#(i have a lot of feels about krogan)

[messydiabolical]

i’d once read a Mass Effect take that has been stewing in my melon ever since, about Wrex and him demanding a cure for the genophage during the war in 3. (I think it was on twitter but I can’t remember for sure. Just the idea of it stuck with me.) The general sentiment was that this was a dick move on his part, that there were “bigger problems” and this wasn’t the time and it was cruel and manipulative of him to put Shepard in that position. He should have helped out first and Shepard would have helped him back once the war was over. A lot of people chimed in agreeing, saying how they stopped liking Wrex after that. It bothered me for a bunch of reasons I didn’t feel I could adequately articulate, but i’m gonna try now. Prepare for my meandering thought style! The governing bodies of the Mass Effect Galaxy have repeatedly proven that they believe themselves superior to other species and know what’s best for everyone. They don’t let all species have a say in the council, always look out for their own species’ interests in so much as it pertains to keeping things as they are, and will happily go along with literal genocide to aid this. They approve of secret police and biological warfare espionage tactics. They weaponise bureaucracy to hide their cruelty behind ‘oh red tape has us bound, sorry uwu’.   I’m going to try to remain pertinent to the Wrex subject but as one great example of these governing bodies ways of dealing with percieved outsiders: The first contact war is a great example of how ludicrous and fascist things are.. ‘It’s ilegal to use this thing so we’re going to kill you for it’ without so much as a heads up. How were humans supposed to know that, exactly? The governing bodies of this place do not care about anyone outside their own self interests. Fall out of line and they will work to end you. Until you prove you might be useful or of interest to them in some way (or a threat). And then of course we later learn the asari were breaking these laws themselves, hoarding this tech to stay superior. Classic. Anyway, back to Wrex. Wrex knows this. Wrex has seen how the krogan are regarded and treated, the dangerous monolith species, outsiders who can never be let in, never forgiven, never given a chance to grow or change. For a long arse time. “But the krogan were getting out of control and also committing genocide, the genophage was a last ditch resort to stop a galactic war” … And it’s been hundreds of years since then. That 'last ditch resort' wasn’t used as a stop gap, a reset to even out the playing field so that new negotiations and relations could be developed. It was used to end the krogan, and has been actively maintained to continue that, ever since. Do you really, truly believe that if Wrex petitioned the council/ world leaders to negotiate reversing the genophage, they’d even let him have an audience with them? And if they did, do you really think these people, with their history and all the shit they pull, would listen and be reasonable? I can already hear the responses, that weaponised bureaucracy (“you raise an interesting point Mr Wrex but unfortunately we are recovering from a war don’t you know, please come back in 300 years for review, we are very interested in discussing this further then!”) Wrex is old, wise and knows exactly what is up. The only way the governing bodies of power were ever going to have a listen, was if he had something they needed. The war with the reapers provided that. And even then, he knew that they wouldn’t listen outright; having Shepard’s voice was a way to get the foot in the door. It makes my heart hurt to think about that honestly; how dehumanising (dekroganising?) it must feel to be the ruler of your people and know that you have to rely on your alien friend to even get someone to listen to you, when what you want to say is an extremely reasonable “hey committing genoicde against my people sucks, stop that now”. Anyway, Wrex was right, this was his one chance to save his people and he took it. Good for him.

[lassieposting]

So anyway, things I've been thinking about this morning: Garrus Vakarian probably likes foreign films

Like.

Turians are the Proud Soldier Race Guys. They have an incredibly rigid, collectivist, by-the-book kind of culture, where every single individual is obligated to spend a good chunk of their formative adolescent/young adult years in the military, where Turian Ideals are hammered into them. So they don't seem like they'd have a big media scene glorifying tropes which go against their general cultural values - specifically, in this case, an individual going outside standard procedures to Get Shit Done on their own terms.

And this is a trope that Garrus loves. When we first meet him, he's sick of being the Good Little C-Sec Cop who follows orders and gets swamped with red tape and can't get the bad guy because Procedure Says No. He clearly sees himself as/wants to be the cowboy cop, detective-gone-rogue type, and he's got a pretty romanticised idea of what that would look like in his head. Bless him.

But. He's learned about that trope from somewhere, and I can't really see it being his own people. Especially with a father like Castis, who's so staunchly exactly what's expected from a turian. He seems like the type who'd have strong opinions about what his kids are reading and watching and being influenced by, because while he obviously loves Garrus, he wants him to grow up to fit a certain mould. The Turian version of the wish-fulfilment vigilante flick is the Spectre Movie, but Garrus isn't allowed to watch those, because Castis doesn't approve of Spectres being Outside The Law.

So baby Garrus grows up lowkey feeling stifled by the way society works, and maybe that's a problem with him, so he gets his head down and does his best to be a Good Turian and make his dad proud, and then he gets his discharge papers and goes to work for C-Sec, and suddenly he's living on the Citadel by himself, and he's got free time nobody is telling him to do X or Y with. He's basically moved away from home for the first time - the Citadel is not Turian-controlled, it's a thriving multicultural melting pot with plenty of people living there who don't exactly conform to Turian standards, he's got colleagues with interests he's never even heard of, and he's gonna start seeing new things.

Human superhero films and cop movies with lots of explosions and no paperwork. Small-budget Batarian short films about victorious anti-Hegemony rebellions. Even his own people's Spectre films. Some kid selling drugs in the wards has a Batman comic in his confiscated backpack? Garrus borrows it to browse on his lunch break. Some Salarian ex-STG operative publishes a memoir? Garrus reads it on the shuttle to work. All these people who feel like he does.

Like. Give me Archangel who regularly spouts lines from Batman or X-Men or Krogan Thunder 3 (or whatever the fuck else he's been watching) as part of his Good Guy Victory Speeches, that makes at least one of his multispecies team who Knows That Franchise pull up short and go "Oh my god, you're a nerd."

[swaps55]

Okay so I usually don't really care for OCs in a story, but the Yang's crew has stolen my heart completely ngl. So I was wondering, what would Pendergrass, Aslany and Beaudoin think about the ME1 Normandy's crew? How would they get along with them?

I've been sitting on this question so I could give it the attention it deserves, because it's a really fun thought exercise.

[And now that I've written this out, I really wish I could put them on the SR-1 and explore it further, so thank you again for an amazing question.]

Beaudoin: By nature, he gets along with everyone, but I think if you were to put him on the SR-1 or mix him with that crew, he'd feel really out of his element. He's never seen himself as anything other than Just A Guy. The superhero stuff is for other people. Courage, bravery, heroism, and The Cause isn't his thing, not because he doesn't care, but because he lacks the drive and initiative people like Sam, Kaidan, and Aslany do. (Pendergrass doesn't have initiative so much as insatiable curiosity and an unsettling lack of concern for safety).

So when it comes to the SR-1 crew, he'd probably feel even more of what he did on the 'Yang with Sam - that he's not good enough to work with these people. But he's very good at hiding his insecurities, so you probably wouldn't see it unless you knew what to look for.

He'd probably avoid Wrex. Dealing with Wrex is outside his paygrade. Garrus' loose cannon tendencies would worry him a lot, and he'd nag Sam to watch that guy because he was bound to get himself and everyone else in trouble. I wrote a scene in my ME1-fic, Exordium, in which Shepard (not Sam) notices Ashley get weird during a card game, finds her in the cargo bay, and then discovers she was playing poker with her unit when the geth attacked. Beaudoin would be the guy who sought her out if he were there, and he'd give her someone to talk to or confide in about Eden Prime, pep talk her about her family legacy, and have a smile when she needed it.

He'd find Tali delightful and charm the pants off her. He'd make sure she had something decent to eat, and when he figures out she's lonely away from home, guess who becomes a Fleet and Flotilla fan and sucks Ashley into it. The three of them hold watch parties, and suck in everyone they can. Aslany has to be dragged kicking and screaming, but she does it for Clay even though she scowls the whole time. He'd be equal parts fascinated and amused by Liara's blend of competence and naivete. He'd be the one to shake Sam by the shoulders and say, "to you Benezia was a monster to put down, but to Liara it was her mom."

Joker and Ashley would severely test his, "you don't fuck crew," motto, but he'd resist. Virmire would put a rift between him and Sam, while also putting himself in a guilt spiral, because the other choice would have been to leave Kaidan behind, and he wouldn't have been able to live with that, either. Virmire, more than anything, would teach Beaudoin things about what Sam does that he never truly grasped on the 'Yang, and reinforce that he wants no part of that. I think he gets out of the Alliance after Virmire.

Pendergrass: We saw in Fugue that Pendergrass developed some pretty intense jealousy over the SR-1 crew, fearing that Kaidan and Sam had replaced her with something better. And I think if she were on the SR-1, she'd get off on the wrong foot with Tali specifically. But they're both huge tech nerds, and Tali is Tali and Kara is Kara, so that would pass quickly. It wouldn't be long before they'd be attached at the hip, and and when one of them said, "I have an idea," the whole ship would nervously hold their breath.

She wouldn't get Liara at all, and probably ask a lot of really inappropriate questions about asari sexuality, requiring Beaudoin to intervene and explain to Liara, "Sorry, she's just Like That, she doesn't mean anything by it.' She would have no fear of Wrex, thanks to Sam's reverent krogan talk over the years. Wrex would find her excessively irritating at first, but would find a deep appreciation for her after watching her work in the field. She's a different kind of warrior with different weapons than he's used to, but a warrior all the same. If you can imagine anyone lounging in Wrex's lap to watch a movie, please imagine Kara.

She might bounce off Ashley a little for similar reasons to her initial clash with Tali, but my guess is they don't make up the ground the way Kara and Tali do. ME1 Garrus is probably a little too intense and focused for her, but she'd get along famously with ME3 Garrus. She'd think he was funny, and take his side over Vega's when they play one-up with each other.

Aslany: She would predispose herself to hating everyone. This is her family, her squad, and fuck you. You aren't part of it. Opening up her small circle of people she loves so fiercely would be extremely difficult for her. None of them are good enough to protect her people. Kara becoming close with Tali and Beaudoin becoming close with Ashley would make her crazy. She'd need a lot of reassurance, and Kaidan is probably who she'd go to for it. Ironically, she'd find Wrex the least threatening and warm up to him first. He'd be skeptical of the fragile human who wants to spar, but ultimately sing her praises, and Sam would be insanely proud of this.

She might grudgingly start to tolerate Ashley, but by that time it'll be too late. She probably becomes more neutral towards Liara, but the swiftness with which Liara becomes close to Sam would irk her a lot. Garrus would also piss her off - who the fuck does this guy think he is, I'm the sniper in this family - but after the events of ME2 she would respect him for sticking with Sam when the rest of them didn't, and see him a lot differently.

[sol-consort]

Omg, I don't know if you remember, but that shepard cam girl/streamer au you did, I absolutely loved it!! I loved Shepard being so nonchalant about being tits-out in front of the crew, also them passing around the video and being embarrassed about making eye contact with Shep. You killed me!! That was so good

Oh god, this one? I wrote it while half asleep, didn't expect anyone to read it. I just checked it over again–damn the amount of typos. I fixed as much as I could rn. Hopefully, it reads smoother.

But yes! I still adore the concept and would love to expand upon it.

The army life + staying on a ship in the middle of the galaxy and sharing space with your crew has got to result in a lot of accidental nudity and flashing situations. Someone new on warships–like Tali or Liara might find it surprising, feel a bit more shy, while someone like Shepard, who was the Normandy second in command during Captian Anderson days got used to it by now.

Or maybe it's a human army thing? Quarians can't strip for first aid because it will only worsen the situation, Krogans have their thick skin and shells, and Turian skin has metal outer plating.

Only humans are this squishy, easily injured, easy to tear into. Mix that with the fact that we have a pretty good immunity system that gives us high tolerance to different microbiomes and the most genetically diverse genes in the Mass Effect canon–Mordin mentions it in ME2—it's not hard to understand why a human soldier would nonchalantly strip on an alien planet, in the middle of the battlefield, just to ensure the wound is treated properly.

But it's still hot—Shepard's total disregard to having your tits out on full display, chest heaving with every breath. Your crew desperately trying to maintain eye contact and not get distracted by the way your bare tits bounce with every powerful command and order you bark at them.

Biotics grant people healing abilities, at least ingame. It's not strange for someone like Kaidan or Liara to act as an emergency medic while on the battlefield.

Kaidan attempts to stay professional, stuttering more than usual as the raspiness in his voice becomes more apparent courtesy of his dry throat.

The tips of his ears reddish, summoning all of his will to keep his finger study as he pressed against your wound with the disinfected pad. Having to lower himself into your naked form, his clothed chest almost fully pressing against your own. The hiss you let out as your nipples touch the cold metal surface of his armour—it almost makes his heart jump out from his ribcage–barely remaining collected by the end of it.

Sneaking one lustful glance at your still exposed chest on the shuffle ride back to the Normandy before forcing himself to look away, feeling ashamed of his actions, excusing himself to his own sleeping pod the second the crew is back on board.

-

Anyway, so streamer Shepard hmm.

Miranda would quickly catch wind of this open secret and become your number one patron under a fake pseudo name. She keeps toning in each stream, even if she's working, simply setting the tablet on the table while she files the papers away. Dropping big stacks occasionally whenever you do something she likes, using the carrot method to subtly get you to act more and more slutty, exactly how she likes it.

Samara convinced herself that as long as she only watches—no touching herself, no writing a comment, no sending any money–then it's basically okay and doesn't break her code. She does, however, pay attention to your frequent commenters, checking their profiles, tracking their other socials... just in case one of them crosses the line. It is her job to make this world a safer place for everyone, right?

Thane–oh god, poor Thane. His own Siha...? Humans sure are uh... more adventurous than he thought they were. Drells are moved by emotions and romantic feelings more than sexual ones. He has very little interest in pornagrophy in any form of media because he just can't get off to a stranger, someone he doesn't love. But once he discovers that it is you in those videos, his commander Shepard, his siha. A flood of emotions wash over him. It becomes a boderline addiction.

Thane especially knows about the common human prono trope of fucking a drell because of the skin acting as both a stim and an aphrodisiac. He wonders if you'd be open to...having him on the stream for that? Just to boost your views...no other reason :) Definitely not to sate some deep primal instinct within him, the need to state his claim by fucking you in front of all of your adoring fans, he is such a tender gentle soul, he would never have those possessive thoughts, right?....right?

The poor guy almost voices this suggestion out each time you come over for a little chat.

Jack would be your top commenter, not even under a fake profile or a different name. Straight up Jack with her own profile picture to boost. Spewing filth and ordering you around like her own personal whore. Of course you don't pay her any mind and only oblige her requests after you make her beg.

Garrus wants to join you so badly. Picture this, the first ever human/turian streamers ever since the war! It will be a hit with both planets. Your profile will skyrocket in popularity. Especially if this is in ME1 where the human-turian intergalactic relationship was still strained and tense. Meditate the tension between your civilisations by letting him stuff you full with his gaint blue glowing cock <3 huh huh!? A million credit worth idea right?

[collegiateanimationfan]

Trader Johann RTTE Season 3

WARNING: HUGE POST AHEAD!! MASSIVE spoilers for RTTE S3!

Hello Lovely People! About a year ago, I mentioned how my sister and I were working on a list of all of the references and head-canons that we had noticed regarding the Johann betrayal in the seasons and episodes leading up to the reveal, and I had posted wondering if anyone else would be interested in see that list. The response was overwhelming, and we set to it.  

This was such a fun process, and we got to rewatch a huge portion of RTTE through working on this list. It has been such a labor of love, and I am so proud of it. HOWEVER 

Here is our disclaimer. We do A LOT of inferring and connection of head cannon dots in this post. Therefore, please DO NOT fill any re-posts with anger or negativity if you strongly disagree with a head-canon that we have included in this list. We would love to discuss them, but please don’t simply repost “wrong” or anything else related if you don’t agree. We would love for these posts to be a place where the community can discuss the craziness that is Traitor Johann and not argue about who is “right” about one connection or head-canon or another. It is also highly likely that we missed something that disproves any details or head-cannons in a different episode or time, and if you notice that, please let us know!  :)

Season 3 Notes:  

Episode 1: The Enemy of My Enemy 

Johann knows exactly what will draw in Hiccup, a dragon hunters’ ship might be the only type of ship he would even stop to investigate. It was also placed close enough to the Edge that anyone who was on patrol would have found it. The ship was obviously a trap.  

Headcannon: Dagur never knew that Johann was involved, which is pretty much proven later. These men shown are not Viggo’s, and this is maybe the first time in the series where this is the case. The branding also could prove that these men are not even Johann’s but Krogan/Drago’s. I think there is a lot left to individual interpretation as to when and how Viggo, Krogan/Drago, and Johann came together to try and take down Hiccup with the King of Dragons.  

Episode 4: Turn and Burn   

(This is one of my favorite episodes because I am a huge fan of Snotlout, and this episode has a TON of Hiccup and Snot bonding) Nothing related to Johann though.  

Episode 5: A Buffalord Soldier 

Viggo admitted that he killed the people on the fishing boat to poison one of the riders. This is similar to the dragon hunters’ boat from episode 1. Placed just enough in the reaches of the Edge’s water space that one of the riders was guaranteed to find it. He also knew that Hiccup was capable of finding the dragon and he was not. Viggo’s respect for Hiccup was used over and over again to lead to benefit for Viggo.  

“I knew where to get the supply, if I could only generate the demand.”  

Viggo didn’t even know for certain that the dragon existed, but he knew that Hiccup would search for it until the end of the earth and there was a better chance than Viggo himself to find it. This is similar to how Johann uses Viggo and Hiccup to lead him to the King of Dragons. I also think that Viggo might have used the Scourge as a way to make his men search harder for the Buffalord, and when they couldn’t find it, tried to tap Hiccup’s brain – which worked for a short time.  

“Supply and Demand” is also a phrase that Johann has routinely used in the show.  

“That’s a loss I’m not willing to take.” Hiccup’s line to Viggo. I believe that this was what clued Viggo into Hiccup’s affection for Astrid, that he had romantic feelings for her that were deeper than even the extreme friendships that he had with the rest of the riders. Viggo had not previously known that and used it against him once he had the chance in S4E10.  

Episode 7: To Heather or Not to Heather  

There is a shot here that the dragon hunters were tipped off that the Riders would be aiding the Nadder migration by Johann. My sister and I believe that he was working totally in the shadows and pulling strings to try and create accidents or incidents for the Riders during this time, but never took bold actions because he was trying to maintain the relationships that he had built for as long as possible. I think there is a solid chance that this was one such planned incident.  

Episode 8: Stryke Out 

The man in charge of this ring hates Ryker, and is confident in his job enough to say that which means that he could be employed by someone who he believes would protect him even if that comment got back to Ryker. The island that Hiccup and Snotlout found was a trap, and a linkage island for traders to meet up, maybe even run secretly by Johann for his wares too.  

“Tell me where they are!” is one of my favorite moments of the entire series.  This is one of my favorite twin sub-plots of the series as well!  

Episode 9: Tone Death  

Mysterious dragon trader/hunter, who slips in and out and has amazing knowledge of how to get to place to place.... Could this be Johann? Or another one of his goons under specific orders?  It is never really again mentioned, but the Death Song egg is certainly in the "rare and valuable" category that Johann flaunts.

The egg could have been planted as a trap for the Riders. The hunters tried to protect it for a time, but it was very easily abandoned over the threat of their own capture, something that is fairly uncommon in the rest of the series. “They want the egg? Give it to them.”  

Episode 10: Between a Rock and a Hard Place 

Losing the quarry and the stronghold was not in Viggo’s plan, this was a time he underestimated the Riders, and led to a big loss. We think this could have been one of the first times that compounded Johann’s eventual decision to come out of his shadowed leadership and break his cover.  

Episode 11: Family on the Edge 

Hiccup: “Viggo doesn’t defend it because he thinks we don’t know about it.”  

Dagur: “Hiccup, you’re too gullible. Why attack now...did the number of ships go up?”  

Hiccup: “Well-”  

Dagur: “Of COURSE IT DID. Because eight ships wasn’t enough to draw you in! Use your brain Hiccup!”  

Viggo and Johann have a deep understanding of exactly what pushes Hiccups buttons, and Johann would have heard enough conversation to understand what the riders were comfortable taking on. I think a lot of people forget that this man was akin to a yak to the Berkians and the Riders. He was part of their community, and his personality was enough to equally make you forget that he was there, yet never forget him. That is part of his genius and mentioned in the reveal. Behaving as a “buffoonish fool” made him invisible in important conversations. They assumed he wasn’t listening or understanding but he was always doing both.  

“That it was a trap. All along.”  Excuse me while I sob over this episode again even though he lives.

Episode 12: Last Auction Heroes 

The whole thing at the beginning was doubly staged if you can think through that irony. All three parties playing different “decieving” roles in order to maintain an image for another. It’s crazy to think how easily the riders were played here in Viggo and Johann’s perspective.  

“Are you sure he is coming?” “Positive.” This could have been the first time Johann put Krogan and Viggo togehter to try and open them to the idea of working together to defeat Hiccup, or even be aware of each other on a deeper level. We know that Krogan and Viggo were enemies at one point, and this could have been the first show of trust for both of them to try and form a truce in the name of taking down the Riders, or finding the King of Dragons.

Johann is the one who convinced Hiccup to bring the gold, and it is never shown that anyone else displayed wealth, even though he told Hiccup that was the only way into the auction.  This could have been the agreed upon way between Viggo and Johann that the rider in disguise could be pinpointed.  

Episode 13:  Defenders of the Wing Part 1 

Terror-mail: Its a 50/50 that either Johann or Viggo came up with this strategy of the line where Viggo and Hiccup would “split” the archipelago. Either way Johann benefits.  

Tag Gang:

@camille-the-space-ghost @valiantdust @autisticlittleman @little-bullheaded-shit @g4laxy-drag0n @idontknowreallywhy

[howtodrawyourdragon]

Making a lot more "analytical" posts concerning RttE because I've been watching a lot of episodes again lately. Today I was watching the Maces & Talons two-parter and thinking about all the times Astrid has picked Hiccup up emotionally/mentally whenever he's feeling down and how we see Hiccup do the same thing.

Like in the two-parter, Heather and Windshear get captured and Astrid is completely distraught, stating how they should've pulled Heather out of her undercover mission long ago. But if you remember earlier in the season the entire reason why Heather didn't want Hiccup to know is that he would've tried to pull Heather out, whether she would've wanted to be or not.

But then in the two-parter, when Astrid says that they should've gotten Heather out a long time ago, it's Hiccup who assures her that Heather wouldn't have allowed them to.

And then another example that I can think of is when Astrid lets her love for Garff blind her into taking him along on a mission, despite Hiccup's very reasonable objections. She must've twisted his arm somehow, because the very next scene Garff is with them on a mission to stop Krogan from capturing more Singetails.

Cut to a little later, Garff is in trouble and Astrid feels guilty about not listening and having brought him along. Once again, it's Hiccup who assures her and reminds her that the final decision to bring Garff was still his.

For a third one we have to go way back in the series, to Astrid's A-team episode. Because Astrid, though she's keeping up her tough exterior, gets told by Hiccup almost immediately what's really going on when she's so extra tough on Gustav and the rest of the A-team.

Astrid is scared of leaving her family and tribe unguarded again, for which Hiccup reminds her that she can't be there to defend her family every second of every day for the rest of their lives. And while Astrid doesn't really respond well to those words, you can see that they still affect her because she knows he's right.

I don't know what this post is about. Probably about how Hiccup comforts and supports Astrid as much as she does him.

[omniblades-and-stars]

kiss prompts let's see shepard/wrex and 26? :3c

Ok, you'll have to forgive me. I haven't ever written a whole lot of Wrex. I'll need to write more of him in the future so I can get his voice down better. Anyways, sure hope this doesn't suck.

From this prompt meme here.

l'appel du vide

John snapped his fingers. The padding and material of his armored gloves prevented any sound other than a muted swish to filter in through the chaos outside of the crumbling walls, but he didn't need the sound. John snapped his fingers and opened his palm up to the sky. Warmth blossomed behind his ear, accompanied by a familiar and pleasant vibration. It shot through his nerves, akin to the narcotic effect of an injection of opiates. Like the way ice burned against his skin.

This is the end, John.

Light wreathed his arm, gathering in the palm of his hand, and he released his hold on the power coursing through his body, and it petered out like a candle held up in the wind.

John snapped his fingers again.

It ends with you.

When he was younger, before the biotic amp, before he ever had aspirations of a military career, before his name had a meaning, he used a lighter.

It was always windy at the very top of the housing tower. He sat on the concrete ledge, one leg dangling over. The click of the lighter preceded the warmth of the fire as he curved his hand around the flame to keep it from going out. He snapped it shut. Open, click again. It got hotter with each time he repeated the action. The heat on the metal wheel hurt just as badly as the radiation from the little flame. The rhythm, the pain, the light even, all distracted him from the call of the void. That thrilling but unpleasant urge to simply leap from the skyscraper. To feel the rushing wind, and the way gravity would take control of his limbs. That urge, that feeling was addicting. But he didn't actually want to jump. He just needed to feel the beating of his heart and the suggestion of vertigo that came with it. Even if it made him a little sick. A little scared. The lighter just kept him from thinking about it too deeply. From deciding that the call was what he wanted after all.

The void had been calling to him again. He felt it in the heaviness of his limbs, the vertigo building in his pounding head. And even standing inside the crumbling remains of a once proud building, nowhere near the edge. He felt the urge to leap.

John snapped his fingers again.

There will be nothing left of you when this over.

"Is it all humans who can't stand to sit still, or just you?" Wrex boomed as he climbed the rubble that served as a ramp. He laughed as he walked, a deep rumble that permeated the atmosphere with warmth.

It was a comfortable warmth. Like sitting close to a hearth fire or sipping from a cup of coffee on a lazy Sunday afternoon. Neither experience John was overly familiar with. But that rich and bassy expression of joy was just as good. Better even.

John smiled and snapped his fingers again. "All humans are exactly the same, thought you knew that."

It was an old joke of theirs. Borne of both of them saying some idiot thing about "I thought the krogan all thought blank" or "you humans talk too much". Good for both of them then that they had a sense of humor. You needed a sense of humor to get by, especially when you were dealing with an alien who could have been compared to a small mountain if one was feeling generous.

Or plain exxagerative.

Wrex clapped John on the back hard before snatching him by the shoulder and pulling him into a bone crushing hug. It was not hyperbolic to say that it did feel like he was being embraced by a mountain. "What took you so long getting here? I was starting to think I was going to have to kick the Reapers off Earth myself. Show all your Alliance types how the krogan win a war."

"And let you get all the glory?" John gasped as his lungs desperately tried to pull more air in. "Your head's already big enough, I don't think the galaxy could manage you on that kind of ego trip."

"Ha! It can hardly manage me now!" Wrex boasted and released Shepard from the crushing strength of his affection.

"Kind of proving my point there, big guy." John shook his head.

There was more he wanted to say. Words that pushed urgently against the constriction forming in his throat. But he'd never been good at speaking his most closely held truths. Especially the ones that hurt.

John snapped his fingers.

John, you know what needs to be done.

Wrex narrowed his eyes at him. Carefully appraising Shepard in that calm way that proved that he wasn't just a hotheaded jackass. The krogan was too insightful for John's own good. "What's on your mind, Shepard? Other than my rugged good looks, I mean."

That was one of the things John loved about this krogan in particular. Wrex knew how to soften the "get out of your own stupid head for a second" with a joke. Something that allowed John the fiction that the words he said next were just a part of their casual banter and not the scabs that covered the festering ooze beneath.

John sighed and leaned against Wrex's great armored chest, pressing his cheek against the plate to try to hear the great hearts beating underneath. "Just trying to prepare myself to hit that beam. Getting sucked up into lower orbit by Reaper technology isn't exactly my idea of a good time."

"Don't tell me you're afraid of heights."

John flicked the lighter and looked down as he stood on the ledge. You weren't supposed to look down. But he didn't feel the vertigo. Didn't feel the fear of the call. Finch was pissed. It had been a stupid fight. A stupid fuck up. But he wasn't ready to apologize. John felt on the outside again. He didn't belong with the Reds, not really. But he didn’t have anywhere else he belonged. He flicked the lighter again despite the blister forming on his thumb. He stepped back from the ledge. Johnny what are you doing? You have to take control of your life.

John huffed, "Not afraid enough, I think." Not afraid of heights. Not afraid of dying. He'd already done it once, what was one more time anyways?

Nah, he was only afraid of one thing.

He snapped his fingers.

There's no coming back once you step from the brink.

Silence stretched out between them as Wrex waited patiently for John to explain himself. Instead, John curled his fingers over the rim of Wrex's armor and lifted himself onto the tips of his toes to press a kiss against the krogran's rough hide. It was warm and leathery, textured and a little rough, but softer than John had expected the first time he'd kissed him. "I'm sorry," he said quietly.

"Having a hard time coming up with something you should be apologizing for," Wrex answered quietly, worried. John hated when the krogan sounded worried.

Wrex had two hearts though. If one stopped beating because of him, he could go on.

John snapped his fingers.

You have to take control, Johnny.

"Just in case I don't come back."

[chaosk1ng]

So I love New Vegas and would love to see the Courier in different worlds. The thing is that I have specific things I enjoy with crossovers and things I don’t enjoy. One of the ones it would be cool to see the Courier in is Mass Effect and I’m gonna say it here, I don’t like Mass Effect. The dialogue physically hurts me at times, especially the romance dialogues. I went for Garrus because I was told to romance someone and I thought his design was cool, another factor was the fact he was a sniper. The only thing I liked about Mass Effect was Legion who sadly died in the third game for me. How was I supposed to know that Tali dying on the suicide mission would result in his death no matter what?

Anyway, the point is that the world and concept of Mass Effect is cool but I didn’t enjoy the game besides a few mechanics.

Moving on, there’s not a lot of FNV x ME fics out there and even less with things I enjoy so imma talk about some ideas.

The best and most used way for the Courier to be transported to another world/universe is with the Transportalponder from Big Mt. It could also be because people like Cerberus did an experiment that resulted with something similar to the device that accidentally brought the Courier there. He could be teleported either to the location they used the device or somewhere else which would lead to them abandoning the project seeming as it didn’t work from what they could tell. This could also be used to bring others from NV to ME since they would likely try multiple times if it doesn’t work.

One thing I never see are ones where it’s not just the Courier running around. I wanna see how someone like Joshua or Ulysses interact with this new world. This is also an excuse for me to see different factions bring their problems to a new world. Someone like Caesar or Father Elijah recreate their factions for their own benefit and add more problems to the universe.

I can see Mr House still being stuck in the Lucky 38 and having control of the strip but also having part of his consciousness in this new universe and taking as much control as possible. He would likely recreate RobCo and something like New Vegas, maybe take control of that little area in the Citadel DLC for the third game. Point is that people like Mr House who have intimate knowledge of monopoly or people like Caesar who have the charisma and intimidation to get people to follow him would cause chaos. There’s no way that someone like Caesar who indoctrinated people from groups and settlements that he himself destroyed with the Legion couldn’t pull it off in space. The Brotherhood of Steel would be estatice about all the new and unique tech but would pretty much stay the same. They would probably be seen as terrorists like Cerberus with their racism towards anything that isn’t human and how they take any tech they can find from anyone who has any.

This would take place before the final fight for the Hoover Dam so not only would there be the Courier who is already a legend of sorts in the Mojave in Mass Effect but so are other Factions. There could be some of the companions that get brought there too. Usually Courier is either by himself or has ED-E with him but he could also have someone like Boone (one of my favorite companions) who he can partner with anytime or someone like Christine (another one of my favorites) that he only got to work with for a little before they parted ways for good. They could do their own thing around the Galaxy and do what they feel is right. I can see Boone trying to take down things like the prison that Jack is at in the beginning of Mass Effect 2 since the prisoners are sold like what happened with his wife. I can see Arcade continuing the work of the Followers and treating it like a new settlement for them and putting up a clinic or helping with the genophage cure after learning about the Krogan. He would probably get along with Motrin if they met.

Everyone would be confused as to who these new players are and the fact they have little to no information about them besides the fact that some are human. If someone like Raul and or Lily was brought then they would have a bigger target on their back since no one has seen anyone like them since Ghouls and Nightkin don’t exist, the closest thing being the husks. Depending on how far into the series they are summoned at will affect how they are treated.

With the Dead Space x Mandalorian crossover I ended up shipping Isaac and Din but I prefer to stay away from any type of romance when it comes to crossovers regardless of if they’re in the same universe or not. I’m okay with canon romances but only if they’re kinda like a footnote and not a big part of the plot. So things like EDI and Joker are okay but only mentioned a little.

The Courier doesn’t have to be a companion for Shepard but could appear every once in a while by accident. The two of them working together would be ideal for Courier to get home with the Cerberus plot but not really needed. Courier would likely know how to handle something like this on his own, it ain’t exactly his first rodeo. With Cerberus being him here, he would likely find out one what or another and start hunting them down. The tech they would use shouldn’t belong to any in the eyes of the Courier since he has seen what people do with power and fear what would happen if they bring more people from the Wasteland.

Courier and Shepard wouldn’t get along at first. I see Shepard as paragon and would be seen as naive by the Courier who has seen all kinds of corruption and sees that people like the councils won’t change and see what’s in front of them. Eventually the two would respect each other, Shepard wouldn’t completely agree with what Courier does but would somewhat understand where he’s coming from.

Also imma say this right now, I see it as John being Shepard and will throw hands if I see another crossover with the focus on Shepard being him getting with Tali, Liara or Miranda. I’m okay with Shepard being female but I don’t like romance so no shipping her with Garrus, flirting with him had me leaving the game for hours before coming back to try to get through the rest of the dialogue. Yes, Shepard can probably get with anyone but it feels forced in the games for me, like it was required to end up with someone. Same thing with Courier, I can’t ever see him getting with anyone despite me thinking he could probably pull anyone and not make me extremely uncomfortable since you never actually hear Courier speak.

I can’t see Courier giving away any of his weapons and just taking them whenever he sees them but the image of him letting someone borrow something is hilarious since not only are they old looking but seem like they are impossibly held together with a bunch of scrape. Them witnessing fallout mechanics would be hilarious.

Just “hey can I borrow something from you?”

“Yeah sure, just don’t question where I get it from.”

That or something like bloody mess, “there’s a hostile pinning us from above!”

“No there’s not”

“DID THEY JUST FUCKING EXPLODE?!”

Yeah, the wasteland would bring chaos to the universe and Courier would just tag along for the ride. All he wanted to do was do his job and deliver a package but nooo a dude in a checkered pattern suit shot him in the head and made it everyone’s problem, even in a new universe where the bombs didn’t fall. Also I want to see Courier get kicked out of more Casinos since it’s funny to imagine him being banned from every casino he has ever been in. Imagine the Courier in the Citadel DLC, it’s just Shepard looking as he stands there.

“I thought you would be gambling, your always saying you would spend all your time here if you saw one.”

“I got kicked out.”

“Of which one?”

“All of them.”

“Wait what? We’ve barely been here for like half a day.”

“I kept winning until they kicked me out of all of the casinos.”

“I’m sorry what?”

“You're not getting any of my winnings.”

I’ll probably expand on this thought later but seeing Courier Six bringing chaos to other worlds is beautiful to imagine.

[felassan]

if you missed the live N7 Day 2023 cast reunion panel, the rewatch link is here.

here are some notes on trivia and other bits of particular interest from the panel, under a cut due to length –

An audition D.C. Douglas did for Legion can be listened to here. he said it's quite different to what you may expect. He also mentioned an audition for Legion where he was given a eulogy to read and the voice direction from BioWare was that they were looking for something like HAL 9000 but with a little more emotion.

D.C. said on Legion's death scene[s], "it's the innocent emotion coming through" "but with the intellectual understanding of the macro".

Alix Wilton Regan originally auditioned for EDI, didn't get it and then was called back for Sam. BioWare were like "[Sam]'s really London"; AWR was like "I'm from London, I got this, I can do London". months later she was recording for Sam, saw lines for EDI coming up and wondered "who was the woman that got the role of EDI?" when she heard EDI's voice, she was like "omg, she's so hot, yeah I totally get it, I had a real life crush on her in the booth playing Sam, who had a crush on her in the game. I was like 'ohh.. now I get it, I hear it, I see what went on in casting'".

some of the earliest stuff Mark Meer did in ME was a lot of demo stuff, like figuring out how various alien species would sound. BioWare brought him in very early on, during the concept art stages. this is what he was working on for BioWare and then they 'basically upgraded him'. He did a presentation for BioWare demoing how a typical salarian could sound, how a typical krogan would sound, etc, and during this presentation BW had him do some scratch dialogue as a salarian bartender. there was a scene where the bartender was talking to Shepard, who Mark was also voicing during the scene, so he was basically talking to himself. during this process BioWare said that they would like him to audition for the role of m Shepard. "After call backs etc, the rest is history". when BW told Mark, oh btw, f Shepard is played by Jennifer Hale, Mark was super thrilled. "It was like being told the other person in the dual role was Meryl Streep or something".

when Ali Hillis got the role of Liara, at that time she was with her first voiceover agent. Liara's voice in the games is pretty similar to the voice Ali first came up with for her for the audition. they also gave Liara a bit of a mid-Atlantic accent in the first game.

Ash Sroka auditioned for the roles of Liara, Tali and one other character. for the Tali read, she was given a long monologue about Tali's Pilgrimage. she left the booth thinking that if she didn't get the part it was okay, because she'd gotten to read this beautiful monologue and really feel that character. she felt an instant alignment with Tali.

for Grunt's audition, Steve Blum pitched his voice as deep as he could. BioWare said to him that they were going to be pitching Grunt's voice down in post-processing, so he didn't have to do that, but he couldn't help himself and did it anyway. he said that Grunt is a "half-ton child" and self-described as a half-ton child, so things worked out really well. he also mentioned that "it helped me personally, because I'm emotionally under-developed and Grunt is a baby so it was some nice free paid therapy for me, and the fact that people actually responded to it was a bonus, it's kind of amazing".

William Salyers didn't realize he was being brought in to take over the role of Mordin in ME3. he'd been sent audio references and knew that this was a species found throughout the game, and thought that the character he'd be doing was going to be like an assistant or something. the first day in the booth, BW asked him "do you think you can do the match [match the ME2 voice]?" and he was like "I don't know what you're talking about but yes". William was in ME2 as 'Incidental voices' and felt rly fortunate to 'graduate' to Mordin in ME3. when recording Mordin's death-redemption scene in ME3, he & the voice director were both in tears.

for the voice direction in ME1, BW wanted it to feel like an episode of 24 - they didn't want dialogue lines being like screamed or yelled out like they were in a lot of games from around that time. it was supposed to be much more realistic and human in feel.

when developing Kaidan's voice, BW asked Raphael Sbarge to speak to a stickie note on the wall, because they wanted it to feel like there's a sort of sense of the military, that cadence that comes from really speaking to someone else in a directed way.

Shepard and ME have a very special place in Jennifer Hale's heart

a submitted question from the community asked Mark and Jennifer how their perception of Shepard evolved throughout the trilogy. Mark said that the way it was explained to him by BW was that, as they went, they had a little more leeway in Shepard in showing the toll the war was taking on them. "We also got to watch Shepard develop these relationships with the characters in the games. These were their closest friends, their true companions through all of this." this made it possible to sort of humanize Shepard more and more as the series progressed. Shep starts out very by the books regardless of paragon/renegade etc, they're very military, an officer, they're used to giving orders and used to being under pressure. and especially by the time they got to ME3, it was now like, "now you can show a little bit more vulnerability, now you can show a crack in the shell a little bit, especially after the events of ME2 where Shepard literally dies and was resurrected, what does that do to a person?" Mark mentioned that he thinks this is common to all versions of Shepard. by the time you get to ME3 there's a real sense of getting "past the armor, emotionally and spiritually". Jennifer agreed and added that the way voice acting was done in video games also developed over the years from ME1-ME3. by ME3 it was more done in the way like how you would shoot a film, that kind of acting.

Jennifer mentioned that both she and Shep are really freakin stubborn

on Next Mass Effect:

a submitted comment from the community said "Hopefully we get to see or hear you again taking part in the continuation of the Mass Effect story in any way." Jennifer replied "yes, I vote yes to all that".

Ali talked about the moment she discovered Liara was going to be in the next ME. "I have a couple of friends who are close friends and really big ME fans. Usually they're the first ones to alert me of anything ME before I ever see it in the trades, online, on socials etc". she clicked on the link to the trailer she was sent "and I was like.. wait.. what? I think I was just looking at the link and then had to play it again, and then probably like a lot of you I tried to zoom in on it and look at it, like is that...?"

here D.C. said "Um, asking as the voice of an entire species [the geth], do you, you didn't know anything?" Ali said "No, I had no idea, do we ever? I think as we all know, seeing something like that is no guarantee of anything. I was like, is that Liara? Liara's daughter? Liara's mother? is that back in time, is that forward in time? I know as much as anyone, but it was really shocking. like when you were a kid on your birthday and there's a big wrapped present from your parents and you don't know what it is. I know as much as you guys, your guess is as good as mine."

Mark: "As far as what I'm looking forward to, there are endless possibilities. Again as Ali said we, we know about as much as you know, so it could go anywhere. past, future, who can say? Are we gonna see, is this gonna be the First Contact War? is this gonna be far in the far future? where could we go? The Codex is very big as those who have spent ingame time reading it know and that's a very well thought out and fleshed out universe, so the possibilities are endless".

Jennifer: "Just to add to that, what I always tell everybody in the community is email [BioWare] and tell them what you want. they don't know if you don't tell them. telling us doesn't, we appreciate it so much but it actually won't get anything done."

Raphael: "If you feel strongly, we would encourage you to speak up [on that]".

a submitted question from the community asked the cast what they're most excited to see in the next game. AWR: "We're most excited to to see us in the next game, right [winking theatrically]". the cast were all like 'yeah' and nodding and AWR said "emails, emails, emails".

D.C: "The poster, the teaser poster that they put out for Mass Effect 5 shows what looks to be a crater and the outline of Legion and it looks like there's a little dead geth in that poster, so all I know is, and I am the voice of all geth, so."

[source]

[theroomfloor]

HTTYD X ATLA AU

Yes, I will draw them. Someday… I promise

I'm starting from the idea that the 4 nations aren't completely divided, and that benders of the 4 elements live together, as in the case of Berk, although the most common are firebenders. It's become a big mix and that's why it's harder to know who will be the next Avatar

Hiccup: The Avatar. However, when he was born, apparently, He didn't bend any of the elements, considered a nonbender, until find out he's the Avatar.

Astrid: Waterbender. Yes, again using the blue outfit as justification, but I also think water suits her. She and Katara would be besties.

Fishlegs: Earthbender. What I like about earthbending is that it's a completely opposite element to his personality, he's a kind and adorable guy, while earthbending is hard and offensive. But it completely suits him too, because he's protective and strong, and he likes gardening. Bonecrusher likes it for sure

Snotlout: Firebender. Do I really need to explain about this?

Tuffnut and Ruffnut: Airbenders. They're both airheads, so. But seriously, I think the air really suits them, how much they would mess around. Just look at Tenzin's children, or even Aang himself.

Heather: Nonbender. For me, she would be like Asami (and Astrid could be Korra, I'm just saying). Strong and powerful without needing to bend. She would be good with weapons but would also use technology.

Dagur: Firebender. Honestly, it's the most offensive element and it can create lightning, do you want more explanations? But also, I like the idea of him being a Nonbender like his sister. Like, being an heir, they expected him to be a powerful bender, but he ended up disappointing his family and people. So he went through such heavy training that it ruined his psychology.

Mala: She and the entire Defenders of the Wings tribe are Nonbenders. A tribe that lives isolated and without any benders, having a certain repudiation for them, until they meet the Avatar and his gang.

Atali: She and the Wingmaidens are also Nonbenders, but they would be more like the Kyoshi Warriors. Or they could also be like Gliders, so they could "fly".

Now some that I'm just going to throw here and won't comment on

Stoick, Spitelout and Gustav: Firebenders

Gobber: Non or Earthbender (especially Metalbender)

Gothi: Waterbender

Viggo: Non or Waterbender (especially Bloodbender. Thanks @reallyprofoundkryptonite for the idea)

Ryker: Earth or Firebender

Krogan: Fire or Nonbender

There're a lot of characters missing, but I can't think of anyone else right now. The main ones are here. Feel free to give your opinions and headcanons.

[hiccupbutpurple]

I love it when the other characters reference Hiccup and Viggo’s relationship/connection in the series. It really deepens it and shows how noticeable it is, the importance of it, and other characters can make them admit it.

Like Ryker was literally like, ‘out of Viggo and myself, who has more of an interest in you Hiccup?’ Obviously he would know a bit more about what Viggo was thinking because they are brothers and work together a lot. It also forces Hiccup to be like, yup I definitely have an effect on him which makes it all the more intense. It fuels a lot of different possibilities depending on the angle you wanna take. It also just really compliments the way they interact in those episodes especially.

My favourite one though is Snotlout’s rant about Hiccup’s Viggo obsession and how Hiccup literally admitted to it. They both effect each other so much and it’s just so nice to see people outright admit it.

In Triple Cross how they all are wary of how Hiccup is probably feeling and they all offer comfort in their own ways (Snotlout compliments him and the twins try to make some jokes and probably distract everyone from putting attention on Hiccup, ig Fishlegs is kinda musing over it but that’s in Fishlegs fashion, and Astrid is there to check on him when he’s alone and offer solidarity - I could delve deeper into all of these reactions some other time cause I’ve done Snotlouts -). It’s not as intense as in Shell Shocked but it’s still important - Hiccup is the one that needs the comfort for Viggo’s ‘death’ (even if it’s slightly skimmed over and played more as Hiccup doesn’t like to kill) rather then Astrid who’d been threatened by him.

Viggo complimenting Hiccup to Krogan as well and him being like ‘reverence, Viggo? It’s a dangerous emotion.’ Love a bit of foreshadowing and it creates more distance between Krogan and Viggo (adding on to what is already there) just like it did with Ryker. Also the whole ‘Archipelagon Idol’ comment ajajajsjsjs.

It’s fun to see the effects on Hiccup and Viggo but for others too bring it up is just so satisfying! You really get to see how it doesn’t only effect each other, it bleeds out into the other characters lives as well which shows how intense it is. Also this was only a brief little one from memory and my memory is terrible so I’ve definitely missed a lot but I needed to fangirl about them for a second. There’s also subtle things too like Stoick’s reaction in shell shocked or their conversation about revenge or all the facial expressions but that’s for another day!

[reallyprofoundkryptonite]

What do you think of "yandere" Krogan?

It depends entirely on the AU, and I feel like he could definitely fit into the “obsessive” and “Insane” categories if given the correct circumstances. But it entirely depends on the specific circumstances and context of what made him like that because mainline, I feel like yandere doesn’t fit him because of the trauma I give him. He is innately clingy in my opinion, but most likely not… stalker like. Krogan himself seems to be extremely introverted and therefore extremely avoidant of people, in my opinion. So it would possibly take… a lot for him to get to this point.

He is innately capable of violent acts, though, so hypothetically we could absolutely transfer that aspect over that Krogan is absolutely just extremely paranoid about people from a survivalist aspect. But if you add feelings into the mix of Krogan liking/caring very deeply for someone and throwing those same paranoid feeling of distress of ther people being dangerous, it could possibly work, considering Krogan’s paranoia could and would absolutely leak into violence towards others in the name of protecting him and his prospective significant other.

Therefore it is an innately complex topic. I have never quite been a fan of blatant yandere, especially for Krogan, simply due to the fact that I personally don’t see him having some of the traits that are typical for a yandere, especially since it would negate the trauma I give him in some cases, HOWEVER, if done correctly I could figure it out, probably, like in the manner I listed above.

[swaps55]

After I read your latest Mezzo chapter (Chef’s kiss!) I started another reread of the whole series. (The fifth? Sixth? I lost track ^^) Anyway, I just came across the “MSV Fleur de Lis” incident that ends in Wong being expelled from the team and consists of one of the few (if not the only) glimpses we get on how Sam is around children.

Not for the first time I thought about your take on whether or not he and Kaidan will be having kids in the future. I can totally relate to Kaidan’s way of thinking - not wanting to “burden” Sam with another responsibility but making it possible for him to live a life just for himself. And nobody else.

I was wondering - do you think they’ll talk about this? Is that a decision they make together? Or is it just Kaidan who decides for the both of them without actually telling Sam? Will that ever be a topic? What would Sam do if he realizes at one point that Kaidan gave something up for him? Assuming Kaidan would like to have kids ..

This is a really excellent question with a complicated answer because their writer makes it complicated. Kids are unfortunately a very sensitive subject for me to write about (this question is absolutely fine or I wouldn't have answered it), so in essence I am making this decision for them and backing into why it's in character, because a life with kids is not something I can write about.

I'm saying this mostly to give a peek into some of the writing process. Especially in fanfic, where events and decisions and character beats can come predefined, sometimes the question you have to ask yourself isn't "how does this character respond to X," it's "this character responded to X with Y, why did that happen?" In this case I am defining the character response to this question because it's a boundary for me, but now it's my job as the writer to make sure that decision feels in character.

Anyway - do Sam and Kaidan talk about this decision? Probably, even if it doesn't wind up on the page. You're right - Sam is good with kids. I wanted that glimpse you get in Cantata to show that. There's a Cantata-era story I really, really want to find the time to write that is based around the thought that sometimes we become the people we needed when we were young. I think part off the reason Sam is good with kids comes from the fact that he grew up with an inattentive, distant parent, so he gives kids his full attention. Also, he had an interrupted childhood. There's a part of him that didn't get to be a kid, so kids bring out the kid in him that never got to be.

But I do think the fact he is so much like his mother would scare him when it comes to the possibility of parenthood. He might bring up kids thinking that it's something Kaidan might want, and Sam's a giver. But he'd probably feel a lot trepidation over the suggestion, and relief when Kaidan kindly, but firmly says no.

Kaidan knows Sam, and knows how easily he'll compromise himself to make someone he cares about happy, so he might keep it close to the vest why he doesn't want kids. Because if Sam sniffs out that it's because Kaidan doesn't want Sam to have to feel that pressure, he'd probably push back thinking he's taking something away from Kaidan.

But I think Kaidan believes it for himself, too. They have given up so much and done so much, that they deserve to be a little selfish. He's shared Sam with an entire galaxy for years. In many ways, Commander Shepard will always belong to other people. So wanting to keep Sam for himself is something I can see him feeling, and wanting to relieve Sam of the need to give up more of himself for kids would make it easier for him to want that out loud.

I think I might have said this before, so forgive me if I'm repeating it, but I do think that Sam has a lot of contact with Tuchanka after the war, and a sort of unspoken trend of krogan mothers bringing their young to Sam as a form of "pilgrimage" gains steam in the aftermath. He makes a lot of trips to Tuchanka, and krogan are known to bring their children to the orchard.

Helping to bring future generations to the krogan would be a type of 'fatherhood' Sam would be very, very proud of.

[sol-consort]

Omg do you think humans don’t vibe with the Asari as much as they do with literally every other species is because we know where we stand with everyone else?

We don't vibe with asari? I mean, I have personal beef with them bc of how they handled ME3, but besides that, the asari have been a little delightful, pretentious, but charming still. It's hard to stay mad at someone so pretty.

But you have a point, humans and turians mingle more often than humans and asari. Hell, humans and krogans seem to have much more fun. Even salarians enjoy our food and culture... but the asari are just there.

I think humanity's lack of "special" bond with asari is because...well, the asari can't exploit us in a way that matters.

LISTEN—listen okay. So, each species the asari are close with "lacks" certain things. Salarians with their imbalance 90/10 male to female ratio meaning a lot of them will never get married, Krogans inability to have kids because of the genophage, Vorcha with their limit 20y lifespan and underdeveloped society, Quarians living in poverty and requiring, expensive antibiotics, environmental suit and its maintenance costs to stay alive.

And the asari take advantage of that. Not always malicious, but they feel inclined to meddle within each species and attempt to fill the empty spaces in order to advance their own society.

Many salarians marry asari, said asari not minding since they'll outlive them.

Krogans who desperately want kids, the one thing the asari can give them.

The vorcha whom they actually enslaved and exploited for years, who couldn't defend themselves in court because the asari would just stall the case until the vorcha eventually dies, not to mention the fact they kept them illiterate and uneducated on purpose.

Swindling someone out of their money in Thessia is not a crime, there are zero laws to defend the customer, everyone is trying to scam everyone and quarians always get the short end of the stick and end up signing up for things they don't understand, drowning in debt until the asari sells them to a different company they must work for like a slave.

The asari are parasitic by nature. They find a weakness within a species and exploit it to advance their own. They're probably not aware of it, nor do it intentionally, but this is the reality of their existence.

A race that requires a different species to reproduce will always only prosper on the suffering of others. A Cuckoo is very beautiful, but it can't build its own nest, so it lays eggs in other birds' nest and tricks them into raising its own. A brood parasite. As the chick hatches, it will push the other eggs off of the nest, ensuring it's the only one that remains.

They can dress up their society as much as they like, swear by the goddess, adorn all the titles of justicar and else. Speak with eloquence and act with grace. They still are opportunistic parasites at their core.

Humans are self-fulfilling, everything the asari can offer us—both the good and the bad—we already have ourselves. Even our biotics research advancement reaches a stage in ME3 where the asari asks to have a look at it.

We like the asari, but we don't need them.

Not to mention the whole brainwashing thing to make themselves seem the most appealing to your brain, tricking you into viewing them as very similar to your species—yeah we glossed over that we too quickly.

It could also just be the Mass Effect storywriters keeping them a blank page on purpose, all the stuff about the asari intricate world, brutal capitalist society, inner conflict, civil wars as several groups demand isolation from the rest of the aliens, the fact they can easily birth bloodthirsty demon like biotics, or the whole racism issue based on who the father is, all of that is swiftly swept under the rug fot the "hot human-lite all-women alien species."

The turians are also a species that seemingly doesn't lack anything.

Sure, they can be a little uptight and too military centred, but they seem uh happy with their mandatory bootcamps for kids?

So them and the asari don't mingle much, they are on good terms but asari don't often go for turians, and it's true the other way around as well.

You see more human/turian couples than asari/turian ones in Mass Effect.

[deep-space-lines]

Rating Mass Effect 1 Planets (A Tourist's Guide)

Are they boring? Yeah, kind of. Did I get tired of them really fast during my first playthrough? Yeah, kind of. After 860 hours in the game, am I now spending hours just driving around the boring planets in the Mako, absorbing the vibes, exploring the desolate wasteland, and taking nice screenshots? Perhaps.

Allow me to take you on an autism-fueled guided tour of the galaxy and recommend some wonderful travel destinations for the next time you want to take a relaxing vacation in the mountains. (Because it's always fucking mountains.)

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Tuntua: 10/10

I genuinely love Tuntua. This is the planet that I just drove around on for fun during my first playthrough. There's just something about driving over the salt flats and seeing the landscape around you sparkle that fills me with joy. I love the weird inexplicable pyramids. I love how snowy it looks, even if it isn't actually cold. I appreciate a good human-friendly temperature, as I'm sure most tourists will, but I kind of wish it was colder because I want to go ice skating here so, so bad. I can skate pretty fast but I am not good at turning or stopping, which is just what this landscape was made for, baby! I am going to set a new land speed record on these sparkly salt flats in this stupid wonderful brick of a tank.

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Asteroid X57: 8/10

I'm kind of torn on this one because I'm not a huge fan of how grey most of the place is, but on the other hand, yeah, that's a solid asteroid. You get what you pay for. Something about the atmosphere (or rather lack of), the looming planet in the background, the multitude of structures in relatively close proximity, make it feel more claustrophobic yet exposed than the other locations you can visit. The northernmost part of the map offers a truly breathtaking view of Terra Nova. Vacation-wise, I think you have two main options. You can lie in the dust and stare up at the sky and ponder your mortality and how small you are in the grand scheme of the universe for as long as your oxygen supply will allow, or you can explore a variety of abandoned structures if that's more your cup of tea. Why are they abandoned? Not relevant to your vacation! It's not trespassing if the owners are dead! ...I think.

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Rayingri: 7.5/10

While it seems pretty boring upon first inspection, I think it deserves a pretty high score anyway.

Some of the points are for fascinating rock formations. You've got these extremely steep, strangely pillar-like mountains, plateaus, and cliffs; the terrain is a lot more interesting than most other planets. Maybe not everyone's cup of tea for relaxation, especially considering the earthquakes and all, but I'd love to visit Rayingri with a geologist and just hear them talk about it. How old are these mountains? I wonder if they're really young and their formation was spurred by the tectonic disturbances caused by the looming planetoid that's about to crash into it? Look I dunno how this works, my degree is in astrophysics not geology.

But on the topic of the planetoid... The real draw here, I think, is impermanence. This planet will be obliterated by another planet within a few hundred years. A blink of an eye, on a galactic scale. You might not have the most fun here, but it's a cool place to visit just to say you have- especially if you're a krogan or asari and will live long enough to see it destroyed. There's something profound about that, I think, even if the planet itself is rather boring. Rayingri: experience impending doom today!

Also, my sister wants me to add that orange is a good color. So, bonus half point for good color.

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Antibaar: 10/10

I'm gonna be upfront: this place is snowy and cold as balls. If you don't like your vacation spot snowy and cold as balls, you should probably vacation elsewhere. However, I'm a huge fan of snowy wastelands (doing research in Antarctica is at the top of my bucket list), so if you are like me and have a rapturous enjoyment of snow and winter sports, you'll be pleased to learn that Antibaar is just warm enough to enjoy the great outdoors. Bring your sleds, your skis, your skates, we are HAVING A SNOWBALL FIGHT UNDER THE MOST BEAUTIFUL SKY IN THE GAME. Don't let the haters' talk of "low temperatures, high speed surface winds, and low visibility" stop you from having a jolly good time. High speed winds just means your sled will go faster.

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Casban: 3/10

I'm going to be real with you: unless your vacation goal is to isolate yourself like a monk and wreak havoc upon future generations of algae, any experience you can have on Casban, you can experience better on Earth, with the added bonus of vacationing on Earth not being illegal. Don't get me wrong, it's a stunning planet- it's just that I don't particularly enjoy sitting in the lush grass, watching a beautiful sunset, and thinking about how nice it would be if the air was breathable and I could have a picnic here. Not that I've ever done that, of course. That would be illegal.

However, if you're a rogue ecologist with no moral qualms about disturbing a delicate ecosystem, this would probably be a really cool place to hang out and do some illegal rogue ecologist research. I won't stop you, I'm not a cop.

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Maji: 4/10

Maji is, I think, mostly just a place to stop for a cool selfie. The sky is beautiful, but I mean, there's really only so long you can stare into the suns before you either get bored or sustain eye damage- and if you do want to look at the binary, you'll probably get a better view from space anyway. Given all this, I'd rate the planet a 3/10; however, I'm tacking on an extra point for excitement. Terminus pirates sometimes dump people here and make them fight to the death to be rescued, so if you enjoy blood sports, this may just be the perfect vacation spot for you.

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Solcrum: 10/10

If you want to feel like you're back in the early days of human space travel, when everything was new and alien and deadly, when we thought we were alone in the galaxy, when other planets were dreary and uninhabitable yet fascinating wastelands- Solcrum might be just the place for you. The roiling behemoth of a star looming over the horizon like some kind of eye and casting eerie blue light over a fragmented barren landscape... Solcrum is another good place to feel small. With the mass relays making travel across the galaxy near-instantaneous, it can be easy to forget that most of the Milk Way is vast, unexplored, empty, and impersonally hostile to life. Solcrum is a humbling reminder of that reality. You're going to want to bring your SPF 3000 sunscreen and a lot of cold water, because this moon sits at a balmy 351 °C. It isn't an easy vacation spot- but then, you're not vacationing to Solcrum because it's easy.

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Agebinium: 9/10

This was actually the last planet I visited, but it felt right to place it here, as the renegade to Solcrum's paragon. Blue giant, red giant. I love a planet with some mood lighting, and the mood here is a little bit evil in a sexy way. I'm into it. I'm putting it a point below Solcrum because Solcrum just has this memorable eerie dark vibe that Agebinium doesn't quite replicate, but in terms of atmosphere, it's up there. It's a bit colder, a bit flatter and easier to drive around, and kind of reminds me of a forlorn desert. An evil desert. In a good way. It's not really a place you go to do things as much as a place you go to be there, you know? Like the woods or something. I don't really go into the woods to do things, I go into the woods to be in the woods. Look, something about the vibe here just makes me want to be evil and sexy while doing it. I don't need to explain myself to you.

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Edolus: 1/10

Honestly, there's just not enough on Edolus to justify the risk of visiting. As you can see above, meteor impacts are disturbingly frequent, and I don't know if just another windy desert is worth the risk of being instantly snuffed from existence by a loose boulder. On the bright side, they might name the crater after you.

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Sharjila: 4/10

To start with the positives: Sharjila is one of a handful of explorable worlds with higher animal life, and the only visitable world we know of that supports silicon-based life! Sick! And I can guess what you're thinking; wow, silicon-based life sounds cool! Would love to see some someday! Unfortunately, the silicon animals are elusive, and I've never been able to glimpse them for myself. Even if you did come across wildlife, you probably won't be able to leave your vehicle for a closer look, as the high atmospheric pressure is deadly to everyone who isn't a volus.

The main drawback to this world, however: it's full of ammonia and sulfur. Assuming you can get your hands on the equipment necessary for a visit, your stuff is going to smell like total ass for weeks.

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Eletania: 9/10

Animal life, lush meadows, beautiful landscapes, a delicate ring system AND a moon, stunning skies- Eletania has it all. Which is unfortunate, because it wants to kill you so bad. It would be an easy 10/10 if the local microscopic critters would just chill the fuck out, but NO, I have to sit in my tank and gaze wistfully at the beautiful scenery and think about how much I want to frolic out there.

Look at that view. Don't you want to take a hike here? Don't you want to climb to the top of one of those mountains and have a romantic starlit picnic under the rings? Don't you want to just roll around in the grass for a bit? Imagine playing fetch with your dog here. It would be nice, right? Well you CAN'T, at least not for very long, because then you and your dog would both be DEAD. You gotta stay in your car and play safari while you watch the pyjaks roam around aimlessly in your place. Undignified. Why do THEY get to be free and I, the clearly superior ape, have to sit in the Mako like I'm in time-out?!-- Anyway, it's a nice planet.

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Mavigon: 7/10

"Let me guess, you like the-" YEAH I LIKE THE FROZEN WASTELAND PLANET!!! AND IF YOU DON'T LIKE IT MAKE YOUR OWN POST!

Some points taken off for having less general whimsy than Tuntua and Antibaar, and for the fact that the great outdoors cannot be enjoyed by virtue of the planet being negative 8 billion degrees. But like. I wanna look outside the window and see that howling storm while I sit nice and cozy by a fireplace, bundled up in a sweater and a blanket, drinking hot chamomile tea. Either that, or I want to sit in my tank and watch the snow and listen to melancholy music. NOT sad music by the way. It NEEDS to be melancholy. This is a planet that will give you seasonal depression.

My favorite part is just at the edge of the map though (see above screenshot), where the mountains disappear completely and give way to a flat plain that stretches out as far as the eye can see. Makes me wonder if the whole area is covered by an ice sheet and the mountains we see are just the very tips of a massive mountain range buried beneath kilometers of ammonia ice. Cool and spooky. I think if I had to pick a planet to die on, this one would be up there. Very atmospheric.

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Trebin: 0/10

I wish I had something nice to say about Trebin. I really don't. I don't have anything all that terrible to say about it either- which is kind of worse. This is a planet defined by what it lacks. Water. Life. Redeeming qualities. There are more dangerous places you can visit, but at least danger is its own kind of excitement. Trebin is just... eh.

You may be wondering why it is that I praise some planets for being empty and desolate, while condemning others. This is based purely off the vibes that I can objectively sense with my giant brain. I hope this answers your questions.

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Klensal: 8/10

I was going to give this one a 7/10 like Mavigon until I realized the entire map seems to be covered distinctly with glaciers, rather than snow. There's ripples where you can see the ice has been flowing, and valley glaciers flowing between the mountain peaks. I helped out with a little bit of glaciology research in undergrad and this tiny aspect of a planet sparked joy for me ok? The way the ice flows just feels so natural! Maybe it's on Antibaar too and I was too distracted by the beautiful sky to notice? But the other ice worlds I've seen so far are kinda just. White and snowy. But on Klensal the surface is tinted blue and looks almost iridescent. The whole landscape is awash with pastel blues and purples and greens as you drive, it looks more like blue glacial ice rather than a thin layer of snow over rocks. There's just a bunch of teeny tiny details that come together to make a subtly awesome planet.

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Presop: 1/10

So y'know how I mentioned Solcrum feeling like the early days of space travel? This is like that but without the glamor. The fact that you can actually see the stars and that it reminds me of Luna gives it a marginal point over Trebin, but there's just no tourist attractions here. If you're stopping at Presop, it's gonna be less for tourism and more like stopping at a gas station to use the bathroom on a long road trip.

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Amaranthine: 1/10

So... Amaranthine is not a particularly fun place to visit. However, my main gripe with this "tourist destination" is that it is advertised as purple. "Under the dim light of the red dwarf Fortuna, the surface of this world is lit in rich twilight blues and purples even at midday"- is what the brochure said. It was named after this supposed purple-ness. Amaranthine is supposed to be a purplish-red color, right?

Now look at my photo. I know that lighting can sometimes look different in photos vs real life, and you may be tricked into thinking the same thing I did, that surely it must look better in person. It does not. Allow me to personally assure you that this thing is blue and gray. Blue and gray are fine colors, but the important point here is that they are not reddish-purple. Needless to say, I was a little disappointed when I landed down here. Surely we could've saved a pretty name like that for a purpler planet? I'm actually trying to get in contact with the International Astronomical Union, see if I can propose a name change to something more appropriate. Cobalt? Indigo? Sapphire? Iris?

However, I'm going to give it a single point for a rather befuddling atmosphere. For some reason it reminds me of how alien planets in Star Trek TOS just looked like a bunch of fake rocks with an unnaturally colored sky in the background? Good planet to dissociate on.

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Xawin: 3/10

I feel like I'm betraying some personal principle by saying this, but... I'm getting a little tired of snowy wastelands. I forgot how many there are. How many planets. I have 10 more to go. I should've counted them before I started tbh. I'm running out of unique ways to get excited about the cold.

Xawin. It's cold and snowy. Not in an unrestrained winter fun way, but in a way that kills you. You want an average surface temperature of 140 Kelvin? We got it. You want ice storms? We got it. And that's about it. This world just makes me think about how Antarctic researchers supposedly get so bored that they just fuck all the time. If I were a mercenary hanging out on this rock, I'd probably do the same, and I'm asexual.

+10 points for snowiness. -7 points for being boring.

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Ontarom: 10/10

FINALLY A FUCKING PLANET I CAN HAVE A PICNIC ON!!!! We got everything we need. Breathable atmosphere. Livable temperature. Soft grass-equivalent. Docile space cows that you can pet, or that can provide a nice cow steak if you forgot to bring picnic food. Space beetles big enough to ride on, not that I condone or recommend it.

It's not all sunshine and rainbows- in fact it is very stormy almost all the time- but joke's on you, I'm a slut for a good thunderstorm. The terrain is shit. Getting up to the plateaus is quite a hike. It's hot as balls. But I can have a picnic. I wanna take my girlfriend on a date here so bad.

My only concern is that I seem to have lost all my credits?

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Chasca: 8/10

Chasca is basically Ontarom minus the beetles. 30C is a bit hot for my taste, but compared to the other planets we've seen so far, it's extremely comfortable for humans. There's some really cool pyramids for any archaeology enthusiasts!

The terrain is a bit rougher than Ontarom, perhaps a better hiking destination than a picnic one, which is great because I LOVE a good hike. There's these valleys that are basically just perfect paths through the landscape, and if you're lucky you might run into some space cows here. I wonder how aliens feel about the human habit of naming everything 'Space _'? I mean, space cows, space beetles, space hamsters... come on guys, we're better than this...

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Nodacrux: 4/10

This is just Chasca but it kills you. Chasca is right there. It's right next door. Just go to Chasca.

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Altahe: 8/10

YEAAAAA!! Look at this place. It feels like an evil wizard should live here. Or a dragon. Or a space vampire. This feels like the setting of a sci-fi horror movie. Every aspect of this planet LOOMS. Like what ARE those mountains? They look more like hydrothermal vents than mountains.

The fact that it's a double planet is incredibly cool. I did a bit of lazy digging (which is frustrating when most of the 'literature' on the subject seems to be one admittedly cool-sounding sci-fi book from 1982 (Rocheworld by Robert Forward) and a few reddit posts), and it seems like a system of two planets orbiting so close that they share an atmosphere without breaking apart falls under the umbrella of 'sort of kind of barely physically possible maybe?' Like theoretically it checks out, it sounds possible for there to be a window where the tidal forces are enough to rip the atmospheres away before the actual rocky parts fall apart, but how narrow is that window? Sadly I don't know, and I'm not quiiiite confident enough in my physics knowledge to do that kind of math, and it's going to bother me for the next 2 weeks to 12 years of my life.

So if either spooky landscapes or witnessing the laws of physics doing something really weird sounds like your kind of thing, this planet might be up your alley.

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Nepmos: 6/10

Is it safe? No. Is it beautiful? For the most part, not really. If you've ever looked at an active volcano and thought, 'wow, I wish I was there!', Nepmos might be the place for you. (The fact that I have thought that is why it scores as high as it does.)

The sky is absolutely stunning. Cool volcanic rock, you can see the flow of lava and some places where you can see the rock is only a thin layer with magma flowing just beneath the surface. Explore at your own risk; assuming you don't lose a limb to stepping in some rock soup, your friends will think you're either an idiot or a total badass.

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Binthu: 0/10

I'll just save myself the trouble and quote the travel brochure here: "Data about the world is surprisingly brief and generic, painting a picture of an unpleasant and uninteresting place." Sadly for this vomit-colored world, we are after pleasant and/or interesting.

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Nepheron: 9/10

I forgot this one existed, probably because I usually only come across it relatively late into a playthrough, which is a damn shame because it's really cool. The mountains sparkle. Bitch the mountains sparkle! And there's salt flats! It's like Tuntua but with cooler mountains and a complimentary color scheme, which I'm a big fan of. The only thing separating Nepheron and Tuntua by a point is personal preference, honestly- I like the brighter atmosphere of Tuntua- and the fact that it's a bit difficult to drive around, with much less opportunity to enjoy setting land speed records on salt flats. The travel brochures weren't kidding about geological beauty though. If I had a geologist with me to talk about the cool mountain ranges (and they are quite cool- most planets seem to have hills or disconnected mountains, but the landscape here is very much mountain ranges) I would probably have a really fun time here.

___________

Aaaand that's it ladies and gentlemen. This took me like? 4 days? Ish? I had to do Noveria, Feros, and some of the Cerberus side quests in order to unlock all the planets (except Chohe or Nonuel, the ones you get once you get a certain paragon/renegade score, I'm just too lazy), and speedrunning the main missions to get to the boring side quest planets was certainly a unique experience. Not one I'd recommend. I DIDN'T EVEN TALK TO GARRUS. It was weird. But fun! The apocalypse can wait. We were busy sightseeing, bitch!

[dragonflight203]

Mass Effect 2 replay, Garrus’ loyalty mission:

-Bailey thinks someone is feeding Fade inside information and that’s how he’s avoiding C-Sec. This is the first hint that “Fade” is Harkin.

-In the warehouse, you immediately meet “Fade” (really his contact) who asks you who needs to disappear.

This feels like part of the mission is missing. Why is Fade’s contact here? Why does he assume someone needs to disappear?

I suspect part of the mission to trigger this contact was cut. I’m curious why. Garrus’ mission is already short.

-If you don’t take the renegade interrupt to shoot them, the krogan bodyguards just leave.

That’s pretty funny. The game clearly wanted you to shoot them.

I have the impression one of the developers asked “So, what do we do if the player doesn’t shoot?” and another said, “Eh, for now just have them walk away. We’ll come up with something later.” Then they didn’t.

-The contact mentions that Harkin is helping Blue Suns infiltrate organizations and businesses on the Citadel.

Why are they doing so? They’re a mercenary group.

This is the first and last time it’s mentioned, so add this to the tally of hooks ME2 provides that ME3 doesn’t use.

-And Harkin is conveniently at the entrance of the Factory District when Shepard and co show up out of the blue.

Their timing today is amazing. That made it easier to find the right factory. Can you imagine how long it would have taken if Shepard had to check each factory to find Harkin? Or if he was at home that day?

-Garrus says he’ll give Sidonis an easy death compares to what the rest of his men received. It’s implied they were tortured.

No wonder their deaths are haunting him.

-In Thane’s mission, Shepard chooses (or not) to beat up Mouse for information. Thane would prefer the mission was nonviolent.

In Garrus’ mission, Garrus beats up Harkin for information. Shepard chooses whether or not to hold him back.

Thane’s at the end of a long and bloody life and making what peace he can with it. Garrus is essentially having an early mid life crisis about the direction his life will go.

Garrus isn’t an assassin, but he has chosen to kill many men in cold blood. I think he’d benefit from speaking with Thane.

-Garrus is only reflective on this mission if Shepard challenges his decision to kill Sidonis.

If they do not, Garrus accomplishes exactly what he sets out to do and closes that part of his life. Nothing forces him to think more deeply about it.

Given that most of the loyalty missions are meant to drive character growth, I assume that Bioware expected players to go the paragon route.

-Shepard has a lot of faith that Garrus won’t shoot them. I’m sure he has bullets that can go through more than person.

-Even after you tell him that you’re blocking Garrus’ shot, Sidonis keeps moving. He decides to lean over a railing!

That’s the clearest evidence that he has a death wish.

-What finally convinces Garrus to not shoot Sidonis is Sidonis saying there’s nothing he can do to make his actions right.

I think that’s what Garrus really wanted – to hear Sidonis take responsibility and admit that he fucked up.

Turians take personal responsibility very seriously, so that’s probably what showed Garrus that Sidonis had some chance of doing better.

-The mission summary says that Cerberus has operatives in C-Sec. Lovely. And a bit of foreshadowing for the Citadel Coup in ME3.

Normandy

-Thane says that when he married Irikah, the hanar let him leave their service. He chose to continue to freelance.

The lengths this drell is willing to go to deny he has any culpability in the assassinations he’s performed is impressive.

Also, I wonder how Irikah felt about it?

If nothing else, the assassinations kept Thane from home. Did she ever wish he’d quit and take a job that let him stay with the family? I’m sure he could have found something, even if it didn’t pay as well.

-After killing his wife’s murderers, Thane was passively suicidal until he met Shepard.

Understandable. He’s said repeatedly his wife is what connected him to the world. Without her, he was adrift.

He should have reconnected with Kolyat, but I can understand why he’d feel that Kolyat was better off without him. He did mention in his loyalty mission that he checked in with him after killing his wife’s murderers, but decided to stay away.

-Samara has two conversations after her initial post-loyalty dialogue. Unusual, except for Mordin.

-Unlike everyone else, attempting to initiate a relationship with Samara is renegade.

-She lets you down very gently. She seems genuinely attracted to Shepard but resolute that she is not going to pursue it.

-If you stay renegade throughout, she implies sex without emotion is common for maidens. She’s only interested in sex with a connection.

-The entire point of this conversation is to establish that Samara is not a romance option.

It’s actually pretty funny that Bioware felt this required its own independent conversation.

I’m happy they did so – Bioware leaned hard on asari being “available” in ME1. It’s a good counterbalance to have an asari squadmate that isn’t interested.

-Garrus believes that Shepard will win but they’ll definitely lose people.

I look forward to proving him wrong.

-Good turians follow bad orders and know their place. Garrus is a rebel because he argues against bad decisions.

Garrus in fandom is often considered a “yes man” because he always goes along with Shepard’s decisions. Yet his willingness to question Shepard until his concerns are appeased are what make him a bad turian.

Turians that don’t fit in because they argue too much are probably fast tracked for command or tapped for special operations, such as spectres.

-Turian ships have more operations discipline but greater personal freedom.

I’m curious about what this like. How is operation discipline tighter? What personal freedoms do they have?

I don’t know much about miliatry operations. I suppose they’re given less leeway on how tasks are performed.

For personal freedoms – less strict uniform requirements? Able to take drugs while off duty? Fewer restrictions on relationships?

Give me examples, Bioware! I enjoyed those ME1 info dumps.

-Turians are implied to be highly active. Their ships have training rooms for exercise, combat sims, and they engage in full contact sparring.

I’m left with the impression that one of the responsibilities of their leaders is keeping them busy so they don’t find their own distractions. Like how you need to give a livestock dog a job or they’ll find their own. :) Turians need ACTION and will provide their own if not given any. If you want the ship to remain intact, make them burn off that energy.

-When speaking about the scout he sparred with, Garrus casually says the “betters” in the room were not pleased that they kept drawing.

The choice of the word “betters” is telling of the Hierarchy mindset. I bet Garrus casually uses the word “lessers” too and doesn’t mean it as an insult.