[Shepard isn't anything like Kaidan Alenko. He'd had that soft voice and the gentle touch that pulled hesitant rookies out of their corners. Sam had that too-- the right words, the right time, easy confidence, easily established. Oh, maybe it was harder than it looked, but it looked effortless.
She wasn't gentle, wasn't soft, wasn't often kind.
But sometimes, she wanted to be. Often, it seemed, that trying only made it worse. It was like comparing a sandy cove to a rocky outcroppping; some people are a safe harbor, and others only bring death. She sipped her coffee and let Shiro breathe through his horror, through the rising sense of bile in her own throat. Dammit
She didn't know what else to be. So she let him work through it and let herself be... just there. Shields like warm water, rushing, inviting, but not enveloping, not moving to protect when Shepard didn't know how. She didn't know how to be a harbor.]
Shiro. You didn't fail. [She's usually so good with words.] This wasn't your doing.
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She wasn't gentle, wasn't soft, wasn't often kind.
But sometimes, she wanted to be. Often, it seemed, that trying only made it worse. It was like comparing a sandy cove to a rocky outcroppping; some people are a safe harbor, and others only bring death. She sipped her coffee and let Shiro breathe through his horror, through the rising sense of bile in her own throat. Dammit
She didn't know what else to be. So she let him work through it and let herself be... just there. Shields like warm water, rushing, inviting, but not enveloping, not moving to protect when Shepard didn't know how. She didn't know how to be a harbor.]
Shiro. You didn't fail. [She's usually so good with words.] This wasn't your doing.