When Ava got to her new home on Pallaven she had learned enough Pallevini to tell her parents she wanted to change her name for her new life. She was given a Turian baby name book (all the names that previous family members from the Optirian clan had) and chose Aquila it describes the positive attributes of wilderness and courage, it was her great great grandmothers name on her Pari's side....although she chose it because it sounded pretty.
So the newly named Aquila started looking around her new home. It was pretty big and she would get her own room not to far away from her parents. She looked at herself in a mirror her plates were a dark grey, her eyes were green and gold, and the skin under the plates were a lighter grey. She thought she looked pretty.
After a few hours of looking around a knock came at the front door. Aquila, who was in the living room, hid behind a wall that gave her a view of the door when her Pari opened it. On the other side was two adults, a young boy and a baby...Turians Aquila did not know.
The Tarin holding the baby was a soft grey color with blue eyes, the older Torin was pure white with green eyes, the baby was the same color as the one holding it but with green eyes and the young Torin was a silvery color more white than grey and no colony markings yet... just like her he wouldn't get them until just before he went to bootcamp at 15...he had white-ish colored eyes.
After a few minutes her Pari let the new people come in. "Aquila why don't you come say hello?" Her Mari asked kindly.
Aquila slowly made her way into the room and stood next to her Mari clutching her leg. "Hello."
"Hi. My name is Garrus...yours is Aquila right?" Aquila nodded. "That is my baby sister Solana. She is only 3 years old. I am 6, how old are you?"
"Five." Aquila responded. Technically she was 25 at least that was how old she would've been if her birth sleeve hadn't been killed. She was on ice for around 20 years before Aulvus and Avidia adopted her....so she was still 5 mentally.
"Only a year younger than me! Nice!" Garrus was smiling widely he finally had someone close to his age...sure it was a girl but that was easy to overlook.
After a few hours the Vakarian family left to go home.
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A few years passed Aquila was 10 Garrus was 11 and Solana was 8.
Aquila and Garrus grew to be close friends and he even knew about her being born human.
"What did you look like?" Garrus asked curiously.
"I had red hair (or fringe), my eyes were green...like your Pari....my skin was so pale but I had freckles-"
"What are freckles?"
"Freckles are dots that randomly appear everywhere on human skin. I had alot on my face and shoulders....most people didn't have that."
"Continue please."
"So I had freckles....I was shorter. I was very skinny because I didn't have food to eat. I died....or at least my body did...being resleeved to tell people what happened then going on ice then being resleeved again so I could tell people about me....then being put on ice again...then being resleeved into this body....each experience was strange."
There was silence.
"Ok my turn. Why do you look so silvery and why are your eyes white?"
"I have a rare condition called Velut luna. Basically my skin resembles Menae or Nanus in color from what we can see here on the ground. Because of this my eyes reflect the color of the faceplates in front of them....I believe humans call it Albinism....or something similar. So when I get my colony markings my eyes should change to the color of the markings."
"What color are you going to do?"
"Green or Blue."
Back to where we are currently.
Garrus and Aquila were sparring in a clearing not too far from the Vakarian home when they heard shouting...both ran to the sound only to find Solana trapped on a ledge above a huge body of water with sheer cliffsides. Garrus made his way down to his sister but he couldn't bring her up as her leg was either broken or sprained and it was easier getting down and harder going up on ones own. So Aquila yelled down, "I am going to go get help."
But they were a few good hours away from Cipretine and Mr and Mrs Vakarian weren't home at the moment. So Aquila ran as fast as she could to the closest place she could to get help.
It took 10 hours before help arrived. Garrus had used his body to block the sun from his sister which made his silvery plates turn darker a gunmetal grey but still had the silvery sheen to it.
Aquila, because of her 10 hours in the sun running around, had also gotten darker. Her plates turned obsidian colored and her skin turned the color her plates used to be.
Solana was in the hospital for 3 days getting rehydrated and a cast then was told to stay off her leg for a few months. Luckily the air sacs in the bone had not broken so she was safe from asphyxiation.
Garrus had burns on his skin and plates that he was treated for but he would never get back the silvery-white skin he had before. His eyes were now gunmetal grey matching his carapace. "Look at it this way Aquila, I know what color I am going to pick for my markings now. Blue, I'll look like my Mari."
Aquila didn't recieve as bad burns but like Garrus her coloring would remain darker and her eyes looked more Gold than green.
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Aquila was 14 Garrus was 15 and Solana was 12. Garrus would be going to bootcamp a few days after getting his colony markings. His marking shape was one that all Citizens from Cipritine got but the color was always up to the recipiant. Aquila could see his eyes change the instant the color set. She couldn't help but notice Garrus looked handsome.
Garrus vidcalled every chance he could get, telling Aquila everything she would experience when she went to Bootcamp. He talked about the things he liked learning and the things he didn't really like learning. He was a whiz with tech but he was also good at combat (especially his sniper) so he was given training to be an Infiltraitor. Tech and Combat. They spent that afternoon wondering what Aquila's specialty would be. Because of Stack technology humans with biotics couldn't have a stack....as the Dark Energy would fry the stack everytime biotics were used. So Aquila was pretty sure she wasn't Biotic at least her Turian sleeve wasn't her Human one could've been but it was killed before she could test it. That left; Soldier, Infiltraitor and Engineer. So either all combat, all tech or both.
Another time Garrus talked about certain teachers and other students. He would talk about Torins who either annoyed him or he respected. And the Tarins he would talk about their fringe and waist which would irritate Aquila some but not alot. She was his best friend he could tell her everything.
By the time her 15th birthday rolled around (they made her birthday the day she was adopted by her parents) she figured she knew what to expect. She got her colony markings they were the same style as Garrus but she chose Gold as her color it made the green in her eyes pop and it was very noticeable on her black carapace.
When Aquila went to Bootcamp Garrus was there to greet her, he almost didn't recognize her with the gold facepaint as they hadn't vidcalled since before her marking. The shock and surprise in his subvocals was enough to make Aquila laugh.
"You'd think you have never seen me before in your life." Aquila said teasingly. They started walking to the barracks.
"I haven't...not like this." Garrus responded.
"Such a charmer." Aquila said sarcasm rumbling in her subvocals.
"I'm serious you are going to have Torins tripping eachother, I'll even go as far as to say they'll start punching eachother, to get to you." Garrus said honesty and something else in his subvocals. He looked her over again, "Maybe even a few Tarins as well."
Aquila swiped at him, which he dodged, in mock outrage. Her subharmonics singing in amusement and embarrasment. Then she started trilling in laughter.
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What would you like to see about Aquila's bootcamp days?
I love Fanart! So please if you get inspired please go ahead!
