One bird sitting on a wire [Open]

[gunshiptotheface]

Who: Garrus and open!
What: Being a very sulky turian and drinking.
Where: Tribute tower roof
When: Two weeks after his arena death.
Warnings: Drinking, possible warnings for thoughts on murder/ betrayal.

The wind was welcoming up on the top of the Training center, cool and clean as it whirled around Garrus and off over the city. It felt better than being trapped in the confines of his room, his mind turning over too many things from the past arena to make himself comfortable. Hearing the chatter of other Tributes put him on edge, the words of ‘monster’ and ‘murderer’ coming back to him too sharply. He was military trained, knew what it was to make a hard call and to lose everything, but this was something unreal. Knowing now the horrible call he had made in killing that girl only drove the point home that perhaps he was the monster that people seemed to believe he truly was.

It also made him think about his old team, Sidonis, had he made the right call with that? Had killing Sidonis been the right thing to do for betraying his entire team, leading to all of their deaths and nearly Garrus’ as well? It was too much to think about, especially when his mind brought up the thought of Tali. What would she say to him now knowing what he had done, all to win some stupid arena for the sadistic entertainment of others? The thought had him taking another long drink from the bottle in his hand, finishing it off before he reached into the cooler he had brought with him.

It was easier to attempt to relax with the bottle in his hand, but he knew it would still be a gamble as to if he’d actually find the peace he wanted up on the public rooftop. But for now, he was content to be left to his own thoughts and bottle of beer.

Comments

[youbarium]

A short-haired man in a lab coat interrupted Garrus's thoughts. Under one arm he held a complicated-looking device covered in dials and small, unlit LED lights. In the other hand was a tripod.

"Sorry," he said, upon seeing the -- well, Carlos didn't know the name for what Garrus was, but it definitely wasn't homo sapiens. And the individual was drinking. Alone. That, in Carlos's mind, added up to someone who didn't want company. "I didn't know anyone would be up here. I was going to test this device, but if you, uh, you need to be alone, I can come back later."

[gunshiptotheface]

While Garrus hadn't expected anyone to come up and find him, he didn't mind sharing the space with someone else who obviously was going to use it for something more useful than drinking.

"It's a free roof, go ahead." Garrus said, gesturing to the whole rest of the roof that was unoccupied. "So long as your device isn't going to blow up and kill us both."

[youbarium]

"It shouldn't," Carlos said, setting the machine down and opening up the tripod. "Most of the components are perfectly safe. I wasn't even able to find a real infinity drive for it," he complained, bemoaning the lamentable absence of most higher-end scientific supplies in the Capitol. "But don't worry, I've been building things like this for years. I know what I'm doing. I haven't had a machine melt on me since grad school," declared Carlos proudly, picking up the device in question and fitting it onto the tripod. The wind dramatically whipped his lab coat out behind him.

[gunshiptotheface]

"Can't say I know what an infinity drive is, despite being from space and working on a ship." Garrus commented, now curious about the device in question. It would be a good distraction to hear a little bit of the science behind it, despite not even knowing what the device was. He stood, wandering over but keeping a safe and respectful distance from the object.

"How long have you been out of grad school?" He knew the luck he had and wasn't about to get any closer than necessary before he knew it was built in a solid manner.

[youbarium]

Carlos was already interested in Garrus's story -- he'd just been too polite to ask. When someone was drinking alone, it usually wasn't the time to pry into their life before Panem. Hearing that Garrus was from space only sharpened that curiosity.

But all good things to those who waited, and investigation required a patient disposition. Any scientist could tell you that.

"Oh, six or seven years," he replied. A beat. "That's not an approximation -- I'm actually not sure if it's been six or seven years," Carlos went on, "since I've spent the past twelve months in a place where time passes more slowly than it does in the world outside. Not to mention no real clocks." He said all this casually, as he fiddled with a few of the dials on the device, carefully twisting them into position.

[burnedbrighter]

Azula had come to the rooftop to escape the televisions for a moment. She simply could not force herself to ignore them whenever they were around.

Finding Garrus however was an added bonus.

"Finding your loss difficult to swallow?" She asked sauntering over and studying him carefully. He was important to Shepherd as a member of her crew, and so that meant Azula had been quietly sending him sponsor gifts on the side. An arrangement she was not at all pleased with.

But it was far easier to work with Shepherd then against her.

[gunshiptotheface]

"The loss was the easiest part of it," he replied, not bothering to give her more than a glance before returning to his beer bottle. There was a lot of traffic on this roof, and here he had thought that it would be a good place to clear his head. Once again he was mistaken since it seemed so many other people needed to get away and just breathe for a few minutes away from the chaos of being a celebrity down below.

[burnedbrighter]

"It tends to be like that for some." She acknowledged. She drew as close to the railing as the safety sensors and bars would allow and produced a tin of mints. Taking one she popped it into her mouth and squirreled away the tin without offering one to Garrus.

"Of course Sherlock doesn't make anything easy other then disliking him. He seems to beg that of all he interacts with. Even his so called allies and friend."

She said friend because she was convinced the only person in this world Sherlock trusted completely was John.

[gunshiptotheface]

"He doesn't seem like the kind to go out and make friends with everyone, that's obvious," Garrus agreed, more interested in his beer than in her mints or whatever else she might've been carrying with her.

He didn't really both to give her much of his attention, his mind already drifting back to other thoughts.

[burnedbrighter]

Well she couldn't let his mind wander again while she wanted his attention now could she.

"Tell me Garrus, why do you fight?"

A pause and she added "Obviously other then "To survive" because you were clearly fighting long before you ever came to our world. So what drives you to it and sees you through it?"

[gunshiptotheface]

"That is a complex question." He replied, tapping one of his fingers against the glass bottle idly. Did he have a good solid answer as to why he fought? Maybe part of him was still rebelling against his father, but a larger part of him pointed toward his work on Omega and why he joined Shepard in the first place.

"If I had to sum it up, I fight against all the injustice that I see in this galaxy, but recently, I've had my hands full just trying to keep my Commanding Officer alive."

[burnedbrighter]

Azula nodded looking thoughtful at his answer, she studied him like a fox sizing up a larger predator and considering it's options.

"That's funny, given her past record I never imagined Shepherd required that much protection except perhaps from herself." She smirked "Or was that what you meant?"

[earthborn]

Shepard hated, most of all, waiting. Which was what she said, when she had to do it. She also hated the arena's slog, so, that put a damper on the purity of her vitriol, if not its furor. One has to cling to one's patron diety, after all. There were limits to what even she would do in the name of duty. Not that she'd found them, just yet, but one day she might.

Today, it was time for air. And the relatively unobserved niceties of the rooftop. Garrus was...

Well, it was hard to be unhappy to see him, which was what the guilt in her gut was trying to make her feel. She ignored that niggling sense of moral outrage, as she always had, and shuffled her hand through his cooler for a decent brand before settling in beside him.

Long pull. Bitter. Clear. Easy.

Swallow.

Take another sip.

These wee the heartbeats that breathed between words. It was important to give Garrus space, she knew. But not too much. After a certain point, it became a long enough rope to hang himself on, and he was the type to do it. Just like her, really.

"So. That was bullshit."

[gunshiptotheface]

There were times that he was grateful for Shepard, she understood and stood by him more than anyone else in his life had. But even with this, he was damn sure that even she felt a little horrified of what he had done.

It was an easy silence between them, the cool wind, crisp and bitter drink in his hand only making the scene feel so familiar. How many times had they sat in each other's company, silent but understanding of how much shit they had slogged through and how much more there was to go.

Taking another drink he continued staring out at the city and all of it's lights; he chuckled humourlessly at her words.

"Understatement of the month, Shepard."

[earthborn]

Easy was good. It'd been a long time since she'd had easy. But she'd thought about this, watched the footage, and come to some conclusions. She'd made a lot of hard choices in her lifetime, but the decision to back Garrus, no matter the crime nor horror, wasn't one of them.

Besides. It wasn't as if anyone had really died.

"Think they'll cuff me if I break Holmes' arm?"

It's said idly enough. She'll do it, too, she's not afraid. And what are they going to do, stop her? It'll be quick and painful and she'll apologize profusely and whisper more dire threats in his ear as she helps him to the medical station. They can cure death, don't tell me they can't perform a little bone weave and fix that asshole in an afternoon's time.

[gunshiptotheface]

"They might, if you do it in a public area, otherwise they'd likely just let it slide as more 'drama' for people to watch." It sickened him and tilting his head back he drained the last of his bottle and set it aside.

The entire place sickened him, and the longer he was there the greater his urge was to take down the entire structure of government that was in place here. But even then, part of him just wanted to go home and not have to deal with the mind games any longer.

"Hand me another beer, would you?"

[earthborn]

"Yeah, sure," she bent to fish out another, checked the label to be sure it was dextro-safe, then offered it to him by the neck, rather than throw it, "Hey, I want you to remember, no matter what, I've got your back. And unless you suddenly turned into the kind of guy who'll voluntarily go around randomly killing kids, I don't blame you for shit. This whole thing, everything, is on the Capitol. Not you."

Which was true enough, not that she applied it to herself. Was the Bahak system her fault, or Hackett's? It wasn't the same, really. He'd sent her to do one thing, and another had happened instead. The situation changed. Orders no longer applied and there was no time...

Take a drink, try to forget. No regrets; you learn from the past, and move on, harder, stronger, and smarter.

"No Shepard without Vakarian. Besides, I still gotta get home and kill some Reapers."

[gunshiptotheface]

Taking the beer from her he felt part of himself relax at her words. She had his back and didn't think anything less of him for it. It was a reassurance from a friend, not just his Commander sitting beside him. But it was not something Garrus was ever going to forgive himself for. No, now it was just better to try to forget and move on.

It only took him a moment to twist the cap off of his beer and take another bitter draw.

"Thanks, the day I voluntarily go around murdering children is the day you can send me to stand in front of a firing squad." He replied, taking another drink from the cold bottle in his hand. Was he aiming to get drunk, perhaps, but at this point the entire crew was a group of functioning alcoholics.

"You've already destroyed the reapers Shepard. There's no worry about that."

[earthborn]

"Uh...no I didn't."

She'd opened her mouth to toast him, and promise to be the first in line to take the shot, if only he'd promise the same, as a true friend should— but that brought her up short.

Reapers were no joke, Garrus knew better than to screw with her about this. Didn't he?

"Last time I checked, Harbinger and all his friends were doing their level best to wipe Hammer and Shield off the face of London.

[aintyourdad]

The roof was possibly Joel's favorite place in the Capitol, since he discovered it. Especially at night. He wasn't much of a sleeper, in general -- too many terrible things he'd seen and done, too much nightmare fuel, too many years having to sleep with one eye open, in short little chunks.

So he wandered a lot at night. Not usually far, because Ellie was staying with him most nights and he wanted to be near her in case she woke up and needed something. But once in a while his feet took him to the roof, because it was peaceful. He'd left a note for Ellie in case she worried. He thought he might be here for a while.

He wasn't expecting the figure on the roof - at first the thought it was some kind of statuary, something new to decorate the place, but then it moved, and he startled a little.

He knew enough to know that there were some weird people around here, some people who weren't human. Had met a few, but this one definitely took the cake. Big, scary fucker.

"Normally I'm happy to leave a guy to his beer," Joel started, crossing his arms over his chest, "But I gotta ask - what're you supposed to be?"

[gunshiptotheface]

Of all the things to ask a person, it was always that comment. Garrus was getting tired of being asked what he was, or what he was supposed to be. He was a person, but apparently to most humans if you weren't human or appeared human, then it automatically made you a monster or a demon. Maybe the asari had it right in calling them anthropocentric and ignoring humanities opinions on the galactic governing for so long.

"I'm a turian, an alien, or as most people here refer to me to as, a monster." He turned to face Joel, taking another swig from the bottle in his hand but making no attempt to move from where he was.

[aintyourdad]

Joel wasn't really passing judgment - coming from a pretty mundane world where only humans talked just made non-human people particularly surprising to him. Then again, he didn't believe in demons, either.

"Well, you do look kinda like a man-eating dinosaur, no offense," he pointed out airily. "But I'm not sure how well I'd go down with a beer. I'm no spring chicken."

[gunshiptotheface]

"I've been getting that a lot, but even if I was desperate I couldn't eat a human. You're toxic to me, I'd die in a matter of hours or minutes depending." He reassured, sticking to his beer. He wouldn't even consider eating someone, that was sick and wrong on levels beyond something he was about to consider. "Beer is much safer in my opinion."

[aintyourdad]

Was a non-human eating a human even still cannibalism? Joel didn't seriously entertain the thought, because once you've met people who justify that to themselves, well. It probably wouldn't be a leap.

"Guess that's convenient," he muttered. So maybe not a monster. "Only civilized people drink beer, so you're probably alright."

Trying to joke? Sure, why not.

[gunshiptotheface]

"If I wanted to be really classy I'd break out the wine," he chuckled. The humour was appreciated and he gestured to the cooler he had up there with him.

"If you want a beer there should be some you can drink in there, there's other stuff if you don't want beer, just don't drink anything labelled 'dextro' or it'll be like drinking anti-freeze."