#his little laugh after saying ‘sex is a relevant factor’ is so cute!

[pinteresk]

Harold talking about (or rather NOT talking about) his play The Homecoming

[professorspork]

ANOTHER BUSY DAY IN THE ANDROMEDA GALAXY

I started the day running errands on Havarl, culminating with finishing off Jaal’s loyalty mission! I took Vetra with us thinking ‘hey, if anyone knows sibling dynamics...’ but then she factored into all of that absolutely 0%, lol @ me. but no matter! Jaal was super flirty as we made our way to the Forge, and it was adorable when he was like “HERE MEET MY FRIEND SO YOU CAN SEE AKKSUL IS WRONG” and bodily dragged me toward his siblings. their fight was absorbing and intense; I LEGIT GASPED WHEN HIS SISTER SHOT HIS BROTHER. LIKE!! the whole confrontation with Akksul felt super weighty and I really enjoyed it-- keeping my trigger discipline to not shoot that dude was really hard! there was a split second there where his bolt was headed toward Jaal’s face and I was like “if I kill off Jaal in his loyalty mission I’ll be so upset” but nope it all worked out, he has a bitchin cheek scar now, and the respect of his people, and I got a forehead touch so y’know. i melted. GOSH. then I died laughing at Akksul’s not-apology email.

now Jaal wants me to meet his mom(s) but Helen said that’ll lock in the romance, so I’ll probably wait just a little longer so I can uh keep having FWB sex with Peebee and ?maybe??? flirt with Vetra at some point? altho I teasingly called her MOM last time we were in Kadara Port so maybe not. (Jaal still hates it there, he’s so grumpy and it’s cute, but I digress)

this one got even longer than usual so doing a cut

one thing that I really like, that the game navigates in interesting ways, is that to the angara, we’re all just “Milky Way people.” like. so much of the original trilogy is about navigating the differences between all these aliens, and like, some of that is here too, esp with the krogan, but it’s actually really neat the way we’ve flattened out. and even with the krogan it’s still night and day-- like. comparing what Tuchanka is like in ME2 when Wrex is still solidifying his status as warlord is miles away from what it’s like for me to wander around New Tuchanka or, especially, just run into random krogan out and about (like the nice water scouts. WHY COULDN’T I JUST GIVE THEM THE WATER? but I’m getting ahead of myself). I know some of it has the Watsonian explanation of, like, only forward-thinking, open-minded krogan would be interested in the Initiative in the first place, and some of it is the Doylist explanation of ‘well people really liked that Charr/Ereba romance so let’s have more sweetie pie krogan’ but like. overall. it’s interesting, and I’m sure there’s more angles I haven’t considered.

I traced more of those comm buoys for Addison and learned that the doctor she’s obsessed with ran away to get pregnant! I definitely read that whole situation as Addison being in love with this lady and tbh it still doesn’t refute it? but I won’t get any more progress until I make a new outpost. the whole idea of ‘the first human baby born in Heleus’ thing is really cool, though, and I’m invested.

then I went to Elaaden! I feel some kind of way about Lexi diagnosing all of these scavengers with Brain Disease, but I can’t put my finger on it exactly-- other than, I guess, my general discomfort with pathologizing criminality. I was glad she said we couldn’t vaccinate people without their consent, but the whole thing smacks as very... self-conscious on the part of the game creators? like they thought people would say “hey it’s a huge plot hole that the Initiative screened every person before putting them on the arks and yet so many of them do crimes, explain that to me” and they were like “oh yeah shit that makes no sense, it’s not like people faced with the existential crisis of being in a brand new place 600 years away from everything they’ve ever known with no way back and not enough resources and multiple things wanting to kill them might just make desperate, risky choices, that’s not good enough, obviously we need to explain it with BRAIN DISEASE.” come on.

I made it to New Tuchanka, where the postings on the terminals are literally my favorite part of this whole game. THE ONE KROGAN WHO WANTS GINGERBREAD. THE ONE WHO DOESN’T WANT TO FOCUS ON CONS AND SUGGESTS A “PRO-VERSATION.” THE ONE ABOUT THE “PROBLETUNITY” OF MATING SUGGESTING WATCHING KRANTT HARDLY WAIT. THE ONE WHO INVENTED BLOOD RAGE FOR GUN TURRETS. but also, the best one, my favorite one of all: KRANTT THE RAGENING LARP. there is nothing I would not give to play Krantt: The Ragening.

I sort of tripped and fell and decided to finish Drack’s loyalty mission even though I intended to do more Elaaden things first, and that was a blast. Vorn is so presh! and also Drack is my dad so there’s that. I loved that Vorn helped save the day with a poison vegetable, and I love that Kesh pretended not to like the flower he got her. it was like-- okay. real talk, I just spent like 20 minutes trying to find proof that there is, in fact, a scene in parks and rec where someone gives April a friendship bracelet and she pretended to hate it until they threatened to take it back and could not find it ANYWHERE and felt so gaslit until I realized that that scene was not about April at all but Louise Belcher so. GOOD JOB ME. anyway. it was like that. kesh pretending her comm was broken when Tann tried to talk to her is the oldest joke in the book but I laughed anyway. 

and then I TOOK SPENDER DOWN FOR GOOD. I’m a little miffed that neither Kesh nor Tann got to be in on that discussion; like, I recognize he was Addison’s underling but given all the bullshit he pulled with the krogan I especially felt Kesh deserved to be there? at one point there was a dialogue tree where I could either say it was Addison’s fault or Spender’s fault, and I picked the latter because I think they both such but Spender sucks worse, but in hindsight I wish I’d stuck it to Addison more because my dialogue was way too nice. when faced with the choice of jailing or exiling Spender, I picked jail despite my desire to defund Nexus Militia because I was scared if I exiled him he’d just come back as a worse enemy because of all his off-station contacts. when reviewing the choice in the codex, though, it narrativized my choice by saying I imprisoned him knowing he “would never survive life on the run from his former associates.” that wasn’t my assumption at all! quite the opposite! I jailed him thinking he’d start a coup from without if I didn’t, and it’s really interesting to me that the game isn’t framing that as a concern Ryder would have reasonably had. anyway, now Brecka has his job, which is good because Brecka is the best.

before leaving I unlocked my last memory, and SURPRISE MY MOM IS ALIVE. WELL. FOR A GIVEN DEFINITION OF ALIVE. i don’t know why I’m surprised; of course my dad sucked that much. but also, the fact that all of that got nestled in with the reaper ‘reveal’ (if you can call it that) felt... very strange? like. this is such a personal, emotional thing for Ryder. obviously for the player harkening back to the trilogy is supposed to be a gut wrench, and objectively, yes, I can see how the knowledge that they might have narrowly escaped certain death is a big deal, but like. the reapers aren’t HERE. they aren’t relevant. my MOM, on the other hand, is and is, apparently! it’s occurring to me I didn’t even try to find her mis-labeled pod, I was so turned around by all the benefactor stuff after the fact. anyway.

swung by Kadara to get drinks with Drack and had an epic bar fight, and then Lexi p much lectured us both abt it because Drack is like 90% spit and duct tape at this point. him talking about raising Kesh giving him a new lease on life was VERY sweet, tho, and his line about how parents aren’t the finish line, they’re the starting line was very good.

went back to Elaaden, which Jaal called “a big planet” while discussing hunting someone down and AU CONTRAIRE, JAAL, IT IS A MOON. wish I’d had Drack with me when I found Annea’s water because I bet he would have had better dialogue than Cora, but alas. felt very weird giving control of the reservoir to the Nexus, but like. Annea being like “you can’t, this is my emotional support monopoly on a vital natural resource” just wasn’t gonna fly with how I’m playing Ryder. I was gratified to hear the Nexus guy at Paradise say we were giving the water to everyone, including krogan and scavengers, because I 100% did not trust Tann not to overrule him with some shitty call.

then I went to the Remnant ship to stop Morda from making a bomb out of the drive core, and it was all going swimmingly until I traced the signal to that cave inside the flophouse and suddenly my triangle button stopped working, making me unable to activate the console. YIKES. a quick google of the issue tells me that this mission is buggy for a lot of people and reloading from an earlier save tends to help, but I tried that and the issue persisted so I gave up for the evening. hopefully a fresh start tomorrow and time for the ps4 to cool off is all that is required. 

[ocegion]

FOR THE SHIP THING, REGAN, SHARICK, AND NEGAN/RICK/SHANE

Ohohoy friendo do I detect some kind of fixation from your part? This gonna get long so under the cut:

Regan:

who’s the cuddler:

Negan. I’ll die thinking that Negan is the clingiest little bitch ever. He’ll wrap his arms around Rick and never let go. Never. He’ll spend eternity nuzzling into his neck and talking about how ‘fucking gorgeous you are, Rick.’

who makes the bed:

Rick. Do you think Negan will ever do something as boring as that if someone can do it for him?

who wakes up first:

Depends on the day, but they both tend to wake up quite early, lots of shit to do after all. If there’s no rush to wake up, though, Negan will stay in bed until Rick throws ice water on his face cause it’s lunch time, for fuck’s sake.

who has the weird taste in music:

Rick all the way. Negan stays on your usual cool/edgy music and fancies himself the coolest shit for it. Rick is more prone to liking more obscure things, or just listening to random weird shit in case he finds something he likes.

who is more protective:

Negan. Rick’s protective too, but he’s aware Negan can take care of himself for a great deal of things. Negan, on the other hand, once he stops being the most relevant threat to everything Rick-related, will bring a grenade launcher on a mosquito if it approaches Rick.

who sings in the shower:

Negan doesn’t sing. He gives a concert to the whole Grimes family. He’s actually quite good at it, but sometimes he’ll sing off-key just so Rick will shut him up with a blowjob.

who cries during movies:

Negan. He’s so outward with his feelings, he’ll be laughing one second and the next he’ll have tears running down his face as he clings to a sighing Rick for emotional comfort.

who spends the most while out shopping:

Rick. He’s very suburban, alright? He just needs the proper environment. He’ll check every single thing ten times before throwing it into the basket, and he’ll try to buy the whole shop. Negan just takes random things on a whim.

who kisses more roughly:

Oh boy, Negan is rough and dominant and borderline violent and o h   b o y. He’s been known to draw blood when particularly excited.

who is more dominate:

NEGAN NEGAN NEGAN NEGAN. You thought the ‘you answer to me, you belong to me’ shit was about having control over Alexandria? YOU THOUGHT WRONG. He’s not only dommy, he’s the textbook sadistic dom, kinky leather clothes included.

gets jealous the most:

Negan too. He’s completely certain that everyone wants a piece of Rick’s ass (to be fair, he’s usually right), add that to his possessive and somewhat clingy personality and you have a Negan who’s basically glued to Rick. For his part, Rick’s aware that Negan draws a lot of attention, and he also knows that Negan can get a bit too loose, but he’s just a more chill guy.

one headcanon I have:

Leather. Lots of leather, kinky, kinky leather. Tons of sex toys. Painplay, too.

On a different note, in an AU, Negan will declare himself Rick’s best friend and Rick will just roll along because trying to refuse it is too much effort.

nicknames:

‘Asshole’ turned into a loving nickname for Negan at some point, Rick doesn’t know when. Negan will use every cheesy nickname on the book.

my rating of the ship from 1-10: Perfection cannot be rated yo.

Sharick

who’s the cuddler:

Rick. I just imagine Shane on his back, snoring softly, so fast asleep that a bomb couldn’t wake him up, his arms splayed all over, and Rick curling at his side and clinging to him like a baby koala. Shane’s arm moves on its own to settle lightly on Rick’s shoulders. So cute.

who makes the bed:

Rick here, too. Shane is messy, man. He kinda leaves a trail of chaos on the house wherever he goes.

who wakes up first:

Rick. Shane won’t stay in bed for too long - unless there’s sex in said bed - but Rick just wakes up earlier. He’s not much the lazying around after waking up kinda guy.

who has the weird taste in music:

As said before, Rick is more likely to find weird shit to listen to, but Shane’s usually in charge of putting music on, and since Rick doesn’t dislike Shane’s tastes, we could say they listen to the same stuff.

who is more protective:

They’re equally protective of one another, product of watching each other’s backs all the time at work. Looking out for the other is a second nature for them.

who sings in the shower:

Not properly sing, but Rick will usually hum to himself as he cleans himself up. Shane will hug him from behind and rock him in tune to Rick’s humming, leaving soft kisses on his neck :D

who cries during movies:

Rick, probably. He’s a quite composed guy, but when it hits him, it hits him. It’s very rare to see Shane tearing up at something that’s fictional, but he’ll hush at Rick and kiss his scalp, telling him it’s OK.

who spends the most while out shopping:

Rick lmao. Shane wouldn’t even know what to do at a supermarket, he lives on fast food.

who kisses more roughly:

Shane yes, so much Shane. He just wants to eat Rick up, he grabs him and nips and grunts into the kiss and oh my.

who is more dominate:

Shane as well. He just loves calling the shots, ok, and Rick’s not exactly complaining because Shane’s good at it.

gets jealous the most:

Excuse me, are we talking about Shane ‘I’ll kill you so I can have what I think is rightfully mine’ Walsh here or are we not?

one headcanon I have:

SHANE IS GAY FOR RICK BUT HE’S REPRESSED IT ALL HIS LIFE AND THAT’S A BIG FACTOR IN HIS FUCKED UP BEHAVIOR IN S2. LIKE, NOT JUST A FANDOM THING. I’M FIRMLY CONVINCED THIS WAS CANON.

nicknames:

Nah, they ain’t much of using nicknames for one another. ‘Rick’ and ‘Shane’ do the job just fine.

my rating of the ship from 1-10: 8

Negan/Rick/Shane

(Not gonna elaborate on the ones in which thhe answer is Rick because it’s already explained above)

who’s the cuddler:

Negan. As said before, he’s Rick’s personal cuddle monster. Most of his attention is for Rick, but he ain’t opposed to dragging Shane in every now and then too. Shane bitches a little, but he humors Negan in the end.

who makes the bed:

Rick.

who wakes up first:

Rick, then Shane, then Negan. Rick will sometimes snap pics of them, because when they’re alone in bed, Negan and Shane will usually end up cuddling in their sleep and it’s hella cute.

who has the weird taste in music:

Rick.

who is more protective:

Negan. He isn’t as adamant on protecting Shane as he’s on Rick, but he won’t tolerate any damage towards him either.

who sings in the shower:

Negan! His off-key blowjob-seeking rule can be applied to threesome quickies here.

who cries during movies:

Negan, and he forces both Shane and Rick to hold him and comfort him.

who spends the most while out shopping:

Rick.

who kisses more roughly:

Shane was pretty confident he was the rougher one, but then Negan went and made a little roughness demonstration by making Shane’s lip bleed the first time they kissed one another.

who is more dominate:

Usually Negan’s dominating nature is stronger than Shane, but Negan has the effect of making Shane want to be the manliest macho man around. Their threesomes are usally a battle of sexual will between them. They’re equally bossy bastards.

gets jealous the most:

To begin with, they were both very jealous over the other for their relationship with Rick. Once they settled down Negan chilled out for the most part about it, but Shane still gets fitst of jealousy. They don’t get jealous over one another, but if they detect a common enemy in a fourth party trying to flirt with Rick, they turn into a single possessive machinne. That’s our Rick, go fuck yourself thank you very much.

one headcanon I have:

In tune with the earlier, they couldn’t stand the other at first because they both are very jealous guys and both wanted Rick more than anything. There was a fair share of drama and hate before they got used to one another.

nicknames:

Negan will call Shane far less loving things that he calls Rick. Mostly, fuckhead. Shane will reply with little bastard.

my rating of the ship from 1-10: 8 or 9.