Magnitude

Everything's fine until it's not. That particular belief had been a minor point of contention between him and Saren. Saren had felt you could prepare for anything. Nihlus felt you had to be prepared for anything. The differences were slight, but they were there.

So when the balcony crashed down on top of him and his human, he was hardly surprised. He'd expected something like this to happen, given the way his day was turning out. Breakfast became battle, infiltration became assault, walking across the floor became falling through it…

All that, given his life as a Spectre, didn't surprise him. What surprised him was that he was laughing as he dug himself out of a pile of rubble. Not so much because of everything that had gone wrong, but because despite it all their 'date' had gone right. Tequila laughed along with him, and he heaved her out of a similar pile.

She kept her hands on his arms, and replaced her laughter with a raised eyebrow. Human emotions flared so quickly across their faces, bright bursts like mini-supernovas. Yet after only a day with one, he was getting better at recognizing them. There was another surprise.

Going on instinct, he did what he would have done if she was a turian, and grazed the side of her neck with his teeth. Her reaction reminded him that she was, in no way, turian. Blunted teeth tried to return the gesture, something that would have been a point of contention for dominance in his culture. But her teeth were flat and harmless, and when they ran over his neck, felt warm with affection and not desire.

Her words felt just the opposite. "Your place or mine?"

"I have reports to file." Which was true, but not at all what he'd meant to say. So why had he said it?

"Yeah, right." She released him and backed up like she'd been burned. She rubbed the back of her neck with her hands, as if she didn't know what to do with them now. "Of course." Humans are meddlesome.

"We should leave before security arrives." He tilted his head towards the southern exit. He'd locked it during his sweep, but a canister of omnigel made short work of his override. "How did you get in here?" He asked over his shoulder as he worked. He'd locked down the entire sector. Always where they don't belong.

"Took the elevator." They lie.

"It's out of order."

Tequila shrugged disinterestedly, "If you say so." And then they leave.

Except she didn't. They ended up taking the slow, moving walkway back - a feature most human stations had along their walls. Her offhanded explanation for accompanying him had been to give a report to security at his room and retrieve her shirt. That and he still needed to get a copy of the intel she'd downloaded on an OSD.

She stood just slightly in front of him, leaning heavily against the railing of the walkway. She seemed exhausted, ready to fall over at any minute. He took a step closer and put his arm around her to hold onto the railing. Just so she didn't collapse on him and somehow set off a grenade in the process.

She leaned back against him instantly, and might have closed her eyes and fallen asleep standing for all he knew. Then it finally occurred to him why he'd backed off.

This, whatever this was, was already too familiar. She got in the way of the mission, a rekindling of Saren's tale of Sidon that seemed almost to the letter. He didn't even know her name, and was already completely comfortable with the thought of bunking with her and letting the paperwork keep for another day.

She'd complicate things. She was already complicating things. And, prepared for anything, he'd found a way to deal with it without even realizing it. "I do have reports to file," He repeated, half to her and half to himself.

Tequila nodded against his armor. It couldn't have been comfortable. "M'too. Hafta tell Steven," she mumbled half asleep.

But it-this was comfortable. It-this shouldn't have been comfortable.

But Nihlus didn't care about that right now. What he cared about was what other people cared about. Everyone they passed on their slow, idle ride, all but gaped openly. They caught more than a few stares from her ragged appearance. Most of them derailed into glares at him and hushed whispers, making their assumptions more than obvious. Nihlus met their looks head on, his arm inadvertently tightening around his human.

He started growling and was barely aware. No turian would come to the conclusions the humans were. There was no greater insult in his culture, and no greater crime. Both the perpetrator and their superior were stripped of their citizenship and banished from Hierarchy space, regardless of what tier they'd previously occupied.

A cluster of humans scattered under his icy glare when Tequila nudged him with her elbow. "Not helping your case, tiger." So she was awake.

"It's an insult to us both." Nihlus explained.

"You're pretty on edge." She noted.

"I don't like standing still," He offered. He didn't like a lot of things, few of which could be helped right now.

"We're not."

"That's not what I-" He stopped and glanced down at her. She'd tilted her head back and was grinning up at him. He chuckled, more at himself than her joke. He'd been about to go into a detailed lecture on the laws of physics; he must be tired.

His body agreed with the sudden realization. He'd paraded it around in heavy armor for half the day and it was in no mood to walk. Or do much of anything until he'd had a shower and a nap. Tequila was still staring at him, small fangs and flat teeth. Much of anything, his body repeated, side-cramping for emphasis. Besides, his brain added as the walkway came to an end at his hotel, you turned down her offer.

Nihlus keyed into the hotel and they took the elevator up to his apartment. Tequila hummed along with the music perfectly and he couldn't help but give her a look. She shrugged, looking sheepish. "X57 Radio. I know all their songs."

He was shaking his head when they exited. His hotel room was clustered with civilians and security alike taking in the damage, separated from each other by little more than a holographic police line. And now you have no place to stay.

Security cleared a quick path for them, the police line blinking red as they crossed it. Nihlus couldn't help but snort at how ineffectual it was, and yet it seemed to be working. Civilians clustered as close as they could get to the scene of the crime, but never crossed the line. They looked on with awe and envy as he and Tequila passed, as if the hologram was some invisible barrier only they could cross.

One of the medics saw Tequila and nearly dove to reach her, assaulting her with medigel and questions. An officer noted the commotion and added his own questions to the fray, trying to get a statement while the medic swabbed at Tequila's face. Trapped, she gave Nihlus a pleading look.

"I'll get an OSD," He announced, and quickly vanished into his apartment, leaving her at their mercy. His room was ruined, the entry door fused open, his bathroom door on the fritz, opening and closing with spurts of static, ruined from whatever override Tequila had run on it.

The walls and nearly every piece of furniture were peppered with bullet holes, but the worst of the damage came from the kitchen. It was a charred mass of black from a minor explosion, and he settled his gaze on the ruined oven, a melted pan that had once held eggs resting on the burner. They'd left the oven on.

"Ah, Agent Kyrik! The hotel cannot even begin to express its sincerest-" A man in a formal suit stumbled out of the once-kitchen and pushed a security officer aside. Likely a hotel insurance agent, trying to make sure he wouldn't sue, and wasting his time.

"I'm just here for my things." He stepped past him and a security guard dragged the anxious employee away. Unlocking the small drawer beside his bed and retrieving an OSD, he stopped and stared. The only other thing inside was his laptop. Save for a change of clothes, the rest of what he owned was on his back.

Well, almost all of what he owned. His human still had his gun. He could get a new gun. Could he get a new human? They're all the same…

Nihlus shook himself and pushed Saren's echo out of his head. He snatched up his laptop and made a decision. He did have reports to file, but they didn't have to be done here or now. He was set to march out of his apartment with such purpose he almost forgot to get Tequila's shirt.

He spotted her some meters outside the security zone, wrapped in bandages and medigel and holding an icepack to her scowling face. Her face darkened when she saw him, "No one tried to swaddle you in bandages. There's a double-standard if I ever saw one." Her eyes darted to his laptop, then back to him in confusion. "That's… a pretty big OSD." She noted, taking her shirt but making no effort to put it on.

He coughed and straightened upright, "I seem to find myself in a bit of a predicament." The char on his armor and the dried blood on his mouth ruined whatever suave element he'd hoped to uphold.

Tequila didn't seem to notice. She folded her arms across her chest and raised an eyebrow at him, "You don't say."

"The room I was staying in is currently in need of a door," He pointed over his shoulder, "Which leaves me currently in need of a new room."

She chewed on her lip. "That is quite the predicament."

"If nothing else," He wasn't going to back down. They'd already agreed to a second date – kind of. "I believe it's proper chivalry to walk the lady home after a first date."

She shook her head ruefully, and latched herself onto his arm. "And here I thought we'd just frag and never see each other again."

"No you didn't."

"No, I didn't."