Hands/PG
Title: Hands
Fandom: Mass Effect
Characters: Wrex+Garrus
Rating: PG for very mild language, or something
Summary: Wrex and Garrus kill time en route to a system.
Author's Note: Slightly referenced in Eyes. I don't own ME characters, etc. etc.
The mess in the Normandy always seemed fairly empty almost in spite of the relative lack of "free" space in the ship. Garrus supposed it was due to the fairly small crew size - people tended to either be sleeping or tending to their duties, leaving only one or two to lounge most of the time.
Well, aside from himself and Wrex. Kaidan had his duties, as did Ashley; Tali had taken to working in the engine room; Liara was studying all the assorted data and knicknacks they found on their search for Saren, looking for clues; Shepard was commanding the ship and spent a lot of time on the top deck. Honestly, Garrus checked up on the Mako mostly to stave off boredom; it rarely needed maintenance outside of when it came back from being topside. He wasn't sure what Wrex did to occupy himself other then glower and make sure his gear was in order, frankly.
He ran a diagnostic on the right front wheel for the third time that day. It had taken some damage - a lucky shot from a Geth sniper - when they were last out in it, and he wanted to make sure his battlefield repairs and the subsequent repairs when they returned had fixed the issue. Again, it came back "situation normal," and Garrus again wished it gave something more precise. If it was at ninety-five percent, that'd be "normal," he supposed, but he'd rather know that it was in as good shape as possible. He sighed, and wondered if there would be a problem if he dismounted the wheel to give it a thorough going-over.
"Hey," a gravelly voice behind him said. He turned to see Wrex looking at him from across the bay. "I figure that if you're half as bored of poking at that damn thing as I am watching you obsess over it, you could use a change of pace." He produced a small, metal box from a pocket on his harness; Garrus recognized it as a holder for a deck of playing cards.
"Huh," he said, "I wouldn't have pegged you as much of a gambler."
Wrex snorted. "Remember when that Salarian wanted Shepard to go try out his cheating gizmo on those Quasar tables at Flux, and I said it'd be worth doing just to see if the damn thing works? I didn't do that for the good of the scientific community." He shook the deck, making it rattle. "So how about it? Small stakes, just kill a little time."
Wrex was right about one thing - a change of pace would be good. Well, certainly better than taking a wheel off the Mako. "Yeah, sure." He looked around the bay. "Nothing really to put the cards on, though. Could play on the Mako's bumper, I guess..."
His krogan teammate grunted. "Eh, let's just use the mess. Not like the place'll be full."
"I don't know - seems like a bad idea to be gambling out in the open like that."
Wrex rolled his eyes. "You think Shepard's going to care? Doesn't bother enforcing the law *that* much." He gave Garrus a toothy smile. "And if it came to a fight, I know who I'd put my money on."
Garrus shook his head. "You almost sound excited at the prospect."
Wrex shrugged. "Eh. Probably mean I wouldn't get to kick Saren's ass later on. That'd be a shame."
The two got on the elevator to the mess deck. Unsurprisingly, there was only one person there, some drive specialist or something, and given the look she had when it became obvious that Wrex was going to be at the table, he doubted she'd be there for long. They sat, and Wrex took out the cards. They looked almost like thin sheets of steel, but they had a quality to them that Garrus could not quite place.
"Pair Quasar fine?" Wrex asked. Garrus nodded; the krogan opened up a panel on the case, revealing a small touch screen, and selected something off a menu it was displaying. The cards immediately shimmered, one side showing various space scenes - nebulae, stars, etc. - and the other side being a flat, dark green with a black box in the center. Wrex noticed him studying them. "Smart-cards," he said. "Won them off some fool Volus who didn't know when to quit, mission or two before I joined up with Shepard. You can program them to be useable in any card game you can think up. Got some presets - Quasar, Pair Quasar, Klondike, bunch of others. Figure if I really need to kill I'll see what I can come up with."
Garrus chuckled. "Wouldn't have you pegged for a game designer, either."
"Eh. I like card games. They're something to do. (Wastes time on protection assignments between killing.)"
"Fair enough. You need to shuffle?"
"Nah. Cards take care of all that crap." He dealt each of them a card, space-theme face down, and tapped his card on the lower right. The black box materialized a five. "Lower right for wide band, lower left for narrow. My deck, you take disadvantage first. Five credit buyin fine?"
"Yeah, sure." Garrus tapped his card on the lower right - first draw had to be the "wide band," a value from one to eight, as opposed to "narrow band," which was four to seven; he received a seven. Disadvantage meant he had to choose when to stop drawing, or bust, first. He drew a card and tapped it on the lower left; it showed a six. This gave him a thirteen, so he drew another card and again tapped the lower left. A seven this time would mean a twenty, and at worst a draw, but luck was not with him, and he got a five. "I'm done. Think you can beat an eighteen?"
Wrex grunted and drew, picking wide band. It gave him an eight; he flashed a toothy grin, and took another wide band card. This one gave him a six. "Yes. Yes I think I can." Garrus sighed, marked down the loss on a dataslate, and dealt out cards. "Your disadvantage this time."
They played several more hands. Garrus managed to not lose too badly, given that Wrex's non-intuitive drawing style - and the frequency it tended to deliver good scores, indicated that he had a pretty good head for the game. "So where'd you learn to play like that?"
Wrex shrugged. "Playing cards comes with being a merc. I got tired of losing." He smirked. "Didn't get tired of threatening people to shove off when they came around for the debts, but I'd rather give that up than lose."
"Huh. Pride, then."
"Why should I limit myself to just winning fights?"
They continued playing. Occasionally a crew member would pass by, give the pair an odd look; no one stopped to eat at the mess, and Garrus wasn't sure if that because no one needed to, or no one wanted their company. He assumed the former; Shepard had been pretty clear he wanted everyone to get along, but then again, prejudice was hard to let go of. He pointed this out to Wrex; the krogan just shrugged. "Dunno. Not really a meal time for any watch."
He said nothing more; Garrus didn't know if he had no opinion on the spirit of racial unity the commander was trying to promote, or just didn't care to share it. To be honest, other than snide comments and possibly-not-really-hyperbole threats, Wrex didn't talk about himself or his views much. The last forty-five minutes taught Garrus about as much about those as the previous couple of weeks had, and he found himself interested to learn more.
He drew a card, tapped it wide-band, and frowned at the unhelpful result. "Any plans for what you're going to do after we catch Saren?" He wasn't sure if Wrex would answer, but it was worth a shot.
Wrex gave him a brief look, then shrugged. "Back to mercing. Or stick on with Shepard, if that's an option. Working for a Spectre is a pretty good deal, if you don't care too much about the travel time." He glanced at Garrus. "You?"
Garrus hadn't thought about that too much. "Same, I guess. About sticking on with Shepard. I suppose I could go back to C-Sec, but...I'm glad to be out of the place. Too much red tape, not enough getting what needs to be done, done."
Wrex nodded. "Could become a merc. Make your own rules."
Garrus slowly shook his head. "That...just doesn't quite rub me right. No offense."
Wrex shrugged. "None taken. Didn't think you would want to, just throwing it out there." He gave Garrus a look. "You done, or drawing?"
They continued to play, chatting as they did so. Wrex told Garrus a few stories about some of the battles he'd been in, taking obvious pride in his prowess; given the astounding feats he performed in those fights, Garrus wasn't surprised he did. Garrus replied with a few tales of some of his more spectacular busts while with C-Sec, which the krogan seemed to appreciate. Except for the one where he wound up working alongside his father on a case - that seemed to rub Wrex wrong. Maybe another time he'd find out why.
After some time, a voice over the comm system announced they had reached the Horse Head Nebula. "Last hand," Wrex said, "we'll be going topside soon. Shepard was saying something about privateers before we left."
Garrus nodded. "Yeah. See, that's what I mean - with C-Sec, there'd be weeks of paperwork and investigation before we'd get to deal with them. Here...we just go." He paused. "We should do this again sometime."
Wrex looked at him with something like curiousity.
"Cards, I mean. You're right. It was a good way to kill time."
Wrex gave that toothy grin again. "You just want a chance to win back what you owe me."
Garrus chuckled, and they both headed for the elevator to get fetch their gear.
Fandom: Mass Effect
Characters: Wrex+Garrus
Rating: PG for very mild language, or something
Summary: Wrex and Garrus kill time en route to a system.
Author's Note: Slightly referenced in Eyes. I don't own ME characters, etc. etc.
The mess in the Normandy always seemed fairly empty almost in spite of the relative lack of "free" space in the ship. Garrus supposed it was due to the fairly small crew size - people tended to either be sleeping or tending to their duties, leaving only one or two to lounge most of the time.
Well, aside from himself and Wrex. Kaidan had his duties, as did Ashley; Tali had taken to working in the engine room; Liara was studying all the assorted data and knicknacks they found on their search for Saren, looking for clues; Shepard was commanding the ship and spent a lot of time on the top deck. Honestly, Garrus checked up on the Mako mostly to stave off boredom; it rarely needed maintenance outside of when it came back from being topside. He wasn't sure what Wrex did to occupy himself other then glower and make sure his gear was in order, frankly.
He ran a diagnostic on the right front wheel for the third time that day. It had taken some damage - a lucky shot from a Geth sniper - when they were last out in it, and he wanted to make sure his battlefield repairs and the subsequent repairs when they returned had fixed the issue. Again, it came back "situation normal," and Garrus again wished it gave something more precise. If it was at ninety-five percent, that'd be "normal," he supposed, but he'd rather know that it was in as good shape as possible. He sighed, and wondered if there would be a problem if he dismounted the wheel to give it a thorough going-over.
"Hey," a gravelly voice behind him said. He turned to see Wrex looking at him from across the bay. "I figure that if you're half as bored of poking at that damn thing as I am watching you obsess over it, you could use a change of pace." He produced a small, metal box from a pocket on his harness; Garrus recognized it as a holder for a deck of playing cards.
"Huh," he said, "I wouldn't have pegged you as much of a gambler."
Wrex snorted. "Remember when that Salarian wanted Shepard to go try out his cheating gizmo on those Quasar tables at Flux, and I said it'd be worth doing just to see if the damn thing works? I didn't do that for the good of the scientific community." He shook the deck, making it rattle. "So how about it? Small stakes, just kill a little time."
Wrex was right about one thing - a change of pace would be good. Well, certainly better than taking a wheel off the Mako. "Yeah, sure." He looked around the bay. "Nothing really to put the cards on, though. Could play on the Mako's bumper, I guess..."
His krogan teammate grunted. "Eh, let's just use the mess. Not like the place'll be full."
"I don't know - seems like a bad idea to be gambling out in the open like that."
Wrex rolled his eyes. "You think Shepard's going to care? Doesn't bother enforcing the law *that* much." He gave Garrus a toothy smile. "And if it came to a fight, I know who I'd put my money on."
Garrus shook his head. "You almost sound excited at the prospect."
Wrex shrugged. "Eh. Probably mean I wouldn't get to kick Saren's ass later on. That'd be a shame."
The two got on the elevator to the mess deck. Unsurprisingly, there was only one person there, some drive specialist or something, and given the look she had when it became obvious that Wrex was going to be at the table, he doubted she'd be there for long. They sat, and Wrex took out the cards. They looked almost like thin sheets of steel, but they had a quality to them that Garrus could not quite place.
"Pair Quasar fine?" Wrex asked. Garrus nodded; the krogan opened up a panel on the case, revealing a small touch screen, and selected something off a menu it was displaying. The cards immediately shimmered, one side showing various space scenes - nebulae, stars, etc. - and the other side being a flat, dark green with a black box in the center. Wrex noticed him studying them. "Smart-cards," he said. "Won them off some fool Volus who didn't know when to quit, mission or two before I joined up with Shepard. You can program them to be useable in any card game you can think up. Got some presets - Quasar, Pair Quasar, Klondike, bunch of others. Figure if I really need to kill I'll see what I can come up with."
Garrus chuckled. "Wouldn't have you pegged for a game designer, either."
"Eh. I like card games. They're something to do. (Wastes time on protection assignments between killing.)"
"Fair enough. You need to shuffle?"
"Nah. Cards take care of all that crap." He dealt each of them a card, space-theme face down, and tapped his card on the lower right. The black box materialized a five. "Lower right for wide band, lower left for narrow. My deck, you take disadvantage first. Five credit buyin fine?"
"Yeah, sure." Garrus tapped his card on the lower right - first draw had to be the "wide band," a value from one to eight, as opposed to "narrow band," which was four to seven; he received a seven. Disadvantage meant he had to choose when to stop drawing, or bust, first. He drew a card and tapped it on the lower left; it showed a six. This gave him a thirteen, so he drew another card and again tapped the lower left. A seven this time would mean a twenty, and at worst a draw, but luck was not with him, and he got a five. "I'm done. Think you can beat an eighteen?"
Wrex grunted and drew, picking wide band. It gave him an eight; he flashed a toothy grin, and took another wide band card. This one gave him a six. "Yes. Yes I think I can." Garrus sighed, marked down the loss on a dataslate, and dealt out cards. "Your disadvantage this time."
They played several more hands. Garrus managed to not lose too badly, given that Wrex's non-intuitive drawing style - and the frequency it tended to deliver good scores, indicated that he had a pretty good head for the game. "So where'd you learn to play like that?"
Wrex shrugged. "Playing cards comes with being a merc. I got tired of losing." He smirked. "Didn't get tired of threatening people to shove off when they came around for the debts, but I'd rather give that up than lose."
"Huh. Pride, then."
"Why should I limit myself to just winning fights?"
They continued playing. Occasionally a crew member would pass by, give the pair an odd look; no one stopped to eat at the mess, and Garrus wasn't sure if that because no one needed to, or no one wanted their company. He assumed the former; Shepard had been pretty clear he wanted everyone to get along, but then again, prejudice was hard to let go of. He pointed this out to Wrex; the krogan just shrugged. "Dunno. Not really a meal time for any watch."
He said nothing more; Garrus didn't know if he had no opinion on the spirit of racial unity the commander was trying to promote, or just didn't care to share it. To be honest, other than snide comments and possibly-not-really-hyperbole threats, Wrex didn't talk about himself or his views much. The last forty-five minutes taught Garrus about as much about those as the previous couple of weeks had, and he found himself interested to learn more.
He drew a card, tapped it wide-band, and frowned at the unhelpful result. "Any plans for what you're going to do after we catch Saren?" He wasn't sure if Wrex would answer, but it was worth a shot.
Wrex gave him a brief look, then shrugged. "Back to mercing. Or stick on with Shepard, if that's an option. Working for a Spectre is a pretty good deal, if you don't care too much about the travel time." He glanced at Garrus. "You?"
Garrus hadn't thought about that too much. "Same, I guess. About sticking on with Shepard. I suppose I could go back to C-Sec, but...I'm glad to be out of the place. Too much red tape, not enough getting what needs to be done, done."
Wrex nodded. "Could become a merc. Make your own rules."
Garrus slowly shook his head. "That...just doesn't quite rub me right. No offense."
Wrex shrugged. "None taken. Didn't think you would want to, just throwing it out there." He gave Garrus a look. "You done, or drawing?"
They continued to play, chatting as they did so. Wrex told Garrus a few stories about some of the battles he'd been in, taking obvious pride in his prowess; given the astounding feats he performed in those fights, Garrus wasn't surprised he did. Garrus replied with a few tales of some of his more spectacular busts while with C-Sec, which the krogan seemed to appreciate. Except for the one where he wound up working alongside his father on a case - that seemed to rub Wrex wrong. Maybe another time he'd find out why.
After some time, a voice over the comm system announced they had reached the Horse Head Nebula. "Last hand," Wrex said, "we'll be going topside soon. Shepard was saying something about privateers before we left."
Garrus nodded. "Yeah. See, that's what I mean - with C-Sec, there'd be weeks of paperwork and investigation before we'd get to deal with them. Here...we just go." He paused. "We should do this again sometime."
Wrex looked at him with something like curiousity.
"Cards, I mean. You're right. It was a good way to kill time."
Wrex gave that toothy grin again. "You just want a chance to win back what you owe me."
Garrus chuckled, and they both headed for the elevator to get fetch their gear.