#urdnot fucking wrex. I love him.

[quietwingsinthesky]

characters I will get irrationally emotional about tonight: Wrex

[kaidanalenkosprmanager]

THE BEST OF THE NORMANDY SUMMIT

Featuring: Cmdr. Sophie Shepard, Primarch Adrien Victus, Dalatrass Linron, and Urdnot Wrex With: Comm. Specialist Samantha Traynor Commander, you need to keep Cerberus at bay- I can't overstate what a victory a treaty between the Turians and the Krogan would be for the Alliance. We need all the help we can get... Mass Effect 3: Legendary Edition (2021)

[one-little-nerd-stayed-home]

Actually I take back both the previous post and the reblog the Wrex quote of the night is

Wrex: "IF THEY CANT SEE THAT ANOLEIS IS AT FAULT THEN THEY'RE FOOLS AND YOU SHOULD EAT THEM."

Lorik Qi'in: "Yeah makes sense. Sure I'll testify that Anoleis is doing crimes."

Me:... HELLO?????????

[clericofshadows]

wip wednesday!

I haven't been writing much lately, but I have been poking around on a longer project that writes up ME1 in the form of emails between regis, kaidan, and zaeed so that my ME1 writing is more in-line with my masshenko canon, so here's a few snippets of a chain I enjoyed writing :)

also the character Dove is a shoutout to my friend @kaidanalenkosprmanager's shep Sophie, since I adore her writing and her canon and decided to make her a part of Regis's canon as well... :)

From: Kaidan Alenko (kaialenko@freexnet.relay) 

To: Zaeed Massani (zeemass@freexnet.relay)

Subject: Incoming

Hey, figured I give you a quick heads up for another rant from Regis.  Let’s just say the council meeting didn’t go well, but we did get some interesting leads.  A turian C-Sec officer seems to have more information about the rogue Spectre, but Regis wasn’t impressed by him, to say the least.  And we just got finished talking to a volus Shadow Broker agent of all things that gave us a lead into a krogan merc… Interesting times indeed.

And the Citadel, despite everything, is a hell of a sight.  Was about laughed off by our new Chief when I called it a “Big place” and then Regis swooped in and came out about our relationship to her.

I’ll call you about it later.

There’s been some other asides we’ve managed to get on our plate–Regis helped a widower get his wife’s body back from the Alliance, and we’ve been tasked to help out with an asari consort… who doesn’t seem to understand the meaning of personal fucking space.

I’ll probably… also call you about that one.

Seems like we both might have some things we need to rant about.

Kaidan Alenko

-- --

From: Zaeed Massani (zeemass@freexnet.relay)

To: Kaidan Alenko (kaialenko@freexnet.relay) 

Subject: Re: Incoming

Haven’t gotten his message yet… should I be worried?  Think it may have gotten hit by my spam filters with all the repeated "Bullshit" titles. You know I give a shit about keeping my inbox clean.

Serves him right for not being more creative.

But now I'm pretty goddamn interested in whatever shit you have going on.  Regis already coming out to your new recruit?  Must already trust her not to blab.  And Kaidan?

Calling the goddamn Citadel “Big place!” deserves a bit of ridicule.

Full offense.

But you know damn well Regis ain’t about to be swayed by some asari bitch consort.  Although I’m surprised he didn’t blast her off of him from the way you’re talking… 

Oh shit, you’re the biased one now!  Can’t wait to get that story out of Regis.  For once, he has the real goddamn story. You have no idea how much I’m fucking laughing at you right now.  Thanks for the story fuel for when I meet up for drinks with Dove later today.

Keep up the stories.

ZM

-- --

From: Regis Shepard (rlshepard@freexnet.relay) 

To: Zaeed Massani (zeemass@freexnet.relay)

Subject: So Fucking Goddamn Tired

I know Kaidan’s been warning you.  Goddess knows why.  You love my rants, don’t you?  And this time, I decided to emulate you and use your typical language.  

A long story short, the Council more or less laughed us off and the Spectre motherfucker that got us in this mess is your stereotypical human hating bastard and gloated the whole time.  My fucking CO decided to mention my goddamn visions in the hearing, which went as well as you can imagine, for fuck’s sake.  Sometimes I wonder how he got to N7 with idiotic ideas like that, and now humanity has made utter fools of ourselves thanks to him and his bullshit.

But along with a few various tasks we’ve picked up, admittedly, my CO and our human ambassador on the Citadel have given us a few leads and as long as we get actual evidence, we have a shot of meeting back with the Council over this.  

So far, I’ve talked to a volus Shadow Broken agent who has led us to a Krogan merc.  Urdnot Wrex ring any bells?  

Not saying you know every name out there, but I’m always vying for information.  Seems like a decent enough guy when he has enough credits for his work, so we’re on our way to deal with some asshole who double crossed a quarian with some information that connects our asshole Spectre to the geth.

I feel like that’s a brand-new sentence. How the hell is this my life?

Oh, and Kaidan may or may not be a little jealous of an asari consort we were able to help out. I don't know why. I looked at her like she was scum of the earth, and she kept her fucking distance from me. Did get a weird trinket from her. Some kind of retro-futuristic pendant thing? I don't know.

Talk later. I have a club to shoot up, apparently.

Regis.

[holedaemon]

ASS RESPECT 3: Garrus and Wrex go to White Castle

It's done. We did it. This weekend Ari (@freakpatrol) and I finished the Mass Effect trilogy. The third game is... massively flawed. There's *a lot* about it that I did not like, but despite that, it had some really profound aspects that I won't soon forget.

THE GOOD

MISCELLANEOUS

Shepard can run much longer now

They brought back weapon mods

The armor system is pretty decent, allows for a lot of customization

You can heal in battle using medi-gel again

Garrus is able to be romanced

ENEMIES

There are three factions you go up against in Mass Effect 3. Primarily, the Reapers & their forces, Cerberus, and to a lesser extent, the Geth. I'm here to talk about the Reapers' forces. In terms of design & background, they are peak. BioWare really went all out with them. They essentially took the idea of the Husks and how they are genetically altered, cybernetically enhanced humans, and applied that to most of the other races seen throughout the series. The process leaves them as former shells of themselves, the origin race barely being distinguishable. It's the perfect body horror and totally up my alley. A few of them that really stood out to me:

Cannibals

Harvested Batarians. They have a tendency to eat corpses they find on the battlefield, hence their name

Brutes

Unique in that they are a combination of Turians & Krogan. They remind me of the Tank from Left 4 Dead. Very fun to rip apart with a shotgun

Banshees

Harvested Asari, possibly specifically Ardat-Yakshi? Wasn't really clear. They resemble the Spitter from Left 4 Dead and function similarly to the Summoners from DOOM 2016. Ari HATES these things. Every time one of them screamed I'd hear "Oh I hate that noise"

SQUADMATES

The only new squadmate that really matters in 3 is Javik. You find him on a colony planet that's been overrun by Cerberus. He's a Prothean that's been in cryostatis for the last 50,000 years; when the Reapers last attacked. This is our first time SEEING what the Protheans looked like, and honestly they're pretty cool. Prothean society draws heavy inspiration from Rome & its structure, so you can imagine what Javik is like. He's a soldier; very cold & calculated, carries a lot of baggage knowing he failed his mission & his people perished, which manifests as him being a total dick, but we like Javik, so he gets a pass. The only thing I find disappointing is how he was included in the story, I'll elaborate on that later.

STORY BEATS

Okay, so let's be clear here: the story in the third game more or less sucks major balls. Turns out that's because the lead writer for the first two games left to work on fucking Star Wars: The Old Republic??? That said, there are some really profound moments throughout the story that I absolutely adore, even if they break my heart.

The first being summoning Kalros to fight the Reaper destroyer on Tuchanka. Before you run in to the arena to set off the hammers, Wrex stops you to say

You've been a champion to the Krogan people, a friend of Clan Urdnot... and a sister to me. To every Krogan born after this day, the name "Shepard" will mean "hero!"

HANDS DOWN my favorite Wrex quote.... Just. Gah. I love his development throughout the trilogy. Going from a grumpy merc with no purpose to the fearless leader of the Krogan people. It fills my heart with joy. He also calls Garrus his friend............ THEY HATED EACH OTHER IN THE FIRST GAME!!! NOW THEY'RE FRIENDS REMINISCING ABOUT THE OLD TIMES. I LOVE IT!!!!!!!!

Still on Tuchanka, this next moment hit me HARD. I can't remember the last time I cried at a video game, but this fucking got me.

Kalros has defeated the Reaper by pulling it fucking underground. We're at the Shroud ready to disperse the Genophage cure across Tuchanka. Except the Shroud has been damaged, it's coming down, and the STG (basically Salarian armed forces) has sabotaged it to prevent curing the sterilization plague. Mordin walks into the elevator leading up to the top of the Shroud, his final conversation with Shepard goes

Shepard: I'm sorry Mordin: I'm not. Had to be me. ... Mordin: Someone else might have gotten it wrong.

Hundreds of feet in the air, amid explosions, Mordin hums the same Salarian scientist tune he sang to Shepard in the second game. He pauses, the sabotage has been overridden, the cure is being dispersed; the scientist looks out over the Tuchanka skyline and smiles. Peace has been made with his fate, he can die happy knowing his wrong has been corrected. He picks up singing his song, but before he can finish the verse, the top of the Shroud explodes. That's the last we see of Mordin Solus.

Compounding the loss of Mordin, during a conversation prior to the events of Tuchanka, he tells Shepard that the Genophage needs to be cured. He does not relent that it was the correct thing to do for the time, but the circumstances have changed and it needed to be stopped. Shepard also asks him what he plans to do after the war had been won. Mordin talks about spending his final days on a warm beach, collecting seashells. The commander retorts saying he would go crazy within an hour, the Salarian responds saying he might run tests on the seashells.

I was really torn up about Mordin for a few days following this LMAO. He really grew on me over the course of the 2nd and 3rd game, hands down one of my favorite characters. Seeing him go sucked a lot, but I'm glad he was able to do it on his own terms. Curing the Genophage was the right thing to do, and I think it really added a lot to his character. He gave up his life so many, many Krogan could live. I love that a lot.

There's one last moment that really stuck with me.

The team is on Rannoch, the Quarian home world. They just defeated a Reaper that was transmitting a signal to control the Geth. Besides controlling the Geth, the Reaper transmission was also upgrading the synthetics. Their consciousness was on par with that of an alive being. Legion reveals to Shepard that he still has this code running in his systems. If he were to upload it to the Geth collective, the entire race would be upgraded to become fully sentient & alive. The commander agrees, telling him to get started, and asking Tali to delay the impending Quarian attack on the Geth. After some bickering with the Quarian admirals, the fleet hold their fire. Legion says

Legion: Error: copying code is insufficient. Direct personality dissemination, required. Legion: Shepard-Commander, I must go to them. I'm... sorry. It's the only way. Tali: Legion, the answer to your question... was yes. Legion: I know, Tali, but thank you. Legion: Keelah se'lai.

Legion falls to his knees in front of the Rannoch sun. In his final moments, he achieved true sentience, evident by his use of "I" instead of "we," as well as calling Tali by her first name. He was an equal, he was a person, he was truly alive. Through his actions, Legion brought on a new era of peace between the Geth and Quarians. In the days following his death, the Quarians had returned to their home planet and started to rebuild with the help of their newfound allies. The Geth's assistance was speeding up the rebuild exponetially. Processes that would have taken years, were taking days to weeks. Some Geth also volunteered to upload themselves into the suits of Quarians, to kickstart their immune systems. This would make the environmental suits the former nomads wore irrelevant in a few short years.

Losing Legion hurts A LOT. He was my precious baby boy. Everything about his death compounded the loss tenfold. The fact that he achieved personhood; the way he fell in front of the sun; his uttering of keelah se'lai as he keeled over... just. UGH. Much like Mordin, his death was not in vain. Had he not done what he did, the Quarians would have been wiped from the galaxy by the Geth. He managed to save two civilization and end a 300 year conflict. This has really, really stuck with me. Genuinely one of my favorite moments & outcomes in any video game, period. I love Legion, I love the Geth, I love what they all stand for & represent, and how they grow over the course of the series. It's fucking awesome.

THE BAD

That's about all I have in terms of good things, now onto the bad.

ACCESSIBILITY

Mass Effect 3 took a step backwards from 2 in terms of accessibility. The second game was perfect; menus were simple and concise. I actually knew what I was doing & where to go. That's not true of 3!!! Shit's back to being convoluted & confusing!!! I look at a menu and say "what the fuck is this?" It sucks!!!!

The other thing is the galaxy map. On the map overview, it tells you the description of missions in certain systems, not the name!!!! So you'll just have shit like "go to Anderson's apartment" appearing over nebula & shit, like what???

Your journal is a disaster too. Missions, both main & side, were grouped together in one tab, so you can't easily decipher which is which. They also decided to remove mission details, rather only giving you a vague description of what you needed to do??? Extremely frustrating.

GAMEPLAY

The movement sucks. It's like halfway to where it needs to be. I gotta give them credit for trying to make it good, but they just fucking floundered. Everything is done with the space bar, and so fucking often when I tried to interact with stuff, Shepard would take cover or do a fucking roll in the wrong direction instead of doing what I wanted her to do. It got genuinely annoying.

Another big issue were missions. For some reason, BioWare decided that missions should expire in this game, except they don't tell you when!!!!!!! SO YOU JUST HAVE TO GUESS!!!!!!! COMPOUNDING THAT, THEY GIVE YOU SO MANY MISSIONS. Literally I had like 20 missions at one point. Most of them were just fetch quests too. The formula for fetch quests is basically as follows:

get mission from random NPC

go to system

ping map to find scannable locations

uh oh, you probably alerted the Reapers. Which means you can't scan in peace without doing a mission.

if you can somehow avoid the Reapers, scan location for random junk until you find your fetch quest item

take it back to random NPC

rinse & repeat 100,000 times

Not a big thing but they... got rid of all of the minigames? There's no more hacking minigames, rather when you need to access an area, you just interact with the door & stand there for a few seconds. Again, not a big deal, but definitely a step in the wrong direction. There's also no resource collection, which I really enjoyed.

Again, this one is less of a problem but just kinda weird. The game is fucking easy. I died less than 10 times in combat. I didn't even know you could heal with medi-gel till the finale. I barely ever had to take cover, I could just run & gun and be fine. Compare this to 2 where I was dying left and right. My performance in the prior game was so dogshit that I think Ari was starting to get annoyed by it, so often would they say "BABE TAKE COVER," meanwhile I'd look like this

SQUADMATES

I was really kinda disappointed with the squadmate selection this time around. The last two games had so many different characters that I really jived with, but 3's selection was pretty lackluster. So as soon as I could, I took Garrus everywhere with me, and would switch between Javik & Tali for the secondary. Not bad, but not ideal. I don't really like human squadmates, so I never picked James or Kaidan. James is just too dude-bro military hot head for me; Kaidan's a whiner & got really annoying. Giving EDI a body was unnecessary, but cool I guess? Her relationship with Joker was cute. Never really cared for her much as a squadmate though. Liara was also just kinda... meh. I think I was really just spoiled by having Wrex and Legion as options in prior entries.

THE CITADEL

Okay this is a quick thing: you spend WAY too much time on the Citadel. This kinda ties back into my complaints on missions, but, I swear a huge portion of the game is spent there, doing side missions. It's fucking boring, man. I really did not enjoy any of the time spent in between priority missions. The citadel is novel at first, but by the end of the game, you've spent at least a few hours just running between the same 4-5 floors picking up quests, turning quests, listening to NPCs. GAH.

THE STORY

Okay, so like I said, Mass Effect 3 has some really good subplots that I enjoyed a lot!!! Overall though, dude, the story is just... weak, the ending especially. Ari and I spent some time reading the Wikipedia article detailing the controversy surrounding this game, and it makes sense. Like, once BioWare lost the aforementioned writer for the first two games, everything just went to shit.

The first thing that really irked me is the child Shepard sees die and his subsequent use throughout the story. Sure, alright, seeing someone so young die is traumatic, but why does it hold so much weight?? Shepard has seen thousands die, personally, she has taken the lives of at least 300,000 people, why does a single kid she never even spoke to for more than a second keep popping up? There's zero substance here. Keep the trauma, keep the dream sequences if you must, but use the people that really matter. Mordin, Legion, Thane, Ashley, I guess, even her fucking parents or squad on Akuze! USE ANYONE BUT A RANDOM CHILD!

Now, let's address the elephant in the room: the ending. That travesty blows shit out of ass, dude. Why is the aforementioned child there? What do you mean there's this intelligence that was created to solve a problem? What even is the problem?? Oh, it's that synthetics and organics don't really truly understand one each other? Okay. Why is that just now becoming the overarching problem of the series? Where was that concept in the first two games? The introduction of this intelligence, the Leviathans, and the "problem" really diminishes the story. It explains away the mystery of the cycle. It diminishes the Reapers a lot! Before, they were these mysterious, almost god-like machines from beyond the veil of reality. Their purpose was unknown & said to be incomprehensible to a normal mind. Turns out they just harvest the universe because it "solves a problem?" Like, fuck off, dude lmao. Giving any context whatsoever to the Reapers and their motives was a bad idea and really killed the magic that they brought.

Anyway, as you finish up talking to the child, you are giving three choices

Control the Reapers

Destroy the Reapers & all synthetic life (EDI, the Geth)

Use your DNA as a template for life to combine & share the same DNA between all species, organic & synthetic alike. (AKA the Synthesis)

Ari & I chose the last option, as it's allegedly the "true ending." Well, when you do that, Shepard jumps in the crucible, turns to mist, a huge explosion of green energy crosses the galaxy through the mass relays (breaking them in the process??), and everyone becomes cyborgs & "understands each other." Reapers & their forces stop fighting and begin to help rebuild the galaxy. Everybody glows green now? It's not well explained and even if it were it's stupid as fuck. Besides that, you're also violating the bodily rights of the entire galaxy?? Forcing change at a DNA level without anyone's consent?? Kind of a weird way to resolve a war. Furthermore, what about the Reaper's abominations? They're all sentient now! They're not fighting anymore! What do you do with them? What they once were is barely even recognizable!!

THE DLC

Alright, last talking point: the DLC. DLC is not a new concept in the Mass Effect games, and while it was not a big deal before, this time really bugged me.

Before I start: the DLC involving Aria & taking back Omega was really fun, I enjoyed it a lot. Anyways.

First off, JAVIK IS DLC????? THE PROTHEAN CHARACTER THAT IS SO VITAL TO THE STORY IS DOWNLOADABLE CONTENT THAT COSTS EXTRA???? REALLY AWFUL DECISION BIOWARE.

Second, the Leviathan DLC. I love the Leviathans, they're really cool creatures in design & concept. But again, their introduction and involvement in the story just Ruined the Reapers pretty much entirely. It sucks. I wish they were better utilized. Also, again, to put something so """important""" to the story in a DLC??? Fucking lame.

Finally, the house party DLC. It was fucking AWFUL. The entire mood of it does not fit the game ONE BIT. Every other sentence is some weird, unfunny quip. Brooks as a character is just fucking annoying. You're running around chasing your clone??? Then YOU HAVE A PARTY??? The dialogue throughout the party is just fucking awkward and forced. Kasumi and Saeed are there for some reason?? It just sucked. I could go on for hours about it but I'm just burned out even talking about this shit.

Overall, a really, really disappointing end to an otherwise fantastic series

Fuck this

[omniblades-and-stars]

BET GIMME YOUR OPINIONS ON LORIK QUI'IN AND URDNOT WREX

Lorik Qui'in:

How I feel about this character: I think he's a well of potential. I like that he uses human idioms, I like his voice. He's the one business executive that I'm actually kind of routing for.

On the TILF list.

Romantic ships: I think it would be fun for him to have fling with Shepard, but other than that I haven't put much consideration into whom would be a good romantic match with a guy you talk to a small number of times about corporate espionage and administrative intimidation.

Non-romantic OTP: I'm with @sparatus that he and Gianna Parasini should have a side plot/short story where they solve more corporate espionage/regulations violations together and they should be drinking buddies.

Unpopular opinion: Frankly, I don't think I have one? I think I like the mechanic, Lilihierax better. How about that? But I still like Lorik a lot.

What I want for this character in canon: We should have gotten to hear from him again, like an email or run into him on Illium or something really briefly. Just for funsies.

Urdnot Wrex:

How I feel about this character: Anyone who knows me knows that I am in love with Urdnot Wrex. Character of all time. Goes from wanting to give up on his people to leading his clan trying to do what's best for them to seizing the chance he's got to make things better for the krogan as a whole. He's funny. He's big. He's red. I love all of these things.

Romantic ship: LET SHEPARD ROMANCE THE FUCKING KROGAN YOU COWARDS!

Non-romantic OTP: I think Wrex and Tali should be best friends forever and ever. Wrex and Garrus as the kind of friends who insult each other all the time has legs. A Wrex, Zaeed and Garrus friendship would have catastrophic consequences for the galaxy as a whole but would be really fun.

Unpopular opinion: OK so since I actually engage very little in wider fandom as a whole I don't actually know if any of my opinions about Wrex are unpopular? I think my opinion about Wrex that might be is actually about Bakara and not at all about Wrex. And it's just that I feel like she was introduced too late in the game. But that's also mostly because the devs were like "Oh yeah I guess women of alien species other than asari should exist." Which isn't about Wrex at all.

What should have happened in canon?: Let me have Wrex back for a game please I missed him. And again, LET SHEPARD ROMANCE WREX YOU COWARDS.

Ask me about more characters to yell about. I promise I can be normal. (<- lying)

[ramblinganthropologist]

N7 24 22 - Krogans

Summary: Urdnot Wrex has a special mission for Alistair Shepard. He needs backup - so he brings in his sister. Krogans love Bo Peep Shepard after all.

---

He hadn't expected to be back on Tuchanka so soon, but... well, things worked out that way.

"Shepard, you made it."

For once, Wrex was talking to him and not Bo. It wasn't a slight - Alistair had long since come to understand that Urdnot Wrex got along better with his sister than him. It made sense - krogans liked to headbutt, Bo liked to headbutt. She had gotten a name for wrestling krogans on Omega between 2183 and 2185 too, so she was something of a local celebrity. It was no big surprise that they would prefer his hard hitting, fast shooting sister over him. When it came down to it, he was a boy scout and he bored them.

Fine by him; as long as they were ok on Tuchanka, they could call him boring all they wanted.

"Nice to see you, Wrex." He glanced around. "How are things settling in?"

The krogan nodded at him. "Fine. No real difference yet but believe there's plenty of attempts. Time will tell."

He gestured to the side. "And thanks. Eve said you would help."

Yeah; him and Eve had become friends since she had been on the Normandy with Mordin. He wouldn't say they were friends, per se, but he wore the crystal she had given him around his neck with his dog tags. There had definitely been a connection there, and he was glad she was doing well.

Obviously, she was busy now, but maybe when everything was done he could go see her.

"Not a problem, Wrex. Let me go just get Bo and we'll head over."

The krogan smirked a little. "Shepard's here?"

"I'm bringing her as backup on this one." He chuckled. "You can understand why."

"You always were to bring the best for the job."

He was. Which is why Alistair left the leader of the krogan behind as he headed to where his sister was waiting for him. Well, waiting was being a bit mild. It was more like the Angry Pink Monster was getting a meeting with her beloved fans. She was surrounded by krogans, some of them with posters or vids of her fights on Omega. At least she had remembered to bring a pen this time, judging by the fact her fans were leaving happy.

She spotted him as he approached. "Finished up with Wrex?"

"Yep, just let me know when you finish up the fan meeting." He checked his omni-tool, reading over Wrex's message. It seemed simple enough, but nothing with the krogan was ever easy. It at least gave him something to do while he waited for Bo to finish signing merch for her fans.

He had to wonder if any of the three who had put in breeding requests for her were among them. Maybe they were hoping to ask her on a date? If they were, they were sorely mistaken; she preferred the ladies. Besides, if she had been straight, she would've gone straight for Wrex himself.

 She had taste after all.

The mob died down after a few more moments, and Bo sighed in relief as she capped her pen and stored it wherever she was keeping it. Soon, she joined him and the two took off in the direction of his mission marker. It was on the other side of the base, but it wasn't a long walk. Honestly, he needed a chance to stretch his legs after being in space for so long.

"I swear you set me up for that, they're not normally that bad." Bo shot him a look as they walked. He whistled out an innocent note, hooking his arms behind his head. "Alistair Michael Shepard, I swear-"

Oh, middle name. Now he was in trouble.

"Don't worry, I didn't say anything. They must've just seen the Normandy and put the pieces together that you would probably be touching down." He flashed her a grin. "Scout's honor on that one."

It didn't soften her look in the slightest, but he hadn't expected it to do anything. Instead, it gave him the chance to look around. Things certainly looked the same on Tuchanka since the genophage cure had been dispersed. Part of him wasn't sure what he had expected honestly; even if the krogan had been nonstop fucking, it wasn't like they just immediately made babies. There was still a gestation period - maybe by next year there would be a difference if they all managed to survive.

Hopefully, Wrex would send him baby pictures of his kids if they all lived. He had never seen a newborn krogan before, and no doubt they were absolutely adorable little toads.

"Whatever." Bo rolled her eyes. "Anyway, what's this mission you just had to have me on? Did the mother of all thresher maws fuck something up when she was killing that Reaper?"

Alistair shook his head as they entered the building. There was a krogan standing by the door, and they stiffened as he approached. It was only natural, considering what he was watching over.

"No humans past this point."

He held up his omni-tool to display the message. "Urdnot Wrex has given us express permission to pass."

The guard squinted his eyes as he read the message over. While he did, Alistair tried to listen in. The walls were too thick for that, however, so he didn't get anything out of it other than a vague sense of curiosity. At least it kept him occupied while his credentials were checked.

"Looks legit." He stepped to the side. "Don't do anything stupid, Shepard."

He offered the guard a smile as they passed. "Wouldn't dream of it."

They were soon in a hallway leading to a door. Their footsteps echoed down as they walked, creating a strange acoustic that scratched an itch in his brain. All the while, Bo fidgeted next to him, starting to bridge the area between bored and annoyed. It wasn't quite her danger zone, but she was running short on patience.

"Alright, are you going to tell me why I'm here yet or what?"

"You'll see." He approached the door. "I needed you for backup."

He then opened the door and stepped through. Immediately, there was a wall of sound that nearly knocked him into Bo. Once he adjusted, then he got the full scope of the mission. It was a large room, filled with overturned furniture that had seen better days. There was paint smeared on the walls, and dents from heads going into it, but there was no blood. More importantly, the focus of his mission was staring up at them with wide eyes, waiting to figure out what was going on.

"Who are you?"

As it turned out, children had squeaky voices regardless of the species. That was no different for krogan. If he had to guess, the small group of five assembled in front of them were between the ages of 6 and 8. They didn't have the telltale battle marks, and their scales reminded him of Grunt when he had been fresh from the tank. The smallest came up to his waist, while the biggest was a half head taller. All of them had the same confused, eager look on their faces.

Bo shot him a look as he closed the door. "You have got to be kidding me."

"Wrex wanted me to check their vitals and see if they were affected by the cure." He smiled at her. "And so I brought you along to distract them from medical procedures."

He then turned to the assembled children. "Hi, kids. My name's Al, and this is my sister Bo. We're here to hang out with you guys today."

One of the children - the record said his name was Vorak, age 7 - pointed an adorably chubby finger in Bo's direction. "It's the Angry Pink Monster!"

And then, the kids were on Bo, all wide eyes and high pitched voices. Alistair chuckled as he went off to the side in order to set up his equipment for the medical checks. Truly, her fame among the krogan was why he had brought her along. Kids tended to hate medical checkups regardless of their species, so needed something to counteract that. If their beloved Angry Pink Monster was enough to distract them from the displeasure, then things would be just fine.

"I heard you fought Drank the Crusher at Omega!" A squeaky voiced krogan by the name of Khurd -age 6-  was practically bouncing. "You smashed him into the stands and sent three people to the hospital!"

Bo nodded as she settled in to a nearby chair, the krogan... lings? gathering around her. "He bounced like a super ball. How did you see that one, though?"

"Krayas showed us the vids if we promised to clean up one day!" A pause, then, "He's the guard at the front door. He said if we don't try to escape for a week, we'll get to watch another one."

Talk about one hell of a motivational factor - he had to hand it to Krayas for figuring out how to motivate the little ones. Alistair filed that one away as he finished setting things up, checking his omni-tool to make sure everything was running properly. He then opened a new file.

"Vorak? Could you come over here please?"

Unsurprisingly, his patient didn't want to leave Bo's side. Given he was one of the bigger children, he knew he didn't have the strength to get him over there. Luckily for him, he wasn't alone. His sister nudged the little krogan in his direction, much to his displeasure as he groaned.

"I don't wanna see him, he's boring!"

Bo shook her head. "It'll be quick. Wrex wants to make sure you little terrors grow up big and strong so you can shoot straight. If you don't get your medical checks, you wind up like Al and have to use mods to shoot."

Judging by the gasp of horror that filled the room, it had the needed effect. Vorak was soon all but running over to his side, standing ramrod straight with pinprick pupils. Alistair had to resist the urge to chuckle as he got his scanner ready, marking down his patient's name.

"Thank you for being so cooperative. Now, I'm just going to check your height and weight against last year's records..."

---

Forty minutes later, and he had gotten through all the children. Their records were now safely stored on his omni-tool for handing over to Wrex once they were finished. Apart from some grumbling, they had been pretty cooperative with the process, better than he would've expected honestly.

Grunt hadn't been nearly as good when Dr. Chakwas checked him on the Normandy after he had come out of the tank. Maybe he needed to learn patience from his age group.

"Alright, so I promised you guys I'd tell you about my last match. Well, it was me verses Rekmar Hinak for the title. Hinak the Headsplitter was pretty cocky off his last win, so he thought he could take me..."

Bo's voice carried over the quiet room as Alistair packed up his equipment. He knew the match she was speaking of well - he had been there after all. Hinak the Headsplitter's fanbase had been particularly rowdy that night, and the spotlights glinted off the blood still glistening in the arena. All around him, krogan cheered and jeered as the opponents faced down in the ring.

"Hinak thought he could take me because he had gotten a hit in with the thresher maw during his ritual." Bo scoffed. "So he tries to get me with a frontal attack. Problem is, he telegraphs his moves like he's a complete newbie. I bet you guys could've taken him on if you wanted to do it."

Khurd's eyes were wide. "Did he try to split your head?"

"Of course he did, that's his specialty." Bo's voice dropped. "But the thing is, he's weak on his left side. You always gotta train on both sides so they don't catch you on the bad one, got it?"

A squeaky chorus of 'got it!' rang out through the room. Alistair chuckled softly as he righted overturned furniture throughout the room. Kid-krogan sized furniture was still big enough for him to sit in, but it wouldn't be the most comfortable choice. He was a little disappointed it wasn't brightly colored, but maybe they didn't have the same requirements as humans for eye development. Honestly, he was a little unsure when it came to little krogan. Maybe later he could ask Wrex about it...

"Anyway, he tries to ram me." Bo smacked her fist into her palm. "But I caught him on his bad side and threw him into the wall. He bounced like a ping pong ball. You should've seen the crack he left, it looked like what happens after an earthquake."

Another krogan - this one was named Danak with a twin named Canak sitting next to him - practically jumped up at her words. "And then what?"

"And then he tried to kick my feet out from under me when he's on his side." Bo grumbled. "But his leg didn't quite make it so I got out of the way. He gets back on his feet, crowd's calling for his blood. I can see what he's planning on doing next because like I said, he telegraphs his moves."

Canak's squeaky voice filled the room. "What's telegraph mean, Bo?"

"Basically you can see him coming a mile away. When you get older, always try to keep a little variety in your moves. Keeps your opponent guessing and you're not predictable." Bo nodded. "Maybe that would've saved him, but he wasn't exactly the smartest guy around."

No, he wasn't. Alistair remembered thinking the same thing as Bo from when he was in the stands. The good part was coming, however - she was just about to get into using her biotics to hammer Hinak into the next solar system. It had been brutal, even from where he was sitting.

"Anyway, he gets up close and we're grappling in the center. Crowd's screaming for his head, my head, they couldn't decide if they hated him or me more." Bo smirked. "And since he got handsy, I figured I could let loose. I power up in the hand he's got me with and I shove him into the wall."

The kids all let out gasps of excitement, but it was then that Alistair noticed there was only four sitting in front of his sister. Vorak, Khurd, Danak and Canak were all accounted for, but he didn't see the youngest of the group. Little Cosk  - just turned 6- wasn't sitting with his friends, drinking in the tale.

Instead... he was picking up toys.

Alistair cocked his eyebrow as he approached, stooping down to pick up a block. "Don't you want to listen to the story too?"

Cosk shook his head as he gathered up blocks in his little arms. "Vorak is stinky and Canak likes to wipe his boogers on you after he picks his nose. I can hear from here just fine."

"Can't blame you there, I wouldn't like boogers wiped on me either." Alistair followed him over to the box the toys were stored in, placing the blocks inside. On the other side of the room, Bo was just about to headbutt Hirak into submission. "You did a good job with your check in, by the way. You grew a couple inches from last year."

The little krogan's chest puffed slightly as he neatened the blocks. "Danak says I'm too small, but if I grew that means he's wrong, right?"

Alistair nodded in response. "From what I studied on krogan development before I got here, you're doing just fine. Besides, I'm small for my age and I do just fine."

No doubt the other krogan children would have given him the stink eye for saying that - even at their ages, they weren't impressed by barriers and tech expertise. But little Cosk nodded along as he went back for more blocks, taking his words as gospel. Suddenly, he was pretty sure he had a favorite kid.

"And then BAM. He goes down so hard his armor cracks!"

Bo's voice, amplified by the cheers of her child audience, filled the room. Alistair watched as his charge stiffened, little hands going to where his ears should be. Once the noise quieted down, he slowly pulled his hands away. Then he went back to finding blocks to pick up and tidy.

He made his way over to the little krogan, stooping down to help him. "Don't like loud noises, huh?"

"They say I'm a big baby." Cosk sounded like he was sulking. "But I can't help it. It makes my head go all funny."

Alistair nodded. "No, I understand. I don't like a lot of noise either. When I was your age, I avoided being around kids my own age a lot too."

It was why he had learned to read so fast - other kids were loud and made his head hurt. Now that he was older, he understood his noise sensitivity was due in part to how his biotics affected his brain. But before then, it had just been one of the many things that set him apart from other kids his age.

"I'm not a bad krogan..." He trailed off. "When I'm big, I'm gonna be a battlemaster one day. Urdnot Wrex says I'm special."

And then he held out his free hand. At first the block sitting there did nothing, but after a few seconds it wobbled and slowly rose into the air. The space hummed with energy, and Alistair's nose tickled with the familiar scent he had no name for. It was one all biotics knew, but never named.

Apparently, the noise sensitivity might just be a biotic thing.

"That's really impressive, Cosk. You have great control over your biotics."

The little krogan brightened, eyes sparkling. "Really?"

"Really. It takes a lot of focus to keep things steady like that. You're going to be a real pro when you're older."

That was if he got the chance to be older. A weight settled into Alistair's stomach as he glanced around the room, taking in Cosk and his age group. There was no guarantee any of them were going to grow up or even reach their next birthday if the Reapers got their way. All their work to cure the genophage, and it might just amount to nothing.

It left him cold just thinking about it.

"Al?" A little hand tugged at his shirt, bringing him back to reality. "Do you need a juice box? They keep them in here for me. I get hy...hypo..."

He smiled. "Your blood sugar goes low sometimes when you use your biotics?"

"Yeah, that!" Cosk nodded his head, holding out his little hand. "They're over here!"

Alistair allowed himself to be led back to the center of the room, where Bo's story was just wrapping up. The assembled krogan were starting to get rowdy again, no doubt needing to work off their excited energy with play. No doubt by the end of it, the work they had done to right the room would be left in ruins.

Oh well. He could pick it up later. He was being offered a juice box by a baby biotic. That was more precious than the medal of honor if you asked him.

---

"Bye, Bo!"

"Remember, keep your opponent guessing!"

An hour later, the assembled krogan children were waving them goodbye as they left to return to the Normandy. Bo had told them all a number of tales of her wrestling days, even giving them an abridged version of their fight with the thresher maw. Now an entire generation of krogan was her fanbase - she was going to have to do a reunion tour by the time they were old enough to purchase tickets.

"Bye, Al!"

Cosk's little voice made him turn his head. The little biotic was waving too, a juice box in hand from when his blood sugar had suddenly dropped. Al smiled and waved back, glad to see he was taking his health seriously. If he kept that head on his shoulders by the time he was an adult, he might just be a battlemaster after all.

Bo snickered as they left the children behind, nudging him in the side. "I see I'm not the only one with a fanboy."

"He's a sweet kid, they all are." He paused. "Well, as sweet as krogan kids get."

Compared to human children, that was about as sweet as the citric acid in his pixie stick mix. But it was all relative - they were good kids, if a little chaotic. With any luck, once the galaxy was saved they would all grow up into decent adults who would go off and help make the krogan a better people. 

It was all he could hope for in that moment.

"I promised I'd give them updates if I fight anything cool." She nudged him again. "Which means-"

Alistair chuckled. "I know, I'll email their caretaker about it. I can't keep your fans waiting, now can I?"

"You're the best press secretary a girl could ask for." They headed towards the heart of the base. "Are you emailing Wrex the records or do you gotta give them to him directly?"

He was already on his omni-tool as she spoke. "I'm emailing them now. He said he would be busy by the time we finished, so I didn't expect to see him again. Hopefully, he's happy with the results. I did my best with a quick study of krogan developmental phases on the way over, but he'll have someone who can interpret the data later."

The Normandy gleamed in the distance, calling them back to space as he sent the results off to the planet's leader. All the while, he thought back on the children. If they got this right, and the galaxy kept spinning, those kids would grow up to be a hope for their people. What would they become, and what would it mean for their people?

"Your kid wants to be a battlemaster I heard." There was a note of excitement in Bo's voice. "I hope to see him tearing it up one day."

Alistair nodded. "He'll be a strong contender if he keeps his focus in check through puberty."

"I'm gonna have to watch him gunning for my title. Hell, any of them might be coming for me once their humps get big." She cracked her knuckles, then her neck. "Can't wait for some fresh blood in the ring."

It was probably best he left off she'd essentially be fighting teenagers; that would spoil the fun. But still, there was hope in Alistair's chest as he approached the Normandy in order to leave Tuchanka behind. Off in the distance, far beyond the settlement, rose the Shroud. It still glowed, even after the cure had been dispersed.

"Al? Do you need more juice or something?"

Bo's voice snapped him back in reality, causing him to shake his head. "No, I'm fine. I guess they just wore me out is all. Come on, let's get going. It's a long ride back to the Citadel."

And so he climbed into the Normandy's airlock, hearing the familiar tones that the CO and XO were back and their cover stood relieved. Soon, they were leaving the planet behind, blasting off into space with the hope of finding more help against the Reapers. As he watched Tuchanka disappear from view, Alistair could only hope there would still be a planet there when everything was over.

All he could do was keep going and hope it made a difference. That was enough for the moment.

[galaeus]

OKAY AS PROMISED HERE IS THE VERY DISORGANIZED BULLETPOINT MASTERLIST OF 

“HOW I FEEL ECHO J. GALAEUS WOULD GET ON WITH THE CANON CHARACTERS OF MASS EFFECT”

long post so you can read it under the cut. (in order of me1 to me2)

THE COUNCIL / ALLIANCE

lmfao absolutely not, she cannot stand those hypocritical donuts

also fun fact, her dad left Contraxia and wound up serving the alliance on a refugee grant leaving his child and baby mama to rot so that’s a lot of baggage to be had

COMMANDER SHEPARD

This is completely up in the air because there are a ton of Shepards on indie and they’re all unique and fantastic, but I will drop that Echo respects fighters. Shepard is a fighter and a strong willed person, so I don’t doubt that she’d respet the shit out of any Commander.

ASHLEY WILLIAMS

Debatable. Ashley has a pretty strong background of family and religion and Echo tends to shun her Contraxian culture/has little to no feeling when it comes to her own family ties back home. They may be something of adversaries given they are both strong-willed and outspoken individuals.

KAIDAN ALENKO

Echo is pretty neutral to Kaidan, but given her ties with Cerberus, I don’t think he would be neutral with her. Dude certainly believes in a cause and she can respect that, but I don’t know if he would want to associate with her. Plus there’s that pesky problem she has with Alliance so they will most likely butt heads.

LIARA T’SONI

Echo is more than likely very intimidated by how smart Liara is (that woman is wicked intelligent) but that wouldn’t necessarily be any reason for her not to speak with Liara. They both have mommy issues, so that’s a bonus. If anything, she finds Liara to be a very brave and honorable individual so she’s equal parts nervous around her as well as respectable.

GARRUS VAKARIAN

This is a tough one and it depends on the timeline. With her father being Alliance, she tends to not think too highly about C-Sec. However, they both have major daddy issues to deal with, so maybe that’s enough to bring neutral ground. He’s a ruthless fighter and she respects the hell out of any fighter she comes across.

ME2 Archangel status, I do enjoy the concept that she knew of him/perhaps even crossed paths with him when she was in the midst of her gig as a hunter-for-hire on Omega before Cerberus snatched her up. She has a bit of a revenge list of old ring-runner/betting pools she’s tracking down for soul-sake that she wants murdered, so I wonder if she’d come to him for help? Otherwise they’d meet on the Normandy. Turians/Contraxians like fighting, so that’s A+.

URDNOT WREX

I seriously do not doubt that Echo and Wrex have stumbled into each other at some point or another. He’s a Krogan, Krogans love Contraxia’s lawless wasteland of fighting and chaos, so I feel as though they would have a pretty interesting bond. Bonus points if he actually knew her when she was a fighter on Contraxia!

TALI’ZORAH

Granted she’s intimidated by very smart people (see: Liara) but I think her and Tali have the opportunity to get along great. Quarians and Contraxians are treated as second-class citizens, so I think she would want to make an alliance with Tali strictly due to the fact that their people are very much frowned upon in most corners of the universe.

JOKER

For the love of god do not make puns around her or she will break the coffee machine.

MIRANDA LAWSON

MISS MIRANDA, DID YOU PICK UP ECHO FROM OMEGA ON BEHALF OF THE ILLUSIVE MAN?

Ok but in all seriousness Echo digs that Miranda has zero qualms with stating that she’s the best at what she does because while Echo is shameful of the people she’s murdered (hello, 33 very personal deaths in the gladiator arena) she also knows she is highly capable at what she’s good at. They have both been used and abused in many different ways, so I’d be curious if they had a partnership grow for those little things or if they would butt head strictly on the principle that Miranda is pretty poised and Echo is... not. I would love to explore it.

JACOB TAYLOR

ALLIANCE DADDY ISSUES UNITE. Okay but can they please bond over the fact that their dads were in Alliance and, while he joined Alliance to follow his legacy, Echo basically got the shit end of the stick as a gladiator? Plus he’s super skilled at fighting. I think she’ll like him.

GRUNT

Again, like Wrex, I have a feeling Echo will like Grunt. Krogans love fighting and they love Contraxia’s nature and debauchery, so I think eventually they would warm up to one another and be amicable.

MORDIN SOLUS

Mordin talks much too fast and confusing for Echo to understand him but she appreciates his matter-of-fact nature -- even if it takes her a while to get used to it. Echo tends to take a lot of things literally, so it works out that it’s so neat and plain in front of her when they speak.

JACK

heart eyes motherfucker

No seriously these two both have bodies painted with ink that talk about their past and I SCREAM about it. However, Echo’s champion mark tattoos were involuntary, but she was allowed to choose the design after a kill/winning fight. Jack was also involuntarily held for so much of her childhood just as Echo was held against her will to fight against her peers as she grew up, so they have some very fucked up childhood problems to comb through. They both have really intense viewpoints of the world and tend to be loners, so I would love to see if they royally hate each other or if they become complete and utter nuisances on the galaxy.

KASUMI GOTO

She’s gonna be super gay for Kasumi and think she’s like the greatest person to talk to I can already feel it in my bones and I am so sorry for the simping that could be had here.

LEGION

Oh god has Contraxia ever even been bothered by the Geth? I have no idea. It would be interesting if she came into meeting him with an open mind, because he is an interesting character. Plus there is always the battle of ‘we are legion’ vs her individualistic nature, so I think it would be a neat dynamic to explore.

THANE KRIOS

She knows of him. Like I guarantee she knows of him because his skill would be revered where she’s from (Contraxians really put assassins/fighters on the top of their respect list) and I think because of that, she would be open to discussing her former life. Plus there is almost... repentence? in getting to know Thane? He hates what he’s done just as much as she loathes what she had to do in order to survive her life as a gladiator, so I wonder if she would actually get spiritual and real with him behind closed doors where the rest of the crew cannot hear the crimes she’s committed against humanity.

SAMARA

Big gay and scared of you. That’s all I can say about her right now skdfjsf

ZAEED MASSANI

I have a feeling these two have definitely crossed paths, even if it was before the Normandy. They’re both bounty hunters (though her assassin/hunter stint was short-lived given Cerberus picked her up for their own usage) and they’ve both been scarred by war in one way or another, so I’m curious to see if they become neutral acquaintances.

TIM / THE ILUSIVE MAN

While indebted to him for picking her up in the middle of Omega running around as a hunter-for-hire, she is fearful she traded one cage for another. That being said I think she’d buy into whatever he was telling her to do and do it without questioning because it’s better than what her old life used to be.

[theoriginalladya]

5, 8, 20, 37 for the writer asks?

from this list

5. Share one of your strengths.

Plotting.  Give me a niblet of an idea and I can plot the hell out of it into a full blown story, possibly a series! lol  I love plotting, actually.  I just wish writing was as easy in the end! :)

8. Share a snippet from one of your favorite dialogue scenes you’ve written and explain why you’re proud of it.

Oh wow.  Let me see here ...  Not exactly short, but this comes from Destiny’s Hand, the ME2 story for ShepShep, chapter called “Look Good for Dead” where Jane goes to see Wrex.

(also going under cut because this got loooooong! lol

“You humans,” he muttered as he walked back over to retake his seat.  “Always trying to hide what can be so clearly seen.”

Jane remained where she was for a minute or two before following suit.  She didn’t bother to ask him what he meant – that was clear enough.  Instead, she opted to pick at one of his earlier comments.  “So, you think I’m with Cerberus too?”

The krogan leader shrugged.  “You have their ship; you have their people – does it really matter beyond that?”

The ‘chair,’ such as it was, allowed Jane to sit in a manner where she could draw one knee up to her chest so she could rest her arms against it as she eyed him.  “You don’t care, then?”

“I have concerns,” he admitted, “but I know you.”  His deep, reverberating chuckle started again.  “No other human ever stood up to me like you did on Virmire.”

Jane blinked, startled by that remark.  “Really?”

The krogan’s head bobbed once before his eyes narrowed and he gave her a menacing look.  This lasted only a moment or two, however, until he sat back and laughed again.  “See?  You aren’t intimidated.”

Jane opened her mouth to reply, but then closed it just as quickly when she realized she didn’t have a response.  He couldn’t be serious, could he?  “Wrex …?”

He watched her closely as she struggled.  “You don’t see it, do you?” he asked.

“See what?”

Head still shaking, he said, “You wound me, Shepard.  Then again, I don’t know that I’ve ever seen you intimidated by anyone.”

Jane blinked again.  “I’m … not sure that I ever have been,” she replied.  Frowning, she stared over at him for a moment.  “Though, I seem to recall you giving a good effort the day we met on the Citadel.”

This time the krogan leader’s laughter was open and loud, a barking echo throughout the room.  “You see what I mean?”  He sighed and sat back.  “That’s how I know you are you.  You don’t back down from anyone.  And, if rumors are to be believed, you headbutt like a true krogan.”

Jane gasped, her eyes widening.  “You heard about that?”

“Shaman told me himself.”  He gave her a toothy grin.  “You’re the first human to impress him that much.”

Why am I so proud of it?  I fucking LOVE WREX and writing him is such a challenge at times, but this chapter ended up coming so easily to me, I couldn’t believe it.  I could ‘snippet’ the whole damned chapter for you I’m that proud of it, and that’s saying something because I’m so proud of that whole series, let alone the story itself.  

I remember going into that chapter feeling intimidated at the thought of writing his voice.  I stared at a blank page for almost TWO WEEKS before I finally started writing it.  And once I started, once those first words were down .. the rest just flowed.  And the dialogue - omg, dialogue isn’t always easy for me.  Sometimes it is, but most of the time it’s like pulling teeth.  Still, occasionally I hit a Zen zone, and that chapter was one of them.  The relationship between Jane and Wrex in it is just ... it’s beautiful.  

Here’s another snippet from that chapter - none of them can be short because one thing just flows into another into another, and I just ... AAAHHHHH!!!

Lifting her head, she turned to find him watching her intently.  “Just say the word, Shepard,” he rumbled, “and I’ll send a squad of Urdnot warriors to shake some sense back into him.”

Jane sat still as a mouse; her eyes wide.  “Wrex …?”  His name escaped as a bare whisper.

He folded his arms across his broad expanse of a chest and nodded once firmly.  “Don’t think I won’t do it, either.”

A hesitant smile twitched at the left corner of her lips even as a few tears leaked from her eyes.  Sniffling softly, she murmured his name again, this time in appreciation.

His expression shifted to a scowl.  “I’m trying to help you here, Shepard!”

Laughter managed to work its way into the mix as Jane swiped her hands across her face.  “I know you are, you bellowing bulk, and I can’t thank you enough for it!” she shouted right back at him.  Lowering her hands, she returned the scowl as best she could, nodding at him once.  “I … appreciate it, I really do, but I don’t think it’s necessary.”

Wrex moved his hands to her shoulders.  “You don’t want him back?”

Jane shrugged.  “I do, but I want him back because he wants to be back,” she explained.  “Forcing him back doesn’t help either of us.”  She sighed, her smile curving just a tick more up on the left side.  “But I appreciate that you want to help me.  I really do.”

“Bah!”  His scowl deepened and he yanked his arms away, turning to stalk across the room.  When he returned a couple of minutes later, he had two more cups of Ryncol in his hand.  “You have done more to help me and the krogan than anyone else ever has,” he insisted.  “And rumor has it, the Reapers are going to try again.”

Jane stiffened, her eyes focused on the pouring liquid even as dread filled the pit of her stomach.  “You – you heard about that, too?”

“Common sense,” he said as he handed one cup to her.  “We might have defeated Sovereign, but he was only one.  A scout.  Scouts are sent ahead of the main forces to report back what they find.  Since Sovereign won’t be reporting back, logic says those who sent him have to follow.”  Glittering eyes, as if anticipating the fight, focused on her.  “If we’re going to have to face more of those bastards and find a way to win, we need you leading the way.”

Jane’s breath caught in her lungs as the full impact of his words hit her.  He believes me!  “Wrex …”

The war leader sighed again, shaking his head.  “And if you’re going to do that, you need to have your head on right,” he bellowed, cutting her off again.  “That means you and your husband back together so you can focus on more important things …”

Jane’s lips twitched.  “Like saving the krogan?” she asked.

“Impudent pup!”  His scowl faded in the next second and he chuckled.  Lifting his cup, he amended, “Maybe helping the krogan save the galaxy.  Again.”

Jane’s lips formed a full-fledged grin now.  “I see.”  Her eyes dropped to the cup in her hand.  “So … what are we drinking to this time?”

“You really don’t want me to send a squad or two after him?”

A bittersweet ache worked its way through Jane.  “No,” she managed after a long moment, “I really don’t.  But … thank you.”  She lifted her head to find him nodding once at her.  “Really, Wrex.  No one has ever offered –.”

He swiped his free hand between them.  “And it’s doubtful you’ll ever get that kind of an offer again,” he groused.  “Especially, if you don’t quit the mushy stuff!”

Her head slanted slightly to the left, Jane asked, “Would it get you off Tuchanka and back into the fight?”

“Hah!”

Jane lifted her cup, eyeing it closely.  There appeared to be about the same amount of liquid in it as before.  Pulling together her last threads of bravery, she raised it in his direction.  “To … Clan Urdnot,” she said, smiling, “and their leader.”

Wrex lifted his, knocking it against hers.  “To Commander Shepard,” he corrected, “who at heart is Clan Urdnot.”

See what I mean???

20. Describe your perfect writing conditions.

Home alone, no cats or kids, music playing, a pot of hot tea that STAYS hot as long as I need it and all the time in the world to just sit and write ....

Or, alternatively, a notebook and pen and wherever I get an idea.  I’m not picky. :P  Seriously, I can write almost anywhere.  I’ve learned to tune things out or listen to music on my phone if I have to drown it out.  I’ve had more luck sitting in McAlister’s on lunch and writing most of a chapter than at home sometimes.  (not of late, though, sadly)

37. Talk about your current wips.

I KNOW WHY YOU ASKED THIS ONE!  HAHAHAHA

Okay, so ... I have a LOT of WIPs at the moment, and I just had a couple more Shepards end up on my doorstep, putting me at a solid #100 on my spreadsheet.  Beyond that, I have a number of Dragon Age WIPs, plus some original fics going.  One of these days, I’ll finish something! lol  Too many ideas, not enough time!!!

So ... a specific WIP ... Hmm ... Well, let me just say that the Biotic Pinball Wizard group - collection of WIPs over there, I swear! lol - is one of the most interesting ones I’ve come up with.  Writing the Reaper War from a perspective of being on Earth?!  What was I thinking????  (oh, that’s right, Anderson’s little visits in game inspired me :P )  I’m really enjoying the challenge.  Funny enough, this one isn’t as plotted through as most of my fics are.  There just wasn’t enough time, plus it’s so complex, I’ve relied a lot on my inspiration throughout Nano this year to help expand it - and it’s coming along quite nicely, to be honest.  I have a number of chapters partly/mostly written.  I have been able to flesh out some plot points that desperately needed it, plus develop the antagonist side of things (beyond just the Reapers).  Characters are falling into place.  Honestly, while more challenging than I originally intended for this year’s Nano to be, it’s been well worth it and I look forward to continuing with the story even beyond Monday’s finishing point!  Having Shepard, Kaidan, James and Kandra together as my core group of personalities has worked really well, too.

[kaidanalenkosprmanager]

THE BEST OF PRIORITY: TUCHANKA (PART 2)

Featuring: Cmdr. Sophie Shepard, Lt. James Vega, EDI, Urdnot Wrex, and Dr. Mordin Solus With: Urdnot Bakara And a Special Guest Appearance by: Kalros, Mother of All Thresher Maws I MADE A MISTAKE! I made a mistake... big picture made of little pictures- too many variables. Can't hide behind statistics... can't ignore new data- my responsibility. Need to go- running out of time. Not your work, not your cure- not your decision. Had to be me- someone else might have gotten it wrong... Mass Effect 3: Legendary Edition (2021)

[annakie]

An Annotated Mass Effect Playthrough, Part Five

Will we make it off the Citadel in this update??

List of Posts: 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9

Flux is my favorite bar in all of the first game, I know there’s not many to choose from, but I like the music best, everybody’s clothed, everyone’s having a good time, there’s slots upstairs for entertainment, there’s dancing, and plenty of space to chill out in.  Also the color scheme is great.  It looks particularly great now with the graphics mod improvements.  

Doran gets a nice glamour shot here.

I’m a tattle tale who always turns this guy in.  I agree with Kaidan...

Also I really love Rita’s quest with her sister.  She loves her sister, Jenna  wants to be helpful, even Doran’s like “Hey I’d love to give her her job back.”  Everyone here is pretty wholesome.  And Jenna gets one of the best surprise appearances in ME3 if you do things right.  ME1Recalibrated fixes the bugs with her quest, too!

Speaking of bugged quests, Hello Conrad!  ME1Recalibrated fixes Conrad’s bug, and even if it doesn’t, ME2Re does.  The only bad thing about that is it makes his apology for accusing you of something you maybe didn’t do make no sense.

Everyone else was sure Conrad would turn out to be evil, too, right? Instead making him into just a big lying dummy with an advanced degree was a great move.  I was kinda hoping he’d show up in the Citadel DLC.   

Harkin is JUST the FUCKING WORST.  I’m always tempted to let Garrus cap him in ME2 because what a waste of air he is and doesn’t learn his lesson.  

This is also maybe the most overt place where FemShep experiences sexism.  I mean, don’t get me wrong, there’s some pretty shitty sexism sprinkled throughout the games (as discussed a bit last post) but ugh this guy, if I could shoot him this game, I might.  At least on renegade playthroughs.

Speaking of Garrus...

Finally, an alien who wants to hang out with us.

As primarily a Kaidan-romancing gal, who tends to keep up with the Kaidan Alenko tag, especially back in the heyday of tumblr, for a while, loving Garrus was... difficult.

In October, when I was finishing up my latest ME3 playthrough and also cleaning up my blog, and also rewatching Doctor Who and thinking a lot about Rose Tyler and Martha Jones, I posted a long thing in a post about Kaidan and Garrus and badly behaving fanbases, which I don’t feel like typing again.  Here’s the whole thing, but I’m going to pull a part of it into here.

I love Garrus, so much.  And I was thinking with this whole parallel DW rewatch / Mass Effect replay think I’m doing right now how both Rose Tyler and Garrus Vakaraian are characters that were ruined for me for awhile due to their respective… overly enthusiastic fanbases who a small percentage of were dicks to people who loved other characters.  The Kaidan tag (and from what I understand Thane got some of this too, but not nearly as bad) was a pretty hostile place for awhile (and yeah I used to regularly check the Garrus tag too and there was a small amount of tag-invasion there but uh, like 5% of what the Kaidan tag got) which made loving the character of Garrus a lot harder for awhile.  But when actually watching seasons 1 & 2 / the end of 4 of Doctor Who, or actually playing the ME games, those characters are awesome.  

Fanbases can be amazing or terrible, and time and time again I think you start to realize that no matter how great a fandom is, there are going to be a few people who can only enjoy themselves by feeding on drama, or on lifting up what they love by stomping on other people/characters/plotlines.  

It’s not fair to characterize everyone who loves a popular thing as someone who does this.  It’s also hard to avoid completely because there will always be jerks, or young/new people who don’t realize what bad form they’re showing.  I did learn by trying to fight it for a year or two, that responding might help that one person not do it again, but it’s not going to stop overall.  

Anyway, don’t be a dick about the things you don’t like.  

It’s sad that even thirteen years past the release of ME1 and eight years past ME3 some people still need to have this fight online.   It’s basically impossible to enjoy like, any non-curated Mass Effect space online because of pissing contests or people spouting the same boring opinions.  Which they’re entitled to.  I’m just real tired of “Kaidan is boring!” “Ashley is a racist!” etc with no further depth of thought being given.

The ability to mute / block people and get away from the worst of it is one of the reasons I’m still on tumblr.  Especially always mute/block “confessions” blogs.  Yeesh.

---------

I’m glad Garrus is here, and I’m glad he’s on the team.  What’s funny though, is that people tend to forget that Garrus like, wasn’t really all THAT popular of a character before ME2.  I know I was only in the fandom for a year before ME2 but I dug in pretty deep in that time.

It wasn’t until he gets his face blown off and starts talking about Old Times that a lot of people started to REALLY like him.  He’s still great in ME1, but not like, elevated to god-tier that so many people did post ME2 release.  But in ME1 he IS neat because he’s really malleable.  Probably the companion who can have the biggest personality shift depending on your choices.

Also, I remember a time when the people who wanted to romance Garrus were like... outliers?  I remember thinking “GARRUS?  As a romance?  That’s... weird.  Who would do that!?”

OH HOW I WAS WRONG.  But that was before reach and flexibility.

Hey I even have a Shep that romanced Garrus in ME2 and ME3.  And I loved it!

Were I to replay a different Shep, she’d be my first choice.

So yeah, I love Garrus, I keep Kaidan in the squad all the time in ME1 and the other spot I try to rotate everyone else somewhat evenly, but you’ll see plenty of him.  Then ME2 he’s by my side most of the way.  And an awful lot in ME3, too.  But I’m happy for him to get crushed on by Dr. Michele and glad to see him and Tali find happiness in ME3.  SO that’s the path we’ll be going down if we get that far here.

I love the Destiny Ascension flyby moment on the Citadel, and it’s so easy to miss.  Also really hard to get good screenshots of.  Thanks Flycam.  Don’t pay attention to the untextured wall in the first pic, just look at the pretty lights!

Let’s go get another squadmate!  This time, a not-as-initially-friendly alien!

What an amazing entrance for Urdnot Wrex.

“Do you want me to arrest you?”

“I want you to try!”

Hell.  Yeah.

Here’s where the somewhat in somewhat evenly comes in.  I probably do favor Wrex and Ashely in the squad in ME1 a little because... well you know what’s coming for Ash and Wrex you get the least amount of time with by far of the other companions.  Also, he’s just... great?  A tank, with some biotics and a shotgun... okay well so am I as a vanguard, but Kaidan has just enough tech powers for us to muddle through where we need to when Wrex is in the squad and he’s so much fun to have around.  His “Fuck you, I don’t care” attitude is great, and his growth story throughout the trilogy is one of the best arcs a character gets, imho.  I just really love Urdnot Wrex.

This is a real nice flight control office you’ve got here, C-Sec.  It would be a shame if someone planted a bug in it later, since literally anyone can just walk on up here uncontested.

This entire area really is so pretty though.

I always pump points into Paragon as much as possible from as early on as possible, and saving these poor guys’ lives is one of the big reasons.  They don’t need to die.

Ash usually still stays in the party up to this point, though sometimes it’s Garrus.  Fist is still a dick in ME2 but he doesn’t need to die here, sorry Wrex.

...raise your hand if you still occasionally forget to pick up Emily Wong’s evidence and have to reload.  I remembered!  ...once I was almost out of Chora’s Den and had to turn around this time.

Kaidan?  Kaidan my love?  My darling... perhaps YOU shouldn’t be the one standing in the middle of the corridor with no barrier or protection?  (I suppose I could scooch over but then I’d look less badass for these screenshots.  Naaah.)

It’d be a shame if someone properly lit the corridor so we could see what’s going on.

But hey... TALI!  Tali Tali Tali!  The first quarian we see, and only one for... awhile?  Is there another quarian in this entire game? I’m trying to remember and seriously can’t think of one.

Anyway, I love Tali, but another character you really need to ignore their most rabid fanbase portions of.  Yikes, Talimancers were really something back in the day.  The biggest problem I have with Tali being in the squad is that normally she’s REALLY useful against Geth and... not so much against just about anything else.  She gets sidelined on my team more than I wish she would.  Especially since she doesn’t show up until very late in ME2 and late-midway through ME3.

Finally, the proof we need.  And the game continues to introduce new concepts to us with the Conduit and we hear the word Reapers for the first time.  We also get a loredump on the quarians and the geth.  

Tali’s voice doesn’t have quite as heavy of an accent in ME1 as it does in 2 and 3.  I guess we can assume she’s lost part of it while on her pilgrimage?  Picking up the local dialects a bit?  The next two times we see her she’s just spent a lot of time with her own people.

Tali’s suit and omnitool look SO GOOD with the updated textures.

I swap Ash out and Tali in at this point, and usually finish up a few more quests along the way.

Ah, Septimus.  You lovesick fool.

Honestly, the very best thing with Septimus is to bring Garrus here if you’re gonna romance him, have Garrus laugh at him for coming undone for love and then... well, ME2 and especially ME3 happen.  But still.  Septimus... always needs a kick in the pants but will get around to doing the right thing.

Hey here’s a cool thing ME1Recalibated does -- Morlan carries a Squad Iconic Armors stock, so you can always find tier-appropriate default look armor for you and all the squad.  Very cool of you, Morlan.  You are currently my favorite store on the Citadel.  Now stop sending me spam, I didn’t sign up for your mailing list.

Look, I have questions about what exactly Xeltan told the consort and how... all that... works... but... I don’t think I actually want to ask them.  Just.. let’s all shut up about all of it, it’s over now.

BTW, according to one of the novels, Councilor Anderson finds Ambassador Cayln super annoying.  I need to re-read that book.

OK fine... I’ll go talk to the Council.

Coming at ya with Actual Proof and a quarian tagging along to back up the claims, the Council is ready to listen.  And while not surprising that it’s finally time to become a Spectre, the actual ceremony is really well done.  With the swelling theme music blaring, and all three councilors stressing what a big deal this is and what will be expected of you, you really feel the weight of this moment.  People take notice.  Although apparently later, Kaidan or Ash get an entire televised event around becoming a Spectre, I guess there’s no time for that right now.

It definitely feels like the game so far has been building towards this moment, not only with POUNDING it into your brain about who Spectres are and why they’re so important and letting you know you’re being evaluated... but it feels like there’s been a shift in the game after this moment.  It’s A Big Deal.

I didn’t finish all the sidequests on the Citadel yet, they can wait, I’ve been here long enough.  Let’s go check out the new cool stuff we can buy.

ME1Recalibrated adds in this Spectre Armor.  Eeehhhhh... no thanks.  We’ll stick with Onyx.

I did cheat myself in a bunch of credits and picked up Spectre weapons though. This ain’t no tryhard playthrough.  

Well OK, we can finish ONE more quest.  Thanks, startlingly loud and triumphant music queue that’s never used again!

Man, this would be SUCH a good pic of the Normandy if... the airlock didn’t go straight through the ship.

We’ve got a ship of our own!  And most of our squadmates to put on it!

Sucks for Anderson to be sidelined, though.  We already love you, Anderson!

It’s cool to get a bit more of the Saren & Anderson backstory here for real.  Still, I enjoyed the book more.  Maybe I’ll do a re-read of all the ME books here soon.

Udina... just keep being you, I guess.  

WE HAVE A SHIP!!!

Okay, whew... we made it off the Citadel.  Now I gotta actually play some more to have more updates to post.  Might be a few days.  Have to actually go back to work tomorrow. :p

Let’s probably do like one sidequest then go get us an Asari!!

[clericofshadows]

"Write about your ship showing each other physical affection." Regis/Zaeed :>

so I decided to write a whole little fic for this :)

prompts ask

reflections

Description: Regis reflects on the losses from the Suicide Mission.

-- --

Garrus Vakarian.

Urdnot Grunt

Legion.

Regis stared at the names on his terminal, the three members of his squad that lost their lives on the Collector Base, whose empty coffins still layed on the cargo deck.  

Vakarian took a shot to the stomach as Regis’s team rushed to give the rest of the squad aid after the long walk through the swarms.  Grunt died while holding the line, ensuring that the Collectors couldn’t chase after Regis and his team.

And in the final battle, Regis took Miranda and Legion with him.  Legion was crushed in the rubble after the fall of the Human Reaper. 

He wasn’t quite sure how he felt about the deaths, in all honesty.  They all signed up for this fucking mission.  They all knew the score.  

And yet, Regis couldn’t bring himself to dwell on them, only looking at the names to figure out his next move.  Contacting Vakarian’s father, messaging Wrex, and wondering what the loss of the unique geth means in the end. 

He didn't want to deal with any of that shit right now.  Vakarian wasn't exactly a nobody.  Grunt was a unique krogan who Regis always felt was wasting his potential by being on this mission.  As for Legion… Regis only mourned the knowledge lost, never having any love for the geth. 

Regis was also waiting on a reply from Kaidan, a vague message about a possible mission Hackett wants them to take point on after he let him know that he and Zaeed made it out of the relay alive.  Kaidan kept on checking in on him, sending both Regis and Zaeed his love, but he hasn't brought up Hackett's request since. And Regis wasn't about to push the issue either.

Now's as good of a time as ever for that kind of request. The Collector Base is no longer a problem. 

The Alliance awaits. 

Regis heard the doors to his cabin open, and Zaeed's annoyed voice filled the air. “Goddamn, Regis, are you ever going to get off that damn terminal?” 

“Just because we won doesn't mean all my responsibilities are gone,” Regis said, spinning around in the chair. 

“Your notifications can wait. Take a fucking break.” Zaeed leaned over him to look at the screen.  Regis made no move to hide it. “Still thinking about them?”

“More like wondering why I'm not thinking about them more.”

“You knew this mission would most likely have casualties. We all knew. Don't blame any part of yourself.” Zaeed crossed his arms against his chest. "You didn't seem bothered before."

In the heat of the mission, Regis could barely spare the time to acknowledge the losses before continuing on. Knowing that each death that had sacrificed themselves for the galaxy started to weigh a little heavy on him. Yet, another part of him didn't feel much at all, his own personal opinions on those that died keep getting in the way.

Regis knew he wasn't a good man, only trying to do good when he can. He stayed with Cerberus, allowed himself to be their little poster boy as he siphoned resources and got what inofmraiton out he could.

Times like these seemed to cement that fact even more. Deaths under his command never sat well with him. Torfan always lingering like a bound spectre.

This was different, though. All under his command out of free will, more or less, or paid to do so. He offered every single person an out, a path away from the plague of Cerberus.

Not even Jack took it. So can he really fault himself for the deaths? Knowing that Vakarian was leading his own squad, Grunt defending the rest out of his own will, and Legion being an unavoidable incident?

“It’s the damn N instructor in me.  Always thinking about other outcomes.  How the mission could go differently.  How can I improve?” Regis sighed, turning off the terminal and turning back to face his lover. 

“Come to bed,” Zaeed said instead, tilting his head towards it.  

Regis shook his head, staying put.  “I’m not in the mood for–”

“Did I say that we were going to fuck?  No.  Let’s talk somewhere more comfortable for both of us.”  Regis could hear a hint of hurt in his voice.  

“Sorry, it’s just–”

“Don’t.  I’m not really in the mood for it either, in all honesty.  Not the goddamn time, really.”  He held out a hand.  “Come on, baby.”

Regis took his hand and allowed himself to be led over to the bed.  As Zaeed busied himself with pulling down the covers, he noticed he was wearing Regis’s N7 tank top.  So that’s where it went… unsurprisingly.  

He couldn’t exactly complain.  He stole Zaeed’s hoodie, taking it along with the scent of vanilla and gun oil.  

Crawling under the covers, Regis expected that Zaeed was going to wrap himself around him from behind, but instead, he lied on his side and tucked himself up against Regis, wrapping an arm around him. Regis put one hand on his arm and put the other on his back, pulling him in as tightly as he could. 

Normally, their positions were swapped. Regis loved being the little spoon. Tonight, however, Zaeed must have sensed he needed something else. 

“How do you really feel?” Zaeed asked. “No bullshit, no trying to qualify it.”

Regis closed his eyes, gently stroking Zaeed's arm, feeling skin aged by battle and years passing. Rough scars from badly cared for wounds wrapped around his arm, intersecting with his tattoos. “A whole lot of fucking relief.  The mission is over. We're one step closer to getting out of Cerberus’s clutches.”

“Not too different from what I feel myself.  So what's really bothering you?”

“I hate how well you can read me.”

He snorted. “No, you don't. Stop dodging.”

“I don't feel much at all. I can't bring myself to see them more as just expected casualties of the mission.”

“They signed up for this. You can't blame yourself for that.”

“I don't.” Regis looked down at Zaeed. “That's the thing. I feel like I should be blaming myself.”

“Why?  What could you have done differently?  Every death was out of your goddamn control.”

“I know!” Regis raised his voice. Zaeed didn't even budge. “And as I'm working out how to deal with this mess, I noticed how different I treated this command. Treated them.”

“And?  This ain't Alliance. You managed to get twelve fucking operatives from all different backgrounds to work together in a cohesive unit. By all accounts, you succeeded. It wasn't a suicide mission for fucking nothing.”

In the end, it was a victory.  The base was destroyed, and even Miranda got her last words in with The Illusive Man. 

Regis couldn't see a scenario in which they all would've gotten out alive. Perhaps in time, he could come up with the perfect scenario, but nothing about that mission was predictable. 

“I know,” Regis said again, much softer this time. 

“Blame Cerberus for putting you in this shit position.  Don't blame yourself for something that was clear right from the start. If they didn't know the risk, they were goddamn idiots.”

Regis couldn't help but let out a laugh at that. Zaeed rubbed his shoulder, a gentle, back and forth motion. “Frankly, it's been a long time since I've had people under my command that I wanted out.  Grunt… was wasting his potential by being here. He should've stayed with Wrex to learn more about his people beyond imprints. I never meshed well with Vakarian.  Too diametrically opposed.  Hell, we even passed him up on the hunt for Saren.”

“I remember that conversation you and him had on his recruitment.  He was shocked you didn't remember him at first.”

“Why would I?” Regis shrugged. “One hell of a fucking coincidence either way.” He sighed. “And Legion… I hold no love for the geth, but what a fucking waste.”

“No one said you have to spend your days grieving over them.  You weren’t close, and that’s perfectly fine,” Zaeed said with a pointed look towards him.  

“You sound remarkably like Kaidan right now.”

“Well, he isn’t here, so I have to be the reasonable one by proxy.  He told me so.”

“So, you’re only here cuddling with me because he told you to?”

“No, of course not.  I’m here because you’re a goddamn furnace and the temperature control on this ship has been fucked since we dealt with the base.”

Regis rolled his eyes but kissed the top of his forehead anyway.  “Thanks.”

Zaeed smiled at him with a gleam in his eyes and leaned up to kiss his neck at the middle of his neck tattoo.  “You can do whatever you need to later.  It can wait.”

He supposed it could.  Only a couple days out from the base.  He has plenty of time to figure out the notifications.

“Yeah, I deserve a bit of a rest.” “We all do,” he said quietly.  “And yet, Hackett’s already trying to get you back out there with the Alliance.  Heard anything more yet?”

Regis shook his head.  “Not yet.  Kaidan said they were still working out the details, but it seemed important.  I’m anxious to be back.”

“I know.  And they’ll be goddamn idiots to not let you back in.  Enough talk.  Just take a damn breather, Regis.”

“Swap with me, then.”

Zaeed let out a laugh as they rearranged themselves, Regis now in his arms and lying against his chest, listening to him breathe and his heartbeat. “I don’t know what I would’ve done if you didn’t make it out alive,” Regis murmured. Zaeed shushed him.  “Don’t go there.  We won.  We succeed.  That’s all that fucking matters.”

“And Kaidan’s waiting for us.  That’s the real reward here.”

“You’re goddamn right he is.  Hey, imagine the reunion we’ll have…”

Regis silenced him with a kiss.  

Eventually, he will have to go back to being Commander Shepard and deal with the repercussions of the mission.  Knowing that Vakarian was distant with his father didn’t help, and that Wrex also took a liking to Grunt meant he had to choose his words carefully for their notifications.

Time will tell what this mission means for the galaxy and for Regis's return to the Alliance, to his home.

[expertmakodriver]

30 Day Mass Effect Challenge: Day 1

1. Favorite game of the series?

It’s pretty close between ME2 and ME1 for me. The ambiance and sense of exploration were the best in the first game, in my opinion. ME1 has its rough patches, sure, but it’s incredible for not only an older game, but the first in the entire series. They did so many things right in ME1 and they didn’t need previous games to perfect it; they nailed it right off the bat. When I think about the closest thing to a perfect example for a space-adventure game in terms of ambiance and exploration, I think of Mass Effect 1.

Ultimately, though, Mass Effect 1 may have been stronger in some aspects (like the plot), but the reason why ME2 is my favorite (by a very small margin) is because of how BioWare takes a lot of the great things about ME1 and polishes them. 

The voice acting and combat are better (even though I don’t like running, interacting, AND vaulting being mapped to the space bar. Is that different for other platforms?)

The Renegade/Paragon interrupts were a great touch

The Normandy is larger and has a nicer layout

Shepard feels less robotic and more like a genuine person

The characters become fleshed out (Garrus being Archangel, Wrex being the leader of clan Urdnot, Joker having more time to shine, etc)

The suicide mission and the way that it’s affected by your choices throughout the game (that is, what upgrades you get, how you resolve loyalty missions if you do them at all, etc) really had me on the edge of my seat a bit more than the ME1 ending because of how much hard work is invested into it throughout the game, though both endings are downright awesome. I always worry about someone dying even if I know that I make the right choices.

I like the Illusive Man almost as much as I like Saren. They’re both morally grey characters that obviously hold great respect for Shepard even if Shepard dislikes them. They want to do what is best for organics despite what that may cost (although Saren was more fueled by cowardice while T.I.M. seems more fueled by his disdain for the way that humans have been targeted by alien species). I just think that the Illusive Man following so many villain tropes (glowing eyes, lone villain chair in the middle of a big room with a nice view, cigarette smoking) is, while stylish, a bit cliché. Saren is cooler, in my opinion, but I still enjoyed T.I.M. and the tension between him and Shepard. 

No more Mako shenanigans. The Mako is fun to fuck around in and I love exploring places like the Moon and a giant freaking asteroid in it, but making it mandatory for every main mission is kind of annoying. It’s a nightmare to drive when you’re actually trying to go somewhere. Although, the Hammerhead isn’t exactly better.

I lovingly call Mass Effect 1 a “elevator simulator” for a reason. ME2 does not have this problem.

The Normandy gets blown tf up and Shepard fucking dies within the first five minutes of the game and no matter how many times I watch it, it still both amazes and upsets me. Not a lot of games can say that they started off by killing their protagonist lol.

And, perhaps the most important reason of all that probably 99% of people saw coming: you can romance Garrus. 

So overall, if I had to pick, I would say that ME2 is my favorite, but ME1 is neck-and-neck with it. They both have their strengths and weaknesses but I love them both a lot. 

[twitchesandstitches]

twitchy mass effect squad thoughts: 1

some of my thoughts on the different characters in mass effect!

Commander Shepard: I only played as Femshep and so all my thoughts on romances, characterization, and so on is exclusive to that version; my Shepard custom look can wait, but my take on her is absolutely PURE, BLASTING PARAGON. Paragon Shepard is the only Shepard I like; I despise REnegade Shepard with a passion, and honestly most of the characterization options for Renegade Shepard make me uncomfortable. But Paragon Shepard? A flirty, all-loving heroine who fights for all living beings? Who defends the krogan when no one else will? Who insists the geth are victims of their own makers from the very beginning, who pleads with hostile AIs to see reason when everyone else says they are monsters? Who always extends a hand before she makes a fist, who believes in people, and that the best endings are the ones when you are brave enough to trust the rachni, the geth, and the krogan? HELL. YES. BEST PROTAGONIST.

Ashley Williams: Yeah, I’ll be blunt; I really don’t like Williams very much. For the most part, I wouldn’t if she wasn’t an isolationist xenophobe that is casually speciesist, but her bigotry towards aliens is a big part of her character. (And it’s more notable when she’s implied to not even having met aliens at the beginning of the games, and seems to be putting on a front.) And her isolationist attitudes are, just. a bad idea. If they didn’t have that aspect of her personality at all, she’d honestly be likable, but as is, going to a place like the Citadel and talking about how all the people look like animals to her is really off putting. (I genuinely have no idea WHY she doesn’t endorse groups like Cerberus or Terra Firma, since she’s just saying the same things they do.)

Kaidan: Kaidan is likable enough... except that if you play paragon (which is also where romance options come in), he’s obnoxiously pushy and comes off as a textbook Nice Guy, to the point that I am genuinely uncomfortable getting friendly with him. Otherwise I would like him, with his open attitude to aliens despite his experiences with a nasty turian, and his vaguely Paragon outlook, but he’s mostly kind of... eh. overall he suffers from the problem of the human squadmates in mass effect; most of them feel very lacking or bland compared to the aliens, perhaps because the humans tend to be based on broad sci fi archetypes and take much of their characterizations from those assumptions, while the aliens are much more fleshed out and well-rounded characters.

Garrus: MY BOY!! THE MAN, YOUR BEST FRIEND. SHEPARD’S HUSBAND. IT IS HIM. I love this guy, love his voice, love his romance, I love him!! he’s always a delight to have around, his character arc always touches me deeply, and he’s amazingly good as a squadmate to boot; I only ever romance him, since his romance is one of the most heartwarming things in the game. He’s also a living embodiment of my favorite kind of alien characterizaiton, because he looks like an alien velociraptor man with mandibles, but in person he’s a charming dork with a bit of a bruiser streak. I have a big fondness for AUs that slap him into a powered armor suit that can fly. GIVE GARRUS A MECH SUIT, YOU COWARDS.

Tali: I like Tali a lot... except whenever the geth are involved. Sorry, Tali, but the quarians are VERY OBVIOUSLY the bad guys in that scenario. Apart from that, she’s one of the most likable characters in the whole series, and she’s fun to spec for blastiness. (I refuse to acknowledge the ‘canon’ of quarians actually being purple humans, though. that’s ridiculous.) She’s also interesting in that she’s often played for the sweet, lovable and delicate angle by the fandom, but in-game she’s actually very serious (if full of wonder) and she’s one of the more ruthless characters when it comes down to it.

Wrex: URDNOT FUCKING WREX, EVERYONE. It’s funny; I played the 2nd game first and emphathized with the Krogan BEFORE i met him, but his arc still has one hell of an impact; he’s funny, he’s charming, and he’s a burned out and embittered wreck who has suffered over a thousand years of watching his people die from the inside. Seeing him raise his people up and return to the galaxy is one of the most sincerely touching things I’ve ever seen. I don’t hold much grief to Wrex for his hatred of salarians and turians; they personally wronged him and destroyed his people, and they’ve been constantly racist against him since. “Want to see what genocide looks like, Vakarian? Go see a krogan obstetrician.”

Liara: I want to like Liara, I honestly do, but I just have a really hard time connecting with her. Reading between the lines, she honestly feels similar to what I hear the original concept for Spock was like; a science officer with a stern and straightforward demeanor; it helps that the Asari are very similar to the Vulcans in broad archetype. The game REALLY pushes a liara/shepard romance, which is off putting and to be honest, I really don’t get that much of an appeal. Her character development is great, but for the most part, it just doesn’t really hit for me, y’know?

[lilacsolanum]

Who was your Shepard? What ending did they choose? Did it remind you much of the end of Animorphs?

Did you just– did you just give me an excuse to rant about my Mass Effect experience? WELL THANK YOU!

My Shepard was a fierce dark skinned woman with a penchant for a heavy eyeliner and a dark lip. She originally had a stern bun but I DID give her a haircut between ME2 and ME3 for the drama and she had a buzzcut. She ran around in a hoodie 24/7 and was my butch qween. I named her Ms Nesbit in ME1, but ME1 didn’t understand the space so she ended up being Ms Shepard which honestly was ideal. She was from the tragic Midnoir, and had the “soul survivor” psychological profile. I was absolutely role-playing her, giving her a strong “bright clear line” ruthless and practical moral code. She had. SO many renegade points. It was mostly a renegade play through, but I was always bros with my crew. Well. The crew members I liked. I killed someone on purpose in the suicide mission like. Bye.

I played these games blind and it was the best, not knowing how my choices would play out, not knowing what was coming next.

When I played the ending it was, like, 4 AM and I just wanted to be done so I could focus on writing and not be haunted by my love of this great video game I wanted to play all the time. So like. I wasn’t comprehending anything really, and Shepard was moving SO slowly, and I just went toward the pillar because it was shiny. TECHNICALLY I chose Synthesis, which was the cheesiest and worst ending.

I WANTED to choose Destroy, and would have if I was less of a sleepy bitch. Destroy was what we set out to do, and I don’t think the consequences of the literal universe existing beyond “the cycle” were going to be THAT bad. The Geth chilled out. Everyone calm down. Let’s rebuild.

Because I played a “war is hell, bright clear line” Shepard, the ending with her death DID feel right to me. It WAS very Animorphs-ish. Not everyone makes it out of war. Not everyone survives. But I understand why people hated it, especially if you played paragon. Like I told someone else, then the ending of ME is like if Sailor Moon ended with the gruesome death of Sailor Moon. Really, the thing that reminded me the most of Animorphs was the Krogans.

I wrote out, like, my entire play through under the cut because I was feeling myself and because I have SO MUCH TO SAY and played this video game like ten years after it came out so I only had one other person screaming with me. I (somewhat) restrained my boundless energy on their behalf. Cav is a patient soul.

In ME1, I killed the Rachni queen, because even if she was serving me some buckwild nonsense about songs and the general plot of Ender’s Game I was like bye gurl bye, your race died. It’s dead. It’s far too traumatizing for too many people to bring y'all back. Also, you are litterly a giant spider, absolutely not, no no, do not want, please leave.

I primarily ran Wrex and Kaidan because I very much enjoyed Kaidan’s idealistic banter where he’s just impressed with literally everything and then checking in on Wrex who was just bitter and full of hate. Wrex became my favorite character. I LIVE for a grumpy old man. I got his family armor and managed to chill him out on Virmire on the first choice, which was AMAZING, because I later looked up the other outcomes and found out Ashley would kill him and I would have been TRAUMATIZED. I zoomed in on Ashley being a racist and peaced her out, keeping my boy Kaidan around for another two games.

I accidentally romanced Liara even if I wanted to romance Kaidan, but I WAS flirting with them both for a bit (though I ultimately didn’t get the scene where they both confront me). I also slept with that random Asari lady.

I chose to kill the council in the end. It was the better choice for humanity. We needed to do something big to prove that we’re here, we’re not going away, and we’re just as important as the rest of you.

ME2 is just like Making Friends: The Video Game. Which was honestly so fun, I loved that it was an entire game devoted to character storytelling? I let Garrus break a dude’s legs, but I did not let him kill that man, even if I let him kill the guy in ME1. It honestly felt like letting that dude live was shittier. I killed the heretic Geth because, like, they’re machines, they’ve already been possessed by Reapers, they’re fine. I understand that Legion was doing it’s whole Breq thing but most Geth are just part of a whole. I was fine with it. I had enough Renegade points when I did Tali’s mission to allow her to be proven innocent without revealing her father’s treason, which I’m super glad I did because of it’s effects on ME3. The rest of the missions I basically just went renegade for the points. I loooved Thane, Miranda, and Grunt, fell deeper in love with Garrus and Tali, didn’t spend enough time with Legion but again, I saw the whole individual sentience storyline unfolding and appreciated it, Jack I liked ironically because Oh Boy Everything About Her (LOVED her in ME3 though), and Samara and Jacob were THUMBS DOWN.

And then Mordin. Holy shit. What an amazing character. First of all, he’s the best, second of all, he busts out in a musical number, third of all, his mission is SO BEAUTIFUL AND COMPLEX. But. I ended up destroying both Maelon’s data and Maelon himself.

The genophage was population control, not genocide, and while it’s a harsh method it was the kindest solution at the time. The Krogan really remind me of the Yeerks, actually. When it was pointed out that they were given technology before they had culture, I was like, yes, YES, my favorite children’s books series addressed this SAME THING! And like Yeerks, absolutely, I recognize that some Krogans were good, that they didn’t have the same bloodthirst as others, that they saw a better future. Wrex was one of those Krogans. Wrex had power. But was that enough power? How very easy would it be for a rogue group of Krogans to hide away, procreate, get strong, and go to war with the Urdnots. How very easy would it be to destroy the efforts of one man. It was idealistic to think that just because Wrex had influence, that the entirity of the Krogan race could be changed. Ms Shepard made a hard choice, but she did what she had to do.

Also, my renegade zombie face was fucking hilarious, the drama, the theatrics. When I came back from some mission with red eyes I laughed so much. What a choice. What an amazing choice Bioware made with that. I probed the planets and fixed my busted mug, but not after enjoying my glowing scars and bags under my eyes for a MINUTE.

I two timed Garrus and Thane for a minute, but ultimately I went with Garrus, because I texted my BFF, a normal person who does not write or read about alien fucking, with a photo of the two and he immediately replied with “zaddy with the scope for sure” and it was decided. Thane did call me sita for a hot minute and it was very very sweet. Oh and you knoooooow I flirted with Kelly Chambers HARD.

I played the suicide mission blind and I have this weird habit of overestimating video games when they are CLEARLY telling me what to do and trying to outsmart them, so I somehow lost Thane, Garrus, and Mordin. I broke my rule about not going back on any choice and replayed it to save everyone’s asses, except for Jacob Taylor, who I killed on purpose. No regrets.

And then shit went DOOOOOOOOWN in ME3.

First of all, fuck EDI’s robot body. I was already shipping her with Joker and in no way did they need a physical form, it’s called IMAGINATION. I might write a fic where EDI as a ship’s AI instructs Joker on how to get himself off, Dom style. *I* know how to write an AI/human romance without a robot that has FUCKING HIGH HEELS??? No. Nope. Also, why the hell does literally every male squadmate have to call her hot. What was the point. WHAT WAS THE REASON. WHAT WAS THE REASON BITCH.

I immediately went to deal with the Krogan genophage because I knew some shit was about to go on. This whole thing ended up being maybe one of my absolute favorite story experiences, ever.

It starts happening. Wrex rolls up. He is PISSED at me. He is saying he wished he killed me in Virmire, the first time I blocked a genophage cure. It’s heartbreaking. I loved him so much, and he’s SO ANGRY, and he has every right to be.

Mordin starts his research. Eve is there, she’s fucking ICONIC, her and her 50-year-old diner waitress smoker voice. Poor unfortunate goddamn soul, YES. I love her. But I also doomed her by destroying Maelon’s data.

Then the Salarian talks to me. And I know I’ve chosen this stance for Ms Shepard and that I’m not going back on it. When she says “You stop Mordin from spreading the cure, no matter what” I already knew what was going to happen. It’d been spoiled for his death, yes, but damn. The way it went down.

The first thing that happened that made me go “holy shit” was when we were all flying toward Tuchanka and I had an option to tell everyone about the sabotage. I actually took it. Even if I had this storyline, I had this moment of like, okay, I love these characters, I love Mordin and he’s so happy to redeem himself, I have to tell my friends about what the Salarian wants to do. And I chose that option AND I AM INTERRUPTED AND DON’T GET THE WORDS OUT. I mean WHAT a fucking amazing detail. When the option came back again, to lie to my friends or tell them the truth, I lied.

Watching to confrontation go down with Mordin just destroyed me. The voice actors killed it. I told Maelon about the sabotage. It was so fucking emotional. “I MADE A MISTAKE! I made a mistake. I focused on the big picture. Big picture made of little pictures.” Just. Holy shit. And I knew what was about to happen and what I would have to do, and even if it was a video game, I was IN IT. It was the fact that the renegade interrupt was in slow motion that absolutely got me. That there was extra time to think about it, to let him go. I closed my eyes and hit my mouse trigger and Shepard shot Mordin. The way she walked off and threw her gun to the side was devastating. And then the game made me watch Mordin drag his dying body across the tower to try and get to the controls, saying, “Not yet, not ready, not ready,” which was honestly very rude. And then the cutscene where Wrex looked out on his planet, joy and awe on his face, that was also incredibly rude.

I later watched the paragon version and just. “I’m the very model of a-” SUPER. RUDE.

I knew doing all this meant I would also have to kill Wrex. That wasn’t a spoiler, that’s just logic. So one day I go to the Citadel, lalala, fetch quest fetch quest fetch quest, and then I go back to my ship and BAM. Wrex. How fucking brilliant. There is no moment around his confrontation, no visit to Tuchanka. It hits you when you’re completely off guard. He also called me out on not doing the “Bomb on Tuchanka” mission because I did things out of order. Found Grunt, go cure genophage. I shot Wrex. Bailey would have, but it was my responsibility.

Later, Garrus called me out on everything during his “tough call” scene. I told him what I did. The way he then asks, “Did Mordin just go along with it?” and Shepard just walks off was so good.

So.

All of Legions missions were SO cool. I’m learning I have such a weakness for robots/AIs and sentience. “Do these units have a soul?” Also it’s little inner brain Tron world was great, and how the Geth remember the Quarians who were kind was just beautiful. When it came time to choose between the Geth and the Quarians, I was able to save both. Even if that wasn’t the most renegade-y choice, it came from my original mission statement: bright, clear line. Both forces living meant both forces could fight. The rest of my “storyline” was so super dark that this moment felt really triumphant it my little role play? It reminded me of The Doctor saying “This time, everybody lives!”

The rest of the game was just “How many people can Liana kill?”

When Thane died, he called me sita one more time, even if I didn’t commit to him, and it BROKE MY FUCKING HEART. What a great detail to bring back one last time. When Bioware is on, it is ON. 

When Samara held a gun to her head I was just like “See ya later alligator.” What a boring character. btw, the whole Morinth thing could have been SO cool but ended up so lame. I didn’t have enough renegade points to get her and I don’t even care. Bye. I didn’t give Miranda Alliance support so SHE died. That was sad. Grunt survived because my baby boy was loyal, but he might have died since I didn’t deal with the bomb. I was supposed to get a poorly spelled message from him according to the internet, and I never did, so uhhhh oops. Sorry, my son. Kaidan didn’t die during his little freak out because we were besties.

When Liara asked me if we were still dating, I said yes, then I immediately went to Garrus and he asked me if we were still dating and I ALSO said yes, then I flirted with James Vega and Samantha Traynor a lot. Eventually, during Garrus’s personal quest, he asked me if I was ready to be a one Turian kind of woman. I said no and he took the rejection well. Then I went to see Kaidan, and he told me he had feelings, and I locked in with him. I love the idea of Kaidan, who is kind of sheltered and idealistic, attempting to protect and soothe this war torn woman, while accepting the darkness of war himself and questioning his place in it. I loved the idea of us breaking apart, but brief grounded moments with one another. Plus Garrus never even seemed THAT into me, like, yeah you’re awkward bro but idk give me a cute nickname or SOMETHING, and Liara was boring. Liara was SO PISSED AT ME LMAOOO she used A Tone when I would go visit her in her little office and like stopped talking to me. It was hilarious.

I can’t remember if anything else super relavant happed in ME3. I hated Cortez’s “bury your gays” storyline. Gays can do more than be sad. Samantha Traynor was such an afterthought. I still don’t understand why a femShep couldn’t romance Jack, who is canonically bisexual, and I wish that was an option in ME3. I love that Kaidan came back bisexual, like he was just on his little Barbarella journey. What happeneds on Horizon, stays in Horizon.

I have written too much that no one, if anyone, will read, and I must sleep now before I chose the Symbosis ending again.

[antagonistchan]

i started playing Mass Effect: Andromeda yesterday.

i got a download code for it for christmas like two years ago and just finally redeemed it.

now, for years, i’ve been saying this: “i know that people don’t like Andromeda- it’s very hard to avoid that- but i’ve done my best to avoid looking further into why people don’t like Andromeda because i want to form an opinion for myself. lots of people don’t like Mass Effect 3 either and i fucking adore that game. based on the fact that most people don’t like Andromeda and consider it a total joke but i do see that it has its fans in the Mass Effect tag, i expect that it’s gonna be bad, but i’m gonna like it anyways, though not as much as i like the trilogy.”

and i was absolutely right. so far at least.

it’s definitely not the worst. i mean, unless the question is “the worst Mass Effect game”, in which case, yeah, it is the worst. but that’s not saying much considering the other three are collectively my favorite game of all time.

so, Mass Effect: Andromeda is an extremely flawed game. but it’s not completely worthless like some people say (though i can totally understand why someone would dismiss it as worthless).

it’s pretty ugly (it’s got good lighting, but the animations and textures and human models all look really.... off. and the original version of ME1 was also pretty ugly, but in a charmingly primitive 2007 kinda way; Andromeda’s ugliness lacks that charm, especially since the aforementioned good lighting makes it fail to feel particularly primitive). speaking of the animations, aside from them looking off, a lot of them are extremely stiff and borderline unfinished.

the Angarans as a species are also pretty ugly imo, but 1: that’s extremely subjective, i’ve definitely seen people who are thirsty for Angarans, and 2: that’s also not necessarily a complaint. Angarans just Look Like That. who says these aliens need to conform to our ideals of prettiness. and they’ve got cool stuff going on. Jaal’s neat.

i do like the Remnant. they kinda give off that same precursor vibe as Prothean/Reaper tech without feeling like exactly the same thing again, and it’s pretty interesting that they only disappeared within the last few hundred years rather than 50,000 years ago. and there’s a lot more left of them. they’re somewhat derivative of the Forerunners from Halo, but not too extremely.

now, the aliens i do have an issue with are the Kett. they are so extremely derivative. not only are they derivative of things outside of Mass Effect (i know next to nothing about Warframe and even i can tell that they’re visually a total ripoff of Warframe, and also to an extent Halo), but they’re derivative of things Mass Effect already had, too (gee, an evil race that creates its soldiers by corrupting members of other races? no, that’s not like the Reapers at all).

the game’s writing is mostly fine. nothing’s struck me nearly as hard as anything in the trilogy had this far in (for any of the three games), but the story hasn’t offended me too badly and there’s been stuff i’ve liked. Alec Ryder’s a cool dead mentor character and i did emotionally resonate with him sacrificing himself to save my character’s life, Andromeda manages to bring back a lot of the hard sci-fi elements that ME2 and ME3 both scaled back on from ME1, and i really like the whole disaster scenario that Andromeda inherently presents, and how it makes space feel really big and dangerous in ways the trilogy liked to hint at but never fully explore.

not sure how i feel about the combat yet. largely because of the game’s pacing, and there’s a complaint. the trilogy was pretty good at keeping you on your toes, balancing the combat/exploration gameplay with the downtime gameplay. Andromeda... doesn’t really. it’ll spend way too long on the combat/exploration stuff so i’ll easily start getting bored with it, and then it’ll spend way too long on the downtime stuff so i’ll easily start begging to actually try out the new combat/exploration stuff i’m getting during the downtime, and on top of this, it also means i’m having a really hard time adjusting to the combat. i’m not really having that much fun with the combat yet, but i feel like there’s a very good chance it’s because i just haven’t gotten the hang of it yet (especially coming right off the tail of another playthrough of the original trilogy, a series of games i replay literally every year and have since 2013 so i know them like the back of my hand). the idea of Profiles is interesting, at least.

the Tempest is a cool ship. i had it introduced to me as “a shitty version of the Normandy” and that’s not really fair. yeah, the Normandy’s cooler, but the Tempest is cool too. honestly, i found myself comparing it more to the Normandy SR-1 than the SR-2. It has a much more similar vibe (i mean, hell, you don’t need to go through any loading screens to see the entire ship, and it’s not all centralized around a single elevator). the windows are really really silly from an in-universe perspective but i can forgive that, especially since it’s finally fulfilling the promise that i mistakenly thought some vague blurry ME1 art made years ago- a central ops chamber with a full window view of the top part of the ship. and it’s pretty. Ryder’s bedroom is a lot nicer than Shepard’s, it’s a bedroom that’s much more my speed. i also think it’s funny that they had to rename the Tempest gun so the names didn’t conflict.

and then there’s the characters, and.... i mostly like them.

i’m a little mixed on Cora. she seems a little passive-aggressive. Drack is just store brand Wrex, but that’s not really a bad thing. i mean, could you live up to Urdnot Wrex? no, you couldn’t. so Drack doesn’t offend me, i like him. Tann absolutely sucks but he’s clearly supposed to suck.

but then you’ve got the characters who are on two opposite ends of the spectrum of likability: Vetra and Peebee.

holy shit Peebee sucks and i don’t want anything to do with her. she was one of those things i wasn’t able to avoid hearing about and yeah she sucks just as much as everyone said she does.

Vetra, meanwhile? i adore Vetra so much. i love her. the moment i met her, i just HAD to look her up on the wiki to see if i could romance her, and i was so elated when i saw she was an available bi romance.

and for that matter, i was soon pretty happy to discover the game’s selection of romances: three exclusively straight romances (Cora, Liam, Avela), two exclusively gay romances (Gil and Suvi), and five bi romances (Jaal, Vetra, the witch, Keri, and someone i haven’t met yet named Reyes). that’s a pretty solid mix! especially when the two straight romances are two humans and an Angaran, the two gay romances are both human, and the bi romances are two Asari, a female Turian, a human, and another Angaran. i think i’d adjust it slightly by making one of the straight romances bi, but aside from that, that’s... kinda perfect! this feels really well thought-out, like they tried to make the mix perfect (hell, making one of the Angarans exclusively straight but another one bi feels like they were trying to provide a serious cultural clue for them- namely, that sexual identity is a concept they have)! it’d also be perfect if everyone was bi, but perfect in a different way (pro: you don’t have to worry about sexuality at all, con: it’s kinda boring).

anyways, back to Vetra. it’s a little early to say, since i’ve barely even explored her romance, but........ while probably not my favorite romance (it’d take a lot to dethrone that current champion, Traynor, let alone the other high scorers Garrus and Tali), she’s probably pretty high up there. sassy Turian lady who plays dirty to get things done? hell, i love the Garrus romance so much despite being a lesbian, so i’m absolutely all for my character romancing a Turian with a dark side, and now we get someone other than Garrus to fill that role, and a lady at that! ME1 and ME2 didn’t have any female Turians and ME3 didn’t have nearly enough, and then ME:A just has so many. the same goes for female Salarians, too, actually, but it’s more understandable in-universe for Salarians considering how Salarian gender works. anyways, there’s more that i love about Vetra besides “she’s Garrus 2 but a girl now”, a lot more actually, but that core idea is really enough to get you on board with her, really.

(speaking of Garrus though, he was also the focal point of one of the game’s stupidest moments: at some point Ryder says “An impatient rookie, frustrated with procedure? That's overdone.” which like..... that’s clearly supposed to be making fun of Garrus?? who’s like, the literal most popular character in the franchise???? i’m sorry??? what??? it’s like they’re trying to piss the fandom off intentionally, and “creators intentionally trying to piss their fandom off” generally don’t earn much respect from me unless they’re indie, and even then it’s a tough sell)

but that Garrus thing is cancelled out by another cool thing: the Nexus. the core idea of the Nexus seems to be “the Andromeda Initiative decided to build their own Citadel”, and that’s really fucking cool. it’s interesting to see the challenges of getting something like the Citadel actually up and running, and the Nexus itself is pretty interesting, especially in comparing and contrasting between it and the Citadel. also it has a room dedicated to teaching any local species about the various Milky Way races, and it’s all technically accurate but also a little overly generous in how positive some things are (“Turian culture is proof that peace will always win out!” “Humans may be diverse, but we choose to celebrate that diversity rather than let it divide us!”). and also i love that they actually let you listen to the info about humans as if you weren’t a human yourself because one of my favorite things about ME worldbuilding is how much it feels like humanity is just another one of the races that exists in this world, and humanity are really only the “protagonists” of the story because Shepard/Ryder is human.