Ginny knew she wasn't overly feminine. She wasn't overly attractive, and she didn't pay too much attention to her appearance. Her hair was long because she preferred it wound tightly into a regulation bun, and makeup was part of her routine that had become more like her warpaint than anything done for the actual love of it. She'd found that she looked more imposing if she at least made an effort at makeup. Her military upbringing had cultivated an obsession with functionality, and to a lesser degree neatness, not dazzling looks.

That didn't mean that she had avoided being female.

She felt plenty female. However she was also damn used to being in charge, and keeping herself separate from most of the other soldiers she kept a working relationship with. She had come to realize lately that she was so used to this separation, that she was occasionally surprised that people could be attracted to her.

Their stop on Noveria was turning out to be one of those times.

"Sit down! Have a drink. What can I do for you?" Lorik Qui'in said with that familiar purr to his voice. Shepard looked the turian up and down... and couldn't help the slow smile that spread over her face as the noticed him do the same. Was it her? Or was it something about turians? It had to be the turians. Where were all of the humans hitting on her? She laughed, introduced herself anyways.

"Lorik Qui'in?" He nodded. "I'm Commander Shepard." She took a seat by him and left Garrus and Liara standing near the table. Garrus slowly turned as if keeping watch, even though she knew that at least eighty percent of his attention was going to be focused on the conversation about to take place. Liara glanced between him, Shepard and Qui'in for a few moments before doing the same. "I heard you might be able to help me. I'm trying to get to Peak-15."

"Mmm That might be difficult." He answered, leaning back in his chair and crossing a bony ankle over his knee.

"Oh, I don't mind difficult." She returned. His head tilted down a bit, and he was suddenly eyeing her from beneath heavy, dark, browplates. "And... I heard you might have a garage pass." She finished.

"All of the managers have access... I do. For that matter..." He placed an elbow on the table next to them, effectively putting himself just that little bit closer into her personal space.

"Well, maybe we do have something we need to discuss, then." She wove her fingers together and placed them on top of the table.

"What could an old turian like me help you with?"

"How can I get my hands on a garage pass?" she asked.

"So that's what you need. How fortunate." he responded, smiling to himself "I could give you mine... if you can do something for me. I need someone to retrieve some information for me. Could we say that this is a transaction that could benefit all parties involved?"

"We could definitely say that I'm interested." She smiled. She did like these hard, armored people. There was something about the turians that made her smile. Each one she met was plucky; they were all hard in their own way, but there was something about them that was very appealing.

As he gave her the information that she would need to break back into his office and steal the data on his computer, her attention was pulled to her young turian behind her. He was standing behind her and there was this odd tension to him that she hadn't ever seen on him before.

She turned and glanced at her friend, they were in public—so no weapons out—but Garrus' hand was definitely on the pistol on his hip, the other hand curled into a tight fist by his thigh. She was suddenly aware of an odd sort of hum in the room, like when there's an old vidscreen that's just been switched on, but different. It was something she could hear in the back of her skull, but not something that she could readily identify. An itch that she couldn't figure out how to scratch while sitting there at the small table in the bar of a subtly hostile port city.

She turned back to Qui'in as he passed her an OSD to use on his terminal once they broke in. She reached over to grab it, and their hands touched briefly while passing the small chip over. She noticed the older turian glance over at Garrus' back.

She did her best not to acknowledge it, but there was a definite tingle of something in the back of her head as the two turians tried very hard to not acknowledge each other. Garrus was positively prickling with some sort of invisible animosity, and Qui'in was grinning.

He wrapped her hand around the OSD and brushed his mouthplates against her fingers in an imitation of a human kiss. The gesture surprised her, not only for its forwardness and the fact that he even knew of it, but also for the fact that his eyes weren't even on her. She followed his gaze over to her turian teammate.

As Garrus finally turned his head around and glanced over at their joined hands, she belatedly realized that not only was the older turian hitting on her, but that her teammate was glaring daggers at him. She was getting hit on as part of a power struggle.

That was the source of that odd humming that she'd been hearing.

Well. Shepard had no interest in being caught in between anyone like that.

She quietly squeezed tbe older turian's hands and placed them back down on the table. She slid the OSD into a pocket on the thigh of her armor.

"I guess I'll be seeing you soon, Qui'in."

"Indeed. And do try to keep the blood-stains off the carpet, my dear. I don't want a mess in there for later."

As she turned away to find her way up to the offices what she was a little perplexed about what had just happened. The conversation itself—simply what was said—wasn't something that she would have normally considered a flirtatious encounter, but it was the interaction between the two of them that made her almost positive that somehow sex had been entered into the negotiations for garage access. The way Garrus' hands curled into fists at the other man's tone, and the way that Qui'in grinned and seemed to try harder to push the younger man's buttons. That odd buzzing she felt in the back of her head while sitting between the two turians...

What bothered her about that was that she was adamant about keeping the professional to the realm of the professional, and the personal to the realm of the personal. and used to having her personal relationships stay to the mostly physical. She had been career-minded for a long time now, and had decided through a trial and error process that mixing work and play hadn't been something that she could justify. It really hadn't ever even been anything that she could make work.

Typically, she would be furious about this sort of display while out on a mission. She would typically immediately leave and then immediately demand an explanation. Typically, she would have no sympathy whatsoever.

However today she found herself feeling quiet.

She didn't need to address anything with Garrus. She was certain that there was some element of interaction between the two turians that she wasn't able to even perceive. She trusted Garrus to keep things professional, and if there was an issue, she was sure that it was for a good reason. In fact, as they mad their was into the elevators, she placed a hand on his arm, just above the elbow and gave what she hoped was a reassuring squeeze. He only turned to her, his mandibles flicking out, giving her a glint of his sharp teeth.

She wasn't sure that anyone other than Garrus would have received this treatment, but as the three of them filed into the elevator, she that hand further into his personal space, seeking out the spot on the inside of his armored arm where he had no hard plates of armor—only tough turian skin. She ran her fingers down the warmth of his arm and smiled as he jumped and turned sharply towards her.

"Easy, boy," she murmured as she tilted her head into his personal space.

He froze, and she and Liara brushed past him to find her place in the elevator.