"So let me get this straight, you expect me to believe that you're over 90 kilograms?" The man's arms are crossed as he asks the feminine figure before him. The Normandy's drive core arcs and flows with energy, basking her already intriguing mask in a glow. Her eyes, about the only thing he can make of her face, squint seemingly in amusement.
"Yes. Without my suit on, I'm 92.3 kilograms. Last I checked, anyways, I might have put on muscle since we undertook this mission, I'm not under the same rationing system as I was during my time on the Rayya." Her body shifts to and fro as she speaks, and her hands move fluidly for emphasis. A shared trait among her species. When one's face is obscured, they have to adapt their communication skills, thus beginning to emphasize body language.
"How does that work? You're what, maybe 174 centimeters tall? I'm over ten centimeters taller than you, and only weigh maybe four kilos more. At most." He shifts his weight, and looks into her eyes. He sees her gear up to explain more about her people, something she never shies away from, and nearly breaks his passive mask with a smile.
"Yes, and you'd be considered rather large for your people. Weight wise, anyways. I am not human, though, and neither are my people. Before our suits, we were not as atrophied, but our people are not nearly as fragile or frail as rumors say we are. My muscle tissues, my bones, etc. are denser than yours. We're hardy people, Shepard." He looks over her body, and sees she's clearly in great shape. Her body is streamlined, and ends in legs that look like they'd kick a hole into his chest.
"That's surprising. I guess I just thought with the immune system, and really only seeing you," he rubs the back of his head, an anxious habit he's picked up over the years, "yeah." She is thoroughly unimpressed by his confession, and shifts her weight while crossing her arms. Moving faster than he could expect, she grabs him, and lifts him into the air by his collar.
His eyes are wide as he looks down at the woman holding him in the air without much visible strain, and he pushes off of her, landing with the grace of a special forces operator. The other engineers are on break, so nobody has seen it, but Shepard feels slightly embarrassed. If he wasn't worried about her next move, he'd probably laugh.
"You've made your point, but I don't think surprising me with a move like that proves what you were saying." Shepard says, now ready for a spar. Her three-fingered hands tighten into fists, and she steps closer to him, getting very far into his personal space.
"If you want to, I would be more than happy to prove so in a spar. Assuming you Alliance soldiers can deal." Her words are barbs, but he can hear from her tone that she's not entirely serious, and is most likely also trying to prove a point. His face twists into a predatory smile, and he nods.
"Alright, Tali. I'm game. I hope you're okay with being embarrassed in front of the crew, though." He can see from her eyes that she's also smiling, but her body language comes off more like a shark smelling blood in the water. The two of them move towards storage, where the training and assorted gym equipment is located.
Eyes follow them as they head towards the sparring mat that's set up next to assorted dumbbells and heavy bags. He wraps his hands, and watches as she goes straight to putting three fingered gloves on, courtesy of the Citadel and its diverse population. She bounces on her toes, and jumps a bit in place to amp herself up, as he takes his time wrapping his hands and wrists.
Truthfully, he can't believe what he'd gotten himself into, he hadn't expected their conversation to go that way, never mind leading them to a good natured-but competitive-spar. He had heard Garrus make fun of humans and their close quarter skill, or lack thereof, but he hadn't realized he would eventually have to prove his species. He can hear bodies shift and footsteps fall as he looks down at his hands, and then around him.
Most of the ground team seem to be chatting lowly among themselves, and switching glances between him and Tali, most likely wondering why they were on the sparring mat. Wrex, however, seemed to already know, and had his large arms crossed against his barrel chest. A casual, but intrigued look is adorned on the old krogan's face, and his blood red eyes seem to shine in excitement.
"You plan on teaching Tali the value of punching crew members in the face, Commander?" Kaidan asks casually, and leans against a cargo crate. Shepard nearly laughs, but stops himself.
"That was one time, Alenko, should I teach her the values of flirting with Eclipse asaris and nearly getting shot?" Shepard snipes back, and he hears Garrus and Ashley snicker at him. Kaidan sputters for a second, before settling down, and giving the Commander a begrudging smile.
"Tali here was just telling me that quarians are stronger than people think, and got the jump on me. I told her to glove up, I wanna see what she can do when her opponent is ready." The humans on the ground team look between the two, and their faces set in determination, clearly understanding what it was about. Ashley almost got into the same scenario with Garrus recently.
"She's right, kid." Is all Wrex adds, looking at the young woman with pride, and the sick eagerness he gets on his face when he's around violence. Tali nods to him, and shifts her weight. Shepard puts his gloves on, and stands four feet in front of her, and gets into a boxing stance. In N school, he had been taught an assortment of mixed martial arts, specializing in amateur wrestling and kickboxing. She gets into a stance of sorts, and he doesn't recognize it as any human martial art.
The two circle around one another, looking for an opening. She knows how to take care of herself, and has training, but he's been in the special forces since earning an invitation after the Skyllian Blitz as a nineteen year old. He quickly goes for a takedown, driving his head and shoulder into her-admittedly-very solid core, and using every ounce of his body weight to push her into the mat.
The two go down, and he attempts to make the most of her being underneath him, but doesn't get the chance to. The moment her back hits the mat, she pushes his upper body off of her with an arm, and he feels his strength pitted against hers for the first time, truly. His body trembles in the amount of force he's exerting, and he tries to keep her down, but doesn't account for her legs. One of them pushes against his core, and separates their bodies from one another.
She twists out from underneath him, and the two of them quickly dart to their feet. He throws a kick at the inside of her knee, a useful tool against humans, but she's able to lift her leg up in time to properly block it. Retaliating in her own fashion, she feints going in for a punch, causing him to raise his arms in an attempt to block it. He doesn't realize the mistake until it's too late, as she pivots faster than he can keep up with, and drives the sole of her boot into his stomach, sending him flying off of his feet, and onto the mat. He sucks in a breath as deeply as he could, but struggles for a second, and releases it shakily. If she had hit him full strength like that, she probably could have shattered ribs.
"Yeah! Show the pyjak who's boss!" Wrex calls out. Kaidan and Ashley look at the Commander with worried glances, most likely seeing how brutal the kick was, and seem to be cheering him on with their eyes. He looks at Garrus, and the turian's mandibles were fidgeting, most likely in response to the excitement.
"You ready to admit you were wrong, Shepard?" She calls out to him, and he can practically see the cocky grin on her face. He wipes his nose with his forearm, and gets back into his stance wordlessly. No more messing around.
The two circle one another more, this time with him in a more defensive position. She floats on a foot, and goes for another kick that he blocks with his leg, and he responds by hitting her with an uppercut to her solar plexus, and a following body shot to where he assumed her liver is. He puts all of himself into the blows, and his knuckles can feel it. She wheezes for a second, caught off guard, and he pushes his advantage, taking her to the floor again, and controlling her body as they hit the mat. He can feel her writhing underneath him, but is more wary of her legs this time, positioning himself so they are in no position to push against him.
He looks into her glowing eyes, and the intimacy of the moment is not lost on him. Her chest expands and contracts with her breath, and he can feel her powerful core and body flexing underneath him. He can feel himself sweating at the exertion, using all of his body weight and strength against her, the slim alien he underestimated this entire time. Her chest is pressed against his, and he feels his body heat up even more at the idea of recreating this position in other contexts.
"Let her up, you've won this round." He finally hears, and is broken out of his stupor. Amused looks seem to be shared amongst his crew, but he spares them no attention. His mind is enraptured by the alien woman, who looks at him with an intensity he hasn't seen before. She's breathing heavily, no doubt from the exhilaration and adrenaline more than her own exertion, and she gets back into a stance. It seems like they're in a tie at the moment.
His eyes can't help but look at her legs as she and he get into a standoff, wondering just how they'd feel wrapped around him. Her toned core is apparent even through her body suit, and a new appreciation for her grows within him. Whereas before she was the spunky but dorky engineer, he is now aware that she's an obviously fit and very, very attractive woman.
In his stupor, he hadn't even seen her close in on him until it's too late. He tries to fight her off of him, but the momentum she had gained was too much. She gets behind him, pressing her curves into his back, and it's the last thing he feels, before weightlessness. He delights in the moment at feeling her hardened body against him, and the swell of her curves, but the moment is ruined as he comes crashing back to reality, and in a very literal sense. His upper back slams against the mat, and she holds him there, arms around his waist, for what seems like a little too long. His legs lift in the air for a moment, and he rolls backwards and onto his chest and stomach.
He lays there dazed for a second, and wonders how he's gotten here. He's never once thought about Tali this way. Obviously he's noticed how tight the suit is, and how nice it is to speak with her, but he hadn't ever made the connection of how...feminine...she is until truly confronted with it. She looks at him from her position on the mat, kneeling, and the two of them look at each other with an entirely different energy between them, knowing that something has changed.
"I told you what you were getting into, Shepard. Good job, squirt. Keep practicing like I've been showing you." Wrex says with what passes for a proud smile, and he moves back towards his usual resting spot.
"Nice job, Tali. I think you just did more to Shepard than he's taken in quite some time." Kaidan's not wrong, it's been a long time since he has put that much effort into CQC. He had been one of the best the N school had produced, utterly deadly with his hands and knife combat, relying on his strength and endurance. Obviously sparring is different than live combat, but he wasn't going to go for the kill on his crewmate, never mind a friend.
"He's right," Shepard begins, and stands up, holding a hand out, "I haven't been shown up like that in quite some time. I guess you had a point." He takes her hand in his, and notices for the first time that their palms are the same size, with her fingers being larger than his. He holds it for longer than socially acceptable, but neither of them seem to notice or care.
"You know, Shepard, when you nearly decapitated that Cerberus agent on Binthu while slitting his throat, I would've never imagined some quarian woman getting the better of you, and slamming you into a mat." Garrus says smugly, his mandibles open as wide as they can go in what's equivalent to their shit eating grins. He rolls his eyes at the ex-cop.
"Ah, we all know it would go differently if it were real combat." Ashley says, crossing her arms, and shooting daggers at the turian with her eyeballs. Shepard snorts, and shakes his head.
"I can acknowledge when I've been beaten. Tali and I will never be in live combat situations against one another, Ash." He turns to look at her, and she meets his eyes and nods, accepting the answer.
"Yes, Commander. I just meant you excel in it, not that you'd ever be in that position with Tali." She's right, but he can't help but feel as if she only said that to throw it out there that he could have killed her if he wanted to. While true, obviously, Tali shouldn't have to even consider that, never mind hear it from a human on a human ship.
"I hope you remember this, Shepard. You know, next time you think of me as just some dainty girl." She says mockingly, and almost flirtatiously. She turns her back to him, and discards her gloves back onto their place in the makeshift gym. "For now, I'll be back in engineering. You know where to find me." He watches as she walks away, and his eyes trail down her back to her well shaped rear, and powerful calves. He whistles to himself, and realizes Garrus was still there, with that same shit eating grin.
"Don't even start, Vakarian."