#PRACTICAL SKILLS OVER EVERYTHING I STG

[bandofchimeras]

hey poor kids, unsolicted advice btw: if don't know wtf to do with your life, if you can, go to trade school or technical college. rather than uni. or get an apprenticeship or work in something cool for bit. like a ship. or HVAC. a mechanic shop. you will feel so much better about yourself with a practical skill under your belt, and a career track to make enough money to address your loans. you will also have REAL SKILLS if shit goes down. and more likely access to a union! later, if you wanna go to uni for something more intellectual or specialized, you have a more solid financial foundation, community support, and confidence. universities have incredible opportunities & scholarships but often prey on young undecided teens and/or their parents and willingness to take out gov loans. this ESPECIALLY applies to queer kids & girls - if you think you can't do a trades bc its male dominated, GET SUPPORT & GO FOR IT! you may be being economically stunted by gendered narratives.

[dragonflight203]

Mass Effect 2, Grunt loyalty mission:

-Wrex says Okeer is a hated name. Why? I don’t think the game ever provides the context for that.

-Grunt’s loyalty mission is invaluable for the world building it provides for the krogan.

I don’t have much to say about most of it, but I appreciate how well it fleshes the krogan out as a people.

-Mmm. Wrex is not as all powerful as one might assume. He has to coordinate with the female clan, and within Urdnot itself the Shaman holds a lot of power.

Despite how it may seem on the surface, being a clan leader requires interpersonal skills. You can’t just headbutt everyone into submission.

-I am amused that even krogans have liberals and conservatives, and concern about their culture being lost because of changes.

Sure, everything is contextualized via some form of violence or another, but it’s there.

-I struggle with krogans in ME2. They generally respond better to neutral or renegade dialogue than paragon, but because the paragon/renegade system is ratio based in ME2 I’m reluctant to give up on any paragon points.

-Shaman, about the site of Grunt’s rite of passage: The last surface city to fall in the rebellions.

So, fighting occurred on Tuchanka as well during the Krogan Rebellions. Somehow that never occurred to me. I had assumed all fighting occurred offworld.

It’s still been a millennia or so since then so the krogan should have started rebuilding, but that’s not quite as long since they nuked themselves.

Now I’m curious about how much the krogan had rebuilt between the nukes and the rebellions. Do they ever get tired of having to start from scratch?

-There are Urdnot bodies scattered around the rite of passage area.

This is another reason why the krogan are slowly dying out. They die during the rite of passage, and that’s a tradition they’re apparently not willing to give up.

Did the salarians not consider this when creating the genophage? Did they assume the krogans would adapt by abandoning or modifying the rite?

-Uvenk is quite the politician. Had he been born another species, I expect he’d be quite comfortable on the presidium.

-And we know Wrex is a politician. I suspect one of the reasons he permitted Grunt to perform the rite is he thought it would get rid of Uvenk.

It also ties Shepard even more closely to Clan Urdnot. Besides being Wrex’s friend, Shepard is Grunt’s Battlemaster.

-Ironically, I think this might be one of the most political missions in the game, with only Tali’s loyalty mission coming close.

And most people in Mass Effect would probably insist krogans aren’t capable of politics.

-The Shaman says that rebuilding the world over and over makes krogans stronger.

I still suspect individual krogan grow weary from it.

-When you first tell Wrex you have a krogan crew member, he says you replaced him.

If you kill the thresher maw and speak to Wrex again, he says “Guess that’s what it takes to replace me”.

Grunt is being positioned to be the next leader of Clan Urdnot.

-I had just enough money to buy all the upgrades from Fortack’s store. Whew!

-Hearing the chatter about defeating the thresher maw and the various krogans welcoming Grunt into the clan is nice.

And the Blood Pack recruiter certainly changes his tune.

Normandy

-Chorban emailed Shepard to let them know his findings on the Keepers.

Pretty much everything Shepard discovered in ME1 – they’re bioengineered, made by the same people that made Sovereign, and react to a signal every 50,000 years. How convenient.

Of course, the real point is for Chorban to say that nobody on the Citadel is listening to him.

This is probably too emphasize that the Council is doing nothing, and it’s up to Shepard to save the galaxy.

More practically, I suspect STG is monitoring all of Chorban’s equipment and making copies of everything.

-The dialogue to receive Tali’s loyalty mission is also short, but at least it’s longer than Garrus’ and presents new concepts.

-If you go renegade with Grunt, he assures Shepard he would stab Shepard in the front, not the back. Love it.

-If you go paragon on your last response with him, it ends on a bit of a sour note. Grunt’s here for fighting, so Shepard better be as well.

-More generally, it’s good to see Grunt feeling assured. He’s found his place in the world.

[elysianslove]

tutoring ; haikyuu boys

synopsis; tutoring headcanons 

pairings; kuroo tetsuro x reader, akaashi keiji x reader, oikawa toru x reader

genre; fluff 

warnings; hints at nsfw themes w kuroo, but nothing else

kuroo tetsuro 

okay it’s canon this boy is crazy smart, especially in chemistry, so unless it was any other polar opposite subject, it’d probably be you getting tutored

idk about y’all but i hate chem and physics, and if i had fkn KUROO to tutor me??? i’d fail on purpose

he’d probably be a really good teacher if he wasn’t so damn dorky

like in the middle of tutoring you he’ll go on a full rant about the topic in excruciating scientific detail and you’ll just “um 👁👄👁 wha”

he’s v supportive tho

every time u understand something he like cheers for u

if you’re feeling demotivated he just has a bunch of science puns prepared on his phone’s notes

i see him being a very interactive tutor

so like as he’s going over something he’ll leave blanks for you to fill that he’s already taught you

also he’s 100% confident in ur skills. too confident

like when he sees u get something right or get a really good score he’d just be “idk why u ever doubted yourself” so suave and cool but he has such a proud smile on his face

he also teaches u as if you already know everything. this could be either really motivating bc he’s not looking down on u but it can be a lot and overwhelming sometimes

unwinds after EVERY tutoring session

like

every single one

always brings snacks and stuffs ur face w them as ur writing notes

ice cream parlor visits after !

if this is bf kuroo he’d definitely, absolutely tease u

kiss for everything u get right

tbh if he was only a friend/classmate he’d still say the same shit

mf would be playing strip studying

as he’s testing u, for everything u get right he’ll take a piece of clothing off

so v encouraging

;)

oikawa toru 

i think oikawa’s like really smart, but in v specific subjects. things that require critical thinking or analytical thinking or like presentation and public speaking skills?? he’s an A student 

but memorizing things just . doesn’t work with him

so something like bio? sucks. 

let’s say ur an A student in bio in his class and ur always getting like high marks

so he approaches u after he flunks an exam and is just “how would you like the honor of being my tutor” 

like — bruh i stg ,,,

u kinda just 🧍🏻‍♀️ 

i would honestly love it if toru ends up with someone that can like put him in his place if need iwaizumi

n e ways after he says that ur just like “why would i”

and hes like “why wouldnt you”

it’s frustrating how unbothered he is tbh

when he shows you his exam u actually kinda feel bad plus he said something once about not being able to play volleyball if he fails and yk how much it means to him

so u agree

reluctantly 

u meet him at a cafe and 

it’s surprisingly v fun

he makes u laugh a lot bc he is: an idiot 

ur sessions w him are not v productive ngl but some part of him really wants to please you so he studies well

to win you over and ask you out he knew he had to pass first, and he’s a v determined person, so, obviously, he does

he runs over to you after getting his paper back and just waves it at you with the biggest smile on his face he’s so cute pls

“if i was an enzyme i’d be a dna helicase so i can unzip your genes” 

you wanted to smack him but you had to stop laughing first 

akaashi keiji

i honest to god cannot visualize this man asking for help, so it’ll be the other way around this time

scenario; you have a fat crush on akaashi (realistic, bc who doesn’t) and matchmaker king bokuto tells you to ask him for help on math 

ur not dumb, ur great at math 

but rn ur simping over this pretty boy, and desperate times call for desperate measures 

so u come up to him after being assigned hw and ask him if he could help you out

he’s so sweet and automatically says yeah sure with such a pure and soft smile bc?? ur so pretty and his heart is racing!!

you invite him over, and he agrees to meet you after practice 

y’all are an awkward mess bc; 1. you don’t actually have trouble with the hw and 2. you’re both so oblivious about each other’s obvious crushes 

he’s explaining a question to you but you cannot, for the life of you, pay attention

all you can do is stare at him and the way his lips move and the way his fingers are wrapped around the pen and how he’s very gentle with his explanations and goes slowly through them

being so close to him is like raising your body temperature to an inhuman rate tbh 

your thoughts: impure

he catches on quick though bc akaashi’s pretty and smart

“have you heard anything i said?”

“do you want the truth”

he just . sighs

he kinda looks disappointed ngl

so you stumble over your words in an apology, “i’m so sorry it’s just - you’re just really pretty.”

cue pause

akaashikeiji.exe has stopped working lmfao

“oh” 

like mf??? oh???

“you’re pretty too”

your heart stops, but he doesn’t let it linger for too long 

“if we finish this hw quick then maybe we can spare some time for a small talk?”

speed solving hvsgsjhs

anyways this one is way longer im sorry 

i don’t think he kisses u on ur lips but as he’s leaving he presses a gentle kiss on ur cheek and says, “see you tomorrow.”

and leaves

with your heart in his hands

just like that 

end note; i had a lot of fun with these haha! i adore writing headcanons but my brain is always fried bc of uni, so if you guys have any requests i’d love to write them for you!! i feel a lot freer on this site, so i am comfortable writing nsfw as well hehe. 

[vivithefolle]

You're so right I stg, I thought about writing Harry in hogwarts where he was forced to defend himself, but all that came was just a blank. Harry's equipped with the most heaviest, ridiculous plot armour. He had no backup, no plan, just throwing myself at Voldie and hoping for the best, but wait! The power of love ended the war, and with his infitesmal knowledge of magic, he decides to throw the same disarming spell at the Dark lord! 1/2

Like, I get as a child you can get starstruck by how cool Harry is and saddened by his upbringing, I mean there's a reason why it's called a children's book, but this is getting ridiculous! I mean, I can't even count how many times Harry threw himself at the death's door (with his martyr complex and all) saved by plot armour. It's just the same schtick through the series, some kind of mystery's going on, Harry's in danger, and there he is, saved by plot armour. Again! (2/2) 

Harry practically just... gets things given to him, falling into his lap. As if he wasn’t special enough as the Boy-Who-Lived already, then he’s the Youngest Seeker In A Century and allowed to do shit because he... broke the rules, but it’s okay because he’s just so special like that.

Like even the Triwizard Tournament for god’s sake. Crouch Jr has to give him the answers, with assorted side characters coming to save Harry’s ass - Cedric explains the egg clue to him, Dobby brings the effing Gillyweed, like, Harry doesn’t get anything done himself. He NEVER gets things done by himself. It’s good in a way because it shows that he NEEDS people, it’s realistic, but he’s just so consistently passive and inactive, it also makes you realize that he’s... never gonna do a damn thing. He doesn’t accomplish shit. He just drifts from plot point to plot point, carried around by his friends who pratically do everything (see Philosopher’s Stone, see Chamber of Secrets, see Prisoner of Azkaban, see Deathly Hallows) before he fails to save the day and only escapes thanks to the Plot inventing yet another way for him to escape.

First it was the fact that he could burn Quirrel with love apparently, then it’s Godric Gryffindor saying “scabbards are lame, I’ll take my sword outta my hat instead so that one kid 1000 later who needs it to kill a Basilisk will be able to do it”, then it’s “oh Hermione here, take the power of FUCKING TIME TRAVEL so you can lend it to Harry in his time of need k bye”, then “hey remember when Ollivander mentioned something about Harry and Voldemort’s wands being twins? Well uh turns out that uh twins wands can do uuuh an event horizon if used against each other yeah. why did Ollivander doesn’t just tell Harry this instead of issuing a cryptic warning is anyone’s guess lol”. Later on it’s “WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING YOU MOTHERFUCKERS” Dumbledore who plain saves Harry’s ass in the nick of time while he was busy being useless, then it’s Dumbledore again doing everything and bypassing every obstacle while Harry is just like “duuuh”, and in Deathly Hallows everyone, from Hermione to Ron to Dobby to yeah basically everyone that isn’t a Death Eater saves Harry from straining his brain cells too hard, and in the end it’s not even Harry’s skill that saves him, it’s... the fact that the Elder Wand isn’t ok with killing for bullshit plot reasons. How grand. How inspiring.

Even the “abuse” Harry suffers from the Dursleys is... they just read like Roald Dahl characters, Saturday morning cartoon villains, so over-the-top and ridiculous I can’t take them seriously for a second. I wrote a whole Quora answer about it.

[cl-01-kestis]

Violence - Inquisitor!Cal Kestis x Inquisitor!Reader

Summary: You and Cal have been enemies for a while whilst training in the Fortress Inquisitorius, but aggression runs higher than it ever has been after you two get in a fight and it gets tremendously out of hand.

Warnings: Descriptions of injuries, Fighting, Darth Vader is a huge father figure, these kids I stg

The tension tonight in the Fortress Inquisitorius was high, you could practically cut through it with your lightsaber it was that evident. You tried getting rid of the itch, the itch to strangle the living daylights out of your fellow Inquisitor, Cal Kestis. If it weren’t for him, you wouldn’t have fucked up your training so bad in front of Lord Vader. Tonight was supposed to be the night that Vader came over to do his monthly check on your training and because of Cal you failed it. Because of that smirking, irritating, troublesome son of a bitch, Vader has doubts about you now. Which only means your life could be at risk.

It started when you and Cal were bouncing off each other, impressing Vader with your fighting skills, until it came to the point when you two were really fighting each other. Properly ripping lumps out one another. By the time it was finished - which was initiated by Lord Vader himself as he pulled you two apart by the scruffs of your necks - you were covered in laser burn marks, bruises, bite marks and scratch marks, but so was Cal. If anything he was worse.

You were both bleeding from the nose, eyes bloodshot and at least one of them bruised. Your lip was burst, Cal’s nose was broken, you had a new scar on your temple from Cal’s lightsaber whereas he had a nasty one on the side of his torso. Your teeth marks showed on his arms, his showed on your shoulder and wrist to try and disarm you. You were both exhausted by the time you were pulled away, but by god you had a feeling you’d kill one another if Lord Vader hadn’t intervened.

To say the least, the rest of the Inquisitors were mortified by your performance. You never heard the end of it from Trilla who’s face was red raw with embarrassment and humiliation. She slapped you right across the face after you tried to reason with her but she wasn’t having it. The Sixth brother took care of Cal, that was the last time you saw him and now you were recovering, sore and bloody, in your chamber trying to bandage yourself up. Some of the wounds you didn’t even bother with, you swore you’d felt worse but for some reason you couldn’t recall another incident where you received wounds worse than these. Cal scarred you in multiple places, his lightsaber caught your legs many times and burn marks scattered your body. The sorest wounds to take care of were the scratches and bite marks, simply because they were the only wounds that were bleeding and took much more cleaning and bandaging up, thus alarming the wounds even further and causing more damage.

You didn’t come out your room for over a day, letting the bruises and bite marks finally settle in, each and every one of your wounds was as dark as it could get when you next stepped out of your chambers. You were wearing a black vest and leggings, accompanied by black socks. Your wounds were on full show, your neck had bruises shaped like fingertips from when Cal tried strangling you to get you off him. You had more bruises shaped like that on your arms. The burn on the side of your temple was bandaged up, covering your left eye whereas your bruised eye was left on show. You looked an absolute mess, your wrist where Cal’s teeth pierced into wasn’t bandaged up, you didn’t care who saw it and you were fed up of caring so much about how bad you looked.

You walked around the Fortress Inquisitorius for a while by yourself, walking past the occasional squadron of stormtroopers who felt mortified towards how you looked. You even had a General ask if you were alright.

Trilla bumped into you and didn’t say a word to you, instead shoving past you and walking wherever she had to go. Of course, the dreaded meeting with Lord Vader came up and you attended as you were, simply because you had no energy left to go back and change into something more sensible. Lord Vader didn’t seem to mind but he gave you his every thought on the situation. He called you a disgrace a few times, but luckily never hurt you or gave you a form of punishment. He said that you and Cal’s violence strengthened you and he wanted to watch you two fight more; just with less biting, scratching and strangling.

You couldn’t believe Lord Vader for a while, you knew him for longer than most of the Inquisitors so you weren’t afraid to ask him why he wasn’t angry with you or Cal. He was, but he was more impressed with your hatred towards one another, telling you it was beneficial towards your training. But then you had to ask, what if one of you ended up killing the other? Vader insisted that wouldn’t happen, but there was a lingering thought in the back of your mind of Cal’s psychotic expression looking down at you as he stabbed you with his lightsaber. You left the meeting feeling conflicted, your thoughts on the situation were clouded and you had to go and clear your mind for a while in the meditation room.

As you entered, you froze once your eyes landed on a familiar auburn haired Inquisitor, only then did you realise that things were about to get interesting. Cal was deep in meditation, his left eye was bruised badly and you could see bruises on his neck and underneath his long sleeved shirt. He wore joggers, covering every inch of skin below his collarbones. You could see that he was wrapped in bandages around his torso from the blow you gave with your lightsaber.

There was no way he would hear you as you sat across from him as far away as possible, your limbs growing weak as you sat down cross legged on the black meditation mats and closed your eyes, inhaling softly and feeling a bit of strength come to you as you meditated in the basking silence.

Your presence seemed to alert Cal from his meditation, dragging him from his trance and opening his gold glistening eyes to see you meditating across from him with a clam expression on your face.

Cal’s heart sunk when he saw you. Of course he had never seen so much of your skin before, it was a strange experience for him to see you out of your Inquisitors uniform. It was even more strange considering you were made an Inquisitor years before he was, and after spending a couple of years knowing you. He looked at your bandaged eye, the other one was badly bruised and your arms, shoulders, and chest revealed, showing every bit of damage he inflicted on you. That was his doing, and Maker it stung for him to know that. His eyes scanned over to your wrist, eyes widening slightly when he realised just how hard he bit you. His teeth punctured a few layers of your skin, small slits shaped into a semi circle were placed on the outer side of your wrist. It looked horrible - he did that.

Cal didn’t want to disturb you in your meditation, but he had a sudden urge to apologise to you and just hold you for a while to try and ease the pain. Cal ended up spending more time inspecting you from a distance than meditating. You were lost in meditation for about an hour until your eyes opened and you were met face to face with Cal, his head tilted to the side as his elbow rested on his raised knee. You didn’t say anything to one another, you simply stated at one another sadly and occasionally looked at each other’s wounds.

“I’m sorry for everything” Your voice sliced through the silence like a blade, the sudden quietness replaced with your soft yet unsure voice. Cal looked up from the wound on your wrist to your eye, trying to ignore the guilt in his stomach as he looked at the other one which was hidden underneath bandages.

“We both fucked up, we need to stop disliking one another” Cal replied sadly, shifting his position so his knees were against his chest.

“I’ll be honest, I’ve never really disliked you, Cal” You said suddenly, startling his thoughts and freezing him in his spot as he stared at you with wide sparkling eyes.

“You don’t mean that” He tried brushing it off, a small blush forming on his face as he awkwardly cleared his throat and looked away from you.

“I’m not lying, it’s no use, you can see right through me” You said, urging out a genuine smile which seemed to make Cal visibly blush and look away. Of course you meant it - he thought to himself, mentally rolling his eyes as he sighed and looked back at you with unsure eyes.

“I guess I’ve never really disliked you either” He spoke, his voice coming out as quietly and as softly as it could possibly get as he shuffled a tiny bit closer to you even though you were still a few meters apart.

You grinned, looking over to the windows in the meditation room and seeing the outside of the underwater world on full display. Cal joined you in watching some sea creatures swim past, not even noticing you two as you both shuffled in front of the large glass window. You and Cal’s knees touched once you were close enough, your eyes both shot up and connected to one another immediately, both of your faces flushed with red and you looked away from one another almost instantly.

You both sat like that for Maker knows how long, both comfortable and not a single bit of awkwardness in the air as you two sat in silence and basked in one another’s presence. After a while, your eyes grew tired and you found yourself yawning. As time went on, Cal got tired as well but he wasn’t yawning and stretching his arms out like you were. In fact, you got so tired you ended up falling asleep on Cal’s shoulder. He looked down at you and something inside him stirred, his heartbeat sped up and he felt like he might stop breathing if he’s in this position for any longer. He wasn’t used to displays of intamacy like this, he was raised touch deprived and had no sense of what a family or friend was. Even a lover. So having you sleeping on his shoulder made him nervous, almost terrified.

Little did you know, deep down you were Cal’s one and only weakness. Ever since he first stepped into the Fortress Inquisitorius, you were the first person he saw and he didn’t realise it until now, but he fell in love with you since the very start. You didn’t get off on a good start, and after all these years, you two had finally made up. But even though you treated him like you were better than him, he knew you didn’t mean it and you were just doing what you felt would look impressive. Inquisitors aren’t known to get along, so it’s surprising you two are even in a position such as this.

Cal was walking back from the Meditation room with you in his arms, sleeping soundly as he approached your chambers and opened up the door with the top of his slipper, carefully kicking the button and opening your chamber up so he could enter it and put you to bed. He could sense how tired you were from the fight; the guilt still stuck to him and he couldn’t shake it off. Cal delicately placed you in bed, lying you down and placing the bed covers over your body as you snored softly.

Cal sat down on the side of your bed, lacing his hand with yours and bringing it up to his mouth, pressing a soft, sweet kiss on the back of it before leaning forward and pressing a ghost of a kiss to your lips, Cal’s stomach was doing flips as you smiled against his lips and your eyes fluttered open.

“Well well, this has gotten interesting” Your voice was tired, weak, Cal knew you needed rest so he pressed a finger against your lips but chuckled when you grinned widely and giggled like a child.

Can stood up to leave, but stopped when your hand wrapped around his wrist and tugged on it softly, a pout on your face as you looked up at Cal from your bed and spoke.

“Can I have another kiss?”

[border-spam]

Everything I finish I hate and think is shit 🤡 , but when I went to tweet this yesterday my pinned tweet with lines that took WAY LONGER and I was SO HAPPY WITH slapped me in the face so hard I shid and cried. And cringed. And unpinned.

2 months between em, bless u life drawing practice bless u sir bless 🙏 Servin my ass every day and I didn't even noticing what it was teaching me.

Seriously If you can't draw and are fool idiot just like me, life drawing. Over and over till you see butts in your dreams, and that shit will genuinely kick you up the hoop when you start comparing back to earlier work. It's the magic button of skill development I stg. Keep focusing on things you're afraid to and don't shy from em, critique is good, even if it makes you sad. I'm sure in two months I'll look back at THIS and cringe again. Kinda looking forward to it tbh.

[incorrectly-quoted-queers]

Drunk Punch Love: INTERMISSION ARCHANGEL

Pairing: FemShep and Garrus Vakarian (Shakarian)

Rating: PG-13 (with some tossed F-bombs)

Summary: Their awkward, badass journey through saving the galaxy and accidentally falling in love

INTERMISSION ARCHANGEL: 100 Days

Their team was growing faster than Garrus or Sidonis could keep up. Their first base was Garrus' shitty apartment in Zakera Wards, where he and Sidonis stayed. It only took a free drink for Garrus to get Lantar's story. Sidonis wanted to bite back because the Blue Suns used to use Ward kids to run errands, get info, sneak in where they couldn't. Like Citadel Rats, but much more dangerous. He was a homeless kid and they gave him persk and safehouses; he grew up in their systems and never questioned it. That is, until they upgraded Sidonis to be a handler and then willingly sent all of his kids at a target to get killed. "Had to test their guns", they said. Most of his life, Sidonis just thought the danger was normal, that none of it was a big deal. But after none of his kids came back, he realized he was just one of the lucky ones.

He wanted to help make more lucky ones.

Worked for Garrus, and having a remorseful ex-informant gave them a lot more options on Omega. Garrus' name caught a little too much attention from the mercs who'd run into him and Shepard before, so they leaned on Sidonis' contacts to build up a team and get leads. And after a few duo missions to get the point across that they were serious, the locals started calling Garrus "Archangel".

It was a good enough code name.

In only a few months, they picked up infamy and six other guys. Apparently, word of trying to strike back against the mercs travelled fast.

The first to join up were locals, like Ryel Eros, Jawth, and Nikolai Butler. Ryel used to work for Aria as a guard, but went underground when he found some of her practices unsavory. Jawth used to help the rich stay safe on Omega, but he got sick of how many cameras refused to look out. Reminded him a little too much of his fracture homeworld. And Nikolai spent all his life on Omega, even was a member of Eclipse for a long time. But then he fell in love with his wife, Nalah, and he couldn't make excuses for himself anymore. Especially not when Eclipse sacrificed her merc sister, Ezzi, in favor of some payday.

Oddball outcasts like Gibbon Allus, Ro'Wytte Vas Omega, and Danit Zol followed. Without their own homes anymore, they wanted to do some good in one of the worst places in the galaxy. Garrus could hardly say no to a Salarian explosives expert, a Quarian trap technician, or a Batarian tech genius. Especially since he was pretty sure Gibbon had been in the STG at one point and the guy applied to the team by blowing up a whole lading dock.

Everything they did started small; protecting a few local businesses, stealing some drop offs to get in the gangs' way. They called themselves a merc group, but their money didn't come from people paying them for protection. That would make what they were doing pointless, a new band of thugs taking over. No, they stole from those drop offs and worked with that.

Back in the day, Shepard called that "Robin Hood style", when they took from bad guys. He finally bothered to look up the Earth story. He kinda liked the idea of it. It was just his style, too; breaking the rules to do the right thing.

Over time, Ryel and Sidonis' old connections started to net them serious jobs, and get them serious infamy along with it.

By the time they succeeded in their first big operation, breaking a nearby blackmailed mining colony out of the Blood Pack's grips, Garrus couldn't even take his guys out for drinks anymore. His gear was too recognizable. Instead, Butler's wife picked up the booze and they celebrated back in the dingy apartment.

It wasn't much space, but it was enough to fit eight guys and all their gear, so for one night it would do. And Garrus was finally feeling like a real person again, like the things he did mattered, so he was more than happy to drown himself in that, no matter how crowded it was.

Maybe he wouldn't have to drown himself if he still didn't think of Shepard each time Nikolai ordered vodka.

Even when things were going good, though, it was hard not to think about her sometimes. She would've loved this. At first she'd just find it hilariously absurd, this sheer variety of misfits banding together to try to fight merc presence on Omega of all places. But then Shepard would've admired it. Hell, she would've put everything she had into it. Maybe that's why he found himself so dedicated to pulling these guys together.

Yeah, he couldn't think about that too long or he'd be lost in a glass of ryncol again. And he avoided doing that nowadays.

Garrus just tried to enjoy what he had at the moment. Some good fighters, a good team, and they were doing some damn good.

And thank fucking spirits, they never asked him to make speeches.

Butler did like to get real talkative when he started drinking, though. Between his name and attitude, he was like the bizarre love child of Joker and Shepard, something both of them would find disgusting. Garrus had to admit, it made him like the guy more.

Standing on the damned table, Butler said, "To the asshole turian that brought us all together. I'd let you snipe me anyday, Garrus."

"Sounds like a pick-up line, but I'll take it."

Butler wasn't done. "I shot my first guy when he was trying to mug my friend, and Eclipse took me in. I thought they were saving me. But this? This is what's saving me."

Garrus wasn't sure what Nalah put in their drinks, but soon all of them were getting nostalgic. Across the room, Danit was fiddling with this handheld puzzle he always had with him. He didn't look up, but he added his own comments. "People don't expect Batarians to be much more than gun-toting mercs. I like proving them wrong, in every category."

Ro'Wytte started chuckling. "Hell, I enjoy being a good guy Quarian rebel. The Flotilla doesn't get to tell me how to make the galaxy a better place."

"I feel that way about STG."

Jawth chuckled from across the room. "It's the only reason why I like you, Salarian."

The constant troublemaker, Ryel, was the one sitting in the corner with his arms crossed. "Yeah, we all know each other's reasons for being here real well. Comes up in a cramped apartment. But what about you, Garrus? You've been pretty tight lipped about what got you here."

Moments like these cut a little too close to the woman he was failing to run from. Luckily, Alliance military wasn't too keen on sharing Shepard's team dossiers and Sidonis was the only one with an obsession for battle vids. As far as they knew, he was just a skilled turian sniper who wanted to bite back.

Before he could open his mouth, though, Sidonis started talking. "Garrus has the best story, guys, he-"

Garrus cut the well-meaning loud-mouth off. "I'm no one. Just an ex-C-sec who got tired of the red tape. After the Battle of the Citadel, I... lost myself. Ended up here. Couldn't help but try to do some good."

Everyone else wasn't really paying attention or didn't really care that much, but Ryel smirked at him like he knew a secret. "Okay, Vakarian, keep your secrets."

Growing uncomfortable with the spotlight, Garrus was about ready to spin some bullshit about his childhood or a lost girlfriend. But Gibbon and Danit bored easily, so the second conversation lulled, they lured most everyone into some sort of card game. Only three people weren't playing: Butler ditched to go home to his wife, and he and Sidonis stuck to the sidelines. He could already feel the questions burning in Lantar's mouth before he said anything.

It only took all of thirty seconds for Sidonis to ask, "Why are you keeping your past a secret from them?"

"They don't need to know."

"I dunno, if I knew my squad leader helped take down a rogue Spectre I'd find that pretty inspiring."

He was trying not to get annoyed, he really was, but Sidonis just didn't get it. Everything about that time in his life was choked out by Shepard. He could share stories, ideas with them. But having them know he was close buddies with the now dead Savior of the Citadel? He didn't want to go down that road with all their questions. His heart used to hemorrhage so much blood he could feel it every second of every day. Now, it just got weak sometimes. Garrus couldn't go back just because his team got curious.

Them falling in love with his "old hero days" with her would not help.

And he didn't want his team talking about her the way the vids did; it would be fucking unbearable.

Garrus just tried to keep his answer simple, though. "I don't want to make what we're doing about who I was then."

"Oh, I get it. You want them to see you as their leader, not Commander Shepard's lackey?"

The question was so self-centered, it stunned him. But did he really want to keep this line of conversation going, the kind that tiptoed around the awful truths of Anya Shepard and her long-gone ballet shoes? Yeah, thinking about that much longer felt much fucking worse than Sidonis not understanding him. With a wave, Garrus said, "Sure. That."

"Okay, so not that." Sidonis leaned against the wall next to him and said, "You know, you're not going to be able to keep it from them forever."

"Says who?"

"You really like leaning into this whole mysterious, masked vigilante thing, huh?" Sidonis laughed at him, but the more Garrus glared at him, he only seemed to find it funnier. "You're a regular turian Batman, scowl and all."

"Who the hell is Batman?"

Even though his mood was pretty soured, Sidonis had this nostalgic grin on his face that was kinda infectious. If Garrus wasn't so annoyed, he wouldn't hate it. "When I was a kid, one of the other Omega Rats had these old Earth comic books. They were filled with superheroes and we idolized them. One was a cranky guy named Batman, who was just a normal human, but with lots of tech, training, and dark hero-type convictions. You kinda remind me of him."

Garrus just stared at the guy, because everything that came out of his mouth sounded crazy. But he also didn't want to admit it sounded like some of the crazy human stories Shep used to share with him. He'd bought a couple James Bond vids on impulse, down at the shops. He didn't want to tell Sidnois that. Instead, he focused on the absurd hero part. "Why would anyone take a guy named Batman seriously."

"Coming from a guy code-named Archangel." Garrus growled, but Sidonis just kept on smirking. "You can glare and growl all you want, but you're a hero, backstory or not. Get used to the fact these guys just want to know you because they believe in you." Then, he bumped shoulders with him and added, "But if you want to remain a man of mystery, I got your back."

This time, Garrus stayed quiet, no growling or glaring. Because he didn't want to remember the same words coming out of his mouth only a few months ago, and where that got him. Or the woman he said them to.

Across the room, Danit and Ro started to argue about who was cheating, because of course one of them couldn't just lose. It was starting some chaos, and Sidonis went over to break it up. However dumb it was, it was nice to be apart of something again; something that brought good, weird people together.

He hated to admit how much it reminded him of the Normandy.

Looking at his guys, maybe where he ended up after Shepard wasn't so bad, after all. If it didn't take losing her to get here, he didn't want to change anything, honestly.

But losing her was still going to be the hardest part of all this, no matter what.

The best he could do was enjoy what he had left. Walking over to the table, he asked, "Deal me in?"

Jawth tossed a hand of cards to him, ready to go. "Never thought you'd ask. We need another guy with the proper quads in on this."

No one took that very well, but Garrus was happy to play the game to the sweet sound of their bickering. He was really starting to love hearing it.

/

I like Garrus' team more than I probably should, and it definitely made me a little over-indulgent and distracted while writing it.

BUT I did name some of these characters after my friends so I'm a little biased.

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