thearchangel | IC INBOX || Abraxas

Hey, what the new crewmen don't know only hurts their wallets. A little. I'll go easy on them.

[Sort of. A bet is a bet. And knowing they have Wrex, and therefore Tuchanka, believing Shepard is an ace in the hole.]

[She stops. He looks over to her, curiosity and concern flickering around each other. Studying her until she asks. And exhales.]

Yeah. We did. She was asked to be a Spectre, too. You were on a mission after you left Earth - I didn't hear all the details, but you two met Liara on Mars, in the Prothean Archives. [And Williams had got the crap beat out of her by EDI's body. Which is... a really long story. That bit hurts his head a little to think about it.]

Second Human Spectre. Well, it's not like she doesn't deserve it. And we both know, Ash is as tough as they come.

[She's not bitter, exactly, it's only... Sad. Some kind of bizarre, unearned grief, for something Shepard isn't sure ever existed. Nothing profound, nothing overwhelming, just disquiet that makes her want to sigh; she represses the urge.]

Just thinkin' about old times in the cargo bay on the SR-1. We had no idea what was coming for us. Hell, I'm still pinning you down for a round of twenty questions.

She does. She's proud of it, too. Word had it... you were the one who convinced her to take it.

[He's pretty sure that's what he heard, anyway. Hopefully, it happens that way, for her. It sounds like she could use the win right now.]

[He chuckles, and leans his head against hers.] Well. Good thing I'm pretty used to answering questions. As long as they're not - [He drops into a pretty decent falsetto, for someone with dual vocal chords.] - "By the Goddess what is that".

[It's exactly the right move, just in sync: Shepard had already been leaning in to rest her head against him, but the way he meets her halfway turns it from melancholy into fondness. Ridiculous, how easy he seems to make it, sometimes.

And then he does that, and she chokes.]

What the he— [Give her a minute here, she wasn't expecting that. Oh my god. Garrus. Talk about attracting predators, she can't stop laughing] What the hell was that?

[By the Goddess, indeed.]

Oh, tell me Liara's heard you do that.

[Mission accomplished. He's grinning, chuckling to himself.]

That was the result of a bet with Joker. He said there was no way a turian could imitate someone else with the way our voices work.

[That, and someone needed to poke a little fun at Ms. Shadow Broker once in a while. Some that didn't include calling her primitive or asking her if her head tentacles moved.]

Not yet. I was really saving it for a special occasion. I was going to try Tali next. [A beat.] You know, when she didn't have that shotgun in reach.

Damn. I'd pay good money to see her reaction.

[Oh, it's just too funny. Joker was right, though, it really didn't sound much like Liara, but it was the attempt. Turians didn't do... voices. For all their vocal complexity, they never seemed to use a lot of range, at least in the human-audible registers, but— Apparantly, Garrus did voices. Strategically.]

You better watch out, she's always got that drone. [Every time she thinks it's going to fade, it just seems funnier and she can't stop smiling.] Oh yeah, she'll hate it. So much.

Probably about the same reaction as when Joker also asked her if her "head tentacles" moved.

[Oh, the laughter. That's a good sound. That's exactly the sound he likes to hear. Shepard - happy. Shepard having a good time.]

[Having space to breathe. Maybe that part of this world isn't so terrible.]

You know, it's funny. She's not here now... [You can hear the metaphorical eyebrow waggle.]

Oh here we go. [Happy is a fleeting state, but right now... yeah, she's happy. Not their most exciting date night ever, she hopes, but there's a lot about tonight to be satisfied by.] I have got to hear this.

[Oh boy. You've got a tone there, Vakarian. Shepard spares a moment to wonder if it's just a coincidence or if he's actually seen someone do the eyebrow thing often enough to mean it the same way. And then, still chuckling, decides it hardly matters.]

Gimme the Quarian voice.

Ahem.

[Listen, he really, really couldn't do this in front of any turians. To him, it sounds horrendous. It sounds like the scream track from a horror vid. But... to anyone else - the undertone, the echo of his voice, comes out like the crackle of a helmet's speaker.]

[Now he has to do the falsetto again.]

I have a shotgun-- [That's all he gets out. Then he's got to clear his throat again, and try to do it without laughing.]

[It only renews the hilarity, when he breaks. Shepard is helpless for it, for a while, and even when she finally clears past the giggles there's still laughter in her voice.]

That's awful. [It was pretty good, actually.] She'd shoot you for real.

[She'd love this. Well, not the joke itself, Tali would have something to say about that, but this: the drinks and the stargazing and the night of simple togetherness. Like family.]

Y'know I like to think I know you pretty well, Garrus, but you keep surprising me.

Oh, oh yeah. For sure.

[He's wheezing a little, but that's nothing a drink can't fix. That's one impression he can't do on command, apparently. Tali would shoot him, and he'd deserve it.]

Well - with all we've seen? Someone has to keep things fresh.

[The good kinds of surprises, this time. Not the horrors of war kinds of surprises.]

IC INBOX || Abraxas

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