#thank you! c: and yes haha I DID finally get to the crash site DLC thank u MELE

[astorythatwritesitself]

8, 12, 29 and +1 for the shep questions please!

8. What is their reaction to the Alchera mission? And after?

Initially? Adrian's reaction is 'ignore it'. There's so many more things to worry about, after all, so much to do, the sense of haste to stop the Collectors and all. No, she's totally not kind of terrified of confronting the fact that she died there (and besides, she'd already been kind of emotionally/mentally half dead since Akuze, in her words). But when they hit a bit of a lull (i.e. 'personally I hc there's a solid chunk of time they're trying to scout out leads on the Reaper IFF where it's just kind of nothing so that's where a lot of the side missions fit in')... she's convinced to do it, if only for her old crew.

It's strangely peaceful, in the end. It's a beautiful world, and she's glad for the chance to find the missing tags to send back to the crew's families/next of kin, especially since (she thought at the time) it seemed hers didn't make it. There's no tears, no... intense emotions, really? Just cold and quiet and calm; even for a while once she returns to the Normandy. It takes some time before she discusses it with anyone, too.

I think it's the tipping point to ending the whole fatalistic streak Adrian had going to some degree since even the first game - not all at once, of course, and there's a lot of 'two steps forward, one step back'. But holding your old helmet in your hands, on what was essentially your grave for a short time... 'really forced to confront your mortality/Ship of Thesus-esque nature so hard you experience the human equivalent to integer overflow' isn't an approved, recognized, or even good method of self-improvement, but it does something!

12. Does Shepard have any nicknames? What do they think of em?

A few, aside from the canon ones: (fine with all of those, though 'siha' has a bit of a rough patch at one point...)

Addy, from her parents when she was little - and yes, they do still use it on occasion; she's only a tiny bit mortified when one of them uses it within earshot of a crewmate.

Briefly picked up 'Tech' in college, as the designated 'fix it' guy among her friends. That one dropped off once they went their separate ways, never felt too strongly either way.

Only half counts since they never repeated, but: an increasingly sickening array of pet names from Kaiden during the SR-1 days (Mistaken observation that led to good-natured faux dating and a war to see how far it could go before Adrian finally cut comms mid-conversation. 'Mon biquet' was the... 'winner', on the grounds of 'I can tolerate a lot of things, Kaiden, but not invoking French'). She's... very glad none of those come up again.

29. How active is Shepard? Are they hitting the gym, playing sports, or do they prefer quieter downtime?

Loves swimming and used to do it competitively, but that one's kind of dropped off over the years; she defaults to running laps or biotics practice now; anything to fully engage the body. Even her 'quiet' downtime is usually spent buried in work, though. It's a long while before she can handle downtime without moving or having something else to occupy her mind - but it does happen, eventually.

(+1: what does Shepard smell like?)

Goes for sea salt or rain scents whenever possible, plus general biotic electric or ozone scent - but, any active combat periods will inevitably include some combination of metal, dirt, blood, and occasionally singed flesh/hair (because someone keeps zapping themselves while fiddling with electronics they're not supposed to).