IC Contact - Consignment

[forgivetheinsubordination]

vakarian.garrus@cdc.org
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[forgivetheinsubordination]

FROM: vakarian.garrus@cdc.org

No. Or maybe yes and no.

FROM: vakarian.garrus@cdc.org

Hell, I don't know, Pilot.

FROM: vakarian.garrus@cdc.org

We have to kill them, there's no point in prolonging things, but I'm having a day and I just don't wanna be in the camp right now.

[deepspace]

FROM: pilot@cdc.org

Would you like to talk about it?

FROM: pilot@cdc.org

He realizes the mission is stressful, but if he can help, he would like to.

[forgivetheinsubordination]

FROM: vakarian.garrus@cdc.org

It's not even the mission. It should be. Then I wouldn't feel so self-centered.

FROM: vakarian.garrus@cdc.org

I was seeing someone. Now I'm not. Got stupid and too involved, and I shouldn't have.

[deepspace]

FROM: pilot@cdc.org

Ah. He's sorry to hear that. Do you require anything?

[forgivetheinsubordination]

FROM: vakarian.garrus@cdc.org

Do you want the stupid answer, or the rational one?

[deepspace]

FROM: pilot@cdc.org

Both.

[forgivetheinsubordination]

FROM: vakarian.garrus@cdc.org

The rational answer is that what I need is time, distractions, to not be thinking about it. That with those things I'll be fine.

FROM: vakarian.garrus@cdc.org

The stupid answer is that all I want to require is him. But I'm the one that ended it because it wasn't working, and it's not gonna work.

[deepspace]

FROM: pilot@cdc.org

He's sorry. But you're right - you need time. Would you like some company?

[forgivetheinsubordination]

FROM: vakarian.garrus@cdc.org

Only if you don't mind. I'm not great company right now, Pilot.

[deepspace]

FROM: pilot@cdc.org

He doesn't mind. It's really no trouble.

[forgivetheinsubordination]

FROM: vakarian.garrus@cdc.org

I'm just outside of camp, pretty much directly southeast. Got some alcohol with me, but you'll have to bring your own if you wanna drink; it's the whole levo/dextro thing.

[deepspace]

FROM: pilot@cdc.org

He doesn't drink much. Are you sure you should be? We're deployed.

[forgivetheinsubordination]

FROM: vakarian.garrus@cdc.org

Gonna have one drink. That's not gonna cause me problems. And while we're deployed, we don't have orders yet. Already spent time looking around the perimeter, seeing what we could do.

FROM: vakarian.garrus@cdc.org

Now I'm taking a break.

[deepspace]

FROM: pilot@cdc.org

If you'd rather not be alone, he'll come and say hello, then.

[forgivetheinsubordination]

FROM: vakarian.garrus@cdc.org

I'd appreciate it, Pilot.

FROM: vakarian.garrus@cdc.org

What does your species do when it comes to dating, anyway?

[deepspace]

FROM: pilot@cdc.org

See you soon, then.

FROM: pilot@cdc.org

We don't tend to date in the human sense of the word. We have lovers, but there's usually not the idea of a long-term relationship behind it.

[forgivetheinsubordination]

FROM: vakarian.garrus@cdc.org

I'll be here. And that seems tidy. Or tidier. For a while at least. You mind if we chat about that when you get here? Could talk the mission instead. Just wanna talk and not think much.

[Which, if they were on the Neheda, he could achieve with more alcohol. But he's got a duty here, and so Garrus is very slowly sipping some of his brandy as he leans against a tree, staring off into the distance as he awaits Pilot.]

[deepspace]

[Pilot shows up, eventually. Scout's trailing in his wake. After a moment, he simply settles in next to Garrus and stares out into the trees. He doesn't say anything - perhaps he feels like he doesn't need to.]

[forgivetheinsubordination]

[Garrus lets the silence linger for a short time, watching the bahari. They grow really fast. He's not entirely sure he'd noticed that the first time around. Then again, there'd been a lot going on and Jean's cat hadn't exactly been what he'd been paying the most attention to.]

We'll skip a repeat of the warning that I'm not cheerful. But then I don't even know where to start. I mean, it's not like I even wanted something serious. At first. It... happened. ANd it was probably a mistake. What's here for us? Destruction.

[deepspace]

Our job is here. Our mission is here.

[To Pilot, that's enough. Even if he cherishes the relationships he has, the mission comes first- it always does.]

He's sorry that you weren't able to reconcile your differences.

[forgivetheinsubordination]

[He takes a breath.]

Our lives are here.

[It's an addition, not a correction.]

Everything's here, and if we don't find what we might need here we won't, period, but...

[There's a shake of his head. The mission does come first. He hasn't lost sight of that, because all of Palaven is at stake. But personal wants and needs shouldn't all be ignored when they don't conflict with the mission. Having someone, that would make a person stronger. More able to deal with what's to come. He'd just wanted too much of that someone.]

I am too, Pilot. Guessing you've never made a mess like that.

[deepspace]

Not really, no.

[Pilot admits that with a little click-click-click at the back of his throat.]

Our concept of relationships is a bit different, though.

[forgivetheinsubordination]

[He glances over at the clicking noise. That's a new one, and he doesn't know how to read it, but there's another path to take with his curiosity.]

How do they work?

[deepspace]

We... tend to not be exclusive. There's not really a point to it. We have lovers, we have friends, and the two are often interchangeable.

[Very different, he imagines, from permanent monogamy.]

[forgivetheinsubordination]

There's a lot of that in turian culture, to a point.

[Some people never want to start families, and society doesn't frown on them for having different flings. Some people don't plan on winding up with just one person. Garrus hadn't figured he'd go for something long-term, and then this went and happened.]

Why is there no point to it?