#but also. yeah shepard never went to school. no ged. just BARELY got his shit together reading/arithmetic wise to even take the asvab

[shepcdr]

@spectrien // cont.

shepard has nothing in particular against aliens. he was far too young for the first contact war — his childhood memories are vague and few, but he thinks he remembers the anxiety that tensed his caretakers from head to toe until they were wound tight enough to snap, and until they did; perhaps some of that had been the war, and the burden of knowing that humanity was not alone in the far expanses of space, after all — and still too young for the grudges built after and upon it. though that hardly stopped many of his brothers in the reds from fostering hatreds of their own, there was little they could do about it... little time to think of worlds beyond when it was trouble enough to survive their own. and, now that shepard thinks about it, his contact with the galaxy at large has been somewhat limited considering the decade he's now spent with the alliance. ( in his defence, he had other concerns of his own to manage. )

his recruiters had pulled enough strings getting his AFQT scores waived once they had seen biotic potential and a willingness to do whatever it took so long as he could enlist and get off of earth. there was nothing that could've been done for him if the alliance had an intergalactic history class prerequisite; but, luckily for shepard, his interests didn't lie in turian-human relations. relations that, from the spectre's sudden ( unwanted. but it doesn't appear that what shepard wants matters very much ) interest, appear to be on the up-and-up.

still, shepard would have to be an idiot to not have questions.

his lack of knowledge on both turians and spectres aside, it doesn't take a studied mind to know that nihlus kryik doesn't exactly fall within the boundaries of one definition or the other. nihlus likely defies the former, from what shepard knows of turian society; and from what he has heard recently of what it means to be a spectre, he suspects that nihlus exceeds the latter.

" what's your stake in all this? " thinly-veiled distrust colours his curtly-spoken enquiry. no point in masking his wariness. nihlus is an unknown variable on the normandy, on anderson's ship. ( never mind that captain anderson himself authorised this. he had authorised shepard as his XO, too ... so it's shepard's prerogative to exercise however much caution he deems necessary, until he determines the spectre is neither a threat nor risk. )

so the alliance wants more say in council matters ... that makes enough sense. but one of the council's own — a species already nestled quite comfortably within the status quo — taking such an unlikely and proactive interest? he doesn't buy it. not unless nihlus has something to gain from this.

... the one thing that does give him pause is nihlus' declaration of respect. shepard doesn't know enough about turian behaviour to discern honesty from flattery from placation. without adequate data, his first instinct should be healthy scepticism. nihlus seems clever and well-spoken: a perfect combination for deception, and make it pretty and pleasant to the ears. ' capable of caring? ' and what did that have to do with anything? shepard might have laughed in his face if he wasn't certain that that would surely be crossing the line.

but, for whatever reason, nihlus' words — ‘ i respect you. ’ — ring true just enough to soften the coldness of shepard's stare. ( only slightly. but that alone is an impressive feat. )