IC Contact - Consignment

[forgivetheinsubordination]

vakarian.garrus@cdc.org
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day 76, probably the middle of the "night"

[lespedeza]

[ Guess whose black box is coming back to haunt her. ]

FROM: yamanaka.ino@cdc.org

Hey, Garrus?
Are you there?

[forgivetheinsubordination]

FROM: vakarian.garrus@cdc.org

You mean, in the bed fifty feet from yours? The alcove with the boots that I wear everywhere sitting outside it? Yeah, I'm here, Ino. What is it?

[lespedeza]

[ You know what? She doesn't need your sass, raptormom. ]

FROM: yamanaka.ino@cdc.org

I just wanted to see if you were awake!!
If you're just going to be a pain in the ass then forget it.

[forgivetheinsubordination]

FROM: vakarian.garrus@cdc.org

Sorry, Ino. I'm here and I'm awake. Come on over.

[lespedeza]

FROM: yamanaka.ino@cdc.org

I didn't wake you up, did I?

[forgivetheinsubordination]

FROM: vakarian.garrus@cdc.org

Nah. Believe me, it's not the easiest to sleep right now.

[lespedeza]

FROM: yamanaka.ino@cdc.org

That's why you should be sleeping when you actually get the chance!

[ Moms the raptormom?? ]

[forgivetheinsubordination]

FROM: vakarian.garrus@cdc.org

Which would be why I'm in the room instead of continuing patrolling. Did you need me for something, Ino?

[lespedeza]

FROM: yamanaka.ino@cdc.org

It's not a big deal.
I just

[ Wanted to make sure you were there? Alive? Even with his boots outside the bunk, she just... wanted to reach out. It sounds dumb, even in her head. ]

FROM: yamanaka.ino@cdc.org

I was just thinking about black box.

[forgivetheinsubordination]

FROM: vakarian.garrus@cdc.org

You've been in it?

[There's the sound of movement from his alcove as Garrus finds and pulls on his tunic, just in case.]

FROM: vakarian.garrus@cdc.org

I have. If you wanna talk, I'm here.

[lespedeza]

FROM: yamanaka.ino@cdc.org

Yeah.

[ This would be so much easier to do over the network... he wouldn't be able to read her face, her body language. He wouldn't be able to see how shaken up she is.

Still, she climbs out of her bunk and pulls a sweatshirt over her pajamas, her messy braid tucked into the back and hands in the pockets. She's silent on her feet as she heads over to Garrus' room, expression somber as she moves to sit on the edge of his bunk. ]

Hey.

[forgivetheinsubordination]

Hey, Ino.

[He shifts so that he's next to her, and able to put an arm around her shoulders. She's tough and smart and yet sometimes she still seems so small, like right now.]

Not an easy thing to deal with. And not just failing. Seems to know how to get into your head.

[His voice is quiet, words slow. There's no pressure to spill what happened, but there is an opening.]

[lespedeza]

Yeah, tell me about it.

[ The weight of his arm around her shoulders is comforting, and she leans into the touch, resting her head against his side. Garrus' size is reflective of how she's found herself relying on him so much: strong, solid, dependable. He takes up a lot of physical space, but he's also come to take up a lot of space in her heart too.

After a moment's thoughtful silence, she sighs, her shoulders lowering. She doesn't want to talk about her black box—yet. ]

What was yours?

[forgivetheinsubordination]

[He takes a breath, in and out, shifting slightly next to her.]

Drowning. I'm not... Not good in water. My people aren't. We're not built for it. So each time I go in, and each time...

[Garrus shakes his head. Each time he freezes up, feels sick, and the water covers him again. It's the panic he's most ashamed of, even more than the dying, but he can't seem to solve either of the issues.]

I mean, sooner or later I'll figure out how to manage the water thing. Not gonna be defeated by... that.

[lespedeza]

[ And each time he drowned. It's not an easy way to go, she knows—the Academy didn't recommend drowning someone to death if you could help it.

She picks her head back up so she can look up at him, her eyebrows pulling together in surprise. ]

Not built for it? [ She takes it to mean that turians just can't swim. So— ] Why would it give you something you can't actually do?

[ The black box is about eliminating weaknesses, and not being able to swim could potentially be a pretty big one—but if Garrus can't actually do anything about it, then what's the point? ]

[forgivetheinsubordination]

We don't have the body fat to have a chance at floating, we're top-heavy, and that's really heavy thanks to plating.

[She might not need the clarification, but there it is anyway.]

And I can't figure that out. Maybe I'm missing something. Scratch that. I've got to be missing something. Just haven't figured out what it is yet.

[Not like he can really think in the moment it's happening, either. He's not getting much analysis done while in there.]

Yours?