Who: Shepard & Vakarian What: Target practice with bottles, and a discussion on Palaven When: Today Where: Out in the woods~ Rating/Warning: It's tame Status: Complete!
Unlike her cousin, Jane wasn’t a sniper. She definitely couldn’t outshoot Garrus. But she could enjoy trying and helping make him feel superior. Maybe it would make him feel better. She wasn’t sure just how well he was adjusting to turning into an alien, but a selfish part of her felt more naturally at home with the idea. Like Shepard and Vakarian were the way they were supposed to be.
Complete with incoming invasions. She had a plan later this week to go investigate Omega, but she didn’t want to bring it up yet. This wasn’t really for business.
“I brought some beer. Blue bottles are Turian friendly, just for you.” Assuming he could walk straight after her driving.
Garrus, on the other hand, was a sniper. It was in his human blood and also in his turian blood, which he was sure he had more of nowadays. Transitioning into what he was, as slow and achingly painful as it was, didn’t bother him like one might think - he lived an entire life as one, and something told him he’d feel more at home within that scaly metallic exoskeleton.
The woods weren’t anything like his ‘favorite spot on the Citadel’ but this would do.
“Let my stomach settle first,” Vakarian sighed, cracking his neck. His growth spurt increased his height impressively and made his limbs longer and lanky. He felt more like a clumsy mess but he was still adjusting. “But thanks, Commander, you’re too kind.”
He was walking mostly straight from her driving, thank you.
Next time they’d take a trip to the Citadel and shoot things. Like the council chambers. Though Shepard was willing to drop a bomb in the council chambers while giggling like a madwoman. “Reaper” this.
Bitter? Naaaaah.
“Bet you can’t hit anything,” she said, nudging his shoulder with her first. “You seem a little off balance, Vakarian.” She peered at his legs to see if they’d gone digitigrade yet.
No, not yet. Garrus looked relatively normal, just on the more of the giant side, and his voice - there was something metallic in it, like his throat was steely and his words carried a faint echo. “I’m off balance because of your driving,” he smirked, draping an arm over her shoulder. “The height ratio’s evened out more. You look normal now at this height.”
Good thing they’d been to hell together in what they’ve dreamt and toasted with shots, otherwise he probably wouldn’t be able to get away with tossing a little shit right back at her. “Before we start, you in the mood to do me a favor? It’ll probably involve adventure, but not so much blowing up relays or taking out troops.”
There might also be something about his skin that was off, but it could just be Shepard’s expectations tricking her. She nudged her shoulder against him then leaned in just a little bit. “I was used to not having to crane my neck to look at your pretty mug. Guess I’ve gotta adapt.”
She gave him a dubious smile. “I’m always up for a little adventure. What do you have in mind?”
His pretty mug. Wasn’t she sweet? Maybe the turian plates would come with the scarring endured from taking a missile to the face in Omega. How he survived that, he couldn’t really say. “Palaven,” Garrus began, taking a deep breath. His eyes went to the sky like he could see beyond the blanket of blue. “You think it’s out there? I was wondering if you’d punch in the coordinates into the Normandy and...give it a try.”
Last thing he wanted to do was dry the Citadel from its dextro-amino based foods. His home planet had the molecular makeup for it, but any turian planet would do - Palaven was just the main one.
Jane looked up at the sky as well. The only thing she could see were a few clouds. “I don’t know. I thought about finding it. Or one of the Asari worlds.” She just hadn’t had the heart to do it yet. She didn’t want to be disappointed, or to disappoint Garrus. And what if they were there? “What would we do if it existed, and there were Turians there? Or what if it existed but it was … empty.” Lifeless, or just with wildlife and no civilization. “If you’re willing to face that, I’m willing to give it a try.”
He expected it to be empty of any intelligent life, not…filled with it. Who knew, it was a possibility they needed to take into consideration - considering the turians and humans had gotten into war upon first contact. “We’ve got no EDI but we can still scan the planet for activity, can’t we?” They’d have to tread carefully. Jemma was going to replicate what he’d brought, but Palaven was a safety net in case something happened.
“I guess we just have to be smart about it,” he went on, and reached over to ruffle the mop of red hair. “Who knows what else is out there.”
“Yes, we can. That’s how we knew it was safe to blow up that relay.” Sure, they’d...removed any chance intelligent life could develop on that planet, but at least she could only say she’d caused a mass extinction event of plants and animals and maybe that didn’t actually make her feel any better. Nor the fact she would have blown it up anyway, just like in her dreams.
“I doubt we’re alone. I think it looks a lot different than the galaxy in our dreams does. And we have to be damn careful we don’t attract the attention of civilizations that won’t understand the intricacies of dreams versus reality.” The earth was definitely not ready for alien contact.
It definitely wasn’t. In their ‘historical dream timeline,’ contact wasn’t even made until about almost two hundred years or so from this very date. Humans discovering the Mass Relay, then it all snowballed from there - not to mention when things like this happened, an adjustment period (meaning war) followed before diplomacy and the set of boundaries.
“It is technically our job to keep on the lookout, then,” Garrus nodded. The galaxy was their domain; any incoming threats, they’d be some of the first to know. Not to mention they weren’t the only ones that dreamt of battle among the stars, either - aliens weren’t as common as, say, magic users, but a couple were in the OC. Who knew when their own dreams would bleed over from the depths of deep space, too.
Contemplation aside, took ahold of his rifle. The Javelin, specifically. “Almost feels like I’m home in my own skin with all this going on.”
There was no telling what was actually out there and how dangerous it might be, but then they existed. They could be the shield between the Earth and..anything else. “That job isn’t one I mind honestly. Makes me feel useful. Rather defend people than have to fight them.” After dreaming of a galaxy-wise near extinction event, human warfare seemed...petty.
“Still bet your aim will be off.”
Garrus had a similar mindset. They’d both had seen war, but the ones specific to their dreams were a different beast. And it brought a different sort of loss in the end, in a way that still sunk like an anvil in his gut no matter how long it’d been since they’d finished.
“It won’t,” he chuckled throatily, grabbing an empty bottle to toss around in his hand. “I’ll let you go first.”
His arm was decent, and he chucked the target high into the air.
She snapped her rifle up, missed on the first shot but hit it once she adjusted. She sneered. “Shit, I need to work on that. That was pathetic.” If she kept that up Garrus might never let her live it down. Ever.
Garrus wouldn’t, probably because he had few chances to ever be smug about anything and this was one of those times. His much larger hands (especially now) snatched a couple more, and he shot them back up into the air. “Can’t get too rusty now,” he smirked. “You’re never going to bring anyone home with an aim like that.”
Hey, it was friendly teasing. Please refrain from the target suddenly becoming his head, alright? Wait until his skin was metallic and hard-plated, he had more of a chance to survive a gunshot to the brain like that.
The only way she’d shoot him in the head would be in a paintball match. Which actually wasn’t a bad idea and she filed the thought away for later. For now, she wanted to work on her aim, and bond with her slowly changing friend. It was nice to be reminded of one of the reasons she’d fought so hard.