#samantha traynor and liara t'soni

[janewayintersection]

is this anything

[phantoms-hall]

[lilmissnatcat24]

for no other reason than i worked at an ice cream shop for eight years, here's what ice cream the mass effect characters would eat

shepard: neapolitan, strawberry for their paragon side, chocolate for their renegade, vanilla to balance

garrus: moose tracks, but will pick it apart just for the peanut butter cups and give shepard the leftovers

tali: literally any booze flavored ice cream

liara: mint chocolate chip because she secretly kind've fucks with the taste of toothpaste but will never admit it out loud

kaidan: butter pecan. it's not everyone's favorite, but it's his, and he's totally cool with it

ashley: whatever the 2183 equivalent to the tonight dough. cookie dough chunks, brownie chunks, butterscotch, chocolate chips, malt chunks, everything

wrex: this man is old as balls!!!!!! rum raisin!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

joker: lemon sherbet. you cannot tell me that man is not lactose intolerant

miranda: cherries garcia, little bit sweet, little bit tart

jack: the most sickening sweet shit you can think of. cotton candy with marshmallow superman with a side of sugar

jacob: some sort of dark chocolate peanut butter ice cream that sounds good in theory but in reality you can only take like 3 bites of before you get a tummy ache

zaeed: banana splits that he likes to mash together with a spoon and eat like some deconstructed milkshake

kasumi: the weird avant gard shit you see in hipster vegan shops, like some bacon sweet potato rosebud ice cream

mordin: coffee ice cream, because he likes the taste of coffee but if he were to actually drink it he would spontaneously combust

grunt: those froyo shops that were everywhere in 2014 where you could make a bowl with like 5% froyo and 95% other toppings and it cost 14 dollars

thane: doesn't like ice cream because it reminds him of how he abandoned his child and how his wife is dead and he could never go back to the life he left behind, the life of stability, because his body is engineered for a deadly purpose and he can never atone for his sins rocky road

samara: this woman is old as balls!!!!!!!!!!!!! pistachio!!!!!!!!!!!

legion: tried vanilla ice cream. too sticky, got stuck in his wiring.

james: one of those brownie sundaes that weighs approximately 5 pounds and is majority whipped cream

steve: chocolate chip. classy, just like him ;)

traynor: something smooth and rich and velvety and inexplicably sexy, like raspberry chocolate chunk

edi: takes the idea of ice cream a little too literally and just has a bowl of heavy cream with ice cubes. is confused why everyone is disgusted.

javik: ice cream is for primitives (peaches and cream)

[unabashedllamamusic]

Yk what's fucking great about Mass Effect? In my two playthroughs so far (both femshep, one with a Traynor romance and one with a Liara romance), Shepard wants a normal family life. With Liara, it's lots of "little blue" kids, and with Traynor it's a house, white picket fence, two kids, and a dog. I feel like 99% of the time when a badass female lead wants children it takes away from their badassery or their independence, it's a way to tie them down and make them seem more domestic. Somehow (I credit Jennifer Hale's incredible voice acting), instead it feels more like Shepard wants to be normal. She spends three games getting thrown into insane situations that she didn't ask for, losing friends, literally dying, having an entire galactic war on her shoulders, going into a mission expecting to die TWICE, and all that on top of whatever trauma her background leaves her with. Bonus points if you do colonist + sole survivor, because that woman must be so far beyond PTSD. But even after all the shit she's gone through, at the end of the trilogy she can say with absolute certainty that she wants to experience a normal life- something she's never gotten before, no matter your background. The best part is she doesn't mention retiring, there's no reason she can't keep her rank and have kids at the same time, she was raised by active-duty officers in one background so it's definitely a possibility. This isn't the "female lead wins by giving up her powers and becoming a mother" trope, it's proof that she's still a normal human despite everything. That's also why I prefer Traynor's romance to Liara, Shepard opens up to her more and seems more human. The mix of flirtyness and honest vulnerability is incredibly normal, through all the galaxy's insanity.

In general, Shepard's trauma is often mentioned in passing but never really shown. No matter the background or choices you make, they've been through hell to begin with and go through it a dozen more times throughout the trilogy. Everyone around them is like "oh wow that must've been tough" but Shepard usually just brushes it off, or gives a line or two about how much they miss whoever it was that died. She definitely had a lot more nightmares than the game let on.

I've walked through a destroyed city once, and it's haunted me daily for five years. I can't imagine being in multiple cities, on multiple worlds, as they're being destroyed, and knowing stopping it is your job, not to mention losing a shit ton of friends + family, your unit, or just the occasional comrade (background depending)

[inuhodo]

Happy N7 Day!! I'm really happy that I was able to finish this piece in time. Dan and Jack on a lovely sushi date, ft. several of my friends' Shepards on dates of their own! I hope that aquarium holds up...

[swimmingtrunks]

Are Shepard’s friends finally giving her a taste of her own medicine, or are they actually all a little face blind when it comes to different species? IDK! Mostly I made this because Traynor looks just enough like my shep in ME3 that it throws me off sometimes.

Bioware, I beg of you, whatever you end up doing for the next Mass Effect game, STOP USING CHARACTER CREATOR ASSETS TO MAKE GAY ROMANCEABLE CREWMATES.

Cut up comic for easier tumblr reading (hopefully) below the cut!

[hum-tittle]

Happy N7 day! Here is something I've been working on 😬

So in mass Effect we know ✨adult films✨ exist and that Shepard is famous enough to have a VI made of them, meaning that there’s probably ✨ Shepard impersonators ✨

With that this is how I think the crew would find out. (Preface in ME3 if you romance Garrus, Joker sent him vids to help him woo Shepard)

[bikorarey]

If I was writing for Mass Effect I would have more of the LI's get together if they weren't with Shepard. Kasumi and Jacob would've 100% happened instead of that mess with Brynn. I could definitely see Kaidan getting the favor of the Shadowbroker if you know what I mean.

In a stunner Garrus would absolutely have a thing for Ashley considering how Turian culture is and Ashley as a career Military woman? Issa wrap. Tali start of Jealous of and then be really into Miranda, and Jack would absolutely start to turn 'nice' to avoid Samara's bad side if you catch my drift.

EDI 100% calls Traynor's bluff and Kelly would take a special interest in Thane (who lives btw)

[thefloatingstone]

My power was out and I was bored and I considered doing this in drawing form but I didn't want to die so here's a low effort post of all the canon gays instead. happy pride.

[autumn-archfey-artwork]

A dumb idea I had. And then drew. (I meant to do this yesterday.)

It was also funnier in my head.

[assmeffect]

Mass Effect Women driving HCs

men here

Liara: we know she's a backseat driver, is very careful when she does drive. has surprising road rage, gets frustrated when people arent as good of a driver as she is.

Ashley: aggressive driver, serves through traffic like crazy. not afraid to lay on the horn when she's frustrated. is the type to get loaded into street races.

Miranda: a very good driver, took driving lessons and low key shames people who haven't. militant about passengers wearing their seatbelts. Will text or phone call while driving though.

Tali: I don't think the flotilla ships are big enough to have anything more than a rudimentary public tram. she doesn't have a license and has no desire to drive.

Samara: a surprisingly agressive driver, serves around other cars but at least she uses her turn signal. Will not accept criticism about her driving.

Jack: never got a license but drives anyways. do not let her drive it will not end well. Would rather start a car chase than pull over for police. has a "how's my driving" sticker with Shepard's phone number

Traynor: i honestly think she has too much anxiety to drive. but also hates letting Shepard drive, she's scared for her little gay life.

Kelly: one of the best drivers here, ignores her omni tool, uses turn signals, generally does everything right. very talkative while she drives, but will get distracted and forget to turn where she's supposed to.

EDI: EDI was programmed to pilot the Normandy, not drive a car. so I don't think she'd be a good driver. uses ship terms to refer to parts of the car.

Vetra: another very good driver besides the fact that she doesnt use her seatbelt. absolutely does not let Sid get away with not wearing hers though.

Suvi: regularly rear ends other drivers because she's distracted. probably best if Ryder does most of the driving because Suvi isn't a huge fan.

Peebee: blasts music with the windows closed, you can feel your whole body vibrate woth the bass. likes to street race and would probably get into drag racing as a result. has truck nuts on her car ironically.

Cora: second best driver, like Gil she's very careful about following the rules of the road. thinks anyone whos honking is honking at her. I can see her being kind of a car buff, and being interested in customizing her car.

[madamedramatics]

We all have our favorite love interests but can you name a Mass Effect character that you will never see as romance material no matter how much the fandom tries to sell it to you?

I'll go first.

Don't shoot me but...Definitely Wrex. That's big bro to me. Love him to to bits though❤️

[imakemywings]

Mass Effect Femslash Recs

Happy February 4th! For Femslash February, a nice collection of femslash fanfic recs! Asteriks by personal favs (★‿★)

* after the flood, all the colors came out by madamebadger - f!Shepard/Tali - Tali has nursed a crush on Shepard for years, but there was never any indication--any at all--that anything could come of it. And she has plenty on her plate with the rebuilding of Rannoch. But the truth is that the heart is not so easy to quiet. Especially when Shepard comes back to visit.

Almost Like Being in Love by Urdnot_wrekt - f!Shepard/Liara - As with any new relationship, Shepard and Liara can't seem to keep their hands to themselves.

Between Us by @anneapocalypse - f!Shepard/Tali - While the war rages all around them, what was between Tali and Shepard remains.

* building mountains in your memory by @chocochipbiscuit - f!Shepard/Liara - Liara spends two years mourning Shepard's death before Cerberus brings her back.

Cardamom and Cloves by wolframbeta - f!Shepard/Liara - Liara takes the night off from her duties as an information broker on Illium to share a meal and quiet conversation. It doesn't go according to plan.

Expiation by supernovasooth - Jack/Miranda - Miranda tries to apologize in her own way.

Faithfully Faithless by Settiai - Ashley/Liara - War and faith didn't exactly go hand-in-hand

For the Living by DrJekyl - f!Shepard/Samara - Samara's relationship with death has always been complex; her relationship with life and love even more so.

Grasping at Straws by Settiai - f!Shepard/Ashley - Ashley kept getting the feeling that she was missing something.

The Great Cabin Conspiracy of '73 by DrJekyl - Aethyta/Benezia - Two matriarchs somehow get stuck in a chilly cabin with no security escort and no extranet access.

Kiss and Get It Over With by ziskandra - Jack/Miranda - Faced with the end of the universe, old differences are set aside.

Motion by SomethingProfound - f!Shepard/Traynor - Sam Traynor's life would be a lot easier if Marines could keep their shirts on. Or: a new friendship aboard the Normandy between the ship's comms specialist and her Executive Officer blooms into something else as the war rages.

nights, by the light of whatever would burn by madamebadger - f!Shepard/Tali/Garrus - In every life, you have to make trade-offs. Shepard has always been at peace with what she's given up to be who and what she is, mostly because she's focused her attention on everything but her own personal life. Even her dearest friends know that she will always, to some degree, hold them at arm's length. But the war has a way of burning everyone down to their most essential selves, and in the end even Shepard can't help seeing, finally, what she wants, what she needs--and what she may have lost.

Purple Shadows by Settiai -Ashley/Liara - Ashley hadn't even considered that the Shadow Broker would be the best person to help clear her name. She'd reacted on pure instinct. It probably said more than she'd like it to say, that her first thought when in trouble was that she needed to find Liara.

* Rakhana by DrJekyl - Aethyta/Benezia - The revelation that the hanar are conspiring to uplift a newly discovered species, the drell, sends shockwaves through the galaxy and right into the T’Soni household.

A Recommendation by YourLocalPriestess - f!Shepard/Ashley - Ashley and Shepard haven't spoken more than a few words to each other since Ilos, and more importantly, since their kiss beforehand. But it had been over a week, and a recommendation leaves Ash with room to doubt what they have.

* Silent days, violent shades by acrosspontneuf - f!Shepard/Aria - ‘There’s profit in survival,’ Aria says, later, an offer masked as a parting shot as Shepard starts to walk away. They both know that Shepard can’t run, but Shepard allows herself the illusion for another stolen moment. The thought of disappearing is tempting - she could discover other galaxies, let this one save itself for once. She could live without being so intrinsically aware of how close she is to the end of it all.

something more comfortable by xenosaurus - f!Shepard/Tali - The first thing Tali does after Rannoch is move all of her things into Shepard’s quarters.

* Stolen Goods by DrJekyl - Aethyta/Benezia/Shiala - Benezia returns home early from a work trip and finds that Aethyta and Liara are up to minor mischief, with Shiala as their willing accomplice.

An Unexpected Pleasure by BlackJackKent - f!Shepard/Traynor - Shore leave is a time for cutting loose from the day-to-day protocols of military life, and after a few drinks at Purgatory, Sam Traynor finds the courage and motivation to try flirting again with Commander Shepard. She's fairly sure Shepard is interested in women too, and her intuition doesn't lie -- the only trouble is Shepard hasn't quite realized it herself yet.

Worth It by Pigeon_theoneandonly - f!Shepard/Traynor - In the midst of the reaper war, Shepard finds a pocket of normalcy for Sam.

[themassrelay]

my partner and i came up with these names for our squadmates and i’m posting them here with no context lol

battle turtle

police chicken

zen iguana

science squid

bucket head (admiral bucket)

titty bot

teenage mutant battle turtle

loco dudebro (jar head)

brutal grandpa

meditation mommy (justice squid)

four eyes

hoodie mama

biotic baldie

toothbrush gay

christian girlie but in space

o canada

genius gecko

grieving gay

fragile flyer

sit-up shawty

metal boi

genetic ass

[masseffectdiary]

Talking to the squad after the attack on the Citadel.