His toned body keeps distracting me. Must not lose focus. Ah, what the hell, I will stare at him all I want. I am Commander Shepard.
And he is well, just the best assassin in the galaxy. I, being the flirt that I am, suggested that I needed sniper assistance, and Thane just decided that he would like to help. Too bad I actually am pretty decent at this, it actually is going to take effort to do make me miss shots. It is pretty great that I haven't taken him on missions yet, or else I would risk being called a fake, flirtatious commander.
"Shepard, stay focused, all I want to cover today is getting you to hit the target from at least one-eighth of a mile." I wish Thane would just continue to talk in his deep, dreamy voice. Too bad doing head shots in at least a quarter mile distance is something I can do in my sleep.
"So Thane, tell me, how exactly do you hold this?" Now that I think of it, this is going to be pretty fun. Acting like I don't know anything about the gun that has saved my ass more than I would like to mention is going to be a field day.
"Commander, do you really not know?" Thane questioned. I gave a slight nod. "Do you need me to help you then?"
"Of course not." Don't act too eager Marilyn, don't give anything away.
Thane then took the M-92 Mantis and put it in my hands, such a familiar weight, it took a lot of restrain to keep me from trying to put the weapon into position. He stationed his body facing in my direction and told me how to hold it, I just want to see when he will get frustrated and start touching me and showing me how to be positioned. So I hold it like a normal, unprofessional would.
"Shepard."
"Yes?" I try to act innocent. If Garrus or Tali were in here, then they would laugh their asses off.
"Move the stock closer in to your body and have the barrel of the weapon facing upward more, if you really want to hit someone." He doesn't sound displeased at all, and I don't catch any emotion in the statement either. I try to move it like he says. It is not how I would usually hold it, but I'll try to play along for the time being.
"Okay, Commander, the gun positioning looks good...for now. Body positioning is key in defeating your enemies. Stealth is a lesson we will get to another day." Body positioning now? So if I don't do it right, will he help and move my body in a way that he likes? Let us test this theory.
"Move your right foot back and keep your left forward. Try to keep balance throughout and hold your weapon as you are now."
"Next?" I say as I move my right foot back about 3 inches.
"Shepard, do you mind if I just take the Mantis away and move your body myself?" Thane said with that sexy monotone voice, again.
"Whatever makes you sleep at night."
"Commander, I do not believe I understand." He doesn't understand human sayings? I got this in the bag.
"Oh, sorry Thane, human saying."
Well this is a surprise, he just keeps staring at me like his internal functioning just died. His face looks so blank. This is actually quite hysterical considering that he always seems so kept to himself. I think he wants me to explain the saying to him. Nah, another day, have to keep him guessing.
"Yes Thane?" I am still trying to keep in character, although, this blank state is quite sexy on him. Wait, now you think he is sexy? From muscular body to sexy? What happened to you liking Garrus, Marilyn?
"Wait does 'whatever makes you sleep at night' mean?" His blank state has almost disappeared from his composure, but is still shown in his deep black eyes.
"I'll tell you when you have something to blackmail me with." I hope that didn't make me seem scandalous or like I have done something like this before. Tali and Garrus actually have suffered from my games of mysteriousness.
"Okay Shepard...now, continuing with sniper rifle lessons, let me move your body into the right posture. I am going to make you into a crouched state so that your accuracy will be better with the rifle, considering that it looked a little heavy for you. I need you to bend down but, not on your knees. That position is not good for fighting."
I almost come out of character after he said that. I doubt he understands what he just stated, but I do as I am told and get in the position I normally do when I use the gun. Or maybe I don't get what he meant...is there something else you can do on your knees that I am not aware of?
"Shepard, the form is okay, I do need to make adjustments to your legs though. The right leg is too far behind your back and can make you lose balance while fighting."
His hands grip my right foot and brings it closer to my back. This feels awkward and I wouldn't have tried this with the Mantis before. I did say I wanted to know how to shoot. Learning a technique from the galaxy's best assassin may actually help me.
"I am going to hand you the Mantis but, hold it in a comfortable position for you. After we practice with your handling, we are going to the shooting range."
After he makes the 'needed' modifications, still a few things that I would not have done, we move to the range. I decide that I should ask him to help me shoot. I actually am quite interested to see how he uses the gun opposed to my method. I mean, it isn't just for that. It will be fun to have another man to touch you again after all those years of being dead. It isn't intentional but, maybe we can have a relationsh—I suddenly stop in my walking and mentally slap myself. Why would you think he wants to be interested in you, or even considers the thought? You know what happens when you try and have relationships with crew members, look at Kaiden. He was a douche bag and left you because of Cerberus, you even tried to tell the truth and told him it was because they saved you from the dead. Don't make anymore mistakes with crew members Marilyn!
"Shepard, are you okay?" His sultry voice awakens my subconscious and brings me back to reality, thankfully.
"Yes, thank you Thane. I do need you to help me shoot. Could you help me holster it, and like, stand behind me and help?" Shepard the valley girl strikes again!
"Yes, Commander."
I don't think he is getting the hint that all I want to do is just be touched or have something—even a fling—with him. Well, this is only the first lesson anyway, maybe if we keep meeting we can get to know each other better, soon. But not romantically know him; well would you look at that, mood swings...mood swings everywhere. Do you want to be held by another man or not?
"Commander, you need to tilt your head more towards the scope. Shooting without it can ruin your accuracy."
"Could you move my face. I don't want to be off." He looks like he is debating on which way to move my skull and then proceeds to touch my scalp.
"Shepard, what is that stringy stuff on your head?"
"You don't know what hair is? After being an assassin for all those years, and you still don't know?" He shudders slightly at the mention of 'assassin', but after I finish asking he just shakes his head. "It mainly is keratin and it does have some oils on it, although that is just what makes it shiny."
He tilts his head in a nod and then takes his place around my body. I wonder why he doesn't ask more questions. Even Garrus asked about when he first came aboard the Normandy! I doubt that he has ever worked with a crew that actually wants to look after each other. I take note to ask him about this one day.
Placing his hands on the rifle and my back, helping me to aim in on the holographic enemies. The first place it looks that he is trying to get me to aim for is the chest, heart mainly. I try and take the Mantis down a few inches towards the crotch area, maybe trying to give a hint, maybe just to see a reaction. He doesn't seem to do anything but say that it wouldn't be a kill shot. Does he have Salarian in his family tree somewhere? It seems like he has no sex drive at all; I did just recruit him so, that has to be the explanation of him looking like his doesn't give a fuck. Or maybe he is gay! Yup, found the answer, but I still want to have some fun while I can. I mean I died for two years, can't a girl have some fun?
"Shepard, all you have to now is just shoot. I will warn you, the recoil may be too much compared pistols and assault rifles. Your shoulder may hurt tomorrow," Thane mentions.
I miss on purpose so maybe he might help me again.
"You will get this Commander," He states with a burning confidence. The strength in the words make me feel like I need to make each shot I take count. I want to believe that this moment is just to two of us in combat, defeating anything that stands in our way. These feelings come as fast as they came and reality comes back into view with the recoil of the Mantis.
"Where did I hit?" I know it was a head shot, it is just muscle memory and a target that isn't moving. I didn't know until the rifle slightly punched my shoulder and chest that I actually twitched my finger on the trigger created a pulse of death from the Mantis.
"That was a beautiful kill Commander. Right on the skull," Thane suddenly stops moving and I look back and his whole face is blank. Is he having some sort of drell shock? Holy shit what the fuck do I do? Okay, what are your choices? Call Mordin or Dr. Chakwas. Who knows more about stuff like this? Oh fuck, oh shit, what in the name of Saren do I do?
Right as I am about to start a call on my Omni-tool, Thane looks back at me with a faint shimmer of curiosity.
"Did I happen to say anything while I was out?" He almost looks worried with that statement.
"No but, what just happened? Did you go into shock or have some type of drell thing I am not familiar with?"
"It is actually a 'drell thing"'. Drell have perfect memories. We can relive any moment in our lives with perfect clarity. It's difficult to control at times. Some of disappear into...mm, let's call it solipsism."
"What do you mean solipsism?"
"When a memory feels as real as life, it's as valid as life. Thinking about a moment brings back the smell of cut grass, the warmth of another's hand on yours, the taste of another's tongue in you mouth. Wouldn't you rather lose yourself in such a memory than spend the night alone, staring at walls of metal and plastic? We lose ourselves in the good and the bad memories. So it is a win-lose situation. It helps when you're on missions." I never knew anything that he would say would be so poetic, yet, so tragic.
"Anyway Shepard, that is all I want to cover today. Beautiful shot and I hope to see improvement every time we practice. Tomorrow at the same time and still here, the shooting range?"
"Um, sure thing," I am too confused to say anything else. I also don't want to act like a prodding human.
He continues to take the Mantis disassemble it, clean it, and put it back into the matte black case. I don't want to linger so I go back to my cabin and take a long shower thinking about all that happened in the sniper lessons.
My fake training.
Author's Note: I went back, on my own, to change a few things as promised.