Shotgun as a Verb 3/20
anonymous
November 11 2012, 19:06:19 UTC
By the time the two of them were halfway done with their meal, Shepard was a bit less worried about Garrus's well-being than she had been. She knew he had taken the loss of his squad on Omega hard, but it was clear he was in a much better mental state this week than he was when he first came aboard. He had also done an incredible amount of work on the ship since they had picked him up. She felt she needed to clear the air.
"Garrus, when we talked earlier, I didn't mean to sound ungrateful. I appreciate all the work you've done here, with the guns and everything. You've been a huge help. Donnelly told me him and Daniels never would have figured out that power leakage issue by themselves."
"It's no problem. I just figure if I'm going to be here, I might as well earn my keep."
Shepard nodded. "I get that. Throwing yourself into your work can help when things get rough. Hell, I should know, I've done it enough. Just make sure to look up from your screen once in a while, or you'll miss something good."
Garrus gave her a look, subtly raising his browplates. "So I'm guessing your planner for today said one thing, triple underlined and circled - Get Vakarian to stop working."
"Aw, you're full of it. I only underlined it twice." They resumed eating, a comfortable silence settling in.
...
The two of them deposited their plates in the oversized sink and walked off, making their way towards the elevator. "Well," Garrus said in a private tone, "that was certainly... food."
Shepard laughed as the elevator door shut in front of them, ensuring a bit of privacy. "Yeah, mine wasn't so hot either. I talked to Gardner about it a few days ago, and he says the food stores he was provided with are generic, and not very fresh on top of that. I don't get it. Cerberus spent billions on me and building this ship, then they turn around and go cheap on something as elementary as food? Amazing. Anyway, I've got a list of higher quality ingredients available on the Citadel, so I'm hitting up Zakera Ward tomorrow to pick them up. And before you ask, yes, there's dextro stuff on the list too. We didn't forget about you."
"Thanks. Not that I'm complaining, but aren't there more important things for you to worry about?"
The elevator stopped at the top deck and opened up in front of Shepard's cabin. As she entered her confirmation code, she turned to face her friend, relying on muscle memory to complete the sequence.
"Yes and no. I do have a lot on my plate... no pun intended... but making sure the crew has good food is an easy and relatively cheap way of making them happy. A well-fed crew is a satisfied, effective, and loyal crew."
"You're sneaky."
"Maybe, but socially engineering the crew really wasn't my intent. I take care of my own, Garrus."
"That you do." As the pair of them walked back into the commander's quarters, Garrus stopped abruptly. "Oh! I have a bottle of dual species wine down in the battery we can try out. I'll be right back." Garrus started to head back towards the door.
"Hey, wait! You can go grab it if you want - I do appreciate the thought. However, I have other plans, and if you're interested, we're probably not going to need the wine." Shepard flopped down heavily in the corner seat of her humongous couch, as if to punctuate her vague sentence.
"O.....kay..... Heh. I have to say, I'm almost afraid to ask. You have that look in your eye."
"Which look would that be?" Her words were saturated with feigned innocence.
Garrus pointed at her face with a gloved finger. "That one. Right there. The one that says: I'm about to do something irresponsible."
"Garrus, when we talked earlier, I didn't mean to sound ungrateful. I appreciate all the work you've done here, with the guns and everything. You've been a huge help. Donnelly told me him and Daniels never would have figured out that power leakage issue by themselves."
"It's no problem. I just figure if I'm going to be here, I might as well earn my keep."
Shepard nodded. "I get that. Throwing yourself into your work can help when things get rough. Hell, I should know, I've done it enough. Just make sure to look up from your screen once in a while, or you'll miss something good."
Garrus gave her a look, subtly raising his browplates. "So I'm guessing your planner for today said one thing, triple underlined and circled - Get Vakarian to stop working."
"Aw, you're full of it. I only underlined it twice."
They resumed eating, a comfortable silence settling in.
...
The two of them deposited their plates in the oversized sink and walked off, making their way towards the elevator. "Well," Garrus said in a private tone, "that was certainly... food."
Shepard laughed as the elevator door shut in front of them, ensuring a bit of privacy. "Yeah, mine wasn't so hot either. I talked to Gardner about it a few days ago, and he says the food stores he was provided with are generic, and not very fresh on top of that. I don't get it. Cerberus spent billions on me and building this ship, then they turn around and go cheap on something as elementary as food? Amazing. Anyway, I've got a list of higher quality ingredients available on the Citadel, so I'm hitting up Zakera Ward tomorrow to pick them up. And before you ask, yes, there's dextro stuff on the list too. We didn't forget about you."
"Thanks. Not that I'm complaining, but aren't there more important things for you to worry about?"
The elevator stopped at the top deck and opened up in front of Shepard's cabin. As she entered her confirmation code, she turned to face her friend, relying on muscle memory to complete the sequence.
"Yes and no. I do have a lot on my plate... no pun intended... but making sure the crew has good food is an easy and relatively cheap way of making them happy. A well-fed crew is a satisfied, effective, and loyal crew."
"You're sneaky."
"Maybe, but socially engineering the crew really wasn't my intent. I take care of my own, Garrus."
"That you do." As the pair of them walked back into the commander's quarters, Garrus stopped abruptly. "Oh! I have a bottle of dual species wine down in the battery we can try out. I'll be right back." Garrus started to head back towards the door.
"Hey, wait! You can go grab it if you want - I do appreciate the thought. However, I have other plans, and if you're interested, we're probably not going to need the wine." Shepard flopped down heavily in the corner seat of her humongous couch, as if to punctuate her vague sentence.
"O.....kay..... Heh. I have to say, I'm almost afraid to ask. You have that look in your eye."
"Which look would that be?" Her words were saturated with feigned innocence.
Garrus pointed at her face with a gloved finger. "That one. Right there. The one that says: I'm about to do something irresponsible."
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