Chapter 6: Controversial Notions
Above the rim of his glass, Garrus studied his companion. She seemed very quiet, and by the way her brows were knitted, very, very deep in thought. And while the nurse being silent meant that he would have some reprieve from her rebuke, he was very curious as to what her opinion was on what he'd just said.
Setting his empty glass down and opted instead to count himself lucky for the time being. He watched her stab the last of her fries, astonished at how much this tiny human could eat, and joined her by eating the remainder of his own meal.
"So," her voice made Garrus wince in anticipation of what he thought would be another chastisement, "Tell me. What's this turian thing that forced you to take me to dinner?"
"Forced is too heavy a word," he refuted, adding his best smile, careful not to dig another hole he may not be able climb.
"Required to, then," she provided, and took his immediate lack of response in mocked injury and gasped to add to the effect. "So it's true! You were obligated to; I'm hurt." She shook her head but all the while her lips stretched into a smile as big as he'd seen on her, causing Garrus' grin to grow wider even still. A natural response, he assured himself, things like that were contagious. "There goes my plan, then."
He allowed himself a short and fine laugh before admitting, "It's not like that. Actually, that whole favor thing… that might have been a bit of a stretch."
"And just how much of a stretch…?"
"More of a tradition, really. It's the… duty of those with more notches in the meritocracy to show their reach. As an offering." In a courtship tradition. "I did say it was a stretch."
"An offering?"
"Let's call it a peace offering," he said, cocking his head to the side slightly.
She giggled in that curious way again. Second time that night. "Yeah, alright," she agreed as she got up, with Garrus quickly following suit. They emptied their table and headed out, where she slowly gazed from one end of the sector to the other. He tried not to stare at the newly acquired blush on her face. "See any skycab consoles?"
"Oh, uh," Garrus pulled his cowl down as he stretched his neck, feeling a bit embarrassed, "there isn't one in this sector. Where are you headed?" Or maybe he was warm. Yeah, that was probably it.
"I live in Zakera, in the upper sectors."
That was quite a ways away. He felt bad for having taken her this far from her home, especially now that she had to take a skycab. He resolved to take her there himself so she wouldn't have to pay for the fare. "I was heading around that area myself," he lied, "We can share a skycar, if… that's ok."
"Uh, sure," she decided, though none too eager. Not that he could blame her; he'd gotten used to the idea that humans were always very suspicious. Turians, on the other hand, were more forward with their intentions. Not that there weren't any deceitful turians, just not very many.
"Let's go find that console."
Finding said console turned out to be a bigger task than he had initially imagined. When he didn't need them, there always seemed to be an almost obscene number of them. Now? Now wasn't a single one in sight. He was about to comment on this, but realized that acknowledging it would just give her more material to make fun of him with. Something that, so far, the nurse seemed to very much enjoy at his expense.
"You know," she began, almost causing him to internally cringe. He was certain whatever insult was coming his way wouldn't be half as funny as the stuff he'd say about her… If he had any fodder. "I'd bet anything that if you hadn't had so much to drink, you wouldn't have so much trouble finding a skycab console for us."
"That has nothing to do with how much I've had to drink. And you really shouldn't be so willing to be anything."
"Aha!" She hit his arm and beamed at him proudly, "So you don't know where a console is!"
"You're missing the point, you don't know what kind of turian I am and yet you're willing to bet anything on something that—"
"Well, Garrus! I didn't peg you to be into that sort of thing, I should have been betting sooner!"
Garrus sighed in immediate defeat. He couldn't say anything about the console, or her gambling issues. He should have expected something like this from her. Maybe he hadn't known her long, but it was long enough to know to watch himself around her. Her tongue was as clever as her ears were keen- something that hadn't done him any good so far.
"Oh alright, I won't tease you about your terrible lack of direction. Though I still think you should know the area around a restaurant you suggested. Just sayin'. "
What made it worse was that this was one of the sectors he used to have to patrol during his first year at C-Sec. But she definitely didn't need to know that. "You're too kind," he feigned gratitude and placed his hand at his heart for a moment.
"So, police officers have a higher standing than nursing staff in the meritocracy?"
His browplates raised at the question until he remembered what he'd said. "Oh, that. Well," in truth, while any medical staff was highly praised in turian society, it still had nothing on military personnel, "unless you acquired some mutation that turned you into a turian, or got yourself a turian bondmate, you technically have no standing in the meritocracy."
"Time to take up biology and chem, I guess," she joked.
Garrus slowed his pace to meet hers; any passers-by that needed to walk past went around them, but neither of them seemed to mind. Garrus didn't.
He'd felt awkward on the way to the restaurant because the distance between him and Shepard had been wide, like she was bothered to be walking next to him, which in turn had him feeling just a little hurt. Okay, maybe not hurt, but certainly self-conscious. He wondered if anyone walking by thought of them as a couple… It wasn't horribly uncommon for a human female to be with a male turian, but Garrus understood why Arin may indeed have felt some sort of annoyance. Not like a xenophone would, but something. Unlike Arin, if they were a couple, Garrus wouldn't have felt embarrassed to walk beside her. Turians have to be as proud of their mate as they are proud of their origin.
Walking at a much closer distance to her now felt, well, fine. He was aware of the various looks the two were getting. Sure, many were from males looking at his companion with an inappropriate hunger in their eyes, the kind that made him want to punch their faces in until they learned some damn respect. Damn humans, always ogling what wasn't theirs. But there were also others that sneered at them, thinking the two were together. He never understood the attraction some turians had for humans and asari, but he also didn't care what anyone's preferences were. All he cared about was being a good turian and doing the right thing.
"Ugh." Beside him, Arin sighed, forcing him to rein in his thoughts. "Wait a second," she said, grabbing hold of his arm with one hand and bending down a little. Lithe small fingers held his arm with a strong grip, and he couldn't help a smile that crept up his face that even as outstretched and long as her fingers may be, they couldn't wrap around his forearm like a turian's could. Not even close. He provided his arm, holding her steady as she balanced on one leg at a time to remove one shoe, and then the other.
A few thoughts occurred to Garrus then: She was definitely much shorter than he previously thought, having sunk quite a bit when her bare feet touched the ground; the heels of her shoes looked impossibly high and dangerous. And only now did Garrus figure out her cold demeanor toward him had disappeared after she questioned him back at the restaurant. She had practically interrogated him. But it also looked like she was letting him go.
At least he could continue having a comfortable acquaintanceship with the doctor.
