I don't really know if I want this to be a series of one-shots, or a novella of sorts of original scenes and dialogue from Mass Effect between my Shepard and Liara. So far, I like this but I'm not sure where it will go. Watch this space! Anyway, I feel as though I should give some history on my Shepard.
Earthborn, war hero, soldier. Mostly paragon with a dash of renegade. Mission order in my original Mass Effect game was Feros Therum Noveria Virmire. This one-shot is between Therum and Noveria.
I try to avoid using Shepard's first name for two reasons. Firstly, my original Shepard has my incredibly rare first name (it's something I always do, because I try to create myself and act as I would, silly I know but I've always done it). In a story like this, my first name is too jarring to read, and most people would probably find it off-putting and distracting, as well as not be able to pronounce it. Secondly, because no one in the game calls Shepard by her first name, it just makes no sense to use it here especially since this is written in Liara's perspective. I much prefer reading Mass Effect fanfiction where Shepard's first name is avoided all together, or used incredibly rarely.
Anyway here it is! Please feel free to review; praise and criticism are most welcome!
SPARRING WITH THE COMMANDER
Dr Liara T'Soni was trying to make herself scarce. She had only been on the ship for a week and felt more isolated by the day. If she were forced to choose, she would rather be back in the Prothean stasis device. Aside from the Krogan and Geth trying to kidnap her, it had been very peaceful and she could be herself. On the Normandy, Liara felt she was hiding within a shell.
It wasn't the fact she was an 'alien' on an Alliance vessel. No, she knew it was to do with the fact she was the daughter of Matriarch Benezia. There were plenty of aliens here who seemed to have a better time than she did. At least Commander Shepard had visited her. With her tanned scarred skin, cropped light brown hair, and deep-set hazel eyes, Shepard wasn't what you'd call a classical beauty, but she still had a very confident stride that made up for her lack of 'classic beauty'. Goddess, Liara thought to herself, and she always seems so interested in Asari culture, and me!
Liara stumbled out of her little holding on the main deck, through the med-bay, and into the mess. Lieutenant Alenko stood awkwardly, eating a bowl of what looked like rice and mashed potatoes. He looked up as she entered and eyed her suspiciously, still scooping food into his mouth. The other aliens from the ship, Garrus Vakarian, Tali'Zorah nar Rayya and Urdnot Wrex were laughing together as they collected food and sat at the table, while Ashley Williams sat by herself consuming her meal. Liara stepped forward, and several of the Alliance crew looked suspiciously at her. Part of her wanted to roll her eyes, did they really think she was going to snap them all up into a singularity in the mess?
She walked confidently past the stares and made her way to the elevator. Liara found it more comforting to raid the food supplies in the night with no one else around, selecting what she needed for the day so she wouldn't have to show her face again. She stepped gingerly into the awfully slow elevator, and tapped her foot impatiently as it snapped its doors shut and hummed along.
"Goddess, how is this slow piece of tech even allowed?" Liara murmured. After what felt like an hour, the elevator grinded to a halt, and she flung open the doors, not wanting to wait for them to grind open, revealing the engineering and storage deck. The deck was, predictably, empty. She looked at the Mako, which sat on one side of the room, and the wall where everyone's lockers were.
She stepped forward, feeling as though she was intruding on the empty space. Nonsense, it's not like I'm doing anything wrong she thought to herself. Yesterday, Shepard had told Liara that she was allowed to go anywhere she wanted in the ship but to avoid the engineering room. Liara would avoid there anyway, she knew Tali and Engineer Adams would eat her alive, plus she'd probably break something causing the Normandy to explode.
"Looking for something to analyse?" a voice called from the darkness, and Liara jumped out of her skin, almost falling over. Before she had time to ask, Commander Shepard emerged, a slight smile playing around her lips.
"Commander! I'm sorry, I was just-," but Shepard caused Liara to halt mid-sentence. The Commander was not in her usual outfit; rather she was sporting a black sports bra, with exercise shorts and sneakers. Her short hair was damp with sweat and her hazel eyes were hard. Liara was failing to not stare at the Commander, who had a toned yet feminine physique. Liara felt her cheeks get hot, and she bit her lip.
Shepard coughed awkwardly, and Liara snapped out from her trance, her blue eyes meeting Shepard's.
"What are you doing down here?" Liara asked rather bluntly. Shepard eyed Liara, who had not meant for her question to sound so accusatory, but Shepard sighed and turned, walking back toward the wall.
"I come down here and exercise. It's about the only space you can, really. It's not like I don't like to train with the others, but I find it easier on my own," Shepard explained as Liara finally caught eye of the punching bag and weights in the corner. Shepard's back was to her, and Liara couldn't help eyeing the muscles in her back and shoulders, and the way the curves were and….
"Were you touring the ship?" Shepard asked as she turned around again, breaking Liara's train of thought.
"Yes," Liara replied, "I thought I'd look around while everyone else was busy. Not that I don't like them but-,"
"They don't like you?" Shepard pondered, and Liara nodded, "don't worry about it. Everyone was really suspicious when Garrus, Wrex and Tali joined but they've been here for a few weeks now, and the crew has gotten used to them. They'll get used to you as well. It's probably also the fact you're Benezia's daughter – that really wouldn't help relations."
"No, it doesn't," Liara added, "but I'm really not my mother. I don't even know who she is anymore or why she has sided with Saren." Liara stopped. She had no idea why she was talking about her mother; she was sick of talking about her mother.
"We'll track her down," Shepard said as she finished wrapping her hands with some sort of cloth. Liara couldn't help admire the muscles in Shepard's arms as her hands curled into fists. Shepard caught Liara's eye again and cocked an eyebrow, a signal that still confused Liara – she really needed to read up on human body language. They had such a rushed and exaggerated body language and culture; Liara could barely keep up at times.
"Do you want to spar Dr T'Soni?" Shepard asked playfully, turning toward Liara with her fists raised, "didn't really see you as the sparring type," Shepard teased before Liara could even get in a response.
"I'm not sure Commander - ," Liara hesitated, but Shepard cocked her eyebrow again and Liara gave in, "okay okay, but go easy on me!"
Shepard rolled her eyes, "as if I haven't heard THAT one before," Shepard laughed, "I fell for that with Garrus. Not with you, I'm afraid!"
Liara was not dressed appropriately for sparring; her jacket would restrict her movement. Shrugging, she pulled her jacket off, revealing her black tank top she wore underneath. She tested her arm movement now, and nodded happily. Liara raised her fists to Shepard, a movement that felt so oddly wrong.
Shepard jumped forward before Liara had time to react and threw a punch straight at Liara's face, which she dodged at the last possible second. Liara righted herself, and raised her fists in front of her face. Shepard grunted as she threw another punch at Liara's face, but her left arm went for Liara's side – a move Liara didn't see coming. Liara's knees buckled, but she righted herself. It seemed Shepard had practiced before – and on 'tougher opponents'. Wrex had taught her to dance evidently.
Liara jumped forward throwing a punch which Shepard effortlessly blocked, and responded by kicking her leg out, which Liara ducked under. Liara went for another punch, but tried the misdirection tactic that Shepard had applied. Unfortunately, she was ready for this, and her right arm came crashing down to throw Liara's off-balance. Liara toppled over, landing awkwardly on her buttocks. Shepard smiled vindictively and swaggered toward Liara, fists raised with creased eyebrows and a wicked grin.
Without even thinking, Liara launched a Lift at Shepard. Shepard was caught completely off guard and pulled into the air, hanging awkwardly upside down. Liara watched Shepard struggle against the biotics as Liara managed to push herself to her feet.
"Hey! No biotics!" Shepard grumbled, folding her arms.
"You didn't specifically mention not to use biotics?" Liara shrugged, still holding Shepard in the Lift field.
"Ergh, I don't have biotics remember? I'm a soldier! Completely weapons trained – not a shred of biotics," Shepard explained.
"Oh," Liara had actually forgotten Shepard was not biotic. From the little she had seen, Shepard moved so effortlessly on the battlefield, Liara could've sworn she had the ability. Liara could not tell whether Shepard was joking – but something about her tone suggested she had crossed the line. Shepard flinched as if she was preparing herself for a rough landing, but Liara lowered her gently to the ground, easing off her biotics. It was amazing how delicate such a powerful force could be.
Shepard jumped up ready for round two, however she still appeared to be dizzy from her biotics encounter, and Liara's blow clipped the edge of Shepard's jaw. Liara flinched as Shepard fell to her knees onto the cold floor, grabbing at her face. Liara had not meant to have so much force behind the blow. She shook her hand, stretching her fingers out, to try and eliminate the stinging.
"Shepard…" Liara said as she sank to her knees in front of her. Shepard looked at Liara, her jawline where she had been hit was red, and already swollen compared to the other side. Liara couldn't believe what she had done! Firstly, she had dangled Shepard using biotics, and then punched her in the face! Without even thinking, Liara reached out and gently touched the side of Shepard's face.
She wrapped her hand around Shepard's swollen jawline, feeling the hot skin under her hand. Liara couldn't help but notice how striking her own blue skin looked against the Commander's tan skin – the colours contrasted very well. Shepard's hand reached up to Liara's and covered it, an action Liara was not expecting. Liara braced for Shepard to throw her hand off, but it didn't happen. In contrast, she leant into her hand. Liara gently stroked the side of her face, and Shepard's eyes closed instinctively.
Shepard's head began to move forward, and Liara felt her head making the same movement. Shepard's face was very close. A few more centimetres and Liara was sure their foreheads would be touching.
A sharp noise behind them sent them diving away from each other. Shepard had jumped backwards and was lying uselessly on her back, while Liara leapt to her feet. The elevator doors flung open revealing Garrus, Wrex and Tali – the air still clung to the laughter of a joke that had just been told, presumably Wrex's, but the three of them stood awkwardly at the sight in front of them.
"Erhm," Liara muttered stupidly, wiping the sweat from her brow. Shepard got to her feet while still holding her face, grabbing her jacket and towel from the desk. She wrapped the towel around her neck, and threw her jacket over herself. Liara hastily grabbed her own jacket and hurriedly shoved her arms into the sleeves.
"That injury might need medical attention, I would recommend seeing Dr Chakwas," Liara said to Shepard.
"Of course," Shepard replied as Liara stepped into the elevator.
"Sparring Commander?" Wrex grunted with laughter. The last thing Liara saw was Garrus returning to tinkering with the Mako and Tali heading back toward the engineering deck while Shepard stood with Wrex. The doors snapped shut, and the elevator clunked its way to the mess. Thankfully the mess only had a few stragglers, so Liara was able to quietly duck into the Med-bay. She, however, bypassed Dr Chakwas, and practically dived into her little holding.
Liara knew that Shepard would not see Dr Chakwas, she was just too stubborn. Plus, she had more important things to do then to get tended to by a wonderfully gentle, but sometimes overbearing, human doctor.
Liara couldn't get over the Commander's behaviour, however. Her thoughts were swimming around her skull. The raised eyebrow, the cheeky smiles, and that – the whole jaw incident, what did that even mean?
Asari were easy, while they did not each have the same taste, all Asari were practically pansexual, able to form romantic and sexual relationships with all sentient species and all genders. Humans however, were far more complicated. Since humans, like most species, were split into male and female – most desired the opposite sex as this was a way to procreate. This was all Liara knew about human mating behaviour. She did not even know if female humans could form romantic and sexual attachment to other females. Even though Liara knew she wasn't exactly female, she still had a feminine shape and voice – and it seemed rather unlikely for a female human who desired male humans to fall for her.
No, she probably has eyes for Lieutenant Alenko, Liara thought to herself. As far as male humans went, Alenko was rather dashing. However, even if Shepard did desire other women, why would she desire Liara? Liara wasn't remarkable – just a pureblood Asari with a fetish for archaeological sites. Shepard had accomplished so much in her 29 years, and what had Liara accomplished in her 106?
Well, a fair bit, but to put it in perspective, Shepard's titles were way more interesting and impressive.
Now that she had punched Shepard in the face, going to her with questions about human behaviour didn't seem like the best idea. Shepard may even want to kick her off the ship! Subordinates normally didn't get away with punching their commanders in the face! No, Liara reasoned, it would be best to look Shepard's profile up, "that could give me some insight," Liara muttered to herself as she logged into the extranet and began to browse.
Special thanks to MuffledWalnut for editing this bad boy for me!