fadewalk | RP: Kaidan (kaidanmod), Open (near Normandy)

When Kaidan blinked he could see leaves. Apple trees? Or cherries? That was weird. He raised his head stiffly, squinting.

Yeah, those were definitely trees.

For a moment his foggy brain tried to tell him he was home at the orchard, and that he hadn't left for Jump Zero yet, and he'd fallen asleep in the grass and was just now waking up, but the air tasted just as stale and metallic as it had in space, only worse. And the light was way wrong.

He sat up, clutching his spinning, splitting head, and then tried to squint past the stars and tracers, all the migraine halos and the spinning threads of darkness that signaled he was going to pass out again.

Why was the sky the worst color green he'd ever seen? He had to close his eyes to turn his head, and when he opened them he saw something that looked sort of like a turian cruiser, but way sleeker. And past that... was that a god damn castle?

He tried to stand, but ended up tipping forward onto his hands and knees, and the grass in front of his nose looked real as hell, and this was a really weird side effect of metabolic crash.

And none of it answered the question of where the hell was Shepard.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

"Can't? Can't?!" Sera narrowed her eyes at Leliana, nose wrinkling across the bridge. "Oh that's some big-hat shite. Needs stabbing but can't." She turned around, back to the Spymaster and pointed at Shepard. "Watch out for crazy. I need to get my little bow and my little arrows and I'll be back around."

"We'll keep an eye out for blond, older, crazy," Shepard said. "Won't be the first time we've had to duck crazy old people. Hey," he added as Sera was heading away. "Don't forget you're going to help me steal that pirate ship."

"There's a pirate what?" Kaidan craned his neck and then looked at Shepard. "You're stealing a ship now?" He groaned and let his head hang, leaning more heavily into Shepard.

Leliana chuckled, shaking her head.

"Just try to stay in one piece, yes? All of you. Until we meet again."

And with a small curtsy, the spymaster went back to the main building.

((ooc: thanks for the scene guys ^^ always a pleasure))

Sera grinned widely at Shepard before nodding. "Oh, it'll be grand." She gave Leliana a wary glance and trotted off under the trees where the shadows seemed to clot around her and she slipped from sight.

(OOC: This one's out too. Thanks guys!)

"How's your head, Serious Eyebrows?" Shepard asked, leading Kaidan more slowly toward the castle. Hey, castles meant kitchens which meant food, right?

"That is so not going to be a thing, Shepard." Kaidan kept his head down, eyes narrowed against the weird light, which wasn't so bright it caused serious problems, but it was... twisty. Plus he trusted Shepard to get him wherever they were going.

He hummed a note, not agreeing, not disagreeing.

"Come on, inside. We can figure out more of what's going on once we get some food in you," he said, helping Kaidan into the castle. Shepard cast a glance around, then followed his instincts.

They didn't lead him wrong. Remarkably soon, they'd found the kitchen. "All right," he said, leaving Kaidan in one of the rough-hewn chairs, "you're lucky I actually know how to cook over an open flame."

Kaidan was used to following Shepard, so he didn't even question that he just found the kitchen. It was Shepard.

He plunked down in the chair, elbows on his knees and head down in his hands. "You know how to cook at all?" He raised his head far enough to squint over at him.

"Sure I do," Shepard said, already poking through, looking for something worthwhile. "If I didn't figure out how to roast food over a trash can fire, I'd never get fed." He looked over, one brow arched teasingly. "Not all of us grew up in a cushy Canadian mansion."

"Hey, I can cook over a fire just fine." Kaidan's grumble was owlish. He really felt like crap. "Shepard, what the hell happened?"

It was an open-ended question. Brain camp, the crashed ship on the lawn, the weird girl with the pointy ears Shepard was all chummy with, and the whole castle-thing inclusive.

"I don't know yet," he said, only hesitating a moment. He sliced up some fruit and set a plate of apple slices in front of Kaidan--then lightly gripped the back of his neck and pulled him in for a gentle kiss to the crown of his head. "We'll figure it out, though. Until then, adapt, play along, survive. Right?"

Kaidan's eyes closed when Shepard's lips brushed his hair. He nodded a little jerkily. "Right." Adapting and playing along weren't Kaidan's strongest suits. Shepard on the other hand... "Maybe once the migraine's gone you can explain how you adapt to this kind of stuff? Because I gotta say, kind of drawing a blank at the moment."

"I'll show you," he promised, letting go and heading back to fix them an actual meal. They both needed the calories after such heavy use of their biotics. "We're in this together."

"Right. Together."

Kaidan let his eyes stay closed as he listened to Shepard moving around the kitchen. He'd wanted to catch him before he drew away, ask him what the kiss on his head meant, but with the space that was between them the last week before everything went to hell, he wasn't sure he'd get an answer.

Or that he'd like the answer that he got.

So... it was Shepard screwing with him, gently, because he was still Kaidan's best friend. Like he was a little kid with a scraped knee, needing to be coddled. He could live with that, just like being needled for being rich and Canadian, it didn't much sting.

"Try it a little less dubiously next time," he said dryly, already beginning to chop and dice. "Also, eat your apple. You need the calories."

Kaidan would have rolled his eyes but he didn't want to open them. He groped on the table until he found the apple, the first bite a small one, the second larger as he was sure his stomach wasn't going to rebel. "Thanks, Shepard," he said quietly, before taking another bite.

With Kaidan's eyes closed, Shepard could watch him the way he didn't allow himself when he knew he could get caught.

"You're my crew," he said, as if that meant anything without a ship of their own. "...you're my best friend," as if that had ever meant anything before Kaidan.

Kaidan colored slightly where he sat munching on apple, looking like hell. He probably smelled not great after being in the brig. He opened his eyes, looked over at Shepard and managed a half-smile. "Yeah." He cleared his throat and looked down at the apple with a little frown.

He was starting to brood, eyebrows pulling together. He wasn't sure he should be out of the brig after what he'd done, and here he was sitting with Shepard having a damn picnic? He shook his head, huffing a little chuckle.

"What's funny?" he asked, transferring their food over to plates. Actual plates and silverware to boot. This was already a sight better than any meals he'd made back in the Reds. He slid Kaidan's plate over to him before sitting across from him, brows arched.

Kaidan looked down at the food for a moment, smile a little steadier, still crooked. He picked up the fork, turned it over and then shrugged.

It was a castle and it had weird forks. He'd live.

"Just this." He gestured around them. "Two hours ago I was in lock up. Because I killed somebody, Shepard." His voice dropped, low and raw. "I just didn't think this--" he gestured between them, "--was ever going to happen again."