and I'm Claire. [Video/Open]

[pump_action]

[The feed opens on what could be a stock footage from a business video; Claire has found her habitat and she's broadcasting from behind the desk of her office, overlooking a corporate campus. She herself is dressed smartly in pale colors.]

Good afternoon, Legion. I thought I should introduce myself. My name is Claire Dearing, otherwise known as The Director. [Keeping it professional, but there's still a little hesitance with her 'superhero name' because seriously, she's a grown woman.]

Back home I was Director of Park Operations for a, uh ... an amusement park, [Sure yeah let's leave it there,] and I'd like to offer my services to anyone who might need business advice. This can be anything from finances, public relations, general or specialized business practices.

[Please just give her something normal to work with.]

Thank you, and I look forward to working with you.

Comments

[thebioticwoman]

I used to be his CO. Now I just give him a hard time.

[Hi, Garrus, she knows you're watching this.]

He's one of my o-- [she switches gears mid-word from whatever she was about to say] --best friends.

[pump_action]

[Okay, that's curious, the way she redirects. Claire is left wondering what she was originally going to say, but it doesn't seem pressing enough for her to pursue it.]

I see. And, you're military? With aliens?

[thebioticwoman]

More or less.

[Discussion of Citadel politics redacted, because Shepard doesn't want to get into it.]

I hired Garrus away from the cops, though.

[That's. Sort of how it went. If you squint.]

[pump_action]

Huh. I guess I didn't know it worked that way.

[thebioticwoman]

Has your Earth not made first contact yet?

[Because obviously they have FTL travel, right.]

[pump_action]

[She laughs,]

No, not at all. Well, some people claim to have, but so far nothing's been solidly proven.

[thebioticwoman]

[Shepard chuckles.]

"Claim to?" If it's anything like ours, trust me, you'll know.

[She's very dry. It's funny 'cause there was a war.]

[pump_action]

[She crosses her arms, curious,] What was yours like?

[thebioticwoman]

We had a war. With Garrus's people, actually.

[It's fine, they're all friends now. (No, they're not.)

Regardless of the larger galactic political situation, though, Shepard's not holding any grudges.]

[pump_action]

[Her eyes go wide; so maybe he didn't eat any people's faces but that didn't mean other turians didn't eat peoples' faces ... or it was just a war like any other war and not weird like that at all.]

But, that was a while ago, I take it?

[thebioticwoman]

Yeah, Garrus and I were both kids.

[Probably not what you meant, huh Claire?]

There's still some bad blood, but it's getting better. We've got a lot in common, but that means we butt heads as much as we get along. It's no different than things were back in the days of nation-states on Earth, really.

[Shepard shrugs.]

People are people, no matter which way their proteins fold.

[pump_action]

[No. She'd been hoping for a couple hundred years of perspective.]

Wait -- how is your Earth governed now?

[Quuuuuietly sliding the conversation towards something not tall and spiky.]

[thebioticwoman]

Depends on the country. They're all subordinate to the Systems Alliance Parliament.

[Shepard shrugs, not too concerned about internal Earth politics.]

[pump_action]

I guess having a greater galaxy to fit into the mix makes things a little more complicated, doesn't it?