#david anderson

[blighted-elf]

Mass Effect Legendary Edition - Mass Effect 1 - 2024 Replay

[anakliro]

the N7s

commissions 🌌

[milkywayes]

> leave gang, become space jesus (both benefits and drawbacks may apply)

[tekehu]

Not everything I've done is something to be proud of. I'm proud of you.

[average-mako-enjoyer]

Okay, just hear me out again...

You know I'm right

[bellamer]

I’m going into Dragon Age Veilguard with the intent to romance Davrin since everyone else is hellbent on romancing Lucanis and Emmerich so when I stream it you can watch in real time and see if BioWare has finally gotten their shit together and made a black character who isn’t a racial stereotype (Jacob), was in a heavily bugged game that was unplayable when it was released (Liam) , dead (Anderson), or had all of his character content cut to make more room for a white character (wasn’t BioWare, it was Larian but with the way people are in fandom in general I wouldn’t put it past Bioware to cater to their whiter fanbase if a white character got all the hype)

[josephslittledeputy]

"It's just fiction, it can't hurt you." I tell myself as I get ready to watch my fave die (again)

[sol-consort]

[hextechmaturgy]

immortalizing ME1 in rainbow colors, as she deserves

[0alix0]

you feel me, right?

[laelior]

The Weight of the World

To: Master Operations Chief (ret.) Margaret Shepard

This letter is to inform you that your granddaughter, Lieutenant Commander Bethany Shepard, was presumed killed in action following the destruction of the SSV Normandy by unknown enemy forces on December 5, 2183. 

Lieutenant Commander Shepard’s service with the Alliance was an example to us all and her heroic actions in service both to Earth and the Citadel Council will never be forgotten. 

At this time, we are unable to publicly announce details related to the destruction of the SSV Normandy. At such a time when we are able, rest assured that the Alliance will lay Lieutenant Commander Shepard to rest with full military honors.

Please accept my sincerest condolences for your loss.

Adm. Steven HackettAlliance 5th Fleet Command

Anderson sat in the back of his skycar, numbly rehearsing the words of the letter in his hands over the neatly-folded Alliance flag and Alliance-stamped urn in his lap. God, for such a small jar it must have weighed a ton. Nevermind that it was empty.

His eyes continually wandered to the shallow, formulaic words on the flimsy paper in his hands, hoping that somehow they’d magically rearrange themselves into something less weighty than the gravitational pull of a whole damn planet before the skycar touched down.

Hackett had already sent nineteen letters just like the one in his hands to nineteen different addresses. Letters addressed to Preslies, Dravens, Tanakas and so forth. Letters only confirming what the rumor mill had already been circulating for months. Letters delivered by NCOs and junior officers with black bands around their arms as a thin show of solidarity for their losses. It had been tempting to pass this particular letter off to someone else, too, but some things just had to be done.

“We’re almost there, sir,” the driver said.

The skycar gently touched down on the street next to a neat little house with an immaculately maintained garden. Even in the dead of winter the hedges were neatly trimmed and the flower beds were freshly mulched.

The driver went out to ring the doorbell while Anderson slowly gathered himself for the news he had to deliver.

The woman who came out to the front porch to greet him after a moment was smaller than he expected. He’d never met her before, but Peggy Shepard was a legend in her own right. One of the founding mothers of the Alliance non-commissioned officer’s corp and one of the best damn sniper instructors the service ever had. Hell, her 500-meter longshot record had stood for nearly forty years and had only been broken a few years ago by Lieutenant Coats.

And she didn’t need a letter to tell her why he was here. That was obvious from the hard, steely look in her eyes that flicked to his uniform, the flag tucked under one arm, and the black band around the other. Her eyes lingered on the captain’s stars on his lapel and her hand twitched at her side, fighting the reflexive urge to salute. Old habits died hard, and habits drilled in by a lifetime of military discipline were harder to kill than most. When she looked him right in the eye, though, Anderson had to fight the urge to flinch.

Throughout his military career, Anderson had faced more threats than he cared to count, from the petty political rivalries that riddled the service right up to Saren himself. And just then he would have rather faced down Sovereign itself if it meant getting away from the look in her eyes.

She was no stranger to this ritual. A casual glimpse at the Shepard family tree told him how many of its branches had been pruned like this. But that never meant it was easy to be the bearer of this particular news.

“Ma’am,” he intoned formally. Formalities were good. They were safe. He held up the folded flag and offered it to her with both hands. But before he could so much as open his mouth to say the words that were the next part of the ritual, she held up a hand and drew in a shaky breath.

“It’s true, isn’t it? What they’ve been saying?” She asked quietly. No need to ask what they were saying.

Anderson could only nod stiffly. “I’m afraid so, ma’am.”

She quietly accepted the flag, taking the weight from him and hugging it closely to her chest. 

“The Alliance offers its sincerest condolences for your loss,” he intoned, getting back to the words of the ritual. “If there’s anything we can do for you….” He trailed off. There was nothing the Alliance could do for her that would remotely make up for the magnitude of her loss, and there was no point pretending otherwise. 

She nodded in acknowledgement of the harsh, unspoken truth that passed between them.

“I need to make arrangements,” she said, her voice barely a whisper, before turning back into her house and letting the door slam shut behind her. The large wooden door closed with a resounding thud that made him flinch with its finality. He set the urn and the letter down on the porch table next to the door and went back to the car, his duty thus discharged.

If it was a tragedy for a parent to bury their child, then it was an utter goddamn travesty for a grandparent to lower their grandchild’s casket into the ground.

The driver cleared his throat, cutting across the uncomfortable silence that filled the car. “Where to next, sir?”

“Norfolk,” he said, picking the closest Alliance base he could think of off-hand. The car began its ascent, leaving the view of the Shepard household behind.  “Drop me off at the officer’s club, and tell them to have a glass of Ardbeg 16 ready, no ice.”

Something to wash away the ashy taste of having been the one to send Peggy Shepard’s granddaughter to her empty grave.

[mosscreeperarchived]

I just saw a post (https://www.tiktok.com/t/ZTL8hawtm/) about the general public in universe viewing the protagonist’s near suicidality as heroic.

I can’t stop thinking about Shepard in ME3. How every authority figure keeps asking them for more and more and more. How Anderson tells Joker to keep an eye on his kid. How their love interest begs Shepard to come back to them at multiple points, to please not throw away their life. How Shepard flat out calls Kaidan someone to live for.

Most of the galaxy and Shepard themself view that basically suicidal behavior as what makes them heroic while that kills the people who care about them.

Anyways, I’m addicted to when fics explore that and I can’t wait to do it in my own

[inuhodo]

ME3 court martialling when it comes to light that Anderson helped Dan fake her credentials to get into the alliance

[painterofhorizons]

poh's Akuze masterpost

Since Akuze is my fav Mass Effect playground since 2020, it's time for a masterpost.

Published Fic (x)

20 times Akuze almost gets Shepard (AO3, tumblr): After Akuze, Shepard fights to gain back agency. // 8k, pre-ME1, PTSD, recovery, Captain Anderson

Ghosts from the Past, pt. 01 (AO3, tumblr): Fifteen months after surviving the thresher maw massacre on Akuze, Shepard is confronted with ghosts from her past, when a relative of one of her dead former comrades takes a position on the same vessel that she’s assigned to. // 2k, pre-ME1, Engineer Adams

Ghosts from the Past, pt. 02 (AO3): With both of them hurting a relative’s death, Adams tries to mend burning bridges. // 3.5k, pre-ME1, Engineer Adams

Area secure, Commander (AO3): Tali’s first encounter with a thresher maw doesn’t exactly go ideal, but little does she know. // 1.5k, ME1, PTSD, Tali, Garrus

Currently Working On

The Good, Bad, And The Ugly (work in progress): An episode long fic for the post-Akuze recovery, losely following the 20 Times timeline, but adjusting things and diving deeper into the struggles, people and places important during the long way back. It takes fire to forge a N7 soldier. // ~18 chapters, pre-ME1, PTSD, recovery, Captain Anderson, James vega, Jeff Joker Moreau

WIPs

Arcturus Station, 2179

Two Aces In Disguise

Of all things Akuze has taken from her, the ability to communicate is the most excruciating one.

at some point post-Akuze in the rehab facility, Shepard meets a young James Vega

reliving Akuze

“How’s Giles doing?”

white noise

birthday

Tabatha Adams

tbc

Art

post Akuze promotion portrait

meta human portraits Reda Shepard&James Vega

illustration for the post-Akuze rehab long fic

Akuze Giving Me A Headache (random musings)

x x x x

Things I've Said (asks)

x x x

Random Bits And Pieces

Mass Effect Writing Masterpost incl. non-Akuze writings

Last updated: 2024-08-13

[groundrunner100]

Go at it.