Don't Look Down
It wasn't easy being a female Volus attracted to humans.
No, it was never easy when a Volus was attracted to... anyone outside their own species.
They were small, round, nonthreatening... unnoticeable...They were drastically different from their counter species, in both size and strength. It was understandable why no one ever seemed to consider Volus as a sexual partner.
Which only made the situation worse for our heroine.
For she was a Volus, that loved humans, more specifically, she loved Commander Shepard.
Could she be blamed? He was the kind of galactic hero you only heard about in storybooks and legends, the kind that you never expect to exist and yet somehow, there he is, standing before you.
But like all humans, he never took notice of her.
How many times had she seen him pass by now. Countless visits he's made to the citadel and almost every single time, he walked by her, never looking down.
No, humans rarely ever did... To some degree, she understood why the other species disliked the humans. They walked about with that air around them, the kind that said 'I have a right to be here' and, 'I demand equality, power'. They have a desire to control and assume that everyone should be like them. It was like that Asari once said... Human's are anthropocentric. (1)
But it was that same confidence that made them appealing, their strength that made them attractive, and their courage that made them...
...magnetic...
The Volus sighed looking at her barely visible reflection in the nearby window. Some days she wished she was an Asari, tall and beautiful.
...That would get Commander Shepard's attention, that's for sure.
He claimed to be different, but she'd seen the way he looked at the Asari. He was just like any other male, he just chose not to voice it.
Some days she would follow him, waddling slowly behind him at a distance, just watching him while he walked up to random people and tried to assist with their issues. She stood by while he discussed sensitive matters in a hushed voice or ran through the Citadel to buy parts or upgrades for the Normandy and his gear.
Some days she would look away, try to seem busy, and pray that maybe this time she'd be the lucky random stranger he decided to speak to.
But she never was...he never showed any interest in talking to her.
There weren't many Volus he ever did.
Unless you were a diplomat or Barla Von, he didn't seem to ever stop.
There had been many days however, when she thought about talking to him. Days when she held her breath and waddled just a little closer to him then she had the day before. There was even one time she waddled all the way up to him, inhaled and said as loudly as she could, "Commander Shep-", but before she could finish a man in an alliance uniform ran over and called to him in a rushed manner, told him it was urgent. Shepard turned to find the person who called him the first time, but he just looked beside himself, eyes scanning the empty area above me.
But that was the human flaw. They never did look down.
Not unless they heard something interesting, this was unfortunate of course because she never had anything interesting to say. At least nothing Commander Shepard would deem interesting, it was like the bald tattooed girl walking around once said, his only love is for the reapers (2). He only pays attention if people are speaking about matters he's interested in, such as war, or fleet ships.
So it was a shame... that she didn't know anything about that...
One faithful day, she saw him walk in again; he was accompanied by that Turian, the one he met in C-Sec all those years ago. She wasn't sure what their relationship was, but she could tell by the way they poked fun at each other that they must be close.
No one else on the Citadel would dare speak that way to Commander Shepard.
She watched them for a little while, while they laughed about something recent that happened. It seemed the Turian had scared someone and Shepard was lecturing him on why it was wrong, but smiling at the same time.
She looked away, content with hearing the Commanders voice and decided to make it seem like she was doing something. Quietly, she walked to the vending machine that was close to the two and stared intently at the food options. She wasn't hungry, but at least now she had an excuse to stand closer to them.
"I suppose Garrus, but it was still unnecessary." Shepard laughed.
"You always were a stick in the mud." Garrus tilted his head and crossed his arms casually.
"Sure sure, I guess I should be more lenient and tell all diplomats where I think they should die."
"Bet they'd listen to you more if you did."
Shepard laughed again, "probably. Are you hungry? I haven't eaten anything all day."
"We have a few minutes before the council meeting. Why don't you get something from the vending machine?"
The Volus froze. She stiffly blinked and tried to still her breathing, silently hoping Shepard wouldn't agree.
"Yeah I guess I should."
Of course she wasn't so lucky.
Shepard walked over to the machine and the Volus mentally willed herself to blend in with the wall beside her. "Why are these buttons so low? Who wants to hunch over just to buy food?" Shepard sidestepped to let Garrus stand in front of the machine, and the Volus nearly fell over trying to avoid him.
She held her breath; he was so close, she could practically feel him.
"I suppose the Volus have to reach it somehow." Garrus said passively, bending down a little to look at the options.
"Oh right, I forgot about those little bast-" Shepard shifted and bumped against the Volus. He immediately looked to his side and when he didn't see anything, he did what no human ever did...He looked down. "Oh! Uh...sorry, didn't see you there."
Of course he didn't... She looked up slowly and registered the embarrassment in his face, he clearly felt awful for almost bad mouthing her kind in front of her.
Nervously he smiled, obviously intent to smooth this over as he crouched down in front of the machine and looked at her, "Sooo...uuuh...any recommendations?"
She paused, sucking in air loudly through her breathing suit and shifting her eyes between Garrus and Shepard, she blinked slowly and softly said "...-huuuu- ...I do not eat the same food as you, Earth-Clan. -huuuuu- but... I have heard the sandwiches are good..."
Shepard continued to watch her, an urge to say something flashed across his face when his Turian friend drew his attention away.
"A sandwich sounds good, quick and easy. Here, there's one with that meat you love, what do you humans call it? Ham?"
Shepard turned his head away, looking up at Garrus, he agreed, "oh yeah, that does sound good, are you having anything?"
"Sure, but not ham, most of your human food just makes me want to barf."
"Oh, because it's so amazing?"
"No. Because it's disgusting."
"You're just jealous because you can't eat ham."
"Clearly."
Garrus entered the credits and Shepard pulled the sandwiches out of the machine. He turned to the Volus quickly and asked, "hey so... what's your name?" He stood up slowly.
She paused again, surprised he had actually asked her, then responded slowly, "...Sasha Zar"
"Ah, well Sasha Zar, it was nice to meet you, thanks for the, uh, suggestion." Shepard nodded in acknowledgement and turned to leave with Garrus.
Her heart was still racing as she watched them leave, disappearing down the hallway towards the embassies. A lingering happiness beamed through her, knowing that she had finally spoken to him, knowing that he would speak to her if prompted to.
It was quickly followed by the sadness of knowing that despite all of that, he may never acknowledge her again.
No... she always knew she didn't have a chance with him anyway...
After all... Humans don't look down...
ooo
Hey! Thanks for reading my story!
I was staring at the low buttons on the vending machines in the citadel embassy in Mass Effect 3 and decided to write this. I think it's like... the first Volus/Shepard story ever, hahaha.
Anyway, here's some reference notes for you:
(1) "It was like that Asari once said... Human's are anthropocentric": In Mass Effect 3 Matriach Aethyta, the asari bartender with the Krogan father calls Shepard an "anthropocentric bag of dicks" when he tries to tell her she technically cannot be a father.
(2) "the bald tattooed girl walking around once said, his only love is for the reapers": In Mass Effect 3, if you were in a relationship with Jack, when you talk to her and click the 'us' option, she says 'hey, I get it, you only have one real love in your life, the reapers. They're the only thing keeping you awake at night, which is too bad because I'm a much better lay'
I didn't really expect many people to catch the second one, since I know everyone romanced someone different.
Anyway, hope you liked it!