#like every mass effect ship too

[strawberrykidneystone]

something i’ve thought about a lot lately is how often garrus says “just like old times.” i truly didn’t notice how many times he said it until i replayed the series recently, he says it pretty consistantly across me2 and me3.

garrus is often reminiscing about times that weren’t even that long ago, but i think that really speaks to how goddamn miserable he was before he joined the normandy crew. he mentions frequently that he was never a good turian, who if given the chance; would go back in time and take up painting in his education rather than a military life, which mostly likely ostracized him from his peers where a deep yearning for studying the humanities rather than military service would definitely lead to ridicule. sure, he followed in his father’s footsteps to c-sec but he wasn’t really happy there, too much red tape, etc.

that’s not to say that he didn’t make any connections at all (ie. garrus calling out for old coworkers when the citadel gets nerfed in me3), but they were most likely surface level and not very deep, not like the actual friendships that garrus made on the ship that connected turians and humans on a mutually beneficial project.

but once he joined the normandy with the rest of these heathens who didn’t have to worry about government regulations and could make an immediate impact on people’s lives for the better? oh i know he was riding that high for WEEKS, which is why that time is so precious to him as he actually found like minded people who he could bond with without any outside bureaucratic pressures that they had to meet.

i also believe he likes to refer to “old times” because he wants to remember the times that he’s been apart of a team and helped, sort of pavloving himself into remembering the times where he was part of a team and it was successful, rather than his most recent ventures without the crew in omega where he believes he failed as a leader by not realizing that one of his members betrayed him.

one thing i love about the progression through the mass effect triology are the indirect and direct callbacks to previous encounters. mass effect 3 calls back to this very encounter where garrus was tricked by one of his teammates where shepard is also tricked by brooks similarly to sidonis. while the two have different motivations for betrayal, (assume paragon route) shepard offers respite for both their clone and brooks, which garrus watches from the mission sidelines. if i saw someone handling a situation that i was in previously who didn’t let their emotions cloud their judgement like i did, i would have conflicting feelings and i think this was a missed opportunity for the writers, ESPECIALLY if shepard was romancing garrus at the time. in this situation, i feel like garrus would feel shame the most, shame about how he let his men down, shame about how he didn’t handle it like shepard did, and maybe even rising anger at sidonis all over again.

but i suppose he has some calibrations to do in order to sort out of his feelings. (catch me writing a fic about this)

getting back to the original point, the good old days were literally that for him, the best days of his life and the fact that he gets to relive those days over and over again must literally send his heart soaring, like his life finally has meaning away from his father’s legacy and his failures at c-sec where the warmth of the main battery welcomed him in with open arms every time.

i'd also love to hear y'all's thoughts on the good old days for garrus!!!!

[ravioliage]

I'm still not over the people who called the Veilguard crew unprofessional under my post then called the Inquisition team more professional and then made a post about how everyone in Inquisition is filled with liars.

Look I do hold love for the DAI crew but like, if I had them as coworkers for a world-ending event I think I would chew my arm off until the anchor is completely gone and leave them to their own devices.

Love them as people though. I do. But the problem with DAI is that only people you need to close the breach are Cassandra, Solas, Dorian depending on the route, and the Advisors. Rest of the team are nowhere as vital to the mission as the full Veilguard team is.

I think this is also the first BioWare game where every companion is insanely vital because all of them contribute something to success that would lead to critical mission failure if you hadn't recruited them. The one that comes closest second is Mass Effect 2. That game is one of my favorites of all time but it doesn't have moments like

1) Taash luring out the dragon with their expertise and offering vital information about how to deal with the dragons that are fucking shit up

2) Neve and Bellara teaming up to break Elgar'nan's Rook's #1 Simp Hold (and Bellara getting the fade bubble to come down, and Bellara repairing the Eluvian)

3) Despite how it ended, you needed Davrin to stab an Archdemon.

4) Lucanis, the best of the best assassins, stabbing Ghilan'Nain. No, your Rook doesn't come close to having the training for that.

5) Rook stuck in jail forever were it not having someone with insane fade expertise like Emmrichs

6) Harding being one of the reasons we even found Solas in the intro, and Warden contacts and more

And many more that would make this post way too long. ME2's thing was more "helping your companions unlocks upgrades for your ship that will ensure that people will avoid a brutal death on the way to the final boss, we know it's garbage, just go with it.". You can complete the game with all of your teammates dying and that's a major design flaw of that game imo.

Anyway if you think that wasn't clear in DAV, you probably played the game with a stream on another monitor. Or you suffer from insane Main Character Syndrome. Or both.

[megtrns]

nsfw! drabbles based on lyrics from my spotify wrapped, 2024 (afab!reader) (minors dni!) ft. mtmte megatron, fortress maximus, tarn

open your hands// take a glass

In the beginning, he blamed his hunger on the fool’s energon. Having been tampered with, the chemo-sedatives were never meant to fulfill him. The rations were meant to keep him in line, and if the constant, dull, pang of hunger was a side effect, then Megatron’s put up with worse. 

Until he sees you underneath him, back arched and body flushed against his frame: skin to metal, chest to chassis.

He has never felt this starved in millenniums. 

You made a breathless, begging sound, fingers trembling against his shoulders as if attempting to squeeze — nails barely denting the surface of his armor. For a fraction of a second, his appetite was sated, curbed by the sight of your bodies intertwined against the sheets. But with the air growing taut and heavy, he suddenly finds himself acting out of blind desire, seized by a new kind of want. 

Dentae licking the column of your neck, he ignores the strain in his wires from being mass displaced for so long, choosing to taste you on his tongue instead.

He tastes the sea and hears you moan, ecstasy gripping his spark. Holding your body with a new kind of vigor, Megatron stared down at you as if he was a desert on the brink of drought. And he knew that for him, you would be his river, endless and giving, already spreading your legs to pull him closer to drink.

2. I must be dreaming // they don’t hear me 

The vastness of space had always made the Lost Light eerily quiet. Well, maybe that was courtesy to the absence of Rodimus and Co, who are currently indulging in the bars of Hedonia and have left the ship in the hands of bots who have no interest in going anywhere near the hab-suite of the mech who had taken Rung hostage and threatened to kill everyone else. So now, in the privacy of his room, you could only hear your breathing mixing with the faint, mechanical whirring of Fort Max’s cooling fans. 

Here, sprawled across his palm with the buttons of your shirt undone and everything beneath the waist removed, you braced yourself on your elbows to catch his optics. 

“ Do you still want to continue?” You whispered, afraid that anything louder would startle him away like a skittish animal. But any apprehension on your part was quickly dismissed when he nudged your knees apart with his nose, eyes red like rubies, gleaming under the silhouette. 

When he pressed his dentae flat against your cunt, heavy and warm and so wet, you were glad that the entire level was quiet. Because it meant the floor was empty, and Fort Max could indulge in the sounds you make all he wants, undisturbed and uninterrupted by the stillness of space outside.

3. If it hurts to breathe // open a window 

Tarn was never cruel to you. It sounded like a lie, but he has done nothing but treat you like you were made of glass: too precious to drop and even more inconvenient to replace. So you do your best to perform. Until the line between reality and pretence starts to blur, the same way the minutes begin to melt into months, and you find yourself no longer sure of where you stand.

Somewhere along the way, your arms are shaking, trembling under the weight of your body as it spasms in anticipation. It feels like you’ve been here for hours, thighs slick with sweat as they struggle to properly wrap themselves around Tarn’s waist.

You can see his eyes narrow in amusement behind the mask, enthralled if not obsessive, servos sure to leave marks against the right side of your hips. You had his spike halfway inside of you, and even with his mass displaced, you had a feeling this was as far you could go. But every time your body clenches down to reach its peak, he abruptly stops you, and you don’t understand what you did to warrant this kind of torture.

But then you catch him staring, unable to peel his optics away from the mess between your bodies. Tarn wants to see you like this — pleading and wet, helpless in his grip. Tarn was never cruel to you, so when you finally cave in and beg for him to give you what you want — what you need — he doesn’t hesitate to press you down the metal slab of his berth.

This time, when you pressed your face against the wiring of his neck, you didn't have to perform. All you needed to do was sing. Because there was nothing more beautiful to Tarn than the sound of you wanting.

[pinkyjulien]

I really, really hate the "Female V is canon" vs "Male V is canon" debate that been popping here and here in the tags those past weeks

Cyberpunk 2077 is a Role Playing Game, there is no "canon" protagonist, that's the whole point. We all have a different playstyles, different stories and headcanons, our custom V is The Canon V of Our Own playthroughs!

After Phantom Liberty dropped, I've seen a lot of players, on Tumblr or Twitter, voicing their concerne and disappointment in how much more Female V focused the official promo, videos and even in-game credits became

I was one of them too, expressing my feelings multiple times, sometimes awkwardly, frustrated that Male V players were once again brushed to the side, because that's how it feels like, right?

Well, it might feels like it, but this isn't the case AT ALL, far from it. This is only what I would call a "Fandom Phenomenon" and I want to talk more about it a bit

I had a great conversation with a friend of mine who works in the game industry and it opened my eyes on the matter, and I've since been really interested in seeing RPGs statistics!

Because it's really, really important to make the difference between the Casual Player Base (majority of players) and the Fans / Fandom Base (minority of players)

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

I always been lurking in fandoms here on Tumblr, since Mass Effect, Dragon Age, and now with Cyberpunk 2077 and Baldur's Gate 3

First I want to drop some stats- might be completly wrong, but I'm only sharing my point of view here, in an attempt to explain why some people are frustrated with Female V being the focus (and why we shouldn't be!)

I think it's not wrong to say that fandoms are mostly occupied by women and fem-identifying individuals; fandoms are a safe place for players and fans to share their passions. Women are STILL HEAVILY harassed and hated in the gaming industry as a whole, it doesn't take a lot of digging to catch a vile comment on Twitter or on Twitch for example, you cannot go far without seeing someone either attacking or sexualizing them

This is a huge problem in the industry still, every games that release with a female protagonist get trashed- just look at the bullshit surrounding GTA 6 just because players will be able to play as a woman as an option

Fandoms are also safe for non-gender conforming people, non-binaries, trans people and queer men, but I think fem individuals and women are a clear majority, at least on Tumblr (only talking about genders identity here and not about being queer or not, not talking about sexualities or attraction) (not an official stat at all and only my point of view and experience from being on Tumblr since ~2012)

Now let's talk about Cyberpunk 2077- because this is my main fandom since 2020, and what prompted me to write this post in the first place

CDPR didn't share any stats recently, but it's REALLY SAFE to assume the MAJORITY of players are playing a straight Male V romancing Panam, followed by a lesbian Female V romancing Judy, but the player pools for both options are still majoritarly cis hetero men (and they are still the focus for AAA studios to sell their games, this is sadly just how it is)

However on the fandom side, Fem V was always the focus; virtual photography, mods, ships, OCs... She was always more popular than Male V, getting more interactions and notes and why trends like "Male V monday" were created and why there is still a lack of male V focused mods (non-binaries and trans fem folks and characters are also sadly under-represented in all type of content and art)

So, being yourself as a non-fem player, playing as a Masc V, seeing CDPR officially make the switch from Male V to Female V, when the space you've been in for the past 3 years has been overwhelmingly Female V focused on all front, was a bit of a punch in the guts; like I said earlier, I was reaaally frustrated with this too!

And I'd say it's "normal"? or at least "ok" to feel this way, it makes sense considering how little attention Male V in general get in the fans community

BUT. BUT... It's REALLY important here to realize how we sound and how we look like when we voice our frustrations on the matter; we sound and look just like all the misogynistic people over on Twitter who screams about "woke games" everytime there is a female protagonist in their "non political games". We have to remember that fandoms are suuuch a small part of the game industry

Baldur's Gate 3 recently shared their stats and this interesting tweet got into my dash

▶ tweet

Astarion is nowhere to be seen in the official most romanced companions statistic, but I'm sure a lot of people will agree that he's probably the most popular one in the fandom side!

Another stat here from Mass Effect and really interesting info coming from David Gaider about how the hardcore fanbase aka fandom's choices were WILDLY different from the casual / main player pool

▶ tweet

Getting my head out of the fandom bubbles and seeing the bigger picture, how much under-represented women still are in official medias (not talking about fan content) and how insanly misoginistic the game industry still is, both on the player and devs sides, helped me handle my own frustration on the matter, accept and even celebrate Female V being the focus for the Phantom Liberty campaign

With all that said tho, we all should be able to vent about the lack of Male, Masc and Non-Binary content in the fandom side, while still being aware of the industry state, it CAN co-exist! It doesn't make anyone a bad or misogynist person!

We are all humans and can be awkward and make mistakes, especially when voicing frustration or talking while in a negative mood. Let's educate one another in good-faithed manners when we slip instead of jumping to conclusion and throw accusations

Not gonna lie I kind of lost my train of thoughts and not sure how to finish this post, but I hope this can enlight some people on why CDPR made this choice!

Repeating this as a finale note; this doesn't mean that Female V is the "main" V or "canon" V . It's simply her time to shine, and it's well deserved! The industry needs it

[lucaanis]

which patron saint are you? (oc version) tag game

big thankies to @katsigian & @deadrlngers for tagging me in this quiz game <3 ty beloved mutualsl!!

im gonna do this for my two freaks (gn) that are voted Most Likely to be forced into sainthood in my mind. lol

➥ LLEYTH DE RIVA — they/them (dragon age)

〚 patron saint of silence 〛— “you are the patron saint of empty spaces, cavernous rooms, moments that last for days. for some people, the emptiness is horrible, something that they need to fill: you, its patron, try to search within it for peace. there is nothing there. there is never anything there. even the emptiness is not a presence of its own. the only thing there is you.”

oooogghfgvhfhhhjf fuck. oh god. ow. every bone in my body has been broken w/ a lead pipe. what the fuck. i need to be splatted against the wall. especially considering. well. the horrors im trying not to think about because they make me too sad LMAO. fitting for the person who fears more than anything being alone and subsequently pushes everyone away like a self-fulfilling prophecy 🫠 u are soooo addicted to the eroticism of ur own martyrdom it makes me SICK!!!!!!!!

➥ ALEXEI STRAUSS — she/they (mass effect)

〚 patron saint of relics 〛— “patron saint of remembering. patron saint of holding something close. patron saint of holding on for too long. for a saint, a relic is often a part of the body, kept for some physical memento of their holiness. they are all in your hands, now: does it feel like remembrance? does it feel sanctified? are the dust and blood as precious as they're supposed to be?”

YEOWCH! ← guy who just got smashed in the head with a hammer cartoon style. makes sense when u remember that she is a ghost haunting their own narrative. something inhabiting a body that is preserved by the memories of others, seeing only what they remember and not what has been lost. the demi-human performance art recreation of the ship of theseus!! girl with the soul of an empty monument!!! hooray!!! /claps like an animal crossing villager

i think most people have been tagged already but tagging some cool ppl with cool ocs + YOU 🫵 if you want to do this <3 no obligation to interact or participate!!

@first-blight @quendiviner @vorgoth @opaleyedprince @rosenfey

@strixhaven @arborstone @taamlok @favoriteliar @veshialles

@togepies @nocticulas @hiddenbeks @evtoine

[tommyssupercoolblog]

Incoming very long ramble about the fragility of internet content and the ways some things are impossible or difficult to preserve

The thing that frustrates me most about poppytwt is how fruitless it all feels.

Like, you can't archive or research poppytwt effectively. You can certainly TRY but you'll find very little!!!

You have people who spent years in the poppytwt fandom who can TELL you about fanfics they read, art they saw, friends they made who were deactivated or doxxed or harassed or who committed suicide or are otherwise lost to time, but they'll have almost nothing to show for it because poppytwt was actively designed to be as impossible to trace back as possible, precisely because people were afraid of harassment.

How are you supposed to find, say, Tommy/Tubbo fanfiction? There's some on the actual tag, sure, especially now that poppytwt is for the most part over and it's considered "okay" to ship them now, but I'll tell you right now there are thousands of fics that won't pop up because the fic had no tags whatsoever, or spelled Tubbo like Tvbb0, or used some God awful emoji combination to convey who they were talking about, or were straight up DELETED. Discord servers moved every few years, fanart and fics were usually tagged with censored bullshit or not tagged at all and then taken down and deleted, entire accounts were ALSO deleted, even assuming something was tagged properly it's probably gone.

Most of us in the fandom at the time didn't think to make archives of anything while it was happening, so we've lost like.... probably enough content to make our own small website full of it, and even more chatrooms.

Almost all of the public facing content left is NSFW and/or more controversial kinks like CNC, watersports, etc, which could be because people who post that content are more resistant to criticism anyway but honestly I don't know why that is, and I know sfw content beyond what you can currently find EXISTED, we consumed tons of it back in the day, but it's almost fucking impossible to find!!! And most of it, when you get your hands on a link, is GONE!!!!

It happens with NSFW content too though, if course. Veradie was one of the most popular artists in poppytwt by far and a lot of the art links don't work. Some have archived versions with working links but a lot is gone because the original post leading to it doesn't work, and Veradie, like, the person, is missing. I'm sure she(?) would know a lot about old fandom and might even have archived some stuff, but if you're some sort of internet historian how in the FUCK are you supposed to find her??? She deactivated without a trace!!!

I made friends with a user called Kencydoo on here and one day I logged on and Kency was just GONE without warning or any indication of where they were moving to, no DMs to people they knew, nothing. I don't even know if it was staff or mass reports or a self-deletion. I do know Kency sometimes posted NSFW dead dove stuff and had tags you could block to avoid it, so it's possible one of those posts blew up and got the blog taken down, but I have no level of certainty.

Reese (I think it was Reese?) had people hunting for a "main account" that didn't exist for harassment and doxxing purposes and then ALMOST left (I'm glad you're still here @reesesrambles )

There's no stability for poppytwt content and no real shelf life which means that most of the history and even the harassment that REQUIRED THE EXISTENCE of a seperate fandom is gone. We can describe what the old dsmp fandom was like and why poppytwt exists and what it means but most of the actual concrete fandom blogs or resources are GONE, absolutely obliterated.

Like you can't make a Strange Æons style video about poppytwt, you literally can't, because almost all of it is like the fucking city of Atlantis. There WAS stuff here, but it was constantly sinking.

Most people I know for a fact were involved in poppy honestly just left for the hermitcraft fandom because people over there are like...normal?? The hermitcraft fandom allows RPF and doesn't give a shit about shipping characters who are "sibling coded" or whatever the fuck. They understand the concept of just not clicking on something you don't want to see, instead of launching a twitter cancellation campaign against people. So like if you can talk about a similar, and GOOD source of content that is also actively ongoing and not get shit for it, why would you chose to create for a discontinued peice of content and/or streamers who you WILL get shit on for writing about?? Like if your options are "write grian RPF and be able to not stress and have a fun time" or "write tommyinnit RPF and delete hate comments every day and watch your back constantly" why the fuck would you pick the latter???

And it's frustrating because the fact everything disappears means it feels like you don't even have much to look back on. The friends you made or content you enjoyed about a series you love is all dust now, and if you were into the DSMP for a long time (and therefore in poppytwt for a long time) then it's so much worse. It all adds up.

Anyways that's my ramble on how fucked up it is that entire communities can be lost in an era where things can supposedly be maintained forever does anyone want to drink a caprisun with me

[dustdeepsea]

2024 writing round up

thank you for the tag @inquisimer 💖 this was a lot of fun to answer I split my time this year both writing and drawing. if you'd like to see my 2024 drawing round up it's here

words posted: 52,715 (not counting anything I wrote in round robins)

additional words written: hmm roughly 4,000?

grand total of words: 56,715

fandoms: Baldur's Gate 3 through most of the year. And Dragon Age swooping in at the end, because I am predictable.

highest kudos: Benediction, a Zevlor/Tav piece that found its audience.

highest hit oneshot: Same as above :)

new things I tried:

Writing my first OC who shares the same gender presentation as I do (Octavia), creating self-indulgent lore and art for them and becoming entirely too obsessed with my dolls.

Writing for a popular ship (Lucanis/Rook/Spite). It low-key stresses me out to see the number of works I can't keep up with in their tag. I had made an effort to read and interact with nearly everything for my BG3 micro-blorbos, which I believe was less than 100 fics across an entire year. I've decided to just let it go and enjoy the interactions I can manage!

fic I spent the most time on: Gods and Monsters (BG3) at a grand 12k words and counting. I have a lot of complicated feelings about this story. I want to come back to it some day.

fic I spent the least time on: performance review (Zarys/Rugan [NPC/NPC], BG3) was the shortest and also quickest piece written over 2 days. I also participated in 4 round robin writing challenges, and turned around my paragraphs in 1-2 hours each time it was handed to me.

favorite thing I wrote: somewhere I have never travelled (BG3), a one shot about young love and mistaken identities. It's set in a "fix it" universe written by @my-favourite-zhent (a mutual who later became a friend!) That sense of communal world building is really exciting and magical. I was really lucky to experience it in my first proper year in fandom.

favorite thing(s) I read:

Alongside my previous recommendations (1, 2, 3):

Seleny Merlot, 8:92 Blessed by silverhalla (Dragon Age) - truly masterful short fiction. I often want my Veilguard fics to be something the game is not (a self-critique and absolutely not on any writer), but this perfectly captures the lighthearted humour of the installment.

Burn, Shepard, Burn series by Otempora (Mass Effect) - The adventures of Shepard of Mindoir, witcher for hire, and her devoted "friend" Garrus Vakarian. The premise works fantastically; Shepard and Garrus are both entirely themselves in this AU. Slow, slow burn, but it doesn't matter—you know that they love each other in every universe.

cemetery by MelisandreStark (BG3) - Minthara/Gale, post-game, treated perfectly seriously. It's the happily ever after that I never knew I needed until I read it.

writing goals for 2025:

Perfect is the enemy of good and done.

Be kind to myself about my output.

Find my Horny Fandom of 2025 (god bless you BG3 mutuals). Write more smut.

new works: I'm not going to stress myself out by promising anything more than I already have, but I want to continue what I've done with my newer stuff like castling, which is to trust the process and myself more. To write when I want to, and not only when "conditions are perfect". And stop imagining that I need a certain word count before posting. If I want to change tenses and POVs, and write freaky Fade stuff, I will!!

[chaosticbraindo]

Kaijune - day 16: mutation 👽 🛸

Originally a slime like kaiju, the being known as Orga was captured through unknown means and was studied to be used as bio weapons by a space faring species that called themselves Millennians.

After the news of Earth’s reckless usage of Dimensional weaponry and the after effects, the kaijus that now roams the planet, spreads across the universe, the Millennians start making secret operations monitoring and collecting information on the planet. Their purpose? to gather more kaijus for their use.

From their search, they took note to the fact that these beings on earth are different from the one they captured… earth’s kaijus are much more unstable and destructive compared to that of every previously recorded specimens, making capturing and containing one extremely difficult and risky if not nigh impossible.

so they hatched another plan to strengthen their own kaiju, Orga, via collecting samples from the strongest being they monitored and let Orga’s own ability to absorb outside DNA and mutate itself do the rest. Such a task is too hard to do in secret- therefore an all out attack was initiated.

However, this was a critical mistake. Due to Gojira normally peaceful demeanor, they could not anticipated the behemoth’s hidden ability… the atomic breath. Despite the lack of flight, Gojira wiped out an entire fleet of the invaders with a single breath from its mouth and was aiming to continue wiping out the rest. In desperation, the Millennians took a risky maneuver and managed to gather a sample of Gojira’s tissue which they soon used to make their second fatal mistake… in panic they dropped the flesh into orga’s main mass to deployed it, causing the beast to mutate too quickly and broke down the mother ship containing it.

Orga dropped to the ground and splattered before reforming itself into a hideous amalgamation of flesh and bone, a half baked mutation due to the combined lack of sample and the trauma it received from the fall. A malformed fetus of a kaiju…

sensing Gojira to be a source of more viable genetic material, Orga began throwing itself at its new target, recklessly attacking with its massive claws and a form of condensed atomic fog in mimic of Gojira’s own abilities. Despite of its malformed state, the monster was unnaturally powerful. Managing to, at times, overpower even Gojira’s brute strength and break through its defense with the pressurized beams.

what it was lacking, however, was a defense and longevity of its own. As Gojira was able to damage Orga with his fog and tear through it with the true atomic breath, slowly breaking down the fetus monster, overcoming its regenerative abilities with raw destructiveness. Despite Orga’s continuous attempts to mutate and absorb more of Gojira’s DNA, it was not fast enough to survive the onslaught Gojira dished out in its range. Eventually, the kaiju fetus was reduced to nothingness along with the Millennians battleships that have lost its control with the fall of their mothership.

After which, Gojira returned to its neutral stance and continue its endless wander.

[astorythatwritesitself]

There Will Be Time

Fandom: Mass Effect

Rating: Gen

Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply

Pairing: Thane Krios/Shepard

Additional tags: Prompt Fill, Memory Loss, Post-Reaper War.

Excerpt:

It’s been six months, since the war’s end. One, since the prognosis. ‘A matter of weeks,’ the doctor had said. 'Two or three months, if you’re very lucky.’ Adrian had taken it fairly well, all things considered. Vanished for a few hours, along the beach trails near their home, but there had been no tears when she returned. Hardly even a tremor in her voice, when she’d said: 'we always knew we were on borrowed time.’ Thane is simply grateful for each day that passes without incident.

Yeah, the AO3 version turned into a whole other thing lol. Original answer/draft is still up for posterity though, just no longer in the ship tag lol.

(Brief excerpt of The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock, by T.S. Elliot)

'She could be wrong, siha-’ Thane starts. Starts, but the words catch in his throat as Adrian presses closer, arms tightening around his waist. Her lips brush his shoulder - or so he chooses to believe. He can’t bring himself to look, to see if she is crying.

‘You can rebuild a lot of things, but a brain’s pretty high up there in ‘experimental’,’ she replies, only the faintest of tremors in her voice. ‘I'd… always wondered. If it wouldn’t burn out fast, or break down - and that’s on its own, being around that much Reaper crap? If they were trying to indoctrinate me or anything…’

That’s as far as the conversation goes. The next day - week, ultimately - will be for shoring up what she’d prepared during her arrest, handling any other affairs. What remained of the night was simply to be enjoyed, to commit to memory all they could, before the chance passed by.

----

It's little things, at first. 

A misplaced item. More notes around the house - reminders of appointments, when to feed the fish, where things were. Tasks left undone. Dropping things, because her hands won't cooperate. Things that are easy enough to overlook - even laugh about, if it's a good day, things that could happen to anyone and mean nothing. He helps her clean up, she releases a statement that she is tired and done, and would like to enjoy some time with her husband, anyone looking for information can ask any of the other survivors of the war. 

Which is true enough.

That she's unable to completely recall the orders of events, or what even happened, isn't information the wider media needs.

----

There is still time, Thane tells himself, when he awakens to find Shepard still asleep. Some mornings he does get up - catch up on messages, let the others know how things stand. Sometimes he meditates, often he walks.

Sometimes, he writes, when it's too much to bear.

More often than not, though... he lingers. There is time, and he knows better, now, than to risk letting it slip away. Knows to enjoy the warm weight of her arm around his shoulders now, the soft, even sounds of her breath, and how lovely it is (all else aside), that she is able to sleep peacefully at last, old nightmares either forgotten or distant enough to no longer matter.  Things that will, yes, be only memory - but how often had he regretted every moment denied, with Irikah and Kolyat? Moments lost before he even knew they were there? 

Not again. 

---------

Four months along, and there are more notes, fewer models, more muddying of when something did or should happen. Longer pauses in conversation, where she struggles to find her words.

He asks (only partially from the doctor's suggestion) if she could share a poem with him - he loves hearing her recite, no two ever quite alike. Remembers from their time aboard the Normandy, the hazy warmth in her voice as the words flowed, swift and clear, her love for them sweeping him along even when they didn't translate so well.

The words do come. Slow and faltering and in a hollow, clipped tone - 

“And would it have been worth it, after all,

Among the porcelain, among some talk of you and me,

After the cups-

“No-" She shakes her head, biting her lip and drumming her fingers on her thigh.  "Wait, no that... that goes the other way around, doesn't it.”

Her voice trembles - breaks, just the slightest bit, on those last words.

"It's a long one, siha," Thane says. "You've stumbled on this one before, it's-" 

It's nothing to worry about, he wants to say, but can't. Adrian rests her head on his shoulder, eyes closed as if they could stop the tears trailing down her face. She's stumbled before, yes... but would that provoke such a reaction?

So, instead - he draws her close. Closes his eyes, focusing first on keeping his own voice steady as he picks up where she left off, then as she joins in, as he guides her through the rest. Better that, than leaving it silent and incomplete; and the shorter ones come to her quick as they ever have. 

----

He’s steeled himself as best as he can, to spend no time mourning now. Not while she's here, when there’s still more good days than bad. More days than they’d dreamt of having when they’d first met, more days than seemed possible, during the war.

A day like this, where Shepard is already awake, taking over the kitchen table with her latest ship model, and Thane almost believes that their future stretches out far and away, beyond anyone's predictions. Her hands are steady, and he can almost forgive the faint, burnt odor lingering in the air, because it means she’s remembered to eat on her own. He sits beside her, and they talk for a while - about Vega’s upcoming visit, the inaccuracies of the Normandy model strewn before her, Kolyat’s last message; and all the while, her words come without trouble, with no grasping or fumbling to recall this detail or that.

----

“We don’t have anything else going on today, right? I was thinking, maybe we could go to the beach,” Shepard says after a while, as she starts cleaning up her workspace. “It’s beautiful out there, today.”

Thane hums a brief agreement from where he stands, just behind where she sits, clearing up the last of the dishes of his meal. “That would be lovely, siha,” he replies. Sets the plate aside and turns, resting a hand on Adrian’s shoulder. Is about to say something, when she looks up at him, a faint and fretful half-smile on her lips.

“I think my translat-”

Her expression falters - confusion and then a slow, horrified comprehension.

( ’I think my translator just glitched. What did you call me?’ )

She grips his hand as if it were the only thing keeping her tethered to this world. He leans down, pressing a light kiss to the top of her head, all the while reminding himself, there will be time to mourn later, there is time together now.

But gods, it's growing short.

[daisychainsandbowties]

Lilith in N7 armor, though…

It may or may not surprise you to know that I actually have a whole mass effect au planned out in my head. I just…. Yeah. Ava Silva and the weight of the world on her shoulders. Ava Silva giving exclusive sponsorship to every single tech and weapons shop on the Citadel. Ava Silva with her aquarium and her pet hamster and a shadow longer than her life.

Ava Silva, waking up to fire in the sky above Mindoir. Ships blotting out the sky and the trees a smear of sound and heat and light outside her window. It’s enough to make them burst inward, waking her in time to save her life.

Boots in the hall of their little house and her mother running inside the room, pushing the dresser she made out of this planet up against the door they brought with them from the stars. Ava doesn’t know anything but this place – the grass crunchy in winter and the flowers in spring and the leaves in autumn and all the sunsets in summer.

Her mother has old scars on her hands and an old rifle she keeps under her bed and an old set of armour she wears now. It’s broken open across her chest and the gauntlets are cracked, falling onto the wood floor as she looks for Ava, finds her by the window in a halo of broken glass.

It’s weird, too see her smiling and bleeding at the same time.

There’s a second red heart on her chest, and when she speaks she leaves blood spatter on Ava’s forearms. Clutches at her so tightly that Ava is certain she could never let her go, but then she’s smoothing Ava’s hair off her face, tucking strands behind her ear.

She carries Ava to the window – she’s nine, too big for carrying and she squirms but her mother’s grip is iron. The grass is still wet from overnight rain, somehow, even backlit as they both are by fire. The shape of tall trees in her mother’s eyes which are just the same colour as hers. Brown like earth.

The door to Ava’s bedroom splinters and the last thing Ava hears as she’s pushed onto her back – out of sight and out of reach – is her mother telling her to run. This she knows how to do, running laps around the track at school while the other kids are still stretching out their legs. She knows how to do it alone in the woods around their house or down toward the lake, pretending to chase birds or her own shadow.

Ava, running and always, forever after this, running. Away from town, from home, with an old Alliance beacon in her hand, blinking like a red eye against her palm.

They’ll find you, she’d whispered, pressing it wet into Ava’s small hand, and they did.

When the Alliance come they find Ava. Just her. They ask her questions but all she can tell them about is fire, and sitting in the old cabin by the lake, underneath the floorboards with bugs the size of her hands crawling in the dirt around her. Staring at the beacon until she slept again. Woke again. Slept again.

Ten years later she’s on Akuze and everyone she trained with is dead around her. She’s fresh out of basic training and her armour belonged to someone else before her, ill-fitting at the shoulders and the hips. Her greaves rattle when she walks, and everyone teases her about it and then she’s running past pieces of them.

The creature responsible bleeds so much when it dies, and its insides burn where they touch Ava’s skin. When they find her, she’s carrying a fistful of dog tags, spends a week in a medi-gel bath regrowing a fifth of her skin. They recruit her straight into the N7 program, and some nights, sitting in various drop-ships eating expired ration bars, or gunning down mercs, she wonders if her mother would recognise her anymore. They were supposed to be farmers.

Then Eden Prime, the beacon and a Turian called Adriel who wants to bring about the end of the world. She meets an odd archaeologist on a lonely dig site and her name is Beatrice. A sniper on the Citadel called Shannon, who likes to wear blue. Their pilot, Mary, has a knack for pissing everyone off and a soft spot for Ava.

She sits in the mess late at night, when the ship’s circadian lights make everything dim and secret, drinking coffee with too much creamer and listening to Beatrice talk about the Protheans.

It's the wrong time to fall in love.

They win, eventually, and Ava is quietly side-lined for saying too much, too loudly about the Reapers, who want to come down from the sky and burn everything, like the slavers burned her home once upon a time.

And then she dies.

Her body, burned by the mouth of a planet upon re-entry, finds its way into the hands of a shadow organisation called Cerberus, who call her Lazarus and bring her back from the dead. She wakes up full of hairline fractures, her face trying to break open, bleeding red light like her once-small fingers, like running away again and waking up to flashlights, strange voices. Everything about life is circular.

She wakes in the hands of a girl with designer blood and bones not quite as handmade as Ava’s, but close. Her name is Lilith, and the first thing she tells Ava is that the galaxy hasn’t run out of ways to use her just yet.

[strawberrykidneystone]

mass effect companions masterbation headcanons

here you go you filthy sluts‼️/affectionately

garrus:

i hate to say it, but he jacks off every night if he can. it’s mostly a stress reliever for him and he’s usually all alone in the main battery, so why not?

liara:

doesn’t if she can help it. she’ll do it every once in a while but immediately feel guilty afterwards. only uses her fingers, nothing fancy (she’s too prideful to buy sex toys) maybe once a month as a treat

kaidan:

mans is a freak. he has a collection of dildos and pocket pussys in his personal apartment, but he makes due when out on ships for missions LMAO, i’d say maybe 2 times a week

ashley:

has a bullet vibrator that shes had for years that hasn’t let her down yet. easily transportable and easy to conceal!! doesn’t masterbate often, but still does it every once in a while, maybe once a week if we’re getting technical

tali:

wishes she could do it more often, but the process for it to be safe is really annoying. and even if she does it while she’s in her suit, it’s a pain to clean up. i’d say she commits to it once a month for a self care day, invested money into a wand vibrator for herself

wrex:

literally doesn’t. i feel like krogan would see it as a “waste of seed” or some shit like that so he takes most of his frustrations out on the battle field

a/n: i only did the me1 crew but if more characters are requested i would be happy to do them!!!

part 2

[silverselfshippingchaos]

Pairing: Ash (self-insert)/Commander John Shepard

Word Count: About 1.2k

Warnings: A bit of swearing, lots of making out. Slightly steamy if you squint, but it's mostly fluff. Also Shepard needs a vacation.

Synopsis: Set in the midst of Mass Effect 3, Ash can't help but notice that Shepard hasn't been doing well. After all, he could he? With the Reaper War upon the galaxy, it was up to him to save all organic life. Still, Ash worries for him. Building model ships has always been a hobby of his, and Ash thinks that perhaps building one together could help his tired mind relax.

Knock.

Knock knock.

Knock knock knock.

Ash sighs, staring at the metal door in front of her blankly. She looks down at the cardboard box in her hand, a toy model ship waiting to be built and assembled.

He must be sleeping... She thinks to herself. Usually, as soon as she knocks on the door of Shepard's cabin, he's rushing to open the door, to pull her into his strong embrace, tilt her chin up and kiss her.

Shepard doesn't seem to register the knocking at all. He's just staring blankly at the wall, lost in thought. It had become a regular endeavor for him these past few weeks. Fuck, there was always too much happening. Every single second he spent here wasting time, another planet was being attacked. The constant feeling of unease had him growing thin, as was being pulled in what felt like every single direction of the galaxy.

"EDI, you mind opening Shepard's door for me?"

Ash asks, looking up at the ceiling. The Normandy's AI companion could hear her regardless of where she was looking, but it was a habit Ash couldn't seem to drop. The response comes almost immediately, as it often did when EDI was involved.

"Past data indicates that Shepard's dopamine levels increase when he hears your voice, so yes. Yes I can."

As the door opens with a woosh, Shepard seems to be snapped out of whatever trance he was in. He's still sitting on the edge of his bed in a pair of sweats and his favorite N7 hoodie, but he looks over at Ash.

"Hey, Ash. You need something?"

He's happy to see Ash, and his tone is plenty chipper, but Ash can tell just how exhausted he really is. Perhaps it was her magical girlfriend senses, or maybe it was that it was plain to see that Shepard was exhausted. Still, she smiles, just happy to see him. Not even an intergalactic war could stop the way he made her heart flutter.

"Nope. Didn't realize I needed an excuse to see my boyfriend now."

Ash's tone is sarcastic and light-hearted (as it often is), but John just shakes his head and sighs, rubbing at his temple with his hand,

"I'm sorry. There's so much to think about. The deal with the Salarian Dalatrass-"

"Can wait. It can wait."

Ash approaches the bed and pulls his head into her chest, giving her the best hug she can muster with one hand still holding the cardboard box (hidden very stealthily behind her back).Ash's voice is a whisper as she kisses the top of his head, the familiar prick of his buzzed hair on her lips.

"When's the last time you slept, John? Joker told me your stress levels haven't been this high since the Blitz. I'm worried, baby."

"... I'm not tired. At all. I'll be okay."

Ash sighs, letting go of him and rolling her eyes. Shepard raises an eyebrow,

"Hey, what are you hiding behind your back?"

Ash shows it to him. To be completely honest, model ships were much more his department than Ash's, but she still did her research, and this particular model took her nearly a month of hunting down.

Shepard's blue eyes go wide,

"This model is a hard one to find. You got this for me?"

"Yeah." Ash smiles, "I thought maybe it would help get your mind off things."

"Ash, I... Thank you. Thank you so much."

Shepard looks up at her, and his eyes are so earnest and sweet. When's the last time he took a break, did something for himself? Ash puts a hand on his cheek, feeling the small poke of his stubble against her palm. She leans in for a soft kiss, pressing her lips against his, and it's a gesture that Shepard is more than happy to reciprocate.

"Where would I be without you, honey?"

It's more of a rhetorical question anyway, but Ash kisses him again, this time on his forehead,

"Dunno. And we won't find out either, since I'm with you until the end."

"In that case..."

Shepard takes the box from her, looking at it front and back,

"Wanna build this with me?"

"Fuck yeah, let's do it."

~~~~~~

It takes nearly an hour of long work, gluing and linking together wooden and plastic pieces to make what seemingly resembled a small figurine of a warship, but seeing John's smile made all the hard work more than worth it to Ash. Shepard yawns, settling the ship down.

Ash grins,

"Finally tired now?"

"Yeah. Think I'll take a nap, then shower."

Ash runs a hand down his arm,

"Hm... Mind if I join?"

She doesn't miss the smirk on Shepard's face, and she fucking loves it.

"The nap or the shower?"

"Heh, both. Looking forward to the shower, though."

Ash can feel the smile on his lips as he pulls her into his lap where he sat on the ground, wrapping his arms and kissing her deeply. His breath is soft on her lips as he pulls away just enough to speak.

"'Course you are."

It takes much more kissing, but Shepard eventually, Shepard picks her up with ease and lays her down in bed. He took his N7 hoodie off while they were building, so he takes his shirt of before laying next to her. Admittedly, Ash is soaking in the sight of his bare chest, her eyes drifting down to his muscles... There were scars, both from the Blitz and his miraculous coming back from the dead, but to Ash, there was nothing more attractive.

Shepard wraps his arms around her, and Ash giggles. His arms always felt so perfect. Ash was so soft, and she smelled so sweet too. She was Shepard's happy place. Ash laughs as he buries his face in her neck, soaking in the scent of her cologne barely clinging to her skin after a long day, and starts peppering her with kisses there.

"Shep! Your beard! It tickles!"

But he doesn't stop. He has a massive grin on his face. He loves hearing her laugh so much.

Still, it doesn't take long before Shepard is ready to drift off to sleep, the exhaustion of a day of meeting with aliens and humans alike kicking in.

Shepard squeezes Ash, holds her tight in a big ol' hug. Honestly, his grip is a little too strong, but Ash doesn't mind. He was showing her affection, and she was glad he didn't have to hide parts of himself around her. Whenever they sat around and built figurines together, it was so easy to pretend that they were just the run-of-the-mill couple, and not a supersoldier back from the dead and a decorated Alliance soldier.

"I love you, Ash."

He loosens his grip and lets her snuggle into his chest like how she always loves to.

"I love you too, honey. Let's get some sleep. I'm sure Garrus will wake us up if anything happens."

"I could stay with you forever."

Ash smiles,

"When it's all over, you will."

Shepard, already half-asleep by his point, grabs gentle hold of Ash's left hand and runs his thumb over her ring finger, right where a wedding ring would rest.

"Yeah, I will."

The next thing Ash knows, Shepard is out like a light, his breathing being enough to lull her to bed too.

[dragonflight203]

Mass Effect 2 replay, part two of Tali’s loyalty mission:

-I think Tali has the densest loyalty mission. Mordin comes close, but all the extra conversations makes Tali the winner.

-Why are the living quarters at the entrance of the Alarei?

That must be awful. Every time someones comes or leaves, they pass by you while you sleep. And the kitchen is in the middle of the bunks. You never have any peace.

-I’m just casually looting everything in the sight.

The quarians can consider this repayment for making me stress over a trial instead of just sending a damn email for help.

-Quarian log: Rael’Zorah ordered us to bypass standard safeties. Following standard protocols will take too long.

And shockingly, this ends with everyone dead. It’s almost like there’s a reason for regulations and protocols.

For a game that decries red tape, Mass Effect repeatedly proves its importance over and over. There’s some impressive cognitive dissonance there.

-Tali says the only species that salvages more than them are the vorcha.

I doubt the vorcha are better at it. They’re just more desperate.

-Tali’s turmoil through this mission is clear. She doesn’t know what’s worse: This being her fault or her father’s.

This is a good example of how her mission is better written than Jacob’s. Neither Tali nor Jacob wanted to believe their father capable of the crimes they committed, but Tali’s feelings are discussed in more depth and more personally.

Jacob’s are glossed over and impersonal. Jacob would not want to believe anyone capable of doing what his father did; Ronald could easily have been substituted with an old friend or commander and the mission would play out the same. His outrage against Ronald actions was a general anger against the crew’s mistreatment, not a personal betrayal.

The relationship – or more accurately, lack there of – between Tali and her father is centered in this mission, however. Tali’s actions are driven partly to live up to his ideals and partly because of her anger at him.

Rael did it all for Tali and she never wanted him to; Ronald had put his relationship with Jacob behind him and willingly abandoned him for a decade. Tali’s willing to take the fall for Rael in the end; Jacob only considered how to punish Ronald.

It’s the personal touches in Tali’s mission that make hers more powerful. Jacob’s distance from Ronald distances the player as well.

-One of the quarian logs says that Rael deliberately had the geth network together.

-How does weapons being offline or navigation being locked protect the fleet? Can’t the geth just hack their way past that?

-This must be absolute hell for the geth.

They wake up. They don’t know where they are except captured by their creators, who they do know are hell bent on the geth’s extinction.

They’re tortured. They can tell there are other geth around them also being tortured.

They finally manage to get free and make the torture stop, but they’re still trapped on this ship. Navigation is locked and the weapons are offline. It’s surrounded by the creators. They know it’s only a matter of time before the creators blow the ship up.

They probably just want to go home.

I actually feel pretty bad about killing the geth. Killing people torturing you is a reasonable response. I wish there was an option to negotiate with them.

-And on that note, why are the geth still on the ship? Why haven’t they uploaded themselves to servers?

I suppose we can assume they’re out of range or there’s some kind of shield around the ship to prevent that.

-Rael was looking for a way to overcome geth resistance to reprogramming.

So putting it another way, he wanted to indoctrinate them.

Charming.

-Tali insists that even assembled geth are not sapient. Rael was not performing tests on prisoners.

And how can you test reprogramming if the subjects aren’t sapient…?

Her denial is understandable, but the evidence is increasingly damning.

-If you go renegade and tell Tali the quarians to reclaim the homeworld, she expresses doubts.

They’d have to rebuild it and readapt to it. They’re culture would completely change. She’s not sure it’s worth it.

-But if you go paragon and tell her to not give involved in an unnecessary war, she bites your head off and tell you that you don’t know what it’s like to live in a home one hull breach from destruction. They’re trapped in their suits.

Tali, Shepard got spaced. They have some knowledge of the dangers of living on ships.

I’ll give her the suits, however.

-Regardless, the contrast is interesting. Tali’s conflicted on reclaiming the homeworld; she loves the Migrant Fleet as it is, but is also well aware of its dangers and downsides.

-She says the pilgrimage teaches them all they’ve lost being trapped in their suits.

Without it, she’d never know what she doesn’t have.

-The quarians haven’t colonized another world because it would take them a long time to readapt to it. The homeworld would take 60 years; another world would take 600.

I’ll put out there they could have colonized another world back when they first fled the homeworld and before the suits became necessary, but I suppose at the time it was considered a temporary measure. They never thought they would lose Rannoch for so long.

-If you skip hugging Tali, she has strong words about her father.

Her anger shines through here – she wanted her father to spend time with her.

Instead, he focused on his work to provide the best possible life for her.

It’s the continuing theme for Tali: People love Tali enough do what they believe is best for her, but don’t respect her enough to listen to what she wants.

-Quarians need to take sick leave so they can see each other’s faces.

Damn, that’s tragic.

-And once more with feeling: Rael brought the geth online and performed tests on them for Tali’s sake.

She’s pissed about it and being left to clean up his mess.

He loved her, but he didn’t respect her.

-At least he was emphatic that he did not want Tali to be caught in any potential blowback.

She was anyway, but kudos for trying.

-If you go renegade, Tali says that what Rael did violates quarians laws that predate leaving Rannoch.

I am genuinely impressed that the quarians consider experimenting on live geth over the line. I thought they would only be upset at the danger Rael put everyone in, not the ethics.

-You can also choose to care about Tali more than you respect her by showing evidence at the trial.

She’s understandably upset – she’s going to die on the suicide mission anyway, so what does it matter if she’s exiled?

-If you show no evidence, Tali is surprisingly chill. Not happy at being exiled, but at peace. Again, she’s most likely going to die soon anyway.

-Tali, about the potential war with the geth if she’s exiled: If they get themselves killed through their own stupidity, my conscience is clean.

Bravado probably created by adrenaline. Tali, uh, does not handle it well no matter what if the quarians die fighting the geth.

-Blue paragon and Rally the Crowd play out very similarly. The dialogue choices with Tali afterwards are even the same.

I actually prefer Rally the Crowd – having Veetor and Kal’Reegar come to Tali’s defense is moving.

Blue paragon relies on Shepard being Just That Charismatic again.

-Also, it’s rare for neutral to be so different from paragon or neutral. Usually it’s the same without the flavoring the others come with.

-Kal’Reegar says he’ll be escorting techs around researching for dark energy build up.

The foreshadowing is so obvious. When Bioware abandoned the dark energy idea, they really hurt the series’ continuity.

-He also says the best way to get the homeworld back is to find another means that does not involve fighting the geth.

I think this was intended to foreshadow an option to make peace between the geth and quarians without them ever fighting.

Obviously that idea was dropped.

-Shala’Raan has blinders when it comes to Rael. She always wants to believe the best of him.

Unless you state otherwise, she assumes Rael told Tali in his last message to her that he loves her.

And if you do, she insists he was showing his love the best he could.

-Interesting that when Gerrel asks about the evidence you found, deferring to Tali is neutral. Telling him is paragon.

With how the mission has played so far, I’d say that deferring to Tali should be the paragon choice. Let her make the choices about her life.

Normandy

-According to the Geth Shield Technology, geth technology is completely incompatible with Alliance technology.

Huh. How incompatible is Alliance technology with quarian technology?

The geth must have diverged quite a bit if they’re completely divergent from the quarians. They both built on the same foundation, and they’ve been monitoring organic communications.

-Tali says a few people have suggested her as an admiral candidate.

Foreshadowing! And Shepard may have made their case a little too convincingly.

-Tali: My father would be honored I chose to mourn him by blowing up a lot of geth.

Good line.

[ms-scarletwings]

Every Dredge Aberration (2023), Bonus I

The infamous, nocturnal prowler of The Marrows. A monster resembling the luring fish of the depths, now lurking shallow waves in search of mightier prey. To most, the Night Angler will prove the first real threat faced along their journey. Her appetite punishes the folly of those who do not heed the early warnings of the mayor… at least, those who do so without the proper precautions. If her imposing mass or her ferocity was not enough clue to her otherworldly nature, one cannot deny her supernatural guise. From afar, the beast casts the ominous mirage of a lone fishing ship. If sounded at with a horn, her song echoes the call to add to the illusion; however, once she has spotted her target, she charges in single-minded aggression. As the false vessel emerges from the fog, its silhouette gives way to 8 eyes cast in the glow of the dangling light. What follows is a snap of teeth and splinters, and to the fortunate, a panicked rush back to port before she can return. This is the predator which quickly becomes familiar to the fisherman from early on in the story, but there is more to her than what can be seen just above the water.

An Abyssal Outcast

Following the pattern that all of the unnatural wonders of the sea were born from the corruption of the Deep, it can be readily imagined how the same madness twisted a once simple fish into this cunning nightmare. Nonetheless, the Night Angler’s exact origins are not so easy to conclude.

The anglerfish, which she shares the most of her looks with, would be nothing short of out of place in that bay. Typically, they are lethargic hunters, they call the eternal blackness of the ocean’s midnight zone their territory, and they are seldom spotted in range of the Marrows, even though they are frequently spotted in the Stellar Basin. While it is certainly possible that… “other forces” deterred the Night Angler away from the depths, one also cannot dismiss the possibility that the monster had actually belonged where it prowls all along. Native black groupers are harvested plentifully along the shallow coastlines of Little and Greater Marrow. They too only emerge under the cover of night, and grouper fish can be highly aggressive when protecting their home and in pursuing their prey. They are even known to produce “booming” vocalizations of their own as a threat display.

Either candidate could be a most likely answer to the Night Angler’s true identity, still ultimately left to others’ speculation.

Siren of the Night

Whatever the creature’s past, the present finds a menace to all nocturnal seafarers in the Night Angler. After the brine is obscured by the mysterious fog of this sea, she patrols her territory for interlopers, occasionally sounding off the distorted blare of a fishing ship. If called to with one’s onboard horn, the night angler will actually respond in turn as she begins her pursuit- similar to a twisted game of Marco-Polo. For her size, she moves with a frightening speed and does not give up a chase easily. The standard fishing boat, with no additional improvements, and rotten luck, stands no chance of surviving multiple engagements with her on the open waters. Indeed, this false ship may very well be the cause behind the previous Marrow fisherman’s disappearance.

Additionally, her mimicry ability seems to be tied with the fog itself. Whether the great fish can actually command its power or simply benefits from the miasma’s effect on humans, her true form is revealed by the light.

While she shuns the radiance of civilization, she is drawn to shiplights. It is no wonder she prefers the dark when it makes light itself such a powerful tool to hunt by.

Tactics

For all her eerie tricks and reputation, the Night Angler is thankfully well-countered with a little foresight and caution. She mainly exists to feast on the callow who would fall for the ship-in-the- distance ruse, and this disguise actually puts her at a disadvantage against the more wary. Her light juts out against the darkness at a great distance, and her patrol route is actually easily avoidable. She tends to keep to the south end of the Marrows undisturbed, and will only give pursuit if she detects a boat by sight or sound. Obviously, use of the foghorn during the night in this area is to be avoided unless one, for whatever reason, wants to draw the creature’s attention. Keeping the lights off can drastically reduce her detection range, at the trade off for the fisherman’s own peace of mind. The Night Angler rises from the depths at around 8:30pm each night, and retreats back between the times of 3:30am and 4am. In a chase, she can be outmaneuvered by a powerful enough engine set up, and will not follow a ship into the safety of the dock lights. Failing all else, the words of banishment can send the Night Angler into retreat, at least for time enough to find refuge.

*Note- Oftentimes, when nerves are running thin on the open waters, or around other regions, some may have spotted what appears to be the night angler’s illusion, to great concern. If one is not in range of her territory, rest can be assured. This vessel is also a lie told by the fog, but it is a harmless one that will dissipate on approach. Curiously, it will mimic a foghorn sequence blown to it as well, but it serves no further purpose than a mildly spooky encounter. You will never find The Night Angler far beyond the range of Blackstone Isle. After all, the other 5 areas already have their own monsters.

[hawkstincan]

Get to know me tag game!

Tagged by @kitkatt0430 thanks for the tag <3<3<3

1. Do you make your bed?

Nope. I dropped making my bed as soon as my mom moved out. Maybe even before that. I sleep on two blankets and under a blanket. It’s just easier. And I toss a lot in my sleep and shits were always on the floor in the morning anyway. So I just stopped wasting my time and energy on making bed 

2. Favorite number?

I consider 666 and 13 lucky ones. And have a soft spot for 6 and 9

3. What’s your job?

Post office. Night shifts. Salary sucks but it’s like two steps from my apartment and I spend most of the shift alone there  

4. If you could go back to school would you?

Honestly? No. I’m too anxious to go back to learning. I dropped out the first time around. And I don’t really have passion for any subject to put myself through this kind of struggle. If I ever find something worth it maybe, but for now no      

5. Can you parallel park?

Nope, I’ve never learned how to drive

6. Do you think aliens are real?

I don’t have a strong opinion. But with the size of the Universe? I thinks that’s quite a possibility 

7. Can you drive a manual car?

Nope, I’ve never learned how to drive

8. What’s your guilty pleasure?

Hmm, Catwoman (2004) and other movies/shows I love but they are considered bad. And yeah, I know that catwoman is bad. But Halle Berry is so beautiful! And I have working eyes! (A Beginner's Guide to Endings on the other hand rated like 6 on imdb. I? I unironically think it’s a masterpiece) 

9. Tattoos?

Yep! I have four for now: snake biting its tail on my right ankle (it goes around the ankle like a bracelet);  flying crow on my right hand below the elbow; mass effect inspired geth crawling on my left shoulder and lightning and snowflakes (if you’re thinking it was inspired by ship you are right) all over my left hand below the elbow. Lightning goes on my palm and point finger. If I have more ‘spare’ money… I’ll get some more. I have ideas and places. 

10. Favorite color?

Purple since I fell in love with hawkeye. And it was black for the most of my life. I still love black. 

11. Favorite type of music?

Rock. Or metal? Or hard rock? I never thought too much about the types. So lets say rock. All the rock 

12. Do you like puzzles?

Kinda? I like them but they are usually very hard for me to solve. And I hate feeling stupid. I like idea but rarely try to really solve them

13. Any phobia?

Insectophobia. I can’t even go near some bugs. Just nope. I once almost jumped under the car to avoid a bug 

14. Favorite childhood sport?

Badminton. We never played by any rules. Just ‘do everything you can to keep the shuttlecock in the air’. And I was good at it. At school we once played with tennis rackets for almost two hours. Good times  

15. Do you talk to your self?

All the time xD Sometimes aloud. “You are a strong capable woman you CAN STOP READING AND FINISH THIS” can be heard every shift from me to me. Luckily I’m the only one hearing this xD 

16. What movies do you adore?

Wrath of Man and Pacific Rim and all Resident Evil movies (with Milla Jovovich) and 10 Things I Hate About You and Bring It On and MASH and From Dusk Till Dawn are my comfort movies/shows. I love the Critters trilogy. I love the new Star Trek trilogy. Nightmare on Elm Street (old ones). The Gentlemen. Old Guard. Kingsglaive: Final Fantasy XV (I rewatched it like four times in a row). The Suicide Squad. The Boondock Saints. Ten Inch Hero. Drive Angry… Well. Like. I have weird taste in movies I guess? (I’ve mentioned only movies I saw more than 5 times)    

17. Coffee or tea?

Coffee. I can't find balance with tea. It’s either tasteless or makes me sick because it’s too strong. Coffee I can drink non stop. Hot and cold, instant and beans. I love the bitter taste of coffee.   

18. First thing you wanted to be growing up

Veterinarian, I think. I always loved animals and thought that being the one to heal them is the best career ever

Tagging (no pressure): @holycafe, @nixie-deangel, @luna-shimizu, @bedalk, @madsteacup, @mommalosthermind, @eaion, @thing2dani and whoever feels like participating :3

[sol-consort]

I actually would like the concept of being the only human in a crew for a Mass Effect game (maybe a smaller standalone game instead a full on main story one) but that may just be because I always preferred the alien characters over the humans in Mass Effect. No clue what the plot would be but for smaller game maybe hostile creature on board like Alien but I’m just thinking that because I’ve binged the Alien movies

But outside plots what would be your top three alien species in Mass Effect you’d want to be stuck with on a ship? I think Quarian, Asari, and Krogan would be mine

Dude, that's an absolute nightmare combo—for the quarian, at least. They're 100% getting sick every other day.

Krogans have heat and ruts, so....there is that. Oh, and the asari is 100% boning them, like you and the qaurian are going to be thirdwheeling 90% of the time.

It's going to like one of those drama reality tv shows, not one of those people gets along.

I mean, I do like humans a lot. Half the human kink stuff is stuff I genuinely find attractive in other humans. I am my own main source of filth, I would absolutely hate being the only human in a ship.

But if I had no other choice...hmm. My brain is just turning this into a list of aliens I want to bone rather than thinking about the logistics.

Well, I don't want to be charged with involuntary manslaughter, so turians and qaurians are off the table. The knowledge I could accidentally poison one of them by my mere existence is too haunting + I'm a curious creature with grubby fingers and will touch all of their stuff and food.

I would actually enjoy being stuck with a hanar on a ship. Toning out people trying to convert you into their religion comes naturally to me. Not to mention how refreshingly polite and well-behaved they are! Hanar forbid animal fighting sports in their entire planet because it lowers empathy! I love the hanar so much, aaa. I wanna get close enough to one to learn their soul name. They're so pretty and pink and jellyfish, my beloveds <33

A drell, though? No. I don't want them to feel subservient to the hanar, but also, I don't want to get drugged each time I used a spoon they haven't washed properly. It's a shame, I adore their raspy voice, but even touching one will give you a rash, so yeah.

I've always wanted to kiss frogs since I was a little human, not in search of princes but because I found frogs pretty and felt bad that people would only kiss them in hopes of them turning into something else rather than kiss them for them, so i swore to kiss any frog I saw. Now I'm older and realise the health complications and risks—that what living with a drell would be like, kissing a frog every day.

Elcor absolutely yes! They're big majestic elephants and I love elephants and I love their clear way of speech and I find them so adorable and I wanna be friends <33

I'm still not over the asari being an eldritch abomination that alters your perception of reality, so absolutely not. Plus, most of them aren't as nice or humble as liara. Instead, they're snotty and often look down on humans for being the youngest, newest species. I'm not bunking with one! They freak me out.

Salarians? Absolutely not. They only require one hour of sleep and have a perfect memory. They can't be gaslight into thinking it's their turn on the chores. They will be up ALL NIGHT every single day. They will wake me up at 3am. to continue an argument from 2 weeks ago. Plus they really dislike the eclor and I don't want them being mean to my favourite guys :( or else I'll slap a bitch.

Korgans? Fuck no. Anything with any heat cycle is not stepping foot in my world. Go deal with your rut elsewhere! I don't even wanna think about it. otherwise they'd be so chill and nice...albet too strong. Krogans need to go I'm sorry.

Angara? No, because I'd feel too bad separating them from their family. BPD and other emotional constipation things make me the worst person to deal with to an angara bc I would legit rather die than acknowledge any feeling ever. They're too emotionally intelligent and open for me, It will be frustrating for us both bc I will look for hidden bad meanings in their sincere worda and kind actions, and they'll take all my impulsive words and actions to heart. Also, I'm very touch repulsed, hug me, and I'll claw your eye out.

Now, you'd think, okay, there are no species left??

AND YOU'D BE WRONG.

The best roomates! The geth!

They're built helpers! they take care of the chores, they stay in a dark room like a hermit connected to the web, you barely hear a beep from them.

Besides the risk of shattering my skull if I accidentally bump into them in the middle of the night in a dark hallway, everything else is very dandy.

So here you have it:

Hanar

Elcor

Geth

That's the realistic version.

Now if we're talking about my fantasy ideal alien foursome roommates dating sim:

Turian

Drell

Angara