2. Their mother (father)? How do they think of her(him)? What do they hate? Love? What influence – literal or imagined – did their mother(father) have?
Alright, so let’s start with Jane and then do Garrus:
Cassia and Damocles think their mother can do no wrong in their eyes. Cassia thinks she’s the most beautiful being in the galaxy, no matter the species or gender. To her, Matriarchs have nothing on her mother. However, her beauty goes beyond looks to Cassia. Jane is everything she wants to be, strong and has a regal air about her in the way she holds herself – even if Jane would deny any of that nonsense. Jane is everything Cassia wants to be, even if she would rather wear more girly things than her mother would ever be caught dead in. The only fault Cassia sees in her mother is a sense of self-consciousness about those very looks that she envies. No matter what she or her father say to Jane, there is still a bit of disbelief in her being anything but ‘Commander Shepard who practically lives in unflattering armor’. Cassia just doesn’t see that and gets frustrated when those around her can’t see what she sees with her more positive outlook. On her own, she wants to work to develop that ‘give no shit’ attitude her mother has (or at least the ability to keep her emotions in check) as Cassia herself seems to let her emotions get the better of her in the moment. While they do not have a lasting effect like her brother, sometimes she wishes she could be unaffected.
Her father, to her, has such control over himself that she could swear he is like an immovable mountain. He is set in his convictions and, even if it goes against his actual feelings to the contrary, he will follow through on that self empossed set of ethics. Garrus may seem stern at some times (and shares a bit of the qualities his father has in that), but he differs from his father in that his only direction is to solve a problem, not shape the twin’s lives. His weapons training may seem difficult, but they will be all the better for it and he doesn’t force a set training style on them but lets them choose. That very quality of focus also shows in his care for Jane and the kids, which Cassia tries to emulate with every person she meets and becomes friends with. He gives parts of himself without opening himself up to pain, and Cassia sometimes wishes she could do the same. In a way, she trusts too easily and pays the price when those close to her hurt her, and she wishes she could build that sort of protection her dad has as shown around even the Normandy family. On the other hand, some of that focus can often make her father seem cold as she learns later in life when she begins to work for the Wraiths. He becomes a different person as their superior and, though she understands it’s to ultimately protect them from getting hurt because he acts on feelings instead of logic, it still sometimes hurts. That split moment of emotion in reaction to that can sometimes make her hate her father, but, like him, logic over the situation quickly follows.
Damocles absolutely adores his mother. She is much the same to him as she is to Cassia, only he needs hers and Garrus’ strength more than his more confident sister. Where Cassia sees their mother in a dress and thinks ‘wow, my momma looks like a queen!’, he looks to her with an awe for her ‘don’t give a shit’ attitude. He’s able to see the same self-consciousness in the jokes to brush off compliments that his mother has, but she pushes through it, keeps going. She may not feel she can wear a dress, but, dammit, she’ll flaunt it with just the slightest prompting from Garrus. Damocles can’t do that, can’t put aside his self-doubt. In a way, he hates her a bit for that strength. Despite his feelings about his own self-image in his personal life, he has learned how to push through any obstacle that he can physically fight. Call it sheer stubbornness, but if he has to train hours on end out in the cold, pouring rain just to accomplish a set goal, he will not stop even if the galaxy was burning around him.
For Damocles, the name Archangel for his father is fitting in his eyes. He has seen how his father protects the family from struggles both physical and mental and wants that very same ability. He wants to be there for his sister (which he feels as more affected by self-doubt in his self-projection of his own pain) and is willing to shoulder any weight for her even at the cost of his own well being. How can his father seem so unaffected, he often asks and envies Garrus for. It just doesn’t seem fair that his father can do so much like it’s nothing. He both hates and wants to be that very same person. His father also equates to a focus he knows he can never have because he’s just too impatient from his internal pain and need to express it. His father is a pillar of strength for them all and Damocles wishes he had just an ounce of that seemingly divine power.
Wow, those were some long responses! I talk too much, lol
Thanks for the ask 🙂
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