Disclaimer: I don't own the Mass Effect universe or Bioware.
«Extra: SSV Normandy: Engineering Deck: Vehicle Bay»
«or Cleaning Up»
"What is Shepard?" Garrus asked out of the blue.
"I'm sorry?" Kaidan asked.
The turian and the human were in the garage cleaning their weapons. They both had their guns taken apart with the parts on separate towels, each piece carefully placed in order so they could put them back together again. Their tools, as well as their fingers, had dirt and grime all over them, though they didn't mind. They were used to it.
Ashley was by her locker, making little adjustments to her dirtied and scratched Level I Phoenix Medium Armor. However, as she did, she couldn't help but look completely and utterly bored. It almost looked like she didn't really care about the armor anymore. She couldn't help but notice how insignificant it had become in so short a time. Ashley knew that she would soon have to replace it entirely. On this mission, her armor would soon be obsolete.
On the wide expanse of the garage floor, Tali was practicing her quarian blade forms. She began with slow, graceful moves that caused her blade to arc through the air. It almost seemed akin to slow dance moves, with the subtle shifting of her weight from one leg to the other. She moved her blade across her body, making elegant movements with her hands and legs. The forms did not look powerful, but that was mainly because she was practicing them at a slow and steady pace, so she could train her muscles to make these moves instinctively. Tali didn't mind the slow movements; it allowed her mind to wander.
Sitting beside the equipment-cleaning table, Wrex snored.
Meanwhile, Garrus was asking Kaidan a question.
"So, what is he?" Garrus asked.
"What do you mean?" Kaidan asked in return.
"Well, you know how the Alliance has these so called 'classes?' Garrus said. "Well, what's the Commander's class?" Kaidan laughed.
"Well, first of all," Kaidan said. "Those 'classes' that you're talking about are not official. Some bored marines made them up way back when. If they are mentioned by the Alliance, they're called 'Military Specialization.' So, my 'Military Specialization' is the Sentinel, because I tend to use both my biotics and my tech. Yours would be closer to the Infiltrator, with your proficiency with the sniper rifle and your tech."
"Yeah, I know all about that," Garrus said, replacing the barrel of his pistol. "So…what 'Military Specialization' is Shepard?"
Kaidan paused in his work, furrowing his brow. Garrus had a very good question. What class was the Commander?
"Well, when I first met him, he seemed to be more of a Soldier," Kaidan reasoned. "Because he valued more up-close and personal combat, what with his expertise in the knife. But he also seemed to be able to use his Omni-Tool effectively, which would likely be more along the lines of an Infiltrator. However, he's also got that biotic thing going on, which would put him more along the lines of the Vanguard."
Garrus paused.
"You have absolutely no idea, do you?" Garrus stated bluntly.
"I didn't say that," Kaidan told him. "I was just pointing out that it would be very hard to classify someone like the Commander. He has such a wide range of skills and abilities that it's very difficult to classify him."
"So you have absolutely no idea," Garrus restated.
"I never said that I didn't know-!" Kaidan told him.
"But you don't know," Garrus said.
"Why are you harassing me about this?" Kaidan asked defensively.
"I'm not harassing you!" Garrus stated.
"Sure feels like it," Kaidan said. "What, with you continually hounding me about what I know and I don't know."
"I'm not hounding you!" Garrus told him. "I'm just stating that there is something that you don't know!"
"How on earth could you come to a conclusion like that if you won't let me tell you what I know?" Kaidan asked.
"Because I asked a simple question and you're refusing to answer it," Garrus said. "You're giving long winded answers that dance around the actual subject matter."
"I'm not dancing around the subject!" Kaidan told him. "I'm merely explaining points that help strengthen my main point."
"But you're not saying the main point, which would be if you know what class the Commander is," Garrus pointed out, setting aside his pistol, which was put back together. He moved on to his sniper rifle.
"Well, you interrupted me before I could get to my main point," Kaidan told him.
"Because it didn't seem like you were getting to your point any time soon," Garrus told him. "Which usually means that you don't know what point you're trying to make which in turn means you don't know the answer to my question."
"Well, how can you come to that conclusion so quickly?" Kaidan asked. "You don't know if I was actually trying to make a point or if I was stalling."
"Sounded like you were stalling," Garrus said casually.
"But maybe I wasn't," Kaidan told him, beginning to put his pistol back together.
"Then what's your answer?" Garrus asked him, looking down the sight of his rifle.
"I was getting to that before you interrupted me," Kaidan stated.
"I'm not interrupting you now, am I?" Garrus pointed out. "So tell me what class you think Commander Shepard is."
Kaidan was silent as he finished putting his pistol back together.
"You don't know, do you?" Garrus stated.
Kaidan looked down the sight of his pistol, pulling the hammer back.
He pulled the trigger and the hammer snapped forward.
"He's Commander John Shepard," Kaidan said simply. Garrus paused.
"Good answer," Garrus commented.
They finished cleaning their weapons and moved onto their armor.
Garrus peaked a glance over his shoulder and watched Tali move through each of her forms. She was captivating.
"By the way, where's Liara?" Kaidan asked.
"I dunno," Garrus answered. "She rarely leaves the Med-Bay."
"Probably shy," Kaidan noted.
"Well, there's shy," Garrus said. "And then there's just plain creepy. She doesn't really do much during missions. Just kind of stays close to the Commander."
"You think that's creepy?" Kaidan asked.
"Don't you?" Garrus asked.
"I just think she's really shy around people she's not used to," Kaidan told the turian. "She's trying to find her place among us. Trying to see where she fits in." Garrus sighed.
"Well she better do it soon," Garrus said. "Otherwise, we'll probably end up leaving her on some uncharted planet."
"That'll be the Commander's decision," Kaidan chuckled.
Garrus continued watching Tali swing her blade through the air, slightly mesmerized. Tali glanced at Garrus and paused in her forms. She waved at him and gave him a smile. Garrus waved back, giving her a smile. Realizing he was staring, he quickly turned away and took a gulp of water from his canteen.
"So when're you going to tap that ass?" Kaidan asked out of the blue, glancing at Tali.
Garrus coughed out all the water from his mouth in a large burst.
"Oh, so you know what I mean!" Kaidan said, laughing. "I didn't know you knew human lingo!"
"Y-Yes I know a little human lingo!" Garrus exclaimed in a hushed voice, careful so that Tali didn't overhear. "Is that really a necessary question to ask?"
"What?" Kaidan asked, feigning cluelessness. "I was just asking if there was anything going on between you two."
"N-No!" Garrus stuttered. "N-Nothing!"
"Your words say one thing but your stuttering says something completely different," Kaidan noted.
"That's because I'm not used to these kinds of questions!" Garrus exclaimed. "It's embarrassing!"
"Embarrassing because you don't find her attractive?" Kaidan asked, loving every moment of this. "Jeez, Garrus, how shallow are you? You don't even know what she looks like!"
"THAT'S NOT WHAT I MEANT!" Garrus exclaimed, shooting his hands out to the side, spilling the rest of his canteen on the sleeping Wrex nearby. "I'm just saying that this isn't really the kind of question you ask someone!"
Kaidan's attention was past Garrus now, at the lumbering form of a half-asleep krogan rising from his seated position. Garrus turned to look and saw Wrex, who was hunched over and digging the sand from his eyes, which were still blurry. Groggily, the krogan took a step forward. His stomach grumbled.
"Hungry…" Wrex muttered. "Need…meat…"
Wrex groggily looked at Garrus through eyes that were still partially asleep.
He smiled.
"Kaidan," Garrus said nervously, taking a step back. "What exactly do sleep-walking krogans like to eat?"
Wrex began to drool.
"I don't know," Kaidan said simply.
"Oh crap," Garrus moaned.
\::/::\::/::\::/
Shepard rode the elevator down to the Engineering Deck, reading a report Captain Anderson gave him. Most of it was boring, but he still had to read it. The History of the Spectres didn't really interest him at all but if he didn't read it, the Ambassador would probably yell at him at one point or another, so he might as well. The Ambassador was going to yell at him regardless of what he did but he could hope otherwise.
He was originally going to read the report in his room but Pressly kept giving him paperwork to fill out, which was rather distracting. Plus, the good doctor Chakwas kept on hounding him about his injuries and such. Hopefully, down in the garage, he would find some peace and quiet.
He was wrong.
When the elevator doors opened slowly, he saw Wrex pinning Garrus to the ground, drool leaking from his mouth and onto the turian's face. Tali was using her hands to try and push Wrex's face away from Garrus' head. Kaidan was trying to push Wrex's body off of Garrus as well as his own. Wrex also had Kaidan pinned down by sitting on his legs, forming a wedge between Garrus and Wrex. Ashley had Wrex in the sleeper-hold, one arm wrapped around the krogan's neck and her other arm pushing Wrex's head forward, trying to cut off the circulation of oxygen.
In one one-hundredth of a second, Shepard made a hundred wrong assumptions about what his team was doing and why.
When the elevator doors fully opened, his team froze in shock and stared at Shepard.
Shepard's blank face betrayed no emotion of any kind.
The members of his team's emotions ranged from shock to confusion with a sprinkle of hunger.
They stared at each other for a moment longer.
Shepard reached over and pressed the up button.
They continued to stare at each other.
"You guys are weird," was all Shepard said as the elevator doors closed and brought him back up.
Shepard decided to go visit Liara and see what she was up to.
My attempt at being funny. Hopefully it worked. It was just me being kind of random.
Been watching Naruto: Shippuden. It's all right, I guess, though I still prefer the manga over the anime. Still, there's one episode that stands out in my mind, which is the one where one of the characters is dealing with the death of his teacher. There's a scene where he is basically holding in all his emotions about it and when his father talks to him, he just starts bawling. That whole scene wasn't in the manga but I loved it. The emotions were just so raw. The clip I'm talking about is on youtube. Give it a watch if you want to. Link's below.
youtube . com /watch?v=I-vIozLINlU
Don't really have anything else to say.
Oh, and Happy 4th of July for the Americans.
Cheers.
