#but I just do not love him nearly as much as I do ME1 and ME2 Garrus

[swaps55]

hi swaps! i’m so obsessed with with Sam and Kaidan. the way i feel about Opus has only happened once before and it’s been such a delightful surprise to re-experience one of my favorite pieces of media ever through a fresh, emotional, amazing new perspective - thank you SO MUCH for sharing your work with us, you’re such a genius!! as i make my way through everything you’ve written ever i have so many questions and feelings i’d love to pick your brain about, but i’ll stick to one: with the way you write Sam’s prothean visions/nightmares, I don’t imagine the scene he wakes up for the first time after Eden Prime went much like it does in-game. do you have any thoughts on how that might have gone in the Opus-verse?

PLEASE pick my brain about anything you like. It's so awesome that people are invested in Opus and want to know more about it, you have no idea!!!

I love this question. At some point I will fully adapt my original ME1 story for Sam and Kaidan, but until then I have just daydreamed about that post-beacon scene.

In my head, a Sam who's just been confronted by a horrible reality where the people he loves - one person in particular - dies, he's looking immediately for reassurance and something to ground him, and that reassurance comes in the form of touch. He'd wake with a start, Kaidan would be right there, and he'd grab his arm and hold it so tight, staring right at him with that Shepard Stare and trying to breathe until reality reasserted itself a little more.

With Dr. Chakwas right there and Anderson about to walk in, Sam would have to get over it fast and put on the Shepard Mask, which at this phase of the journey isn't nearly as heavy or taxing to wear as it's about to be.

Kaidan would know immediately something was very wrong, but he wouldn't get a chance to ask about it, and Sam would avoid him until getting to the Citadel, where they realize just how much bigger the fish they now have to fry is.

I think Sam tries to put some distance between them after the beacon happens, because of how distressing it is. I like to think that the first kiss AU Space Talk still happens in canon Opus!verse - just without the kissing. It's where they reconnect, and Sam gets a little reminder that no matter what that beacon does to him, he's just better when he they're connected off the battlefield as well as on it.

[dragonflight203]

Mass Effect 2 replay, Kasumi’s loyalty mission:

-Needed to recruit Mordin first so I could research upgrades, but Kasumi’s up next so I can get the locust.

Omega:

-If you go paragon when speaking to the Patriarch after Aria’s asked you to get him to safety, you hear the first mention of a krogan’s krantt.

Krantts are a fantastic addition to the world building for krogans. They add some much needed depth to how they relate to each other beyond killing.

-It’s a shame the Patriarch doesn’t come back in ME3. The quest positions him as potentially regaining some influence if you go paragon – he could have been leading a rebellion against the Cerberus forces in the Omega DLC or the like.

-Aria’s past is built up in ME2, but again nothing comes of this. Just vague hints that major shit went down.

-According to Gavorn if you go renegade, slavers regularly kidnap vorcha to sell. Lovely.

Bekenstein

-As many have noted, its ridiculous that a garden world so close to the Citadel was left unclaimed until humanity came along. The game doesn’t even try to justify it.

-General observation: Why are women in Mass Effect normally in dresses for casual wear?

The exceptions I can think of are outfits for Shepard and colonists. But on the Citadel or Omega, the casual wear for all women are dresses.

It stands out to me given that I’m far more accustomed to seeing women wear pants than dresses or skirts.

Also, I’d like an option to put femShep in a suit for formal wear.

-As many have have noted, it’s strange Kasumi didn’t dress up for the mission. Honestly, the real reason Hock didn’t let her is because she probably didn’t meet the dress code.

-It says something about Mass Effect that guests to a fancy party are permitted to keep pistols. It’s the norm for everyone to be armed.

Unless you’re a human refugee in the Omega slums, apparently.

-I do appreciate how ME1 and ME2 had several missions that did not involve combat. Or at least parts of missions. ME3 could have used more of those.

-There is transient dialogue at the party about how Shepard is dead.

Seriously, what was up with Jacob saying that the general public doesn’t know they’re dead? How did that line make it to production?

-The mercs are Eclipse, but the ones at the party are all human. Given that Eclipse is primarily Asari and Salarian, that’s notable.

-And nearly all the guests are human too.

-Does Hock have ties to Cerberus?

He’s shady, involved in several questionable activities, and signs point to human supremacist. It’d be natural for him to be connected to Cerberus.

-You’d think an alarm would go off when the power to the barrier for the vault is disabled.

Sure, Kasumi may have taken care of that too but there’s no indication to it.

-Why does Kasumi hack the first security door, but then leave me to hack the second?

She’s definitely laughing at my struggles.

-As others have noted, the krogan anime playing in the security room is interesting.

I really want to see in universe media of Mass Effect. Can you imagine Mass Effect anime? It’d be a trip.

-You don’t even need to pass a speech check to get Hock talking if you flirt with him. He just goes off.

-Why does Shepard need to speak to Hock, anyway? Couldn’t she just linger around him while he speaks to other guests? Study the fish or something.

-There’s a statue from Illos in the vault. It’s labeled a prothean statue. Given this is from Shepard’s point of view, it indicates Shepard at least believed that’s what protheans looked like.

-Why does Hock have so many statues of krogans? There’s four or five.

-Why is turian art unusual outside of Palaven?

Is it because no one else vibes with turian art? I don’t think so – Kasumi said it may be the most valuable piece in the collection.

So the implication is that turian art is rare.

That feels unlikely; it’s pretty typical for large governments to commission art pieces to show them off. If only to one up other governments.

I suppose turians could just not value art, but outside this line there’s no indication of that.

Give me more cultural world building, Bioware!

-Why is the locust on the same podium as the gray box? Why is the gray box even on display in the vault among a bunch of statues? Where are the rare books, etc.?

I’m grateful for the opportunity to see all these statues, but logically the gray box would be stored somewhere else. And not with a submachine gun.

-I am not enjoying my insanity playthrough of ME2. I just ran through all my ammo for the first time.

How are thermal clips superior to ME1 overheating again? Is there some reason I can’t keep a gun that uses overheating on me as backup in case I run out of thermal clips?

-Thank goodness that there’s a checkpoint in the fight with Hock’s gunship. Once Kasumi destroys the shield, if you die you reload at that point.

-I debated whether to have Kasumi destroy or keep the graybox. I’ve always let her keep it before.

I think it’s healthier for her to destroy it, but it’s not really my call to make.

Also, ME2 mechanics at play here. I need to make sure I have enough paragon points to resolve the Tali/Legion quarrel later. So let her keep the graybox it is.

Normandy

-Emily Wong assumed Shepard’s “death” was them going undercover. If I recall correctly, a few others believe the same.

Again: Everyone knows Shepard was dead. What was Jacob talking about?

-And the Blue Suns offered to take over the security for Mordin’s old clinic. Fortunately, Daniel told them no. Hopefully he lives long enough to make it stick.

-Early Mass Effect 2 is heavily weighted to tech. I already have two, plus the decreased cooldown time they unlock.

I don’t think you get any upgrades for biotics until after Horizon, if my memory is correct, unless you play the firewalker dlc.

As someone who always plays biotics, this is painful.

-Miranda has no new dialogue, oddly enough.

Jacob

-I do not understand why Jacob is with Cerberus. This is starting to feel like a toxic relationship.

Past experiences with Cerberus make him assume the worst of everyone. He’s wary of friendly overtures because they’re normally false. Not trusting other people is the norm.

Jacob, why are you here? Do you assume TIM will kill you if you leave and don’t trust Shepard enough to tell them that?

If so, kudos to you based on ME3 but I wish that had been discussed at some point.

Talking to this man feels like trying to gain the trust of a feral cat that’s accustomed to being kicked.

-He says that the Alliance doesn’t people handle their own problems and Cerberus is the same, but puts more effort into hiding that they’re spying on you.

I’ve lost track of how many times it’s come up that the Normandy is under surveillance. Does Jacob consider this subtle? What does he consider blatant?

-Once again, it feels like threading a needle to not trigger a romance with Jacob. And once again, he makes it very clear that he’s not interested.

Shepard has the opportunity to tell Jacob that since they’re interested, they’re going to assume Jacob’s down for it too.

The romance with Jacob is both incredibly icky and very hard to avoid. I don’t know what Bioware was thinking.

Mordan

-Just like Wrex, Mordin dismisses the concept of a krogan scientist.

It would have been hilarious if we had recruited Okeer and the two had to share a lab. We would have been down one teammate.

-Now Mordin opens up to you and tells you about reinforcing the genophage.

He claims it’s because he wants you to know that he’s willing to do what’s necessary, but it comes off as wanting reassurance that he did the right thing.

As much as he insists that it was necessary and not genocide, his guilt is obvious.

-Interestingly, going paragon nets you 6 paragon points. Going neutral earns you 4 paragon points.

Neutral doesn’t push back against the genophage. It just validates Mordin telling you about his work. Bioware could easily have had it provide no points, but gave you the opportunity to earn paragon points without opposing the genophage.

[clericofshadows]

2, 13, 40, and B for Regis from the Uncommon OC asks?

thanks for the ask! -- uncommon oc asks

2. How easy is it for your character to laugh?

Fairly easy. It's not hard to get a chuckle out of him, and he's one of those people that when telling a story that's funny he'll probably start cracking up before finishing it.

13. What color do they think they look best in? Do they actually look best in that color?

Reds, blacks, greys--anything dark and jewel toned. And, yes Regis does look best in those colors :) anytime he's in the regular dress blues or fatigues he's not having a good time.

40. How sensitive are they to their own flaws?

He's aware of them--highly judgmental, hard to trust, quick to dismiss, smokes too often, and too damn stubborn--but it all depends on who points them out. His lovers? He'll listen to Kaidan and Zaeed. Close friends like Ashley? He's willing to hear them out. Anyone else? Yeah, he's not going to be happy, and will be very defensive.

B. What inspired you to create them?

From a mod perspective: I love playing as mshep. My first playthrough was as femshep, and I nearly dropped it because I just didn't vibe with her. I liked Sheploo, but I really wanted to make a custom character, but we all know how... lacking the character creator is. When a framework + a tutorial release to create a custom sculpt came out, that was the catalyst I needed to finally make the Shepard I envisioned.

From a story perspective: When I was playing my femshep playthrough, I had some friends who kinda pushed me into certain decisions--saying how much I'll love these characters, you may not like these, and so on. Yeah, they were way wrong, and I was a bit spiteful with my first mshep playthrough. I ended up loving the game after making some unpopular choices--never recruiting Garrus in ME1, recruiting Liara last in ME1, letting some characters die in ME2 (thanks to mods), and so on. Hell, my ME3 Regis import has Garrus, Legion, and Grunt dead, and I'm so excited to start it once I have time. His story is inspired by many of things I also wished were in the game, such as an angrier Shepard in ME2 who is more confrontational and being able to save both Ash and Kaidan on Virmire, who I both immediately fell in love with and absolutely struggled with the decision in my vanilla playthrough.

[octerminal]

Hi there! I'm a first time Mass Effect OT player thanks to the Legendary Edition. In relation to your post about avoiding the romances in Mass Effect 1 (which I bookmarked for reference,) I was wondering if you also made posts for avoiding romances in the other two games as well, and if you had, where I could find them? And if not, do you have any general advice for not triggering the romances? Thanks!

Hey! Thanks for the ask.

I’m sorry, but I haven’t made a guide for the other games. This is mainly because ME1 is the only game where it’s easy to accidentally trigger the actual romance, by which I mean the game now acts as if the two of you are in a dedicated romance and it will automatically proceed to all the major romance points, like the locker and en route to Ilos scenes. ME2 and ME3 still have issues where Shepard can accidentally trip flirtation (or be forced into it, depending on the LI), but it’s much harder to trigger the actual romances because in both games they're scenes where Shepard or the LI will point blank say, “Hey, wanna go out?” or some iteration, lol.

That being said, I still have plenty of tips I can give you to avoid those issues, sure! I can probably guess which LIs might’ve brought this question on since there are a few “main offenders” - if we want to use that term lol - but I’ll try to address what I know about each LI. Please be aware that this won’t be as specific as my ME1 guide because I don’t have any handy transcripts available so I’ll be working purely off memory.

If anyone has anymore specific knowledge on any of these LIs, or thinks I have made a mistake on any of them, please let me know. Thanks.

ME1 LOVE INTERESTS

General note: If you are not romancing Liara, whoever your VS is will always seek you out in the ME2 prologue. This is not romance specific. It is only romance specific with Liara.

Kaidan: I addressed how to avoid his flirtation issues in ME3 in my ME1 post because he is one of the aforementioned “main offenders” people complain about the most frequently, and all of his issues are easily fixed once you know how to do it.

Ashley: I don’t really have any data on her for ME3. I’ve only ever done Ashley-as-VS-with-mShep saves when I also romanced her in ME1. I don’t believe she’s similar to Kaidan in that she will always proposition you if you’re not locked into a romance (because I believe Kaidan does that for a variety of reasons that are purely mechanical/dev signalling in nature, which are irrelevant for Ashley). I would imagine that if you don’t want her to be romantic with you in the hospital, the same rule of thumb of “tell her the romance is over on Mars” would work, but I haven’t personally tested it.

Liara: There is not really any way around a lot of her scenes. A lot of her romanced content is shared with unromanced Shepards. Even in places where it’s not, Shepard is usually more intimate with Liara than they are with other squadmates. (Example of this: I’m pretty sure when you meet on Illium in ME2, every Shepard will hug her, but only romanced Shepards will kiss her.) This means wishing your Shepard didn’t hug her on Illium, or that she didn’t have your Shepard’s armor in LotSB, or certain banters of hers that trigger in ME3, etc., are impossible to avoid because it is not the game having her flirts easy to trip. It is the game just straight up making very little effort to make a distinction between romanced and unromanced Liara.

That being said, if it really bothers you, being renegade toward her when the option is available helps balance it out. For example: at the end of LotSB, Shepard is not forced into comforting Liara or hugging her; they can just let her cry and move on. Things like that.

ME2 LOVE INTERESTS

General note: When speaking to Kelly about any of these characters, it doesn’t hurt to go neutral or renegade. I think being forced into a discussion about how attractive you find these LIs is really only an issue for mShep and it’s fairly easy to avoid for femShep.

None of the romances can be properly triggered until after the LI’s loyalty has been successfully completed. No amount of flirtation negates this. So at the bare minimum, you really only need to be vigilant after completing a character’s loyalty.

All of these characters also do not really have any wonky mechanics going into ME3, because to have a romance with any of the ME2 LIs in ME3, you have trigger it in ME2 first.

Jacob: Jacob is also a frequently complained about “main offender” because it’s easy for femShep to flirt with him. He is also one of the few LIs in ME2 where you can kind of kickstart his romance in ME2 by expressing interest and having a few conversations about that before Horizon, but this does not actually trigger the romance. You are not locked into it if you do trip into this scenario with him, because it’s completing the loyalties that allow for you to actually trigger a character’s romance. You cannot romance a character properly if you either don’t do their loyalty, or you do it but you failed to secure their loyalty during it.

If you tripped into this scenario with Jacob, you can just simply not continue it going forth, or you can do an organic “breakup” after his loyalty where you continually try to press him to unpack his feelings about what just happened with his father. He will end things with a Shepard who does this to him.

As for avoiding the flirtations at all: it is possible and I do it all the time, but I have no transcripts available so I can’t exactly show which dialogue options to pick. I want to say neutral and renegade dialogue options are your friend here, though some of those can still be flirtatious, if I recall correctly.

When he talks about leaving the Alliance, don’t pick the options that sound like it could be about his body/fitness. When he mentions that Cerberus rebuilt Shepard, don’t have her pick the options that seem like she’s asking if he likes what he sees, etc. Unfortunately, I remember the actual lines better than I remember what the dialogue wheel option was. I recommend saving before talking to him and going through all the dialogue options and reloading until you find the ones where femShep doesn’t sound flirty. (That’s how I found them.)

Or, if you play on PC: you could simply just wait for someone to re-release the mod that gets rid of the flirtatiousness between Jacob and femShep. There was one like that for original ME2, though I never used it so I’m not sure how it actually worked.

Garrus: It is really hard to both accidentally flirt with Garrus and to accidentally trip into his romance. He has little content before his loyalty, and after his loyalty, you have to take a very specific dialogue option to trigger Shepard’s proposition. Even after that, the game still gives you a way to back out if that was, in fact, not what you expected to happen.

Thane: Considering that Thane isn’t even available to recruit until after Horizon, his mechanics are also fairly ��safe” compared to, say, Jacob’s. That being said, there is the infamous “I want you, Thane” option on the dialogue wheel, but that one is fairly...obvious. I recall most of Thane’s dialogue options seeming fairly obvious and thus easy to avoid if you’re not wanting to flirt with him. If you’re having trouble, neutral or renegade is probably the way to go. He also always calls femShep “siha” once loyal (I believe that conversation happens after his loyalty, anyway); there is no way around that outside simply not talking to him. Him calling femShep “siha” is not indicative of a romance being triggered.

Jack: Jack, like Jacob, is one of the characters who you can start a flirtation with before Horizon. Again, this doesn’t actually trigger the proper romance. To my knowledge, Jack will also always proposition mShepards. This also does not trigger her romance - in fact, if you accept, it locks you out of her actual romance because she no longer trusts you. Unfortunately, if you want to avoid the proposition entirely - I don’t know or remember if there’s a way to do that.

Tali: I recall Tali’s main issues being the conversation with Kelly after recruiting her (but this is hazy, sorry) where I think Kelly always implies Tali has a crush on you. If this is the case, I have no idea how to avoid it. The other main issue is after you successfully complete Tali’s loyalty and you get to the conversation where she talks about linking suits. It is very easy for mShep to accidentally trip into a romantic conversation with Tali here, and thus be forced into turning her down afterwards. I am pretty certain it’s possible to avoid this, and it likely involves not taking the paragon option. If it isn't possible to avoid though, then all you really have available is to turn her down when she brings it up.

Miranda: I don’t actually recall anything egregious with her mechanics. I am fairly certain that she is not like Jack and Jacob where you can soft start her romance before Horizon, because I remember noticing that when I did her romance recently. After Horizon, I want to say that her romance dialogue options are fairly obvious, but I could be wrong. Either way, the same as all the other LIs would apply: you’d have to complete her loyalty to begin with to even get access to those conversations, so you really only need to be vigilant after her loyalty has been completed.

Samara and Kelly: They are not “real” LIs, which means you don’t get a romance achievement for them and they have next to no content. Kelly’s romantic dialogue options are similar to Thane in how exaggerated they tend to be, and thus are easy to avoid. Samara is only receptive toward paragon Shepards to begin with, but also puts a hard stop to any flirtation attempts regardless, so tripping her “romance” is not really an issue.

ME3 LOVE INTERESTS

General note: Just lock into your preferred LI’s romance first. I am serious. That will solve nearly every issue. Locking into your LI’s romance is not Shepard still expressing interest when they first meet again unless your LI is Tali, whose lock-in is her cabin date right after she comes aboard for the first time. Otherwise, the lock-in moment for most of the LIs are their Citadel dates that happen after the Coup.

James: Technically, he’s not a love interest. I’m including him because he always flirts with femShep. There is no way around this, sorry. The best you can do is to not allow him to call femShep “Lola”, which happens after the sparring match you two can have in the cargo bay. He still flirts with femShep outside that however, and there are a few times where femShep unavoidably flirts back. If you don’t like this, you just kind of have to plug your ears and pretend it’s not happening. Or just not speak to him at all, lol.

Hopefully with MELE’s new modding capabilities, someone will release a mod that fixes this since James’ conversations with mShep are more normal.

Allers: She is similar to Kelly and Samara in that she is not a “real” LI. I believe you can’t even trip her “romance” until after you finish Rannoch anyway, since it’s tied to the interview you do with her. There can be an awkward moment after Tuchanka or the Coup (I don’t recall which, or if it’s both) where she might sound flirtatious and you’re forced into flirting back or turning her down, but nothing comes from this. If it does happen after the Coup’s interview, you could try pushing it off until you lock into your preferred romance, but it’d have to be before you complete Rannoch since I imagine the Coup one would expire and be replaced with Rannoch’s.

Traynor: Traynor’s romance is actually easy to miss if you play renegade. I know this because I finished her romance a few months before MELE came out and I had to redo twenty hours of gameplay before that because I got locked out of it for being too much of an asshole to her. (Absolutely hilarious in hindsight, incredibly annoying in the moment.) After some digging, I found some old forums detailing that you apparently cannot be renegade toward her about her toothbrush in your first conversation and when she tells you about Grissom academy or else she evidently decides you are too mean and/or not interested in her. (Whether or not this is true, I have no idea. I didn’t bother risking it and went straight paragon with her in all of our conversations until I was able to lock it in.)

What this means is that if you want to avoid her shower scene entirely, just be renegade toward her until you get her cabin date, because you straight up do not even get the option to offer your shower to her if you were renegade enough.

If you're roleplaying and your Shepard wouldn’t take those renegade dialogue options, follow the advice in the general note: lock into your preferred romance before doing Traynor’s cabin date. Like Kaidan, this does mean that if you romanced Jacob or Thane and don’t wish to move on to anyone else, you’re a bit out of luck if you want to avoid the option triggering entirely.

That being said, even if you are doing a paragon Jacob, Thane, or no romance run, and thus still get the shower option, just...simply don’t let her in your shower. Problem solved.

Cortez: Cortez’ romance does not have any egregious romance mechanics that I’m aware of. To my knowledge, he never flirts with Shepard first before his romance is locked in. In fact, if you do flirt with him but you had a pre-existing romance from ME1 or ME2 (or I think if you are already locked into your romance with Kaidan as mShep) he will make a mention of that romance when you do try to flirt with him. This is all to say: to my knowledge, there is really nothing to avoid with Cortez. You have to go out of your way to flirt with him and lock in the romance. That being said, if there is something I’m missing, the same “lock into your preferred LI’s romance” rule of thumb should apply.

Hopefully some of this helped! If you have any other general questions about this issue or about a specific LI, let me know. Please note that I am also basing all of this off my knowledge of the original games, but I’m assuming nothing has changed in MELE.

[aricazorel]

"Are you jealous?" "No...Maybe." suggested by @russian-dumpling

pairing: Kaidan Alenko x Rebecca Shepard; set during ME1; word count: 1759

Noveria was cold. There was no doubt about that. It was a planet full of constant snowstorms. Nearly an ice planet.

Just like Hoth, Lieutenant Kaidan Alenko thought, unable to help the Star Wars reference. He glanced up at the thick transparent steel windows above that kept the raging winter storm out and the heat in. At least it was warmer than the Rebel Base…

“Hey, Alenko! You still with us?” Shepard’s voice called from beside him.

He glanced over at his CO noting that Ashley and Garrus had disappeared. “Don't you mean you, ma'am?”

“Oh for crying out loud! Don't ma’am me when we're alone,” she chided, a hand on her hip.

“We're still on the job, Commander.”

“Kaidan, is there a reason you're always so formal?”

“Habit it, ma'am, and it keeps me out of trouble.”

“Trouble? You, Alenko? Never.”

The Lieutenant snorted. “You don't know everything about me, Shepard.”

“Not yet,” the red head smirked with a wink.

***

While waiting to meet up with Gianna Parasini, Shepard unsurprisingly had elected to visit a few of the shops for tech and weapons mods. In truth it was the weapons mods that the Commander was really interested in. She only mentioned the tech mods to entice the Sentinel to tag along. In reality she didn't need to bribe him with anything other than herself.

He knew shortly after the Eden Prime mission that he was in trouble. Romantic entanglements with anyone he served with had always been a no no in his book. Falling for a superior officer was definitely not something he had ever seen himself doing. Yet there it was or rather she was standing outside yet another shop staring at the display in the window.

The Lieutenant was definitely in trouble.

He'd once told her he liked adventurous women. Kaidan would be lying to himself he didn't admit that Shepard fit that description to a tee. And that taste in the opposite sex is what would land him in trouble by the end of their current mission. Especially if the glances she was throwing over her shoulder towards him were any indication of things to come.

And there it was. The flirting grin she'd shoot him when she thought no one was looking. Of course Ashley had caught glimpses of it and teased the fire out of him about it. Despite his misgivings about the feelings he knew he was developing for his CO, Kaidan returned the smile as she motioned for him to join her at the display window. And of course he did.

As the Lieutenant walked over to her, Shepard motioned to a cluster of omni tool mods and one very specific omni tool. His eyes lit up as she casually mentioned, “I can open a line of credit with this store. You know. Get the license for the Normandy’s requisition officer so we can access their inventory anytime we want.”

“Really? Alenko asked excitedly as he looked from the Logic Arrest omni tool to Shepard.

With the amused look on her face he couldn't be sure if she were serious or not. Remembering himself he said, “I shouldn't ask you to use Alliance resources or your Specter status just to get me a new ‘tool.”

“But you didn't ask, Kaidan. I offered,” she corrected as she entered the shop. “Besides they have weapons mods too.”

Alenko cocked an eyebrow as he followed. She was his CO, a fellow officer, a friend. Yet he couldn't help but think she might harbor some feelings beyond all of that for him just as he did for her. Should he say anything? Should he let her make the first move? Should he see how things played out?

He sighed as he watched a salesman approach Shepherd with a broad grin. There were regs against fraternization. They were on a mission to stop a rogue Specter and his synthetic army. There was no place for romance, yet his feelings remained.

In an effort to distract himself, he focused his attention on the Logic Arrest Shepard had pointed out. In truth he did need a new omni tool, especially with the current mission. A part of him however couldn't shake the feeling that if he had said yes just a few minutes ago he'd already have a new ‘tool instead of looking at it in the display.

Kaidan let out a low growl. He should be able to focus on things without his thoughts circling back to Shepard. On a mission, in combat, doing his duties. Those instances were too problematic to allow that. The only acceptable exception was if Shepard was in danger.

But his down time? Sure she was nice to look at, athletic, red hair, nice smile, gorgeous eyes, great personality, honest, compassionate, amazing sense of humor, humble, firm. Anyone would be lucky to be the focus of her attention. Yet in the reflection of the display glass he saw her glancing at him as the salesman went on about various mods for her weapons the other man had were noticed Specter issue.

Apparently her status as a Specter had made the rounds rather quickly. Of course salesman wanted to land a large purchase from her then. Either way the Lieutenant could have sworn he saw the Commander wink at him in the reflection before she turned her attention back to the very friendly salesman.

“I can see the Specters have outfitted their newest agent with the latest weapons. Of course you can never go wrong with modifications,” the blond-haired man said smoothly. “Surely having the best mods on the market would help keep your lovely self safe.

“They certainly wouldn't hurt,” Shepard replied an even tone.

“Well, what is your primary weapon?” the man asked. “Maybe your favorite?”

“Those are two different things,” Shepard smirked with her arms folded across her chest.

“Really? For most customers those are one in the same,” the blond man muttered.

“I'm not most customers,” the Commander assured him confidently.

“I see,” the salesman muttered as he opened his ‘tool, showing the inventory available. “Perhaps something for your assault rifle first. We can't have our first human Specter being mowed down by rogue Geth. Protection is everything especially for a beautiful woman such as yourself.”

Kaidan rolled his eyes at the man's blatant attempt to flirt with the Commander in order to make a sale. Fundamentally the Lieutenant knew why the other man was doing it but that didn't deter the desire to tell the man off for disrespecting his CO. If he was totally honest with himself he had to admit that it wasn't just the man's lack of professionalism that bothered him.

He shifted, resisting the urge to go to Shepard’s aid. If she needed help, she would say so.

“I have plenty of protection already,” Shepard said as she gestured towards him. “My Lieutenant over there is an accomplished soldier and biotic. He's covered my six more times than I can count.”

Kaidan knew he was smirking as he caught her eye in the reflection once again. Whether she had intended to or not she had just padded his ego though he would never admit that. “Biotics will only get you so far,” the salesman muttered, his mood souring much to Alenko's delight.

“Oh but you haven't seen the Lieutenant train with his biotics,” Shepard mused with a big grin. “It's …quite the sight.”

Kaidan knew he was blushing as the salesman said, “I can provide you with top-of-the-line weapons mods. I'm afraid I am not licensed for biotic amps.”

Shepard made a noise of acknowledgement before she said, “You know what? I think I'll take that Logic Arrest in the window…and any mod you have for it.”

“Oh well, what about the weapons mods? Surely you need –“

“I already have the most advanced. Me being a Specter and all. But my Lieutenant needs the best omni tool available,” she insisted as she turned to Kaidan.

“I understand but you are his superior. Doesn't that mean –“

“If you can't sell me what I want, I am sure another shop can,” the Commander interrupted as she walked over to the Lieutenant.

“No. No. I can accommodate that,” the salesman said conceding that his sale to the first human Specter would not be as large as he originally thought.

Kaidan couldn't help the shit-eating grin as the salesman was forced to wait on him instead of Shepard.

***

Half an hour later Kaidan sat on the retaining wall of one of the many reflection pools near the shopping promenade as he fiddled with his new omni tool. They were waiting for Ashley and Garrus to rendezvous with them before taking the next step of their mission. For whatever reason, the Commander had spent her time watching him program his preferences into the new Logic Arrest.

He did his level best to ignore the attention until she said lightly, “Are you jealous?”

The Lieutenant paused in his motions as conflicting emotions demanded his answer one way or another. “No …maybe.”

She crossed her arms as she asked in surprise, “Really, Lieutenant? Of a weapons mod salesman?”

Kaidan knew he was blushing as he glanced at the nearby fountain. Was he that obvious? Was she going to give him a dressing down or just tease the crap out of him? Maybe even enlisting the help of Ashley and Joker?

“Hey, Kaidan?” Shepherds voice call to him as he felt a light pressure on his forearm from her hand. The use of his first caught his attention more than her touch.

He glanced back at her, seeing a tender smile. “I can promise you there is nothing to be jealous of. All my attention is on a certain L2 biotic. You might know him.”

Kaidan smiled as he replied, “Yes ma'am.”

Shepard opened her mouth to say something else when she heard Ashley and Garrus call out to them. She shrugged at him as she turned to greet them but not before she winked at the Lieutenant.

He watched as she walked over to their teammates as he finished setting up his tool. Any doubt he had about being more than comrades-in-arms or friends had evaporated. He was more certain than ever that things between them were more complicated than the mission parameters allowed.

But he didn't care. He was definitely in trouble, but he found himself not giving a damn about that either.

He liked adventurous women, and Shepard was definitely that. And so much more.

[hatboyproject]

I’m Glad You Asked!

@crescentbunny​ asked a question in the tags...

Well! I’m glad you asked!

So, I have a near-encyclopaedic knowledge of (most of) the dialogue across the Mass Effect games, which gives me a good starting point for trying to remember when people say things tangentially related to other things. However, you don’t have to have that to do what I am doing! For gaps in my knowledge or just general “thing-finding” exercises, I have three enormous spreadsheets which are text dumps of every single spoken line by every single character across all three games. I can set up a filter to isolate a specific character and then CTRL+F words to see if there’s anything worth using. This isn’t foolproof because of technical reasons, but it provides an excellent starting point.

I seem to recall this “Oh yeah?” being a kind of teasing, possibly even passing for sort of sultry response. It could work in a number of different interactions with Joker, so it’s worth saving. The spreadsheet lists what main file I need to access, then what conversation file. From there it’s a pretty simple matter of finding the right node in the Dialogue Editor and extracting the audio file. Then, I give it a name and add it to my database of lines I have saved for her. If there is something distinct or interesting about the line, for example if it contains a laugh or a breath or is read in a particular tone, I mark that down. Over time I’ve ended up with a pretty big database.

So, I try to think of the general gist of what I want her to say. I find a few lines that I think might work... I try slicing and splicing them together in different ways in Audacity. The “Hehe, I already figured that out. It’s not a big deal. I’ll look forward to our next talk.” Line is a splice together of five different lines across all three games, including laugh, words, and different breaths that give the impression of the kind of pauses she’s meant to be injecting. Sometimes, I need to mess with the volume levels of the samples to keep them sounding consistent. ME1′s lines in particular are very inconsistent with the volume so I often have to mess with them to get them to fit together. For Jeff, the process is very similar. I look through my database of lines from the game, and I see if anything works. If it doesn’t work, or if it’s a vanilla line that needs adjusting, I use an AI synth to replicate his voice. The AI was trained on 422 lines of Joker’s dialogue and has a custom made speech pattern synthesizer. It provides a good basis for working on, however, I nearly always need to heavily and extensively��edit the lines to make them sound human. I can control the speed, duration, and pitch of each individual letter in a sentence I tell “him” to read out. By moving letters and words up or down I can drastically alter the reading of the line. But, the synth has its limitations, and the process is very time consuming. When the line sounds about as good as I think I can make it, I import it into Audacity and edit it further, cutting sentences apart for better and more natural pauses between words, and adding in breaths, laughs, or other vocal tics sourced from vanilla audio or other samples of the actor’s speech. I probably spend an average of an hour or more on each one of his synth-produced lines. When I started this project, it was Joker’s lack of contextually relevant lines that was the real limiter, here, and now I’m finding it’s the opposite. Jennifer Hale’s Shepard has a massive bank of lines to select from, literally hundreds of romantic or flirtatious reads, teasing jibes, simple inquiries, almost anything I want and that still creates limitations. Not every set of words I want will fit together well. She doesn’t have everything in the tone I want, or the emphasis. She doesn’t say his name very much. At this point, I actually have much more power to make Jeff direct the romance than I do Shepard. I mean... I’ll be real here, I’d love to just hire Seth Green and Jennifer Hale for this, but I sorta... don’t think they’d exactly leap at the chance to help out with this, hahaha! They’re very busy people, and I am just a simple artist with not a lot of power in terms of financial compensation. I certainly could not pay them industry rates. If only I could get a few key phrases directly from them, though... Ah, the dream.

[theoriginalladya]

Dinosaurs on the brain? <3

*gigglesnort* I so LOVE how this became a thing with Rhys and Kaidan!

So... Dinosaurs on the brain is something Kaidan uses to describe Rhys since their first meeting on the way to BAaT when they were teenagers because Rhys wanted to become a paleontologist and he had SO MANY DINOSAUR BOOKS on his omni-tool it almost overloads. So as adults, whenever Rhys gets distracted by something prothean or just anything, really, Kaidan will tease him by saying he has 'dinosaurs on the brain."

This is actually the start of something ME1-ish, just prior to Eden Prime's events. Sara = Sara Ryder who is 'peacekeeping' on Eden Prime with the prothean dig team. (not sure where exactly it goes from here, but it was too much fun NOT to write out!)

~~~

“Why do you have that… thing?”

“Thing?” Rhys glances across the table at Sara. She is staring at him… well, not at him exactly, but his hands. His right hand, to be specific, and the item he holds. “This?” He lifts his hand toward her, swiping out at her playfully. She hops back a step, likely out of instinct as he does not even get near her, a soft gasp echoing around them, but after a moment, she laughs and grins at him. “What’s it look like?”

He holds it out for her to look at, waiting patiently as she leans back in, tilts her head first to one side and then to the other, and examines it. “It looks like a claw of some kind.”

He tips his Stetson at her. “You are correct,” he assures her. “Do you know what kind of claw?”

He holds the claw, some four inches in length, between his index and middle finger on his right hand. “No clue. A… creature of some kind, would be my guess. An animal? An alien?” She shrugs. “I have no idea.”

“Are you familiar with dinosaurs?”

Sara pulls back, folds her arms across her chest, skepticism oozing off her body. “Dinosaurs? Are you serious?”

His smile never wavers. “I’m always serious about dinosaurs,” he replies. “Didn’t anyone ever tell you about me?”

“No?”

Laughing, he pockets the claw and adopts a more casual pose leaning against the counter behind him. “When I was about… oh, I think I was ten at the time? I found a part of a dinosaur skeleton on my grandfather’s ranch in Wyoming where I lived. We reported it, people came out and eventually took it away for research and study, and that was that. After they left, I went back out there to see it again.” He sighs softly and shakes his head, the remnants of the dig site still as fresh in his mind as they were at that young age. “I was curious, you know? Wondered about what it was like for those creatures way back then, that sort of thing. Ever since I found it, I read anything and everything I could about dinosaurs.” The grin returns and he winks at her. “I was hooked. But that day, when I went back out there, I found this,” he pats his pocket where the claw was now tucked away. “I figured, they didn’t take it, I could keep it and I’ve kept it with me ever since. Like… a good-luck talisman, I guess.”

“A good luck talisman?” Sara chuckles softly. “Why not a rabbit’s foot or something more… traditional?”

“You obviously haven’t experienced the lure of dinosaurs first hand before, have you?”

“Ummm…”

Rhys snorts; the face she makes that of someone desperate to change the subject. “Tell you what, you bring the popcorn and I’ll make dinner and I will introduce you to them. How does that sound?”

She frowns. “How are you going to ‘introduce’ me?” she challenges. “It’s not like a… date or anything is it?”

Rhys nearly chokes. “A date? No, not a date!” Heat fills his cheeks, but he can’t stop it.

Sara, on the other hand, seems to take comfort from that. With a laugh, she clarifies, “I meant with the dinosaurs, doc. You’re… not my type. Sorry.” She winks back at him to soften the blow. “What movie did you have in mind?”

It takes him a long minute to recover himself. “Jurassic Park. Classic dinosaur movie and there are plenty of sequels, too.”

With a nod, she straightens and turns toward the door. “I’ve got to go check in with Doctor Warren, but yeah, sounds like an amusing way to spend a couple hours.” She pauses by the door and looks back. “Popcorn, huh?”

He nods. “Don’t forget the butter.”

“Wouldn’t dream of it.” And with that and a wave of her hand, she exits his lab.

[crqstalite]

9, 26, 27, 29, 14, 12 :) <3 and a rose for Kodelyn as well 🌹

So I don't actually know whether you wanted me to answer these questions from the mass effect list or the tumblr headcanon list (since I reblogged them in pretty quick succession). So we're doing all of them because I got bored. Thank you Bry!!

9: What squad member do you bring along the most?

Kaidan. I'd say "that's too easy of an answer!" but he's so versatile! Biotic abilities! Tech abilities! The two things I'm always in need of. There's not a single situation I regret bringing him to game-wise. Take him everywhere in 1, agonize about not having him around in 2, take him everywhere in 3. Except for when I thought him, Liara and my weakling of a infiltrator could take the Luna mission. They could not. Not nearly as easily or without as many deaths as I thought they could.

12: Favorite non-combatant?

Probably Anderson! I love his character, will never not be sad about the ending to three because of it. I just think they did his character really well throughout the trilogy.

Or Chakwas. I love Chakwas a lot because of her personality. She screams space aunt to me.

14: Who did your most recent Shepard romance?

Ceres was the last Shepard I played through ME1 with back in July, so Liara! Honestly I was just curious, I'm slowly working through all the options (though unfortunately, don't have anyone lined up for Thane yet). Not sure about how I like them together just yet.

26: Who do you wish was available as a romance option?

Joker. If you had any idea what my bookmark list looked liked...

27: How many Shepards do you have?

Counting technically Daphne? Nine. Probably too many because I haven't actually written anything with the "B Team" (Nia, Danny, Ceres and AJ) just yet.

Kodelyn - Soldier, Kaidanmancer Citlali - Adept, Jokermancer Brione - Infiltrator, Garrusmancer Annika - Vanguard, Ashleymancer Nia - Sentinel, Kaidan/Ashley-mancer. Daniel - Engineer, Kaidanmancer Ceres - Vanguard, Liaramancer Alexandra June - Sentinel, Mirandamancer Daphne - Engineer

29: If you primarily play Paragon or Renegade, is there a dialogue/interrupt/action of the opposite alignment you always take?

Yes! I always choose the renegade option for the Batarian recruiter in ME2. That and the one on Thane's mission to push one of the mercs out of the window. And the one at the end of three.

-

9. Makeup?

I think at some point Koda's hands get a little too shaky to apply it correctly herself. It wasn't that big of a deal, after all it'd just take a little longer, but more often than not she'd sweat it off. Typically would go with anything subtle, eyeliner, dark red lipstick and maybe a little concealer for the smaller scars.

12. Favorite book genre?

Romance, as well as anything escapist. The fluffier and more ridiculous, the better. However, she is still a terrible flirt. Rectifying that is not high on her list of priorities. Kaidan still loves her all the same.

14. Physical abnormalities? (Both visible and not, including injuries/disabilities, long-term illnesses, food-intolerances, etc.)

Just one, since I haven't completely ironed them all out yet. Pre-Lazarus resurrection, Kodelyn had some nerve damage from Elysium and other missions that caused her hands and feet to go numb sometimes. It wasn't severe enough to hinder her work, just annoying enough to bother her, and she tended to wear compression gloves. Post-Lazarus, Miranda had managed to mitigate most of it, but she is still subject to tingling extremities every now and then.

26. Do they have any plans for the future? Any contingency plans if things don’t workout?

I'm paraphrasing from an earlier conversation with a mutual, but her and Kaidan settle down in Vancouver after the war. She pretty much skirts around the Councilor position offered to her afterwards, and mostly just...gets a chance to enjoy life with her boyfriend. Visits to the Orchard, visits home to her family, she learns to swim eventually. She's pretty much the "cool" aunt to Esme.

(And honestly, her only aunt.)

27. What is their biggest regret?

I think it's tied between Virmire (knowing she should've been able to save Ashley, and let her personal ties blind her) and Jump Zero (knowing she should've said or done something to prevent what happened to her sister). Koda hates losing people, and she struggles with accepting the fact that sometimes it happens, and there's nothing she can do about it -- no matter how controlling she gets.

29. Reaction to sudden extrapersonal disaster (eg The house is on fire! What do they do?)

Control. Koda wants to control the situation right off the bat. Where is everyone, how can she get them out as quickly and as safely as possible? Then comes gathering everything important, she'll retrieve those things herself. She prefers things to fall to her in the event of a disaster, and make them manageable. It stresses her out though, but if she doesn't have direct control over anything, it also stresses her out. There's no win-win situation here.

[birdylion]

I'm enjoying ME2 a lot so far. It feels like I play it faster than ME1 - seeing as I have already recruited Mordin, Garrus, Zaeed and Kasumi and haven't taken the time to write about any of it until now.

First, while it was a joy to see Joker and Dr. Chakwas again, it was kind of disheartening to see that so many people were so frustrated by the Alliance that they went and joined Cerberus of all things. I still don't trust Cerberus, I don't want to work with them, so seeing that those people signed up because of reasons that don't seem that big to me kind of makes me sad. (But then, they're big to them, and I don't want to judge that.) Although I do enjoy having friendly faces around.

Seeing Tali in the colony we were investigating made me very happy. To see that she's still out there, and doing fine, was great. She seems much more confident here than back in the original Normandy. Although the first thing we learned about her back then was that she could handle herself, so maybe it's just the fact that now she isn't intimidated by the Normandy's engine any more? Okay and she's with other Quarians so maybe she is not as lonely and isolated as she seemed on the Normandy. Anyway, it was great seeing her. Of course, I let the Quarian who had survived the Collectors' attack go with her. There's no way I'm handing someone who is not human over to Cerberus. They'd probably just experiment on them.

In the news (I think on Omega) I heard something about Shepard's mum. It would be nice to let her know Shepard is alive.

I think I like Omega. There's something about how these seedy places are shown that ... actually give them a quite comfy atmosphere. (I felt similarly about Kadara in ME Andromeda. And I was playing a very professional/logical Ryder.) I liked talking to Aria. The thing with Patriarch was interesting, especially talking to Aria afterwards. The words she used - "better luck next time" - were the exact same that Aleena said to Wrex when he told their story back in ME1, so until I see evidence to the contrary, I'm going to assume that Aleena became Aria. I feel like maybe she could be a good ally for Shepard. My Shepard certainly wants to build alliances with people outside of Cerberus. I love the music in both levels of Afterlife.

Between the two big recruiting missions, I did "Archangel" first. I already knew that it was going to be Garrus, so that wasn't a surprise. I like how the whole thing was built up. Gathering intel as a simple hired gun, and using that to be prepared for getting out - nice. Sadly, I did not manage to hack the big mech thing, as I hadn't understood the hacking mechanism yet. I liked the reunion between Garrus and Shepard a lot. Seeing a friend again was really good, and I got the feeling that Garrus truly missed Shepard (likewise, of course, but Garrus had two more years of separation, and Shepard simply woke up in a strange place). I liked their banter, especially the bit about having someone at your side when you're walking into hell. The fighting was really hard this time. I don't like close quarter combat. "Doors and corners" ... Also, I miss the maps you had in ME1. For quite some time I didn't find the second and third door down in the tunnels because I didn't notice that I could jump over the barricades. A map would have been helpful, if only to see that there is a way. It took me a bit longer to understand the direction marker on my radar. But in the end, I managed it with dying only once, so it went alright, all in all. When I was back with Garrus and he was fighting against the Krogan, I made good use of my tactical cloak. The Krogan's taunting was quite funny, he told me to stop hiding and confront him. Nope, sorry, won't do that :D

Recruiting Mordin felt easier. Although the plague and the quarantine station hit close to home. All the coughing in the background noise really made me nervous, for obvious real world reasons. The fight in the end wasn't nearly as hard as the one in Garrus' mission. This time at least I got to use my sniper rifle and take the cannon guys out from a distance while Miranda and Zaeed fought the short range battles. I like Mordin a lot. He seems like a cool guy, I like listening to him. (Still did the paragon interrupts.) I think I understand more of what he says than what I headcanon for my Shepard. My Shepard is very impressed by Mordin and quietly in awe of his brains and all this science stuff.

After that, I went to the Citadel to meet with Anderson and the Council. Meeting Anderson again was great. I liked him in ME1 already, and now it feels like Shepard has a real friend and father figure in him. I’m not sure what I think about Udina. Something is up with him, but whether it’s simple jealousy or something else, I don’t know. The Council not believing Shepard about the Reapers isn't surprising to me, although it still is very frustrating. I called that in the end of ME1 already, when I tried to see their refusal to send Shepard to Ilos from their point of view. So they won't help, and actually I figured they would be a lot more hostile. Instead it was "okay you work with an enemy of the Council now, that's treason, but hey, we owe you, so ... we can give you back your Spectre status provided you don't expect anything else from us and stop bothering us?" and actually, I'm okay with that. I would have liked for them to believe Shepard, but I didn't expect it at all, it would have been very improbable. A bit of actual support (even in the background only, without official recognition) would have been nice, especially because I would like to stop depending on Cerberus. The Council hopes for a quick end of the relationships between Shepard and Cerberus, and honestly, SAME. Their easiest way to accomplish that would be to support Shepard themselves, but then, I get that it would cost a lot of resources, and for a thing they don't even believe in. So all in all, the outcome was not what I might have optimistically hoped for, but better than I realistically expected. 

It was interesting to see new places on the Citadel. The new ward, the markets there ... not only does the game look smoother and more detailed than ME1, also the settings seem to be way more fleshed out. (I guess they had a bigger budget for the second game, once they knew the first one was popular.) Hearing that there really is a hamlet production with a full elcor cast makes me giddy :D I kind of want to see this fourteen hour experience. I bought Shepard fish for his aquarium, but after what they did with the little animal that could be found on the ship in Mass Effect Andromeda, I don't trust Bioware to provide adequate housing for small rodents, so I skipped out on the space hamster.

I like that there are more places I can visit in the new Normandy. It's fun to see how with each new crew member a new door unlocks. My favourite personal place so far is Kasumi's. The little stories she tells about her stuff are interesting and I seem to like her a lot. Talking to Miranda is very interesting as well. At the beginning she was really stand-off-ish, now we seem to have settled into a comfortable professionalism with even a bit of personal talk. The story she tells, about being crafted to be perfect, breaks my heart because for her, it's just so much pressure. I specifically chose my Shepard's background as a Spacer and Sole Survivor so that I had a character who was handed a comparatively easy childhood and youth, who grew up very privileged and under the best conditions, and then still (from his POV) "screwed up" by not being able to save his team. So, Miranda's story really speaks to me, only that she didn't screw up (yet, in her eyes), but still carries the pressure with her. That's really hard.

The last thing I did so far was checking the Normandy's crash site. I liked how that was done. The whole atmosphere there felt heavy, yet otherworldly. The beautiful landscape (look I love ice and polar lights) and the ruins of Shepard's beloved ship. The dog tags. Even though it wasn't possible to talk to the background crew in ME1, I headcanon that my Shepard still knew them, if only in passing. Shepard's helmet was a nice touch. I especially liked Pressly's data pad. In ME1 I had tried to talk to him more, but he always seemed to have the same dialogue options. To see that in the end he changed his view on the aliens on board kind of reconciled me with that. And the flashbacks were really well done, ouch.

I'm in love with this game.

[antagonistchan]

i started playing Mass Effect: Andromeda yesterday.

i got a download code for it for christmas like two years ago and just finally redeemed it.

now, for years, i’ve been saying this: “i know that people don’t like Andromeda- it’s very hard to avoid that- but i’ve done my best to avoid looking further into why people don’t like Andromeda because i want to form an opinion for myself. lots of people don’t like Mass Effect 3 either and i fucking adore that game. based on the fact that most people don’t like Andromeda and consider it a total joke but i do see that it has its fans in the Mass Effect tag, i expect that it’s gonna be bad, but i’m gonna like it anyways, though not as much as i like the trilogy.”

and i was absolutely right. so far at least.

it’s definitely not the worst. i mean, unless the question is “the worst Mass Effect game”, in which case, yeah, it is the worst. but that’s not saying much considering the other three are collectively my favorite game of all time.

so, Mass Effect: Andromeda is an extremely flawed game. but it’s not completely worthless like some people say (though i can totally understand why someone would dismiss it as worthless).

it’s pretty ugly (it’s got good lighting, but the animations and textures and human models all look really.... off. and the original version of ME1 was also pretty ugly, but in a charmingly primitive 2007 kinda way; Andromeda’s ugliness lacks that charm, especially since the aforementioned good lighting makes it fail to feel particularly primitive). speaking of the animations, aside from them looking off, a lot of them are extremely stiff and borderline unfinished.

the Angarans as a species are also pretty ugly imo, but 1: that’s extremely subjective, i’ve definitely seen people who are thirsty for Angarans, and 2: that’s also not necessarily a complaint. Angarans just Look Like That. who says these aliens need to conform to our ideals of prettiness. and they’ve got cool stuff going on. Jaal’s neat.

i do like the Remnant. they kinda give off that same precursor vibe as Prothean/Reaper tech without feeling like exactly the same thing again, and it’s pretty interesting that they only disappeared within the last few hundred years rather than 50,000 years ago. and there’s a lot more left of them. they’re somewhat derivative of the Forerunners from Halo, but not too extremely.

now, the aliens i do have an issue with are the Kett. they are so extremely derivative. not only are they derivative of things outside of Mass Effect (i know next to nothing about Warframe and even i can tell that they’re visually a total ripoff of Warframe, and also to an extent Halo), but they’re derivative of things Mass Effect already had, too (gee, an evil race that creates its soldiers by corrupting members of other races? no, that’s not like the Reapers at all).

the game’s writing is mostly fine. nothing’s struck me nearly as hard as anything in the trilogy had this far in (for any of the three games), but the story hasn’t offended me too badly and there’s been stuff i’ve liked. Alec Ryder’s a cool dead mentor character and i did emotionally resonate with him sacrificing himself to save my character’s life, Andromeda manages to bring back a lot of the hard sci-fi elements that ME2 and ME3 both scaled back on from ME1, and i really like the whole disaster scenario that Andromeda inherently presents, and how it makes space feel really big and dangerous in ways the trilogy liked to hint at but never fully explore.

not sure how i feel about the combat yet. largely because of the game’s pacing, and there’s a complaint. the trilogy was pretty good at keeping you on your toes, balancing the combat/exploration gameplay with the downtime gameplay. Andromeda... doesn’t really. it’ll spend way too long on the combat/exploration stuff so i’ll easily start getting bored with it, and then it’ll spend way too long on the downtime stuff so i’ll easily start begging to actually try out the new combat/exploration stuff i’m getting during the downtime, and on top of this, it also means i’m having a really hard time adjusting to the combat. i’m not really having that much fun with the combat yet, but i feel like there’s a very good chance it’s because i just haven’t gotten the hang of it yet (especially coming right off the tail of another playthrough of the original trilogy, a series of games i replay literally every year and have since 2013 so i know them like the back of my hand). the idea of Profiles is interesting, at least.

the Tempest is a cool ship. i had it introduced to me as “a shitty version of the Normandy” and that’s not really fair. yeah, the Normandy’s cooler, but the Tempest is cool too. honestly, i found myself comparing it more to the Normandy SR-1 than the SR-2. It has a much more similar vibe (i mean, hell, you don’t need to go through any loading screens to see the entire ship, and it’s not all centralized around a single elevator). the windows are really really silly from an in-universe perspective but i can forgive that, especially since it’s finally fulfilling the promise that i mistakenly thought some vague blurry ME1 art made years ago- a central ops chamber with a full window view of the top part of the ship. and it’s pretty. Ryder’s bedroom is a lot nicer than Shepard’s, it’s a bedroom that’s much more my speed. i also think it’s funny that they had to rename the Tempest gun so the names didn’t conflict.

and then there’s the characters, and.... i mostly like them.

i’m a little mixed on Cora. she seems a little passive-aggressive. Drack is just store brand Wrex, but that’s not really a bad thing. i mean, could you live up to Urdnot Wrex? no, you couldn’t. so Drack doesn’t offend me, i like him. Tann absolutely sucks but he’s clearly supposed to suck.

but then you’ve got the characters who are on two opposite ends of the spectrum of likability: Vetra and Peebee.

holy shit Peebee sucks and i don’t want anything to do with her. she was one of those things i wasn’t able to avoid hearing about and yeah she sucks just as much as everyone said she does.

Vetra, meanwhile? i adore Vetra so much. i love her. the moment i met her, i just HAD to look her up on the wiki to see if i could romance her, and i was so elated when i saw she was an available bi romance.

and for that matter, i was soon pretty happy to discover the game’s selection of romances: three exclusively straight romances (Cora, Liam, Avela), two exclusively gay romances (Gil and Suvi), and five bi romances (Jaal, Vetra, the witch, Keri, and someone i haven’t met yet named Reyes). that’s a pretty solid mix! especially when the two straight romances are two humans and an Angaran, the two gay romances are both human, and the bi romances are two Asari, a female Turian, a human, and another Angaran. i think i’d adjust it slightly by making one of the straight romances bi, but aside from that, that’s... kinda perfect! this feels really well thought-out, like they tried to make the mix perfect (hell, making one of the Angarans exclusively straight but another one bi feels like they were trying to provide a serious cultural clue for them- namely, that sexual identity is a concept they have)! it’d also be perfect if everyone was bi, but perfect in a different way (pro: you don’t have to worry about sexuality at all, con: it’s kinda boring).

anyways, back to Vetra. it’s a little early to say, since i’ve barely even explored her romance, but........ while probably not my favorite romance (it’d take a lot to dethrone that current champion, Traynor, let alone the other high scorers Garrus and Tali), she’s probably pretty high up there. sassy Turian lady who plays dirty to get things done? hell, i love the Garrus romance so much despite being a lesbian, so i’m absolutely all for my character romancing a Turian with a dark side, and now we get someone other than Garrus to fill that role, and a lady at that! ME1 and ME2 didn’t have any female Turians and ME3 didn’t have nearly enough, and then ME:A just has so many. the same goes for female Salarians, too, actually, but it’s more understandable in-universe for Salarians considering how Salarian gender works. anyways, there’s more that i love about Vetra besides “she’s Garrus 2 but a girl now”, a lot more actually, but that core idea is really enough to get you on board with her, really.

(speaking of Garrus though, he was also the focal point of one of the game’s stupidest moments: at some point Ryder says “An impatient rookie, frustrated with procedure? That's overdone.” which like..... that’s clearly supposed to be making fun of Garrus?? who’s like, the literal most popular character in the franchise???? i’m sorry??? what??? it’s like they’re trying to piss the fandom off intentionally, and “creators intentionally trying to piss their fandom off” generally don’t earn much respect from me unless they’re indie, and even then it’s a tough sell)

but that Garrus thing is cancelled out by another cool thing: the Nexus. the core idea of the Nexus seems to be “the Andromeda Initiative decided to build their own Citadel”, and that’s really fucking cool. it’s interesting to see the challenges of getting something like the Citadel actually up and running, and the Nexus itself is pretty interesting, especially in comparing and contrasting between it and the Citadel. also it has a room dedicated to teaching any local species about the various Milky Way races, and it’s all technically accurate but also a little overly generous in how positive some things are (“Turian culture is proof that peace will always win out!” “Humans may be diverse, but we choose to celebrate that diversity rather than let it divide us!”). and also i love that they actually let you listen to the info about humans as if you weren’t a human yourself because one of my favorite things about ME worldbuilding is how much it feels like humanity is just another one of the races that exists in this world, and humanity are really only the “protagonists” of the story because Shepard/Ryder is human.

[kaidans-alenko]

26 on physical affection prompts: bonus: touching feet and immediately screaming and recoiling for kaidan + lily? (because it reads like them lol)

Ha! You’re absolutely right lol it seems all I know how to write is me1 or post-war fluff pieces but any who, I hope you like it and as usual thank you for sending one <3  

AO3 Link 

The smell of pancakes traveled from the kitchen to the small bedroom Lily was still asleep in. Mmmm pancakes….when was the last time she even had pancakes? With her brother maybe? Aiden couldn't really cook but he did know how to make pancakes. 

Lily let out a high pitched noise as she stretched out like a cat, rolling onto her back, the warm sunlight coming through the window at odds with the cool breeze from the quiet ceiling fan above her. It had been a long time since she had woken up to actual sun and not just the fabricated day cycle on the Citadel but actual sun. 

She blinked awake, taking in her surroundings from where she lay still on the bed, that's right, she was in Kaidan's apartment. So far the only room she had seen was the bedroom, he had intended to give her a tour but that of course didn't happen. 

Lily giggled to herself at the memory of it, smiling as she sat up, Kaidan sure had taste and for a previously single guy who was hardly ever home it was surprisingly clean, well besides the clothes strewn about, courtesy of Lily’s impatience, it was clean. His bed was pretty big too, he didn’t seem like the kind of guy that slept around so maybe he just liked having room to sprawl out in, she knows she did. She hopped out of bed, nearly falling on her face, the bed was pretty high up to begin with but her general clumsiness didn’t help things. “Let’s see...underwear, underwear, ah!” Lily picked up the pink lacy piece of fabric off the floor quickly slipping it back on, carefully snatching the blue flannel that was hanging off the lamp, throwing it on just as Kaidan walked into the room with breakfast.

“Well good morning.” He said, barely containing a smirk. 

“Sorry...I got cold.” 

Kaidan shrugged “There are certainly worse things to see first thing in the morning.” 

Lily rolled her eyes “Those better be the pancakes I smelled earlier.” she threatened as she crawled back into bed.  

“Sorry, cereal.”

Lily sighed dramatically, falling back against the pillows “Does it at least have marshmallows?” 

“No but your hot chocolate does.” He told her, Lily’s ears perking up immediately and she sat with her legs crisscrossed on the bed.

“Hot chocolate?” The one way to her heart and Kaidan knew it. 

“Peppermint even.”  he said as he got in bed next to her, setting the tray across from her.

“You remembered!” Lily picked up the mug, letting out a content hum as she sipped at it.

“Hard to forget when you drink five cups a day.” He teased, kissing her head.

“Listen, I can’t have coffee, I need to improvise.” 

“And tea also has too much caffeine?” He asked.

“Exactly!” she set the mug down, picking up her fork “it’s gross anyway.” she cut into a pancake “this better be good or I’m breaking up with you.” Kaidan liked to think she was joking, it had taken months for them to stop arguing and finally admit their attraction to each other, he’d hate for it to end over something as silly as pancakes but it was Lily he was dealing with, he certainly wouldn’t put it past her. Lily paused, fork still in her mouth “Kaidan…”

“Yeah?”

“With this pancake making ability of yours, how was it you were ever single?” 

Kaidan laughed “Because you’re the only person I've ever cooked pancakes for.”

Lily leaned against him “Aww Kaidan, you do love me!”

“Was there ever any doubt?”

Lily shrugged, popping a strawberry in her mouth “Not particularly, this just solidified it.” 

“Is that right?”

Lily nodded, mouth full of pancakes and Kaidan couldn’t help but think she looked like a hamster. “I’m a simple woman, Kaidan, I only require a few things to be happy.” she said after swallowing “Breakfast food and hot chocolate.”

“Ahhh so that’s why you were so grumpy on the Normandy.” He teased, it was hard to keep your morale up when all you had to choose from was two different kinds of MRE or a protein bar and since Lily despised eggs it was always a protein bar. 

“Ha ha, but seriously, I appreciate it, things have been…” she hung her head “well you know.” 

Kaidan pulled her to him “I know.” he was an only child and while yeah he has lost friends, came with the job he’d never lost a family member before so as much he wanted to say he understood her pain he couldn’t and he knew her well enough to know a weak sentiment like that would only push her away and make her mad. “You’ll be okay Lil, not saying you’re gonna get over it soon or that you have to at all but you have Ashley, Anderson and-”

“You?” She asked, her chocolate brown eyes looking into his whiskey ones.

“Yeah, I’m not going anywhere.” He brushed back her hair, kissing her, he remembered the day Aiden died, Lily was devastated and with good reason. It’s why he took them to Earth, he hoped spending shore leave away from the Citadel and constant reminders of her brother would take her mind off it, at least for a while.

----------------------

Lily sang along to theme song of the Blasto cartoon they had put on vid screen as she browsed the extranet on her omni-tool, feet propped up on Kaidan’s lap as they lounged together on the couch, “So Kaidan, what do Canadians do for fun around here?”

“Well Vancouver is pretty big, I’m sure we can find something to keep you entertained.” At least he hoped so or she would find ways to be entertained and for someone as technically minded and curious as she was it usually resulted in taking something apart. He remembered one instance on the Citadel where she wandered off to bother the Keepers, getting stuck in one of the tunnels as a result. Thanks to Aiden covering for her she just got a warning from a very tired C-Sec officer who mumbled something along the lines of: ‘I don’t get paid enough to deal with humans.’ and any other time it would’ve bothered them but in that instance it was warranted.  

“Hmm I sure hope-” Lily felt Kaidan’s hand brush against her foot as he lazily rubbed her legs, it was brief and he barely touched him, in fact it was more than likely an accident but it was enough to freak her out. Lily screamed recoiling back against the arm of the couch, holding her legs against her chest.

“Are you okay?” He asked both confused and concerned.

Lily nodded “Yeah just…” she blushed avoiding his gaze “if I tell you, you have to promise me you won’t laugh.”

“Of course, what is it Lily?”

“No, you have to pinky swear.” she said sticking out her small pinky to him and he bit back a laugh, it seemed like she had something serious to say but it was diminished by the childish request.

“Okay, Lily I pinky swear.” He said, linking their pinkies together.

“Good,” she took a deep breath, Lily always did have a flair for the dramatic so he wasn’t sure how concerned he should be but it obviously was serious to her “I may be just a bit ticklish on my feet, which is why I panicked.” 

“Ticklish?” He was both surprised and unsurprised at the same time by this sudden revelation, it was cute if he were to be honest. Someone like her, with her reputation being what it was, to be ticklish just made her even more interesting, she was full of surprises and he loved her for it.

Lily nodded “If you tell a soul I will kill you then bring you back and kill you again.” she glared and he could see the flames burning in her eyes, apparently being in a relationship with her didn’t he mean he was exempt from her death threats. 

“If anyone does find out your dark secret it won’t be from me.” 

“Hmph, I’ll believe you for now.” Lily stretched back out and Kaidan took the opportunity to tickle the soles of her feet and she jolted, rolling on her side and squirming as she laughed. “You’re horrible!” she said, catching her breath.

“Me? I’m not quite sure what you’re talking about Lily.” he said, tickling her again.

“I hate you!” she said between fits of giggles, her stomach starting to hurt from laughing. 

She would more than likely kick his ass for it later but it was the first time he’s heard her laugh in a long time and she had the most beautiful laugh, loud and cheerful, contagious even and if he got hit with her biotics because of it it was well worth it as far as he was concerned. 

[swaps55]

Sonata - Update

Pairing: mShenko

Rating: M

Tags: Canon Divergent (Shepard & Kaidan pre-Me1 service history), Fake Relationship, Oh No - There Was Only One Bed, Mutual Pining (SO MUCH PINING)

POV Characters: Kaidan, Joker, Tali, Liara, Mrs. Alenko

Summary:

After the Battle of the Citadel, the Alliance calls the Normandy home to Vancouver to face an inquest. Things get...complicated. On every possible level. Especially when Kaidan discovers an unfortunate misunderstanding with his parents.

It’s @urrone / @makoparkingonly’s birthday today! So here, have a chapter. Many, many thanks to @sinvraal for beta-ing this mess.

Chapter 10 - Unsteady

Chapter Summary:

The chapter with the gala. :)

Read it:

Tali cranes her head, gazing at the banquet hall Mrs. Alenko had described as a “venue.”

It’s beautiful.

And big. The only space on the Rayya that comes close is the garden plaza, and it could fit inside this room. Everywhere she looks she finds more displays of elegant opulence, from the chandeliers to the drapes to the high arches ceilings. The precious metals in the filigree patterns alone would be far too valuable as raw goods for repairs and ship functions to ever dream of using them for decor. 

With this kind of space on the flotilla they could make so many strides with agriculture. 

And the food. The guests have not even arrived yet and food is everywhere, carried on uncovered platters by servers wearing ornate uniforms. The sheer volume of it could feed an entire ship. Even when Captain Kar'Danna oversees public gatherings, either the guest list is short or the menu is small. They simply cannot afford such lavish displays, nor would any time or effort be spent making it look pretty. Food on the flotilla is meant to make nutrient intake as efficient as possible. The morsels on these trays are too stunning to eat.  

On the stage at the front of the ballroom, a live band tunes instruments she’s never seen before.Quarians tend to favor woodwind and stringed instruments. While there are strings involved on the stage, the sound they make is overpowering. Tali can’t imagine needing an even bigger space for music, but a reverberating boom from a canvas-strung cylinder makes the cavernous space feel small. She turns down the sensitivity of her external audio pickups.   

To distract from the music, she fantasizes about the clothes she’ll see. Flowing dresses, colors, accessories that sparkle. As she waits for her new security script to load on her omnitool – she’s nicknamed it Love Bot – she fingers the scarf that Mrs. Alenko had given her. Purple with gold trim, a perfect match to her suit. It takes the sting out of not being able to wear a gown of her own.

Once the script is ready she links into a backdoor in the building’s security network and uploads it. It had been disappointingly easy to do. Not everything can be as challenging as hacking into a geth gestalt, but she can hope.

Beside her, Joker leans his head back against the wall and sighs. “You know, somehow I thought espionage would be more exciting than this.”

The sight of him in something other than an Alliance jumpsuit makes him look even more alien than usual. He keeps fussing with his sleeves and adjusting the collar, but when he leaves it alone and stops thinking about the fact he’s wearing it, it doesn’t look half bad. Except for the shoes. He’d refused to put on the dress shoes that went with it and is still wearing Alliance boots, claiming they’re more comfortable with the leg braces.

“Do you have the scrambler I asked for?” Tali asks.

He holds up the tiny device and waves it back and forth.

“Great. I’m going to need to install it near the main entrance.”

“What does this thing do, exactly?”

“It’ll create a fence around the venue that interferes with outgoing communications,” Tali replies.

Joker chews his lip. “Uh. Is that…safe? In case of emergency?”

“Joker. Do you really think I’m sloppy enough that I wouldn’t teach my programs to understand the difference between regular and emergency channels? I promise, if the building catches on fire we’ll be able to call for help.”

She’s got it nearly installed, just to the inside of the expansive, double doors that open into an anteroom outside the ballroom, when Mrs. Alenko finds them. She looks radiant - her navy blue dress is accentuated by a cape embroidered with a tapestry of constellations. When she walks it shimmers.

It’s beautiful.

Mrs. Alenko glances around with a nervous look in her eyes.

“Is it all ready?”

A green light blinks on the scrambler. “Yep,” Tali says. “Scrambler is online to take care of comms. The program I created to interfere with imaging and recordings is loaded into the security network, and will infect the omnitool of anyone it scans. Which means everyone who comes in.”

“What about the staff?”

Tali waves her omnitool. “I’m on it. I can run it remotely on any stragglers.”  

Mrs. Alenko chews her lip. “And it’s all…benign?”

Her concern is touching. Tali has spent too much time around Shepard, whose concern with legalities starts and ends with ‘will it make this thing stop bothering me.’

“All it will do is…very conveniently overwrite any audio or video recordings anyone might try to make tonight,” Tali assures her.

“Tali rewrote a geth colossus,” Joker says. “If she says it’s good, you’re good.”

Mrs. Alenko nods, winding her finger up in her cape. Not likely she knows what a geth colossus is, but Joker’s confidence made it sound pretty impressive, at least. “Ok,” she says, without much certainty. “And you think all of this…” she gestures around the room, “will work?”

Joker jerks a thumb in Tali’s direction. “She’s the romance expert.”

Tali hums. “I think what the two of them need is a chance to just spend time around each other without the galaxy falling on their heads. The inquest is over. Everyone here will be having a good time. What you’re giving them is a refuge to do that. It’s very sweet of you.”

Mrs. Alenko smiles weakly.

“We just need to make sure they dance,” Tali says, tapping her helmet.

“Easy,” Joker says.

“Oh?”

Joker shrugs. “It’s Shepard. His competitive streak is bigger than Sovereign. Worst comes to worst, just bet him he won’t do it. He’ll be out there on the dancefloor before you can blink.”

Mrs. Alenko stifles a laugh.

A well-dressed gentleman pokes his head around the corner from the ballroom. “Hey, you.”

Tali looks at him in confusion, until she realizes he’s speaking to Mrs. Alenko.

“Everything good in the kitchen?” she asks.

He nods. Now that Tali is looking, she can see how clearly he resembles Kaidan. Cheekbones. Jawline. His thick mop of hair. Even the way they tilt their head is similar. “Band is all set, too. Ready to unlock the doors whenever you are.”

Mr. Alenko acknowledges both Joker and Tali. Joker, to her surprise, salutes. Mr. Alenko returns it with a crisp nod.

Strains of music filter into the anteroom from the stage. Tali peers out the glass doors and up at the sky. Thick and leaden with clouds, but the ground remains dry. She sighs.

“What’s the matter?” Joker asks.

“Just hoping for rain.”

In the meantime, she’ll settle for some fancy dresses.

Read from the beginning | Read the rest on Ao3 | The Sonata Playlist

[maskydoolovesmasseffect]

How Many Crew Were On The Original Normandy?

Ok ok so I’m in the middle of replaying the original Mass Effect and I’ve run into something totally inconsequential that still bugs the hell out of me: How many people were aboard the original Normandy?

Oh, hear me out. So in Mass Effect 2, you get a mission from Hackett to go collect the dog tags of 20 dead crew members. Ok. So that’s at least how many people did NOT survive the Normandy’s destruction.

Now, at various points in the game, you’re told that most of the crew survived. Joker confirms this, as does Jacob and I believe also TIM (Not sure about that last one.) Ok, so the total number of survivors had to me more than 20.

So, at minimum, we’re looking at 41 crew for ‘most’ of the crew surviving to be true.

Now the problem is this, if you romance Kaidan and also make him anti-alien in Mass Effect 1, when he comes to your quarters after you steal the Normandy and before you get to Ilos, he says this line: “ "fifty thousand years to figure this out and it's down to 25 mutineers. way to go, team milky way.”

25 Mutineers. That’s not many. Assuming we aren’t including the aliens as mutineers and that this only refers to Alliance crew, that still would only bring the total number of people aboard to 29 in all, that’s still not nearly enough to make the 20 dead a minority.

I would say maybe the Normandy picked up more crew after the events of ME2, since in ME1 all the Normandy was supposed to be doing was a shake-down-run which then got out of hand... but the very first scene of the game disproves this. Navigator Pressly calls the shake down run suspicious precisely because it has too many crew on it already, saying a skeleton crew would have been enough. Though I’m not sure this means it necessarily had a full complement either. 

It’s also possible some of the marines the Normandy started with died during the course of the events of the first game. Jenkins is a confirmed death, as is whoever is left behind on Virmire. Additionally, it’s possible other Marines died on virmire, as at least one marine is seen staying with either Ashley or Kaidan at the bomb site.

I’m also wondering if, during the theft of the Normandy, a few crew might have ‘noped’ out of the whole treason thing and chosen to remain on the Citadel. After all it wouldn’t make much sense for all of them to risk their careers or even lives based on some dreams their Commander had - they didn’t all see the same evidence and at least some skepticism would be entirely reasonable. A few might even believe Shepard is downright crazy.

So it’s possible the total number of Alliance members aboard the Normandy got whittled down, leaving only 25 remaining by the end, and was replenished to full later.

Note that I’m not really concerned about the total number of crew who can be seen in game aboard the ship. I’m happy to accept that the visible crew in game are only meant to be representative, much like any NPCs anywhere, and I assume the actual populations of anywhere you visit are far greater than what’s seen. Plus we can logic this away as crew working in shifts, and also the possible existence of locations aboard that Shepard never visits as from a gameplay standpoint they wouldn’t matter. As I recall, the first Normandy has no bathrooms but logically there must be some. In addition there is a ‘mess’ (which hardly seems to consist of only one table with 8 chairs, which I take to mean it’s only there to imply a mess for gameplay reasons) so logically there has to be some kind of kitchen somewhere. Point is, I’m happy to disregard the number of crew NPCs you can actually see. 

I haven’t seen any official answers for this. If anyone knows of any or just has a good headcanon I’d love to hear it. I know I’m overthinking something that doesn’t really matter, but, that’s kinda what I do. 

[barbariccia]

Shepard: I can’t believe it’s you, Joker.

Joker: Look who’s talking. I saw you get spaced.

joker’s walking by himself, if a little slowly, a testament to however he’s grown and changed in the last couple years, where before he had to be real careful just to get up to take a piss. and he seems to know his way around - hell, he’s wearing the same colours as miranda and jacob, replete with the cerberus logo on either shoulder, and a brand new hat. so what gives?

the normandy sr-2 was, like shepard herself, rebuilt from the ground-up by cerberus and TIM, and was based heavily on the original design, though it’s been increased in mass and size, as well as the interior layout having been spruced up some. not only have we been outfitted with a new ship, but we’ve been given the crew to go along with it. men and women in cerberus fatigues stroll about, having taken the place of the original normandy crew, and miranda and jacob, who are also along for the ride, welcome us home.

Miranda: I’ve been looking over the dossiers. I’d strongly recommend starting by acquiring Mordin Solus, the salarian professor on Omega. We’ll need him to develop a countermeasure to the Collectors’ immobilzing their victims to protect us.

Shepard: Without a countermeasure, we’ll be helpless if we ever run into them.

EDI: Acquiring Professor Solus seems like the most logical place to start.

a voice we don’t recognise, robotic in origin, pipes up, along with an avatar of sorts.

I am the Normandy’s artificial intelligence. The crew like to refer to me as EDI.

we;ve heard mention of AI in the past; it utterly fails to surprise me that something considered illegal galaxy-wide is being developed and utilised by cerberus.

Shepard: Shut that thing down. I don’t want it on my ship.

EDI: Have I offended?

Miranda: Shepard spent a great deal of time fighting rogue AI. Geth, mostly. Plus that incident with the Alliance’s Hannibal system on Luna.

EDI: Your distrust is logical. Unlike the irrational mistrust of most humans. However, I am no threat to you or anyone else.

sounds like something a threat would say. [squints]

from here, we have the full run of the ship and can meet the crew or take off to our heart’s desire. there’s some additional things that the original normany didn’t have... or just didn’t display, like the addition of toilets.

you get told off by your new robot mom if you walk into the wrong ones. :( there’s also a personal room on the top floor, with a private desk and fish tank, as well as a hi-fi system that plays some tunes you might remember from running around on the citadel’s wards.

well, no time like the present to get to know the newbies.

Kelly: I’ll manage your messages, and help you monitor the crew. And I must say, it’s such an honor to work under you, Commander Shepard.

oh yeah, we have a terminal from hereon where we can get emails and other correspondance throughout the game.

Kelly: Being your yeoman is just my official role. Unofficially, I observe the crew. Everyone knows how risky our mission is. Many of us may not be coming back. That’s a lot of pressure.

Kelly: I have a degree in psychology. I’m good at sensing when people are overly taxed.

Shepard: You make sure the crew’s mental health is sound?

Kelly: I look for warning signs. I listen. It’s not a full-time job and it’s most effective when done informally.

shep here thinking she wished kelly was around for like, all of me1, where people wouldn’t stop fucking bringing up akuze with every other breath. can’t help myself hoping that kelly’s being paid for her time however informal her role, though.

we get, for the first time, to talk to people who aren’t of the opinion that cerberus is the be-all of great evil, too, which is the first time we’re hearing opinions like this. and personally i’ve always loved this addition. a lot of these people are just... people getting by, and not exactly privy to the Worst Parts of the org, despite what they might have heard in the press.

Kelly: I was handpicked by the Illusive Man to help fight the greatest threat known to humanity. How do I feel? Honored, exhilarated. Terrified. But mostly I feel encouraged. Under your leadership, we can’t fail.

Shepard: Cerberus has a dark reputation. Do you have any concerns working for them?

Kelly: Not at all. Our methods can be harsh, but Cerberus has noble objectives. We look out for human interests. Advance human technologies. Save human lives. They’re good goals.

Shepard: Sounds like they want to dominate all aliens and put humankind on top?

Kelly: Cerberus looks out for humanity, but that doesn’t mean we hate aliens. My sister started a dog shelter, but she loved cats too. I love humanity. I also love asari, quarian, turian, salarian, hanar -- that isn’t in conflict with Cerberus ideals.

Shepard: That’s a very positive attitude.

Kelly: What can I say? I’m a people person.

in the mess hall, there’s a couple of crewmen chowing down, not exactly impressed by the fare.

gardner’s a Real American Dude in that he’s incredibly sure of himself and his place in the world.

Gardner: Commander Shepard, the hero of the Citadel! You did humanity proud that day.

Shepard: How do you feel about working for Cerberus?

Gardner: Damn proud! Cerberus gets the job done. The Alliance and Council have got their heads buried so deep up their butt-puckers they can’t see squat. It’ll take good ol’ human ingenuity to crush these Collector vermin. Only Cerberus knows that.

Shepard: How’d you find your way here?

Gardner: Can you believe I was once a family man, working the eezo rigs along the frontier? I was happy enough. But losing everything to batarian raiders can change your outlook. I needed to make a difference. I’m no soldier, but I’ve got skills, and Cerberus keeps an eye out for talent.

can’t help but be reminded of all the recruiters the world over that keep an eye out for the worn-down, young or gullible to introduce to their ranks. sure, you can make an argument that gardner isn’t representative of cerberus’ personnel as a whole, but... with the very pro-humanity stance we’ve got going on...

well.

there’s a crewman’s private quarters by the elevator and toilets, with bunks for the crew to sleep in, and a table and a couple of chairs. there’s always a couple sat in these chairs discussing something-or-other, and you can follow their story after every mission you undertake, unable to interact with them otherwise.

these guys paint a much different picture to kelly and gardner; we get the sense that they might not be as pro-human so much as they know something is happening to humans and just want to help in some form or another. it’s complicated! everyone’s got different reasons for being here.

down in engineering-

ken and gabby are the epitomy of a married couple, and adorable for it. they’ve been friends a long time; after shep’s death, ken took offense to the alliance ripping apart everything that we’d said and done for them, and nearly got himself a court-martialin’. he was contacted by TIM, and gabby insisted that the offer included her, since they’ve known each other since tech academy. they’ve got some tech woes, and we offer to pick them something up for their work if we find it - the same way that we tell gardner we’ll get him some quality food to work with to increase morale - and as we walk off...

it’s starting to feel less like a crew and more a team of people who... actually believe in us, even though we don’t know them at all. when TIM said we were an icon, i... guess he wasn’t exactly wrong.

[octerminal]

having many many many many me1mele thoughts

mele “spoilers” below - if you’re wanting to avoid hearing anything about the remaster, ignore this post!

i am OBSESSED with photomode

literally, i have been playing all day and i haven’t even recruited anyone but ashley yet because i’ve just been taking pictures of everything

sorry who is saren? what’s a spectre candidacy? commander shepard is busy building her photography portfolio on the citadel call back later

i didn’t think i was going to make gifs because i’m still playing on console and i didn’t really want to make gifs til i made the switch to pc so they could look Nicer(tm), but i genuinely think not being able to gif the uncharted worlds is going to kill me

might settle for photosets as a compromise

i haven’t even reached the uncharted worlds yet anyway but when i do that’s also going to kill me

i was worried i was going to miss the red skies on eden prime but i actually find i didn’t mind the change nearly as much playing through it myself so i’m glad i held out finalizing my opinion on that

eden prime was stunning - i said this on twitter, but it’s really become the paradise the game repeatedly tells you it is. walking through that reminded me of how i feel exploring the uncharted worlds

sovereign looked massive and imposing taking off on eden prime, so much more than in the original game

i’ve always loved me1′s citadel the most but this remaster is taking it to another level

i am out of control i have taken like a dozen pictures of the bar area in flux alone

in general the improved graphics has extended the unique magic me1 has that none of the other games do for me to everything - like everything just feels so lived in. you really feel like this is an inhabited, sci-fi world. for some reason, i never really feel that way in me2 until maybe when i’m on the citadel again (and even then, it pales in comparison to me1) - and i never feel that way in me3 at all, which is understandable because it’s very much a linear war story

i am very, very, very excited to get to feros and noveria and bring down the sky and ilos in particular. i know virmire is going to be beautiful but i can’t say i’m excited for it because i do not want to see anyone die in HD

it was a useless dlc and it’s objectively no major loss but oh i am very much mourning even more now that i won’t be able to see shepard’s crappy apartment in HD

oh the sniper rifle overhaul is lovely. granted, i’m a weirdo who’d adjusted to me1′s terrible combat enough that i actively found it enjoyable but the fact i no longer have to put points into sniper rifle just to make it not be all wobbly is wonderful

in general i’m finding the combat improvements fun - i’m using grenades way more than i ever did previously this early on already - but again, i already liked me1′s combat at this point so it doesn’t take much to please me in that regard

i have not driven the mako yet and i am very excited to drive the mako

that being said: i am displeased with both kaidan and ashley’s appearances and i do think they have been whitewashed. there’s something about ashley’s face that also looks different to me but for the life of me, i can’t place it (is it her eyes? are they smaller? does anyone else know what i’m talking about or am i just imagining things?)

i also think the decision to give kaidan the salt and pepper hair in me1 is a weird choice, but not a particularly egregious one or anything. i’d much rather the whitewashing be fixed

in general, it’s by far not the worse they could’ve given us (my biggest fear was that they’d import their me3 designs and retroactively apply them in me1/2) but it’s something i’m definitely hoping someone smarter than me fixes with mods

did anyone else notice they got rid of kaidan’s little smile if you tell him the beacon thing wasn’t his fault? this doesn’t bother me but i thought it was an interesting choice

the normandy mess hall has lesbian lighting now and no i will not elaborate on that

oh yeah: what is up with the asari????? why do they all have that dreadful black eyeshadow??? is 2183 the year for raccoon eyes in asari fashion??? WHAT is going on????

[aricazorel]

I was tagged by @ripley95 for Fic Flashback Friday. Thank you!

Messages is a story I wrote a couple of years ago about Kora (Kori) Reese but only began posting it on AO3 in March 2020. It centered around the idea of a female character being part of the original Normandy crew and developing a relationship with Kaidan Alenko. While it actually takes place during the months before the beginning of Mass Effect 3, it details some of their relationship during ME1 and 2 and how they went from crew mates to friends to lovers to ex-flames. and eventually getting back together. I've since written a sequel called Broken Road and a plethora of prompts about their relationship.

I am a huge F!Shenko fan but the idea of Kori kept popping up whenever I went to write Mas Effect. I know first hand that Kaidan is not the most popular romance in the fandom (sometimes problematic for some people even) and pairing him with an OC that is not Shepard almost ensures your story is never going to be a popular one. But they have found an audience with some people and I'm happy with that. I write for me and if you happen to like it too, awesome.

So to introduce Kori and Kaidan here is Chapter 5 of Messages in its entirety. Or you can read Messages from the beginning here on AO3.

Tuesday June 27, 2186 CE, Vancouver-Seattle megaplex, Earth

Reese glanced around the café Kaidan had suggested they meet at. It was in the commercial district of the Vancouver-Seattle megaplex and very busy. It had taken her 25 minutes just to get to the café and make sure it was the right one after the air taxi had dropped her off. She hated crowds almost as much as Kaidan did, but he had insisted they had the best cappuccinos in the city. He had grown up there so he must know. At least she hoped…

She sat at a table for two in the corner waiting for the Major to appear. He was usually the one early and she late but not this time. The Lt. Cmdr. was starting to wonder if he had begun to have second thoughts; she had. But she still came.

Reese glanced at the chrono on her omni-tool. Fifteen minutes late. Did she call him? Message him? Leave a note with the waiter? Just leave and forget about the whole thing?

She let out a frustrated growl as she propped her forehead against her hand. Could things possibly get more complicated? Suddenly her omni-tool signaled that she had a message. Sighing she opened it up guessing it was a ‘sorry couldn’t make it’ text. The holo screen popped up and read, “Look up.”

Frowning the tech glanced up to find a tee shirt and blue jean clad Kaidan Alenko standing before her. He smiled down at her as he held onto a black leather jacket slung over his shoulder. “Hey there.”

“Hey yourself,” she replied as she scooted the opposite chair out for him with her foot. “You’re late, Alenko.”

“Would you believe traffic?” he asked hopefully as he eyed her own outfit. She wore a pair of jeans too but sported a blue tank top covered by a fitted jean jacket. The sentinel’s appreciative gaze was not lost on her.

She decided to give him a break and replied, “I’ll believe you. It took me a while too.”

An expression of relief appeared on his face as he asked, “Thanks. Have you ordered anything?”

“No. That would have been rude,” Reese replied with a smile as she noticed Kaidan was still ‘taking in the view.’ “Is there something I can help you with, Major? You seem to be concentrating very hard on something…”

Kaidan’s face instantly turned red as he cleared his throat. “I, umm, couldn’t help but notice how amazing you look…”

She cocked an eyebrow as she brought up the virtual menu. “Thank you.”

“You’re welcome,” he said as he started looking at the screen. After a moment he glanced back at her and asked, “So you’re not going to hit me?”

Reese snorted and said, “No, I’m not going to hit you, you big baby.”

Kaidan began to protest the name-calling and she added softly, “You were being nice…”

“It was more than being nice, Reese. I meant it. You look beautiful,” he said sincerely as he watched her play with her hair. She wore the long dark locks in a loose side pony tail. Her hair was nearly down to her waist now. Three years ago it had only been to just below her shoulders.

Kaidan grinned as he realized as much as things had changed many things had stayed the same. They sat in silence for several long minutes, each keying in their orders. Finally, after the menu disappeared, she said, “You’re looking good too, Kaidan. Actually it’s given several of the girls I work with plenty of gossip fodder.”

He looked at her closely and said, “You’re…embarrassed. Aren’t you?”

“I didn’t say that,” the tech denied without looking him in the eye.

“You didn’t have to. Everything else did,” he replied with a smirk. “Kora Reese is actually embarrassed.”

“No and don’t use that name,” she snapped.

Kaidan held up his hand in surrender. “Okay. Fine. You’re uncomfortable then, Lt. Cmdr. But why?”

“Kaidan…”

“Don’t Kaidan me. We’ve been talking for months and now I find out you’re uncomfortable. Embarrassed more likely and I’m the cause of it,” Alenko snapped as he slumped against the back of his chair.

“No, that’s not it…I just…I’ve never liked people knowing my business I guess,” Reese replied quietly. “I’m not…They’ve seen me talking to you on the vid chat and I got used to working alone except Tali…and she doesn’t tease…a lot…I just don’t—I didn’t mean—“

“Reese, you’re rambling,’ Alenko said calmly, his own annoyance subsiding.

She looked at him with cloudy grey eyes. “I don’t want to fight, Kaidan. I just want to…spend time with you, get to know you again.”

“I want that too, Reese,” he replied reaching across the table with an opened hand.

She looked into his whiskey colored eyes and then at his hand. Smiling she took it and said, “It’s a step.”

“Baby steps, remember?” he said as their order arrived.

She nodded. Maybe old wounds could heal…

~~

“So is this the end of our ‘coffee’ date then?” Kaidan asked as he kicked the pavement with his boot.

“Well, technically yes, but I…it’s doesn’t really have to be…” Reese replied slowly as she looked at his boot. He did look really good out of uniform…

Alenko snapped his head up to look at the Lt. Cmdr. in surprise. “What does that mean?”

She looked up shyly at him. “I…I’m not exactly sure but I don’t think I want to end our date just yet.”

“Reese, I don’t want to push—“

“Kaidan, you were never able to push me into anything…except maybe a wall and that lead to other things…” she interrupted and then trailed off as soon as she remembered what she was saying.

The Major hesitantly reached for her hand and offered, “We could go somewhere else. It’s still light out. There’s a park…and a beach but that’s too far—“

“We’ve been to a park and I’m not going to the beach without a swim suit,” she replied as he started to withdraw his hand.

“We could go back to one of our places…” she added as she grabbed his hand.

“Reese, I’m not sure that’s…”

“Kaidan, if you don’t want to—“

“Oh no, Reese, I didn’t say that. It’s just…after everything…”

“Kaidan, we both said we wanted another chance, but we have to be able to take hold of it…”

Suddenly she found herself pulled into Kaidan’s strong embrace, one hand wrapped tightly around her waist, the other cradling the base of her head. She felt his five o’clock shadow graze her face as he lightly kissed her cheek. Reese found herself returning the embrace without hesitation and sighed.

After what seemed like an eternity, Kaidan whispered into her ear, “We’re drawing attention, Kori.”

She pulled away and looked around. Apparently the passersby had nothing better to do than stare, but Reese thought that she heard Kaidan’s name repeated several times. She snorted and said softly, “I think you’ve got a fanbase, Major.”

He looked around more closely himself and retorted, “Maybe they like the hot chick I’m with.”

“Don’t call me a chick, techboy,” she cautioned as he began leading her by the hand away towards an air taxi call point.

“I love it when you’re bossy,” Kaidan said as he signaled for a taxi.

She laughed and replied, “Patience, techboy, patience.”

~~

Alenko woke up in an unfamiliar place on an unfamiliar couch with something warm next to him. He blinked back the sleep and glanced beside him. He found Reese spooned up against him, her head resting on his shoulder, her hair spilling across his chest. He reached down and caressed her check. They had fallen asleep at her apartment watching old 20th century movies.

She stirred slightly and then smiled. “Kaid.”

He couldn’t help but smile at the use of her nick name for him. He leaned over and kissed her forehead. “I’m here, Kori.”

“Don’t leave,” she said sleepily, curling up to him.

He couldn’t decide if she was awake or not. He wasn’t sure what to say. Everything had been so jumbled and then he’d run into her by chance and now here he was on her couch with her. Instead he settled for hugging her tightly to his chest as he ran a hand through her long dark hair. He had missed playing with the long-tangled tresses. The few times they had truly been alone he had even brushed it for her which usually led to something else. He’d never admit to anyone how much of a thing he had for her long hair, but it wasn’t like it was a secret to her.

As he continued to play with her wavy locks, she stirred again. This time she opened her eyes and smiled at him. Her grey eyes were calm and content as she placed a hand on his cheek. “You stayed.”

“Yeah,” he said simply with a grin meant only for her.

“Thank you.”

“You’re welcome.”