avitus’ tendency to keep his and macen’s relationship quiet stems from a number of issues; the first and foremost being his concern for macen’s safety. when he’d been younger and more reckless in covert missions, he made plenty of enemies. one such enemy made the vague threat that macen would be harmed, and the thought that his partner might be hurt because of his ruthless actions never quite left him. even into his ‘retirement’, he felt a sense of panic when people knew that he and macen were together - to the point where he refused to let himself and macen be affectionate out in public.

       the second reason is that turian culture does not view spectres in high regard. much like garrus talks about his father and how he believed spectres hold too much power and work above the law, spectres are seen as untrustworthy and easy to be corrupted due to their lack of structure and freedom to operate as they please. macen, being only a few people away from becoming primarch in the turian hierarchy, was expected to have the ‘ideal’ turian family - a wife and sons. due to all of these factors, it would have been thought of as a scandal if someone of such high regard such as macen were to enter a relationship with someone thought of as untrustworthy and unsavory as avitus - much less one that would ruin the picture of macen as the iconic turian official with the expected marriage.

Shepard had taken down Saren, but that wasn’t the only dead turian Spectre the public could associate with her. It was Nihlus who originally endorsed her into the Spectres at all, and now Nihlus was dead, too - murdered by Saren, which was almost unbelievable to those who knew them both. Both deaths and their connection to her weighed heavily on Jane, especially that she’d seen… she’d seen that it wasn’t Saren, not really. His mind had been taken, and in the last moment… 

Most people believed Jane Shepard killed Saren, but it was not her who pulled the trigger.

Now, as she looked around at the many turians, asari and some salarians, she saw ghosts of both Saren and Nihlus everywhere. Perhaps it was time for a human to be in the Spectres, and yet she couldn’t help but feel that neither the time, nor the circumstances were the right ones.

Jane laughed at the man’s answer, ignoring the doubts about her place in the Spectres. There were enough people here doubting her - she couldn’t afford to be one of them, and if she was, she certainly couldn’t afford others to see it. “That’s one way to look at it. Free food and drinks make a lot of things worth it.” She relaxed - as far as first impressions went, this one was far less hostile than some of the others tonight. “I wouldn’t say it’s only for me, but… yes. I am certainly the newest addition to this club. Jane Shepard.” She figured he might have known that already, but she introduced herself anyway. “Have you been a Spectre for long?”

       "At least someone here has the right idea.” He chuckled again, briefly glancing in Macen’s direction - though he was quick to refocus his attention on the newest Spectre. ‘It’s fine, it’s fine - nothing is going to happen here.’; an mantra he constantly had to repeat in his mind in an attempt to quell his near-constant paranoia.

    “I’m sure they wouldn’t have thrown this together without you, though.”  She seemed amiable and polite - not at all cocky and arrogant like he would have pictured the first human Spectre to be. ( Was he being biased again by automatically assuming that she would be? He didn’t mean to feed into old prejudices. )  “Avitus Rix - nice to meet you.” He gave a courteous nod in recognition and greeting, before recalling the human tradition of a ‘hand shake’, and he offered his hand - albeit awkwardly.

   “Depends what you think a long time is. I’m going on fifteen years now. It’s the best and worst job I’ve ever had.” He attempted to chuckle again, but there was far too much truth in his statement to allow it - in the end his subvocals ended up sounding a bit too distressed and forced. "It’s a tough job. Most people I’ve known can’t handle it, or quit within a few years.” That came out harsher than he’d meant. Small talk was clearly not his strong suit.