#ch: noa shepard

[shadowglens]

tagged by @fenharel, @risingsh0t & @jendoe to make some ocs in this picrew, thank you!!

IDA GREENE (twc)🎄NOA SHEPARD (mass effect)

LYSSA (mcu) 🎄 GIGI GRANT (spiderman)

THALIA WOOTEN (star trek) 🎄 HOLLY HAWKINS (btvs)

tagging @denerims, @chuckhansen, @arklay, @swordcoasts, @aartyom, @girlbosselrond, @rosykims, @marivenah, @malefiicarum, @kingsroad, @leviiackrman, @unholymilf, @indorilnerevarine, @noonfaerie & you!

[shadowglens]

“I think I want to be in LOVE with you but I don’t know how.”

[template]

[shadowglens]

i saw this picrew going around so i made some kids in it! no pressure, but i’m tagging @fenharel, @montliyets, @arklay, @denerims, @solasan, @indorilnerevarine, @chuckhansen, @cameronburke, @mendev & anyone else who’d like to!

ANNIKA • NOA • SAGE • LYSSA • BIANCA • GIGI

[shadowglens]

nuala • lilah • noa • frances • delaney • sage

[picrew]

[shadowglens]

57 for delaney/johnny or 40 for noa/kaidan? 🥺

40. "Don't leave yet."

Kaidan wakes to the sound of glass shattering, and a wet dog shoving at his jaw.

He jolts awake at the intrusion, instincts burning and pulling at the dark matter in his veins before he has even got his eyes fully open. Bruno stumbles off Kaidan’s chest at the stench of eezo that has started to seep from his skin. The curtains shift across the room in the evening breeze. His eyes catch on the shadows that stretch across the floor towards him, the muscles in his back tensing.

Kaidan breathes, once, twice. Cools the burn to a distant hum. Lets his eyes fade from blue to brown until he feels settled in his own skin again. Bruno whines from the side of the bed, low in the back of his throat, and Kaidan settles a reassuring hand on the mutt’s head as he heaves himself from beneath their too-thin sheets. The plush carpet digs between his toes, and he tries to find comfort in the feeling like he knows normal people would.

Small steps, or however the saying goes. He’ll keep pretending until it sticks.

Bruno whines again, pulling Kaidan back to the present, before slowly wandering back to the ensuite. Right. The sound of glass scattering on tiles echoes through the ajar doorway. Kaidan doesn’t need to check the bed to know Noa isn’t in it.

He doesn’t panic and forces himself to walk rather than run the five or six steps. Bruno has pulled to a stop just outside the bathroom, his ears low on his head. Kaidan pats him again as he gently nudges the door open.

“Noa?”

She’s sprawled in a mess of water and glass, and if Kaidan rubs at the sleep in his eyes, he can see some blood speckled on the white tiles. Her skin glows with sweat in the dimmed lighting. The scarring is still just this side too bright, too raw, where it criss-crosses her bare torso and limbs. A still-healing skin graft here, a restitched limb there. From this angle, twisted as she is, the red of her cybernetics almost burns through the worn skin at the seam of her shoulder. His eyes, as always catch on her ribs where they dig at her skin, and Kaidan reminds himself to just breathe.

Her eyes stay planted on her hands where they’re splayed in front of her, shaking so badly he can hear her nails tapping against the floor.

Kaidan tugs a towel from behind the door and immediately moves to gather some of the glass with it. His knee protests as he crouches, but he ignores the ache, even if he’ll probably regret it tomorrow. Too bad.

The two of them sit in silence for what feels like an hour. Kaidan busies himself gathering up the glass shards; it was a glass of water, judging by the small trails of it that are snaking their way around Noa’s feet, one organic and one artificial. He eyes her hands discreetly as he cleans, but the damage seems minimal.

“I’m sorry,” she eventually murmurs. She still hasn’t moved besides to keep shaking herself apart at the seams.

Kaidan wants to touch her. He throws the bundle of towels and glass into the corner instead. “It’s okay.”

Noa slams her already-bleeding palm flat against the tiles, and Kaidan doesn’t need to look to know the veins on her neck are bulging against her clenched jaw. “I just – I just –”

More blood has spilled onto the floor now, a slow trickle of it running down the inside of her wrist. Kaidan gently reaches for her hand, half expecting to have to fight her for it, but all Noa’s fight was left in orbit six months ago, and she relents. A shard of glass juts out of her skin. She doesn’t flinch when he pries it out.

He keeps her palm held lightly in his own and smooths out the worry etched on his face. “Do you want me to go?

Last night, she’d said yes.

The night before that, too.

It’s the routine they’ve found themselves in ever since she was discharged a month ago. He offers himself as a crutch, and she shoves it away only to stumble to her knees and curse him for it. Kaidan deludes himself that Bruno is helping, even if Noa had spat that he was just another spectator to her downfall the day after they’d brought the dog home.

Kaidan just holds her bleeding hand and stares at the green of her eyes when she lifts her head to look at him and hopes. It’s all his old, stitched-back-together heart can manage anymore; loving Noa, and hoping for Noa. One in the same now, really.

The fight is worth it. Always was, always will be.

A tear tracks down Noa’s freckled cheek as she whispers, “Don’t leave.”

“I’m not going anywhere,” Kaidan says, swallowing around his heart. He gingerly brushes the hair from her eyes. It’s getting long. “How’s your other hand?”

This time at least, when he holds out his hand for hers, she gives it to him.

[shadowglens]

ivy & hollyhock for the one taking up the most brain space right now! x

let’s do noa!

ivy :   what are your muse’s views on marriage ? do they believe it is something strictly for love ,   or an institution rooted in business   &   social benefits ?do they desire or have they desired to be married ?

noa never really saw herself ever getting married, because she never saw the point - love was always something foreign to her. she saw one slapdash wedding growing up, but it ended in a firefight and one of the groomsmen bleeding out from a hole between his eyes, so 🤷‍♀️. even once she reconciles with her feelings for kaidan and they settle into something more solid, the idea of marrying him doesn’t really occur to noa. kaidan probably asks once, if she’d like to, but she doesn’t see the need to sign a piece of paper. why should she need to prove she loves him to anyone but them?

hollyhock :   how strong is your muse’s sense of ambition ?what’s something they strive for in life ?

fairly strong. it didn’t really kick in until anderson dragged her off to the alliance on the verge of her 18th birthday, and once she stopped fighting the system and realised how Good she was at a lot of things, the ambition appeared. she wanted to be the best at everything and anything she could get her hands on - wanted her body and mind honed beyond perfection, so there was no doubt she was the best of them. it’s why she progressed through the ranks and got accepted into the n7s so quickly - she tore through the villa, beat or wrecked every test that was thrown at her, until she was standing at the top of pile demanding more.

[shadowglens]

thinking about noa finding out she’s pregnant at 3am in the bathroom of her and kaidan’s house, and just staring at her reflection in the mirror and breaking down a little until bruno pushes the door open and shoves his cold nose against her shoulder

[shadowglens]

i have many thoughts and feelings about noa and kaidan getting a support dog post-war when things are still very tense and rough between them

[shadowglens]

86 for noa/kaidan? 🥺

86. "I love waking up next to you." || ~1000 words || READ ON AO3

Their bedroom smelt of petrichor and baby powder when Noa woke at 2am.

The bed shifted under her as she twisted towards the sound of Asher stirring, the static of rain against the roof thundering through the room. A soft blue glow washed over the bassinet shoved beside the bed and Noa smiled with a huff, despite the late hour and chill wind sweeping through the open window in the corner, at the writhing form of Asher in his swaddle.

She hadn’t been asleep anyway, had been lying staring at the ceiling while absently picking at an old, silvered scar that ran along the inside of her forearm. Kaidan was spread beside her, three quarters of their blankets draped over him after he’d tugged them from her during the night – a bona fide thief if she’d ever seen one. A crack of lightening had illuminated their little yard through the darkness, and Asher had woken, whether in spite of or with the storm she wasn’t sure.

“Come here, little man,” Noa whispered, gently lifting him into her arms. The angle was awkward enough that she once would have winced at the way her ribs caught but the injury was far enough in the past that it didn’t bother her anymore. Asher barely cracked open his eyes, instead scrunching his face in a way that looked almost painful as he squirmed in his swaddle again.

Shifting to sit back against their headboard with Asher cradled between her arms and knees was almost second nature at this point. He took to the bottle with little resistance, only a few gurgled cries echoing through the room before he realised what the object held before his face was. The little sharks on his swaddle glowed silver like her forearm every time lightning struck outside. The storm didn’t seem to bother Asher as much as it did his mother.

This routine, of waking and feeding and waking, was both foreign and familiar to Noa. The lack of sleep was an old friend to her, insomniac that she was, but the love and affection that soaked every moment of her existence that she shared with the bundle of wrinkles and gurgles and shark-printed pyjamas was an entirely new beast for her to tackle.

Never had she held anything as breakable and innocent as Asher. Her hands were meant for bearing weapons of mass destruction, for cradling the galaxy despite the way it burned – she worried, even now, that she would taint his pure skin with the blood stains and scorch marks on her palms. His tanned skin was so untouched by the world, his fingers so pure where they clutched at the bottle.

She could stare at him and his innocence forever. Her son. Her son. What a strange, wonderful concept.

“All good?”

Noa turned, careful not to jostle Asher from his ever-important task of eating, to see Kaidan staring up at her from his pillow. His hair fell haphazardly across his forehead, curls indignant against the humidity of the storm raging outside. The squint of his eyes was a near mirror of the face Asher had made mere moments before and Noa’s heart ached at the sight.

She just nodded at Kaidan, indulging in her still-warm heart by freeing a hand and brushing some curls from his face. “Morning.”

“Yeah,” he whispered, a lopsided smile stretching his jaw as he stared at her and Asher in turn. “Did the rain wake him?”

“I think his stomach did.”

Kaidan rolled onto his back, blankets tangling around his waist and legs as soft laughter bubbled up his throat. Noa smiled as he dragged a hand over his face, tousling the curls she’d just brushed aside. “Can’t blame him for that, I guess.”

Noa wiped at Asher��s lips with a cloth as he spat up excess formula. Even with his hands securely tucked against his small chest, she could feel him trying to settle back into a comfortable position against her thighs. In the twenty minutes it had taken for him to drink his fill, the cybernetic connection at her hip had begun to ache a little. She reminded herself to find a better position tomorrow night.

“There we go,” she muttered as she burped him, even if the process took longer because of his sleep-addled state. “Good job, little man.”

Asher was well and truly asleep by the time she leant over to place him back in his bassinet. His skin was so soft when she ran her thumb along his forehead, the inklings of dark hair starting to grow from his scalp. More lightening cracked, painting them in silver and blue. She could feel as Kaidan snaked a hand out to rub at the exposed scarring along her bare torso.

“Come here,” he mumbled, as sleep addled as their son.

Noa let him pull her back towards him on the bed, smiling through the gloom. “Kaidan . . .”

“Don’t Kaidan me. You are not getting out of this bed until the sun has risen.”

His threat was dampened by the way he couldn’t keep his eyes open. “That trick doesn’t work anymore, old man.”

“Yeah well, can’t blame me for trying.”

Noa shifted to lay on her back again, this time with Kaidan pressed against her side. He stared at her through half lidded eyes from his pillow. The rain continued to rattle against the roof, the sound of water splashing in Bruno’s likely-overflowing water bowl echoing in from the yard. Despite the early hour and miserable weather, Noa could already hear the tell-tale song of birds in the air.

A yawn cracked open Kaidan’s jaw. “Just try, for me? I like waking up to the sunrise and you.”

“No promises.”

Kaidan stretched to plant a kiss on her shoulder, apparently deciding he’d won. Her skin tingled with ozone and love. Asher gurgled in his sleep beside the bed, by far the loudest sleeper of the three of them, which was saying something considering the soft snores that had already started to slip from Kaidan. Noa tugged back a few sheets that he’d stolen earlier, stared at the ceiling, and resolved herself to at least try and get some more sleep before the sun started inching through the curtains or Asher stirred again.

She had a fair idea which would happen first.

Noa couldn’t find it in her battered, stitched-back-together heart to mind.

[shadowglens]

basil belladonna and lavender for noa pls <3

basil :   does your muse have a love - hate relationship with anyone or anything ?

so many people. noa isn’t known for being a very Pleasant person, and her tendency to be quite abrasive has gained her her fair share of love-hate relationships over the years. for a while there her and anderson were in a tense place of misunderstanding and anger, with love weaved in between. noa and jack clashed Horrifically until they realised how similar they were, and ironically it was a similar situation with miranda.

belladonna :   how does your muse respond to silence ?   do they take comfort in soundlessness ,   or seek to fill the void with noise ?   

noa is notoriously restless, and always need to be moving or doing something to keep her mind occupied. quiet means time to think which has never really been a good thing for noa, because she has enough crap littering her past that she’d rather not dredge up. if a situation is too quiet and she can afford to, she’ll either start the conversation back up or just leave to. there are only a few people she can sit in comfortable silence with without spiralling.

lavender :   how easy is it to gain your muse’s trust ?  once their trust is broken ,   how might one go about mending it ?  

hard. she was absorbed by the gangs of los angeles young, and was weaned on their special brand of poison, where kids as young as seven were carrying (guns or knives - didn’t really matter) and the streets were as good as a warzone with invisible borders etched in graffiti and tire marks. she was raised knowing that trust could be used against you, knowing that the people at your back are in prime position to stab you in it. joining the alliance helped, until akuze and then it’s like she reverted back to the angry, lonely teenager she was when anderson met her at sixteen. it takes a lot to build herself back to a place where trusting people doesn’t feel so much like handing an enemy a loaded gun. it’s why kaidan’s accusations on horizon hurt so badly.

[shadowglens]

1 and 37 for kaidan and noa maybe? 💖

SHIP ASK MEME

1. how do they fall asleep? wake up? any daily rituals?

sleep is hard for both of them, especially post-war. noa shakes herself awake at 4am just as the sun is creeping towards the horizon most mornings, if she even slept at all, and while kaidan has trained himself to sleep for at least four or five hours a night, he very rarely wakes refreshed. noa tends to lie on her back staring at the ceiling most nights and kaidan will dig himself against her side with all their sheets and blankets wrapped around him.

if kaidan has the time in the morning he'll work out with noa (which post war, consists of a brisk walk or maybe a light jog with their rescue dog bruno, if she's feeling up for it). he always cooks, even if noa struggles to keep the food down some mornings, and noa always makes them their coffee because if she doesn't have a Task she'll start caving in on herself. kaidan lets her be, and just kisses her on the shoulder before heading to the admiralty board or a council meeting (it depends on the day).

37. how much would they be willing to sacrifice for the other? any lines they refuse to cross?

both of them have fairly steadfast morals, kaidan moreso, but in saying that they'd also do a hell of a lot to protect each other. noa is more likely to compromise herself to keep him safe, is more likely to sacrifice something she couldn't really stand to lose, but there are still lines even for her. she likes to think she'd put him first above everything and anything, and maybe she would - the galaxy has always come first though for noa, above rules and other people's opinions and her own life, so i don't think she'd sacrifice the world for him. it would be a close thing though.

kaidan just wants to see her safe and whole and happy, but there are deep rigid lines in the sand that he will not step over, not even for noa. thankfully he's never been in a situation where that belief has been tested, not really. leaving her behind on earth was hard, but he still did it. he wouldn't have sacrificed the lives of her entire crew just for the chance to save her, no matter how much he might have wanted to. the lives of the many over the lives of the few and all that.

[shadowglens]

made some ocs in this picrew

IDA • HOLLY • SIENNA • NOA

[shadowglens]

i was tagged by @chuckhansen to make my ocs in this picrew, thanks airika! tagging @radlurk, @jmcolt, @elaineettariel, @noonvvraith, @solasan, @fenharel & anyone else who’d like to xx

NOA • SIENNA • UNA • LYSSA

[shadowglens]

she’s so crisp! 🌌💜

[shadowglens]

tell your friends we’re coming for them — nevermind, i’ll tell them myself. 

[shadowglens]

i was tagged by @noonvvraith​ to make my ocs in this picrew, thanks ambie! i’m tagging @jmcolt​, @fenharel​, @radlurk​, @chuckhansen​, @prometheas​, @grommash​ & anyone else who’d like to xx

🐺 annika (wow) • 🌸 frances (da2) • 🌌 noa (me)

🔥 natine (wow) • 🧪 thalia (st) • 🍭ida (twc)