#Noveria Complete

[superlativesamsara]

Weather update, we have now detonated a "definitely Not nuclear" demolition charge on the hotlabs, nonlethally disabled the security team who decided to try to kill us when the rabid Rachni failed, and Liara shot her mom..?

Like sure she's brainwashed and crazy and all but like, girl, you didn't have to do that? I'm sure this will have no lingering effects on her psyche at all and she definitely won't grow up to be any sort of faux-omniscient shady information dealer who runs the galaxy from the background because her faith in all the powers that be is permanently shaken

*cough*

Right anyway we also sort of released the Rachni Queen because, despite what Sparatus seems to think, it's not a crime to be a big scary telepathic space spider, and as she already promised she wasn't going to go on another mind-controlled genocidal rampage like the queens from the Rachni Wars, Tevos and Valern agreed that no, genocide isn't justified over the crimes of the forebears.

I'll see about getting you nerds some mission highlights in a bit from the suitcam footage, once I get approval for what parts are and aren't classified (and promptly ignore them in favor of what looks cooler, obviously, because they can't prosecute me for leaking information to people they don't believe in the existence of).

[lyricsaboutcats]

"That’s what happens when you don’t bring protection. Idiots."

"What do you mean, ‘protection?’"

During development of Mass Effect 1, Noveria’s Aleutsk Valley had several encounters and enemies that were eventually left on the cutting room floor. Here’s another one where I’ve spliced the leftover audio files together.

After defeating a group of hostile krogan in the valley, Shepard comments on how lethargic they seemed. Wrex explains that krogan feel the cold more intensely than other races, and has a final request to get out of the weather (which is an ambient comment not directly tied to the conversation).

Every squadmate has recorded lines for this encounter. It was probably intended to be a short cut-scene with dialogue options. 

----

(Sources: ice25_trig05_chilly_krogan,snd_ice25_exterior, ice25_trig04_open_boathouse.upk, Mass Effect PS3 Edition. Spliced with Audacity, Image by Bioware for Xbox 360 promotional material)

[greypetrel]

WIP Wednesday

Long time no see, uh? Thank you so much for the tag @whimsyswastry (I'm going through everything, sorry if I'm late in replying, just 3000 things all at once keepin me busy)! <3

I was sent the cover of Jessie Dumont's I Prefer Girls by @ndostairlyrium (Hi Ali you're tagged), and of course it had to be done. I was about to post it, but then I realised I completely forgot I should really do the background on my own, shouldn't I. -3-

Some colour maps from an upcoming illustration. I finally sat down to make tarot cards for my babies, and Alyra came jumping in first place. Considering her arcana is The Chariot, it only seems fitting she gets to be the first. I am convinced on the bottom right version, but tell me what you think of course. :)

A doodle. When I played the Noveria mission in Mass Effect, that logo with the flaming vial just screamed to me Science Bros. They WOULD adopt it as their brand. They're scientists, and they're hot! It ensued picturing them in the Mass Effect universe, and thinking that it was them in that lab. Experimenting on the Rachni. They managed to convince one, a cute girl named Polpettina ("Little she-meatball" in italian) Aisling taught not to eat humanoid flesh by singing to her, pretty constantly, only songs about proper food. It worked, they got on the Normandy, Polpettina became the most spoiled rachni in the galaxy. Sure, they both get possessed by the Queen at times, but it's all innocent.

Tagging: @salsedinepicta @shivunin @dungeons-and-dragon-age @daggerbean @theluckywizard @pinayelf @melisusthewee @heniareth @dreadfutures AND YOU!

[swaps55]

Please tell me something about that Noveria First Kiss AU! <3

You may not like it, which is why it has remained a WIP. I toyed with making something happen with everyone having a night off at Port Hanshan, but what came out was some drunk teasing that escalated much faster than anyone (even me) guessed. Sam reacts badly when he doesn't have time to chew on his feelings first, and when he's up against a wall he lashes out. And, uh. His choice of targets was not ideal.

I didn't know how to fix the spot I got them into, or how the fuck to get the actual kiss out of it, so I haven't returned to it. Part of me wants to, just to explore it, because it feels in character enough to be worth poking at. But with Fugue and Mezzo being such angst fests, I haven't had the mental fortitude to give to it.

~

“You’re jealous,” Ashley informs him.

“Of what,” Shepard scoffs, giving her the same look he gave the NCD inspector who grounded the Mako.

“That woman is hitting on him, and you can hardly keep your butt in that chair.” She bops the leg of his seat with a foot. His eyes narrow.  

Garrus swivels his head between them, mandibles flaring, and Tali sets her cards down. Joker sits back in his seat and crosses his arm, like there’s a show about to happen and he’s got a front row seat. Wrex shoves another glass of ryncol towards her, and like an idiot, she takes it.

“He hates being hit on,” Shepard informs her.

“Yeah,” she says with a snort, “because it’s never you.”

“What’s that supposed to mean.”

Amazing how much nuance in the human – alien – whatever – voice gets lost when you’re drunk, or maybe she would have noticed how flat Shepard’s sounded, or how little humor was in it.

She grins. “It means he’s wanted in your pants since probably five minutes after he met you, and somehow you haven’t noticed.”

“I notice plenty,” Shepard says, leveling her with a stare. “We’re close. Why does everyone assume it has to be about sex?”

[more stuff]

“Leave it alone, Williams,” Shepard growls. “We are what we are. Stop trying to make it something it’s not.”

“Tell him that,” Ashley says, gesturing towards Alenko, who is now glancing over his shoulder while he waits for their drinks. “I have never seen someone so desperate over someone as that guy. Pretty sure if the two of you just got a room and fucked each other’s brains out you’d both be a lot better off.”

Shepard shoves out of his chair with enough force Ashley actually jumps. Just as she starts wondering if maybe she pushed him too far, Alenko chooses that moment to return with his drink. Garrus swivels his head between them, mandibles flaring, and Tali sets her cards down. Joker sits back in his seat and crosses his arm, like there’s a show about to happen and he’s got a front row seat.

“What’s going on?” Alenko asks, cautious.

Shepard meets his gaze like a rail gun lining up a target.

“So, what, you want to fuck me?” he demands, eyes flashing, and Ashley sucks in a breath. “Is that what we’ve always been about? Is getting in my pants what friendship is to you? Because if it is, fine. I’ll go fuck you in that corner right now if that’s the price of doing business.”

Alenko stares at him in incomprehension that erodes into something Ashley can’t even name, before it fades completely and all that’s left is a slate so blank it hits harder than any bullet she’s ever fired.

“Go fuck yourself,” he says, quiet, indifferent, as he sets his drink steadily on the table and walks out of the bar while everyone at the poker table stares after him.

He’s only made it a few steps before Shepard’s expression to shift to shock, then horror, but it’s too late.

[oksana-moods]

Queens of Promise - Part 6

Summary: There are a lot of things that you learnt throughout your life, but getting under Wanda’s skin is one of your best skills.

A/N: Didn’t take long, right? Thank you all for passing by and showing some appreciation, this means a lot.

Trigger Warning: Violence, mentions of blood, death, burial. Game of Thrones canon violence.

Previous parts here

"A darkness comes at dawn"

Campsite at the Battlefield

Wanda sighed, trashing the scroll on her hand to the fire before her feet. Seeing her friend so bothered, Natasha asked. “What was in the letter?”

“Pietro endorses my deal with Taharr, but he said that Vision disapproves it, saying that they can see our fear as a weakness and use it to double cross us.” Wanda worked her lips with the same vigor her fingers tried to ease her headache.

“Fear?” Natasha inquired, confused.

“Vision thinks that negotiating a truce to spare our army is to show our enemy that we fear lacking soldiers or can’t afford more combatants before running out of liegemen.” Wanda clarified, tired of this whole nonsense, yet she was angry for not seeing the whole picture.

“I’d hardly call it fear. Sparing your men is acting with intelligence, if anything, makes you a human worried about your own people.” Natasha offered to her friend whose crinkles looked permanent between her brows.

“I know and I agree with you.” Wanda sighed one more time, eyes cast on the fire. “They want us to return home. Immediately.”

“Will you?” Natasha was genuinely confused about the defeat on her friend’s tone.

“I already sent a bird saying that we’re leaving the campsite by tomorrow.” Wanda locked eyes with Natasha and the latter could see determination burning in them. “But we’ll move to Karov Village, I’ll only ride north after making sure Steve is free and safe with us.”

Days had passed and Wanda’s unit finally arrived in Karov. The tragical events of her last visit still fresh in her memory, a sour taste lingering on the tip of her tongue as she led her horse through the streets. Although the sign of Nebula’s Pub ‘n’ Lodge had new paintings on it, the princess saw that its interior still looked like the same.

Same smell, same people or volume of conversation and even the same person she had met few years ago. Almost on the same corner as before, you were seated with simple clothes but this time there were Taharrian details oozing from it.

You and your companions were enjoying a song-tale sang by Lady Carol, the Marvelous, just like before, however this time there was a woman seated on your lap. Hands running absentmindedly through your hair while you had your hand on the small of her back.

Wanda stared at the two of you a second too long, all the noise went to the back of her head and all she could focus on was on your hand softly caressing the woman’s skin while said woman played with your hair as if there was no one else around, even though you were talking to your friend, Captain Lady Rambeau.

There was this sick feeling bubbling, simmering on her stomach that she had to physically restrain herself from taking the remaining steps until your form and rip that woman away from your lap.

Such feelings were unexpected and completely foreign to Wanda, but she thought that seeing such behavior in public was uncanny, especially because you were a princess and should behave like one and not as riffraff.

Begrudgingly, she walked to where your group was and made herself known. 

“What are you doing here?” Wanda’s voice alarmed everyone on table, except you. You kept that dashing smile that was imprinted in her mind by now.

“Did you know that Nebula’s wheat beer is the best in Noveria?” Wanda head snapped towards you and your hand lifting the beer stein as if offering her to take a stein herself.

“I’m here to retrieve a friend, not for beer tasting.” The northern princess spat, then turned to the woman sitting on your lap, who was rather wide eyed. The woman had recognized her. Good. “Who are you?” She inquired without a single trace of politeness, if the princess of Taharr could be unladylike, so could she.

“I-I’m…” The woman’s eyes darted around, as if only then she realized where she was or doing. “I’m no one, m’la-… I mean, Your Highness.” She tried, after she found her voice. Wanda could see the woman coiling on your lap and reminded herself to bite back a smile when she tried to get up.

However, the woman was stopped by your hand keeping her seated, and that brought a scowl back to Wanda’s features. You were insufferable.

“No need for pleasantries, dear. She doesn’t really care.” You half-whispered to the woman but you meant for everyone to hear you. You meant for Wanda to hear you.

Then, you turned to Wanda and spoke. “You’ll have your friend when and where we agreed, Princess.” You took a sip from your stein carelessly and Wanda couldn’t help but think that you were stalling just to get under her skin. “I remember agreeing that I’d return Lord Rogers to Sir Barnes’ care, though, not yours.”

The redhead stared at you dead in the eye and oh she hated how you could talk about important things in a tone that mixed sarcasm and seriousness the way you did. It was exasperating, to say the least. “I’m a Maximoff, and I can do whatever pleases me.”

“That little, then?” You inquired with a smirk wide in your lips. “Because with a scowl like that, I’m sure no one ever pleased you.”

Wanda’s murderous look could’ve set you on fire on the spot if she tried harder, you were sure. “I’d keep that promiscuous mouth shut if you want to live one more day, Lioness.”

“Experienced.” You muttered in between gulps of the stein’s content, pretending you were completely unbored by the conversation or her threat. To be honest, you loved to see how much effect you had on her, she hated you, of course, but you always loved to make her angrier.  

Somehow, whenever she tilted her head in what should be a warning in itself did for you. She was beautiful, but there was something about her when angry that always made her look like a mad goddess. It was dangerous and you loved it. “I beg your pardon?” Wanda shot you a puzzled look and you had to fight back a laugh at how adorable she looked at that moment.

“I said my mouth is experienced, especially in pleasure, Princess.” Your smirk turned into a toothed grin while you saw Wanda registering the words you had said and their meaning.

“You are- uh, you are infuriating!” As her face burned red, Wanda stormed out of the pub before she did something she might regret later. She, surely, didn’t want to send a letter to her brother informing him that she had killed the heir of Taharr’s throne.

----

She could kill the Princess of Taharr and, certainly, would. Definitely. After they had dealt with these bandits, she would definitely kill you.

“Stop scowling and start chopping, Maximoff!” She heard the Lioness shout over the confusion generated by the clangs of metal colliding against metal.

“Let me remind you that we’re in this situation because of you.” Wanda shouted back, after she parried another sword coming to her direction.

Though completely focused on the fight happening in front of her, the redhead could still see how expertly you moved during a battle, fighting three enemies at the same time. You were indeed a great warrior and Wanda simply knew that you probably born wielding a sword.

“Please,” From the corner of her eye, she saw you kick an opponent in the chest before replying. “Could you remind me later when there isn’t a blade trying to cut our throats?” You punctuated the sentence with another strike of your sword. Now there were only two opponents.

Wanda moved swiftly parrying, striking and it felt like there was an endless sea of black hooded men, while there were too little warriors in red with gold or silver. Though Taharrian and Sokovian’s forces were visibly more skilled than those bandits, they still had numbers.

Lots of them, apparently.

She raised her shield to block another sword, but quickly counterattacked and the lifeless form hit the ground at the same time another man tried to cut her with his spear.

Wanda lost count on how many she had chopped, as you had said. Although she could feel her feet getting slower due tiredness, the redhead wouldn’t stop fighting. She felt someone bumping on her back and when she turned her head, she saw that it was you.

It took only one glimpse for her to understand the scenario. There were at least six or seven enemies surrounding you both, hence why your back was pressed against hers. You expected she’d protect yours while you guarded hers.

Could she trust you, though? Wanda’s mind was plagued by misgivings that were long carved in her brain: ‘one should never trust a Taharrian, let alone a lioness.’ You could easily hurt her now, or even let an enemy hurt her exposed form.

Her brain was haywire with doubts and concerns when her thoughts were sliced by your voice. It was muffled as you breathed through your mouth, you were tired, yet you stood tall. “I trust you’ll have my back, Wanda.”

Trust.

Was it possible for sworn enemies to trust in each other? Was it possible for her to trust you?

Right in that moment, Wanda realized that she respected and trusted in you more than she wanted and far more than she was willing to admit. Despite the war, despite all the mystery surrounding the heists and facts that didn’t add up, she trusted that you wouldn’t hurt her, and your honor would never let her get hurt on your watch.

Was she crazy for believing in you? For trusting in her enemy?

The heat of the battle made impossible for her to dwell on it any longer. Two enemies came after her at the same time and she could feel your body moving behind her.

Grunts, screams of pain and metal clinking were the only sounds she could hear past her own heartbeat on her ear. Suddenly, she felt her body being shoved by a hand on her shoulder. The movement brought her chest downwards a little, but she was still on her feet.

When her eyes found the owner of the hand, she saw an arrow craved on the ground and she could tell that you had pushed her so the arrow would miss her chest.

She was flabbergasted with you. You had just saved her, and this was probably the nth time after this strange battle had begun. Not to mention how skilled you were keeping your awareness during the battle with so many enemies attacking from so many directions.

Despite the madness surrounding you, she took her time to find your eyes and they were dark, she couldn’t see the shine and mirth they usually held. The adrenaline of the fight had hooded your eyes in a way that it was almost unrecognizable, and this brought a new feeling to her heart. One that she didn’t have a name for, though she didn’t like it.

You nodded at her then resumed your set of strikes and kicks. Taking the hint, Wanda did the same. It was visible that there were far less black hooded men standing and she could only hope that her unit had survived this slaughter.

A second too late, Wanda realized an enemy striking from her right. All that she could do was to brace herself for the attack, though it never came.

Again, you had come into her rescue and the knight’s blade found yours instead of her shoulder. With your own shoulder you pushed the man far enough to make a slice movement with your weapon and seconds later the man was kneeing on the ground, lifeless.

Princess Maximoff was about to thank you for saving her life again when an arrow hit your shoulder and your face contorted with pain.

Stunned, she watched as you barely acknowledged the wound before raising a javelin from the ground with your feet, weighted it a little then threw the spear with incredible force. Her eyes tried, and failed, to track its trajectory but a second later she saw the archer falling with the piece of metal jammed into his heart.

Wanda could only blink at the speed of the last events, still it looked like she was watching it in slow motion. With a start, she realized that the fight was over and, though not far from her there were few men running away.

Death had claimed the valley as its stage.

Most of the bodies on the ground didn’t belong to their troops, gladly. But she could recognize the ones wearing crimson and silver or burgundy and gold laid to never get up again. Their bodies and souls would be part of this valley now and forever.

Raising her head, Wanda fought back the sadness trying to invade her eyes. She could and should mourn later, right now there was too much at stake and, more importantly, to process.

Only a few knew about this meeting and even fewer knew where said meeting would take place. For all that’s worth, this was a secret, yet a whole troop of bandits had ambushed them.

This wasn’t a random attack, Fury’s Valley wasn’t a common route of traders and with the ever-growing amount of snow, not even locals would use these roads. If anything, the number of attackers told her much. Common groups of bandits rarely strike with more than ten at a time, and they would never attack a Kingdom Unit. No matter their crest.

There was a traitor.

And she would find out who they were.

Wanda looked around and saw you gathering with your people, trying to help the wounded while looking for your fallen men.

The look on your face would haunt Wanda forever. The sadness was visible but the expression you held was utterly failure. You had failed your men. And Wanda had failed hers.

Then, as if life had swatted her feet from the ground, her eyes caught an image that she thought she would never be forced to see. Not far from where she was, she saw Steve’s broken form in a pool of blood laid on the cold ground.

Sir Barnes was kneeled by his side, mourning his friend and mentor and didn’t have in him the strength to look at Wanda. She understood. Her own heart was broken beyond repair.

Lord Steve Rogers, the Righteous, was like a big brother for her and Pietro. And after their father passed, Steve guided them through their grieves and taught them the most important lessons rulers should learn. As he was known, he always sought to do what was right, no matter how hard this could be.

Wanda could only cherish on those tutoring and hope that she was prepared to do the right thing. Even though she wasn’t quite sure what the right thing was anymore.

Soon, grieve was replaced in her heart by a raging fire that ignited her whole body. She hated the war, she hated that she was losing people so dear to her and there was nothing that she could do. Therefore, she embraced rage and used it as a new source of fuel.

“You!” Wanda shouted as she walked towards you, sword raised in a menace way. From the corner of her eye, she could see the reminiscing Taharrians with puzzled looks and others already preparing to protect their princess. “I hate you!”

Maria Rambeau tried to walk towards Wanda, but she was held back by you raising your hand. “This is your fault. Steve is dead because of you!” Her voice sounded broken even to her ears, but she didn’t care. She had gone to hell and back to care about how she should behave in front of subjects or in front of her enemy.

Though never really worried about how you were perceived, your patience had been gone an hour ago. You had lost good men, and there were others that could not make it through, however, Wanda Maximoff kept acting like an idiot that couldn’t see what was in front of her, clear as crystal.

“Care to enlighten me how?” You snarled at Wanda, taking the remaining steps until you stopped inches away from the tip of her blade. With your chest plate laying on the ground, to pierce your heart with her sword wouldn’t be a difficult task.

“I won’t take your sarcasms any longer!” The redhead shouted again, though her tone was a little lower than before. “Not in a time like this!” Wanda’s body shook with anger, so much so that her hand raising her sword betrayed her. And she hated it.

Against better judgment, Wanda pushed the tip of her sword into your chest. It wasn’t much, but the white tunic soon was stained with new red blood.

She was hectic and you were the face of the calmness, barely sparing a glance at the metal cutting your skin.

“It’s not sarcasm, it was a question.” Your eyes scanned hers and the Maximoff knew you were trying to understand her outburst, even though you were shattered by your own grief. “I was fighting by your side this whole time, at least four of my own people died protecting Lord Rogers, I just don’t understand your accusations, now.”

“Those man that ambushed us…” She forced her hand to push the sword a little harder, yet you didn’t complain, didn’t even flinch, sending Wanda’s nerves further in tatters. She wanted to fight her anger out, however you acted as if she wasn’t piercing you with her blade. “You hired them.”

“I’d say this is unbelievable, but you’re always too keen on making absurd assumptions, aren’t you?” You took one step towards Wanda, and she stepped back as reflex, otherwise she’d trespass her sword through your heart. “I’m tired of this nonsense. So, you either kill me right now, or you let me take care of my wounded.”

You held her eyes and Wanda felt the moment freeze before her. Though contorted with anger, your face still held beautiful features, try as she might, but Wanda couldn’t think straight with you looking at her the way you did. Try as she might, there wasn’t a single reason for you to hire mercenaries to attack them.

Although her head was a pure chaos, your eyes grounded her somehow. The purity, the certainty pouring from them crumbled her resolve and for a second, she regrated accusing you.

Lowering her sword, Wanda retreated without saying a word.

Princess Maximoff looked around but couldn’t find Romanoff anywhere. Panic started to climb up on her throat, this couldn’t be happening to her. If she loses another friend, if she loses Natasha, it’d be her fault, no one else’s.

“Dreykov!” Wanda shouted for her lieutenant, who, in turn, was shouting orders of preparing a campsite, separate the wounded for attendance and prepare the ones they lost for their burial.

“Yes, Your Highness.” Antonia Dreykov approached the nervous leader. The woman was limping, but other than that she looked fine.

“Have you seen Romanoff?” Wanda avoided adding ‘among the dead’ into her sentence. Her heart was still hoping her guardian would be alive.

“Last time I saw her, the Black Widow and Captain Danvers were chasing the men who just attacked us, Your Highness.” The woman pointed mildly in the direction she had last seen both woman run.

“Are you sure?” Wanda frowned, why would Romanoff go out of her way to chase mercenaries? Frustration plagued her heart and the princess felt too tired all of a sudden. The recent events took a toll on her, she needed to rest.

“I am, Your Highness.” Antonia nodded her head and seeing the tiredness dripping from her Commander, she offered. “There royal barracks are basically ready, Princess. Perhaps you could rest a little and I’ll send Romanoff your way as soon as she gets back?”

Maximoff looked around and saw people complying with Dreykov’s commands, she wouldn’t deny some alone time to process the recent events.

“Okay.” The redhead muttered and started to follow the lieutenant until they stopped in front of her tent. There were more guards than usual but after the ambush, it was only obvious the extra security.

Wanda shed her armor to the ground and washed her hands and face. After fetching herself a glass of wine to help ease her nerves, her feet dragged her to a makeshift sofa near a table on the corner of the improvised room.

She closed her eyes, as if the action could help her find the answers to all her questions. She was overwhelmed and didn’t know what to do or think.

Who had betrayed her? Was she wrong in accuse you? How could you be so brave even with a sword puncturing your skin? Why your somber face during the fight had bothered her?

So many questions, little to no answers.

Having let the guards aware that Romanoff and only her was allowed to disrupt her rest, Wanda wasn’t surprised when the Nat’s voice reached her ears. However, she was very relieved knowing the woman was safe and sound.

“Nat, by the gods, Antonia said you ran after the bandits.” Wanda hissed getting up to her feet.

“I did, Princess. Though Danvers and I didn’t have much luck.” Romanoff accepted the cup being offered by Wanda, her voice was rougher than usual, probably due the exertion of the fight and chase. “We only captured one, he’s in our custody.”

“And Taharr let him?” Wanda was impressed by their trust in letting them interrogate the man.

Could that mean that they were innocent indeed?

“Well, I captured him. Lady Danvers couldn’t argue against that. The others died during the fight. But considering that I only captured him because she had arrowed his thigh, I said I’d let them interrogate the man as well.”

The princess snorted at the stubbornness, an attribute accredited to Captain Lady Danvers and shared by you. Maybe all Taharrians were stubborn. Wanda, on the other hand, wasn’t one to fail with her word, and a word vowed by her unit was hers. She’d keep the deal made by Natasha.

“When will you?” The Maximoff girl felt her spirit renew, this man could give them some answers. Ones that she craved too much.

“If Your Highness agrees, I’d do it first thing in the morning.” The assassin brushed a sweated brand of her hair out of her eyes. “Tonight we’re lighting up the fire, right?”

Romanoff’s eyes were dark with grief. Lord Rogers had been by her side since she arrived at Wolfgang Castle. By then, she was perceived as a ruthless assassin, but he had seen the person underneath the title, he gave her what to fight for. A realm, a family.

And Sokovia had become her home, and the twins, though a little troublemakers, were like siblings to her. With time, people started to respect her, and Natasha developed friendship with a lot of people, many of whom had lost their lives earlier.

Therefore, her heart was grieving and begging for a revenge. She wouldn’t rest, she wouldn’t let whoever betrayed them rest, or live.

She’d learn the truth about this story, and she’d bring an end to it. Whatever it takes.

“I’ll find who tipped us off, Princess Wanda. No matter what.” She vowed to her Commander.

“Please. I want the culprit for Steve’s death.” Wanda acknowledged her protector’s words and gave her permission to do whatever she may need to uncover the truth about this whole ordeal. They were ambushed, they were a bit lost now, but that was about to change.

----

Sokovians believed that people were dust and to dust they shall return after death, therefore, the afterlife would be granted to them. Death represents part of one’s journey and their beliefs sought to respect said journey.

A huge bonfire was arranged in the middle of their battlefield would be lit by Wanda and the body of the fallen Sokovians would return to dust that night, so in the morning, their souls would be running free in the field of reeds.

Much to Wanda’s dismay, you had asked her to partake in Sokovian’s fire ceremony. The Maximoff knew that your people dealt with your deceased differently, however, here you were, not only respecting their beliefs, but also asking to add your dead soldiers into her fire.

Usually, when a person perishes in Taharr, a boat is prepared with flowers and as the boat floats with the current an ancient song of guidance is sung, after the dead is far into the waters, a member of their family shoots an arrow in flames to sink the boat consumed by fire.

Wanda always thought beautiful your culture and beliefs concerning the dead. It gave her an idea of cycle, something sacred, when everything, every energy comes from the water so after a cleanse through fire, the water shall take the strength of that person and return it to the nature.

She supposed that being so far from the seas or a river, you couldn’t give your dead the ritual as per custom, but your alternate idea still surprised her. And for that, Wanda realized just how much she respected you.

Though the solemnity last for hours, the night passed in a flash.

And with the first light in the morning, four woman strolled to where their prisoner was being held captive.

The man was afraid, fear was written all over his face as the famous assassin Natasha Romanoff, Lady Danvers, and the Princess of Sokovia and Taharr stopped right in front of him.

His eyes darted around and by your faces, he knew none of you were pleased with what happened. None of you would settle for little. His interrogation dragged for what felt like a whole day, but the Black Widow was convinced about everything he had said, eventually.

It wasn’t much. But now they’d had something to work with.

The prisoner didn’t know the name of who had hired them but showed a note with a stamp that belonged to a Hydrarr family, judging by the black and red patterns on the wax.

The note was everything they had but only read: ‘winter will be their demise’. Well, they had the note and the information that a man with northern accent hired them a moon ago.

Your head spun, trying and failing to understand what this would mean. Northern accent could mean Sokovians, Hydrarrians or even northern Asgardians that lived close to Hydrarr borders, where the accent would inevitably mix.  

How many pieces does this puzzle have?

Part 7

taglist: @californianwhiterabbit

[jakesocdump]

Jake Shepard was born and raised on Mindoir, a small border colony in the Attican Traverse. When he was sixteen, batarian slavers raided Mindoir, slaughtering his family and friends. He was saved by a passing Alliance patrol, and he enlisted with the military a few years later. Early in his military career, he found himself facing an overwhelming enemy force. He risked his own life to save his fellow soldiers and defeat the enemy despite the impossible odds. His bravery and heroism earned him medals and recognition from the Alliance fleet. He almost single-handedly repelled an attack by batarian slavers on Elysium during the Skyllian Blitz, earning the Star of Terra, the Alliance's highest honour.

Shepard had the personality of a Paragon

Shepard's class was a Vanguard, specialising in guns and biotics

Mass Effect

Shepard romanced Liara T'Soni

Shepard saved the Zhu's Hope colonists from the influence of the Thorian

Shepard saved the Rachni Queen on Noveria

Shepard talked Wrex down, and left Ashley to die on Virmire

Shepard persuaded Saren to kill himself

Shepard saved the Citadel Council, and asked Captain Anderson to represent humanity on the Council.

Mass Effect 2

Shepard romanced Miranda Lawson

All of Shepard's crew survived the Suicide Mission

Samara killed Morinth

Mordin spared Maelon

Shepard completed Grunt's rite

Shepard helped Legion reprogram the heretics

Shepard destroyed Keiji's greybox

Shepard helped exonerate Tali'Zorah

Shepard helped the factory workers, leading to Vido Santiago's escape

Shepard shut down Project Overlord

Shepard chose to warn the batarians in the Aratoht System

Mass Effect 3

Shepard romanced Kaidan Alenko

Mordin sacrificed himself, but the rest of Shepard's crew survived.

Shepard encouraged the relationship between EDI and Joker

The Genophage was cured, and Eve lived alongside Wrex

The Quarians reunited with the Geth

Shepard and his crew had a relaxed party

Shepard merged organic and synthetic life

[holedaemon]

Ass Respect 1

Last night @freakpatrol and I finished our Mass Effect 1 playthrough together. It was my first time playing, their millionth, and it was an Experience. I won't lie, I wasn't super invested in it until we got to Noveria, but once we did it kinda hit me. Let me explain.

Mass Effect 1 is a nightmare of a game. It's poorly designed, frustrating and definitely a product of the era. I think the biggest issue is accessibility. If Ari weren't there to guide me, I would have been so lost going through it and probably would have given up. Menus are confusing and there's virtually no explanation of anything. I literally did not mod any of my weapons or armor till the last stretch of the game just purely because going thru the menus sucked. Another lacking aspect were the side missions. In theory they were cool, but in practice it was a lot of

go to sparsely populated planet

find random building, go inside

oh the building is 1 of 3 different prefabs

kill enemies inside building

complete objective

go home

It was a slog. But if you didn't do them, then you're missing out on so much story, and it can affect your playthroughs of the subsequent games, so they were important. Realistically, this is excusable, the thing that really killed me was traversing the FUCKING PLANETS. THE MAKO IS A GENUINE PIECE OF SHIT. DRIVING THAT THING IS LIKE RIDING A HORSE WITH A DEGENERATIVE DISEASE. IT WAS TERRIBLE. WHAT MADE IT WORSE WERE THE PLANETS THEMSELVES. WHOEVER AT BIOWARE DECIDED THAT EVERY PLANET WAS GOING TO BE FULL OF MOUNTAINS THAT ARE IMPOSSIBLE TO SCALE IS MY ENEMY FOREVER. I WILL KILL THEM. Night before last we spent hours just doing side missions, and I guarantee a huge chunk of that time was spent trying to get to different objectives on each planet. Both of us were fucking furious by the end of it, I haven't been that pissed off at a game in YEARS. At one point I just gave up doing the optional stuff on the planets, like collecting minerals, etc.

BUT, for every bad thing about Mass Effect 1, the story, worldbuilding, and impact of decisions make up for it. The lore behind Mass Effect is so rich and expansive, it puts every other game to shame. I can't think of any other series that is so in depth about its races, characters, or universe. You've got the humans, who are just making their way into space & asserting themselves among the universe; the Turians: a militaristic avian-like race that mostly police the galaxy; Salarians: nerdy, feeble science types with short lifespans; KROGAN!!!! Badass fucking warrior race that are dwindling in numbers after being genetically sterilized & systematically purged after a burst in numbers; Quarians: AWESOME LOOKING tech-inclined nomads that travel the galaxy after being pushed out of their home system by their own creations; Geth: sentient machines created by the Quarians that evolved & rebelled against their makers; Asari: cool blue ladies; Batarians: a cool race that are unfortunately mostly only depicted as slavers & terrorists, not really seen in the game at all; Protheans: an ancient race with a technologically advanced society, that were mysteriously wiped out 50,000 years ago with barely a trace, whose technology we allegedly based our own on; Reapers: inorganic, sentient machines, and the true antagonists of the series, that reside in the void beyond the universe, waiting for their chance to return and purge the universe of all organic life; Volus, Hanar, Rachni, Elcor. ALL OF THESE COOL RACES WITH THEIR OWN QUIRKS AND MYTHOS THAT MAKE UP THIS RICH AND EXPANSIVE UNIVERSE. This is what the Elder Scrolls should have been, there's actual substance here.

Really hammering in the races making up the universe are the characters, especially the core team. My favorite members of the crew were Garrus and Wrex, I love them dearly and would protect them with my life. I chose them as my squad mates for every mission, partly because I love them, but mostly because they hate each other. Both are stoic hotheads set in their ways. Garrus is a Turian; former c-sec agent that wants out of the bureaucratic life. He's a little unsure of his path which I sympathize with. If you're nice to him, which you should be, he's a valuable ally. Wrex is a Krogan mercenary that you pick up on the citadel. He's had a tough life and likes to work alone, but you can eventually earn his trust and have him come to respect you. The part of Wrex's story that really stood out to me is when you make the choice to kill him or save him. You learn that Saren allegedly has a cure for the Genophage (the aforementioned genetic sterilization of the Krogan people) and is breeding an army of Krogan. You unfortunately have to put a stop to this. Wrex is rightfully pissed, and you can either calm him down or appease everyone else & kill him. I obviously made the choice to calm him down and save his life. I want to see him flourish. There's obviously more characters than that in the core team. For instance, Liara, the young Asari scientist that studies the Protheans and helps you gain insight on the galaxy's precursors. Who you can fuck. I fucked her. There's Tali, a Quarian on her Pilgrimage that joins your crew and helps on the ship. Kaidan and Ashley, the humans, who I didn't really give a fuck about. Ashley is a racist bitch and I absolutely let her die. Outside of your crew, there's Ambassador Udina, who sucks major ass and I hate. Captain Anderson, who punched Udina and generally rocks, I gave him the seat on the council at the end of the game. The council is another important aspect of the bureaucratic bullshit of the galaxy. I hung up on them a lot, but begrudgingly saved them at the end of the game so humans could continue to prosper and hopefully gain more respect throughout the galaxy. Saren, the "antagonist" of the game who was really nothing more than a pawn for the reapers. He was cool, and it sucks that he had to die the way he did. The point is, the characters are the lifeblood of this game and really stood out. Each having their own personality & story gave even more depth to the universe.

The last vital aspect of the game is you, and the chooses you can make. I'm a lil bitch so I went primarily paragon with my choices. I was mean when I wanted to be but mostly favorable to everyone I met. The coolest part is that this can change the later games. You can take your character with you into the 2nd and 3rd games and your choices in the previous adventures shape how the subsequent games are played. I think that's really unique, even by today's standards, and I'm really excited to see how it plays out in the later games. Especially for characters like Wrex. That's why we did the side missions, because the people you meet on the side can pop back up in 2 & 3. It's a really cool system that I wish more games worked with.

All in all, cool game, awesome experience. A nightmare in accessibility & game play, but makes up for it with the story, choice making, characters, and lore. After we finished, we immediately started 2 and I'm already loving it so much more. The world has been expanded upon, the accessibility is better, the game play is more streamlined, it's a better experience thus far and I'm excited to talk more about it when I finish it. Big thanks to my partner Ari (@freakpatrol) for introducing me to the series, playing with me & guiding me through it. It's really nice to play a story-based singleplayer game again after years of not. Okay that's my review rant. Thanks, bye.

[lonepower]

@curlyparmesan replied to your post “”:

Oh shoot immediately saw a femshep and gasped at prettiness. What class what class?

​:D Thank you!!!!!! she was my gateway drug for Heavily Modded Custom Player Characters and I've been tinkering with her off and on uninterrupted since 2012, so I'm always tickled when someone likes her (＾ω＾ )

And she's a (heavily homebrewed) adept! I played sentinel on my first ME1 playthrough and it was great, SUPER versatile, and then I was dismayed at how much more useless it got in 2 and 3 lol. swapping powers around is a little harder in 2 - the "Set SFXPowerCustomActionBase IsBonusPower" command resets constantly in 2, while only resetting on save/load in 3, which means that I can get rid of the useless biotic grenade and replace it with Charge in 3 and I only have to remember to run the command on startup instead of Every Time There's A Loading Screen. (are those words not gibberish to anyone but me?) so she's a little glass-cannon-ier in 2 than in 3, where she is an extremely op'd one-woman wrecking ball.

(note that despite being my favorite series* ever ever ever, it is notably not on the extremely short list of "games whose combat I like enough to play on anything other than Idiot Weenie Baby Difficulty". its casual difficulty is genuinely still too much of a pain for me. the combat in mass effect sucks absolute ass and I stand by that.)

*horizon zero dawn does ultimately eclipse (🥁💥) it as my favorite single standalone game. we don't talk about the sequel.

also, for completeness: earthborn** / war hero, romances Garrus (obviously. seeing a Cool Alien and finding out you could kiss him was 100% of the reason i first played it. she would be absolutely dtf w/ wrex if bioware wasn't COWARDS though), renegon (ride or die for her crew, can't be assed with politeness to anyone else, will always do the right thing eventually but will bitch about it the entire time), destroy MEHEM ending :3

**she was originally a colonist, but earthborn works better for her Extremely Stupid Crossover Backstory that i've built up in my head. look, noveria was basically just the plot of aliens, you can't give me that AND lance henriksen and expect me NOT to run wild with it.

[dragonflight203]

Mass Effect 2 replay, continuing exploration:

Haskins

-Hahne Kedar Facility – Yet another planet that looks like Earth. Bioware, I’m begging you: At least try.

-In Mass Effect 1, exposition was often given by VI. For example, the HQ VI on Feros that the Krogan commander argued with or the core VI on Noveria that told you how to fix things.

In Mass Effect 2, exposition is often provided by computer logs.

I’m sure it’s cheaper (no voice acting!) and it lets the writers get creative, but I’d like to see some VIs as well.

-Bioware did the creepiness factor well in these missions. They play out like horror movies.

-Another good mission for a vanguard. Charging until I made it into the door past the mechs went well. It played out much more smoothly than prior playthroughs.

Normandy

-Email from Kate Bowman. She assumes Shepard’s death was actually them going undercover. Reasonable assumption.

Salahiel

-Ekuna – This planet is baffling. If it’s in the Terminus Systems, why does the Council decide who settles it?

The Council is not supposed to have any authority in the Terminus Systems, that’s why they’re the Terminus Systems and not C-Space.

Putting that aside and assuming that the Council does have authority, I can understand why they acted like they did. Letting the quarians settle the planet after illegally doing so would set bad precedent. Considering how precious garden worlds are, the competition for them must be fierce – I imagine who has the right to settle what world is reviewed by other species in C-Space closely.

Frankly, it also makes more sense for it to go to the elcor, considering the heavy gravity.

I know this world is often used as an example of the Council treating quarians poorly, but I’d have to know more to accept that. The quarians did settle it without permission. What happens when other species settle planets without permissions? Have the quarians petitioned for other worlds and been denied more frequently than other species? What is the criteria the Council uses to decide who gets dibs on what world?

Sahrabarik

-This is the system you start the game in once you complete Freedom’s Progress. It includes Urdak, a brown dwarf.

Notably, despite using the term repeatedly in the planet description it never explains what a brown dwarf is. I suppose it’s saving that for you to ask TIM later.

Fathar

-Korat – In 2047, slavers grabbed all the children on the planet. It’s implied they just grabbed children, since that’s all that’s mentioned in the description.

Why? Even if they had a special order for children (and let’s not think of the implications of that) surely it would have been more pragmatic to grab everyone. They could sell the children to those buyers and the adults to someone else.

-Lorek – Originally this was an asari colony. The batarian Hegemony annexed it in 1913. Terminus warlords have repeatedly failed to claim it for themselves.

Again: How does this work? The Terminus Systems are not part of C-Space. That’s why they have a different name. So what is an asari colony doing here?

Considering how often this is coming up, my conclusion is that the separation between C-Space and the Terminus Systems that ME1 abided by was dropped in ME2. The Terminus Systems are now under Council jurisdiction, but in practice their authority is weak and inconsistent.

So in other words, C-Space is the “good” side of the tracks where order is maintained, and the Terminus Systems are the “bad” side of the tracks that are technically part of the same government body but the police are rarely seen.

-N7 Lost Operative Mission – Shockingly, it’s once again an Earth-like world.

-So the data Eclipse has proves that Cerberus was involved in the rachni experiments. How does Eclipse even know about them?

I suppose they would have made it to the rumor mill by now, given the number of folks that crewed the original Normandy and the squad of Alliance marines that fended off waves of them on Nepmos. As they say, two can keep a secret if one is dead.

Still, you’d think there’d be more noise about it. Rachni are the boogeyman of Mass Effect; everyone is terrified of them coming back. I’d expect there to be more mass hysteria at just the possibility, never mind it being true.

-The Eclipse are tidy. There’s no blood in the interrogation room, despite the body still being there.

-Interesting that giving the data to Cerberus is neutral, but keeping it for yourself is renegade. ME2 continues to push that Cerberus isn’t that bad, really.

What’s strange is that you can give the data to the Alliance. Do you contact them directly or do you go through Edi? If the latter, I’m surprised that none of the chains on her prevent her from sending it, or at least giving a copy to Cerberus as well.

-At least the Alliance (and Bioware) have an excuse for it not being relevant in ME3: Anderson says it will take years to decode it.

[spaceouttatime]

Pspsps okay oc kwestshuns

For iterius:

💥 COLLISON - what emotions do they have trouble dealing with?

🥞 PANCAKE - what is their comfort breakfast?

🙊 SPEAK-NO-EVIL - what is something your oc will refuse to stay quiet about?

For sylvan:

🤥 LYING - are they good liars? do they have tells to show they're lying?

🍧 SHAVED ICE - do they still have any objects from their childhood? what significance does it have to them? what would their reaction be if they lost it?

🙉 HEAR-NO-EVIL - what is the worse thing your oc could hear from someone?

And for viktor:

💢 ANGER - what are some habits they have that will take some getting used to?

☕️ HOT BEVERAGE - do they prefer hot or cold drinks? what is their favourite drink?

🙈 SEE-NO-EVIL - whats a side of your oc that they don't want to show other people?

Mwah, enjoy <3

Thank you for the character-building questions, dear! (and for letting me steal that emoji ask meme in general lmao)

For Iterius:

COLLISON - what emotions do they have trouble dealing with?

Iterius struggles with vulnerability. For most of his life, he's outwardly repressed most emotions because they've either not been useful in whatever mission he's got himself set on completing or threatened the identity he's built as cold, calculative, and independent. - In reality, he struggles a lot with the grief, anxiety, and guilt that comes with being his father's son and trying to live up to his legacy. Aumius Ascensus was a decorated general in the turian fleet--a master marksman and leader. And while Iterius did end up becoming a Spectre for the Council later in life, for most of his adult years, he'd either been in the Cabals or doing mercenary work for whatever cause he found to be worthy. - His biotics developed late, and part of him still feels like they ruined his chance of leading the life he was supposed to. He'd been pulled from the Navy because of them, and he remains bitter over the fact that he'd likely disappointed Aumius simply by straying for the path they'd both set for him before the elder Ascensus had passed. Iterius had had potential to follow in his footsteps. - Not only that, but he'd ended up falling for a human, Viktor Lunetta, during the early years after first contact. Even now, after the war with the Reapers, there's a stigma against that sort of relationship. He struggles with a mix of sorrow and outrage about it all, but there's also this underlying feeling of guilt that, like when his biotics developed, he dishonored his father's memory. - But mostly, when it comes to Viktor, Iterius still struggles with the emotional vulnerability part. They care about one another a lot, but they're both very damaged people. And they're still learning how to heal.

PANCAKE - what is their comfort breakfast?

Pretty much the turian equivalent of an omelet! I've headcanoned that turians are primarily carnivorous but supplement their diet with fruits and nuts. He likes to add dextro-amino cheeses and fried meats similar to our bacon; his mum taught him how to cook early on, and he's not half bad. Iterius tends to stay on the lookout for any exports from Syglar, his home planet, as it is home to species, and therefore foods, not found anywhere else in the galaxy. His favorite type of eggs to use for omelets are from a large, ostrich-like bird native to Syglar, and the yolks are blue!

SPEAK NO EVIL - what is something your oc will refuse to stay quiet about?

Ascensus is an avid, AVID hater of the cold. Syglar is hot. Equatorial Palaven, during the years he trained there, was hot. And turians in general are sensitive to the cold. When he's assigned to travel to anywhere cold enough for it to snow, no matter how stoic and resilient he usually is on the job, the poor guy WILL be complaining the entire time. - Thankfully Viktor has caught on to this and tries to pack extra blankets if they're going to Noveria. All I'll say is that the captains' quarters on the Twelfth Labor has an absurd number of pillows and blankets.

For Sylvan (my shep <3):

LYING - are they good liars? do they have tells to show that they're lying?

He's a decent liar when it comes to important things, but he hates doing it. It's another reason Shepard hates playing diplomat, but, y'know, sometimes stakes are high and 'I punch things, not play politician' doesn't cut it. Thankfully, he doesn't have to do it all that often--he's one of those people whose emotions are pretty obvious if you know him well and get a good look at his eyes. They're his big tell, I guess. Very expressive. - Oh, but he can't tell a white lie for shit. He gets all awkward about it; the crew has and will continue to make jokes about how bad he is at it. Sylvan's also chronically dehydrated, so it's a good thing that all Chakwas has to do is ask him if he's drank water that day to get all the info she needs, whether he gives a straight answer or not.

SHAVED ICE - do they still have any objects from their childhood?what significance does it have to them? what would their reaction be if they lost it?

Shep had a good childhood on Mindoir: security, love, and a future. His mother and father were loving in that almost classic kind of way, even if they were a little overprotective, and he had two siblings, one of whom was his twin. - He lost everything in the slaver raids when he was 16. Everything besides the four-leaf clover his sister, Lorrie, had picked for him when they were little. Technically, the actual preserved plant was lost to time on Mindoir, but he has a tattoo on the back of his neck signifying it. After Cerberus rebuilt him, he had to get it redone. Garrus came with him, actually.

HEAR-NO-EVIL - what is the worst thing your oc could hear from someone?

Hm. I suppose something to do with his gender identity. Sylvan Shepard is a transgender man, and while I've taken liberties to assume people are more accepting in the 2180s, it would make him extremely uncomfortable to have that be public knowledge. Shep's a private person, and while he's comfortable with who he is, he'd much rather have the power to decide who he decides to trust with that information.

For Viktor:

ANGER - what are some habits they have that will take some getting used to?

Viktor is somewhat of a morning person. And by that, I mean to say that no matter what time he's waking up, he's going to get ready for the day. And while that's a fantastic trait as a pilot, it's not as fantastic a trait when his sleep-deprived biotic partner would much rather continue to rest in his nest of blankets at 6 in the morning. - Yes, turians need less sleep than humans. Nap Georg (Iterius) is an outlier and should not be counted.

HOT BEVERAGE - do they prefer hot or cold drinks? what is their favorite drink?

He's 100% a hot drink person. Despite being a morning person, Vik is also a caffeine addict. He likes his coffee black and bitter, and as long as it's better than the shitty ration coffee, it's good enough for him. - There's this place on the Citadel that sells coffee beans imported from Earth, and he never passes up the opportunity to snag a few bags, much to his blood pressure's dismay. Back during basic, he used to pay a guy off to get his unwanted rationed coffee. Desperate times.

SEE-NO-EVIL - what's a side of your oc that they don't want to show other people?

Viktor Lunetta can't stay in one place too long. His whole life has been moving from one spot to the next, whether back on Earth or traversing the stars during his Alliance days. He's restless, and sometimes it feels as if he's searching for something. Part of him worries he'll never retire--as long as there's a ship to fly and a bullet in his gun, he can't see himself settling down anywhere. Not really. - At least, it seems his employer doesn't plan on settling anytime soon, either. Their ever-changing crew and shared quarters are enough a home to Viktor.

[famewolf]

oh wow the first Mass Effect does appear to be pretty short. I'm going to move my focus to completing a fair few systems first before going on to start Noveria

[nsewell]

“So,” Kaidan says, handing Reese a frothing mug of coffee which she accepts benignly and cups within her hands. “Of all the skills you’re lauded for on the extranet, hotwiring a transport was left out of the scuttlebut, Shepard.”

He'd noticed that little stunt back on Noveria, then. She takes her time answering, bringing the rim to her mouth and savoring that first sip to clear the grogginess of early morning on the Normandy. Well, morning by Citadel Standard Time. It's always spun her head a little to think about, space a timeless vacuum with no horizon to gauge the hour, indifferent to the constructs that lifeforms try to impose on it.

Yeah, it's too early to comprehend without a hefty dose of caffeine. She takes another sip, and damn, that’s good. Whatever they're saying about her on the extranet, his bio should highlight that the LT could make a mean cup of coffee. 

She leans her shoulder to the wall and crosses her ankles, adopting a haphazard posture. “They like to brush that one under a neat and tidy phrase - Commander Shepard had a troubled youth," she says. 

He nods dismissively and there's a part of her that's always been grateful for the complete lack of judgement he's given her past. No probing, no condemnation. Just a comment here and there about how resilient she was to have pulled herself out of the gutter.

“Sure we’ve all heard about you running with the Reds," he says, "but I’ve gotta say, growing up as a squeaky clean Navy brat, I've always had trouble visualizing what exactly that entailed.”

It quirks her mouth to think about him posted up in his crew bunk at night, imagining her escapades with the gang. She cants her head to the side. “Ah. You want all my dirty secrets, then?”

He rises to the obvious bait. "Oh, uh - not what I...no ma'am." She watches him flounder over the top of her mug. It's always far too easy, but she'll put him out of his misery faster than she normally does.

"Anderson ever regail you with the time he and I first met?" 

He recovers quickly and shakes his head, leaning towards her in visible interest. “This I’ve gotta hear.”

"I tried to steal his transport," she says straight-faced. Kaidan stares at her, and then barks a laugh that he has to stifle into his coffee. She grins and lets him compose himself for a second time. 

"Hey, I don't fiddle with the underside of the Mako just for shits and giggles, Lieutenant. I was a mechanic back with the Reds - in the uh, loosest sense of the term. I'd fix up our vehicles from time to time, but my main job was to steal expensive rides and sell them on the black market for jacked up prices."

The raised eyebrow that he levels looks impressed, not critical. "Sounds lucrative. I'm guessing the Captain had a transport you couldn't refuse." 

She nods. "He was on shore leave. Had rented some souped up model to drive the coast and just happened to park it in my line of sight. I never would've tried it if I knew he was Alliance, but I guess it worked out in my favor." She taps the N7 insignia on her jacket with a pride that’s only half in jest. "He wasn't even angry, you know. Just cut the alarm and laughed at my stupid expression." 

"The Captain is a good man,” Kaidan comments, smiling in earnest. 

"He is,” she agrees. “And I was a rough kid. But he was patient with me - pushed me to do better, be better. He still won’t let me drive any of his transports though.”

Seconds pass and over the hum of the Normandy’s drive core, she barely makes out Kaidan’s sheepishly posed response. “From the way you handle the Mako, that’s probably for the best, Commander.” 

It’s Reese’s turn to laugh. 

[lyricsaboutcats]

"Ambush, huh? I need to get my cowardly bastard scanner fixed."

"Temper, temper, Shepard."

During development of Mass Effect 1, Noveria’s Aleutsk Valley had several encounters and enemies that were eventually left on the cutting room floor. 

This particular set of leftover dialogue, where Shepard is ambushed in Aleutsk’s tunnels after either a tunnel door or the Mako itself is sabotaged, was probably intended to be a cutscene with a few dialogue choices for the player. The assassins were sent by Saren and Shepard’s renegade responses to them are a highlight.

----

(Sources: ice25_trig09_assassin_enc,snd_ice25_tunnels.upk, Mass Effect PS3 Edition. Spliced with Audacity)

[shizuu-chann]

Who do you save on the Archon's ship and why: Raeka or Drack's scouts?

I know this is a volatile topic, and there's a lot of conflicting opinions, but I'm curious. Myself, I always save Raeka, and Drack's response to that has always been frustrating.

Of course I feel for Drack, and I completely understand why he's pissed and hurt. But I hate hate hate that you can't make the argument of "It's not about krogan versus salarians, never was. It's about scouts versus Pathfinder. and civilians" Especially when, if you save the scouts, he tells you straight up that tough choices have to be made and to brush this off, ultimately this was a victory and you slapped the Archon in the face.

My reasons for why I save Raeka:

1. First and most important, in my opinion, she's a Pathfinder, and an OG Pathfinder. I know some people like if all the Pathfinders are newbies who all learn together and whatnot, and while that's a nice thing to romanticize, pragmatically it makes more sense to have one of the originals. For multiple reason, too. Raeka can offer guidance, answer questions if they arise, and she knows all the protocols and how to make the hard choices. 2. Raeka is an expert biologist. If there's going to be any form of countering exaltation, etc., she's one of the best people to help with that. Are there other expert biologists in the Initiative? Most likely, but having another one who was responsible for saving an entire planet's biodiversity is nothing to sneeze at. 3. The salarian ark's population was decimated. I know people like to argue that more salarians came to Andromeda than krogan, but the salarians still ended up in a worse situation than the krogan. Out of all the arks, I believe it's the salarians that lost the most people, including most or all of their leadership. They also reproduce much slower than krogan. With the krogan and Nexus docs working on reversing or reducing the genophage--and Kesh having an entire clutch of viable eggs, if you choose to save the scouts--the krogan will be just fine. It's probably a ways into the future, true, but brings it back around to the fact that krogan live SO much longer. They have plenty of time to kick the genophage in the teeth and have babies. Salarian lives are short, they don't lay nearly as many eggs, and producing a new, viable population with the remaining salarians is crucial. 4. The writers did a piss poor job of making me give a damn about the scouts. I care about them, of course, because I adore the krogan and who WANTS to leave them in kett hands? But these scouts are only mentioned a few times in passing! I don't know them, they're not brought up on that mission until the very end (like, I know it's supposed to be spur of the moment or something, but it just feels cheap), and after Raeka helped create diversions and wanted to save civilians that she found? I'm sorry, but I'm helping Raeka. Drack never asks you to help look for them, not like Wrex does in ME3 with the rachni shit--and even then, I save the Queen I released on Noveria because, again, pragmatically it makes more sense. Both are unfortunate, difficult decisions that I hate making, but in terms of survival, there are very clear answers as to which decisions are best, in my opinion. 5. Finally, those krogan are scouts. Scouts know that there's a possibility that they won't return from the mission. Raeka made a bad call, and she owns that, but I don't think one bad call means she should die. One could argue that the scouts made a bad decision and got caught, but we really don't know how or where they were caught, just that they were. And sure, there's no guarantee a Pathfinder will return from a mission, either, that they know what they're getting into, too. But after all the shit that went down on the Archon's ship, I still feel it's more important to save a Pathfinder and the civilians she went to rescue than a group of scouts.

I really wish I could save both. I hate binary choices, and I hate that Drack can't seem to see the decision as anything other than salarians versus krogan--which it's just not. Not for me or how I choose to play Ryder. If you choose to save the krogan because you enjoy Drack's special, exclusive "mission" after you beat the game, I get that. I've saved the scouts before, just to do something different and get that mission, but I felt terrible doing it. It felt like the wrong decision, one made with pure emotions as the motivator and not thinking about what would benefit everyone, yes everyone, who came from the Milky Way.

I really do dislike the "poor krogan, poor krogan" undertones to that mission. I help them out in every other scenario, too. I give Morda the Remnant drive core, I nail Spender and exile him because he's a little bitch, I help Drack save the seed vault. I'm sorry it upset him that I chose to save a Pathfinder and some civilians (I cannot stress enough that they're civilians, who didn't sign up for this shit and woke up to terror) over four random scouts, but for the writers to paint that mission's end as either you care about the krogan or you don't is just stupid.

[clericofshadows]

(1 out of 3 profiles, ask away if you want to know more about my canon shep!)

REGIS LUCIAN SHEPARD (ME1 PROFILE)

Gender: Male, uses He/Him pronouns

Sexuality: Gay

Love Interest: Kaidan Alenko (with preservice history)

Background: Spacer (But has a very distant relationship with his mother)

Psych Profile: Ruthless

Morality: 80% Renegade, 20% Paragon

Class: Sentinel with Sniper specialization

Combat Style: Strike first, strike quickly, fight dirty.  Finds every advantage possible.  Holds the line with his sniper, providing good backup to his crew.

Has L2 implants (deemed L2m for his specific model, he has smell triggered migraines and intense bouts of insomnia)

Birthday: February 9, 2151 (32)

Mission Details under the cut

Order of Missions: Feros, Noveria, Virmire, Therum

Major Decisions: 

Saved Rachni

Saved all Colonists

Held Back Alliance Fleet

Saved Kaidan on Virmire + Kirrahe

Chose to not recruit Garrus

Completed Tali's and Wrex's “Loyalty Missions”

Wrex was talked down on Virmire

Killed Balak without hesitation.

Anderson as council representative

Minor Decisions:

Never hung up on the council

Completed all assignments

Paragon Mission: Saved all civilians

Renegade Mission: Killed Darius without hesitation, knowing damn well why they sent him for this mission

Sent Major Kyle into Alliance custody.

OTHER INFO:

Why did he not recruit Garrus?

Read his file after getting the Spectre position, chose to not recruit him after seeing his inability to follow the regulations imposed by C-Sec.  Sees him as a rouge agent and does not want that on his team.

Why do Liara’s mission last?

Sees more importance in assisting the human colony and following Benezia’s footsteps.  Virmire seemed more urgent than Therum, but there were still some loose ends.  If he had all the information he needed, he would’ve skipped her mission, seeing her as a comparatively not useful asset compared to the priority of the other missions.

[springagainafter]

When talking with Gianna ("Parasini, Noveria Internal Affairs"), going Renegade and basically going "I don't care about your problem" understandably gets you the snippy but funny response of "Yes, yes. Fate of billions and all that. I couldn't possibly understand how important your work is."

With Paragon ("I need Qui'in's garbage pass to complete my mission") Gianna just says "You help my investigation, I'll provide whatever you need. Favor for a favor" and doesn't make the fate-of-billions comment.

Even through neutral ends up being the line where Shepard sounds the most inclined to do what Gianna wants - "I'll like to help you, Miss Parasini, but I need Qui'in's garage pass. It's vital to my mission" - that also gets the snippy fate-of-billions response like Renegade does.

A little odd. Wonder if the Paragon/neutral options for Shepard got swapped, because it seems like the "I'll like to help" option should be the Paragon one and also the one that doesn't get the dismissive fate-of-billions response.