#ocean turian

[outergodly]

𓏵 Ocean Veldian ／ Turian｡ 

A flag for veldian ／ turian individuals who are, like, or feel connected to the ocean.

Requested by : Anon．

[ryanyflags]

Halloween turian pride flag :D !

(This uses a wintergreen version of the turian flag, here.)

I tried to make it like a water reflection, not sure if I drew it right though. I think it still looks decent.

✦-

I've made other Halloween pride flag drawings too, check the tag [halloween pride flag].

[gmanmedias]

Some stimboards of my identities part 1/?

🧼 🧼 🧼

🤍 🤍 🤍

🫐 🫐 🫐

[sol-consort]

Just imagining a ship getting its first human join the team and before the first month is over the most searched on the net:

>Human courting rituals

>>What the hell is kissing???

>>>Human kissing safe for [Species]?

>Things humans take as compliments

>>how to flirt with humans

>>>Human baring teeth not aggression?

>>>>Human "Smile"

>>>>>how to tell if Human is flirting with you

>>>>>Humans comparing hand sizes courting ritual??

>Human Porn

>>Can humans and [Species] have sex safely?

>>>Human heat cycles all year long?

>>>>Human × [Species] porn

Or something ��

Here's what I imagine each of their "educational" search history to be. Slight smut ahead? Mostly fluff.

Turians

The explanation behind the phenomenon of an entire species being absolutely annoying and impossibly alluring

Do humans find sharp teeth attractive

Why is the human skin so soft

Are humans soft inside

How does a human feel inside

Human/Turian porn

Can a turian safely preform oral on a human

Are humans okay with bites and scratches in bed

Top 5 kinks for human

Define being "rough in bed" (Our definition of rough is their definition of vanilla)

Ask Blueddit (Turian reddit?) "Do you guys also get turned on when your human friends are being frustrating? Is this normal? Why do I want to fuck them after each argument?

Human nests?

Human "beds"

Are humans aware of their own scent?

What does it mean when a human touches your waist

Define human "hugging"

Is hugging a mating ritual?

Human waist pictures

No seriously how are humans so soft?

How to kiss a human without injuring their lips

Is turian cum really toxic to humans?

Blue Talon healthcare Inc. Interspecies relationships, human edition pamphlet free copy

Can human ears hear Turian's purring frequency

Do humans enjoy purring

"Purring extends the human lifespan" Myth or fact?

What are cats?

Humans are brainwashed by a small predetor and they are okay with it?

Videos of earth cats

How to adopt a cat

Cat care package for first time owners discount deals

Ask Blueddit "Humans keep asking to come back to my home when I mention having a cat, has it really been that easy all along?"

-

Asari

How do humans view asari

What traits do humans consider the most attractive in a partner

Are humans exclusively monogamous?

Prime locations to court a human

Nightclubs near me

Humans kissing

Humans kissing video

How to download a video online

Define milf

Humans are more attracted to people who already had kids?

Human preference for partners older than them

Human fur

Human "hair"

Different types of human hair

Is blue a natural hair colour in humans

Why do humans dye their hair

Do humans enjoy it when you play with their hair

What's a hairpulling kink

Humans are turned on by pain?

What are the humans opinions on using biotics in bed?

Is blue really the most common favourite colour for humans?

Blue sky - earth

A tourist's guide to visiting earth, when is the prime season?

Beach season?

Why do humans walk around in their underwear near the ocean?

Human swimsuits pictures

Sexy human bikinis

Asari bikinis?

-

Krogans

Human heat cycle duration

Humans can breed all year long?

Define human "breeding kink"

what's a creampie

what's a pie

Why do humans calls sexual acts by food names

Actual real cream pies

Pi (misspelled)

Why do humans call a mathematical ratio by sexual acts terms

Pies

Pie flavours

What's the best pie to order

Human bakeries near me

Are human bones sturdy?

Human body can handle the weight of a krogan?

How deadly is a bone fracture to humans

Human-krogan sexual positions

Do humans enjoy getting picked up

Do humans enjoy sitting in other's laps

Define "manhandling"

Humans are turned on by strength?

Do humans find krogans attractive

How to court a human

Humans courting gift ideas

Earth roses

What are dates

How to ask a human out on a date

Poem inspirations

Do humans still consider being serenaded a romantic gesture?

-

+ Bonus

Protheons (just Javik tbh)

What happened to the wolves humans were trying to befriend?

Dogs

Cute dog videos

Define "cute"

What do humans consider adorable

Are pathetic helpless things adorable?

Are humans aware of how adorable they look to the rest of the galaxy?

Why do humans interpret my flirting as insults?

How to convince the humans to touch them

Human intimacy and physical affection

Videos of humans cuddling

Are humans still obsessed with throwing round objects?

Define "sports"

Most popular human sports

Human sports lack of death?

Why are humans so fragile and primitive

If I throw a ball would a human attempt to catch it?

[wafflesrock16]

Shakarian Viking/Soulmate AU

Remember how I said this idea wouldn't leave me? I had to write it out. Who else wants Viking berserker Shepard and Anglo-Saxon prince Garrus? Below a the cut.

Shepard watched as Jarl Anderson lowered his torch, setting the brittle branches at the base of the pyre aflame. The scent of pitch and smoke filled her nostrils, the loud crack of timber breaking the stillness of the gathered group of watchers. They stood near enough to feel the heat of the fire on their faces as it consumed the wooden structure, red tongued flames licking at the platform and the shrouded form that lay atop it. 

“He’s in Valhalla, now,” she heard Kaidan murmur. “We should all be so lucky to die in glorious battle.”

Shepard frowned. Jenkins had only been raised to the berserkers the year prior. He had never voyaged to the havens. This was to be his first raid along the Widow Sea’s frontier. He had known the risks, as did all who ventured here. Still, his death sat like a heavy stone in the pit of Shepard’s stomach.

At least he didn’t have a soulmate tethered to his spirit. There’s no one feeling hollowed out with inconsolable grief back home. The reasoning did little to staunch her guilt; if anything it only made it worse since it caused her to feel grateful she didn’t have a soulmate, either. 

Shepard sighed. She was the berserker commander. Jenkins was her responsibility. She wasn’t a wet nurse, but she ought to have kept an eye on him; at least admonished him to stay out of the trees. The silver-barked forests in this region were deadly. Old enemies with eagle eyes and rapier-like claws favored the cover the thick woods offered. 

She turned away from the funerary pyre and the low, solemn chanting that had begun as fire swallowed Jenkins mortal body. Nobody stopped her as she strode away from the conflagration, back toward the longboats. She needed a moment alone with her thoughts without guilt crowding in on her.

 The turians know we’re here—they must have spied us well before we made landfall though bleed me if I know how. Shepard found herself walking past where the dragon-headed longships had been pulled up onto the beach, lost in consideration. We outnumber them, though they have the advantage of knowing the terrain. They also have at least one skilled archer among them, even though that’s not who sent Jenkins off to Odin. 

No, a turian swordsman had done Jenkins in, and Shepard had returned the favor with her axe. It was small comfort. Humans and turians had battled for the land and wealth along the Citadel’s coast for time immemorial. There was talk of an asari negotiated peace treaty, but so far that’s all it was. Talk. Shepard wagered that nothing would come from those talks in her lifetime. And who knows how long that’ll be if we stay here?

Gravel crunched under her boots in the lengthening shadows of twilight. Shepard rounded a gentle curve in the land and came to stand on a dead tree, facing the North. The wind that whipped her fiery red hair about her face was warmer than back home. Then again, they were a long way from home, now.

She watched the dying light upon the waves, the ocean glittering like crushed diamonds. It would be dark soon. They’d need to make camp and plot their next course. Did they take the river deeper inland, as was the original plan? Or did they double back, take their chances in krogan territory where turians didn’t dare venture.

Against the crash of the breakers, Shepard missed the sound of a bowstring drawing taut. It was something else, some inexplicable tug at her heart, a susurration of unheard whispers in her ear, that caused her to suddenly duck and roll, the hidden knives she kept about her person flying into her hands. 

There was a loud thawk, as a barbed arrow embedded itself into the driftwood where she’d been standing. 

She flung a knife, gratified to hear the sound of a large body diving to the sand. She charged before the archer could restring his bow, tackling him to the ground with a savage roar. 

Eyes bluer than the center of a flame stared up at her from within a silver plated face, painted with the bold cobalt markings of Clan Vakarian. The turian’s crest of horns was cushioned by a clump of dried seaweed, tiny insects furiously buzzing about his head at the invasion. 

He flared his mandibles, exposing long, sharp, silver teeth. His jaw dropped as he took in his soon-to-be killer. Shepard sat astride his narrow waist, holding her second knife above his ridged nose, poised to strike. 

Something in those burning eyes softened. “You’re beautiful.” The rumbling subharmoinics seemed to embrace her, a vocal hug to reinforce the sincerity of his words. 

Shepard sucked in a deep breath. For the first time in years, ridiculously, tears pricked the corners of her eyes. “Shut up!” She shook her head as if to dislodge his words. “I hate you!”

Her hand holding the knife quivered. In the crystalline depths of his alien eyes, she saw herself reflected back, lips pulled back in a vicious snarl, red hair framing her face. The embodiment of a valkyrie and harbinger of death. Except, I don’t want to kill him, she realized. 

“I wasn’t trying to hit you,” the turian murmured. “If I had been, you’d already be dead. I hadn’t realized you were . . . you.” He suffused the word with a mix of awe and wonder that left Shepard’s chest feeling tight. 

With a cry born as much from confusion as frustration, Shepard rolled off him. She leaped to her feet, kicking a clump of sand. “Leave,” she commanded, wiping at her treacherous eyes. 

The turian slowly rose to his degi-grade feet. Sharp claws extended from the open toes of his boots. “What if I want to stay?”

Shepard glared at him. “Why should you stay? After what your clan did to our landing party this morning and us to you, shouldn’t you be regrouping?”

Why in the frozen hells was she crying? What was it about this turian of all people that had her feeling vulnerable as a new babe? She should kill him—he’d be back tonight with more men and slit her throat in her sleep. A small voice she couldn’t name told her that he wouldn’t do that. Not him. Not ever. 

“My name is Garrus,” the turian replied instead. “There are those who call me Archangel, but . . . it’s just Garrus, for you.” 

Shepard forced herself to look at him. Really look at him. He was tall and lean, as most turians were, and covered in metallic looking plates. He wore a deep blue tabard with the Vakarian family crest stitched out in thread-of-gold across his chest. A brown leather belt with well-made leggings and fine boots completed his attire. Not some common foot soldier or hunter turned mercenary, Shepard mused. Her eyes settled on the longbow laying at Garrus’ feet. It was nearly as tall as he was and looked like it was made of black yew wood. An expensive weapon. One only someone with a high tier could afford. 

Shepard’s eyes went wide as she realized who Garrus must be. “You’re the Primarch’s son.”

He dipped his head in acknowledgement, a hand moving to rub the back of his neck. Shepard was no expert on turian expressions but she’d swear Garrus looked embarrassed. 

Bright blue eyes met hers. “You seem to know me and my lineage, yet I confess, I have yet to learn your name.”

Shepard hesitated a moment before discarding any notion of subterfuge. What was the point? He could have killed her and hadn’t. She could have killed him and didn’t. Besides all that, she wanted to know him. “Commander Jane Shepard,” she said. “You can call me Shepard.”

Garrus extended his hand in a human gesture of greeting. “A pleasure to meet you, Shepard.” 

Shepard slipped her smaller hand into his. It was like being struck by lightning. There was a jolt, a suffusion of warmth flooding her veins, an invisible push in his direction. They collided at the same time, Garrus likewise shoved by an unseen force. 

She grasped onto his cowl, feeling like she were trapped in an undertow, liable to be swept away in the exultant rush of emotions, apt to drown in the depths of a feeling humanity blithely called ‘soulmates.’ Her skin tingled and she was hyper aware of Garrus’ proximity; the rough calluses of his three-fingered hands and prick of talons through her tunic where he held her waist. His pupils dilating and eclipsing the blue of his irises while his subvocals stuttered and a deep, percussive purr sundered in his chest. 

Shepard exhaled. “Oh.” 

Garrus lifted a shaky hand to gently brush away an errant lock of hair. “It is you,” he whispered, reverent. “You feel it too?”

She gazed up at him, feeling more a maiden than seasoned berserker. Her mouth parted to answer—

“Commander!”

Shepard pulled herself free from the whirlpool of Garrus’ presence to peer into the murky distance. “The others are looking for me,” she muttered. How long had she been gone? Sudden fear squeezed her heart as she considered what would happen if Garrus were discovered. She gave him a forceful shove. “They mustn’t see you. Go! Hurry!”

Garrus moved as though in a daze, stooping to retrieve his bow and taking a few tentative steps backward. “I’ll find you,” he swore. “I’ll come back for you, my dea.” 

Before Shepard could respond he was sprinting; a glimmer of lancing starlight through the gloam, a shape half-seen on the edge of the forest. We’ll find each other, she promised herself, even as Kaidan and Ashley came into view, helmets donned and axes at hand. What joke of the gods is it that my other half should be an ancestral foe, on ground my kin intend to soak in blue blood?

She turned towards her comrades, trying to shake off the chill that had settled over her like heavy snow with Garrus’ departure. The others would want to know what she’d been doing out here, alone in the dark. “Searching for answers,” she’d tell them. “Considering what to do next.”

She’d omit her blue eyed archer. That whatever came next, Garrus would play a major role. For now, she kept her soulmate sheltered within the confines of her rib cage, a constant companion to her own beating heart.

[bish-0-p]

Hello, I am Abeer Al-Habil from Gaza. I am in desperate need of help because my situation and my family's situation are very bad. I have lost my father and my brother, and my other brother is injured. There is no one to help us. I hope that you will help me and my family, please by donating through the link gfm or sharing. 🙏💔

https://www.gofundme.com/f/4qzqg-help-a-family-from-gaza

Donate please🙏

i'm sorry to hear about your brother, i hope he makes a swift recovery. i'm unable to donate at this time but i will share your story.

this fundraiser is at only 12k out of 70k

as of posting its at $12,496. let's hit $13,000 by tomorrow.

tagging for reach

@turian @vulpixelates @roguesrevenge @snikt111 @auttoton @bluekaddis @bikenesmith @cassiefisherdrake @frecklef0x @freakingquicksilver @hopebeloved @jupe-box @kat-of-nine-tales @ocean-in-my-rebel-soul @qtipping @cassteph

[drelldreams]

my headcanon for what different species call our galaxy:

asari: athame‘s fields, silver stream.

quarians: tides of light, path of light.

turians: silver road, seam of spirits.

salarians: way of souls, wheel of silver.

krogan: road of warriors, firestream.

elcor: silver meadow.

drell: tides of silver., silver ocean.

batarians: silver flames, river of light.

hanar: reflected path, way of the enkindlers.

[en8y]

[IMAGE ID: three rectangular flags with six evenly-sized horizontal stripes each. each flag has these top three stripes: burnt orange, light orange, and dull yellow-green. the first flag has these bottom three stripes: cool blue, medium green, and dark purple. the second flag has these bottom three stripes: dull teal, dull purple, and dark red-brown. the third flag has these bottom three stripes: bright orange, medium teal, and dark maroon. END ID.]

transolar veldian/turian: a veldian/turian/gay man who is transitioning to masculine girlhood/womanhood. the first flag is based on the ocean/toothpaste gay flag, and the second flag is based on the veldian/turian flag!

transolar turigirl/veldigirl: a veldian/turian/gay man who is transitioning to masculine girlhood/womanhood, and identifies as a girl/woman.

@radiomogai @liom-archive @obscurian @drowntowns @electrosaccharine @kimeditive @plutobie @honey-makes-mogai @fem-mogai

[obnebulant-mogai]

Turian Variant Flags!

[plain text: Turian Variant Flags! /end plain text]

In order: Apothane, Narcilix, Narcilix (alt), Neoboy, NPD, Acefog, Arofog.

Flags by me. Colors sampled from @noxwithoutstars' acefog and arofog flags.

IDs below cut:

In order:

[ID: A flag with five equal horizontal stripes. In descending order, the stripes are brick orange, off white, grape purple, dark grape purple, and dark magenta. End ID.]

[ID: A flag with five equal horizontal stripes. In descending order, the stripes are dark berry red, icy blue, sky blue, desaturated purple, and black. End ID.]

[ID: A flag with five equal horizontal stripes. In descending order, the stripes are bright pink red, pastel yellow, sky blue, dark blue, and dark purple. End ID.]

[ID: A flag with five equal horizontal stripes. In descending order, the stripes are lavender purple, white, icy blue, ocean blue, and navy blue. End ID.]

[ID: A flag with five equal horizontal stripes. In descending order, the stripes are brick red, pale yellow, lavender blue, dark lavender blue, and dark purple. End ID.]

[ID: A flag with five equal horizontal stripes. In descending order, the stripes are bright purple, white, bright green, leaf green, and dark green. End ID.]

[ID: A flag with five equal horizontal stripes. In descending order, the stripes are olive green, pale yellow, bright orange, berry pink, and dark purple. End ID.]

[xxcalicofemmexx]

straight turian + under the ocean

Straight Turian: Someone who identifies as straight and a turian, or a gay man. An intentionally vague term, for a broad umbrella that community can gather under. Mostly used by multigender, genderfluid, and otherwise nonbinary individuals, though it is not a closed label. Also known as straightrian and turihet.

[sparatus]

Would you ever write a medieval (or turian equivalent) AU?

writer's would you ever

honestly if i could figure out a plot. abso-fucking-lutely, im a huge history whore, i LOVE medieval/historical aus esp for periods far enough back we don't have anybody who still remembers it (yes i'm side-eyeing that ww2 mshenko au), and for palavenian history i have the added bonus that i made it all up myself so i can go hard on the worldbuilding, yay me :)

it'd be pre-war for palaven, natch, and obv further back into pre-industrialization. obviously i'm biased and would want to visit tiirtias during its pre-republic era (before the assorted clans came together to work together towards mutual survival and formed a democratic republic), but in the interest of following the usual tropes of medieval aus it'd probably be more fun to hop back to the mainland so we can have, like, neighboring nations, lol. monarchy wasn't very common on palaven due to their strong community-first natures; only 3 nations had them, those being gaevuczh, cipritine, and vescia. cipritine was somewhat small and unremarkable before industrialization, despite their status as the oldest civilization on palaven, and vescia is a massive archipelago out in the ocean, so we'd probably want to check out gaevuczh (bird ireland, also ancestors of the colonists who formed edessan, space scotland), because they were actually a fairly major power on the mainland. they kept to themselves and were generally peaceful and content with their easily-defended mountain border to the south, but they were the only point of access to tiirtias across the xiy mnesi, making them valued trading partners if you wanted to do business with the far north, and they were a rich source of textiles besides.

.... oops worldbuilding dump, i think a medieval au on palaven with maybe valis and fedorian as gaevig nobility and des as a visiting otoran dignitary could be fun :)

[outergodly]

Ocean⠀Veldian ╱ Turian⠀flag，⠀for⠀Veldians ╱ Turians⠀who⠀like⠀the⠀ocean，⠀please？⠀Thank⠀you！

Queued for 12:00 EST on Wednesday, the 26th.

[ryanyflags]

turiangender/veldiangender | lesbiangender (sunset) | lesbiangender (sappho)

Some misc. alt orientationgender flags

Flags for all of these terms already exist, but I wanted to make my own versions.

-

These all follow the 5 stripe orientationgender format as seen here.

Turiangender uses the wintergreen/ocean turian flag here. (It's a personal favourite of my mine.)

Lesbiangender (first one), uses the sunset lesbian flag. I wanted one that was more colourful/orange pink.

Lesbiangender (second one), uses the sappho lesbian flag. I think it's a nice alt to the sunset and aurora flags.

[ficbrish]

Black Spot (aka Shenko Pirates) Chapter 8

"Sludge stuck on your fingers" [AO3]

Rating: Explicit, 18+ only

Tags: Prompt Fic, Alternate Universe - Pirate, Enemies to Lovers, Pirate Captain Shepard, Navy Admiral Kaidan Alenko, Renegade Shepard (Mass Effect), Renegade Kaidan Alenko, Biotic Shepard (Mass Effect), Some Plot, POV Alternating, Eventual Smut, Shameless Smut, Oral Sex, Rough Sex

[[TW/CW: PTSD, illness, cuts, wounds, physical assault, bullying, breakups, biotic trauma reminiscent of queer trauma]]

[Previous Chapter]

[All Chapters]

“Shepard!”

He shook her shoulders and shouted her name, but flickering eyelids were the highest level of consciousness she was currently capable of.

“Shepard!”

Kaidan stopped himself, realizing that disturbing her was probably the worst thing he could do. She should be still, and rest.

“Shepard,” he cried, “I’m so sorry.”

“I didn’t mean to cut that deep.”

Kaidan didn’t understand. His mind raced at the image of the woman lying still in front of him with red hair and all the color drained out of her skin. Her infected wound, mauve and then plum, screamed through his mind’s eye. He needed to take another look.

Her eyes flickered open, just barely, as he gingerly lifted her up. Moving her must have hurt her.

He didn’t notice the half-sob that bubbled up and escaped him. It was a pitiful noise at a terrifying sight.  A map laying out the path to death was clearly printed across Shepard’s shoulders.

If she lived, there was going to be a scar.

Kaidan settled her body back down even more gently than before. He saw some of the whites of her eyes as they flickered again. Moving must have hurt her.

“Nasty!” gleeful laughter danced cruelly along the group, “That’s gonna scar!”

Kaidan scratched his back. Then he took off his shirt, using it as a blanket to place over Shepard.

Fire and water. He should take care of that first.

*                       *                       *                       *                       *                       *

He spent his whole childhood romanticizing life on the sea. The ocean, and the ship, and the uniform—Exploration for the sake of it, or to prove he was worthy of someone he loved! He grew up ready for all of it.

Kaidan used to want to be exactly like the father who didn’t acknowledge him. He wore the Alliance Navy on his shoulders like it was the pride of the family. In a way it was. In another way it just meant getting invited to parties where he was told to stand in the shadows and draw no attention. In another way, it prepared him for life on the sea.

And there was life on the sea!

He left Humanity’s shores and ventured out as far as the Island-States of Sur’Kesh and the Thessian Empire. The Temperance was a proud ship that carried them safely across every ocean. It took Kaidan to locations he grew up dreaming about, like the Elcor port at the end of a vast desert, the mountains of Salarian matriarchs forged by deep sea volcanoes, and the Turian Hierarchy’s seaside capital city. It also taught him how other species took to the sea, like the Krogan navy with its towering ship-cities or the mythical Quarians with their underwater kingdoms and magical dive suits.

The air tasted like salt, and you were never alone.

When he met his first crewmates, Kaidan thought they’d always be part of his life. In a way, they still were; one could say they left their marks.

There was Stevens, who was named Paul, and Paulson, who was named Stephen. It was a big joke to call them Paul-Steven and Stephen-Paul, which eventually rounded down to P.S. and S.P., which, when they were drinking, often devolved into Piss & Shit. Kaidan was the least close with those two. It wasn’t personal. In fact, they didn’t seem to be close to anyone but each other. Everyone revered them though. They were always fun and made everyone laugh with jokes that weren’t really clever or funny.

The two he was closest with were Conrad and Blake, who were cousins both named Tim. They were like the angel and devil on his shoulders, always with him and always getting him into trouble. Kaidan didn’t really remember their faces, their features blurred over the years, but he could hear both of their laughs like they were still in the room.

Then there was him. The son of an aristocrat, he was a prince among the rest of them. Doverfort, but Kaidan only ever called him Henry, just like Henry never called him Alenko.

His eyes were so bright. They held the future in them.

Henry had the coin to bribe officers to keep them all together on the same shifts. Their only ambition was to stop time and stay exactly where they were. They’d do just enough work to not be a problem, and never anything good enough to risk a promotion. Then they’d always be together.

Just when life couldn’t be more perfect, Henry woke him up in the bunk one night.

When Kaidan opened his eyes, Henry gestured for him to be quiet with a finger in front of his full, angular lips. He could see Henry so clearly in the dark.

Henry led them through the ship in their nightclothes until he stopped in a dark corner, deep under the deck. A place that only the damp and the rats really bothered with. They could barely see. Any light from the moon didn’t reach them where they were. All they had were sparsely placed lanterns and the limits of the Human eye.

That’s why Kaidan thought it was just an accidental bumping-into at first. It took his mind just as much adjusting as his eyes to realize that what he felt was purposeful. Henry held his hand. Then Henry moved it between his legs where there was something hard and wonderful waiting to be grabbed.

A dam broke and they were all hands and tongues. Months of best friendship were really months of falling in love. This moment now confirmed it. Every touch confirmed it. Every kiss; every stroke; and then, oh god, every pulse that spilled them out of themselves and onto each other, onto fingers, onto mouths, fucking confirmed it.

They never told the others, and did something like it every other night.

But it wasn’t the only secret Kaidan asked Henry to keep.

“Only tell who you trust with your life. Once you say it, you can’t unsay it.”

His mother raised him to do better, but he was so eager to share it. Kaidan never knew for sure whether it was Henry, but the rumors about what he was started up around the same time.

“As if you needed any more reasons to want me dead,” fingers to his temples dripping with indigo stars.

Across the globe, everyone born with that particular affliction knew how to protect it. They grew up learning to temper the pain to hide the signs, dull their kind of body’s natural reflexes. It was the one constant across cultures, across species, across time. Unless you were Thessian, of course.

Those rumors were his first real taste of heartbreak; the end of the last chapter in his book of young love. So, it almost didn’t matter when they put him through the test. It didn’t hurt as much as Henry probably thought it did.

“There’s only one thing to do,” Blake stated that night, so bold and sure of himself; like he only had this moment to prove he was a grown man, “None of us are going to like it, but we won’t know unless we see it ourselves. And if Alenko’s truly got nothing to hide, we’ll just have to make it up to him.”

They cheered and toasted, and Kaidan cheered and toasted along with them. The supervising officer looked on with a combination of boredom and pride.

When everyone decided they were drunk enough, the knives and swords came out. Kaidan knew what was expected of him, so he took off his shirt and got on his knees.

“None of us are doing this because we want to,” Blake stated, marking his place as the leader, “I know you’d do the same if it were me.”

But would he? Kaidan would never know a life where their positions were switched, so he couldn’t say for sure. In his life, with this burden, the answer was no. But if there were another life without this burden, who could say?

For as much of a man as he was trying to be, Blake’s cut wasn’t that long or that deep. But it wouldn’t matter if it was. Kaidan’s father had prepared him for this. Prepared him for the sea. He could take incredible amounts of pain without giving himself up.

The cut bled in the shadows like it should; normal, Human. No hint of light spread over his body like an insidious halo. No glimmer whispered forward from the depth of his wound.

“Good so far,” Blake said, his voice shaking as he offered his knife to his cousin.

Conrad wanted to use a different blade, “This sword was my father’s. I trust it to bring the truth to light.”

He was always so dramatic. Kaidan rolled his eyes before it sliced him waist to hip.

“Nasty!”

“Careful, lads!” the supervising officer shouted, “You’re not here to kill him!”

“It wasn’t deep,” Conrad scoffed.

Next came Piss & Shit.

“Ooooh!”

“That’s gonna scar!”

The knives and names that followed blurred with unimportance. Kaidan thought it was over before he realized they truly saved the best for last.

Henry was the one who cut him deepest.

“Enough!”

If Henry wasn’t intended to be the last, the wound he made ensured it. Whether it was meant to be a kindness, a compensation, or a severance of some sort, Kaidan would never know. Maybe it was everything. Whatever intention it came out of, his slice left one hell of a scar.

*                       *                       *                       *                       *                       *

Her forehead was burning dangerously. Her skin felt like a steaming log the moment before it catches fire.

“Come here, Shepard,” Kaidan said apologetically as he knelt down to scoop her limp body into his arms.

She muttered incoherently as he walked down the beach, jostling her with every anxious, uneven step. He knew it had to hurt, but the sea was their best option. Maybe. It’s not like he knew much about what he was doing.

Kaidan brought her into the cold water, cradling her above its surface. He dipped and held most of her underneath it for her temperature to go down, only keeping her face above it. She shivered horribly. Kaidan couldn’t tell if he was shivering too, or just shaking. He couldn’t tell if he was helping or making it worse.

He brought her back up to their shelter, and washed her wound again with the rest of their clean water. She seemed to fall into a peaceful sleep. Maybe he did know what he was doing. Kaidan didn’t want to leave her side but needed to replenish their water, and now was the time if any.

Henry walked away from him; after that. Betrayal. The forest seemed to agree, its trees looming over him in judgment while its roots and vines did their best to trip him up. His surroundings never felt like a threat, but now he was truly alone, they took on another meaning.

Henry never came back though, and Kaidan was only walking away to return with something they depended on.

Kaidan wasn’t paying attention and smacked into a pile of mud. Thankfully, his landing was soft, but if there had been a rock, he could’ve broken something. And if he broke something… Well, he was all she had, and she was all he had. He needed to pay better attention. Any mistake would likely doom them both.

Pressure stood on his chest like an obstinate cat, but he had to keep going. It had its claws in his lungs.

He had to pick himself up.

He stood up and kept going.

But he didn’t understand. Why was it getting worse? Biotics were supposed to heal. Magic was supposed to bring miracles.

*                       *                       *                       *                       *                       *

“Clean up your own damn mess and take care of the lieutenant. That’s an order, boys.”

From the floor, he was brought to one of the Captain’s spare offices. The Temperance was a very big ship. He could recover there out of anyone’s way.

A makeshift hammock was tied up on hooks in the corners of the ceiling. It became soaked with Kaidan’s blood, mottled between dry and fresh. It was up to his comrades to do everything, and they always did the bare minimum. So, it was changed out and washed on their own sense of timing.

There was always one other boy in the room with him. It was their task to monitor his progress, to be there to witness nature or a freak of it. To make sure his back healed on its own in due time, without being sped up by any other process. Unnatural fluctuations.

Henry only ever came by the one time. Then he transferred to another ship.

“I didn’t mean to cut that deep,” his sobbing apology was the last moment Kaidan ever had of him.

Kaidan refused to turn around. He couldn’t look at Henry. He felt the cool cloth attending to his back as warm tears fell over it. He heard the apologies and all his professions of innocence.

But he never took one last look at his face.

After that, Kaidan was left with Conrad and Blake, who promised to make all this up to him and never did. He just had them and Piss & Shit.

When Kaidan’s skin finally closed up in a way that cleared his name, they were all put on different shifts. Kaidan threw himself fully into each task, leaving time and room for only the people he had to. Eventually, his work was noticed. Then his last name was recognized. He got a promotion after that, and another until he reached his current position. Until he was Alliance Admiral Kaidan Alenko.

That final crown came at a cost, and the only acceptable currency for it was Pirate Captain Estrella Shepard.

*                       *                       *                       *                       *                       *

Night was approaching and the colors in her wound were as vast and vivid as a sunset.

Lowering her temperature, painting drops of water on her lips, covering her when she shivered, clearing out the pus—None of his aid could leap faster than the infection could shuffle. She was at the point where every hour was critical.

He wept and kept up their fire. He didn’t know what else to do.

Kaidan sat there short of options, with only a miracle left.

There were some things that could never be taken back. Like his triumphant cry after wounding her. Like the cut across her shoulder. Across his back. Like Henry holding his hand in the dark. Like living for the space between her legs.

He’d take it all back if he could. All of it. Even the memories that glittered and flashed with a warmth deeper than his soul. He’d take it all back if it would leave him a void. If everything would just leave him the fuck alone.

“I’m sorry, Shepard.”

It was him or her, and he was all she had.

“Only tell who you trust with your life. Once you say it, you can’t unsay it.”

His mother raised him better than this. He’d rather die than share it. But she was the one dying, not him.

Kaidan stood up with a sigh deeper than the sea. He went over to her side.

He wasn’t crossing that line so much as crossing the border between life and death. It was now or never. Waiting any longer might take the decision away from him. He had to get to it before it went too far.

He brushed the hair away from her face.

He put a hand on her back. She winced, eyes flickering, as he placed it directly against her wound.

He closed his eyes.

Biotics were supposed to heal.

A dim, blue glow cast their shelter in low light.

A cleansing fire like the sun itself worked its way through her flesh. Time fell away from the wound, or seemed to.

Kaidan was so exhausted when she eventually opened her eyes that he almost shut his.

Not a flicker, but a true blink with thoughts behind it. Her voice was hoarse, “Kaidan?”

“It’s okay, Shepard. It’s gonna be okay.”

[All Chapters]

[sol-consort]

Drell/turians have black sclera as a result of a possible evolution advantage to camouflage their pupils, so a wandering prey can't determine their line of sight

In comparison to human's light sclera–to them, human eyes focusing on something is so obvious and feels ten times as intense in their brain that's used to subtlety.

Imagine that all your life you get used to looking for cues in other's eyes to determine if they're looking at you or not. Drell's large pupils blend in with their sclera, creating the illusion of an abyssal ocean. Wasn't it for the turian's slightly radioactive irises, resulting in a dim glow, their eyes would've been just as dark as a starless sky.

Then this human comes in, and their gaze is so shamelessly blatant. It's crystal clear to determine what they're looking at. Be it the human trailing their eyes over your body or when they steal a quick glance at you from across the room. You can't even ignore it if you tried... and you have tried. A siren goes off in your brain, a deep primal instinct that's forced awake.

The whole "feel someone's eyes on you" pushed to the extreme, the heat of their gaze, the emotions emphasised by the twinkle–or lack of–in their eyes. The way humans compare eyes to the windows of the soul. Holding eyecontact is considered a sign of respect, friendliness, and paying attention.

The problem is that by drell and turians standards, it's way too much attention. Resulting in them either getting flustered and looking away or enjoying being the centre of your world and revelling under the spotlights of your gaze.

Or...a turian/drell brain might misinterpret it as danger, looking directly into the eyes of a predetor and having to calm their nerves. No, this human isn't looking for a fight or planning to eat them, despite how intrusive a mere glance from them feels.

Having a casual conversation with a human they just met, how strange it feels being able to follow their line of sight so easily, watching you study their face in real time. How you trace the lines and markings on their skin, studying its texture, drinking in their features with your gaze, glancing at their lips multiple times. They have to remind themselves that this is...normal behaviour from your kind. It isn't a proclamation of desire nor an invitation.

[teamdilf]

WIP tagging game for Science Experiments pretty please?

My latest DILF work that I've been poking away at this week!

“When my sprouts were little, they were tasked with taking care of an egg for several days. Something about ensuring they were ready for parenthood, as if making sure an egg didn’t break offers proper insight into the headache that is two screaming infants at four in the morning when work gets you up at six,” Alec says, and he’s not quite sure the point his friend is attempting to make. 

“I’m not mothering a fucking poultry egg or whatever the shit humans eat on this planet,” Wrex says. “Unless it’s one of those big damned ones that grows that bird that knows how to kick ass.” 

“Ostriches?” Alec supplies. 

“Nah, they’re fucking pushovers compared to this one. They live in that country where all the dangerous shit lives. The little one? Y’know, in the bottom corner?” 

“Yes, because round objects do tend to feature a wide array of corners,” Alec says sarcastically. “Or are you a flat Earther?” 

“Flat objects don’t have corners, do they?” Adrien says. 

“They do if they’re not fuckin’ round and, shit, I didn’t mean in a literal corner. I meant it’s in the middle of the damned ocean and full of bugs and snakes and those little cephalopods that look cute and tiny but sting the shit out of you!” 

“Oh! You’re talking about Australia. The birds are cassowaries,” Adrien says, and the lot of them turn to look at Adrien, who shrugs. “I saw them one time while we were here on vacation and the tour guide indicated that they were the most dangerous birds on the planet. You’ll be pleased to know I managed to resist making a quip about turians slipping under the radar.”

“No, cassowaries are a lot more dangerous. You can be reasoned with,” Wrex says. “But I’d raise one up. Perfect pet!” 

He’s keen to point out that generally animals that are capable of slaughtering a person do not make good pets but recognizes that, culturally, krogan tend to disagree with that notion.