jane shepard

01. Full name:

Alright, so she won’t admit this, but her full name (on her birth certificate) was Jane Quinn.  She absolutely despised any connection to her mother so, when she joined the Alliance under Jane Shepard (changing her legal name to match) and now her name is Jane Shepard Vakarian, Shepard now being her maiden name.  

02. Best friend:

Without saying the obvious Garrus, her best friend is (at the current time along the timeline of Parable) is Ellie.  Ellie is like a mix between mother and sister, showing her all the mistakes the older woman made that Jane could have as well if choices had been made differently.  Ellie, too, has learned from Jane how to live, so it’s a give and take relationship between them.

03. Sexuality:

In her youth, her sexuality was fluid, based solely on the convenience of partners.  She doesn’t have any real limits to her flirting, but it’s all without any real seriousness as she’s solely focused on her relationship with her husband.  Sex with anyone else just wouldn’t compare to that which she has with someone who knows and loves her better than herself.

04. Favorite color:

Blue 😉  Nono, really, she doesn’t have one.  Her preferences depend on her mood, the situation, and what she has in her closet.  If you gave her a single color she could pick, it’d probably be black because it can be matched with anything – and doesn’t show dirt as easily as others.  Gotta think about the utility, you know.

05. Relationship status:

Happily married to an idiot turian who has her wrapped around his little finger.

06. Ideal mate:

A best friend.  Someone who can see her flaws and love her despite them.  Also, if she’s letting herself be selfish, someone who would give everything for her because she’d do the exact same.

07. Turn-ons:

Turians.  Plain and simple.  I kid, I kid.  She loves strength, both in looks and actual action.  She’s tired of always being the tough soldier carrying everyone through battle out of her sheer stubbornness.  She wants someone she can both ogle and who can shoulder the weight everyone’s put on her. 

08. Favorite food:

Since I’m boring, she likes the same food I do, pasta, pasta, pasta.  Her favorite being diavolo, a spicy dish often served with some kind of protein.  In Juxtaposed, it was shrimp, but I think I’m going to change it in rewrites because, since then, I have developed a really bad allergy to iodine, so I don’t want to imagine the stuff anymore.  I won’t let that spoil my imagining of a perfectly romantic meal between them.  lol

09. Crushes:

Her crushes come and go, not really having much bout in her life given all the factors.  She had a bit of an attraction to Arcanus, put that dissipated quickly when she became close enough to him to see him more as a partner to her puesdo mom Elle.  I guess you could say he became a psuedo dad by association,  Hell, Jane’s kids already consider him such anyways.

10. Favorite music:

Classic rock.  Well, classic for us seeing as how our own current music would end up being just as old to her, lol.

11. Biggest fear:

Losing those she loves.  Can I also add in that her biggest flaw is actually fearing the loss her husband more than anything?  The concept of losing the twins just doesn’t come up as much in her nightmares, but I guess that has a lot to do with all the shit she and Garrus have gone through together.  PTSD can be a bitch.

12. Biggest fantasy:

Having met Garrus in a different life far from Reapers.  She knows she wouldn’t have her children then, but sometimes the idea of not having to look at herself and him and see so many scars (both mental and physical) seems appealing.  She lets herself wonder what it’d be like because she knows it’s not like it’d sudden happen and fantasies don’t always make sense, so she tells herself that so she doesn’t hate herself so much for not thinking of her children.

13. Bad habits:

Shameless flirting, swearing, being overall unladylike, and, now, not giving two shits about the rest of the galaxy.  She’s lost all interest in saving a people that refuse to see the light and change their acts even after everyone could have died in the Reaper war.

14. Biggest regret:

Not being able to find a way to save those from the Normandy she loves.  They are all her family and she lives with each death during the war weighing her down, haunting her.

15. Best kept secrets:

I’d say a lot of her childhood and younger years are still a mystery to many.  Even Garrus doesn’t quite know everything she did during those years, the messes she put herself in and the dark things she did to survive.

16. Last thought:

I assume this means in the timeline? This question is a bit confusing to me.  If it means what I think it does, then the last thing she was thinking about had to have been the relief of having Cassia entertained with her friends added to the possibility of Damocles getting out of the house on one of his ‘excursions.’  She and Garrus just don’t get enough time to themselves, so it’s good to have that even if it means they’re stuck in their bedroom.  They don’t even have to be doing the do to just relax in bed and be lazy while a vid plays.  Maybe they’d even go for a long soak in their huge bath.

17. Worst romantic experience:

Hm… I’d have to say the worst experience that had to do anything close to romance would be when a past lover tried to trick her into a date where he could bring up the topic of having a relationship beyond sex or friendship.  She never mixed the two and, in trying it with him, she learned that it just wouldn’t work.  Mixing business with pleasure sort of thing, it seemed.  Garrus is really the only one she had both with, mostly because he broke through her walls but still maintained an air of attraction to her.

18. Biggest insecurity:

Surprising enough, she is insecure about her looks.  During the pre-war and war itself, she didn’t really have the time to fret about her looks and, even now, she likes to play it off, but she secretly wants to be beautiful in someone else’s eyes.  She sees so many women in media look one way and sees herself in a different light more akin to a male given her choice of occupation.  Losing her legs only made it worse, but it does help that Garrus often praises her looks and gives her the heated stare more often than not.  It’s because of him that she even has the courage to dress in the clothes and styles she’s loved all her life.

19. Weapon of choice:

Her boomstick, hands down.  Biotics (if you want to consider them) are a close second.

20. Role Model:

Her role model was John Hannah Shepard, the older man that took it upon himself to treat her better than and raise her when her mother all but abandoned her.  He taught her to love music, but also discipline and persistence.  She took his name in rememberance and it’s a shame he passed long before she ever had a chance to thank or repay him for his kindness.

Thanks for this!  It was a very neat experience to get into Jane’s head.