Building Bridges [OcHumanF-OcTurianM]

By Cranky Mesuinu

Word count: 1655

Revamp 1.5- Fehrel's name is pronounced "feh- rell" or like Will Ferrell. Thank you for taking the time to read.

I do not own the Universe (Mass Effect), but I will take credit for the story and the OCs that star in it.

Building Bridges

Chapter 1 – Initial Insult

To Most, the Citadel is a beacon of civilization, co-operation, upstanding citizens and a powerful military power hub. This was not always the case, especially centered just off the docks at the beginning of the shopping district. To become more specific, it was centered at the shop 'Infiltrator's Sanctuary'. Currently manned by a turian, its only employee. The shop itself was fine, kept clean and updated and keeping an exemplary stock of omnis, pads, and accessories and processors of all types. There had even been a good amount of the usual, upstanding, customers. But there had also been an unusually high amount of not upstanding customers which were now treading on the turian's last nerve.

Fehrel lingered in the back of his shop lights bouncing off his chocolate plates, doing a minor inventory of the items on his shelves. Even though today had been slow, he was still exhausted and irritable, hand coming to rub at the dual mahogany colored hide at the base of his neck and around his cowl. The few customers that had come in after his usual round of pick-ups and pre-orders had been beyond difficult; the Asari flirted outrageously- obviously looking for handouts and freebies as if he was a soft-plated recruit; the Turians treated him as if he was below them due to the low status of his green outer rim mining colony marks- not even bothering to look at his military records- at least, what they could see of them. And then, of course to top it off, the one Volus who thought him incapable of running his own business. Now he was trying to keep himself busy as he near dreaded for what this human had waiting for him.

The female had been browsing his wares, completely silent beyond the occasional hums, with none of the usual spew of questions. He would need to calibrate his translator though and run a diagnostic, because he could swear that he was hearing someone's subvocals. Fehrel watched the female with a wary eye, trying not to groan at his own imagined questions that she would be pestering him with. He didn't know why these days people insisted on not knowing what they wanted when coming to his shop, much less not do any research. He was on edge, trying to calm himself with menial tasks as he waited for the final blow to his restraint try as he might.

She had been pacing along the omni-tools for almost an hour now, her short sandy-colored fringe flaring a bit with each head turn as she paced the display-case, constantly making increasingly angry/disgusted harmonics. Damn, they weren't harmonics, he needed to stop thinking like that. Humans didn't use those, even if the humming, whistling and little clicks were shockingly similar. It couldn't possibly be...

There was no mistaking the last one, it was executed too perfectly, the mocking little trill on the end layering on more insult. This insufferable wretch! She must be mocking him; knowledgeable enough to read his colony markings, but he would not let the insult to his family line stand! Fehrel spun around, letting his harmonics rumble almost ferally as he closed the distance between him and the female to tower over her. The top of her head barely came up to his shoulder as he leaned into her space threateningly, letting him get a good look at the human who so dared. He passingly noticed vibrant blue-green eyes against pale... flesh, as she turned to him and seemed to whimper in fear, her eyes going wide, stepping back only to bump into the display case of omni-tools she had been perusing. He let his subvocals continue in order to add more menace to his words, which at this range and decibel, even a human should be able to pick them up.

"I have no care for who you are, but I will not let your insult stand." Her eyes widened even more, before her hands came up in a placating gesture and sounds of distress ringing from her throat as she shook her head, keeping eye contact with him as if he were some sort of beast about to pounce. She slowly reached into the bag at her side, pulling out an old 3b-0086 datapad- at least 4 years out of date, well-worn but obviously well maintained, finally breaking their stare-down only to write a quick message, before returning her gaze to his and turning the datapad to where he could read it.

'I'm sorry, I am incapable of proper speech. I apologize for whatever I did to offend you." Fehrel was shocked out of most of his anger, before his eyes narrowed in suspicion. He'd seen to many cons- hell, he worked with con-men in a sense, not to be suspicious of an easy out; no one questioned much when you played the 'disability' card.

"And I'm to believe that you aren't just continuing to mock and insult me?" Another soft whimper of distress came from her throat, this one almost indiscernible even to Turian ears, as she hesitatingly reached up to the unusually high collar of her shirt, adverting her eyes and unlatching it just enough to show the horrible scarring that covered at least the front of her neck. Instantly, Fehrel's harmonics turned ashamed and regretful, letting out his own shocked keen. Looking away himself, he stepped out of her space, ducking his head a little, his body nearly screaming his shame. Especially in these advanced times, it took a certain type of wound to leave that kind of lasting damage. He would know.

"I am sorry. I should not have pried..." He was kicking himself for not using his observation skills, skills that he was trained and praised for- that had saved his life and that of his squad, to put together the clues. A short low whistle that scaled higher at the end- almost in question, brought his eyes back to the female, to see that she had written on the pad again.

'You did not know. May I ask what I did to offend you so I can attempt to correct it?' He gave a short huff to help calm himself and straightened his shoulders, his hands going behind his back in an automatic reaction to being outside of his comfort zone. His mother would have been mortified at his lack of tact, and he could almost hear his father's lecture on controlling his temper; his whole squad would of ragged on him that even they knew better- and he was the 'golden-child'.

"I will try." He watched as the small female gave a- …Relieved?- hum, meeting his eyes again so show he had her attention, head tilted just a bit and pad ready to take notes in open curiosity. Now that he was paying better attention, it was actually much easier to read this human than any of the others he'd encountered. He cleared his throat and pulled himself back on track.

"For the past half hour, you have been making sounds I could not help but think of as subvocals- ones associated with anger and disgust. Unfortunately my day has been ...trying, and it kept me on edge, allowing for my assumption that you were aware of my home colony and mocking me for it." The female rapidly shook her head, flaring out her sandy fring-hair once again and starting to move her hands with perpose, before aborting the gesture and shaking her head again.

"Right before I confronted you, you made a ...warbling/chirping sound, with a bit of a trill at the end, which perfectly imitated a Turian insult to ones bloodlines and their... breeding proclivities." Fehrel watched as the blue-green gems that were the female's eyes became the biggest he'd seen them, her head arching back on her shoulders a bit, her mouth gaping slightly in shock and even her arms falling a bit lax as they still held her datapad. He couldn't help but wonder if her body language was so exaggerated in order to help people understand her tone, as she lacked in voice. He flicked his mandibles nervously, looking over her shoulder, aware that he'd been staring as he figured out her puzzle. "Again, I am sorry." He accompanied this with a formal bow, often forgotten to all but the most stodgily raised. He watched her odd human brows come together, much more malleable than brow-plates for seemingly no reason, as she returned to her datapad. She seemed to match even a salarian's typing speed, being so familiar with her pad.

'I am the one who is sorry. You are not wrong in that I use sounds to ...express myself. I have, in fact, been angry and disappointed in myself, so thankfully most of what you interpreted was correct. I will work to make sure that things like this aren't a problem in the future. Thank you for the courtesy of telling me what I had done wrong.' Fehrel nodded, still surprised that a human was capable of something so resembling the harmonics of his people; rolling around the possibilities and applications in his mind before his head tilted just slightly, and his eyes turned to the omni-tool case that the female had been studying. Putting a gloved hand forward in what he knew to be a human gesture of greeting, he attempted to smooth over their heated start.

"I'm sorry for my lack of manners. I am Fehrel, owner of this shop. May I ask your name?" He knew that he had been successful as she gently but firmly shook his hand, a smile on her face and a happy high-note that dropped into a contented hum.

'Cherise.'

"Well, Cherise, let's see if I can help you find what you need."

And that was the first time that Fehrel met the strange but wonderful creature that looked human but sounded like a Turian.

V1.5 A/N: I did actually get some interest in this, and I have so far expanded to a planned 4 chapters, despite how long it's taking me to update them. I have another story that I have concepted almost the entirety of it, it's having a hard time getting put down to paper (or even keys).

Also, please, please, please, while the chapter titles have pretty much nothing to do with the story, I have a couple planned out and they are hilarious to think of being in the drop-nav bar, so please help me get enough ideas to get to chapter 11!

A/N: This was an idea that hit me looking at a random comic. I'm sure many of you have seen it (Fem!Shep and Garrus on ?the Citadel? When Shep hiccups and a Turian behind them takes offense. I believe it's by nekoline?). I hope that there aren't too many mistakes, as I essentially pumped this out in 2 hours so I didn't have time to stagnate. There's a possibility of more of Fehrel and Cherise if people show an interest.

Thanks for reading and I hope you enjoyed!

Cranky Mesuinu