They came for him when it was all done, the Reapers defeated and the galaxy struggling to rebuild itself without Mass Relays to guide the way. Spectre Garrus Vakarian- how did that sound? It sounded… Shit. How did it sound? Fantastic. More than he had ever dreamed of. Full of bullshit paperwork. A chance to make things right again. Not what he had asked for.
It boiled down to this: becoming a Spectre meant leaving her. She could wake up any day now, the doctors said. They thought hearing a familiar voice would help. Doubts about giving up the opportunity plagued his mind, but he sat next to her, holding her hand in his own, careful to avoid the IV needles, trying not to look at it.
“They want to make me a Spectre, Shepard. Me. Can you believe that?” In a reply to the silence, he said, “I didn’t think so.”
A few machines beeped, filling the air. It was never completely quiet here, and there was always a doctor or a nurse waiting just beyond the door, barely giving them privacy. “I said no. Had to stay here with you. Still. Spectre Vakarian. Has a nice ring to it.” His parents would have been so proud; he hadn’t been back to Palaven since the war ended.
“I should go.” The phrase was enough to send a ghost of a smile across his face. He had heard her say the same so many times before.
He stood, stooped, and went to let her hand rest back on the pristine white sheets when her fingers tightened around his, not a true grip but something more than their former looseness. It had happened before- reflexive action, the doctors said- but his heart still thudded in his throat.
Then Shepard spoke, and Garrus’ world inverted itself. “The Spectres…” Every word was labored, but her eyes were almost open, and he leaned closer to hear what she was saying.
“They’ll take anyone these days.” And for the first time since he thought he had lost her, Garrus laughed, long and hard, until tears streamed from his eyes.
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Totally written at the last minute for #turianweek because I will find any excuse to write Garrus related stuff and I need an excuse to fill in some Shakarian time. Day one was introductions. This may not be their official introduction, but it's when they first started to get to know each other so I think it counts.
“Garrus,” Melody Shepard called out as she peeked her head around the corner of the elevator. Noticing the pair of turian feet under the Mako, she became curious enough to investigate. She wasn’t quite sure how she felt about this turian she had just met already feeling around in the underbelly of their primary mode of transportation, but it seemed as if it were already too late. With no one around to watch this alien aboard the Normandy, parts of the Mako lay strewn along the ground around him. She shrugged. It wasn’t like he was going anywhere anytime soon.
She bent over, strands of hair covering her eyes, a smirk sliding across her face. “Garrus? If you’re looking for the kitchen, you’re not going to find it down there.”
After a moment of silence, he pulled himself out and dusted himself off. "I was just um…calibrating your vehicle. I was only going to take a look, but I noticed something and I…” He paused, pushing himself to his feet, his eyes scanning her reaction, obviously realizing that he had made assumptions too soon. “I…realize now that I probably should have gotten your permission before…” His eyes fell back down to the mess he created around the Mako. “I’m sorry.”
Melody put her hands behind her back, her smile only growing in her failing attempt to play nice with the new guy. She had only interacted directly with aliens a handful of times, but she knew nothing about them. Commanding them was a chance for her to get to learn. If only she could shake this impending awkwardness that he could no doubt pick up on. “Nono, it’s fine. You’re part of the team now, so feel free to do what you gotta do.”
“Oh…well, I appreciate that. Just let me know if you don’t like any of the changes that I add and I can have them removed right away.” Garrus said casually, obviously just as lost for words as she was.
“Sure…” The awkwardness only seemed more and more evident to both of them as the silence between them only grew with each moment. The two of them stood there for what felt like an eternity. Her reason for being here completely disappearing in her mind after the presumptuous action had taken her off guard.
Garrus was the one that finally broke the silence. “Was there…something that you needed me for Commander?”
She smacked herself on the top of her head. “Oh, right! I heard from some of the C-SEC guys that you were a pretty good shot. I was coming down here to see if you wanted to see if you were up for a bit of a challenge.” Her grin spread as she folded her arms in front of her chest. “I’ve been told I’m one of the best snipers in the Milky Way.”
Garrus scoffed at the comment, his eyes giving her a quick once over. “You? You’re a little small to be holding up something that large. Pistol, I’m sure, but a rifle? I don’t think so.” He tilted his head to the side as he watched her.
“Well then, why don’t you put your money where your mouth is, Vakarian? Let’s get a couple rounds in at the shooting range and the winner buys lunch.” She playfully smacked his armor, confidence oozing out of her very core. Garrus didn’t look impressed. “It could…also, give us a chance to get to know each other. I’ve never really spent a lot of time around a turian. This could be fun.”
“A free lunch, eh? I suppose I can make some time.”
“Well Shepard, same question.” Garrus grinned, his head looking over in her direction after hitting another target. Their little game had become more entertaining than Melody had expected. With each hit, the shooter got to ask the other a personal question. The officers weren’t wrong. Garrus was a good shot, but who was better?
“I have three brothers and a sister,” Shepard responded as she set up her next shot. “I have one brother that’s older than me, and everyone else is younger.”
“That’s a pretty big family.” Garrus laughed, watching her intently. “How do you keep up with them all?”
“No way. You get one question per shot, Vakarian. Those were the rules.” Melody closed her left eye, the other looking through the scope as she lined up her shot. She took a deep breath and let the bullet fly continuing her perfect score. Upon realizing at how good a shot both of them were, the game quickly became who would miss first.
The turian laughed as he inspected the target. “A human that can shoot, I’m almost impressed.”
“Well, don’t get too cocky. I’m just getting warmed up.” She sat back on her bum and crossed her legs, thinking hard about her next question. “Okay okay, I got one. Are you closer to your mom or dad?”
“I was closest with my mother. I haven’t really kept in contact with my father and I’d like for it to stay that way.”
“How come?”
Garrus shot a look over at her, a smirk on his face as he lined up his next shot. “Now look who’s trying to break the rules.”
Shepard placed another bullet in the chamber as she looked down the target practice hall. “I was only curious,” she mumbled.
Another shot rang out from the hall followed by the noise the target made as it flipped backward. “My father is just a rules man. I’ve tried to make him happy, but every step forward only seems to get me two steps back. I’ve gotten to the point where I’ve stopped trying.”
The hall fell silent. Obviously, that question was a lot heavier than she had meant for this session to go, but it only brought out more questions. “And your mother? What does she say? Maybe she can say something to him.”
“She’s gone,” Garrus said matter-of-factly. He quickly cleared his throat as he stood. “You got three answers. You owe me,” he chuckled followed by silence. “You must be really close with your family.”
Melody’s mouth fell open as she kept her eyes trained on him. “I suppose. I’m also more close with my mother. I followed in her footsteps when I joined the Alliance. With everything that has happened, I’ve gotten distracted. I haven’t talked to her in a while.”
His eyes fell, but a smile formed as his fixed his eyes straight ahead. “You should.”
“I’m sorr-” Garrus held up a hand stopping her, placing the butt of his sniper on the ground as he looked over to her.
“Don’t be. It’s been a while.” The two were silent for a few moments as Garrus came up with his next question. Melody sat there flabbergasted. She had no idea what to say to him. She couldn’t even imagine what her life would be like if her mother was gone. The thought alone… “Did you always want to join the Alliance?” Garrus finally continued, obviously used to the silence that followed that fact.
Melody smiled as she remembered her childhood. The memories flooded back to her as she lined up her next shot. Another shot rang out. “My mother and father did want me to go into the Alliance. They would dress me up in the uniforms when I was small and did everything they could to make me interested in joining. They were probably a lot more strict on me because their attempts didn’t work on my brother.” She leaned her head back, thinking back to answer his question.
Garrus lined up his next shot, awaiting his answer.
She thought for another moment before her face lit up. “Once I learned about the different types of aliens, there was a time that I wanted to grow up and be an Elcor. I liked the way they talked,” Melody said. Her life long dream obviously dashed as she grew up.
Garrus laughed, a sudden shot quickly followed, but this time no target was hit. Both of their eyes went wide as the realization slowly hit them.
“I won!” Shepard jumped up. “Ha! In your face!”
“Pbbt, my finger slipped. You can’t expect me to keep a straight shot after a reveal like that.” Garrus placed his rifle on his back, his arms crossing as he turned to her.
“The only thing I wanna hear out of you is ‘You are the best sniper in all the galaxy’.” She made her way over to the turian, a smug grin crossing her features.
Garrus walked by her, not even making eye contact. “I’m not saying that. The deal was lunch, not admitting defeat.”
Melody ran up beside him and looked up at him. “But you are admitting it.”
“We are going to have a rematch and that’s final.”
“Name the time and place. I’ll take you on anywhere!”
If you like what you’ve read, feel free to read my other Shakarian fics here!
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With vast caves where the Turians first emerged; wide and deep, where they first learnt to hunt.
With the most magnificent auroras in Council space, white, blue, green, purple and droplets of red across the night sky.
Palaven, with harsh days and cool nights, with radiation and an even harsher climate; heavy, torrential rain is the norm, while at the highest mountains there’s a smidgen of snow.
Where the prevalence of water is underground, where in the dark underground tunnels Turians fell into natural wells never to be seen again.
With flora and fauna that evolved with radiation absorbing plates that open at night, the sweet citrus scent drawing animals and predators.
With a diverse and vast climate, with harsh winds and heavier rains, with the best view in the entire galaxy.
Palaven, where the climate beat discipline into its resident species, the thing everyone else knows them by.
Palaven, irredeemably changed by the Reapers, under attack from all sides, but the same people that once fell into its natural wells have learnt their planet better than anyone.
Also titled: Important Themes in Turian Visual & Vocal Art (as written by an art history graduate with too much time on her hands)
*note: these are just little headcanons that I have jotted down over the months whenever something crosses my desk with my museum work. They are by no means absolute, and I intentionally leave a lot of room for interpretation, because if turian art is anything like human art, it is one big hot mess.
Themes I include are: practicality, nihilism, design, illustration/2D, and vocal traditions. (under the cut because there’s a LOT)
Practicality: Practicality goes hand in hand with general turian culture. I have noticed that there is a popular trend in headcanoning that turian art (and most especially architecture) must be practical in order to be beautiful, and I 100% agree with this. With this in mind, I don’t want to deny that impractical art would exist; in fact, I believe impractical art (such as art that is made solely to be ridiculous or useless beyond being looked at) would make an excellent example of time periods in which turian artists are experimenting with their audience’s reactions, and rebelling against institutionalized art.
Because we know that social harmony is an important component of turian culture, it would make sense that turian-designed spaces would encourage social harmony, in that they are clean, multi-functional, historically relevant, and can be used to encourage the Heirarchy’s tier system (think stairs and spaces where it is implied that certain tiers can enter & interact)
Also, practicality can cover the scale of the art. My best guess is that turian art can either be small enough to be portable (an appealing option for a commissioner who might be at war or have to move during war times), or so over-the-top grandiose that it suggests permanence or the scale of the commissioner’s wealth/power.
Also, because of the radiation that Palaven experiences, most of the art created would have to withstand the natural phenomena, or cease to exist. This means that there might be a need to work with materials that are impervious to solar radiation, or work with processes that emphasize this natural relationship (such as the development, if any, of a photography genre that utilizes radation and light in the photo-making process).
Nihilism: While this isn’t the only theme taken on by turians, I believe that nihilism becomes a strong creative theme; especially once turians reach their “space age.” Nihilsim stems from turian war culture, and can serve as a counterpoint to the Heirarchy and its establishment of rules and absolute morality. While art is often representative of unique ideas, historically, art also has strong roots in forming arguments or responding to real life. I find it hard to believe that each and every turian ever went into their years of service, served the Heirarchy, and followed the rules. (with Vetra Nyx’s backstory, we get a small glimpse into what this might have looked like). One of the best genres to look at nihilism represented in art would be abstract expressionism, in which many creatives who had become disenfranchised with traditional arts after WWII looked to reflect on their inner (often negative) emotions, rather than the external narratives that had been so popular before. Artists such as Franz Kline, who separated their work from specific stories & investigated the balance between simplicity and complexity in abstract painting, might give us an understanding of turian art, where it might be common to see a turian who spent much of their life fighting and killing turn to the arts to sort out their emotions and personal trauma.
When we consider how often turians have been at war, we could make a guess that their art world experienced dramatic changes at relatively similar time periods as when they went to war (both with themselves, as shown with the Unification Wars and the sudden popularity of colony markings, as well as going to war with other species). I strongly believe that when turians went to war, as well as made contact with new species, new subgenres of nihilistic art emerged that borrowed themes and techniques from cultures who they were either at war with, or were meeting for the fist time.
Design: From a culture that puts high value on function & collectivism, it would make sense that spaces meant to house this species would be given great thought and consideration in their design.
Furniture and appliances would be designed to have flexibility when dealing with all sizes of turians (think of objects that can “grow” with their owners, like shoes or a chair). Clothing would have to accommodate the spikes and spurs that naturally occur with the species, and outpost colonies would probably stick to more “military” style clothes as to maintain high functionality in times of war.
I won’t even go into military design, like war ships and weapons, because that’s a whole post of its own. But the need for practicality, simplicity, and effectiveness would be necessary if we’re to believe that weapons of turian design are the best in the galaxy.
Illustration & 2D Art: Illustration, most especially blueprints, is considered high art, because it is representative of something practical being made real. It wouldn’t be uncommon to see turian sketchbooks filled with blueprints and plans for houses, weapons, and the like. Narrative illustration (like an illustration for a children’s book) would also exist, but I believe it would not be considered as prestigious of an artistic undertaking, because it is more of an off-topic thought, and represents something abstract and temporary.
Painting as we know it would not have a strong history on Palaven, mainly because the preservation of paint pigments would be too difficult of a task when considering radiation and Palaven’s weather cycles. Similar issues would happen with photography, or any other media that relies on organic material that would be affected by Palaven’s environment. So while it could exist, it is likely that painting would be a younger form of art than sculpture or metalsmithing.
Voice: Because turians have unique voices, it would be safe to argue that turians find meaning not only in the words that they speak, but also the tone/inflection/use of subvocals. Our closest human equivalent is the accenting of specific words when we speak, so that the phrase “I never said she stole my money” with a different emphasis creates different meaning. Turians are capable of doing this with any phrase, but have enough finesse that they can say the phrase “I never said she stole my money,” but imply something completely different, like “I went for a walk today and ate a sandwich.” With this in mind, we could assume that anything involving turian voice would have an artistic history, most especially singing and speaking.
Song: I make it no secret that I love listening to bird songs and imagining if turian’s ancestors had something similar. I don’t think it would be a stretch of the imagination to think that turian pop music from any given time period includes vocals that might have lyrics that classify it as a song of rebellion or what-have-you, but when listened to with the intended subvocals, change the meaning to being a song about love, or something wholly unrelated to the lyrics. With this in mind, I think that there are many subgenres of turian music, in which there can be dozens of types of love songs, and covers of famous songs can take on wholly new meanings when sung by different turians.
Dramatic Histories: If Fleet and Flotilla is any indicator, it seems that quarians and turians love their drama. This makes sense, since they seem to share not only anatomical similarities, but also cultural (if a single musical romance is any indicator). This small (but emphasized) focus on characters who are shaped by their history can go hand-in-hand with my hypothesis on song vocalization, and point towards a trend in turian cinema where what is implied on screen is just as important as the script. In order to make this happen though, I imagine there would be a lot of dramatic silences, emotional monologues, and banter. So much banter. From a historical perspective, this might also indicate that turians and quarians have oral histories that date back many centuries.
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Relationships: Female Shepard/Garrus Vakarian
Characters: Garrus Vakarian, Female Shepard (Mass Effect),
Additional Tags: Movie Star AU,
Summary: Somehow they always end up meeting each other, and sometimes the Reapers have very little to do with it
A/N: Both for Turian Week and for @ev-t‘s birthday, seemed only fitting to put this up during the 14th :)
Scene 1, act 1:
Falling in love with a co-star really wasn't on her plans when she sighed up the contract for the Sci-fi franchise, love was messy, it was problematic, especially if it involved your co-star; it was a continuous effort, one Jane Shepard hadn't been willing to make, not until she met Garrus roughly five years ago. Falling in love with Garrus Vakarian, Turian heart-throb of the Milky Way, really wasn’t what she had planned; what either of them had planned.
Shepard sighed as she snuggled closer to her co-star, planting a kiss on his neck.
"Insatiable," Garrus muttered with a rumbling of his subvoclas, amused, even as he raised himself on his elbow to kiss her properly.
"For you? Always." She grinned into the kiss, fingers ghosting over his bare waist. Both of them naked on Jane’s trailer before the start of their day, enjoying each other's company, they still had a bit of time, hopefully.
"Jane..." he rumbled with a sigh, gripping her waist tighter, fingers-
"Shepard? Vakarian? Five minutes to make up and 30 to start!" Came their Salarian understudy's voice, followed by a knock on the door.
"Going!" They shouted back, Jane slumping back and away from him with a sigh, Garrus' hand coming to rest at the nape of her neck, a laugh escaping his throat.
"To work?" He grinned.
"It's almost over..." she agreed with a certain melancholy that had become her norm for the last few weeks of filming, as the end neared for the shooting so did her cheer and Garrus hated seeing her like that.
"I'll be here remember?" He gently bumped his forehead against hers, mandibles fluttering in a grin, a gentle reminder that the movie wasn't the last of the two of them, not by a long shot.
"You always are, some days it feels like you always were," she smiled as she looked up at him, quickly stealing a kiss before forcing herself back on her feet, "to work then!"
He grinned as he looked her up and down before donning Adviser Adrux Kryik's Heavy armour, the thing was nearly impossible to put on, regardless of what their Hierarchy contact said about 'keeping things real' and 'making an example out of the Turians.'
He glanced at his fiancee - the word still bringing a pleased knot on his gizzard accompanied by gentle disbelief - as she put on Commander Valkyrie Hawthorn's armour, the X7 in her chest - fictional as it was because humans didn't really care about 'keeping things real' - was the final touch in her transformation.
"Let's go kick some Reaper ass, Vakarian,” she said with a blinding smile; Garrus was struck once again by how lucky he was.
Scene 2, act 1:
"Need some company?" Adrux Kryik asked, walking into their room, Commander Hawthorn was looking at the datapads, looking for a last effort, a last something she could dig out of the ass-end of nowhere so they could have a chance at winning.
"I don't know how we're going to win this Adi," she whispered, confirming his fears, putting the data pad away and looking up to him.
"With you leading the Victory Fleet my love; focus on getting the weapon going, I'll clear a path for you, let me take care of the rest." He smiled, crossing the room slowly and sitting beside her, "you've got this, we've gone over the plan over twenty times Kyrie, you've got this, you were born for this."
"Adi, Adi promise me..." she gripped his vest forcing him to look at her. "Promise me we're gonna make it."
"I- I can't,” he paused, “Valkyrie..." he whispered as he looked away from her, head hanging in sudden shame, "I wish I could lie to you..."
"Adrux..." she whispered, taking hold of his hands, carefully removing his gloves, "Adrux, I want you to hold me, just for tonight, please! It might be the last time we-"
"Kyrie-" he breathed, a whine in the back of his throat, Spirits if he lost her-!
"Make me forget tomorrow's coming, make me forget everything but you." Valkyrie pleaded, entwining their fingers, them kissing his knuckles, her eyes pleading, "let me pretend we're gonna have forever, just the two of us."
"Yes," he whispered, caressing her cheek, "anything for you, my love."
"Adrux, Adrux I-ACHOO" Jane reeled back, staring at him unblinkingly before breaking down in giggles, leaning back and ignoring Garrus' disgusted face, "Spirits... your face! I'm sorry," she breathed between giggles falling back on the bed and turning to their director, "sorry can we take a break?"
The man, one Alec Freeman, looked at his wrist, the old watch still working perfectly, "okay, that's gonna be two and a half hours, you both still have that interview with the Empire to sort it out."
"Ugh, don't remind me," Jane sighed, "I've no idea why they have an investigative reporter covering a movie."
"You know why, Jane," Garrus muttered besides her removing the prosthetic from his face with a shudder, he hated that thing, "she's still in trouble over the Salarian's egg incubators and the scandal with the Hanar priest," he prodded his right mandible with a finger, flexing it to regain the proper movements.
"And since she did nothing wrong, there's no reason to fire her, but to put her out of the proverbial limelight for a while," she said, eyes far away before she focused on him, "stop probing your face, Garrus, your mandible’s already tender," she frowned at him, swiftly getting up and planting a kiss on the offending part, putting his hand away.
"Ma'am," an Asari understudy called her, handing a datapad, "the reporter is asking if we can move things earlier," she was a pretty little thing, probably not even 90 yet.
They glanced at each other briefly, before Garrus sighed and leaned down to kiss her temple, "I'll order something and then meet you there ok?"
"You're just leaving me to the wolves," she scrunched up her nose in mid distaste while he laughed.
"You are Commander Hawthorn," he mock saluted her before heading in the opposite direction, ignoring her muttered complaints.
Scene 2, act 1:
Jane smiled as Al-Jilani continued to talk about the movie, the needled sentences made her want to punch the woman, she wouldn't, of course, she wasn't a barbarian; Spirits knew she wanted to.
"-he battle with the Reapers is the highlight of the movie, uniting all species in a common enemy, bringing all the galaxy together, personally I think that's quite a feat." The reported said, lacing her fingers together.
Jane remained silent, just nodding in agreement, it was quite a feat, the council, in their 1500 years of existence, had never managed that.
"Do you think, theoretically speaking, that the humans could do that? Would a Human councillor be able to do that?" Al-Jilani asked, eyeing the actress sitting in front of her.
"I don't think humanity will get a seat for at least another hundred years," Jane laughed without humour, "we're the newcomers, the fact we have an embassy on the Citadel, when other species still don't, is a credit in and of itself," she laced her fingers together, staring at the reporter with curiosity instead of animosity, "I still don't think humanity as a whole has proven itself to the galaxy, the events in Mass Effect, are, as one would expect, extenuating circumstances."
"Do you think Humanity’s not ready for that responsibility then?”
“I think Humanity as a whole has a lot to offer the galaxy, but we still have not given anyone a reason to trust us,” she paused briefly gathering her thoughts as she drank from her cup of water, “after working with such a multilateral team I've come to realize that we need to cooperate more with other species, instead of working on the ‘Humans first, Humans only,’ the Terra Firma party would have you believe. They’re not the enemy here, mindless racism, mindless violence is our true enemy.”
“Is that instance influenced by your relationship with your co-star?” al-Jilani asked with a gleam in her eye.
"Definitely, have you ever found that one person you can be yourself with? No walls between you two, no acting? That person you want to be better for? Not because they make you, but because they inspire you? That's Garrus and I."
"Does Vakarian feel the same way? Can those barriers really be breached between people of two different species?" The reporter asked with a dubious frown, Jane didn't blame her, her history with former lovers had been well documented, but Garrus-
"Sure they can," Garrus answered, walking, no, swagging into their interview, a plastic bag with something that smelled heavenly - probably their lunch - in his hand. "If I didn't love her half as much as she just proclaimed to love me I wouldn't be bonding with her," he sat beside her, his face plates arching in the equivalent of a human eyebrow. “The feeling is entirely mutual by the by,” he grinned at al-Jilani, an amused flicker of his mandibles.
“Given that you two met on set, can we assume the chemistry between Commander Hawthorn and Advisor Kryik shares the same intensity?”
They looked at each other, a flicker of her eyes, a twitch of his lips before Shepard turned to the reporter shaking her head, “their chemistry is different, their whole dynamic is different, Hawthorn has the weight of the galaxy on her shoulder, the hopes and dreams of humanity, Kryik has the eye of the Hierarchy, the duty of carrying the Turians through the war, but he is her subordinate.”
“A relationship between captain and subordinate isn't really frowned upon in the Turian Military -” Garrus begun, easily stepping in before Khalisah could question them “- and we tried sending in that message, their relationship is entirely consensual, but there are some things Hawthorn has to do alone and Kryik can't follow, no matter how much he may want to.”
“Such as?” She asked, interested for once.
“Sorry Khalisah,” Jane interrupted, with an amused smile, “spoilers.”
Scene 2, act 2:
“You know,” Jane started as she speared one of her steak cubes with a fork, the meat just that side of rare with a tender red centre, just how she liked it, with a side of potato salad.
“Eat, we still have the cabin scene to finish,” he smiled, amused.
She snorted, swallowing a mouthful, “you just want to kiss me again.”
“I do like kissing you,” Garrus shrugged, unrepentant. “I prefer doing it in private, but kissing Hawthorn is just as good.”
“To think you didn’t get my advances until I kissed you,” she grinned before turning back to her food, ignoring the people passing them by, most of the crew knew to leave them alone between takes, especially since the news of their engagement spread through Council space. Sometimes Ashley or Jeffrey would join them, but it was rare, their fellow actors in their own convoluted romance to care about anyone else.
“I got your advances, make no mistake,” he smiled at her, idly putting a lock of hair behind her ear with a caress of his finger, seeing the goosebumps on her skin. He did love the reactions she had when he touched her.
“Honey you only realized I was interested when I insisted on practising the kissing scene in the second movie and may have groped you a bit during it,” she smiled, looking at him through her eyelashes, chasing the warmth of his hand with a hum.
“There was no ‘may,’ about it Jane; you definitely groped me.” He grinned, leaning back in the chair, watching as she sighed and went back to eating, she did love watching her.
“And you still didn't get the message,” she snorted in between bites of steak, foregoing the fork for a moment as she picked the cubes, savouring them, they still had thirty minutes of lunch.
“Finish your food, Jane,” he rumbled, amused.
“You’re just gonna stand there and watch?!” She laughed, cleaning her hands on a napkin, picking up at the salad, she knew she would need it, they would be filming most of the scenes between Kryik and Hawthorn.
“By the by, have you seen Nihlus?” She asked between bites; they had met Spectre Kryik at the very start of the franchise, during pre-production, the Spectre got a kick out of having his name on a movie, ’almost as awesome as Blasto!’ he had said at the time.
“He called you when you were finishing up the scenes with the goodbyes yesterday, said he wanted to be present at the wedding, still moaning you chose me over him though, also that I choose you over him,” he smiled at her, an embarrassed flick of his mandibles, he had somewhat forgotten about the call since Jane had gone home upset with the scene, it was finally hitting her Mass Effect would end, sooner for them rather than later. “He said he’d be by whenever we marked the wedding, just make sure he knows about it.”
“Was there gunfire at his end?”
“Surprisingly no, I think he was at the Citadel or maybe Illium, I hope he was at the Citadel anyway.”
“Remember last time we were on Illium? Jackie almost got sold to slavery if not for Nihlus,” she laughed remembering, more of a giggle than a full-out laugh.
“Come on, finish it up, we have that scene to finish,” he smiled at her again, the softness that settled over his heart whenever he saw her laughing something was something he hoped never to get used to.
Scene 2, act 1, take 2:
"Need some company?" Adrux Kryik asked, walking into their room, Commander Hawthorn was looking at the datapads, looking for a last effort, a last something she could dig out of the ass-end of nowhere so they could have a chance at winning.
"I don't know how we're going to win this Adi," she whispered, confirming his fears, putting the data pad away and looking up to him.
"With you leading the Victory Fleet my love; focus on getting the weapon going, I'll clear a path for you, let me take care of the rest." He smiled, crossing the room slowly and sitting beside her, "you've got this, we've gone over the plan over twenty times Kyrie, you've got this, you were born for this."
"Adi, Adi promise me..." she gripped his vest forcing him to look at her. "Promise me we're gonna make it."
"I- I can't,” he paused shutting his eyes tight before he could look at her, “Valkyrie..." he whispered even he looked away from her, head hanging in sudden shame, "I wish I could lie to you..."
"Adrux..." she whispered, taking hold of his hands, carefully removing his gloves, "Adrux, I want you to hold me, just for tonight, please! It might be the last time we-"
"Kyrie-" he breathed, a whine in the back of his throat, Spirits if he lost her-!
"Make me forget tomorrow's coming, make me forget everything but you." Valkyrie pleaded, entwining their fingers, them kissing his knuckles, her eyes pleading, "let me pretend we're gonna have forever, just the two of us."
"Yes," he whispered, caressing her cheek, "anything for you, my love."
“I love you, so much,” she whispered even as tears gathered in the corner of her eyes, even as he lowered her down on the bed and they rested against each other, a gentle bump of their foreheads.”
“Cut!” Alec shouted, looking at the datapad in his hands, “we definitely got it this time, thank you.”
Jane smiled, caressing her lover’s mandibles, Hawthorn’s personality and Shepard’s intertwining, looking at the gorgeous man on top of her. She felt him caressing her face, wiping out her tears even as she felt him rumbling, “Garrus?”
“Right, scene over,” he smiled weakly at her, a rumbling in his chest that clearly signalled distress, that much she had learnt.
“I love you big guy,” she leaned forward, stealing a kiss from him. They usually avoided PDA’s on set that weren’t between their characters, but in such a heavy and emotionally draining scene. She looked at their audience from the corner of her eye, all of them politely looking away from the two of them, and hugged her partner her hands resting at the back his neck. “I love you so much,” she smiled, indulging in a second kiss even as he stood stock still, hands gripping her waist even as he relaxed against her.
Alec cleared his throat pointedly, and they parted in somewhat embarrassed silence, they never had to have the ‘Talk’ from the director, not about being professionals; Jane looked at the man rolling his eyes at them, smiling sheepishly, looked like they wouldn’t be breaking their form, not that day at least.
Scene 1, act 3, ‘home’:
“So what happened today?” She asked as soon as they finished wrapping up the day, walking side by side to their shared trailer, mostly to remove make up and, in Garrus’ case, the prosthetics on his face.
“Got overwhelmed, just-” he stopped, taking her hand in his, caressing her fingers.
“Intrusive thoughts?” She asked gently, rubbing his knuckles, “stop poking at your mandible, it’s gonna be sore the whole night.” She admonished, changing sides so she would walk on his right, taking a hold of the offending hand and dropping a kiss where the prosthetic usually went; Garrus had zero patience for letting make up crew remove it.
“Just don’t want to lose you, not now,” the ‘not ever’ was silent but she still squeezed his fingers.
“Lucky for you, you’ll never have to.”
“Jane,” he sighed, a displeased note to his subvocals, he hated platitudes.
“I’m not gonna promise forever unless I mean it, Garrus, and I do, you know I do,” she sighed, their trailer was in sight, but she didn’t want to go inside, not yet. “How’s this, I’ll never voluntarily leave you, I’ll try my damned best to honour that promised,” she smiled at him again, impish, “and you know my best is pretty damn awesome.”
“Because you’re Commander Hawthorn?” He asked lightly, his thumb running through her knuckles, a gentle caress neither of them were exactly aware of.
“No, because I’m gonna be your wife, and that’s one role I cannot fail,” she grinned, suddenly stuck with a thought and dragging him back to their trailer.
“Jane? Jane!”
“You know when we talked about living together? Getting our own place? I may or may not have gone ahead and gotten a contract signed up for a flat on the Citadel, one of the nicer Wards, just you, me and Commander Whiskers. What do you think?” She turned to him with a blinding smile, her hands shaking slightly, it was almost like asking him to marry her all over again.
“I think you need to show me the place, then we need to buy furniture,” he gripped her hands tight, drawing her into a hug and getting her off her feet, “I think your collection of ships are gonna look awesome next to my collection of riffles.”
“I think… I think I’m gonna stay with you for the rest of my life.”
