#navkayapping

[navkays]

23 for the otp asks? :)

TIS A FUN ONE ALLRIGHT 🤠

23. What is a hobby/habit that one of them is into but the other can't get behind, and vice versa?

i actually don't think they have a lot of hobbies they outright can't stand about each other. there's a great amount of overlap in their interests, and one of my favorite things about them is imagining that they genuinely enjoy listening to the other person ramble, even if they occasionally don't fully understand the subject.

BUT-

Garrus has habit of turning literally everything into an optimization project. and after the war, as they're settling into just a lil' more domestic life (not strictly civilian tho), without giant guns to calibrate between killing things, he just tends to go nuts.

cooking? there's a more efficient workflow.

packing for Tuchanka to visit Wrex? there's a better weight distribution to ensure best velocity and flight dynamics.

movie night? obviously seating arrangement in Anderson's apartment could be improved for optimal viewing angles (tbh it's shit).

Shep swears the man physically cannot leave a system alone if he thinks he can squeeze another 2% efficiency out of it.

most of the time she just lets him do his thing because watching Garrus get irrationally invested in the most mundane tasks is honestly kind of adorable.

every once in a while, though, she'll deliberately do something in the least efficient way imaginable just to watch him visibly fight the urge to say something.

it's his own personal version of psychological warfare.

ALSO he could happily spend hours watching military documentaries or dissecting historical battles for fun, like no but fr, he genuinely enjoys breaking down tactics and logistics to the ground.

ofc Shepard can absolutely appreciate a good strategy discussion, but after another forty minutes she'll just sigh and go smth like 'are we seriously reviewing Shanxi over dinner AGAIN, Big Guy?'

however in retaliation just for shits and giggles she makes him sit through every documentary about dinosaurs she can find (she's defintely more in the turians look like dinos camp, than the insect-like one). Garrus keeps pointing out all the anatomical inaccuracies cause there's almost no similarities and you're being ridiculous (he's just not ready to stop being in denial).

on the other hand, Jane has a tendency to collect the dumbest little souvenirs from missions. not valuable artifacts. not classified intel. just... random bullshit. a weird bottle cap from Omega. a coffee mug with the most stupid logo you can find on the station. more plastic crack like ships models.

while still on Normandy, Garrus genuinely cannot understand why she'd willingly dedicate what little additional space there is to sentimental clutter.

and yet every single one of those little trinkets somehow survives the entire war because Garrus is in the end the one carefully wrapping them up when they're moving.

he'll complain, but he'll still make sure none of them gets broken or lost. 🙂‍↕️

moreover, Shep's also competitive to an honestly unreasonable degree. poker, arcade games, Armax, drinking contests... it doesn't matter. if there's a winner, she wants it to be her. Garrus likes winning too, sure, but Jane will somehow turn the most innocent game thing into the damn olympics.

the only exception sometimes is for Garrus.

she obviously has a soft spot for him, so every once in a while she'll let him have a win - or at least won't go quite as hard on him as she absolutely would trying to obliterate anyone else.

she'll deny it if anyone points it out, tho. vehemently.

[navkays]

Shakarian OTP Questions: 1, 4, 7, 17, 24, 35, 40

wow anon, i see you're absolutely not pulling any punches with the number of questions lmao 😭 tysm tho, i'm gonna try answer them all haha

1. How would a thumb war go?

i do believe in turian thumb superiority above all else, but i also fully believe Jane would 100% play dirty and try to distract Garrus just to make him lose. ]:>

she already let him win the bootle shooting contest - his ego is big enough as it is.

4. What acts do the couple do for the other that they absolutely adore? (ex: A knows B hates peeling oranges so A does it)

Garrus is usually the one who takes care of cleaning and maintaining Jane's armor and weapons. he knows how much Shep constantly has on her plate and how little time she has left to properly deal with that kind of stuff herself, so he just... quietly does it whenever he gets the chance. he always brushes it off with some excuse about how it's actually relaxing for him anyway and it's no big deal because he's already cleaning his own gear.

and honestly, Garrus does seem like he genuinely enjoys the process, but for Jane it's unbelievably endearing that he thinks about her even in something as mundane as weapon maintenance, always making sure everything she takes into the field is in perfect condition and up to the highest safety standards.

once they're in a more committed relationship, Jane starts making an effort to keep Solana and Castis involved and relatively up to date on what's going on with Garrus. she knows that after his mother's death, keeping in touch with his father became even harder than it already was, but she also knows that Garrus doesn't actually want that relationship to disappear completely.

sometimes he just needs a little push. so every now and then Shep is the one who reaches out to Solana first, making it easier for Garrus to join the conversation later. he wasn't exactly thrilled about Jane getting involved at first. he didn't want to drag her into all that family baggage - but in the end her quiet encouragement helps him stay in touch more consistently without feeling like every single call is something he has to force himself into out of guilt.

7. How did they act with one another during the crushing stage?

lots of mutual pining, yearning, and awkwardly fumbling around each other.

personally, i like to think Jane already started catching feelings for Garrus near the end of ME1, but they were so confusing and impossible to define that she had absolutely no idea what to do with them. and Liara was still in the picture at the time.

by ME2, though, once everything started escalating, Jane spent a long time being terrified of risking their friendship by adding romantic feelings into the mix while they were literally heading straight into a suicide mission. that's why she framed the whole 'blowing off steam' thing as something completely casual > just testing the waters.

(we all know how that whole 'no strings attached' turned out tho)

Garrus, meanwhile, spent a long time looking up to Shepard as both his CO and someone he deeply respected. but after she died, there was no way for him to ignore how empty and directionless everything suddenly felt. at some point he had to admit that maybe those feelings, and all that admiration, weren't entirely professional after all.

and then there was the whole she's human aspect. plus, as far as he knew, she'd been involved with Liara before her death. the entire situation was so far outside anything Garrus had ever experienced that he felt completely out of his depth. so once he realized he was developing feelings, it just made him even more nervous.

he couldn't read Jane as he was use to with his own species. he couldn't tell whether her proposition really was just casual sex or whether that was the simplest way she knew how to ask for something more. for a long time he was genuinely scared they'd end up wanting completely different things out of whatever their dynamic was becoming.

17. What do they do that make their partner think, "Damn, that's hot." (Could be an innocent gesture)

for Garrus it's every single perfectly executed headshot Shepard lands.

for Jane it's whenever Garrus starts talking actual science. mathematics. physics. engineering. watching him casually demonstrate just how insanely intelligent he actually is makes her knees weak every single time.

24. Did they have romantic rivals that wanted one (or both) member of the OTP? Who were they?

hmm... yes and no.

my Jane spent the night before Ilos with Liara, but after everything that happened in ME2, they both realized a romantic relationship just wasn't the right direction for them anymore. they're still close friends, there's absolutely no bad blood between them, but once Jane's feelings for Garrus started becoming impossible to ignore, she made sure to establish that boundary very clearly.

personally, i do enjoy a tiny bit of jealousy and possessiveness in relationships (as long as it never crosses into toxic or controlling territory), so Garrus getting just a little jealous over Liara - or even Kaidan (given blatant infatuation) or James, considering what a shameless flirt he can be with femShep - is honestly pretty fun to me.

at the same time, i also think Jane and Garrus feel incredibly secure in their relationship. they trust each other completely, and neither of them seriously doubts the other's loyalty.

that said... Garrus is also painfully aware of just how incredible Shepard is and how much attention she naturally attracts, so every now and then someone being a little too obvious with their flirting definitely gets on his nerves.

Jane, meanwhile, might've had a few mildly possessive moments where Tali was concerned.

now, i really don't like the canon resolution to Garrus and Tali's relationship if Shepard romances someone else. i've always thought it was an incredibly lazy, shallow writing choice, and honestly it reflects pretty poorly on Tali because it makes it feel like she's just using Garrus as a fun experiment or for his body.

like. girl. please. get a fucking grip.

what annoys me even more though, are the little hints and comments Tali makes even when Shepard is with Garrus.

i genuinely love Tali as a character, but i think devs did her dirty with those few dialogue lines that still kind of imply she has lingering feelings for Garrus - and maybe even for Shep, especially in ME3. i much prefer to believe Tali simply isn't that kind of person and wouldn't be a meddling friend.

but unfortunately... dialogue choices were made, and a few of them stray just a little too close to that line for my liking.

35. Is there a travel destination they wish to go to?

this is basically begging for the classic 'somewhere warm and tropical' answer.

but i also really like imagining Garrus taking Shepard to Cipritine once it's finally been restored to something close to its pre-Reaper glory.

a little cliche? absolutely. do i care? not even remotely.

40. What symbols do you associate with your OTP and why?

i don't really have any specific symbols associated with them (beside thinking of Garrus when seeing any electric/cobalt blue thing out there), but like i've mentioned in other posts before, i connect so much music with shakarian, and i have a terrible habit of immediately trying to fish for any hint in every new song with more extensive lyrics i encounter.

one of my main shakarian playlists is public, so here's a shameless little self-promo in case anyone feels like checking it out, hihi:

[navkays]

Ask me about my OTP 2 & 11

toboe, thank you for those ❤️ 2. How do they go about solving arguments and what do they usually argue about?

the way they make up really depends on what they're fighting about. to be fair, there aren't that many serious fights between them in the first place. more often than not, it's just classic old-married-couple bickering without either of them actually trying to pick a fight.

although, they have had some genuinely ugly arguments.

usually over how reckless Jane can be and how often she neglects her own needs and health just to get the job done, constantly downplaying the burnout that inevitably catches up with her. or over the fact that, despite how much he's changed over the years, Garrus still tends to approach some things a little too idealistically, trying to control variables that are ultimately completely outside of his hands.

they both know exactly what kind of trauma the other is carrying, but sometimes one of them gets too stuck inside their own head to really be able to even try seeing things from the other's perspective.

neither Shep nor Garrus has ever been particularly good at talking about their feelings, and even tho they're both trying to work on it, in the 'meantime' whenever things get especially heated, they have this kind of agreement - the moment either of them feels emotions are running too high and start to take over, one of them calls time-out.

they take a break promising to come back to the conversation later that same day, once they've both had a chance to cool off and gain a little perspective. in the meantime, it's a strict no-contact rule. that gives them both enough space to actually think things through instead of reacting on impulse.

it took them a while to settle on that system, but after few arguments that ended with one of them storming off halfway through or pushing the issue so hard that emotions drowned out anything the other person was actually trying to say, they realized this worked best.

at the end of the day, they're both pragmatists, so once they've had a few hours to breathe, they're usually able to sit back down to talk strategy - calmly tell each other what went wrong, and figure out a solution together. teamwork is their thing, after all.

there have also been the occasional heated minor disagreements that ended in equally heated make-up sex.

that said, i'm generally not a fan of using sex as a coping mechanism after serious conflicts, and i don't really see that being how their relationship works. they're both far too mature to treat intimacy as a substitute for actually resolving bigger issues.

now… ending a particularly passionate debate about weapon mods or what calibrations are objectively superior?

that's a completely different story :>>>>>>>

11. What do you love about them?

shit, this is already gonna be a long post (is anybody even reading those??? omg), so i'll try to keep it simple, but shakarian is genuinely my top of the top ship for so many reasons, and i'm probably gonna fail spectacularly at not turning this into a whole-ass essay.

what i love the most about their relationship is, first and foremost, the mutual support and the partnership. they operate in perfect sync, both on the battlefield and in their personal lives. that doesn't mean they always agree on everything, but even when they're on completely opposite sides of an issue, they either agree to disagree or actually try to find some kind of middle ground. they're both incredibly loyal, they respect the fuck of each other, and above all else they're best friends first, and it's The Thing that gives them such a huge advantage when it comes to navigating everything that comes with a romantic relationship (an interspecies one at that)

i also love that neither of them is perfect, and more importantly, they're both painfully aware of each other's flaws. and yet none of that ever gets in the way of loving each other unconditionally. i love that this was never a relationship built on physical attraction, and they make a point of emphasizing that. it was never about looks.

the foundation of what they have is trust, faith in each other, understanding, and just… feeling at home with one another, even if for so long they feared that the other would be better off getting something closer to home. at the end of the day, they finally realize they as close a home to each other as it gets.

the fact that, in a universe this brutal and under circumstances this completely fucked, they somehow found someone who makes them feel safe is everything. someone they can be completely vulnerable with emotionally, mentally, and physically knowing the other person would never use that vulnerability against them… yeah. i eat that shit up every single time.

i also love that because they come from such wildly different backgrounds and perspectives, they're constantly learning from each other. Garrus has Shepard's back without question, but he also never just shuts up because it's easier. if he disagrees with one of her decisions or has doubts about a plan, he'll say so. they challenge each other constantly to be better, do better, see things differently - but never in a way that feels dismissive or belittling. they're always pushing each other up, never putting each other down.

also they're both massive fucking nerds, which is rly important to me in this whole dynamic given what badass of a competent professional either is. i love imagining them spending hours geeking out about random tech bs, military history, or whatever hyperfixation they happen to share whenever they can steal five minutes away from dealing with Saren and then the Collectors and the Reapers. granted, the deeper into the trilogy you get, the less time they realistically have for any of that, which somehow makes those moments even more precious.

and last but absolutely not least, i adore the fact that neither of them has any game at the beginning. they're both so painfully awkward when it comes to flirting, constantly fumbling, saying the dumbest possible thing and yet they're so effortlessly comfortable with each other that somehow even the worst fucking one-liner still somehow leaves them both hot and bothered. Jane may think she has the upper hand when it comes to being suave, but lets be serious. she's an absolute disaster from start to finish. i wouldn't have them any other way. well, maybe with a bit (lot) more of a canon happy ending, but i guess... at least fics help with that.

[navkays]

18 and 38 for the OTP asks please 🙏

love you for picking those, @garfbin, you really made me use all of my brainpower to put it into words, haha

18. Do they have a dirty secret they hide from one another? What is it, and why do they hide it?

for Garrus, it'd be those few seconds during the confrontation with Sidonis. when Shepard tried to stop him from taking revenge and refused to step out of his line of fire, he was so completely blinded by rage that, for a split second, he wanted to pull the trigger no matter what - even if the shot might've hit Jane too.

for those few seconds, the sense of betrayal he felt because of her stance, because despite everything they'd agreed on before, despite how much she knew this meant to him, she still had to have things her way... it made a horrible thought flash through his mind, that maybe it would've been better if Cerberus had never brought her back.

if she hadn't shown up on Omega during the gangs' assault on Archangel's base, at least he would've died alongside his team instead of being left alone with the survivor's guilt. and now, because of her, he wasn't even going to avenge his men the way he'd planned all this time.

Garrus would never tell her any of that, though.

once it was all over and he let Sidonis walk away, he was overwhelmed with shame over those thoughts. he avoided Jane for days afterward, needing time to sort everything out in his head, deal with the embarrassment.

eventually, he realized her actions hadn't been selfish at all, quite the opposite. she knew that if she'd let him go through with it, if she hadn't stopped him from killing Sidonis, he would've never been the same man again even more than losing his team made him. he would've carried that blood on his hands, and those demons, for the rest of his life, and it would break him completely.

but for those few days, he couldn't even look her in the eye without internally cringing at the fact that, for couple of terrible seconds, he had been the one who'd almost betrayed her.

how do you tell your closest friend turned the love of your life that, in a moment of blind anger, you briefly wished she'd never been given a second chance at life?

you don't.

Jane, on the other hand, would never admit that sometimes she deliberately turns the thermostat down in her - later, their - quarters because Garrus instinctively curls up closer to her in his sleep, looking for warmth.

he's not much of a hugger to begin with, especially considering turians aren't exactly the most huggable species. sharp edges, plating. the obvious.

but for Jane, being completely enveloped, sometimes practically crushed, in his arms lets her feel... small. even fragile. and above all, safe.

things she cannot allow herself to be, that she doesn't have privilege to experience in everyday life.

it's quite silly, of course it is, because she knows that he would do that willingly if she told him, but this way it doesn't come as one more thing that she needs to ask for.

38. What is something they admire about the other?

oh goodness, there's a lot.

but I think, above all else, Jane admires Garrus for how resilient he is on so many different levels, especially whenever she's the one starting to crack under the weight of everything the war keeps throwing at them. she's constantly amazed by how he's always willing to carry not only his own trauma and doubts, but hers too, whenever she feels like she doesn't have enough strength left to keep going.

Garrus, on the other hand, admires Shepard's ability to find a way out of even the most hopeless situations.

and her stubbornness.

even if it drives him absolutely insane sometimes.

[navkays]

Shuffle your "On repeat" playlist and post the first 10 songs!

tagged by @milkywayes, thank you ✨💕

1. YONAKA - Stay a little while longer

2. Halestorm - Killing ourselves to live

3. Muse - Unraveling

4. Cat Pierce - You belong to me

5. Mothica - Casualty

6. In this moment - Born in flames

7. Machineheart - Do you love

8. Grace Power - Wild horses

9. Bad omens - What do you want from me

10. Florence + the machine - One of the greats

....... i was staying true to shuffling and not picking the songs on my own, but hell if more than half of this list didn't end up still being mass effect related pieces for me. i'm not even ashamed, i simply live and breathe this game, and i reject the idea of succumbing to being judged by this XD

as always dunno who was already tagged in this, so shooting blind 🌞 pardon me if i repeated anyone: @volchonika @toboe-roll @sailwiththedragonsatdawn @wishfulfish @underforeversgrace

AND WHOEVER WANTS TO PARTICIPATE FEEL TAGGED BY ME, i love peeking into my mutuals music taste

[navkays]

✴️ check out my art tag 👉🏻👈🏻

please do not repost it anywhere without my explicit permission

✴️ other silly things under #shits and giggles (mainly for mass effect fandom) and #navkayapping

✴️ don't be shy to hit me up in asks too!

two ground rules: DNI if you're a minor & fuck gen AI - zero tolerance for it around here

[navkays]

tag game: 10 people you’d like to get to know

tagged by: @mandala--moons & @that-wildwolf - thank you so much, always a pleasure 🩵 (and it's so nice to be included regarding how shitty i feel at consistent participation in ME community🥺)

last song:

latest find and omg been playing it on loop, it's giving Shepard after war trying to recover and find herself in life anew SO MUCH!! - if anyone gonna give it a listen, let me know what you think!

currently watching: second season of the pitt (insert adam's driver *good soup* meme here)

current obsession: i'm heavily locked into hades 2 game the last 5 months (my queer ass' whimpering pathetically after nemesis), and i'm once again obsessed WITH STRAWBERRIES since it's the peak of the season here in poland - eating at least half a kilogram everyday with everything 🍓🍓🍓

and ofc mass effect, but i think at this point it's simply a chunk of my personality, and won't go anywhere, so not sure if should be counted as much as current obsession since it's part of everyday life for last 3 years

currently reading: black holes: the key to understanding the universe - brian cox and jeff forshaw - yeah so i'm on the path of bullying myself into TRYING to understand astrophysics more :))))))))))

currently wearing: my fave dinosaur pjs set

last google search: uhhhh "dbeaver postgresql no active connection".............. work related error message that's been driving me crazy this morning

currently working on: staying alive and not being a dick at smallest inconvenience after an overwhelming week with small to none time for recharge (and also started another shakarian wip, but seeing how last 10 of them didn't get to be finished im not holding high hopes for this one either... HOWEVER-)

favourite flower: lilac!!! best of them all

and hiiii i suck at this kind of stuff, and most of my mutuals and what not already done this thing so im shooting my shot blind - please excuse me if you've already been tagged thank you 🤍🫡 @redwarpaint @mtzstuffs @rogueorc @garfbin @numorena @chaoctopus @dizzy-vakarian @aereona @ju-chaan @iris-valentim

[navkays]

Get to know your mutuals

@staresback tysm for tagging me, yay🫰🏻🥹

What is the origin of your blog name?

Oh, actually Navka is the name of my first custom protagonist in Dragon Age Inquisition. DA has a special place in my heart, since it's the first video game franchise I've played and beaten through and through all by myself. Even if I'm not that big on creating OC's, Navka was probably the first one I really bonded with and after almost 12 years I still think of her often (she's enjoying her retirement with Cullen and couple of mabaris, it's facts guys). The Y and the S on the end are just for funsies tho, I like how it sounds as a whole.

What’s your “I will always order this” food?

Definitely sushi 🤞🏻

What’s your overused emoji?

Damn, there's a couple: ✨🥹🥺🫰🏻😏💀

What’s your current comfort show/movie/book?

Show - Gray's Anatomy, movie Shrek & Interstellar (amazing combo), book... that's a tough one, bc I mostly read fanfics nowadays, but Cosmos by Carl Sagan would be my go to.

Song you’ve had on repeat this week?

Peace & Violence by Faouzia (low-key thinking of Shakarian while listening to it)

What’s the last thing you hyperfixated on?

The Grand Hyperfixation of my twenties (and prolly thirties and forties and so on, as I cannot in good faith see it slowing down anytime soon should I have anything to say in that matter - and I do) is Mass Effect 🩵 🤝🏻 ❤️

And Shakarian more specifically. One evening in September 2023 I've randomly decided to give it a go as Legendary Edition was on sale (mind you, I've only ever heard of it as a more somber keen of DA, since they're both Bioware's) and oh boy, was I fucked nearly immediately. Made it my whole personality and everybody's problem. ✨

What’s an oddly specific thing that brings you joy?

Stealing sips of my best friend's coffee she makes every morning. Having my own doesn't taste the same, even if we take it completely differently. + She lets me, pretending not to see. 😌

And looking at the night sky when planets are clearly visible (like Jupiter rn! At least for central Europe, lol).

Also colorful lights in every shape and form. My home is full of LEDs and other ambient light fixtures - we despise the ceiling light.

What smell instantly makes you happy?

It may sound weird to some, but hear me out as a 90's kid raised in a typical slavic household - this motherfucker:

Everytime I was sick my grandma used to rub it on my back and then tuck me with preheated douvet, so it's smells like warmth and love (still using it whenever I catch a cold). A few whiffs can help me come down from a panic attack.

What’s something you loved as a kid that you secretly love now?

Hmm, sing along to Disney and DreamWorks animated movies BUT with imitating the voices. Not really a secret tho, get to know me a little and it's there out in the open whenever someone even mentions watching Mulan.

What’s your phone wallpaper right now?

This year's N7Day Shep (lockscreen) and Garrus (homescreen) by @milkywayes

Are you a morning person, night owl, or something else entirely?

Totally a night owl.

Lastly, if you work, what is your profession? And do you like it?

I work as a tech support but within the customer service department. I do like it, gives me many opportunities for further development, but I'd like to be finally able to cut off the customer service part of it a bit more. People are exhausting and my face unfortunately has subtitles 💀

I don't know who's already been tagged and whose not so sorry if I duplicate 👉🏻👈🏻 @peachylottie @numorena @lilmissnatcat24 @ju-chaan @strawberrykidneystone @mandala--moons