[ The pods are 'boring' because they're meant to be, Noh-Varr would counter--they're healthy, balanced, nurturing places for young brains and bodies to develop. Full of carefully-calculated light and sound and just enough stimulus to motivate development without overwhelming it. ]
'Fond' isn't the word I'd use. [ It's complicated. Kree family units are complicated. ] I respected him tremendously. [ He glances at Garrus, obviously hesitant. ]
What brought you apart? Just clashing personalities?
[He's curious, really curious, but Noh's changing the topic so he'll go with it. Garrus doesn't want to push. There's a chance he'd wind up pushing Noh-Varr away, and this is the first time they've really sat and talked since the breakup. He's missed this too much to risk it.]
Mm. Clashing perspectives. I had a dream. He didn't like it. So he sabotaged it.
[Garrus shakes his head.]
I had the scores and the skills to get into the Spectre program. It's what Shepard is. Serves at the will of the Council, and rules don't apply to her. Special budget, special weapons.
[He reaches over to tap his Black Widow; that's something he wouldn't have without her Spectre status.]
Put my application in. My father pulled some strings, got it rejected, landed me in C-sec where he was. And then I went and joined a Spectre crew anyway, years later. But I'm not one.
[It's for the best, now. There's no Shepard without Vakarian, and he firmly believes that they'd both been needed where they were. But oh, he'd been angry for such a long time.]
Maybe you should train your stamina in that form. Not just for running. It was damn handy against the kraken. ...Though I'm gonna guess there's politics involved in this.
[It's easier to pretend he's just talking to Reiner, that it's not cell lead checking up on underlings. Garrus will adapt, but he needs a little time to get his head straight.]
[ Noh-Varr feels--distress? anger?--at what Garrus describes to him, the disrespect, the condescension. He would not have forgiven so easily. ]
Why did he...? [ He holds up his hand then, aborting the question outright. He doesn't want to know; he doesn't want to take a side that isn't Garrus'. ] I'm sorry, Garrus. But you moved out of his shadow eventually, at least.
[ If Noh-Varr had had a pretty decent impression of Vakarian Sr before, it's gone now. ]
Your sister, what does she do? Is she a fighter as well?
[Garrus shrugs when the question is broken off. He's dealt with it. But if Noh-Varr doesn't want to ask, that's fine.]
I did. Surpassed him.
[In rank, in fame, in accomplishment. It's still strange to him.]
And every turian is a fighter. It's what we do. She's getting reassigned now. She was...
[His mandibles draw close to his face for a moment, and his subharmonics get a little heavy.]
Cipritine's our capital. She was stationed there when the reapers hit. It's... There isn't much left. She and my father got off-world, and they're taking positions in the fleet.
[ He nods. He knows that turians, like Kree, are all combat-trained, but he knows that doesn't always mean each of them is a front-line fighter. She could be a medic, an engineer, a social worker. Still, he accepts Garrus' explanation with a nod. ]
I'm glad she's safe then, for your sake.
[ He turns his face up to Garrus, his shoulders moving back slightly to compensate for the height difference. ]
Thank you for showing me this.
[ Garrus is still someone he cares about. To have enough trust to be able to share these memories...he knows what he's being entrusted with. ]
If the Marvel becomes fully operational again--I can show you my memories, too.
[He looks down at Noh-Varr, trying to ignore thoughts of how easy it would be to touch foreheads again. Yes, it would be easy. And it would mess up everything.
There's no one else here, save Shepard and Tali, that he'd share these things with, and they already know. They're not curious. What he has with Noh-Varr is still special.]
I'd like to see them, when we get her up to speed. And we will.
[As much as he doesn't really want the Kree to go, it's a good point to break off. To separate, to let Garrus catch his breath and his head.]
I'll see you around camp, Noh-Varr. And I'll keep talking with Kyouya.
[ He's relaxed as he ever gets, like this. Swiping at the rover to let Garrus and he's in remarkably better state. Sleeves pushed up arms and long lines of more scars, hair pulled up the back of his head and tied off. Nods in greeting. ]
Welcome.
[ Turns to make his way back in, expecting to be followed back up. What he'd been doing before this discarded, the brittle cleaned moose bone left discarded on the small folded out table, the blade he'd been using beside it. ]
[His cell. The recruits he has been tasked to watch out for. Despite everything, Reiner can feel his heart swell a little. The responsibility is something familiar and he swears he won't let himself falter again.
Not when he has people depending on him.]
FROM: braun.reiner@cdc.org
i don't want to antagonize people needlessly [That should speak for itself.]
[Things are a little more difficult in person. But Garrus has never faltered in his duty. He serves where he's assigned, and he won't shy away from it for his own pride.]
FROM: vakarian.garrus@cdc.org
I'm not. I'm on a blanket messing with attempts at crossbow bolts, a little south of camp.
[She's not ashamed to be crying - the only thing making her feel vaguely uncomfortable about it is that her mask isn't on and the tears are cold on her face. As Garrus stands, though, she wonders for a split-second, that part of her that speaks with her father's voice, if this isn't a moment of selfishness she shouldn't be succumbing to.
She can't help that part of her any more than she can help the crying, and as she leans against Garrus, his arm comfortingly solid around her, she feels as though she's about to be ripped apart by it all, and this turian, her friend, might just be all that's holding her together.
There are a few moments - maybe thirty seconds, maybe thirty minutes; time runs away from her - where she sobs against him, each heaving breath like slowly leaching away poison one shallow cut at a time. When they fade away to only deep breaths and sniffling, all she feels is the pain, sharp like something physical. It's not so much grief anymore, it's...]
Auntie... Admiral Raan told me fighting for the homeworld was the only way my father could show he cared. I think I spent more time with her than with him. And now they both...
[The pain is betrayal. In different ways, different means, but it's betrayal.]
I'm sorry, you probably don't want to hear this. [She mutters it, voice rough.]
[She shakes her head, making a face at her cup as she sets it down on the floor. No way she's drinking any more of that, she's already starting to feel her vision augment and wobble. Well, if her systems ever needed to be put up to the test, they sure were now.]
I'll think on it. About Green. Dagger seems to hate them, which suits me just fine. Maybe I'll get more out of it.
[Samus takes a deep breath, the fog in her head growing heavier by the second.]
[Ah, good. This time Corvo doesn't look like death warmed over. Garrus ducks his head as he enters, the instinctual habit a leftover from way too many human-sized doors, and looks around. Ah, bones. Those always lend a... feeling... to a place.]
So you killed someone recently and just decided to decorate with their parts? Adds... charm.
[Garrus grabs a stool and pulls out his blackglass before he's finished teasing.]
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