Re: Fill: Wax On, Wax Off, fShep/Garrus 3/9
anonymous
May 28 2013, 01:40:53 UTC
He met her in her hotel's lobby. She was sitting in her radiation suit, her helmet by her side. She was alert, of course, watching the people passing by. Her gaze settled on him unwaveringly.
“Garrus! Right on time!” she moved to get up.
“Hi, Shepard.”
“Did your family thing go okay?”
“Yeah, it did.”
“Good. So, where are we headed?”
Spirits, Vakarian, say more than five words at a time to the woman, can't you?
He didn't know what to think about how she was just... normal as can be at that moment. Looking up at him, readying her helmet, not making any flirtatious signals at all. That, or she was and he was not picking up on her broadcast, and wouldn't that be rich, arrrgh... stop it.
“I figure you've had enough of Monuments and Very Important Buildings.”
“Yep.”
“Right, then. I, ah, thought I'd show you the Tiferi river.”
Shepard nodded, before putting her helmet on.
“Definitely wasn't on the tour. Lead on, big guy.”
They took a taxi away from the central administration district and the buildings became friendlier in scale; shops and apartments, with the newer buildings built to honor the traditional style, the markets and retail areas on the ground floors given shade with awnings or set back into arcades with arched openings.
He lead her to the Tiferi.
Cipritine as a settlement began near its banks. Over the centuries, the Tiferi was channeled into fields for farming, the first serious feats of engineering in turian history were concerned with building check dams, overflow catch basins, aqueducts, cistern systems and extensive underground piping to safely disperse the river's annual flooding. They needed the water and necessarily feared it too.
He pointed out these aspects of the engineering to her as they walked. He was hesitant at first, but Shepard was asking interested questions of the history of it all and he settled into his explanations.
Garrus took her to a park he'd played in as a child, where some of the river's flow had been diverted and kept shallow, to meander as a stream. Even now there were children, standing on foot bridges over the little span, observed by their parents, as they dropped sticks and leaves on the water and ran alongside on the banks, laughing and cheering as one leaf or a stick won a race to the next the foot bridge.
They stopped on a bridge just before this diverted stream rejoined the rest of the Tiferi.
“It's beautiful, Garrus,” she said, leaning on the railing of the bridge.
“I'm glad you like it.”
“I bet there's a nice breeze to go with it. Is there?”
He could faintly see her blinking behind the visor of her helmet.
“Yeah, there is.”
“Figures. I don't know how Tali could stand it, stuck behind a helmet the way she is all the time. Can't even feel a breeze.”
Garrus didn't have anything to say about that.
“You know, in a city like this, on Earth? There would be all sorts of boats out on the water on a sunny day like this, people out on the water.”
“Ah, you know that's not going to happen on this planet. Not that we don't appreciate the Tiferi our own way.”
It was true. There were all sorts of people on bridges, watching the water also, or sitting in the park, catching that same breeze.
“You're right. Just thinking on the differences. Plus the fact that people used to get executed by getting thrown in. Must be on everybody's mind, huh?” her tone was amused.
Garrus coughed, suddenly embarrassed. He got a little too enthusiastic with listing off the historical uses of the Tiferi.
“Garrus! Right on time!” she moved to get up.
“Hi, Shepard.”
“Did your family thing go okay?”
“Yeah, it did.”
“Good. So, where are we headed?”
Spirits, Vakarian, say more than five words at a time to the woman, can't you?
He didn't know what to think about how she was just... normal as can be at that moment. Looking up at him, readying her helmet, not making any flirtatious signals at all. That, or she was and he was not picking up on her broadcast, and wouldn't that be rich, arrrgh... stop it.
“I figure you've had enough of Monuments and Very Important Buildings.”
“Yep.”
“Right, then. I, ah, thought I'd show you the Tiferi river.”
Shepard nodded, before putting her helmet on.
“Definitely wasn't on the tour. Lead on, big guy.”
They took a taxi away from the central administration district and the buildings became friendlier in scale; shops and apartments, with the newer buildings built to honor the traditional style, the markets and retail areas on the ground floors given shade with awnings or set back into arcades with arched openings.
He lead her to the Tiferi.
Cipritine as a settlement began near its banks. Over the centuries, the Tiferi was channeled into fields for farming, the first serious feats of engineering in turian history were concerned with building check dams, overflow catch basins, aqueducts, cistern systems and extensive underground piping to safely disperse the river's annual flooding. They needed the water and necessarily feared it too.
He pointed out these aspects of the engineering to her as they walked. He was hesitant at first, but Shepard was asking interested questions of the history of it all and he settled into his explanations.
Garrus took her to a park he'd played in as a child, where some of the river's flow had been diverted and kept shallow, to meander as a stream. Even now there were children, standing on foot bridges over the little span, observed by their parents, as they dropped sticks and leaves on the water and ran alongside on the banks, laughing and cheering as one leaf or a stick won a race to the next the foot bridge.
They stopped on a bridge just before this diverted stream rejoined the rest of the Tiferi.
“It's beautiful, Garrus,” she said, leaning on the railing of the bridge.
“I'm glad you like it.”
“I bet there's a nice breeze to go with it. Is there?”
He could faintly see her blinking behind the visor of her helmet.
“Yeah, there is.”
“Figures. I don't know how Tali could stand it, stuck behind a helmet the way she is all the time. Can't even feel a breeze.”
Garrus didn't have anything to say about that.
“You know, in a city like this, on Earth? There would be all sorts of boats out on the water on a sunny day like this, people out on the water.”
“Ah, you know that's not going to happen on this planet. Not that we don't appreciate the Tiferi our own way.”
It was true. There were all sorts of people on bridges, watching the water also, or sitting in the park, catching that same breeze.
“You're right. Just thinking on the differences. Plus the fact that people used to get executed by getting thrown in. Must be on everybody's mind, huh?” her tone was amused.
Garrus coughed, suddenly embarrassed. He got a little too enthusiastic with listing off the historical uses of the Tiferi.
Shepard chuckled.
“Where next?”
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