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

[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.

[gunshiptotheface]

Turning his head he raised a brow plate questioningly at her, not sure if she was joking with him. Seriously, they both too the Reapers very seriously, this was certainly not a joking manner.

"No, you destroyed the Reapers, went up in the beam to the crucible. None of us know what happened there, we all thought you were dead when the Normandy crashed."

[earthborn]

"I— We'd just spoken about moving to the Conduit. That was the plan."

She'd heard it from other people. You came back earlier or later. Thane, when he'd been here before, hadn't yet realized his own death. The Reapers hadn't come. It hadn't been amnesia or forgetfullness, had it? It had just been...

...time.

She rounded on Garrus like the closing of the trap, staring at him like she could burn the lie right out of him, just by wanting it enough, "We win. We beat them?"

[gunshiptotheface]

He held up his hands in a motion of surrender, he didn't realize that she didn't know. It was strange, he thought she would've known what happened at the end of the war.

"Yeah we win, you first the crucible and the Reapers just, froze up. It was like a giant EMP. Although, it ended up wiping out the Geth and..." he swallowed, not sure if he wanted to tell her about EDI. That had been especially hard on Joker, "And EDI went down too, it was why we crashed."

[earthborn]

She blinked at him, trying to process that. The Sacrifice of the Legion, the whole fucking battle over Rannoch, rendered moot. And EDI...

...no. No. No, you don't give up, not ever. And machines were not like people— like organic people. If they could be turned off, they could be turned on again. But for almost a full minute, Shepard just looked at him, blinking hard.

"Y'know, if you're trying to raise my morale here, you suck at it," It was a genuinely stupid joke, but it was the only defense she had, even if it came out with an edge of anger, "Shit, Garrus..."

More beer. Lots more.

[gunshiptotheface]

"We managed to get EDI rebooted, somehow, Tali did it with Liara's help but it...it was strange." It was the best he could describe what had happened to her. "It was how we were able to get air born again after the crash, but we won, even if we still don't know the total number of casualties or if the quarians can do anything with the Geth." He sighed knowing that he was being the bearer of bad news.

"They sent us a message that they had found your body, that you were alive. But they wouldn't tell us your condition, we were heading to Earth when I turned up here."