liara and Wrex are on here?"
"I wouldn't know," he says. "My age filter stops at forty. Although I can't really see Liara using it."
"By the Goddess," she says, affecting Liara's tone. "A match!"
"That was creepy," he says; she takes a tiny bow.
"You're gonna have to change your bio," she points out.
"I've been putting it off," he says. "I don't think it'll feel real until I actually see the Normandy flying off without me."
She nods, her expression sobering. "I... wasn't in favor, at first, but I've gotten so used to working with you. All of you." She pauses, and adds, "I'm gonna miss you."
"I'm gonna miss you too," he says, honest enough to give her pause. "But come on, this is supposed to be a victory party; don't drag the mood down. Let's dance."
With a slight step backwards, she shakes her head. "I can't," she says apologetically. "My grandfather -"
Something between frustration and regret flashes in his eyes before he says, "Come dance in the same square metre as me, facing different directions."
"I think I can manage that," she says, and with a growing smile, she follows him onto the dance floor.
Rating: PG13 (may change)
Words: ~1650
Summary: Kaidan gets Ashley using a matchmaking app on her omni-tool. It takes her a few years to use it for its intended purpose. Eventual Garrus/Ashley.
Notes: Though this was mostly inspired by Tinder and the chapter titles are from it, I guess the messaging feature's more like Grindr or Facebook in that you can send one person a photo. I don't know, man, I think I'm swiping left too much. I didn't come up with "Enkindlr", and my friend who did disavows all knowledge of its creation.
Kaidan, 32
less than a kilometre away · active 2 minutes agoAbout Kaidan
Career soldier looking for a decent beer and a steak that wasn't grown in a vat.
"Hey," says Ashley, leaning on the wall next to Kaidan. "Over the view coming into the Citadel already?"
"I could say the same to you," he says absently, without looking up from his omni-tool. "You were the one all excited about it that first time."
"I think Joker gets sick of my backseat sightseeing," she admits. "What are you doing?"
"Looking for people to hang out with in case we get leave."
She watches him swipe photos left, and then it clicks. "Isn't this that hook up app? Enkindlr, or whatever?"
"Laugh it up, Ash," he says loftily. "I had drinks with some interesting people on Noveria while you were out at Peak-15. As much as I love everyone here, it gets a little claustrophobic sometimes."
"Okay, yeah," she concedes. "It would be nice to talk to someone who isn't crew or someone we're rescuing once in a while."
Her own omni-tool lights up with an Enkindlr invite from him, and she laughs. "Dream on."
"You don't have to actually hook up with people if you don't want to," he says, swiping right on a guy. "There are people in the galaxy who just want to have coffee or drinks with someone new."
She blinks as he starts chatting to the guy in the photo. "Kaidan, are you gay?"
"Bi."
"Oh," she says. She's fine with it; she just doesn't know what to say. "Uh, good for you."
Kaidan laughs at her, but not unkindly. "So? Gonna give it a try?"
Ashley considers. She could always just delete the app if she gets sick of it.
"Okay, fine," she says, starting to download the app. "Help me set up."
Ashley, 25
less than a kilometre away · active 5 minutes agoAbout Ashley
Not steep'd in golden languors. SEMPER FI 💪
"Turn your distance down," Kaidan advises, as she adjusts her species, gender, and age filters (human, male, 23-33). "The default's within the same system, which is crazy enough on its own, but it's not perfect, so you sometimes get people a relay or two away. And do you really not have any more photos out of uniform or armor?"
"Most of my civvies are at my mom's house," she says. "Besides, if a guy's put off or intimidated or whatever by a military woman, I'm not interested."
"Thus the 'semper fi' and the -" He flexes one arm, and for a moment she tries to picture what he'd look like with a bit more muscle.
"Exactly."
"And the... 'golden languors'?"
"I want someone who's at least a little cultured," she says. "So if he recognizes it..."
Kaidan's photo pops up on her screen, and she chuckles. "Hello, you."
He grins, though he doesn't look up from his own omni-tool. "So? Which way are you swiping?"
"Isn't it weird to swipe shipmates right?"
"So far everyone I've matched with hasn't taken it seriously," he says.
"'Everyone'?" she echoes. "Who else is on here?"
"Joker, Shepard, Lieutenant Negulesco, Private Waaberi, Officer Greico," he lists off. "Did not know Greico was into men. Might be more."
Ashley examines Kaidan's profile, and on impulse, swipes right.
Her first match, and it's with someone she knows. Great.
Tennyson, Kaidan messages her. Madeline.
"Did you just check the codex?" she demands.
"I can't believe you'd accuse me of looking it up," he says. "No tranced summer calm is thine, ever varying Madeline."
She smiles down at her omni-tool, and reminds herself of his rank.
Tali, 22
less than a kilometre away · active 3 days agoAbout Tali
engineer 🌠 on my pilgrimage 🌠 as free as the dust in the solar wind
"Tali - are you any good with omni-tool apps?" Ashley asks without preamble, dropping down next to her in the mess and fidgeting with her omni-tool. "Social ones, I mean, not combat."
"Not really," Tali says dubiously. "I could give it a try, but I really am much more experienced in -"
Ashley holds out the omni-tool she's just removed from her arm with Enkindlr open.
"It keeps giving me aliens even though I set it to only show me humans," she complains, as Tali bursts out laughing and takes the omni-tool. "You guys are good friends, obviously, but for a boyfriend I want a guy who's a little more compatible."
"I know what you mean," says Tali, poking at it. "Mine's set to quarian and turian men. But I get the odd human or girl slipping through sometimes."
"I just got you," Ashley admits.
Tali tilts her head questioningly.
"I swiped left," says Ashley. "You're like my little sister. It's weird enough before thinking about the gender and species stuff."
"You're the best cross-species big sister a girl could ask for," Tali says, handing her omni-tool back. "But if I could fix this boshtet of an app, I'd have done it for myself."
Shepard, 29
less than a kilometre away · active 20 minutes agoAbout Shepard
Soldier answering to two authorities. I love animals and model ships.
"That's not even your first name," says Ashley.
"I don't like giving out my first name on the extranet," Shepard objects.
"You know, for most people, it's the other way around."
She'd never thought she'd see the first human Spectre sulking. "People always spell it wrong even though it's right there."
"There, there," she says soothingly. "And do you even have animals? Or model ships?"
"I had a dog on Mindoir," Shepard says, with a distant look.
Whoops. Ashley shifts, trying to draw Shepard's attention from the past, and says, "You know, I think the important thing here is that we're a match."
"I swipe all my shipmates right," Shepard says, but winks before heading into the elevator.
Ashley stares at the doors for long enough for the elevator to return.
Joker, 28
less than a kilometre away · active 4 days agoAbout Joker
I don't want to brag, but I'm the best pilot in the Alliance.
It's the most vicious she's ever swiped left. If Joker was really the best pilot in the Alliance, he could have flown fast enough to save both her and Kaidan.
And if she and Shepard hadn't matched - to some extent in real life, not just on the app, because they've been talking more since then and she's had the feeling that some of it was a little over the edge of friendly - maybe Kaidan would still be alive right now.
In the debriefing, she'd called Shepard out on Kaidan being dead because of them, and she still can't shake the feeling even after Shepard accused her in turn of trying to fall on her sword for her grandfather. (She wasn't.
(Was she?)
She can feel Garrus's eyes on her from across the cargo bay, but she doesn't feel like talking. Instead, she keeps her eyes on her omni-tool, and opens up the Enkindlr conversation she and Kaidan had used as a platform to nag each other to visit, or complain about a mission, or simply dump links to interesting things on the extranet. For a long moment, she stares at their last messages to each other (a conversation about a biotic varren puppy video), and then she types in, Should've been you.
Garrus, 27
less than a kilometre away · active 3 minutes agoAbout Garrus
Seeing the galaxy on another species' ship. I've got reach. Do you have flexibility?
She and Garrus look up at the same time, and burst out laughing when they catch each other's eye.
"I can't believe you have Enkindlr," she says, heading over to his table with her drink in hand.
"Could've sworn I set it to turians only," he says. "I can't believe you're using it: I thought you and Shepard had a - thing."
Ashley glances at Shepard (dancing with Liara). Their night before Ilos together had been nice, but they haven't really discussed it; they've been too busy and also too awkward ever since. She's not sure she has the stomach to keep up the fraternization, and Virmire... made her feelings more complicated. "I think that might've just been a 'this is a one way trip' thing, with a little 'you saved my life' in there," she admits. "I'm keeping my options open."
They swipe at the same time, and laugh again when they match.
"I'm an option now?" Garrus asks, smirking.
"Sorry to get your hopes up: I'm not into aliens," she says. "Just thought we could use the messaging feature, especially since you're leaving soon. Kaidan and I used to chat on here, before."
She's surprised it hurts less to talk about him now, only a week later.
"Yeah, we can do that," he says, after an awkward pause for the mention of Kaidan. "But if you'd wanted my comm address or whatever, you could have just asked."
"I was working up to it," she says, shrugging. Something occurs to her: "Hey, do you think Liara and Wrex are on here?"
"I wouldn't know," he says. "My age filter stops at forty. Although I can't really see Liara using it."
"By the Goddess," she says, affecting Liara's tone. "A match!"
"That was creepy," he says; she takes a tiny bow.
"You're gonna have to change your bio," she points out.
"I've been putting it off," he says. "I don't think it'll feel real until I actually see the Normandy flying off without me."
She nods, her expression sobering. "I... wasn't in favor, at first, but I've gotten so used to working with you. All of you." She pauses, and adds, "I'm gonna miss you."
"I'm gonna miss you too," he says, honest enough to give her pause. "But come on, this is supposed to be a victory party; don't drag the mood down. Let's dance."
With a slight step backwards, she shakes her head. "I can't," she says apologetically. "My grandfather -"
Something between frustration and regret flashes in his eyes before he says, "Come dance in the same square metre as me, facing different directions."
"I think I can manage that," she says, and with a growing smile, she follows him onto the dance floor.