First Count The Cost ★ Closed

[earthborn]

Who: Commander Shepard and Garrus Vakarian
When: July/August
Where: Free Cities Badlands
What: Free Cities Quest: Restoring Foundations
Warnings: foul language, violence

She wasn't much given to jingoistic sentiment, these days.

Oh, as a child, she'd been as xenophobic as anyone, and well into her time in the Alliance that attitude has persevered. Shepard had been a reliable vote for the Terra Firma party right up until— Ha, it was funny to think of it now, but it hadn't been until she'd met Garrus. Not the first time she'd met him, of course; the second time. Coming up the stairs out from a shoot-out in a medical clinic, still smelling of Eezo and with a Turian's eyes burning a hole in the back of her head, she'd seen them campaigning in the commons and reevaluated a few things. Never let it be said she isn't a fast learner, nor willing to change her mind, when she's wrong.

Just like that day, those bought men waving guns at doctors, Shepard is on this day forced to admit that really it's her own damn species that's at the root of most of her problems.

"Bandits," Shepard sighs, trudging along. The sun is a high and heavy weight on her shoulders, not unlike the pack on her back; it's N-1 all over again, right down to the forced marches and rationing. Except she hadn't had to wear a stupid straw hat to keep off the heat stroke, during basic, "It's always bandits. And mercs. And slavers. You think they ever get tired of making people hate them for a living?"

Hate might be a strong word, for the mercs. At least they could argue to be offering an honest service, outside of council space. Sort of. Murder was still illegal, even on Noveria... Right?

"Garrus, you still with me?"

Comments

[thearchangel]

"I wasn't. I figured it was actually jealousy over our stunning good looks." There is absolutely no seriousness there. He can figure out why. Doesn't take a genius to figure it out. But humanity isn't the only species out there with that kind of history. Maybe things like appearance differences, but differences in general. The Unification Wars, for example.

At length, he lets her hand go. If only to pick their way through a rocky patch in the interim. His feet are toughening up, he's noticed. Finding a boot he can work with is no easy task in this world - so more often than not, he's gone with leather wraps, leaving his toe talons free.

"Makes sense. You got that attitude from somewhere - " He's hilarious. "No, we just got the Cerberus backtalk." A beat and he shakes his head. "Which wasn't your fault in the least, but. I know what you're getting at. Happened plenty from other angles, before I even met you, too. Not the... skin thing. Other things." And if you didn't learn to shrug it off, eventually, you'd lose your mind.

[earthborn]

Shepard gives him a long, pointed look. She knows why he'd sweep it under the rug; the same reason he hadn't said anything about Ash's grumbling, back in the day. No point in rocking the boat, kicking up a fuss where simply knuckling under and doing the work would suffice. Don't complain. Don't make a scene. And in the end, no point in insisting on lipservice when real respect would either come, or not, based on the merits.

Still, it makes her want to hit something, imagining Garrus in those dark days, wounds still fresh— literally, as well as metaphorically. And then someone, some memeber of her crew putting a little more weight on him, even by accident.

"If any member of my crew ever says anything like that to you again, Garrus, I want you to tell me. People here on Abraxas have an excuse; most of them have never even heard of Turians before. But I—" I love you isn't appropriate here, even if it's true. Emotional attachment isn't all, or even most, of the reason why it is so absolutely vital that her people show respect to her Turian, "—You're important to me, dammit."

[thearchangel]

He blinks. His head pulling back ever so slightly, expression baffled by the sudden vehemence in her tone, in her insistence. Maybe he shouldn't be so surprised. Shepard took care of her crew. No question about that. But the whole Cerberus thing had been...

... Hadn't been nearly as long ago for her as it was him.

He takes a couple long steps forward, up to her, and ducks his head. One quick, sappy little forehead bonk. One brief moment to murmur, "Yes ma'am." In tones of absolute affection, of wry amusement. Agreement is there too, but as an afterthought.

I love you, too.

Then he's stepped back, and her sunhat goes with him. Plopped precariously on top of his crest and wobbling. "But let's keep going, before you turn into one big speckle."

Fin

[earthborn]

She lets him soothe her, deeply grudging, and then—

"Hey!" As usual, he has the reach, and that's enough for a temporary victory in this, and she chases him with an annoyance no less affectionate than it is genuine. He doesn't stand a chance.

Cadens is coming into view, a distant smudge among the heat-haze and dunes, and together they walk through her gates, all the lighter for having taken on the work.