#mercykas

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BREAKING NEWS: Commander Shepard to marry high school sweetheart!!

ART BY ‼️🔥 @angstyastro 🔥‼️

EDI: sends the memo to news outlets

Mercy: I didn’t go to high school?

Anyway. Mercy and Kasumi bump into each other at Silver Coast Casino

“I thought you were out working on the crucible,” Mercy says, smiling too much to pull off stern, their dimples out in full force.

It feels. so good to see them. They’d talked over vidcall just a few days ago, but it’s been weeks since they were in the same place.

“I believe it’s called shore leave,” Kasumi says, smiling helplessly back.

Mercy sways closer into her space, and ogles her dress.

Up this close, they look tired, and it makes her heart sore.

“Who’s the mark?” Mercy asks.

“Want to come along?” Kasumi says instead, waggling her eyebrows. “For old times’ sake?”

She tweaks their collar, smooths her hands down their chest—very aware of the camera flash. Kasumi darts a glance over to where people are clearly waiting for them.

“Yes,” Mercy says instantly, and takes her hand.

(Go commission @angstyastro to witness all your dreams come true!)

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Questions 9, 21, 34, and 43 for mercy/kas!!!

ahhhhh thank you for asking and feeding me in the pits of mercykas

questions here!

9. What do they dislike most about the other? Why?

kasumi would say that their time with the alliance has made them uptight and too prone to isolate. they push past the point of persistent and become relentless. can get self-righteous without realizing it. and like, on one hand they cant blame her for it, but kasumi's comparisions of them in the past can grate or sometimes even hurt, because mercy changed a lot even before they died. they have an argument about these things before getting together

21. Do they enjoy domestic life?

they never get to TnT but i think they'd enjoy some sort of spin on domestic life. i dont think the heist life could ever truly leave mercy and kasumi, but they'd also take to vacationing really well

34. Do they have any inside jokes?

like so, so many. they met at fourteen. sometimes its like they're speaking another language

43. If they picked out outfits for each other, what would they look like?

for their elopement (only i like to think kasumi is actually wearing one of their sweaters):

for the citadel marriage apartment bash (but mercy's suit to match her dress, button-down a couple shades darker)

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canon mercy and kasumi have a baby

her name is maven 🥰

made w this picrew

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.

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teen earthborn shep and kasumi 🥹

Commission by @magpyres !!!!!

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mass effect au: crime lord

in a world where mercy is never arrested and they go on to build a criminal empire with kasumi

Art by @magpyres !!

The Shepherd and their Shadow

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mass effect au: crimelord

The Shepherd and their Shadow

‼️🔥 ART BY @magpyres 🔥‼️

First human Spectre David Anderson turns to The Shepherd for information on his colleague-gone-rogue, Saren Arterius

mercykas crime lord au

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Put this on my tombstone

Detail from @tyulezhik comic I commissioned you can find here!

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Mercy x Kasumi x Miranda?

Omg I’m screaming I was just about done w this answer and tumblr completely pooped on me

Okay so for in canon? No. Honestly, there wouldn’t be room for Miranda. It’s a mercykas fest in there. Mercy n kasumi have an intensely emotional history (and then kept apart by hackett). They are so, so in love, and aren’t given enough time to savor it

BUT white collar au?!! YEAH BOIIII. So. Kasumi and Miranda date on and off again (that Neal caffrey/sara Ellis dynamic 🤌) a cat n mouse chase that thrills, but still feels safe to indulge in. And okay. Listen. Mercy’s in their late fifties here. All that gold’s got a lil silver in there now, yanno? That is one fine slice of honey baked ham. Miranda took one look at mercy and said yeah, would. Mercy admires her in those lovely dresses, thinks she’s good for kasumi, and delights in watching the two of em banter. BUT it wouldn’t be a regular or long term thing, mercy with the two of them. I’m thinking maybe only once and you know it was wow wow wow

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👻for the ask meme!

👻Is there a scene that you find intimidating that you have yet to write?

Oh GOD the one I’m trying to write now 😭 it’s killing me I have this garbled stream of consciousness of how I want the scene to go and now I’m just chiseling away at it. First time mercykas and like it was inspired bc I wanted to write something hot but then all of these vulnerable emotions and playfulness has become the forefront, I’m struggling to articulate it all 😭😭😭

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Someone flush me down the toilet all that’s left in my head is mercykas fluff and smut

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mass effect au: crime lord

there is no shadow broker. instead, there is the shepherd

ART BY @naarisz ‼️❤️‍🔥‼️

canon shepard

fic under the cut!

As the doors swoosh open, Kasumi overhears The Shepherd murmuring, “Where are we on the—” when they’re interrupted by several bursts of binary static. “Thanks, EDI,” they say, voice warm with something close to pleased.

EDI’s eagle platform ruffles her feathers in a metallic echo of their spreading smile.

As Kasumi pads farther into their private study, she notes with satisfaction that they’re finally wearing the tailored trousers she picked out. It cinches higher at the waist than they normally prefer, but it makes their legs look—phew! just like she pictured it—a million miles long.

The Shepherd rolls up the other sleeve, metal fingers working deftly and flashing under the light. The inky satin fabric of their shirt strains across broad shoulders, revealing a display of skin—collarbones to belly button—that seizes the breath in Kasumi’s lungs.

They could button up just a little more, she thinks idly. She’d rather keep such a sight for her greedy eyes alone—under bulletproof glass, behind a couple uncrackable security systems and some really thick doors. Lounged beside her Bernini would suit them, or perhaps framed against the Giotto—and draped in fat bolts of jewel-toned silk, the hard planes of their body softened by moody gallery lighting.

Eventually she meets The Shepherd’s waiting gaze, and watches the skin crinkle around their eyes as they prowl around to stand before her.

Up this close she can catch the heady scent of almond oil, oranges and myrrh. 

“Kasumi.”

They catch her chin in their (ungloved! flesh-and-blood!) hand before pressing a thumb to her bottom lip, giving it a slow, thoughtful swipe. Kasumi almost rises up to her toes at the sensation.

It’s been a… while (too long, actually) since The Shepherd was bare-faced and without the voice modulator between them.

It is a relief to see Mercy.

She knows her gaze is covetous, okay, but damn—she’s missed them. She traces the beloved angles of their face, the scar roping across the bridge of their nose fading with every year they grow together, savors the sight of disarming freckles that only multiply with every planetside visit.

And their eyes gleam brighter with cybernetics.

Somewhere in the privacy of her mind Kasumi mourns to watch their sweet honeyed gaze be swallowed up by that orange glow. It’s burned the nuance from their expression, and the distance... hurts.

“Heard we picked up a kid,” Kasumi says and gives into the urge to touch them, reaching out (and up). She flattens her palm against the center of Mercy’s chest. To feel their warmth, their pulse. To look at the contrast of their golden skin under her pale fingers. 

She feels them nod.  

Mercy turns and Kasumi follows with the motion.

She’s surprised to see a small shaved head poking out from one of the thick plush blankets on Mercy’s chaise. (Surprised, because they rarely allow other people on it. Mercy’s slept on that chaise more than their own bed, Kasumi knows.) And another surprise—EDI’s coyote platform is curled in the space between the kid’s knees and the sofa back, her muzzle resting on their flank. She cracks open one gleaming orange eye to peer at Kasumi before letting out a whirring huff and settling back in (was that—is it even possible for EDI to be lazy?).

“No name,” Mercy says lowly. “Yet.”

“So, Cerberus…?” Kasumi starts to ask, curious to see what they will choose to share. She debriefed the ground team. She knows about the too-many little bodies found in the morgue, pinned to tables like butterflies. Knows the treatment said to help Mercy’s... condition was—

“Not a solution,” they say, always-smiling mouth ticking downward. A slow breath. They pick up the black leather glove resting on EDI’s stand and slides it on, fastening the clasp around the delicate bump of wristbone. Then their metal hand smooths at the space between her shoulder blades before gliding down to rest at the small of her back—turning Kasumi towards the door. “I’m about to have a little chat with some people.”

“You’re leaving the kid here?” Off-kilter isn’t even close to the word for what she’s feeling for this day, good grief.

“She’s sleeping,” they say too easily, and—pun fully intended, because sometimes? damn you, Mercy—shepherds Kasumi with their big looming body through their study. (And if she leans into their touch a little, well, it’s not like there’s really anyone around to see). “EDI’s got my message.”

Kasumi about to stomp down on those shiny pointy-toe boots and say, no, you’re not leaving a biotic bomb of traumatized child unattended, unconscious or not, when Mercy looks over their shoulder and continues—

“Besides, Wrex promised to be there when she wakes up. Didn’t you, marshmallow?”

Startled, Kasumi looks back and finally spots the old krogan settled in a comfortable armchair. Tucked into the corner, he’s not particularly visible from Mercy’s desk—man, she should’ve noticed him earlier—but he’s in the direct line of sight of the chaise. He’s dimmed the lights of his omnitool, but she can see Wrex is playing a game of kepesh-yakshi. He’s removed most of his armor, but his shotgun remains close by.

Wrex grunts. “I was bested in battle. A fierce warrior.”

“Oh?” Kasumi asks.

“Headbutt,” Mercy says, mouth close to her ear. “And when that didn’t work? She bit him.”

Wrex holds up an arm, a long-unnecessary bandage wrapped around the space between his plates.

“Sounds familiar,” she says, sneaking a glance up at Mercy, and fuck if she can’t hear her heart bursting at the unfairly sweet sight of their dimples.

“A well-matched foundling for Shepard,” Wrex agrees, approval rumbling through his words. He then curls his hand into a fist, softly pounds it twice to his chest.

“She’s in your capable hands, Wrex,” Mercy says, and returns the gesture. “EDI will keep a channel open.” With a last glance to the sleeping child, they turn to leave.

As the door slides open, they tap twice at the hollow between their collar bones. And Kasumi hates it—maybe a little more every time—how the scrambler shifts its way across Mercy’s features, stealing away their face and wild golden hair from her sight til it becomes an ever-shifting, utterly forgettable facade.

The Shepherd.

“Come with me, Kas,” They say. Word by word their lovely drawl is reshaped. It seems today it’ll be a clipped, vaguely Irish accent. “I need you.”

And they stroll down the hallway, comfortably leaving their back to Kasumi.

And always, she follows.

(curious about the crime lord au? :D you can read a (slightly outdated) outline here)

i cannot stop looking at them. everyone, go check out @naarisz​ if you’ve been wanting a commission/look at her extremely babely shepard, jocelyn!

thank you my wonderful @acrylicsalts-inspo​ for the utterly inspired headbutt+bite jack vs wrex idea 

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INTRODUCING: two shiny new mercy shepard AUs 🤪

and yes kasumi is heavily featured! art by @sleazy-art :))))

mercy is never arrested by anderson, therefore, they never join the alliance

mercy is never arrested by anderson, therefore, they never join the alliance

NO commander shepard

the first human spectre anderson (who miiiiiiight have a hatemance with saren lmao) 

instead, teenaged mercy and kasumi continue their heists and schemes on earth, which eventually coalesces into a crime empire/shadow government that then expands to intergalactic operations 

mercy’s speciality is blackmail and extortion of politicians, lobbyists, government officials, high-ranking military and the ultrarich. keeps them in line. passes a lot of laws to help the poor and disadvantaged (canon mercy took down conatix and BAaT around the time of their arrest) 

originally focused on humans and human affairs, but eventually expands to help quarians and krogan, through trade and information

liara never assumes the role of shadowbroker, because the original shadowbroker was taken out years before she left her prothean studies. instead, she is an information broker for the shepherd

the information superpower is someone known as the shepherd (its just mercy and their crime family lmao)

kasumi is the right hand of the shepherd 

no one knows what the shepherd looks like because in public mercy’s always wearing a face scrambler (someone different every time)

mercy scoops up proto edi and gives her multiple animal platforms

BUT when they do “court” (know i am thinking of this image of boba fett and fennec on the chair) mercy has a wardrobe like this, this, this (but more masc) with casual wear like this and this, kasumi wears outfits like this, this and this 

even though they do dirty work for the good of others, mercy and kasumi still pull off plenty of heists. its like their hobby. a good weekend jaunt if you will, a company outing of sorts

anderson has a pretty genial working relationship with the shepherd bc his work has led him to needing information only they could supply 

mercy has an award-winning record label where they produce just about everything they like, covering all sorts of genres. also used to launder money lmao 

miranda never works for cerberus instead mercy and kasumi help steal away oriana, and miranda becomes mercy’s left hand

mercy saves jack from pragia early on (similar to sports coach au) and basically becomes the crime mob baby (i cant believe im saying this but like jinx aosdifjads im thinking of this picture only its like. w wrex)

mercy dabbles a lot in cybernetics and ai with edi. I’m thinking some geth reach out to them before sovereign

alternate path to the reapers--mercy picks up (rescues) tali during her pilgrimage and spectre anderson consults them?

mercy is very thoroughly ace in this au. im not sure about aro yet. deeply platonic loving mercykas

PAIRINGS: kasumi/harem p much, you got some kas/mirianda, ooh, some keiji. mercy like. doesnt even register when they’re doing the hankpankys and will take zoom calls whilst in the same room and that just flusters/unnerves their business partners and also contributes to the rumors that mercy’s the one with the harem. truly the otp is mercy/the job or actually even more accurately. mercy/blackmail. 

white collar au

Leaning into the fun crime stuff!!!! >:)

set on the citadel(?)

mercy is fbi agent peter burke or whatever top space agent for the area is, fighting white collar space crime and art thieves, spent the last two years hunting down and then arresting kas--

kasumi is neal caffrey clever, charming, extremely talented thief, forger and conman 

irikah is elizabeth, the natural science museum director and mercy’s wife of twelve years. thane passed when kolyat was young. kolyat left for college about a year into mercy’s first hunt for kasumi (he’s a junior now), so mercy and irikah are empty nesters in a big way 

keiji as kate

EDI IS MOZZIE!!! kasumi’s criminal best friend, other partner in literal, numerous crimes. originally she was just an ai that kasumi stole for a job, became friends with, and then instead of delivering her, kasumi helped edi steal herself a platform :’) art criminal ai for life omg heheHEHOOHOHHOHO credit goes to @acrylicsalts-inspo​ for really wrecking my shit on that one like edi as mozzie is making me so emotional and also i love the image of her being a huge fan of wines and schemes 

anderson is director hughes (mercy’s boss)

mercy’s team has ashley, tali, and vega 

samara is june the really hot elegant wealthy widow that’s kasumi’s “landlady” which means morinth is the granddaughter (who really wants mercy to pose nude for her art classes)

i like to picture wrex as either the bureau’s art expert, mercy’s former partner (who moved to another location) or an old dear dear friend that just happen to be uh. a warlord

miranda is sara ellis the insurance investigator, who has chased after some of kasumi’s “alleged” heists in the past. she and kas date a lil bit

kasumi’s criminal friends/connections will be jack, garrus, ashley, zaeed and liara--

liara is keller, kasumi’s criminal rival, and also wants mercy to be her fbi agent. gets uh. kind of obsessed w them tbh. the first time liara says she’d be better partner for mercy than kasumi, ooooh, kas does not like that and it takes her a lil bit to figure out why ;) liara causes a lot of problems for both kasumi and mercy, including kidnapping irikah for one ill-advised plot

PAIRINGS: mercy/irikah, eventual mercy/kas, kas/iri and ot3. past kas/keiji, some kas/miri

AND IF YOURE INTERESTED: sports coach au posts and notes can be read here!

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okayyyy so mercy has sports coach au and crime boss au, but um. what if i uh did a white collar au for them too