Who: Midna & Garrus with puppy!Link What: Garrus hits up the Twilight Princess for some magic jo-jo for his upcoming change When: Recent Where: Midna & Zelda's Rating/Warnings: Family friendly~ Status: Complete!
Today, Garrus had to make a choice between a baseball cap or fedora.
It wasn’t a decision made often nor a decision he wanted to make, but transitioning into an extraterrestrial species that didn’t have hair follicles was bound to be more of an unsightly process as time went on - which meant that the hair he did have, black and often well-kept, was beginning to fall out. Premature balding, maybe, if he wanted to explain it to a total stranger but he’d rather not, and would also rather keep what was happening and what he was starting to lack covered.
So the fedora it was, even if it made him look like a goddamn hipster. At least it went well with his wardrobe - a casual buttoned shirt with the sleeves neatly rolled to his elbows and pressed slacks. Just because he felt grotesque didn’t mean he had to also look grotesque.
The house he arrived to wasn’t one familiar to him but the ladies it held, they were. A ying-yang duo of princesses, one of light and one of shadow, and the two of them were more than acquainted with his wife. Cindy trusted them and in turn, he trusted them too. Magic wasn’t something he thought he’d ever get used to even if it’d brought his ladylove back from death, but he figured the one who consistently kept her very blue and non-human self smartly veiled by an illusion was one to go to when it came to…changes.
Garrus rung the doorbell once.
Well, the fedora didn’t make him look like a hipster per se, but it definitely gave Midna old-school detective vibes. Maybe ‘male version of Carmen Sandiego’ vibes - either way, she was plenty amused when she skipped to the door to answer and let in her guest, whom she hadn’t spent a lot of time with yet knew why he was here today since things had already been discussed between the Princess Trio. And she was glad that she could help, cool beans, it made her feel all warm and fuzzy inside so why not. Link joined her, of course, the gigantic fluffy beast almost beating her there with his tail thumping on the hardwood floors, so excitedly that he nearly put a hole in them. But how could you blame him? Company was so exciting, this was the best day everrrrr! Even better than when he got to chase squirrels or lick remnants of human food from the plates!
It was kind of hot, so her sleep shorts were easy breezy, printed with palm trees, and there was booty rockin’ everywhere. The sugar skull sleeveless t-shirt didn’t really go with them, but oh well - she was comfortable and that was what mattered. “Hey, come on in,” the Twilight Princess insisted, grabbing Link’s collar and trying to get him to scoot back a little - his tongue was lolling out and he was so giddy, huge paws hitting the ground when he jumped a bit and came back down. “This is Link, he’s super friendly - “
As Garrus could probably tell, but just in case he wasn’t aware that he was about to be slobbered on the second he sat down. And speaking of, Midna was a good host - sometimes she had manners, thanks to her prim and proper other half. “Have a seat in the living room! You want anything to drink?”
Uh. Wow. Now that specimen there was the definition of big dog - Garrus wasn’t an expert on canine breeds but the excitable creature on four massive paws didn’t seem anything blatantly domestic. Almost like they round up a wolf and taught it some manners with the way Midna had reigns on him. “Kind of hard to think he’s menacing with the amount of drool,” he chuckled, pulling the sunglasses from his eyes. “But sure, water if that’s alright? Thanks for seeing me.”
It was interesting inside the house with its mix of otherworldly cultures - he’d be careful not to touch anything that looked like it didn’t belong here without permission (in case it turned him into a toad, or something). He took his seat, hand out for the large pup’s wet nose to fully investigate and slobber on. It was only polite.
“I figured it’d be a good time to start getting this rolling,” he chuckled, the rumble in his throat metallic. His vocals had shifted, permanently. “I don’t look good with a balding head.”
Very nice! The voice sounded like grinding gears, Midna could dig it. “If your current gig doesn’t work out, you could always go into some kinda 1-900 number thing,” she sniggered, padding barefoot into the kitchen - which faced the living room anyway, with a nice window cut out to talk through - for the requested beverage. Hey, her observation was true, some girls and guys liked the gravelly sound!
While Link made himself comfortable (by sniffing and slobbering), his Amazonian owner grabbed a bottle of water for Garrus and an Odwalla smoothie in a bottle for her, something with berries and other good-for-you things. It was a wonder she still had the physique of an exotic dancer, considering she wasn’t much of a cook and her diet wasn’t the best, but she chalked it up to stellar genes. And doing yoga to stay in shape, plus all her Burlesque gyrating. That helped too.
“Zellie said something you could wear as a watch would be best? I can always change that if you’d rather have the glamour on a piece of bling around your neck or something.”
Garrus didn’t seem like he’d be going anywhere anytime soon, the decision cemented by the wolf-dog pushing up under his arm and draping those long, impressive front legs over his lap. Dog breath to the face, huh, Link? What a handsome host - intimidating at first glance but past those piercing gold eyes and the rows of teeth was the epitome of furbaby.
He’d manage sipping the water around the invasive puppy nudges against his face, don’t worry.
“That sounds like the best thing,” he agreed, extending his wrist - there was one there already worth a couple hundred (Cindy had her shoe fetish, and he had his own splurges) he always wore. “I can sacrifice this one if anything, unless it’s something you make? Honestly, I’m sort of at lost in this field. I figured magic would have a less chance of technological glitches that’d leave me stranded in the middle of a crowd looking like I belong in Area 51.”
Midna took a swig of her refreshing berry blend, leaning in to peek at the watch - probably just your standard Rolex, or whatever kind that was (it looked expensive, and she wasn’t up to date on masculine jewelry). “I can enchant that, actually,” she decided, tilting her head to the side a bit, considering. Her own glamour wasn’t up now, personally - but it was more like, with the power from her piece of the Triforce and also combined shadow magic, she honed her shapeshifting abilities. And could be most anyone or anything she wanted - including a giant spider.
So while she was blue-skinned, with blood red eyes and messy orange locks pulled into an updo, she could still help a fellow blue person achieve a certain, distinct human look. With all his hair.
“But the glamour’s just an illusion, see. Shapeshifting is actually becoming something else - so while to human eyes you’d look like one of them, if someone shook your hand they’d still feel something like the...alien talons,” she explained. “I might be able to figure out some kind of transmutation charm - like when you put on the watch, you actually do become your human self again. When you take it off, poof, alien. Do you think that’d be better?”
Ahhh. Made sense. Garrus wanted to be as realistic as possible - most people had the ability to hide themselves in a way that came naturally to them (some form of magic, he knew some vampires had rings to keep them from burning at least), but he himself was a bit stranded in that regard. Pursuing something on the more scientific side was also an option; the Agency wasn’t short on the science types, and the Normandy had equipped them with technology ahead of this time, but he imagined preparing something like that would take time. Trial and error.
He wasn’t sure that he’d want a ‘trial and error’ period. Not when he was hiding this from everyone, including his own family. And like hell did he want to draw attention to himself because someone noticed his hands feeling different. He’d end up at Area 51, literally.
Rubbing his chin, he nodded. “No, that’s - that’s actually perfect. I want to blend in as much as I can. There’s nothing human about a turian aside from the fact that we’re bipedal. I need all bases covered considering the lack of fleshy parts I’ll have. How long will this take to make? And you do know I’ll compensate you, somehow - even if it’s just a getaway up in the stars.”
Blending in was a good thing, especially in a world that didn’t really understand you. People feared what they didn’t understand, and they feared aliens. They feared tall Twilight Princesses with bizarrely colored skin and tribal tattoos that looked intimidating - not to mention the hue of her eyes, the overall wildness of her appearance. Midna was glad to do what she could for Garrus, and she didn’t necessary require payment either.
Maaaan, was she getting soft or something? Maybe Zelda had more of an influence on her, especially over the course of the past year, than she thought.
“Since we’re talking transmutation, hmm - “ She hummed, tapping her chin. “Give me a week or so, to test it out? It’s a little more complicated than a glamour, but I can get it done and be sure it works. So you won’t have to worry. And don’t even worry about payment, but hell, I’ll take a space tour or two!” Zelda would love that, right? Maybe it’d be like a romantic getaway or something.
Space tours, he could do - the Normandy was more of Shepard’s vessel to fly around with but he could at least take them all to the Citadel, the dormant space station loaded with resources. And most importantly empty, and served as a nice get away when separating oneself from the insanity was best for one’s mental health. It also had one hell of a view of the Milky Way.
Garrus unhooked the watch from his wrist and leaned forward - much to Link’s disapproval, he was so comfortable snuggled up to the random alien-man up in his territory - to hand it over. “A week’s quick, but take your time,” he assured her. “I doubt anything drastic’s going to happen soon. I think the OC’s taking it a little easy on me when it comes to transforming my insides into something not of this Earth. I think the next step is my teeth.”
It’d explain the subtle aches he’d been feeling here and there, the sensitive gums that bled here and there. Alien puberty wasn’t a damn joke.
Midna took the watch, tucking it away into her cleavage for the time being - hey, these shorts didn’t have pockets, and boobs were the best kind of pockets anyway. Link quickly resumed his snuggling too, gigantic head all plopped on Garrus’ lap and ready to be petted - the alien-man should be careful, or else he’d have a ginormous fluffer passed out and snoring lightly on him and then there’d be no moving.
“I don’t do a lot anyway, besides work nights dancing,” she shrugged, stretching out to extend mile-long legs and rest her feet on the coffee table - Impa wasn’t around to give her side-eye for that, so. “I can toil over it during the day! When I’m not doing yoga with my uncle or looking for an additional job.” She had a few leads, so she’d have to see where they went - but overall, Midna wanted something professional. Something to put on her actual resume, and preferably something where she could keep up with her Arabic skills too.
Who knew, that alien transition could suddenly catapult forward. But she was glad to hear that things were going on the slow side for Garrus, kind of. “What kind of teeth will you have?” she asked. “All the better to tear into steak with?”
Nope. Garrus wasn’t questioning where his watch was pocketed - he was sure it was in good hands. Or...breasts, if he were to be objectively technical. But he settled back to allow the hybrid some comfort (it was always about their comfort, wasn’t it?), so while Link loafed around on him, there’d be a pair of fingers scritching that spot behind those pointed, triangular ears.
“Like needles,” he explained after a second to think about it. “Thick needles, I guess. Studies have compared them to apex predators - sharks, crocodiles.” His free hand went to rub his jaw, just thinking about it brought that subtle throb in his gums back to focus. “Some dinosaurs, supposedly. For a primarily meat-based diet, while my wife, of course, is the vegetarian. How’d it go for your change, though? Any sort of weird adjustments you had to get used to?”
Midna looked fairly humanoid, but with obvious differences. Alien race versus a magical race, he was interested to hear the differences.
“No shit, really? Because crocodile teeth sound pretty intense. You eat meat, but it can’t be meat here on Earth? The proteins are different?” She thought she heard something about that, based on what Cindy and Zellie were talking about. If so, that was a really big adjustment too - but damn, Midna loved her some steak. And she loved it medium rare, nice and red, the way you were meant to enjoy steak. “Still, some needly teeth poking through gums sounds like it’d be rough. If you need any pain relief or anything, I can always tack that on there too. Figure out a spell or something.” Zelda was better with the healing, due to the powers granted by the Triforce of Wisdom, but surely something could be done.
As for Midna’s own change, there was a lot there to get used to as well. Seemed like so long ago, when it first started happening. “Tons,” she cracked a smile, watching Link be spoiled with the scritching. He was such a happy boy.
“I didn’t have a reflection, that’s when I first noticed shit was weird. Then I couldn’t go out in the sunlight for awhile - my people are shadow-dwellers, we’re meant for living in darkness, in perpetual twilight. That got fixed eventually for me here, but. What else?” She tapped her lower lip with her index finger. “I used a glamour for my tattoos at first too, then when I just turned completely blue I said to hell with it and upped the ante. But yeah, the weirdest thing was definitely the nocturnal lifestyle. And I still have to take selfies to do my makeup,” she chuckled goodnaturedly.
“Different meat,” he confirmed with a chuckle, amused by Midna’s - ah, how to describe it? Lightheartedness, in a way? Garrus thought her to be a very carefree sort, go-with-the-flow with an interesting way of both perceiving and explaining things. “But I’ll take whatever you’ve got if you can spare it.” Simmons had prescribed him some things but eventually, well, the body managed to get immune - or it tapered off quicker than how it started.
He’d prefer to not develop a narcotics addiction, but in actuality he figured that the medication was beginning to stop responding do to the change - it was meant for human consumption, not alien.
But it seemed she went through one hell of a switch of things too, losing the reflection and temporary aversion to sunlight. “Honestly, you could really pass off as someone who just enjoys doing costume and makeup,” he admitted. “You’d win every contest by cheating but no one would suspect a damn thing.”
“You could probably win a shit ton of Halloween costume contests too,” Midna cackled. “I mean, when you’re in full-out Turian form. Or like, you know, Hollywood movie makeup contests. Crazy stuff, man.” She also made a mental note to get on the painkiller stuff right away - something natural, something that wasn’t addictive. And she was confident that this could happen.
Due to her upbringing, in those celebrity circles where pill-popping was pretty much an Olympic sport, she had seen what coke-face and glazed over Vicodin eyes could do to a person. It just wasn’t fun all around, not at all.
Taking another swig from her bottle, she spun the plastic cap on the coffee table like some kind of deranged top. “What else? Anything? I can just be your supplier of magical remedies and all sorts of shit.”
Oh, he could. Halloween was a prime time to turn into his alien self the first time - no one really suspected a thing for those couple days, just some elaborate getup worthy of awe and pictures. It was alright if it weren’t for the fact that there wasn’t food that could provide him actual nutrition for the duration, thank the spirits he had that part covered this time around.
“I don’t think I’ve heard of a magical drug supplier before,” Garrus lifted his shoulders into a shrug, but the smirk indicated amusement. “You supply your skills, I’ll supply mine. They tend to be more towards technological advancement.” If one wanted to beat the dead horse and give him a hard time, calibrations. “Updated security systems, specialized recognition locks, guns.” Not to mention supplies like medi-gel and omni-gel, one for healing and the other to help patch things up. He wasn’t sure if Midna could benefit from any of it but the offer was there; the Citadel was a well of resources meant to help an entire civilization thrive.
Which reminded him. “You like video games, don’t you?” An eyebrow quirked with the question - he could have sworn he’d heard whispers between the princesses about playing the video game based off his other-life. Or maybe that was reverse, he’d rather not think about it too hard to avoid an existential crisis. “There’s a simulator on the Citadel. It’s an arena, really good for ‘real life’ action practice. You get thrown into an arena with weapons, face realistic enemies - aliens in our case, of course - and like you’re in battle, you shoot and duck. Upside is, you can’t die from it.”
Oooh, ‘technological advancement.’ That sounded pretty badass to Midna - things weren’t really very sci-fi in her kingdom; their world was kept running by the Sol’s, which were objects comprised of pure power and were the source of life for, well, everything. She had one here, though with it being modern-day Orange County and all, didn’t really see much of a use for it. But you never knew, right? If their whackadoo reality was plunged into a mysterious blackout or yet another dark fog (similar to the one generated by Zant), Midna was the woman with a plan.
“What you just described sounds like a shit ton of Christmas gifts for Impa, especially the guns,” she grinned excitedly. “I think she’d like some new stuff, being head of the security team at Zelda’s corporation. And the house could use security too, especially that - “
She motioned toward the large, very large, relic which was the Mirror of Twilight atop its makeshift platform, something sturdy and made of glass - adorned with tribal markings which matched her tattoos, the humongous thing was a pretty damn good conversation piece. “It needs to be protected all the time. Otherwise it could be triggered and then someone accidentally falls into the Twilight Realm, and they can’t get out.”
Not only that, they’d probably perish. Plain vanilla humans weren’t meant to reside there - Link and Zelda each had their own protections, when they visited, but the average person didn’t.
Garrus was wondering what that thing was, but ‘portal to another realm’ wasn’t exactly the first thing that came to mind - uh, good to know. “Tripping and falling into another world, yeah - doesn’t sound like the best outcome for most.” Those sky blue eyes squinted at it, but regardless, impressive. Definitely not something Midna wanted stolen (though he doubted petty thieves would even be able to carry it out within the thirty seconds it took for the dog to come forth and devour them), or broken in some attempted thievery.
But he could work something out, something secure and easy to work with. Had to protect the merchandise, didn’t they?
“Overall, it’s a deal,” he grinned, then tried to wipe off the canine slobber on his pants but it was futile. “I’m sure with some tech and the dog in the picture this place will be a fortress - isn’t that right?”
Vakarian hoped for just a happy panting-smile, not the long line of drool coming from his jowls and dropping to his pant leg, but he guessed it was a legitimate answer.