Hello all! Sorry about the delay on this chapter, that was due to a couple different reasons. First off, I'm on spring break and I am the laziest fuck of them all during my breaks, I've literally just played Mass Effect for the last week and a half. Second, I was having issues writing this in a way that didn't make it seem the focal point of the story - I want parallels between Shepard and Garrus, but girls (generally) take much longer to get ready then guys, so I had to tweak Solana's age for my own mad purposes *maniacal laugh*. Anywho, forgive me and enjoy!
Preparation
Jane's omnitool pings a reminder at eleven, not that she needs it. She has been sitting at her desk trying to do homework but mostly just staring at the clock, watching the seconds tick by.
As soon as it goes off, she jumps up and scurries to the bathroom. She closes the door, turns on the fan and cranks the water till it's steaming. By the time she finishes, she is forced to crack the window open.
Wrapping herself in a towel, she sprints to her room and begins scanning her closet. Jeans, t-shirts, a skirt or two…. The search is looking hopeless when she catches sight of a slip of blue. Jane pulls out the offending colour and gives a small gasp. It's much too fancy, but…
She bites her lip as sets it aside as the winner.
Stepping over to her mirror, she lets out a groan of anger to see another two zits blooming across her skin. Sneaking over to her parent's room, she grabs her mother's makeup basket and tiptoes into the bathroom once more, locking the door behind her. Pulling out a tube of concealer, she does what she can before deciding on the rest of her makeup.
She picks up brown eye shadow, planning to go for something simple but, feeling inspired thinking of Garrus' bright tattoos, she sets the small container down. Pawing through the basket, she comes across a set of colours simply labeled "Midnight". Popping it open reveals a dark blue paired with a shimmering black. Jane timidly dips into the colour and paints herself in a bold smokey eye.
Not done yet… She has her hair curler plugged in and now makes delicate ringlets to frame her face. Sneaking back to her own room, she pulls on her clothes, slips into her heels and steps in front of the mirror.
Holy shit….
Garrus reaches the end of the vid and claps his mandibles tight to his face. What have I gotten myself into…? He'd spent the better part of his morning watching old movies concerning the courting of human girls. A bouquet of flowers? Dinner at an expensive restaurant? He shakes his head to clear his thoughts. A shower should help.
Stepping into the large bathroom, he cranks the water all the way to hot and tries to reign in his thoughts. It was just lunch, not a big deal, right?
…Right?
Garrus turns the water off and heads back to his room, deciding on just dressing nicely and hoping the rest plays out. He opens his closet, flicks through for a moment and gives a groan. He leans forward and his head hits the wall with a thunk. It's at that moment when Solana walks in.
"…Garrus?" He gives a grunt, not moving. "What's up with you?" She comes in and makes herself comfortable on his bed. With considerable effort, he pushes off the wall and looks at her.
"I, uh, have a date," he scratches his mandible self-consciously as his older sister squeals.
"Who is she? Where did you meet? Tell me everything. Wait- no, when are you supposed to see her? One? Garrus- oh spirits, it's already quarter past twelve! We have to hurry, you can explain later," she stands up and shoos him away from the closet. She quickly takes a tally on his clothes before shaking her head with a tsk-tsk.
"So like you not to have anything nice. C'mon, we need to borrow stuff from Dad. You're about the same size," she grabs her brother's hand and drags him, protesting, to their parents' room. Digging into the closet, Garrus' older sister lets out a trill of success. She walks over to Garrus, eyes sparkling.
"Sol… No, just-"
Solana smoothes out the fabric and pushes him in front of a mirror.
"Garrus, you look…" He says nothing, just twitches his mandibles.
Jane tiptoes down her stairs, hoping to sneak out before-
"Jane?" Damn.
"Yeah, mom?"
"Where are you going sweetheart?" Shepard's mother walks around the corner and lets out a gasp of surprise.
Jane is wearing a rich blue, strapless dress that ends around her knees. The fabric falls in layers from a jeweled belt that sits above her hips. She has pulled on her brown leather jacket and silver heels. On her neck she wears an ornate necklace her mother had given her.
She opens her mouth to explain, but her mother just walks over and hugs her.
"Oh, my baby! My baby girl is growing up!" She holds her daughter at arm's length. "Honey, you look beautiful. I don't need to know where you're going all dressed up like that, I just know you're going to meet some boy. I want you home by eleven, all right?" Shepard's mom pulls her daughter in for a hug before shooing her out the door with tears in her eyes.
Garrus is almost out the door when his dad spots him. The two don't say anything, just stare at eachother. Garrus twitches his mandible sheepishly.
"So, when do we meet her?" Garrus is thankful for his father breaking the silence.
"I hadn't thought about it much, dad… We just met," his father's browplates raise in surprise.
"First date dressed in a suit? I'm guessing Sol had something to do with this," the accused happens to walk past at that moment.
"Hey, he looks fantastic," she shoots over her shoulder in injured tones. Garrus' father laughs, easing the remaining tension.
"Garrus," his father pauses for a moment, "be home before midnight." Garrus smiles a Turian grin.
"Yeah, dad."
"And be good to her," Garrus flicks his hand noncommittally, the door closing behind him.
Yeah, stuff and stuff. Shep's mom - I think most people can relate to a female relative doing that. Sorry Shep. Also LOOK! I have links so you know what the fuck I'm talking about without me getting into it! Simply replace the "DOT" with a "."Enjoy:
Shep's Dress: www DOT lilyboutique DOT com/wp-content/uploads/wpsc/product_images/41%20(6 4).JPG
Shep's Jacket: www DOT polyvore DOT com/cgi/img-thing?.out=jpg&size=l&tid=67975833
Shep's Eye Makeup: 3 DOT bp DOT blogspot DOT com/-Q8R9doQfCPo/UPMWfsr_SFI/AAAAAAAAA40/EwMDP2xkZ CI/s1600/2 DOT jpg
Shep's Necklace (1,000 points for being awesome if you name where this is from! Without cheating!): fc00 DOT deviantart DOT net/fs71/i/2011/210/6/4/evenstar_necklace_stock_by _ponystock-d421a11 DOT jpg
Garrus' Tux: 24 DOT media DOT tumblr DOT com/b6e836791e032d11151d64cb2590 DELETE THIS a64f/tumblr_mjap3f2oLM1ql2lfco1_r1_500 DOT jpg
Edit: Fuck. They're all broken. Shit bollocks. Well, I'm sorry guys, but it took a long time to even get them like this, and they did work when I tested them before, so obviously Fan Fiction hates me. If you want to tinker around and see if they'll work eventually, be my guest, but I'm giving up on it. Also:
I really don't know what to say. I don't know if I'm going to keep publishing my work on fanfiction. I've noticed a growing trend of horrible flamers, who make direct attacks at authors because they aren't following the guidelines of what stories can and cannot be published. It's absolutely fucking ridiculous. The fact that stories are censored on here for their genre or style is stupid. Flat out fucking stupid. Are they harming anyone? No. Are they less of a story because they're written like a script instead of like a classic novel? No. If your catchphrase is "unleash your imagination", don't put ridiculous restrictions on the authors. Just fucking don't.
So yeah.