𝙼𝚈 𝙷𝙰𝙽𝙳𝚂 𝙱𝙴 𝚂𝚃𝙴𝙰𝙳𝚈

thane is seemingly comfortable with the idea of being a weapon when he meets shepard; he’s accepted this as an integral part to who he is and what makes him and pledges himself to shepard in the same way he might’ve pledged himself to the hanar under the compact. at the same time, he is desperate to fix the bond with his son and to keep kolyat from going down the path he followed to the point that he has to bank on entropy in order to rationalize what happens if shepard fails his loyalty mission and kolyat gets away.* 

thane  has  very  few  material  possessions,  and  the  reality  is  that  the  ones  he  does  possess  are  not  of  some  grand  importance.  there  is  a  danger  to  being  sentimental  that  can’t  be  understated,  and  thane’s  learned  that  particular  lesson  one  too  many  times.  still,  upon  the  realization  he’s  missing  a  bottle  of  batarian  brandy  he’d  bought  on  the  citadel  no  more  than  a  week  ago  (  just  to  try  it,  he’d  told  himself  ),  the  question  begins  to  tug  at  his  sleeve:  what  could  he  have  possibly  done  with  it?

     𝑯𝑰𝑺 𝑷𝑨𝑼𝑺𝑬 𝑫𝑶𝑬𝑺 𝑵𝑶𝑻 𝑮𝑶 𝑼𝑵𝑵𝑶𝑻𝑰𝑪𝑬𝑫, though the idea of following up on it appalls her. instead, she tucks the moment away for now, perhaps forever unless there’s due cause to renew it. “it gets the job done,” shepard replies with a brief glimmer of a smile, gaze tracing the gleaming walls of the room, passing over chrome and steel, “even if it isn’t exactly the most inviting looking place.” she’s seen far worse, after all. once she’d have dreamed of a place like this, quiet and tucked away and safe. kira’s not forgotten those three things are a luxury; she is more fortunate than most. 

   “i’ve mostly gone without whatever gets the job done too, though i’ll admit i’ve a weakness for pistols.” her smile grows very nearly shy as it looks to the weapon, a hand reaching outwards in a silent request for permission to handle it. “omni-tools work well and they’re light enough that they don’t slow me down. in case you haven’t noticed, i wouldn’t exactly call myself physically intimidating. i work best with what lets me move quickly.” 

    her head cants slightly to the side at thane’s question, more curious than judgmental. most assassins, shepard suspects, care little about collateral damage if it stands between them and a target. how many actively might try and minimize it? “they did,” shepard confirms with a bright nod, rocking onto her heels, “one even wrote to us afterwards to say thank you. well, thank you to you, too.” a hint of wry amusement creeps into her voice. “sounded to me like you changed his life, gave him some kind of epiphany. do you often end up doing that in your line of work?” 

she  outstretches  her  hand,  and  thane  offers  the  pistol  without  question  or  any  real  hesitation.  it’s  not  often  that  he  would  so  easily...  hand  a  gun  to  someone,  but  kira  is  just  different.  he  can’t  explain  it,  but  he  trusts  her,  in  spite  of  their  little  shared  time  together.  and  if  she  proves  untrustworthy,  well...  he’s  working  on  a  deadline,  isn’t  he?  ❝  physical  intimidation  is  one  thing.  i  was  taught  that  strength  is  another.  you  hold  yourself  well  enough,  shepard.  it  counts  for  something.  ❞  he  can  usually  tell,  can’t  he,  when  targets  will  pose  problems?  it  could  be  for  any  variety  of  reasons,  but  if  he  were  given  a  docket  with  her  name  in  it,  he  thinks  it  might  be  a  little  more  difficult  to  kill  her  than  the  standard  fare.

in  the  midst  of  the  conversation  he  comes  to  the  realization  they’ve  been  standing,  and  is  briefly  alarmed  by  the  prospect  of  being  impolite:  an  old  hanari  habit,  one  which  he  quickly  moves  to  amend  by  kicking  out  the  chair  on  the  opposite  side  of  the  table  before  taking  his  own  seat.  he  gestures  for  kira  to  sit  with  the  slightest  inkling  of  a  feeling  that  they’ll  be  here  for  a  while.  not  that  he  minds,  of  course:  conversation  has  never  bothered  him,  and  in  the  stale,  sanitary,  spartan  walls  of  the  life  support  room,  some  interest  probably  wouldn’t  hurt  him.

IT  WAS  FOOLISH  OF  HIM  TO  HOPE  he’d  never  come  back  here  ,  and  yet  …  now  garrus  is  RELOADING  his  rifle  with  a  new  heat  sink  and  scanning  the  dusty  omega  skyline  before  them  ,  working  alongside  thane  to  provide  𝚗𝚎𝚌𝚎𝚜𝚜𝚊𝚛𝚢  𝚌𝚘𝚟𝚎𝚛  .  with  shepard  busy  on  the  streets  below  ,  the  two  powerful  assassins  linger  on  rooftops  and  maneuver  over  her  shoulders  .  he  pauses  against  an  awkward  jut  of  mangled  ,  broken  neon  lights  to  fix  his  scope  and  glances  back  at  thane  .  the  drell  is  praying  .  for  who  ?  for  the  mercs  they  just  killed  ?

❝  i’d  like  to  think  so  ,  ❞  garrus  replies  ,  AMUSED  by  the  question  .  with  his  scope  readjusted  ,  he  chuffs  and  steps  near  his  companion  .  ❝  thanks  for  the  𝚌𝚘𝚖𝚙𝚕𝚒𝚖𝚎𝚗𝚝  .  what  about  you  ?  when  did  you  learn  to  shoot  like  that  ?  ❞  he’s  never  worked  alongside  a  drell  before  (  the  normandy  certainly  gives  him  a  vast  array  of  unique  people  to  meet  )  ,  but  he’s  coming  to  truly  appreciate  thane’s  natural  talent  on  the  battlefield  .  ❝  i’m  very  impressed  .  ❞

most  encounters  with  shepard  feel  almost  repetitive,  but  maybe  that  comes  with  the  territory:  go  here,  shoot  these  people.  go  there,  shoot  those  people.  sometimes  their  enemies  are  interesting,  in  some  capacity  or  another,  and  if  not,  then  they’re  a  little  alarming,  and  the  less  -  rational  version  of  himself  has  to  wonder  if  doing  this  gratis  was  the  wise  move  to  make.  if  he  were  a  younger  man,  the  answer  would  almost  certainly  be  probably  not.  thane,  however,  is  a  dying  man,  and  the  distance  between  the  two  is  vast  and  long.

where  it  stands  today,  those  they’re  picking  off  from  above  fall  firmly  into  the  uninteresting  capacity.  ❝  i  don’t  think  you  should  think  so.  you  should  know.  i  imagine  i’d  have  to  reassess  the  usual  ways  i  combat  turians  to  best  you,  if  it  ever  came  to  it.  ❞

—  amonkira,  lord  of  hunters:  grant  that  my  hands  be  steady,  my  aim  be  true,  and  my  feet  swift.  and  should  the  worst  come  to  pass,  grant  me  forgiveness.

it  takes  him  far  longer  than  it  should  to  work  his  way  through  the  entirety  of  the  ship  —  finding  the  life  support  room  had  been  easy  enough,  but  chakwas  had  encouraged  him  to  move  about  and  interact  for  the  good  of  his  health,  and  thane’s  found  himself  a  little  cowed  by  the  prospect.  these  people  are  all  new,  and  while  he  made  a  handful  of  contacts  on  illium,  those  contacts  hadn’t  been  friends.

 she  listens  to  his  query  with  raised  brows,  smirks  when  she  hears  the  whole  of  it.     ❝  can’t  say  i  do.  i  was  born  on  a  ship.  ❞     the  ssv  einstein.  she’d  come  squalling  into  this  life  somewhere  in  the  attican  traverse.  her  mother  (  the  one  who’d  borne  her  )  had  said  the  g  -  force  of  flight  sped  up  the  labor.  her  other  mother  (  the  one  who’d  watched  )  said  she  was  just  ready  to  drink  coffee  again.  they’d  always  had  a  laugh  about  that  one  when  family  visited.

 ❝  spent  most  of  my  childhood  on  them.   ❞    she  shrugs,  places  her  palms  flat  on  the  table  between  them             their  neutral  meeting  ground  in  the  life  support  sector.    ❝  i  guess  i’m  probably  more  used  to  flying  than  being  on  solid  ground.  what  about  you?  i  bet  i  know  the  answer  to  that  one.  ❞

she  settles  her  palms  atop  the  table,  and  so  it  comes  naturally  to  lean  back,  not  quite  mirroring  her  posture,  opening  up  instead,  looking  comfortable,  hands  not  down  on  the  cool  of  the  metal  but  folded.  thane  listens,  then  hums.

❝  i’ve  spent  the  last  two  years  on  illium,  and  for  most  of  that  time  i  was  always  on  solid  ground.  when  i  was  still  bound  to  the  compact,  the  hanar  sent  me  wherever  they  needed  me  to  go.  most  of  the  time,  that  meant  ships.  i  remember  —  ❞