#Carth I only met you last year but I love you

[alpydk]

Cullen Rutherford walked so that Gale Dekarios could run

I'm sorry, you seem to be thinking that Cullen came first (he may have, I've not got that far in the game)

But Garrus here would like a few words. He flew in, sniper rifle at the ready, before either of those two were even pixels in concept art.

In fact! These pixels would like a word too! The evolution of awkward pixel men began long before Cullen Rutherford.

[spectraspecs-writes]

Korriban - Chapter 91

Link to the masterpost. Chapter 90. Chapter 92.

@averruncusho @ceruleanrainblues @chubbsmomma @strangepostmiracle thank you for reading, you get a tag. @skelelexiunderlord thank you for support, you get a tag.

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While the opening to the caves is at ground level, the caves themselves are down a bit of a ramp of sorts, so there’s not a lot of light that gets through. A common enough problem for a scout that if this were a few years ago I’d have had a decent flashlight. But seeing as how I haven’t needed it I took it out of my pack a while ago. So I activate my blue lightsaber. A lightsaber isn’t a great flashlight - the light doesn’t travel very far and it could potentially take off a limb if you’re not careful - but it gets the job done as our eyes adjust. I can still hear the cries of shyrack echoing in the caves, but they’re some distance off. All the ones near the mouth of the cave were killed by the Sith apprentice, so we can go some ways before we see any. I am seeing some weird marks on the cave walls - none of them go too far above my hips, and they’re carved, curved indentations. I used to see marks like these in forests, cut into trees. And once in a cavern where some reek lived. They would scrape their horns on the rocks to sharpen them, that’s how the males would fight for mates. So something in here has horned. The tuk’ata - when Lashowe was reading about them, I saw horns in the illustration. So there are tuk’ata here, too. I wonder if it’s a separate pack than the one she tracked down. That would depend on the size of the pack, their range, family structure - it’s a whole new set of variables, and this cave may just be a hunting ground. They probably live in the tombs, too - a cave is a cave, even if it comes with a corpse oozing the Dark Side. Hell, that might make it even more appealing - there’s no way to know without doing some ecological and ethological research, and as fun as that sounds, I simply don’t have the time. In any event, if I keep my distance they should have no reason to bother me. No, I’m looking for some renegade students. 

There are definitely pros and cons to squatting in a cave. If you need a quick shelter with access to water, you can’t beat a cave, but if you don't have frequent access to the mouth, you can’t stay there forever. Everything is damp and dark, there’s mold everywhere, there’s not much, if anything, to eat, and from a human standpoint, if you don’t see the sun every now and then you start to get a little stir-crazy. So the students would probably go with a bigger chamber, good ventilation for a fire, but hiding as they are they’d want as few access points as possible. But caves can also be natural mazes. More than once I’ve camped in a cave. The key to always finding your spot is to leave yourself markers. Maybe a cloth on a post or some natural ink. Depending on if you’re hiding or not, you might go with something discrete, like a pile of rocks that could occur naturally if you don’t look at it too long. Or mines, as a last resort. No scout worth their salt would use mines to mark a trail unless there were literally no other options. Not only could they be set off by anyone who doesn’t see them, they tend to cause damage when they go off. Even something like a sonic mine, which is more of a nuisance, can harm wildlife. In a cave a sonic mine would echo endlessly, practically, and damage the hearing of anyone in the cave. A flash mine would upset any cave-dwelling organisms, whose eyes have adapted to the low light, besides giving away your location. And say what you will about the Sith as an organization, but their scouts, when it comes down to it, are no different than Republic or Czerka scouts. You always want to preserve any resources for later use by your client, no matter who you’re working for. What separates us is politics, really.

If I was here looking for some renegade scouts, they’d do a good job hiding from me. But these students are not scouts. There are a few obvious carvings on the walls, providing some insight as to their camp and when I go in far enough, there's a couple frag mines. I gesture to Carth and Jolee to stay back while I take a closer look at the mines. They didn’t cut any corners setting them up, but I’ve never met a mine I couldn’t handle. I take them both down and set the charges closer to the wall, just to get them out of the way. Once they’re down, Carth and Jolee come closer and follow me into the chamber. A small fire is lit in the center, and there’s some hushed voices from around it. One is definitely human. Their backs are turned away from me. Putting a lot of faith in their mines.

I get pretty close before speaking. “Mind if we join your group?” I ask. That fire looks pretty good, it’s cold in here.

Two Twi’leks stand and nervously put blasters at us, and the human activates a lightsaber. “Hold it right there, whoever you are!” she shouts, “We... we're not going back to the academy! We'll kill you rather than go back!”

Frankly I’m not concerned. I shrug. “I’m not here to take you back, I just want a seat by your fire.”

The human scoffs. “You aren't here to kill us or bring us back?” she says, “I find that hard to believe. The only way into these caves is through the academy. You must be a Sith. So what is it, then? Why are you here? Speak up!”

“Look, Uthar’s plan is just to wait you out, and given how much you all are shaking, he doesn’t have long to wait,” I say.

“It’s cold in here!” one of the Twi’leks says, “Of course we’re shaking!”

“It’s not just shivering,” I say, “It’s like you can’t keep still. You’re hungry, I can see that from here.”

“So what? You’re here to warn us?” the human asks, “We’re not going back.”

“I never said you had to,” I shrug again, “In case you haven’t guessed, I’m not exactly a Sith. I could have easily snuck up on you and I didn’t. It’s safe to assume I’m on your side.”

She looks at us skeptically, but in the end decides to give us the benefit of the doubt. “All right,” she says, ”You can join us.”

I take a seat and pull out some ration packs from my bag. “I know they’re gross but they’re all yours.”

They all reach for one far too eagerly for ration packs, but I guess that’s to be expected. The human looks at them for a moment. “These are Republic ration packs,” she says, “You really aren’t a Sith, are you?”

“I think I can trust you to keep that secret,” I say, “I doubt you’ll be speaking to Master Uthar any time soon.”

“No, certainly not,” she says, “We ran away before Master Uthar could execute us. I’m not exactly eager to see him again.” She takes a bite out of the ration pack. “So what are you doing here, anyway?”

“I can’t resist a cave,” I say with a shrug.

“She’s dragged us into all sorts of dangerous situations,” Jolee says, “A Sith cave is par for the course.”

“But you,” I say, “I expected you to be gone by this point. You don’t have a thing for caves, too, do you?”

She shakes her head. “My name is Thalia May.”

“Rena,” I respond, “Uthar doesn’t seem to be the outright executing type. What’d you do to piss him off?”

“The others here and myself refused to murder a bunch of people on a whim from Master Uthar.” Yeah, that’s more his style. “So here we are.” She sighs. “We thought that becoming a Sith was what we always wanted, but that wasn't true. Now all we want is to get out of here.”

“So why haven’t you?”

“There’s another passage out of the caves,” she says, “Not the way that leads to the academy. But it’s blocked by some kind of large creature. We can’t defeat it, even if we weren’t starving.”

Large creature - I wonder. I pull out my datapad and scroll through, looking for the information I downloaded from the Academy on the terentatek. “Something like this?” I ask, and I show it to her.

“Yes, that’s it exactly!” she says in surprise, “How did you know?”

“I read about it at the Academy archives. I ran into one on Kashyyyk, and the Jedi wouldn’t tell me anything, so I figured I’d give the Sith a shot.”

“Don’t tell me you entered the Sith Academy just to access the Archives,” she says with disbelief.

“We all want different things out of life,” I say, and Carth struggles to rein in a snort of laughter. (He ends up turning it into a cough, which he explains away with, “Mold.” I love him, he’s so funny. Although as I think that, it occurs to me that probably not a lot of people think that.) “Point is, I’ve taken one out before, I know how to do it, but I could use your help.”

“I told you, we can’t defeat it,” Thalia says.

“And that’s why you won’t be doing the heavy lifting,” I say, “We’ll take care of that. You guys will provide support. If you’re up to it.”

They trade looks, nervously, cautiously. Then, “What did you have in mind?” Thalia asks.

“First off, who set those mines out there?” One of the Twi’leks raises his hand. “That was some great wire work, I’m impressed. How many mines do you have?”

“Five or six,” he says with a shrug.

“I can work with that,” I say, “So the first thing is, you and I are going to set those out to give us an edge. Then both of you and Carth are going to hang back and provide cover fire while Jolee, Thalia, and I go at it head on. They are incredibly Force resistant so save your energy to heal yourself because you’re going to need it - their claws are poisonous. Any help you can give, I’ll take, but if you need to drop out of the fight, just go.”

“This is going to be different than Kashyyyk,” Jolee says, “You can’t just hop into the branches whenever you feel like it to get a better angle.”

“I know what I’m looking at now, I won’t need a better angle,” I say, “I’m gonna grab the mines I deactivated back there, and when you guys are done eating we can go.”

“Can I have another?” one of the Twi’leks asks. I shrug, reach into my pack, and pull out three more. It’s not like I can’t get more from any Republic-affiliated port of call like Dantooine. (Czerka has their own ration packs, but they taste even worse than Republic ones, because Czerka doesn’t know the meaning of the word “quality.”) And even if I couldn’t, I’d much rather their hands be as steady as possible than keep a good amount of rations.

The Twi’lek, Dahren, shows me where they saw the creature when he’s done eating. It’s a canyon with a wide bridge, which is all the better. If we can force the terentatek over the side of the canyon, then either the fall will kill it or it’ll take a while for it to get back up here. Either way, Thalia will be able to get out without it bothering her or the other two former students. I don’t see the terentatek right now, but it’s obvious it’s been around from the blood and fur - looks like a steady diet of tuk’ata. Wherever it’s hanging out, it’s most likely on the other side of the bridge. I’ll lure it over here and through the mines, and maybe we can all provoke it over the edge. That would certainly be easier than fighting it. Once Dahren and I get all the mines set out, we go back and I run this idea by the others. Good, they’re in. Now comes the hard part.

Carth, Dahren, and the other Twi’lek are waiting cautiously by the wall while Thalia and Jolee stand ready between the chamber entrance and the bridge. I move forward alone, crossing the bridge slowly. I pass right through the mines, and get all the way to the other side of the bridge before I see anything. Like it’s not here. But I know it is. Not even just because I know how to look out for an animal. I can feel it. Maybe I can summon it somehow. I make my best approximation of a shyrack call. I don’t know how much these things rely on sound, but if they can hear they’ve got to recognize the sound that food makes, right?

A rumbling. Well, something’s coming, and it’s definitely big. A terentatek. It sees me before anyone else, focuses on me. I make my shyrack call again and it charges toward me. I run back over the bridge, through the mines but not setting them off. It follows me, and triggers the mines. The blasts startle it but don’t deter it from its potential meal. When its foot hits our side of the bridge, Carth and the Twi’leks open fire, a barrage of shots anywhere they see hide. It still tries to press forward, its ire turned towards them. That’s when Jolee, Thalia, and I come in, surrounding it on three sides. Persistently pushing it closer and closer to the canyon’s edge. It swipes at me. I duck and hit its side with my lightsaber. I don’t break its tough skin, but I know I hurt it. There’s evidence there of healing, like a tuk’ata put up a fight with its horns. Jolee sees it and tries to strike there as well. It roars angrily. It can’t seem to figure out which direction to strike, what with three lightsabers coming at it in quick succession. Thalia makes a quick swipe at its foot and it steps back. Right over the canyon’s edge. Its roars echo as it plummets to the bottom. I have no idea if it’s still alive or not - frankly, I doubt it - but either way it’s not a problem anymore.

Thalia and the Twi’leks take a few moments to gather themselves, then Thalia says to me, “Thank you. This... I wasn't expecting help from… anyone in the academy, or a Jedi. Maybe… maybe the Jedi will accept us, after this. We've seen how evil the Dark Side is. Maybe we could try.”

“Trust me, lass,” Jolee says, “They’ll accept anyone back from the dark.”

Thalia smiles, and thanks us again before she and the Twi’leks leave through the back opening of the cave. 

I’m a little curious about something myself. Guun Han’s journal from Kashyyyk mentioned two others - Duron and Shaela, if I remember right. He said they had gone to Korriban in search of more terentatek. And given that this one was alive, I’m guessing that at least one of them isn’t. If Guun Han’s journal survived all this time, then it makes sense that one of their journals would. “I just want to check something,” I say to Jolee and Carth, “then we can head back out into the valley.”

Just as I expected, in one corner is a busted lightsaber, some torn robe remnants, and a journal. I turn it on - Duron Qel-Droma. But no sign of another. Shaela must have felt awful.

I open it to the last entry and read as I cross back over the bridge. “Korriban is everything I imagined - and feared. I can feel the power of the dark side here, I can sense the terentatek hiding in this evil place.

“Shaela and I have decided to venture forth into the Valley of the Sith Lords in search of the creatures. I only wish Guun Han was still with us.

“Why couldn't he just accept that Shaela and I are in love? He claims our passion for each other will lead us down the dark side, but he can't even see how his own pride and arrogance are leading him away from the light.

“Maybe it is good that he left, after all. Even as dangerous as the terentatek are, I'm certain Shaela and I can defeat one without his help.”

Well, that certainly didn’t work out for him. I wonder where Shaela ended up. I shove the datapad into my pack. I should go meet Lashowe.

[tessadoesstuff]

Run It With Love - Chapter 2

For Day 2 - Beast

A non-linear story of Bly, Aayla, and Quinlan in the time of the Knights of the Old Republic games (about 3,800 years before the prequels) designed to be read without any knowledge of that game or time.

First Chapter! Next Chapter!

“I still think this is a bad idea.” Bly repeats again, and very carefully does not shift from where he’s crouched in the sand by the mouth of the giant cave.

“You’ve mentioned that once or twice.” Bastila responds from her place just behind him. “But we need the Krayt Pearl to get a meeting with the Sand People Chieftain.” Bastila sounds resigned, and she hasn’t taken her eyes off the mouth of the cave either, Bly knows.

Thank you to LadyVadar and GoBayern for betaing this fic for me!

“Uh, more than that, we need to get inside the cave so we can find out what happened to your father!” Mission chirps from where she has flopped down into the sand next to them. Bly turns away from the cave mouth just in time to see Bastila’s face tighten, her eyes pinching a little as she visibly tries to quash her upset emotions. If they were in private, Bly would have scolded her for that. He’ll do it later.

“Maybe. If we can trust anything my mother says.” Bastila cuts back in, never looking away from the cave mouth.

“How can you say that? She’s your family!” Mission responds, shooting into a sitting position.

“The Jedi are my family. She’s just an unwanted shadow of my past.” Bastila protests, crossing her arms, but still not looking at any of them. There’s a hint of defensiveness in her tone now. “Just because you are desperate to find your brother, doesn’t mean I feel the same.”

Mission looks to be gearing up to go another round with Bastila, and really, Bly would rather avoid doing that for a third time today. Their argument about improper use of the force will probably be funny months from now, but Bly’s headache has only just faded.

“Family is the people who are there when you need them. For Bastila that was the Jedi, for you that might be your brother, or maybe Zaalbar.” Bastila winds down a little in response to that, and Mission gives a faint smile.

“Big Z has been there for me ever since we met.” He’s glad. It hasn’t come up yet, but from what Sam, Carth and Juhani have been able to figure out, Mission’s brother hasn't really been family to her in a long time. Zaalbar is a much better older brother to the young Twi’lek.

“They’re back.” Bastila says, pointing over the sand dunes to where Aayla is heading back across the sand towards them, Sam and Sam’s newly purchased murderdroid by her side. Aayla and Sam both have arms full of bantha fodder, and HK-47 follows two steps beside them, giant gun brandished in case they are attacked by opportunistic sand people.

The three of them break into a run as the entire herd of Banthas behind them starts to stampede. Bly restrains himself from laughing, but it’s a near thing. Two Jedi had gone to get one Bantha, of course they would end up with an entire herd instead. 

Bly grips his DC-17s tightly and slides his bucket onto his head. Keeping one eye on the cave to watch for movement, he hides his stupid grin behind the bucket as he watches Aayla and Sam lead the stampeding banthas their way.

“What are they doing? I told them ONE bantha.” Kormad, the Twi’lek hunter responsible for this absolutely banthashit crazy plan mutters angrily under his breath. Bly rolls his eyes. He knows Bastila can probably feel the irritation he’s radiating and he can’t bring himself to care. Bly does not like this man. He’s been nothing but rude and dismissive of Aayla since they met. Kormad had formed a first impression of each of them and then refused to budge on any of them, no matter who they actually were.

Aayla passes by Bly, her herd of Banthas kicking up a cloud of dust, and even with his helmet on he can barely see through the sand cloud. He hears the pounding of loud heavy feet and sees the dust cloud increasing in unfurling waves. Bly hears his companions and Kormad coughing from the sand, and silently thanks the Force for his helmet. From within the cloud of dust, a shape appears, growing larger as it hurtles towards him.

Bly catches Aayla out of the air, wrapping his arms around her shoulders. She’s covered in flecks of bantha fodder which Bly will not enjoy picking out of his blacks later, but he pulls her closer anyway, shielding her face and lekku from the howling sand with his body.

“Hello, cyare.” He mutters at her, and she hums into his chestplate. All in all, the dust cloud lasts until Bly’s count of six before it begins to settle, revealing the herd of Banthas eating the bantha fodder that had been abandoned on the ground in front of the cave. Bly shifts, uncurling his arms from around Aayla but not leaving her side, and grabs his DC from where he had dropped it into the sand to catch her.

“Ready?” She asks him, and Bly grins at her from behind the bucket, knowing that she would get an impression of it in the force. A rush of movement has Bly turning to see Bastila and Sam uncurling from each other. Sam whips their head back and forth, and their hair lets loose a spray of sand, which earns a giggle from Mission, who had been tucked between them and is now climbing to her feet.

“Next time, Master, you should allow me to kill some of the meatbags, and then they won’t kick up quite so much sand.” Sam’s murder droid complains to Sam, who rolls their eyes in response.

A roar echoes from inside the mouth of the cave, and in a single blurred movement, a ten foot tall smoky grey krayt dragon explodes out of the mouth of the cave, pouncing on one of the banthas, not unlike one of the tookas that live in the Jedi Temple in Bly’s time.

“If you want to shoot something, shoot that!” Sam hisses.

“With pleasure, Master.” HK responds, and fires off a single round of his gun – Bly doesn’t know the make, but he can openly admit he has developed a case of weapon envy. The blaster bolt pings against the krayt dragon’s hide uselessly, but the dragon does take a step backward, and he swishes his tail in irritation. It’s a better result than Bly could have hoped for. In doing so, the dragon sets off over twenty of the mines that Mission had carefully placed.

Bly watches as clouds of poisonous gas blooms up from the ground, immediately followed by concussive rounds which go off with flashes of light right in the dragon’s face. Plumes of sand shoot up where the explosive mines trigger, pinning the dragon in place. Sam shifts their hand into the signal they’d agreed on for go, and Bly lobs three of his thermal detonators at the dragon’s head. Joining them are Sam’s two, Aayla’s one, and the shot of pure force energy that Bastila fires off. Bly notes with no little bit of irritation that Kormad does not actually throw the one he was given. Typical.

The krayt dragon gives on final cry, which Bly weathers by muting his audio sensor, and he wraps his arms around Aayla’s head, shielding her lekku from the strength of the sound as it drags on for several seconds. Bly looks over at Mission, silently wondering if he should do the same for her, but Bastila sees what Bly is doing for Aayla and matches him for the younger Twi’lek. Eventually, the scream of the dragon ends, and it collapses into the sand, dead. Mission gives out a whoop, and pulls Sam and Bastila into a hug.

“We did it!” She giggles as Bly turns back on his audio sensors.

“That we did.” Aayla adds from where she’s still nestled in Bly’s arms, making no attempt to move.

“Excellent! The greatest trophy in the desert is now mine!” Kormad cries, and Bly rolls his eyes behind his helmet, but does not comment. Sam does send him a lopsided smile, so apparently Bly is projecting.

“Remember our deal, Kormad. The dragon’s pearl is ours.” Bastila responds, her hand drifting to where Bly knows she doesn’t actually keep her lightsaber, but where logic dictates that she would. Kormad slumps a little, but gestures with his hand in a go-on motion.

“Thank you.” Sam gives a beautifully predatory smile and makes their way over to where the dragon is lying in the sand and gets to work extracting a pearl.

“Now we can give the pearl to the sand people so that we can open negotiations with them so that we can convince them to let both the jawas and Griff go.” Mission huffs beside Aayla.

“Honestly, I don’t know how Griff ever thought he would survive without me to sweep in and save him at the last minute.” They haven’t told her yet about how it is looking more and more like Griff got involved in the drugs and slaves side of Czerka’s business. There hasn’t been time, and they have only circumstantial evidence. The plan is to tell her as soon as they have proof one way or another. 

Bly really hopes that Master Vos, Juhani, Canderous and Carth find something today so that they can do so tonight because no matter what the others think, he refuses to let Mission find out the hard way from Griff himself.

“Bastila! Let’s go!” Sam calls to the other Jedi from where they’re climbing to their feet and putting what is probably the pearl into their bag. “I think I can see the star map from here!” Sam adds, and Bastila gives a fond smile that Bly’s seen on more than one of his brothers when they look at their Jedi, and isn’t that interesting? 

Bastila heads into the cave with Sam, and Aayla finally removes Bly’s arms from around her shoulders but is still leaning into him.

“That’s good news. The sooner they get ahold of that star map, the quicker we can get off of this dustball.” Aayla mutters, and Mission giggles.

“Two down, three to go.” Bly deadpans back, and Mission’s giggles evolve into full-on laughter. “Honestly, why couldn’t this ancient infinite empire put a whole map in one place? Why did they have to break it into pieces and scatter it across the worst planets in the outer rim.” Bly thinks it’s a legitimate question.

“Hey! Dantooine wasn’t that bad!” Aayla protests.

“The Jedi Enclave wasn’t so bad. But whenever any of us non-jedi left it, we kept getting attacked by Kath Hounds.” Mission snarks back, and her deadpan is improving, Bly’s so proud. 

Aayla snorts. As she goes to respond, Sam and Bastila re-emerge from the cave, and the three of them rise to go meet them. Kormad has wandered off, Bly notes. He doesn’t know when, and he doesn’t really care. The Twi’lek kept Bly’s thermal detonator. 

Sam has a copy of the star map in their arms and is working on getting it into the bag they carry, and Bastila has a satchel in hers. She’s holding it like it might vanish at any moment, but also like it could shatter into a thousand pieces. That must be her father’s bag, Bly realizes. He’s glad she can get some closure now, but he can also tell she isn’t ready to open it yet. He’ll support her when she is.

[renlyslittlerose]

Meer and Sbarge Panel - CCEE 2017

 I was lucky enough to attend the Mark Meer and Raphael Sbarge panel at CCEE this year. As I do with almost every panel I attend or conversations I have with creators/actors, I jotted down some notes to share with you! The panel focused on Mass Effect, mostly the OT, but with some Andromeda questions sprinkled in for good measure.

 Meer collects action figures because he's a nerd. 

 Someone asked if they had met while working on the series. They said they first met at Dragon*Con 2012 as they were both guests. Technically they were still recording for ME3, so they had met while working on the series.

Both Meer and Hale met Martin Sheen when he was recording for the last game. They got to watch him record TIMs death scene.

Sheen referenced Apocalypse Now at the end of his scene while staring at Hale and Meer through the glass. "The horror... The horror"

Sbarge called Ashley Kaidan's “alter-ego”

As for Sbarge, he and Kimberly Brooks recorded after one another at the LA studio, and would high five each other as they went into the booth.

Meer played ME1, 2 and some of 3. He played through both Renegade and Paragon, romancing different people each time.

Sbarge played 1 and some of 2 (he made it clear he did not romance Kaidan).

Meer was originally brought in for ME to do alien and side character voices, but was asked mid-way through his work if he wanted to audition for the lead-role. He went through a few auditions and didn’t think he’d get it, but then he got the call saying he did!

Meer was the demo version of Carth Onasi (Sbarge did not know this and laughed when he found out).

It was at this point Sbarge got super excited and started talking about how incredible Meer is, and that his story of getting the role as Commander Shepard is really unique. He said it isn’t often someone who comes in to read for NPC characters lands such an important role. 

Meer is reason aliens sound like they do (such as the Salarians speaking like Steve Buscemi). He said he was the only one who could do the Vorcha voice, hence why he voices all of them. 

Sbarge egged Meer on to do the Vorcha voice, which he did much to the audiences amusement.

When asked Renegade or Paragon, Meer had a very diplomatic response, but finished by saying he thinks the Renegade interrupts are "pretty great"

Meer hasn't played Andromeda yet, but he's excited to try it out because he’s never played an ME game without knowing what's going to happen in the story.

Meer joked filming the romance scene was "sexy" and Sbarge was like "what was it like for you?"

The more serious response from Sbarge was that the writing of character’s relationships was amazing, and that a lot of the beauty of the game comes from how the relationships were crafted. He brought up a conversation he and I had when I got his autograph about the importance of same-sex relationships in the series, and he stated that the blurring of gender lines and the love between two men or two women was amazing and incredible. He thinks ME is an important series because of the relationships, and these relationships is what defined the work for Sbarge and why he liked working on the games so much. Basically he liked voicing Kaidan’s romance lines lol.

Meer shot down a dude trying to get him to cheer on the Oilers and start a war between Calgarians and Edmontonians. He doesn't like hockey but he's happy people are happy about it lol (for those who don’t know, Calgary [where this took place] and Edmonton have a ‘rivalry’ going on, and much of it is tied to our shitty hockey teams).

Sbarge lost it when Meer told the story of the Steeeeeeve glitch. According to Meer, he recorded a variety of lines for that shuttle-crash at the end of ME3, that varied from ‘you barely talked to Steve’ and ‘you romanced and fell in love with him.’ But the only line that made it into the game was the romance one, so no matter the relationship to Cortez, Shepard loses his shit every single time. 

Sbarge wants a t-shirt with the line: "I'll cut off your balls and feed them to a Krogan"

Meer's favourite ending was Control because Shepard "essentially" becomes Galactus. He also likes the change in tone between Renegade and Paragon with that ending. He thinks Destroy is also a good ending (and said that Shepard’s breath at the end is indication that Shepard LIVES and doesn’t die).

Sbarge said when the final card for reading came up he was shocked because he didn't know he was reading the last scenes that day. He ended up crying after he finished his recording.

Meer said the emotion in ‘the best’ line at the end of the Citadel DLC was real. 

Sbarge's opinion of the ending was that it was giving the trilogy a bookend and that the game "had its time", which makes it special to him. He’s happy about Andromeda because it feels like they’ve passed the torch to the next group. He says he misses working on ME but cherishes the fact that he got the chance to work on it at all. 

When asked about how he came up with Commander Shepard’s voice, Meer stated it was him "trying to be tough".

Sbarge said his voice direction was that they wanted his voice to be real, and to record like he was working on a movie or TV show. They didn’t want it to sound cartoony. They also wanted to get the tone of a military man, meaning no casual usages of words or manner of speech. He said it was an ongoing process to get that tone just right. 

Meer said the Indoctrination Theory was just a well crafted theory but that it isn’t true. He thinks fans needed hard facts while BioWare made a more "interpretive" ending. He thought the extended cut and Citadel DLC helped with that closure people needed.

Sbarge said BioWare was incredibly sad when it ended and that it wasn't a "casual" thing for them, and it's important to remember that they poured their heart and soul into the series. He likened the game to their ‘baby’, that they raised all the way into adulthood. When the original ending was released the ME team was also devastated by how it didn’t hit the right notes and left everyone hurt and frustrated. Sbarge said it is important to realize that the ending wasn’t something that Bioware didn’t care about. 

And that was it! 

[bkwrm523]

Okay, so nobody probably remembers an ancient post I made where I posted my list of favs, but it’s super old and outdated, so I decided it was time to make a new one.  Below the cut.

1. Carth Onasi

Go ahead and judge, if it’ll make you happy.  This was, IMHO, the first time a game (of the ones I played, at least) got a love interest for a female main character right.  All the games before it, the romanceable WOMEN for a MALE character were always cool, unique, and interesting women that one might actually want to date if you met them in real life.  The men?  Flat, dull, uninteresting.  Then I played KOTOR 1 and met HIM.  The moral center of the group, a loyal devoted soldier who never lost faith in his government OR his cause.  In my headcanon, he was my character’s conscience.  I don’t know, something about that unwavering integrity, the person I could always rely on to be my moral compass appealed to me.  So he was the first character I really fell in love with.  Real, actual love. (you: but the animation is TERRIBLE!  Me: that’s because it’s an OLD GAME!)

2. Obi Wan Kenobi

Don’t know how to explain this one.  Similar to Carth, I guess.  He’s incorruptible, and lord knows the Emperor tried.  IMHO, he’s the reason you can’t totally dismiss the Old Jedi Order; their way wasn’t very good.  It had a lot of flaws.  But HE was exactly the kind of Jedi they were trying to create.

3. Kaidan Alenko

It’s late and I’m lazy, so let’s just say that this character from the Mass Effect game series had all the things I loved about Carth.  Not to mention the same voice actor.  He’s got a past and he’s made mistakes in his life.  But he tries not to torture himself over it; he tries to learn from them; to not do them again and use them to become a better person.  He’s controlled, gentle, kind, and his first concern is usually to help others who are suffering.  And a total bad-ass, in case that wasn’t clear.

4. Anders (real name unknown)

Ah, poor Anders.  Locked up since he was little for who he was, from a possibility that he could become a danger to others.  Skipping over a huge plot point of the game here; “after my last nine escape attempts, they kept me in isolation (read: solitary confinement) for a year.”  All he ever wanted was the right to be free.  And MAN does THAT boy have a snarky tongue!  Sounds like he never takes anything seriously.  Wants to believe in his religion, but feels like IT abandoned HIM.  Then, he made a devil’s bargain out of compassion, to try and help someone.  It backfired on him, and he’s been slowly loosing himself to his temper ever since.  Stopping the slavery he was subjected to is his life’s goal.

5. Cullen Stanton Rutherford

Again, skimming over major plot points in the games here.  He’s been basically a cop all his life.  Strong moral compass, has always felt called to civil service.  I think he wanted to protect people, but he kept getting stuck under the wrong superiors.  Evil things happened, through no fault of his, but on his watch, and he feels responsible.  Absolutely takes the blame for everything, irregardless of whether it’s his fault or not.  MUCH smarter than he seems, an absolute sweetheart, REALLY awkward around someone he likes, and adores dogs.  Whatever you do, don’t try to cheat him at chess.  Just accept that he’s better than you.  Trust me.

6. Castiel

If you’re on this blog, chances are, you’re aware of the show Supernatural.  I’m not explaining.

7. The Riddler

I have no freaking clue why.  Watch his trailer for the game Arkham City; that’s what did it.  Something about the style and his intelligence, I don’t know.  But when I hear him throwing one of his tantrums, all I can do is sigh and think “that’s my adorable, high-maintenance baby!”  When I’m in a homicidal kinda mood, he’s usually the only one that can make me feel better.

8. Sand

There’s a scene in this game where you’re about to be in a dangerous duel the next day, and some of your friends come and give you encouragement and tips and the like, hoping you’ll survive tomorrow.  If you’ve got enough influence with him, Sand will come.  He’ll tell you not to speak, tell you how hopeless your situation is, then give you a bunch of powerful healing potions and the like.  He’ll tell you not to thank him, saying it’d be too embarrassing for the both of you, then leave.  And THAT was the moment I fell for this adorable, smart, clever, grumpy boo.

9. Leonard McCoy

Welp, you had to see this one coming.  Do I even need to explain?  AOS or TOS, he’s still bae.

[spectraspecs-writes]

Korriban - Chapter 86

Link to the masterpost. Chapter 85. Chapter 87.

@averruncusho @ceruleanrainblues @chubbsmomma thank you for reading, you get a tag. @skelelexiunderlord thank you for support, you get a tag.

A/N: I loved writing this chapter so so much. Almost as much as I loved writing chapter 89, but that hasn’t been posted yet so y’all gotta wait.

——————

It’s late, closer to evening, when we meet Master Uthar. He’s older and gray. Not his hair, his skin. But he has a sort of wisdom to him. Different from the wisdom of the other Jedi I’ve met, but a wisdom nonetheless. He looks at me knowingly. No idea what he knows, because if he knows why I’m really here, he’d have me killed. He stands in the center of a large entry hall and addresses me, Mekel, Shaardan, and Lashowe. “Greetings, prospective students,” he says to us all, “It appears we have a late entry. Who do you bring before me, Yuthura? A young human, bristling with the Force?”

“A human that has had some training, it seems, Master Uthar,” she tells him, “Very promising, I think.”

Shaardan laughs. “Promising?” he repeats, “Hmph. That one's not worthy to lick spit off your shoes, Master!” 

“I met this one in the colony,” Lashowe adds, “Unworthy, if you ask me.”

“That I'll judge for myself, thank you,” Uther says, waving them to silence. “What is your name?” he asks me.

“Rena Visz.”

“Well, then, Rena, tell me, what do you know of the ways of the Sith?” he asks me, “What preconceptions has your mind been polluted with?”

“Well,” I say, thinking about it, “I know duty and discipline are important all the way down the hierarchy. Never met a Sith who wasn’t committed to his orders. When fighting them, I know they’re powerful, a force to be reckoned with. Great duelists. Good technique.” I shrug. “Never had one able to beat me in a friendly duel, but… Killed a fair few.” Why did I say that? That was so stupid to say.

“Hmm…” he says passively, “Most impressive, if it is true. Those who were too weak to stand against you deserved their fate, so expect no retribution from us.” Thank God for that. “There is much you can learn from the Sith, and we from you.” He then addresses the others as well as me. “The Jedi equate the light with goodness and strength and the dark with weakness and evil. That is their tradition and it is truly no surprise that they cling to it for comfort. We, however, do not treat the Force as a burden. We treat it as a gift, a thing to be celebrated. We use it to acquire power over others.” That, I hate. “And why should we not?” Morals, maybe? “Because the Jedi say we should not? We are as the Force is meant to be. The Jedi would hide that from you. They would tell you the Dark Side is too quick, too easy, all so that they need never challenge the passions that lie within them. Joining with us means realizing your true potential. It means not stifling yourself solely for the sake of hide-bound shamans and their antiquated notion of order. Be what you were meant to be.”

He turns to Lashowe. “What say you, Lashowe? Are you ready to learn the secrets of the dark side? Dare you?”

“I dare, Master Uthar!” she exclaims, “I’m ready!”

“Brash and fiery, as expected. Turn that passion to your advantage, child,” he says, and he turns to Mekel. “What of you, Mekel? Are you ready?”

“I am, Master,” Mekel says, “I’m ready.”

He nods at Mekel. “I sense much anger within you, young one. That is good. That will provide you power.” He turns to Shaardan. “And Shaardan… what of you?”

“I am always ready!” Shaardan says far too eagerly.

“I see,” Uthar says, not impressed, “You had best gather your wits for the trial ahead, boy, or you will not last.” And finally, he turns back to me. “And you, Rena? Does this interest you? Are you ready to learn more of what I speak?”

Not in the slightest, but I have to stay here until I find Dustil and get the Star Map. So I lie. “I’m ready to learn more.”

“Are you?” I hate that skepticism in his voice, it makes me feel uneasy. “I can see into your heart, Rena,” he says, “and I see the dark kernel that is there. If it is ready to sprout remains to be seen.”

He turns to address us all again. “Now, then,” he says, “All of you four recruits have shown a degree of facility with the Force… you all have the potential to become true Sith. Only one of you, however, will succeed. The one who succeeds will be admitted to the academy as a full Sith. All others must wait until next year and try again… if you survive.” He gestures to Yuthura. “My pupil, Yuthura, shall be your teacher and master while you attempt to prove yourselves. Heed her words.”

Yuthura steps forward. “As Master Uthar said, none of you are true Sith yet,” she says to us, “For that to occur, one of you must do enough of worth - gain enough prestige - to be selected. What is an act of worth? You must learn that for yourselves. Remember that you are competitors, here - fight for your destiny, or go home.”

Uthar speaks again. “If you wish to gain a lead over your competitors, the first of you to learn the Code of the Sith and tell me of it will be rewarded. The rest is for you to discover.” Sounds like fun - I have to compete against some of the most competitive people in the universe. “Welcome to the Dark Side, my children. Your one chance at true greatness lies here.”

The three of us are led to a bed chamber marked with my name. It’s not very big, mostly a bed and a footlocker with a computer terminal, but they’ve also given me two bedrolls, presumably for Carth and Jolee - my slaves, remember? Jolee hates it, but Carth and I both agree to give him the bed. He’s older and bitchier than either of us, so there’s no changing our minds. We all push the bed as close to the wall as it will go, so there’s more room for the bed rolls. 

Jolee falls right to sleep. And it’s a pretty heavy sleep. I spend some time using the computer terminal, trying to get a map of the Academy. Gives me a place to start looking for Dustil, and maybe find the archives. It makes sense to me that they would have information on the terentatek, information that I can actually access, unlike the Jedi. 

Carth comes up to me. “Hey,” he says, “can I talk to you? It’s important.”

Oh. “Yeah, sure.” I load the map into my datapad and sit on the floor next to him. “What’s up?”

“You know, I was listening to what you told Yuthura earlier,” he says, “Pretty intense stuff.”

“Yeah,” I say, “Sorry I stole from your story a little bit.”

“I’m not bothered by that, don’t worry about it.”

“I didn’t think you would be, given the circumstances.”

“And when you told her Jolee and I were slaves, I was a little surprised. Mostly surprised that she bought it,” he says, “Because you’re a lousy liar, I think I’ve said that before.”

“You have.”

“But what I’m trying to figure out is…” he says slowly, and I notice now his hand is resting on his blaster pistol, “… you’re not a good liar at all, but your story to Yuthura, about your views on the Jedi, was convincing. Convincing enough to fool a Sith. Hell, convincing enough to where I couldn’t tell if you were lying or not. And the last time that happened… well, you know what happened…”

“Carth, what are you asking me?”

“I wanted to be in here, sure, to find Dustil,” he says, “but I’m starting to wonder why you wanted to be in here.”

His hand on his blaster looks less passive now. And it’s making me a little nervous. “Carth…”

“I’m asking you this because you’re my friend and I care about you,” he says quickly, “Why did you want to get into this academy?”

“I told you,” I say, “To get to the Star Map and find Dustil.”

And now his blaster comes out. Now, even as close as he is, I could still get the blaster out of his hand. I could still take him out if he makes me, if I have to. But he wouldn’t be doing this if he really wanted to hurt me. If Carth wanted to hurt me, he wouldn’t have let me see the blaster. I’ve had my back to him enough. He could have shot me while I was asleep. If he wanted to take me out, he wouldn’t be doing this. “I want you to tell me, yes or no,” he says, hand steady, eyes almost glistening, and the emotion I get off of him is a firm, repeating, “not again”, “do you want to join the Sith?”

I try to stay calm. I take a deep breath, and say, “No.”

“Did you mean all the things you told Yuthura?”

“Some of them,” I tell him honestly.

“What do you mean, some of them?”

I take another deep breath. “The Jedi Order has lied to me, and kept things from me. You said it yourself, they hadn’t told me everything. When they sent me to the Grove to find Juhani, they told me it was to cleanse the Grove of its dark taint. They didn’t tell me that it was a person. And that’s just a lie I’ve uncovered. I don’t think that’s the only one. On Kashyyyk, we fought a creature called a terentatek that feeds on the Dark Side, but when I went to look it up in their archives, I couldn’t find anything, like they’re actively keeping information from me. Bastila herself told me that the Jedi believe no one should be executed for their crimes, no matter what they are. The Jedi would rather restore Malak to the light than kill him, and there we disagree. I don’t think he should live when he’s killed so many people, and I don’t think you do, either.” He doesn’t respond. “I think some of their teachings are wrong and out of date, and I believe, as you do, I know you do, that the Order’s decision not to intervene in the Mandalorian War was a bad one - in face, if Revan and Malak hadn’t had to disobey the Order to help, I don’t think they would have fallen, but we’ll never know.”

“And about the Dark Side?” he says, “About it corrupting?”

“I think we’ve both felt and seen how it corrupts. But I don’t think that’s the Force so much as how you use it. At the end of the day,” I say, “all I want to do is help people. I want to help as many people as possible. On that, the Order and I agree. The Sith, on the other hand, actively dissuade helping people. The Order and I may disagree on a lot of key points, but when it comes to our ultimate goal, it’s no contest.” He doesn’t lower his blaster. “What more do you want from me, Carth?”

“I want some kind of assurance, but I don’t think that’s possible,” he says.

I think for a moment. “Maybe it is,” I say after a while, and I hold out my hand, “Take it.” He hesitates, looking at me skeptically. “If I do anything to hurt you, you’ve already got your weapon out - you could shoot me before I get close to my lightsaber.” He’s still a bit skeptical, but he takes my hand. “You’re not a Jedi,” I say, “so it won’t be the same, but I think I can still show you that I’m telling the truth. With the Force.” His grip tightens on his blaster. I close my eyes. Take a deep breath. Feel the Force.

I don’t think I can describe in words exactly what I show him. To even describe it as vibes of trust would be to undermine and cheapen it, not to mention understate. I guess… imagine a warm yellow light, imagine the safest you’ve ever felt. The first time you tried your favorite food. Sometimes that’s what the Force feels like, that warm, safe feeling. I try to tell him that I mean everything I said to him, that I would never, ever, do anything to hurt him the way he’s been hurt before. I don’t ever want to look at him and feel the heart-stab he feels when he talks about Dustil and Morgana, his wife, and know that I did that. I couldn’t live with myself, love or no love. To feel his anger and disappointment in me is not a pain I think I could bear. The reason you are here, Carth, I try to tell him, is that I could never fall to the Dark Side if you’re there. You’ve already been hurt too much and I don’t want to do that to you again. I don’t want you to have to watch it and know that you couldn’t stop it. Not again.

He sets down his blaster, and lets go of my hand. He smiles and looks up at me, his eyes glistening with tears. “Thank you,” he mouths, his throat choking.

“It’s the truth,” I say. He nods wordlessly.

He takes a deep breath. “I’m sorry,” he says. For the blaster, I assume.

“Don’t worry about it,” I say, “I understand.”

“No, for…” he starts to say, but he cuts off. I look at him curiously. Until he finally finishes: “Everything.”

Okay, now I have no idea what he means. But that was kind of draining, for both of us it would seem. I feel like I could actually sleep the whole night through.

I wonder if I told him more than I meant to…