Elbow Room
A/N: Elizabeth Shepard for the hooah; takes place after destruction of the Collector Base.
Grunt hated to go to the Citadel. There were only two ways to get around on the Citadel, by elevator or by car. And neither option was exactly comfortable for a Krogan. Out of the two, he hated the car more, so he often chose the elevator. That didn't mean it was better.
Today, Shepard had business with the Council; according to Garrus that meant she was going to shout and argue pointlessly until the Council got bored scratching its rear. Grunt had offered to come and help his battlemaster, but she had turned him down; shooting the Council would only make the problem worse. Grunt suspected that was why it frustrated Shepard so much; shooting was how she fixed a lot of problems, and other people weren't so stubborn with his battlemaster. They had figured out long ago that Shepard was not to be looked down on. Perhaps the Council needed a little reminder that Shepard could always pull a gun on them.
While Shepard, Garrus, and Miranda went to argue with the Council, the rest of the crew was given permission to run free and take some time off. Tali, having been asked to keep an eye on Grunt in case something happened, offered to go with him, along with Legion and Jack. While Grunt didn't care much for the machine, he liked Jack and Tali was okay. His reasons for liking Jack were obvious; she liked to fight and kill things. Tali on the other hand was loyal to his battlemaster and unafraid to get in close in combat; she was also fierce when the quarians were insulted. But there was another trait Tali had that Grunt appreciated.
Grudingly, the four got into an elevator. It was a major one so it was a bit roomier, but nonetheless Grunt felt a little heady from the small space; krogan never did well in small spaces with others. Tali on the other hand, seemed to take up less space than she usually did. Grunt liked it; it made it seem like there was more room. If only he could learn that skill.
"Tali," Grunt stated. "How do you be smaller?"
"I don't understand the question; what do you mean?" Tali asked.
"You seem smaller in tight spaces," Grunt repeated. "It is both tactically useful and it looks to give you more space."
"Oh, that," Tali realized. "It's a habit from living on the Flotilla; you have to learn to get along with what space you have. I don't really think about it anymore."
"Good for sneaking up on a guy, too," Jack added. She was rather small as well, even for a human. Legion was silent; he must've been thinking or something.
"Teach me how to be smaller," Grunt requested.
"It's not that easy, Grunt," Tali explained. "It took me years to do, probably more unconsciously. And I wouldn't know how to start, either." Her response was a low grunt, and Tali left it off at that. They were on their way to a bar mostly because that's where Grunt and Jack wanted to go, and Tali had already been slotted the role of babysitter. She sighed quietly to herself; that was one of the last times she'd play that game Elizabeth called poker. It didn't even sound real.
The elevator stopped before their ride, and a handful of other people climbed in, crowding the already uncomfortable elevator. As the elevator started moving again, people around Grunt nudged him all over, trying to fight him for space. He could feel a haze start to come over his eyes, and it was so hard not to kill the annoying little asari next to him.
Then his omni-tool gave a small beep next to him, and Grunt happily nudged the asari back as he lifted his arm to read it. It was a message from Tali: Pretend you're in your tank.
The tank; it was probably the only confined space that Grunt ever felt comfortable in. It made sense that if he pretended he was in the tank, he wouldn't be as bothered. So he stood straight, stared ahead at the door, and tried to ignore everything. It almost worked; there was only one problem with his scenario.
When he was in the tank, the tank's walls wouldn't keep elbowing him and knocking him for room. Grunt shut his eyes and tried very hard not to kill anyone.
"This is our stop." Tali's voice reached his ears and Grunt was never more grateful to hear from her. His eyes snapped opened and he shouldered people aside as he worked his way out of the elevator, Tali and the other two following in his wake. Grunt's pace was rough as he focused more on not killing people. The others caught to him pretty quickly. Both Jack and Tali knew that Grunt as a krogan hated being confined with others. But when it came to him killing someone, one was excited about it and the other was definitely not.
"Take it easy," Tali offered. "We'll find a roomier way back to the Normandy, I promise." That was enough to cool Grunt down a little, and the four entered the bar. Legion suddenly walked off towards the musical equipment, fascinated by something. Tali was more than happy to leave Legion and joined a few quarians. Jack and Grunt reached the counter, Grunt sitting down. He knew he should be calmer sitting.
Until a turian took the seat next to him, obviously drunk. "Move over, krogan," he ordered, giving Grunt a rough shove. When Grunt didn't obey, trying to ignore him, the turian repeated his instructions, demanding Grunt give him his due space. That was the final straw for Grunt.
He turned around and grabbed the turian by the shoulders. "I want my due space!" Grunt roared, and then head-butted the turian to the ground. Tali and the turian's friends both saw it. As the turian's friends came to confront Grunt, Tali stepped in-between both of them.
"Grunt back off!" Tali ordered. Grunt glowered but didn't attack any of them. Glad that was going right, Tali turned towards the others. "Look, let's not get into any trouble, okay? Why don't we—?"
Shut your mouth, quarian!" one of them shouted. "Unless you're going to take that mask off and use it!" Tali's eyebrow quirked dangerously and Grunt could see the dangerous stance.
"Yeah, just go back to your floating junk heap and suck some clean air," another added. He looked like he was about to add something else to the list of insults, but he was interrupted.
Specifically, he was interrupted by Tali's fist to his face.
"Fine; we'll settle this Shepard's way," Tali spat, and then tackled another. Grunt was a half step behind her, with Jack's battle laughter approaching.
ME
Garrus glared the people behind bars, his look almost as dangerous as Shepard. Almost. "What. Were. You. Thinking?" Garrus asked.
"Garrus," Tali tried.
"Do you have any idea how undermining it is to Shepard's argument when told that some of her crew is in C-Sec's cells? I thought you of all people would've been able to keep a cool head! You should be glad it's me that came down! Shepard is highly disappointed in you; what made you start a barfight?" Garrus demanded.
"Garrus, if only you'd heard what those Bosh'tets said, you wouldn't have hesitated either," Tali defended. Even though her eyes were hidden behind her visor, Garrus hear the fire in her voice. Whatever had been said, he would have to find out about. He sighed and moved onto the next prisoner.
The next prisoner was Jack. He glanced at her; she glanced at him. Garrus moved on.
Legion stood dead still in his cell until Garrus came into view; then his eye locked onto him like a homing beacon. "Vakarian Officer," Legion stated.
"Legion, you know Citadel's laws; why did you put a turian's head through a counter?" Garrus asked. In fact, the proficiency Legion had shown with unarmed close combat was frightening; several C-Sec officers had been put through tables and doors as well. Garrus didn't think it was possible to put someone through a detecting sliding door.
"We were defending our crew members, Vakarian Officer," Legion answered. Garrus rolled his eyes; Legion might need to be re-educated regarding how to protect the rest of the team. Garrus moved onto the final prisoner that was on Shepard's team.
"Grunt?" Garrus asked. "Any reason at all?"
Grunt's answer was simple. "They were in my 'elbow room,' Garrus."
Garrus sighed yet again. It was so simple but so overlooked; trust a krogan to get itchy scales about close proximity.
ME
A/N: Well, I have officially run out of ideas, as this last chapter demonstrates. If any of you have an idea, I'll give it a shot, but for now, this is done.