Are You Talking to Me? You Must Be Talking To Me.

"I'm surprised krogan are allowed into this bar." To any outside observation, Shepard didn't move at the droning comment from the elcor. The huge creature stood at the far end of the bar, drinking some blue concoction out of a bucket. Shepard waited, both to see if Grunt, seated beside him, had heard, and if the elcor was going to continue. He, Garrus and Grunt had arrived only minutes ago, determined to drown their collective woes in a flood of alcohol. But it looked like a peaceful drink was not to be had.

"With self-righteous indignation: Krogan are too violent for civilised settings. The one at the end of the bar is ruining the atmosphere."

It seemed the elcor had had a fair amount to drink already, or he wouldn't have been provoking a krogan. They were a formidable species, even for the larger elcor. Grunt had either not heard, or chosen to ignore the first comment. At the second one, he sat up and looked around, reptilian eyes locking onto the elcor.

"Are you talking to me?" he asked, in as soft and civilised a tone as a krogan could manage.

The elcor glanced over. "Dismissively: Of course not. I was talking to the bartender."

Grunt stood up. "Well, you're talking about krogan. And there's no other krogan here. So you must be talking to me."

"Indignantly: You see. Krogan lack basic manners. This one is very rude."

The salarian bartender glanced at Grunt, then back at the elcor… then discretely hid himself underneath the bar.

Grunt looked to Shepard, and he allowed himself to believe that the newly liberated tank-bred krogan was asking for permission to fight. And Shepard was just about pissed off enough after a day full of bureaucratic stuff ups that he was willing to blow off some steam. It had been a while since he'd had a good old fashioned bar fight. He gave Grunt a nod. "Stick to fists and not guns, and we can do whatever you like."

Grunt chuckled to himself. Threw back his drink in one gulp. Went to stand before the elcor. Shepard and Garrus shadowed him, grinning widely.

"Now," said Grunt. "What was it you were saying about krogan?"

Half an hour later, the bouncers finally succeeded in throwing Shepard and his crew out of the bar. In the end, Grunt had agreed to leave only because they'd given him two free bottles of ryncol. The fight had been long and very satisfying, especially after two other elcor and a salarian had joined in.

"This is why I follow you, battlemaster," Grunt said reverently to Shepard., twisting the top off one of his bottles. "Even when we're relaxing, we still find people to fight with."