#I have no problem with Shakarian

[ferniliciousness]

Just finished my first playthrough of me:le not a week ago...... yet here I am, starting up me1 again... 😅

[madamedramatics]

✨️Late night Shakarian thoughts.✨️

I had to really think about this one because I thought for a second I was going crazy and falling into the rabbit hole of delulu but why am I just realizing out of all of Fem Shep's romantic relationship, Garrus' is the ONLY one where she gives away that sense of control. Hear me out. We all know how strong headed both Shepards are, and femshep can definitely come off as the more abrasive of the two (like the badass she is💅) but after romance is established, Shepard just lets Garrus have at it and try to find his footing.

Liara, Samara, Samantha, Thane, Kaiden, and even Jacob for the five minutes he was relevant. There was always either an equal kind of challenge or Shepard would be the more forward one. We get glimpses of her opening up to these romance options, but none quite like like Garrus. Shepard has no problem laying down the flirtatious banter, but she often just lets Garrus do the talking unless she's comforting him or telling a joke but in the romance department? She lets him lead almost completely even when she isn't trying to, only jumping in to save him from his own awkwardness/emotions when he gets too much in his own head and I think that speaks volumes about their dynamic. Its not just about them being equals, its about Shepard allowing herself to fall back in his presence.

Every romance option has that something special about them. This just so happens to be what I think makes Shakarian special. ❤️

[ageless-aislynn]

For my second Mass Effect Legendary Edition playthrough, my plan was to do a New Game Plus as FemShep. But... you can't change from John to Jane or vice versa. Okay, no problem. I'll do a New Game Plus as MaleShep but try a new class!

Guess what? Can't change your class with NG+ either.

Well, OKAY THEN, I'll just start all of the way over from Level 1 because I've been Vanguard and now I want to try something else, darn it! So... how about Engineer? 😎👍

Annnnd somewhere along the way, that's how I ended up as an Adept, lol! 🤷���♀️😂😉

Now, I have 14 achievements left in ME1, mainly variations of "use [this power] 25 times," so I'm figuring it'll take more than one run to snag them all. So I came up with a(nother) plan: instead of continuing on to ME2 and 3, let's just start 1 over again once we're done as a third new class (maybe Infiltrator? Or heck, let's aim for Engineer again, hm? 🤷‍♀️😂). So therefore, this run is basically no stakes because nothing will be carrying on. So I could go ahead and romance Ashley to get the final Paramour achievement, couldn't I?

But.

That requires me to sacrifice Kaidan at Virmire. Even if I "undo it" with a different run immediately afterwards, I'll still have to look at this face and choose to let him die:

So, can I do it?

Welp, looks like MaleShep will be romancing Liara, then! (She's the only other romance available to him that can be locked in for the first game.)

This also means that FemShep will be romancing Kaidan through all 3 games when she gets the lead! Garrus will get his turn eventually because I do so love me some Shakarian, but I really want to experience all of Kaidan's romance that I can. And yeah, I'll no doubt eventually try the mod that lets MaleShep romance him in 1 and 2 because reasons.

All right, I'm ready to get back to being yeeted out of the Normandy SR-1 again! YEE-HAW! 💖💖💖

[that-wildwolf]

how does fanon get Shakarian wrong? 👀👀

*inhales*

I'm gonna start off by saying that I'm a turianfucker too and turians are hot and I get the thirst I get y'all

BUT

too many people are attracted to turians and want a turian romance so badly that they ignore Garrus's entire character for the sake of getting a turian romance and just basically strip him down to nothing but his species. People who are into turians and have a primal kink or something (which while I don't particularly have, I'm a monsterfucker too so I can kinda relate) are also projecting too much of that kink onto turians and Garrus specifically because Garrus is just unlucky enough to be the romance option.

People write a generic alien/human relationship while ignoring most of what the Shakarian dynamic looks like in canon because... Well I actually don't know why. But the amount of turian/human fics, and yes, Shakarian too, that include some kind of "turians are a bit feral or actually aggressive/possessive" take is terrifying. Have we played the same games? Turians are literally described over and over as uptight having a stick in their ass sticklers for the rules. Garrus is an awkward nerd who doesn't know how to flirt with his girlfriend. Even when he goes renegade he does it in the most rule-obedient way possible. He's a mess and he relies on Shepard a bit too much especially in the first two games. This man is NOT the growly dominant alien character insert you want him to be I'm sorry. Turians have 15,000 more years of civilisation than humans. They are not going to be feral creatures just because they have sharper teeth. The human would be the primitive uncivilised alien in a turian/human relationship if you need someone to fill that role (also, why would you?).

Not to mention Shepard being treated as a self-insert which is. well it is a lot more forgivable in my eyes, but even as an RPG PC, Shepard still has a lot of distinct character. I think this is the first time since playing The Walking Dead that I've seen a player character with such a strong personality despite the genre forcing her to be different things.

To be fair I think a lot of the problems with fanon characterization of not only Shakarian but pretty much everyone who gets commonly mischaracterized (look at the woobification of Tali) could be fixed by regularly checking back in with the source material instead of, which I understand and can also be guilty of sometimes, immersing yourself in more and more layers of fanfic until you can't tell apart the fanon Shakarian from the canon Shakarian.

Dishonourable mentions (things that aren't common bad fandom practice but bother me personally): sub Shepard and actually worse yet dom Garrus, any AU where Garrus is a human (like??? lmao. his entire personality and conflict is driven by him being a turian, that is so central to his character that I can't imagine why you would take that away and think that's the same person), Shakarian retiring to the beach (Garrus said tropical. He didn't say beach. He hates swimming he would drown save him)

Also obviously this should go without saying, but there are TONS of great fanfics about Shakarian out there. This is just a list of what people get wrong that I wrote in like ten minutes on my phone sitting on the floor in my kitchen. It's not some magic truth scroll of fandom transgressions. Also obviously everyone is free to interpret fictional characters however they want even if it's different from the source material. Sometimes ignoring canon is better, trust me. Do whatever you want and don't let me spoil your fandom experience for you.

But yeah

TL;DR: I think that Shakarian and Garrus in particular suffers a lot from Garrus being the only turian romance in the games.

[mushroommanchanterelle]

Part 3 of the Shakarian fic I'm writing

Wrex glances over at the elevator as it descends. There was only one person that ever came down on a daily basis. As the door opened, his suspicions were confirmed. Dressed in her uniform, hair pulled back into a low ponytail, was Eleanor Shepard. Garrus stops working for a moment, listening to the familiar cadence of her footsteps. She walked softly, or at least softer than Kaiden ever did. Human footsteps always sounded different than turian, krogan, or quarian, and Garrus was adept at telling the difference at this point. Eleanor walks past him, giving the briefest smile in his direction before greeting Wrex. Garrus’s mandibles clatter against the plates of his face as she walks off, his heart pounding, his mind racing from the talk that had just finished up. 

Tali exchanges a glance with Garrus and pats his shoulder, excusing herself back to the engineering bay, no doubt to have a lengthy conversation with engineer Adams about why there was so much fuzzy pastel fluff in the maintenance hatches. 

Eleanor looks up at Wrex and kicks her foot back and forth, blowing a strand of hair out from in front of her face. Soldier stands against warrior, neither saying a single word for at least an entire minute.

“Wrex, listen… I was wrong to say what I did. I’m sorry.”

He rolls his shoulders. This wasn’t the first apology he’d heard over the years. Usually it was more half hearted, an attempt to not get thrown face first across a bar.

“I didn’t know. I still don’t know. The genophage is… It’s still something I’m learning about. They don’t really cover it back at home.”

“Doubt they would. It’s not some pretty little lesson taught to schoolgirls. Your ignorance doesn’t bother me.”

She sighs and looks down, putting her hands behind her back.

“Still, I’m gonna make an effort to do better in the future. You’re lending a hand here. It’s the least I can do.”

“You do whatever helps you sleep soundly at night, Shepard.”

The krogan shifts to the side, the harsh lighting of the vehicle bay reflecting off of his bulky armor. His weapon, too, glistened under the fluorescent lights above, catching Shepard’s eye. She looks it over, earning a puzzled look from Wrex.

“What?”

“That’s uh… that’s a cool shotgun you’ve got there.”

“This thing? Picked it up off a dead turian during a raid. It’s nothing special. Cheap ammo, gets the job done.”

Eleanor stands back up, her posture relaxing.

“Turian shotguns are nothing to scoff at. Personally, I’m more into salarian stuff. They make a shotgun that shoots grenades! What I wouldn’t give to get my hands on one of them.”

“Ha! You would like something like that! Gotta give ‘em credit, those bastards know how to make something with a punch. The only problem is the lack of recoil. Guess their frail bodies can’t handle it, huh?” Wrex leans against the wall, punctuating his sentence with a hearty laugh. The tension in the room eases as the two smile and laugh together. Garrus watches on as they speak, an expression of blatant longing in his eyes as the turian detective pauses his work. 

Eleanor shakes her head with a smile. “Yeah, no recoil, but there’s an explosion. I think that compensates enough.”

Wrex looks over Eleanor’s shoulder, catching Garrus’s eye. He nudges Shepard, gesturing over towards Garrus.

“You know, he’s been getting into shotguns lately.”

“Wait really? I thought he preferred something a bit more… I don’t know, precise? He’s not exactly a messy kind of guy.”

Wrex shrugs his shoulders.

“Who knows with that one. Probably doesn’t know what he’s doing though. You might want to let him know a few things so the poor bastard doesn’t hurt himself.”

Eleanor thinks a minute, then nods.

“Yeah probably. I’ll go talk to him about it. Thanks, Wrex.” Just before she turns around, Garrus looks to Wrex and silently mouths a thank you. He straightens his posture as Eleanor walks over to greet him. Near immediately, a waterfall of information spills from her lips, and he drinks up every drop. Wrex smiles to himself and closes his eyes.

“Knock ‘em dead, kid,” he thinks to himself as he drones out the sound of Shepard excitedly, and excessively, talking about the intricacies of shotguns compared to the rifles Garrus was more used to.

[omniblades-and-stars]

👀 Shakarian + 'What You Can't Provide Is All I've Wanted'

I see you are looking for heartbreak in this house tonight.

I preface this by saying that Shakarian is like so near and dear to my heart. I love them so much. That being said:

This is an exploration of the realities of a relationship forged by intense trauma bonding by two people who have the problems, experiences and personalities of Shepard and Vakarian. Outside of the pressure of war time, and the constant threat of death, how do they cope when they realize that neither of them knows how to live outside of it all?

It falls apart. That's the story.

We will all cry a lot reading it.

[kaviary-blog]

20 Q’s for Fic Writers

I got tagged by the wonderful @wedonthaveawhile

1. How many works do you have on AO3?

None. That might change soon. But I’ve got like 9 here on tumblr

2. What’s your total AO3 word count?

Zero

3. What fandoms do you write for?

Currently mostly Hogwarts Legacy but I’ve been writing little fics and stories since I was in elementary school

But to give a taste of what I did… when I was a small child I wrote a multi chapter story about fruit (fruit fandom was all the rage). I’ve written for Undertale, FNaF, Miraculous Ladybug, Mass Effect. Maybe more than I’m remembering and they will never see the light of day. (Most of what I wrote was original ideas instead of fanfic)

4. Top five fics by kudos?

Horrors of the Scriptorium parts 1&2, That Which Lurks Behind, Never Knew Her Name, After the Nightmare

5. Do you respond to comments?

Yes! I try to and I love feedback and talking to people

6. What is the fic you wrote with the angstiest ending?

Pluv says Never Knew Her Name has the biggest gut punch but I write alot of angst so…. Idk

7. What is the fic you wrote with the happiest ending?

After The Nightmare. Kinda the only non angst fic I have and even then.

8. Do you get hate on fics?

I have

9. Do you write smut?

I have not

10. Craziest crossover?

Those exist solely in my brain and the ears of my sister

11. Have you ever had a fic stolen?

I seriously doubt it

12. Have you ever had a fic translated?

Probably not

13. Have you ever co-written a fic before?

Not really. I have characters I share with people. But even in my youth I don’t think I co-authored anything

14. All time favorite ship

SHAKARIAN!!! Garrus x Femshep

15. What’s a WIP you want to finish but doubt you ever will?

So so many. The amount of ideas that have barely even taken shape is a whole other list entirely

16. What are your writing strengths?

Tearing your heart out. Idk

17. What are your writing weaknesses?

Fluff. Idk how to be happy

18. Thoughts of dialogue in a different language?

Super cool when done right! (Don’t ask me what that means. I’m not fluent in any other languages)

19. First fandom you wrote in?

Uhhhh. I think the first fic I ever wrote I was really little and it was about Rapunzel. (Her and her kids in the future and like, half of them died. Angst even back then)

20. Favorite fic you’ve written?

Ummm of the ones I’ve posted here…. I’m really proud of That Which Lurks Behind

But usually when I write something I forget I wrote it. I write bastard words with my evil fingers and make it everyone else’s problem.

No pressure tags: @cuffmeinblack, @eternalremorse, idk who else. Everyone I know has done it

[wardencommander-surana]

Choice

Read on AO3 Word count: 2,607 One-shot fluffy comfort ME1 Shakarian

Garrus's new commander was certainly strange - typically, stopping an asteroid from destroying a planet and saving hostages would be cause for celebration. Why did she need his reassurance?

“Crap!”

A flurry of sparks and smoke clouded Garrus’s vision as the propulsion panel on the Mako fought back against every one of his repair attempts. The Normandy was docked at the Citadel for the afternoon after their eventful start on Asteroid X57, allowing the crew time for a well-deserved break. What was supposed to be a quick in-and-out gig to stop the asteroid from hurtling into Terra Nova escalated into a hostage negotiation with batarian terrorists. After a long morning being battered by proximity mines, machine gun turrets, and one Commander Laoise Shepard’s questionable driving, the Mako desperately needed some TLC.

“Vakarian, do you ever let up on that thing? I’m sure she’ll be fine in the bay alone for an afternoon.” As if his mere thought summoned her, the commander skipped off the elevator into the shuttle bay, sacks of salvage over her shoulder. Shepard's blonde hair sat on her head in a loose bun instead of its tight, Alliance-standard-issue ponytail, the updo threatening to fall loose with each of her springing steps. Mischief filled her golden-brown eyes, and a sly grin danced on the corner of her lips as she teased the turian.

The commander was distracting at best and a menace at worst: undisciplined with a strict sense of justice and an unrelenting desire to be a do-gooder. Admittedly, Garrus had little experience with humans, but they even seemed puzzled by their chosen representative and her actions. The turian military would’ve shipped her off to mess duty long ago, citing emotionality, insubordination, or maybe a creative combination of the two. Yet here she was, his superior, driving him insane every second she could – though it was still more enjoyable than being stuck under C-Sec’s thumb.

“After the way you drove this thing around today? You owe her an apology, Commander. I didn’t know ‘nose-dives from three stories up’ were part of the Alliance’s IFV training. I have half a mind to kick you out of here for her safety.” Garrus grunted and fiddled with his omni-tool, desperate for the diagnostics to cooperate.

Laoise chuckled dismissively, letting the bag of salvage slide off her shoulder and clatter to the ground as she walked over to the shuttle. Using a tire and an incredibly surprised Garrus for support, she clambered up to the roof of the vehicle and took a seat where she could observe the turian fiddling with the wires. He attempted to return to his task, evading her dangling legs as he maneuvered the circuitry with preoccupied talons.

“Yeah, well, training didn’t cover dodging batarian turrets, either, so I was flying by the seat of my pants there.” It was Garrus’s turn to reject her argument with laughter – even she had to know that was weak.

“You called that dodging? Shepard, you ran over every guy they had out there!”

“I’m sorry, Vakarian, did any of them shoot you? No, because you were in the Mako. Problem solved.”

“Oh, problem solved, of course! Just bits of metal, plastic, and flesh gumming up the wheel wells.”

“There’s no rogue asteroid anymore, is there?” She acted amused, but he could tell she was on the defensive.

“Just one rogue terrorist, that’s all,” he retorted. The silence that followed caught his attention. Garrus rested his hand on the side of the shuttle and looked up, half expecting to need to dodge a punch from Laoise. Instead, to his dismay, she was pouting heavily, her arms crossed tightly over her chest. “Aw, Shep, come on, I thought we were messing around!”

“We were!” She pushed him gently on the shoulder with the tip of her toe, then uncrossed her arms and flopped back on the roof. “I just… I don’t know.”

Garrus realized he backed himself into a corner. As much as he would’ve loved to throw another silly insult her way, a soft sniff from above sealed the deal: she needed a friend right now, not a ball-busting. Humans. He sighed, then stood on the tire to look at her. She was lying on her back, staring at the ceiling, hands behind her head. “It’s just us up here, Shepard. What’s going on?”

“Did I do the right thing?” Laoise’s voice cracked. “I mean, saving hostages is all well and good, but not if this Balak guy is going to hurt more people.” The overhead fluorescent in the shuttle bay caught the glimmer of a tear as it rolled down her freckled cheek. “The relief from people, the thanks, it feels all right. I’m just always waiting for it to come back and bite me – every time I let one of those assholes go, it’s like this.” When she realized Garrus was watching, she sat up quickly, wiping it away with the heel of her hand. Her hair laid loose over her shoulders now, falling almost to her waist except for a piece she tucked behind her ear as she adjusted her posture. “I usually save this bit for when I’m alone in my bunk, though.”

He wasn’t used to seeing her like this. Humans were more emotional, sure, but Shepard never let any doubt creep past her constant smirk and cool exterior, always eager to jump feet-first into the fire. If anyone else had questioned her decision while they were back on X57, she would’ve laughed in their face. Something in him softened – his turian comrades never needed assurance, even after the toughest ops. Did humans always dwell on the past like this? Did she?

“Scooch over.” Garrus pulled himself up on the roof and repositioned himself in a spot next to Shepard, the Mako shifting under his moving weight. The pair’s shoulders were nearly touching, and he leaned in to close the gap. “Look, I’m not good at the whole ‘comforting’ thing,” he confessed, “but would telling you about the time I was in your shoes help?” The human gave a silent nod.

“A few years ago, my assignment was the black-market trade on the Citadel – there was a weird increase in the sale of body parts and organs. C-Sec wasn’t sure if it was a lab or a serial killer, but they sure didn’t seem to give a shit either way. So, I took matters into my own hands.”

“Naturally.” The pout on Laoise’s face was now giving way to a small smile. She was braiding her hair while he told the story, the tendrils twisting in and out of her fingers, an effort to keep her hands occupied. He watched for a moment, hypnotized by the repetitive motion.

Whenever the commander wasn’t holding a rifle, her hands were in her hair, fussing and pulling and twisting it likes coils of wire, never quite satisfied with where the strands sat. It made Garrus incredibly thankful that turians had no such thing, but he didn’t mind the feeling of it occasionally brushing against him as he continued. “I run a DNA check on a turian liver I recovered from one of the crime scenes to see who the poor bastard is. Turns out, the guy was still alive and had no idea a chunk of his liver was missing.”

“Must’ve been one shitty hangover.”

“That’s for sure. The victim tells me he used to work for a doctor, Saleon, a Salarian. When I investigated his lab, there wasn’t a single piece of cloned body parts or machinery that could grow them. No salarian hearts, no turian livers, not one krogan testicle.”

“There’s a market for those?” Her amused grin curled into a look of disgust. Garrus chuckled.

“Something about virility and the genophage. One testicle goes for ten thousand credits, the complete set goes for forty. Do you want to hear the story, or do you want to keep interrupting me?” A deep belly laugh erupted from Laoise in response to his reprimand. Once the giggles subsided, she silently pulled a pretend zipper over her lips and returned to her braiding, running out of available hair to tie in. “Anyway, I was running out of ideas, so I brought some of his employees in for a… chat.”

Her pout returned. “You mean you threatened them.”

“Zipper’s broken already, huh?” Garrus let out an exasperated sigh and ran his hand over his fringe. “Yes, I roughed them up a bit. I needed to know where Saleon was getting these organs. It worked out, though – one of the workers started bleeding and the medics found fresh incisions all over him. When they dug into him, they found out that Saleon was using his employees as living test tubes.”

“Living… test tubes?”

“Cloning their organs and growing them inside their bodies. Once they were ripe for picking, Saleon would remove a bit, sell it, and give a small part of the profits to whoever grew ‘em. If things didn’t go right, he’d just leave them to suffer.” Laoise shuddered beside him. “Eventually, C-Sec went to make the arrest, but he had already destroyed his lab and took some of his employees with him. Hostages. Fled the Citadel on his ship.”

“So, what happened?”

Garrus hesitated. “I wanted the Citadel Defense Forces to shoot him down. C-Sec overrode me, said he was too close to the station. He got away.” He felt the commander prickling next to him as the reality of his story sunk in and began to brace himself for a lecture.

“Gunning down hostages doesn’t seem like your style, Vakarian.” Her voice was quiet but stern. She snapped a rubber band at the base of her finished plait, a suitable noise to emphasize her distaste. “Didn’t think I’d agree with C-Sec on this one.”

There was that moral hard line everyone loved so much.

“Shepard, those hostages were those living test tubes I mentioned. Their quality of life… I’m sure they would’ve rather we shot them down, too. If they’re even still alive.” He glanced up, half-expecting to see Laoise looking at him with discontent or resentment. Instead, she was gazing down at her shoes, tapping her toes together, a contemplative expression on her face. “Look, there’s a point to me telling you this, you know.”

“And what’s that?”

“Bad guys will get away, whether they escape, or we let them go. You’ll drive yourself crazy thinking about how things could’ve been instead of focusing on how they turned out. There was no way you, of all people, were going to let innocent people die so you could shoot one batarian in the head.” Would he have made the same choice? No. He would've nailed Balak right between the eyes. But that wasn't Shepard's way.

The commander  didn’t seem entirely interested in moving back to her own problems just yet. Her expression was unreadable in the cargo bay’s dim lighting, but her eyes stayed trained on the tips of her toes. “Sure, but what happened to Saleon? That’s not the end, right?”

“No, of course not. He got a new ship and changed his name. Now he’s ‘Dr. R. Heart’ – his idea of a joke. Rumor has it he’s still working on his research.” Garrus paused after that, painfully aware his loose ends paled in comparison to their current mission. However, despite his best efforts not to, he piqued her curiosity – she now turned to look at the turian, clearly hungry for more details.

“Rumor? That means you found him.”

“Something like that. His new ride is the MSV Fedele. I may or may not have gotten some transponder codes for the location a few weeks back, but then everything with Saren happened and… priorities changed.”

“Are we going, then?”

Her urgency took him aback – Garrus expected the commander to offer her assistance, but out of politeness. Not immediately after hearing his story, let alone in the middle of dealing with the Reapers. “I mean, we can. You want to help?”

“Do you not want it, Vakarian? I’m sure there are plenty of rogue C-Sec officers who would be scrambling for a Spectre’s offer of help, you know.” Laoise’s wicked smile returned to her face, widening as Garrus began sputtering in response, a position he didn't find himself in often. 

“Shep? Today alone, I watched you catch a frag grenade and lob it back at a defense droid while it had me pinned – I should be the one asking you to bring me along.”

“You’re such a kiss-ass.” She wiped her eyes one last time with the back of her hand, then grabbed his hand, giving it a quick squeeze – gratitude? – before releasing. Humans were always a little too touchy-feely for his taste, but this felt right somehow, like he had earned this physical affection. “It’ll never get any easier. To make choices, I mean. I’ve always been a champ at spiking grenades, you’re just easily impressed. I’ve got some better tricks up my sleeve.”

“Oh? Well, you’ll have to show me sometime.” He chuckled, shoving her gently with his shoulder. They sat bullshitting about the Mako, the mission, the universe, their shoulders still touching, when the elevator chime tugged them back to reality. The two straightened up, subtly scrambling to make space between them.

Ashley and Kaiden walked into the bay with ice cream in hand, chatting animatedly about some argument they witnessed while on the Citadel. It took a moment for them to notice the pair sitting on the shuttle.

“Commander! Hey!” Kaiden’s loud and cheerful greeting echoed through the room. “You would not believe what the Volus ambassador did at the Embassy today.”

“Walk and talk? I need to go to the med-bay anyway. I may or may not have been playing catch with grenades today and Dr. Chakwas is going to kill me for it.” Laoise threw Garrus a knowing wink as she scaled back down the side of the machine. “Thanks for the pep talk, Vakarian. I’ll let you know when we head for the Fedele.”

“Anytime, Commander. The talk, I mean. Stop wrecking the Mako.” He waved as she walked off with the lieutenant, into the elevator, her freshly wound blonde braid swinging behind her as she bounced away. The lift groaned back to life as Alenko yammered on, his now-neglected ice cream melting between his fingers. The commander rolled her eyes and gave the turian an exasperated wave back as the door rolled shut and they ascended to the mess hall. Garrus almost didn’t notice Ashley watching him watch Shepard, hands on her hips, a shit-eating grin on her face.

“Anytime, Commander!” Her mocking tone was rife with giggles. Garrus shot her with a confused look as he slid off the roof. “Oh, come on, Vakarian. It’s not subtle, you know.”

"Not subtle?”

“Your little crush on Shepard.”

It was Garrus’s turn to laugh, but his collar felt hot around his neck. “A crush? Yeah, okay, Williams.” Ashley rolled her eyes at him.

“You think I don’t notice you waiting by the Mako all day to see if she’ll ask you to tag along? You’re always watching her when you think no one’s looking. Your target is always whoever has their gun pointed at her…”

“To be fair, everyone has their gun pointed at her.” He crossed his arms over his chest and leaned back against the Mako. He didn’t have much pushback for the rest of her list, and she was smart enough to know that. Garrus knew his only option at that point was honesty. “And what’s not to like about Shepard? She’s intelligent, attractive, a great shot, and one of the kindest people I know, aliens and humans both. Are you satisfied?”

“I am. You wanna know why?”

“Why?”

Ashley snorted. “Shepard’s a terrible shot.”

[quietwingsinthesky]

Rating: Mature

Archive Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply

Fandom: Mass Effect

Ships: Female Shepard/Tali'Zorah nar Rayya, Female Shepard/Garrus Vakarian

Additional Tags: Mass Effect 3: Citadel, Mild Sexual Content, Comedy, Open Relationships, Drunk Sex, Bisexual Shepard (Mass Effect)

Summary:

Shepard joins Tali in the bathroom during the party.

[izzayylmao]

disrespectfully friendzoned (part 2 of this post)

[bluefira]

Hey i just wanted to let you know someone in a facebook group called Mass Effect Geth Posting changed one of your pictures for a meme and posted it. I doubt they got your permission so I thought i'd let you know in case you want to talk to an admin about it.

Oh boy, I went to go find it and not only was it a bad taste joke, but it was a Shakarian joke. MY SHEP IS A SHENKO LOVER.

Haha no but seriously, it doesn’t bother me too much. It happens! I think it’s more effort than it’s worth to fight it every time. But you’re very kind for looking out for me :D 

Since I’m too sick to draw or make new posts, here’s a random old Shenko doodle I never posted to scrub that meme from my mind

[apricare]

walking a fine line while writing of “keeping mentions of Reapers vague enough that this fic could be either ME canon divergence or set in my ever more elaborate AU where Reapers Work Differently”

[iheartgarrus]

I just reread some of the Andromeda stuff I posted last year and like.. I’m a decent writer?? I think?? But I haven’t been able to actually get anything out in so long. It’s frustrating. 😞

[naomifj97]

Hoping and wishing

"Garrus is a sniper. He knows about waiting."

Shepard makes a choice in the Crucible that should’ve cost her life. But also should have suffocating in the depths of her spacesuit and falling off from a planet’s atmosphere like a falling star.

Or: In which Commander “I don’t die easily cause I’m pretty much immortal at this point” Shepard refuses to leave and Garrus hopes that’s enough for them.

Hi! Haven't been posting here in a while, but life has been a bit difficult lately and my creativity is suffering consequences. However, last saturday my friends and I went to a thematic Mass Effect party (surpirse! I'm a Mass Effect fan, too) and I had the urge to post this very short oneshot that has been on my laptop for like...two years, I think? Nevermind. I'm Shakarian trash and still in denial about the ending of Mass Effect 3, so, enjoy!

"I'm falling

In all the good times I find myself

Longing for a change

And in the bad times I fear myself

I’m off the deep end, watch as I dive in

I’ll never meet the ground

Crash through the surface, where they can’t hurt us

We’re far from the shallow now

In the shallow, shallow”

She’d been told she would die. He said she’d die.

Death and she were old friends. Close enough to know how the other behaved, smelled, felt.

But she was Commander Shepard. Cheating death, escaping from its claws, was something she’d became pretty good at.

She had to admit that, for a second, she thought she would.

And then, collapse came. Her body’s, that just couldn’t support the burden of her devastated system; the platform’s, that was swallowed by the weight of her decision.

She felt everything. The burning in her skin, her cells ripping apart, the shocking wave. And the fire. The problem had been the fire. It licked the shattered pieces of her torn, ripped armour, burying her in an indistinguishable mass of ravished flesh, metal shards and broken pieces.

So no. Not this time.

While the rumbling started, the Citadel exploded and the Crucible fell apart around her, Shepard found herself remembering Garrus. His jokes and his warm voice, the purring of his subvocals, the ones he thought she couldn’t hear, the soft stroking of his talons in her back during late hours of the night, when sleep was too stubborn to arrive, or the feeling of his words whispered under breaths in her hair when he thought she was too asleep to notice.

She thought of everything she was going to miss.

Before everything went black, Shepard thought that maybe, this was really it.

It isn’t.

She’s pretty sure she’s dead.

She can’t see anything.

She can’t hear anything.

She can’t feel anything.

Until the pain hits, so sudden she can’t help but gasp.

She’s breathing.

—I’m sorry. We…we haven’t found her.

Admiral Hackett’s words feel deaf, hollow in his brain.

—She has to be somewhere!

Joker’s reply is a bit louder, like a voice suffocating under dark waters.

Garrus can’t force himself to worry. Or care.

Was that what she had felt? That first time, after the Collector’s attack, with her damaged suit, suffocating, trying to breath but not finding air, wandering around with nowhere to go. That second time, when the Crucible crumbled over her while the Reapers suddenly stopped in their trays and fell to the ground like lifeless puppets whose strings are suddenly cut.

—The ruins are still there.

—Doctor T’Soni…

—If the remains of the Crucible are there, that means Shepard may be, too. We’ll dig her out. Give me a shovel, I’ll do it myself.

Of course she would.

—Even if she’s…still there…there’s no way she could have survived.

That’s obvious.

Even if the explosion that had ended with the Reapers had not killed her, the fall of the Crucible should have.

But she’s Shepard.

She’s been dead before.

And not even Death has been able to stop her.

—She’s not dead.

His voice sounds strange to him. Hoarser. Fiercer.

—Vakarian. I understand-

No, he doesn’t. No one else does.

—She’s not dead.

Commander Shepard made him a promise. And she has never failed him.

So, Garrus hopes.

Why? He doesn’t know.

It’s only during the long scanning of the battlefield, over the battered ground covered in ashes, blood and broken dreams, searching for her in the place he saw her for the last time, that he realizes it’s because he knows that their first can’t be their last “I love you”.

EDI finds her first.

Her radar catches the soft, minimal thumbing of her heart, so mild that other sensors would have missed it.

She races towards the spot, transmitting her position to Tali, Liara and Garrus, falls to her knees, and starts digging. By the time she finds her arm, three more pair of hands, one with five fingers, two with three, have joined her.

Tali radios Joker, tells him to get Doctor Chawkas ready for them and set a course to the nearest medical centre. Liara stabilizes her vitals with such an amount of medi-gel she may had gotten high on it wasn’t she so outside her body, and EDI connects herself to the implants that have kept her alive despite death to make sure they don’t stop working.

And Garrus picks her up, prepares her for transport, keeping her torn and exhausted body (or what’s left of it) together.

Shepard breathes.

And Garrus breathes with her.

Miranda works with the doctors. She pushes them, screams at them, sometimes, when they don’t do as she commands, when they say that’s simply not possible.

Bullshit.

She brought Shepard back from the dead once.

They don’t get to tell her what’s possible from what’s not.

There’s nothing impossible to her.

Kaidan, Hackett and Vega are fighting with the Council for resources to keep Shepard alive.

They say she’s not going to make it.

But the Alliance is not giving in this time.

Because they did once, and Shepard paid the consequences. Because she’s in an operating room fighting for her life as they speak because they did not support her. Because she’s dying cause the Council refused to listen, refused to believe.

Because Shepard is a hero.

The discussion ends when Urdnot Bakara arrives to the Normandy’s communications room and menaces with unlashing a horde of angry krogan if they don’t pay. By her side, Urdnot Wrex growls in a signal of support.

And then, the Council decides to pay.

Grunt is a bit disappointed, but, well, he can handle it.

Because Shepard is going to survive.

They’ve done everything they could, they said to him.

Now, all that’s left is waiting.

Garrus is a sniper.

He knows about waiting.

He’s good at it.

So he sits down near her bed, counting her breathings and taking note of all her heartbeats, eyes fixed in the bandages that cover her body.

He’s made a mental list of her wounds. Knows is not healthy, but he just couldn’t help it. Burns, cuts, bruises, broken bones, destroyed tissue. A lot repaired, but also a lot permanently scarred.

She needs time.

He sits and listens, in the quietness, the fear that creeps in his chest, but also the blind hope. He asks the spirits for a chance, the last chance, because they’ve come too far to end this way.

Doctors says she’s a fighter. She refuses to leave.

And Garrus hopes. He just hopes. He chuckles a bit, too, because of course Shepard is a fighter.

Of course she’s stubborn. Of course she’s not leaving.

She promised.

So, the afternoon he feels her hand moving in his talon, her eyes fluttering lazily awake and the light smile she gives him in the haze of pain-killers, analgesics, skin grafts, needles and gauzes, he thinks he should’ve known better from the beginning.

Her voice is low, barely a whisper, but Garrus hears her as she had screamed in victory.

—So…a human-turian baby, was it?

He smiles.

Shepard and Garrus deserved better. Hope you liked it!

A/N: Team effort to save Shepard? Sign me the fuck in.

I kinda invented my own ending for this because I'll never get over the three ones we are given in the game. Also, are you really telling me that Cerberus tech could bring Shepard back to life in ME2 but not after ME3? Not buying it, Bioware.

[otemporanerys]

Otempora’s Fic Masterpost

Hello all! I’m sure a lot of you are here because you’ve read something I wrote, and I thought it was high time it was all collected somewhere!

Unless labelled otherwise, assume Mass Effect, assume Shakarian. Everything linked here is to my AO3.

True Blue (Active)

Rewrite of Playing the Long Game, my childhood friends-to-lovers Shakarian AU. Having lots of fun with this one, very angsty. True Blue

Species Swap (Active)

An AU where most (not all) canon Alliance characters are Hierarchy turians, and Garrus and his family are humans. Come for the worldbuilding, stay for the height difference.

Cultural Exchange | Interregnum | Life Behind Enemy Lines 

Burn, Shepard, Burn (On Hiatus)

A Witcher fusion AU, humans only. Shepard’s a rogueishly handsome witcher, Garrus is the runaway lordling she keeps running into. The most sexually frustrated slow burn.

Mainline continuity: At the Mercy of Strangers | Of Monsters and Men | Trial By Fire | Lost Lamb | Small Problems

Backstory/prequels: Bitter Harvest (Anderson POV)

AUs of the AU: Long Shot | Bedside Manner | In the Bleak Midwinter

Paragon Loves Renegade (On Hiatus)

Canon divergence set during ME2, undercover-as-lovers turns into secret dating. Nothing but good times.

Mixing Business with Pleasure | Reasons to Be Together

Playing the Long Game (Complete)

Canon divergent, childhood friends AU. Lowkey my favourite.

Mainline continuity: Playing the Long Game | Telling Tales of Revisionist History

AU of the AU: Rookies

Oneshots/Standalones

Turning Us Into Fire: AU where Shepard and crew ran to Omega to become mercenaries after Aratoht. Slow burn, high-octane angst. Probably not gonna be updated (sorry).

First Contact Protocol: Baby’s first First Contact War AU, Garrus and Shepard are stranded on the same desert planet and have to work together. Enemies-to-friends-to-lovers. Highkey my favourite.

Any Port in a Storm: Garrus/Miranda. Set before the suicide mission in ME2. Smutty.

Diamond in the Rough: fShep/Zaeed. Set during ME3. Shepard is sleeping with Zaeed and no, she doesn’t know why, either. Smutty.

Priceless: Kasumi Goto/Rolan Quarn. They fuck on a pile of money and that’s all you need to know.

Friend of a Friend: Kaidan/Garrus. Set after ME2, Shepard has died. Reliably informed I’ve converted many a person to the ship.

A House is Not a Home: Tali/Kal’Reegar. Post-war, shameless flangst.

Obstacles: Garrus & Solana gen, set between ME2 and ME3.

If you’re really interested in any of my older, non-ME fic, my Livejournal is available upon request, although I can’t in good conscience recommend any of it.

[dearophelia]

take imovie away from me