#and to my mutuals-GUESS WHO IS PLAYING MASS EFFECT AGAIN?

[aceghosts]

Mass Effect (Legendary Edition) (1/X)

(PLEASE DO NOT TAG AS FEMSHEP!)

[possumteeths]

Self Promo Fic Game: tagged by @some27-url 😚

Rules: We would like to ask you to recommend us 3 of YOUR fics: 1 that is "most popular" and 2 that are "hidden gems”!

Im gonna use all fallout fics because honestly when I think of my favorite things, my brain jumps to fallout lol.

WARNING! These are all rated E, I’m writing filth okay!

Most “Popular”: I guess my nasty vulpes stories lol?

Since he’s such a niche character this series made me a buncha fanfic mutuals and friends haha. I’m glad other bitches wanna see this dude suffer hornilly lol. Im counting this as most popular only amongst the niche fanbase of vulpes girlies who’s favorite thing is torturing him lmfao

Hidden Gem 1: My raider gangbang smutl!!

I’m honestly really surprised how nice people are when commenting on this! Its literally an angry milf getting railed by 15 idiot prettyboy raiders and for an oc/ oc type of story I was pretty prepared for nobody to read this at all? I love this story, its funny and surprisingly cute. I had so much fun designing all these idiot raiders and giving them all their own nasty habits. I got tired of reading stories about like the whole raider sexual coercion type of vibe so I decided to make a story where its a lady coercing raiders to do her bidding and giving them a crumb of pussy in exchange. Shes an icon, I love her!

Hidden Gem 2: Okay hear me out, a plucky wasteland adventurer x a lonely fishman monster who’s got two dicks

This story is SO fun haha and I just wrapped it up. Its like a kitschy porny old pulp fiction novel. Its inspired by that comic you can find in fo4 the “Astoundingly awesome tales! Attack of the fishmen!” The wasteland needs more cryptids like cmon theres radioactive hell monsters everywhere there HAS to be something kinda sexy looking ok. Anyways this was completely self indulgent and once again I was totally surprised that people read this at all? I cant imagine people are searching “Female Sole Survivor x Mirelurk King” so therefore i’m counting this as a hidden gem lmao. If you read this please mind the tags, its got some freaky shit going on! It ends cute though, I refuse to write anything besides happy endings!

tagging friends that I can remember who write fallout: @gaeadene @istalkpeople @ladyflaggermus Anybody else who wants to do this pls play! Mass effect or dragon age peeps are super welcome to participate and tag me so I can see you hyping urself up!!

[chibimyumi]

what do you think of BOC ep1?

Doesn't it feel like the repetition of the many failures of the trio idiots, and the perfection of Sebastian, the butler? More or like the 1st chapter of BB manga or 1st episode of S1?

Dear Anon,

💖 I like BOC episode 1 a lot. It was admittedly not an impressive episode, but unlike 1st episodes of most anime, BOC's didn't need to draw in a new audience and impress everyone enough to stay. With BOC (being aired in the middle of the night), the target audience is one that already knew Kuro to be worth their time. Therefore episode 1 only needed to be an introduction to the axis of the show; the kidnapping case. Since it fulfilled that purpose excellently, it's an excellent episode 1 in my opinion.

Let’s unpack this episode. (*´▽｀*)ノ

"Just a repetition of the trio idiots"?

Ah, I partially agree with you. I do think the first episode is a showcasing of the trio idiots' failures in juxtaposition of Sebastian's perfection. However, I also think the first episode has more legitimacy than just going: "OMG Sebas, kyun💗", because for the Circus Arc this display of the trio's incompetence is functional. This is in stark contrast with most other adaptations of Kuro and in the beginning of the manga, which were little more than glorifications of Sebas.

The trio's incompetence display plays a key role for the series, because this image given to the audience is the same image the Circus Member would have had of the only remaining staff guarding the Phantomhive estate. I believe that this element of surprise is part of the Phantomhive strategy; intruders can't prepare themselves for 3 human war machines if they don't know of them. This is also reflected in what I read to be Sebas' main M.O. as described here, and now in retrospect it makes sense that it had been Sebas who recruited Bard and Meyrin.

This surprise that the Phantomhive servants are actually talented private soldiers is also not just there to "outsmart the audience, jokes on you!!" It showcases how well-organised the Phantomhive household is under Ciel and Sebas, under the same main strategy: "play with everyone's non-suspicion."

Indeed, with the first episode having shown how Sebas alone can handle any mundane housekeeping task, one is invited to question "why hire such fools in the first place for these jobs?" And the answer is clear now: "there was no need, and they were not hired for 'these jobs'." They were hired for the jobs of private soldiers, just put under guise of maid, chef and gardener, respectively. Of course they wouldn't be good at their not-jobs!

Potent introduction to the protagonists

Another reason I think episode 1 of BOC works well is because it introduces its two protagonists very effectively. The surface checklists of Sebas and Ciel are of course ticked, but it also does more than just that: episode 1 exhibits the mutual bickering between master and servant, Ciel's testing personality, and Sebas' passive-aggression.

When master and servant were walking down the corridor for example, Ciel told Sebas he "was not looking forward to it". Sebas however, interpreted it as his master was talking about the meeting with Brandel. That is quite telling for the way Sebas' brain works, because the demon consistently works only with very clear, transparent messages. If someone does not convey clearly what they mean, Sebas will have no choice but to guess.

It then turned out Ciel was actually talking about the dancing lesson, and Sebas then says: "I see. Do you mean to say that you wish to demonstrate your 'staggering waltz' to the Lady Elizabeth?" Defeated, Ciel only replies: "you snide bastard."

This conversation is likewise very characteristic of these two. Here again Sebas is interpreting, because it is unclear to him what exactly his master wants him to do with this information. Was he simply complaining? Or was he hinting for Sebas to cancel class? (Just pay attention to how much people "communicate" only implicitly through hints. For Sebas this "code of communication" must be as consistent as guesswork.) In Ciel's dismayed reply "you snide bastard", we get a hint that Sebas might not have been too wrong in his interpretation either, because it clearly touched a nerve. Had he been wrong, then Ciel would undoubtedly not have given Sebas the satisfaction of letting him know his comment hit something, and instead simply corrected his butler like he did about Brandel. This back-and-forthing is in my opinion an innocent but excellent taster of their toxic dynamic.

Potent introduction to the series nature

Another thing this episode does well is how it represented what this series is in its core; a comical dark fantasy. When Brandel was convinced that his assassination attempt had succeeded, he boldly hid himself under the table laughing, and when he emerged from underneath it was just total peace. I really giggled at the anti-climax and secondhand embarrassment, it was SO GOOD.

Then when Sebas congratulated Brandel for winning La fève, it was just so casually macabre, I loved it!! I really loved the skin-crawling feeling of Sebas having done a mass-murder, and just casually breaking it to Brandel like the most trivial thing. Because it WAS the most trivial thing to Sebas.

Once again we see just how terrifying the Phantomhive household is, what the "Phantomhive Hospitality" means, and what "Phantomhive" means.

When Sebas crowned Brandel I really loved his mirth at the man's terror. And when Ciel revealed his contract eye saying: "do you have any idea why nobody has spoken of how the Watchdog inflicts punishment? It is because dead men tell no tales." it was so bone-chilling, it was amazing. In my opinion it was a very effective way to impart "old information" to viewers, without it feeling like: "exposition, exposition, exposition".

Conclusion

So yes, though the first episode of BOC is not really impressive on first glance, it gives the audience a lot to unpack and understand what this series will be about.

The first episode effectively disclosed the universe's law: The Queen's Watchdog is relentless with "Phantomhive hospitality", made possible through his strategy and the demon butler's powers

It constructively introduced the character dynamic of the two protagonists: an unconventional master-servant relationship with back-and-forthing.

It practically sets up an image about the idiot servants, which is not a lie, but does paint a different picture of the full truth.

And finally, it faithfully shows the audience the atmosphere of the universe: a comical and macabre world where atrocious crimes are trivial to our protagonists from Hell.

In short; as an introductory episode for BOC, it's more than successful in my opinion. The episode was written by Yana herself, so naturally it understands the source material well. Yes, it's indeed not a very flashy or impressive opening, but for those who are interested, I do recommend giving this episode another investigatory watch rather than a passive watch.

I hope it had been an interesting read ^v^

[lesbianashleywilliams]

I was indirectly tagged by @amaralesbian to do one of these and since i’m gaining followers now i might as well lmao

rules: answer these questions and tag some blogs you are contractually obligated to get to know better. (i’m also indirectly tagging anyone that wants to do this)

name: kimberly

star sign: cancer

height: 5′0″ / 152 cm

time: 11:26 am eastern daylight time

birthday: june 28

favorite bands/artists: koda kumi, takanori nishikawa, ayumi hamasaki, utada hikaru, namie amuro, miliyah kato, the GazettE...catch me in my room decomposing to the sound of 2000/2010s jpop!

last movie: dead apple A G A I N lmfaooooo

last show: 90 day fiance which...i don’t know what they doin rn but i’m still obligated to watch this season since one of the americans is from the town i grew up in

when did i create this blog: november 2016 but this is my third account since 2010...i kinda wanna remake but i will not put my moots through that again

what i post: video games, idols, animanga, chronic illness shit...i might even make something once in a while...

last thing i googled: “css frosted glass effect”

other blogs: no side-blogs because they all end up dead and if you’re not a long-ago mutual you’ll just have to guess my old urls <3

do i get asks: not that often and i know it’s because i have anon disabled...sorry but there’s too many clowns on this site

following: 234...i really should clean that out though since up to half of those are inactive

average hours of sleep: anywhere from 4 to 14+. who knows? that’s the fun!

instruments: clarinet in middle and early high school...then i got lazy and stopped keeping up with morning rehearsals

what i’m wearing: peach nightdress

dream job: i wanted to be a japanese interpreter/teacher like my cousin...and then everything went to shit

dream trip: #1 is going back to japan for more than a week this time. also my biological mom and her cousins are going to london AGAIN to see the saints play and I can’t go...AGAIN!!!!!!!!!!

nationality: us american...don’t move here

favorite song: right now it’s sparkling (chungha)...all time is probably the entire JAPONESQUE album (koda kumi)...yes the whole album

last book i’ve read: STORMBRINGER someone pls talk to me about stormbringer i’m so lonely... also got fifteen this week and really need to start it since the two go together. manga-wise i’m reading through jujutsu kaisen and chainsaw man right now

top 3 fictional universes i’d like to live in: watatsumi island (genshin) is my dream locale, along with the citadel (mass effect) when the reapers arent fucking it up

[meggannn]

i'm interested in hearing your thoughts on garrus being shoe-horned into the best friend role if you want to talk about it!

I may not be able to talk about it as much as some people who are super Garrus-critical, but yes I can try!

this really becomes a problem in ME3 more than the other games. basically my understanding of Garrus’s writing in ME3 is that they were well aware that of the fact that he was a fan-favorite, and didn’t want to threaten that, so they made it his crux. they took most of the fandom’s feelings for Garrus and decided to reflect that in Shepard’s relationship with Garrus, but by doing this, they basically ended up pretending a relationship had been there throughout ME1-2 that existed in some player’s heads. of course, Mass Effect is an RPG (well, sort of) so in theory... your best friend could be whoever you want to be, so with that in mind, it’s a little strange for a dev team to go “your best friend is this one character and we will write all of his scenes around that assumption.” unless they really want to play up the fanservice, I guess.

when he’s introduced in ME1, people joke about how they would never not recruit him, but it is a possibility—you could run through the entire game having only met Garrus in the Citadel Tower and never spoken to him again—in which case by meeting him again in ME2, it is a little strange to see that guy you barely remember from the Citadel in the last game show up, but not entirely unwelcome, because at least you, like, recognize him. it’s a little odd how you banter like old friends by making fun of his scars, but what is straight-up bizarre is how in the next game, ME3, Garrus talks about how he was there with you fighting Reapers from the beginning. of course, not a lot of people would specifically go out of their way to avoid recruiting Garrus in ME1, and very few people probably naturally avoided him standing by the elevator in ME1 (which is the only way to not recruit him if you don’t find him in Dr. Michele’s clinic), so the odds of someone not recruiting him in ME1 are low unless they intended to, but it’s still possible.

come ME2, I think they chose to forget that. a few lines have changed in 2 if you don’t recruit him in 1, but not many. remember in ME1, Garrus was an optional squaddie, who had an optional side quest, and his relationship with Shepard there was very much superior/subordinate, or as some people interpret it, more mentor-like. the most personal they get is when they talk about their jobs, the difficulties they face making moral choices, a bit about their families, and Spectrehood. it’s a nice introduction to Garrus’s character but the lines are drawn pretty clear between their roles; by the end of ME1, given the canon dialogue, the closest I’m personally willing to believe of their relationship from helping him deal with Saleon is “subordinate I am fond of,” or post-Saren after Garrus leaves the Normandy, “ally I can call on later.”

and then Shepard dies and is gone for two years. by ME2, when you meet up with him again, I actually find this jump from “subordinate” to “ally/friend” works for my Shepard, but it might not for people who never really engaged with Garrus or even liked him on the SR-1, or those who weren’t thrilled with the idea of him... basically running off to kill as many people as he could on Omega after Shepard got themselves spaced. if you don’t romance him in ME2, he has so little content in ME2: his recruitment mission, post-recruitment convo, loyalty convo trigger, loyalty quest, and post-loyalty convo. if you romance him, you get several more scenes, but compared to other romanceable companions like Miranda or Jack—whose attitudes toward you change the more you talk to them—or even Samara, who you can just chat with while looking out at the stars, Garrus’s platonic relationship with Shepard seems to stall after the Sidonis quest: you gain his loyalty for the suicide mission and then you’re assumed to be all cool. realistically, they could’ve given us a lot of reasons why Garrus might not want to talk—he’s probably still reeling from getting his face blown off and confronting his betrayer again, or if you don’t let him kill Sidonis, maybe he could’ve gotten pissed at Shepard and confronted them—but that’s me trying to justify a lack of content. truthfully there’s very little non-romanceable Garrus content in ME2 to build up that “best friends” angle they want to sell in ME3.

in ME3, you DO get more content that shows how naturally “at ease” he feels working with Shepard: his recruitment mission, longer conversation trees when he joins, more banter from squaddies—including Garrus—on missions, him inviting you to go bottle-shooting, a scene with him after every main mission where he asks you how you’re doing, if you miss Ash/Kaidan, mutual struggles over the burden of leadership, worrying over his family, etc. by this point though, if you didn’t romance him, he’s treating you like his best friend even though he basically ignored you all of ME2. again, you could rationalize that time as his social awkwardness on a Cerberus ship, or him dealing with trauma, but in my friend’s words, it’s really more of bioware telling-but-not-showing that they really wanted you to like this guy but waiting until the last game to give him consistent scenes with the player that reflected that closeness.

on paper, Garrus makes a lot of sense to be close to Shepard, because assuming you recruit him in ME1, he’s been fighting Reapers with Shepard in every game, but also... so has Joker or Chakwas or Tali, for the same reason; so does Ash or Kaidan, for being the only Alliance teammate who was there at the beginning and end (assuming they didn’t both die); so does Liara, for being there every game and only abstaining in ME2 because she was still dealing with the fallout of saving your life (there’s lots of criticism of her being “forced” on the player too and while I agree with some of it, that’s a topic for another time lol). Bioware does introduce Garrus early in each game—I don’t know if this was intentional, because they knew he was so popular so they wanted to give him to the player early—but then he has so little to say in ME2, the game about building relationships, that introducing him early just means he stands around for half game talking about calibrations. a lot of fandom, especially shakarian fans, end up filling the gaps of ME2 with their own headcanons, myself included, to make the relationship development feel a little smoother, but the trouble there is when we start treating it like it was always canon for everybody.

I know it seems weird to complain that such a popular character should’ve had even more content—there are lots of other characters just as or more deserving who got really screwed over (coughs Ashley)—but in my ideal world, they all would’ve had more content lmfao.

[frecklef0x]

Mass Effect 1: Playthrough Masterpost

At last, I have finished Mass Effect 1!

I have heard some mutuals say they wish they could play it again for the first time, and you kind of can--through me! I’ve been posting little “episodes” of live-tweet-stream-of-consciousness as I play, and now I’ve compiled them into one post to make my life easier.

Anyway, here’s the first one, the rest are under the cut. :)

frecklef0x plays mass effect: (ME1) episode one

My ass looks great in this uniform, first of all

Impaled robo zombies, yikes

Cheap shot, Saren, smh. How will I pass my spectre test now?!

Why does he have robot eyes? Is he like, Geth-Turian? Why? Is he a robo zombie also? Was it the beacon???

Cool beacon nightmares, I'm sure this is fine

This Kaiden guy has implants? ORTEGA?!??!?

"Call me princess again and you'll be picking your teeth up off the floor" lol obliterated

The citadel elevators are very realistic, five minutes of tense silence huh

Ya girl got a PROMOTION and a DOPE SQUAD time to catch a TRAITOR

frecklef0x plays mass effect: (ME1) episode two

First things first, gotta go find the blue scientist to join the gang

This galaxy is HUGE! How many of these places will I actually be able to go?!

Only two friends at a time????? D:

Ah, a distress signal, let's see wha--A DESERT CENTIPEDE NOPE ABORT ABORT

Robo aliens? In MY Theronian mining facility? Its more likely than you think

Running over dudes in my Mako is extremely satisfying tbh

*runs over geth troopers* *runs over geth armature* *runs over geth colossus* ... *backs over geth colossus*

Working elevators in the ancient ruins ✔

Oooooooh man hope this nerd is gay

Wrex, a friend of yours? Nope, not a friend, too murdery

"ShAaaAame about the ruins Shep, sOooOo much collatoral damage, SHEP" stfu Council, "ruthless" was in the resume when you promoted us, 10/10 would shoot lasers through archeological digs again

When Kaiden calls us "ma'am" I am, uh, into it

frecklef0x plays mass effect: (ME1) episode three

Time to talk to the gang! Gotta meet the fam proper

Oh dear seems we got a shmee of racism on board, compatriots

Wow Raina, good foot-in-mouth moment with Wrex there huh...sorry about the eventual extinction of your race, lost this round of Pain Olympics

OH SHIT OH SHIT BLUE HOTTIE BIGENDER? THIS IS NOT A DRILL???

“hi I’m Kaiden wanna hear about my last crush ;)” “hi I’m Liara wanna hear about Asari mating rituals? ;)))” damn we really slidin right into the DMs no chill

Garrus: fuck rules and red tape amiright Raina: oh u right ;)

Guess I’ll actually do a mission now LETS GO LESBIANS LETS GO

Honestly rolling out with Tali and Liara is a mood, squad goals

Raina @ every corporation on Noveria: I would sell you to satan for one(1) corn chip

This reactivation puzzle is some shit

I see some Mistakes were made

We already killing moms at this stage damn BioWare

FUCK FUCK BENEZIA KILLED ME AND I LOST A FUCKTON OF PLAYTIME

THERES LIKE NO AUTOSAVE IN THIS BITCH FUUUUUUUUU

fuck fuck fuck god damn it gotta shoot a bunch of deranged baby bug people again god DAMN IT

Okay we killed Liara’s mom in front of her hope that’s fine

And we let mama bug go free because after talking to Wrex, Raina’s like “this galaxy is a little trigger happy with the genocide, good luck out there bug mama ❤️ be cool please”

I have literally watched the scientist in the hot labs get killed three times now

So far the debreifs with the council have not gone very well

“You let bug mama go?! How many generations until they take over everything???” “My money’s on two :D Place your bets now assholes or stfu :DDD”

Asked Liara if she was okay and she seems pretty Cool With It

I hope to one day return to Noveria and Death Star it into oblivion

frecklef0x plays mass effect: (ME1) episode four

Talked with Tali and this situation with the Geth and the Quarians is giving me an existential crisis

You “inspect” my beautiful ship? You got somethin’ to say about my crew??? Talk shit get hit, bitch I will kill you

Yoooo my old earth gang, yeah what the hell, I’ll help ou—oh nope nvm he’s a xenophobe, you hang him and I’ll shoot his friend in the face, thx for your time

Went to the citadel to finish some assignments, left tasked with twice as many

“dOn’T cUt CoRneRs” fear not dear Kaiden, I have a permit: this piece of paper that says I do what I want

Still with the elevators, I really cannot with this

“You make it all sound so...dangerous...” ;) ;))))))

frecklef0x plays mass effect: (ME1) episode five

Headin’ to Virmire to rendezvous with the Salarian team

A cure for the genophase?!?!?! :D

Oh wait oh no are we for real gonna talk about destroying the cure like Wrex isn’t standing right here omg

SHIT GUYS NO NOT LIKE THIS WREX PLEASE

Phew for a conversation that basically started with guns drawn, it went pretty well... “What Saren has isn’t even a proper cure, he’s just fucking with the Krogans at this point. Are we gonna stand for that? Or are we gonna murder?” “Damn Shep, you right, we gon’ murder”

Okay Ashley, go join the aliens, try not to die

Shadow Team!🎵 tearing through the base 🎶 disabling all the     defenses 🎵 (you gotta sing it to the tune of the Trogdor song)

We free the prisoners!!! :)

We shoot the prisoners??? :(

“Raina? How can you shoot them where they stand?” So it’s more merciful to let them explode? NAH FAM

This scientist is responsible for the mind control stuff? For Benezia? Fine     I’ll let her go but I hope she explodes

We did not learn our lesson concerning beacons I see

Wait if even Saren is worried about his mind control ship does that mean there are larger forces involved here?

Oh. Oh fuck

Ugh Ashley I EXPLICITLY TOLD YOU NOT TO DIE

(so we really never found any info about that genophase cure huh? disappointing)

Oh Seren, you dumb dumb. You absolute fool. Clown man.

When Raina slings Kaiden over her shoulder to carry him to the ship—mmmmmmmmwoooow I am very bisexual

Bruh Raina takes every council call and she disconnects pissed off every time

WAIT I literally just hung up with the council, ASHLEY is DEAD, and Kaiden needs a DTR RIGHT NOW?!?!? Boy, NO, READ THE ROOM

This has been a stressful day

frecklef0x plays mass effect: (ME1) episode six

Shepard will avoid her feelings and go to Faros instead

Seeing Ashley’s figure greyed out and her locker inaccessible makes me sad

Wrex and Garrus, let’s go shoot some geth 💪 

A mind controlling planet—of course!

Shep gets all her renegade points shooting capitalists

Saved, uh, about half the colonists

If I have one more bad acid trip I stg

Oh nope here’s another one

Shep needs a nap

frecklef0x plays mass effect: (ME1) episode seven

Ah, the council. Curse your sudden but inevitable betrayal.

At least Liara is good at pep talks ;)

Joker, you cockblock

Haha DUDE we airborne, you THOUGHT

Now that I am exiled from the Citadel, guess I’ll run some galactic errands:

o   Killed corporate scientists who though we would rescue them lol

o   Destroyed a bunch of geth camps helping Tali on her pilgrimage

o   Disabled a nuke and killed some pirates

o   Shut down some evil Cerberus experiments

o   And illegally traded information!

Okay time to get back on track

So we may or may not be flying to our doom

OH GOD LIARA LOVES ME!!! RAINA, YOU DISASTER, YOU DID IT AAAAAH ❤️❤️❤️

frecklef0x plays mass effect: (ME1) episode eight

You know what I love? Being murdered by geth armatures

All these Ilos ruins be looking the same

Security panel is only kinda helpful

Oh, luckily I know Prothean now!

“CANNOT BE STOPPED” wow very encouraging, thanks

After that super motivating message and disabling security, its time to go down, down to goblin town

Vigil? Oh word?

My girlfriend is GEEKING out

I knew something what wrong with that fucking Citadel

Vigil: information is power. Also Vigil: What does it matter why they do what they do? All that matters is you stop them

“non-essential” personnel die first, huh? GROSS, VIGIL (gotta be honest that hits different in 2020)

Garrus gets it, I knew we liked that guy

Okay, find conduit, save galaxy, break millennium-old genocide cyle, nbd

Ugh Mako you gotta do me dirty one last time I see, I hate this thing

THE CONDUIT STRAIGHT YEETED MAKO

The citadel robot says we’re doomed : )

This shootout is SO fun, seriously

Saren get it toGETHER

Renegade Raina can kill with a conversation apparently, well done then

Concentrate on the Sovereign—why am I gonna save a council that hates my guts, sorry, but I have a JOB to DO that you ACTIVELY HINDERED

Great, zombie husk Saren, just what I needed as I mull over the possible consequences of my galaxy-altering decision

GO JOKER GO

Humanity-only council seems…questionable. Raina didn’t love the council but this sits wrong. Couldn’t we just appoint a more diverse council, including a human?

Anderson seems like a good enough dude, so…we’ll see.

TIME FOR WAR BOYS, GODDAMN WHAT A GAME

[deadlyglacier]

20 Questions tag~

I was tagged by @mythicamagic thank you senpai~<3

How many works do you have on AO3?

40 right now, plus 1 that is still hidden because of the SOFA Exchange event.  (I’m still a lil fish.)

What’s your total AO3 word count?

486,920!  That’s so amazing to me!

How many fandoms have you written for and what are they?

InuYasha - A Feudal Fairytale (18)

FullMetal Alchemist (18)

Mass Effect Trilogy (3)

Let’s Play (Webtoon) (1)

Kingdom Hearts (1) But I hope to write for many more fandoms in the future!  I have ideas for fics for Castlevania, Skyrim, Fallout 4, Last of Us Part II, and more!

What are your top 5 fics by kudos?

#1.  Stardust FemShep/Garrus, Mass Effect Trilogy, Rated Explicit. A retelling of the Shepard/Vakarian love story, with lots (and LOTS) of sexiness, from Garrus' point of view. Starts from before the Omega-4 and will end sometime after the end of ME3. Trying to stay as true to the game as possible, while adding some things happening off camera and a new ending.

#2.  Flamingo Sess/Kag, Inuyasha, Rated Explicit Kagome's method of beating the summer heat attracts a certain demon lord...

#3.  Hawk Sess/Kag, Inuyasha, Rated Explicit Kagome and Sesshomaru discover they have a mutual attraction for each other after a battle and a slight comedic incident brings them together. At first their relationship seems entirely sexual, but eventually evolves into something real. What will this romance mean for Naraku? Or even the future?  *TRIGGER WARNING FOR CHAPTER 6! MAJOR VIOLENCE AND TRAGEDY* Very, very loosely based on "A Mere Digression" by elle6778

#4.  Daisy Sam/Charles, Let’s Play, Rated Mature Sam wakes up somewhere unfamiliar with a splitting headache with no memory of the night before. Takes place right after the S2 finale.  First chapter was my prediction for what would happen next, and then three other “wishful thinking” chapters happened, lol.

#5.  Chemistry Ed/Winry, FullMetal Alchemist, Rated Mature A look at how the relationship between Ed and Winry developed after Brotherhood ended.  Cute, sweet, funny, and hot (eventually—y'all that know me know I gotta have some NSFW in there).

Do you respond to comments, why or why not?

I try to respond to everyone, especially when a fic of mine has just been posted, but sometimes I just forget.  If I haven’t responded to your comment, please know it’s just because I’m a big dumb and forgot!  I love getting comments, and I reread them all the time!  I just feel like there’s a time limit to when I can respond to them--if I let too much go by, it’s awkward if I reply.  Gah, but that’s just me getting in my own head, I guess.  I’ll do better!

What’s the fic you’ve written with the angstiest ending?

Oof, definitely Psychology, a fic I wrote for RoyEdOTPoly this year.  The prompt I got was dark, and I didn’t see any way around an angsty ending.  Read at your own risk!

What’s the fic you’ve written with the happiest ending?

Well, aside from the last fic, I try to write happy endings for all my fics!  But, if I have to name names, I’m torn between Zoology (another FullMetal Alchemist fic, RoyEd, for RoyEdOTPoly this year) and Stardust (my Mass Effect fic, which is long, but so worth it, in my opinion).  Both are very fluffy in the end!

Do you write crossovers? If so what is the craziest one you’ve written?

Argh...  I don’t really like crossovers, to be honest.  I actively avoid them when looking for fics to read.  But that doesn’t mean I haven’t thought of writing them myself.  (I’m a total hypocrite, I know.)  I had an idea for an Inuyasha x The Sims fic, years ago, that I never did anything with.  The premise was basically Inuyasha and Kagome would get trapped in the game somehow (via the jewel or magic or something), and they’d be controlled by Souta, Kagome’s friends, Hojo--all sorts of different people who think the fact that Kagome and Inuyasha are in the game is just some kind of silly mod.  I probably won’t write it, so if anyone is interested in that crazy idea, have at it!  You have my blessing. <3 I also have a crazy crossover idea for what I call an “Ultimate OT3″ of mine that I’ve mentioned to my friends, but I haven’t actually written down yet:  Sesshomaru/Alucard/Sebastian Michaelis.  So be on the lookout for that!

Have you ever received hate on a fic?

I wouldn’t call it “hate” so much as “mansplaining,” but I have gotten a couple of comments that made my eyebrow twitch on Stardust--both on AO3 and FFN.  Just dudes (and I’m fairly certain they were dudes, just from their tone) trying to explain why a certain plot twist wouldn’t work, or tell me how to save Sidonis in the actual game (which I already knew, that person just didn’t read what I wrote). I’ve also gotten a comment on one of my more controversial fics, Hippology, on FFN, where the person asked me if I thought my summary was K-Rated (which, admittedly, it does need to be for the site, and mine wasn’t--because of a single word).  I changed it and messaged them saying it was fixed.  Going to that commenter’s profile, however, proved to be fairly enlightening...  They’re nuts.  They have another profile, too.  Read at your own risk.  Yikes. There’s also a team of people on FFN who make it their life’s mission to report stories with rule violations.  I’ve gotten a comment from one of them as well.  These people are not mods, they just like to pretend they are--one of them even made their name look official!  “CU Administration,” gtfo dude. I also recently got one of my fics removed from FFN.  It wasn’t even one of my sexiest ones!  They put me in timeout for 48 hours, and when I was finally able to publish something new on the site again, I posted Hippology (my centaur smut), and it’s still up as I type this.  (Wonder how long it’ll take them to notice?)  And since the fic that got taken down was a SessKag fic, I’m thinking it might have been a petty SessRinner who reported it to the “authorities” of FFN, because another friend of mine got hers taken down not long after mine, and it was also SessKag.  Just my tinfoil theory, anyway!

Do you write smut? If so what kind?

Yes, yes, yes.  It’s practically all I write.  I do all sorts of smut, from romantic, sensual stuff, to specific kinks, to monsterfucking--all that good stuff.  Can’t change me~<3

Have you ever had a fic stolen?

God, I hope not!

Have you ever had a fic translated?

I don’t think so.  No one has asked me if they can translate one, anyway.

Have you ever co-written a fic before?

Not yet!  I’m open to the idea, and I’ve had little discussions with my fic-writing buddies about it, but nothing’s come out of it just yet.  Keep your eyes peeled!

What’s your all-time favorite ship?

Oh, now come on!  I can’t pick just one!  But I’ll give you a top 3 (in no particular order, because they change places a lot, depending on how obsessed I am with them at the moment). Inuyasha:  Sess/Kag FullMetal Alchemist:  Roy/Ed Mass Effect:  Garrus/FemShep

What’s a WIP that you want to finish but don’t think you ever will?

I have a couple of stories that I deleted from my original FFN account that I’d like to re-write and re-post on AO3, but I don’t think I’ll ever get around to it.  There were a couple of Inu/Kag fics I had in-progress, and then a Koug/Kag fic.  I recently rewrote and reposted my SessKag fic from years ago, Hawk, on FFN, AO3, and Dokuga!  So maybe all hope isn’t lost.  I’m even writing a sequel for Hawk! All the stories I have in-progress right now I plan on finishing.  At some point, lol.

What are your writing strengths?

Dialogue, without a doubt.  It’s my favorite thing to write, aside from smut, of course--which is another strength of mine.

What are your writing weaknesses?

Descriptions, ugh.  I try to do them well, but I always feel like they get stale.  So I keep them somewhat vague, because in my mind, I think readers will fill in the gaps themselves whether you describe something immaculately or not--they’ll see what they want to see, and that is totally fine in my book!  Or maybe I’m just making excuses, lol.  I’ll only describe something in a lot of detail if I want the reader to focus on that--usually an outfit, accessory, or weapon--otherwise, I leave it up to their imagination (I don’t want manipulate it too much, I suppose).

What are your thoughts on writing dialogue in other languages in a fic?

Wildly unnecessary unless that author speaks the language as well, or if certain words already exist in the fandom’s translations (ex. “youkai,” “alkahestry,” etc).

What was the first fandom you wrote for?

Inuyasha, and the fic(s) I wrote in the beginning were terrible.  I want to burn all traces of them off the face of the earth.  I was in middle school.  I was young and stupid.

What’s your favorite fic you’ve written?

I gotta go with Stardust.  It’s the longest fic I’ve ever completed at more than 160k words.  I was so immensely proud when I typed “The End,” and I was able to say to myself “I did it.”

I tag: @glassesmcfancyhair @willowsrain 

[crescentbunny]

5 WIP/WIP Wednesday Thursday

I was tagged by @rosenkow to share some of my WIPs! I do not have much to share, but I will still try to deliver. I know, it is thursday, but I just now got some free time so… Thank you for tagging me!

I tag: God I’ve seen everyone on my dash do this recently so if we are mutuals or I follow you please do this because I would love to know what you are working on! Hell even if I don’t know you post your wips and tag me so I can follow you and check it out!! @writers or @artists who would like to share their WIPs. Feel free to pass up, should you not have the time for it.

5 WIP (mostly prompts I plan to complete)

Shilus - Rogue Spectre AU - Nihlus and Shep traipse the galaxy having hijinx  busting the bad guys while navigating a very unconventional relationship. Is Shilus the ship name? It is now I guess. 

Solavellan - I just finished DA:I and ran the gauntlet of feels so I cranked out about 4k in angst/anger into a fic that ran away with me - about their time together, and exploring relationship stuff that wasn’t seen in the games. I also made it FAR more horrible and angstier than the game because I’m a heathen. Will finish and post someday - I’m trying to make it a “short” fic - aka not 170k like ORBB.

Shakarian - After the war and Shepard’s death, Garrus finds a Cerberus facility full of clones - with just one small flame haired baby left alive.  I’m about 2k into this. I also desperately want to do a Shakarian First Contact AU. It WILL happen. 

Mass Effect AU - I mean COMPLETELY AU. All the ME species on one planet, in a fantasy setting full of monsters and huge wooden sail barges. Then the Elder Gods appeared. Each race has selected their best warriors to assemble a team to eliminate the threat. Follows all our favorite characters. I am SUPER excited for this but won’t start it until the sequel to Of Reapers and Burnt Beginnings is done. Not sure anyone even cares about this kinda stuff but I SURE DO

Of Shallow Graves and Glorious Cinders - (OSGGC) Most of ya’ll will already know about this one, my continuation of the Shakarian story from ORBB. I’m sitting about - uhh 24k in? Not sure how long it’ll be, I’m guessing about the same as ORBB 170k.

WIP Wednesday Thursday Snippet from OSGGC : 

The desolate, smoldering, gray landscape of Menae smelled heavily of burnt flesh and spent heatsinks. 

Garrus sighed.

The coms in his helmet clicked on but a beat passed and no one spoke. He pulled up his suit diagnostics to confirm function. Hm. Static burst loudly through the helm before the dampeners kicked in, causing him to spit a curse. It clicked again and a few bars of… music… played through the speakers before the signal cut out and quiet returned. 

That… was odd. He wasn’t sure what compelled him to turn around and face the way he had come but he took a few steps and the coms clicked back on to static and muffled noise. He hurriedly brought his stuit read out back up. Channel 1447B was transmitting.

1447B. The Normandy’s ground team com.

No sooner had he processed the channel number then the muffled noise grew and cut through the line loud and clear. The song was loud and fast with a powerful voice crooning over… uh… guitars? Right? That’s what the human’s called them?

“Uh, no offense Loco, but what the hell is this anyway?” A man’s voice.

There was a familiar disgusted noise. “I can’t believe no one ever gave you a Queen education Vega. All those tiddies and not a single neuron in there - wha - you fucking bastard ass creature-” a clipped double blast of a shotgun ensued.

A bark of laughter. “There arn’t neurons in tiddies anyway.”

“Why are we doing this now?” Liara.

“Because you looked like a deer in headlights Miss Broker. Freddy takes the edge off-” The signal stuttered and static returned.

Shepard.

Clarity descended on him, cutting through the fog of exhaustion and every muscle hummed as his insides clenched tightly.

She was alive. She was here. Garrus holstered his sniper rifle and sprinted back towards the encampment.

[queen-scribbles]

2020 Writer Review

tagged by @actualanxiousswampwitch and @crqstalite

Words: 323, 910

That’s, like, two novels. (quietly but with great feeling:what the fuuuuuccckkkk)

Published: 311, 717

Not Published: 12,193 (my sister’s Christmas present. Which she did love, but threw something at me for the interrupted kiss at the end >:3)

The Breakdown:

I’m not doing all the math for specific fandom wordcounts bc there’s a lot of them, but I wrote for SWtOR, The Wayhaven Chronicles, Dragon Age(all three :D), Shepherds of Haven, Speaker, Mass Effect, and Pillars of Eternity(both of them :D)

New Things I Tried:

Tried to do shorter pieces every so often, rather than just full on oneshots, the whole mostly-flashback thing for MEBB was new, and I found a couple new fandoms this year, so that was new characters to write.

Favorite Thing I Wrote:

Oh. MAN. UM. I always have so much trouble with this question bc I genuinely love a LOT of what I write.oh god. There’s so many.... Have a top five, not in any particular order

Taking Initiative (SWtOR; Keme/Jorgan >:3 I am so damn proud of this one)

The Sloth boss fight/final conversation with Niall in Of Warden and Pariahs  (Dragon Age: Origins; combat is so frigging fun to write, guys)

A Good Idea (Pillars of Eternity; Tavi/Aloth, aka The Most In Character Thing one of my ships has ever done)

Plenty Special (The Wayhaven Chronicles; AJ/Nate and AJ&Felix)

Shatter fill from Wayhaven Week (The Wayhaven Chronicles; Kasey/Mason) (honorable mentions to the Nightmare and Tender fills)

Favorite Fic I Read:

God, I don’t remember what all I read last year. I know there was a lot, and it was all grand. UM. Shit. Here’s some. I’m sure there’s more, particularly on tumblr, where I don’t have any way to look back and go “Ah, yes, I read X this year and it was amazing”

Orbit by sunsolace both bc it’s really well written and bc I am always, ALWAYS a sucker for Revanasi. Just. KotOR was my gateway drug to RPGs, and Carth is my First BioWare Love, AND it’s well done on top of that. YES PLEASE SIGN ME UP

Wise Man’s Tree updated on Christmas so I can say that again :3 Critical Role, Perc’ahlia w/ a side of Vaxilmore (even if I sorta want to murder currie for Things rn)

On a Wing and a Prayer by lucyrne from the rarepair exchange, Dragon Age, Sebastian/Bethany semi-heist fic complete with first kiss, what’s not to love? :D

And, ofc, With Love by Tafka, also Dragon Age,  f!Adaar/Barris, written for me in the rarepair exchange

Writing Goals:

More consistent work on OWaP would be nice. Maybe get through at least fuckin’ Redcliffe?Hopefull more.  (look, once I can dangle reuniting with Jowan in front of Trinne like a carrot, I have a feeling she’ll pick up the pace xD)

I know I’ve said this like three years running, but I really do wanna work on the Brykar longfic. I do.

Work on the Inquisition Commander!Fenris AU more. It’s an intriguing idea and I wanna play.

Write enough things I love that that “Fave thing you wrote?” question remains horribly difficult to answer. xD

Words of Thanks:

Oh, man, I’m gonna forget people. That is a mark against my crap memory and not you <3 Anyone who reads/reblogs/comments on(include tag rants)/leaves kudos for ,my fic. ANYONE. Mutual, follower, random anonymous stranger on AO3, whoever. Thank you.  I was gonna do a few specific shoutouts, but tumblr isn’t letting me tag? thanks, tumblr. I’ll leave it at that, then, I guess.

I’m not gonna tag anyone specific, but feel free to say I did if you wanna do this. ;)

[faejilly]

I was tagged by @la-muerta​ & @facialteeth​ & @thedivinemissema​ for the WIP/Title Game

rules: post the names of all the files in your WIP folder, regardless of how non-descriptive or ridiculous. send me an ask with the title that most intrigues you and interests you and i’ll post a little snippet of it or tell you something about it!

AND THEN  by @shadoedseptmbr​ @msviolacea​ & @ravenclawnerd​ for the “stories you want to write... but for some reason haven’t yet”

so this will be a mish-mash of both? The WIPs will mostly have blurbs in this case (to fit the second meme) but you are still welcome to ask follow-up questions, if you’d like ;) Assuming you make it through the list, it is uh. Not Short.

Anyone who would like to play with their WIPs, please consider yourself tagged in either or both of these. :D

Misc Fic Folder:

“untitled document” - where I’m working on fictober fills so I have word-counts for my GYWO tracker. I am not working on these because Brains Are Dumb and also Going Back To Work Is Exhausting

I made a file called “YULETIDE!” which has nothing in it but I’m determined to finish this year so that is definitely technically a thing in the Unending WIP List of Doom worth mentioning. (Tho obviously that’s all I could say even if I had started, because anonymous.)

“coda-fics, rewatch!” -yes, that exclamation mark is important! it’s to keep me motivated! (it didn’t work). Much like untitled, this is for putting stuff so I can do word count tracking even if I don’t know what I’m doing. Currently I think it just says “MARYSE” because I was working on my SH 1x6 coda-fic and then got distracted and haven’t typed anything up yet. (Yay notebooks? Boo notebooks? Not even sure at this point.)

WNIP (works not in progress) Folder:

“TOG” - I had one vivid mental image of how Nicky & Joe met (blood-stained evil smiles?) but then no idea for a follow-up story and also the fandom is insane and I’m not sure I want to deal with all of *gestures vaguely* all that

“Shan Xia Notes” -for a TTRPG that never quite got off the ground; she was a semi-tragic selkie who was still in love with the evil queen/lady who stole her skin and I got to play her for like one session and she was surprisingly chaotic neutral, which wasn’t at all what I’d been expecting. But the game never really got off the ground, so I never had enough info to really delve into writing backstory fic

“post-Kruschev” -Kruschev’s List was the last episode of Scarecrow & Mrs King, and I was debating writing an epilogue in place of the s5 we never got, to try and tie up some loose ends, but the fandom’s three old-ladies in trench coats and I never quite worked up the gumption to get it anywhere

“Code Realize warm as silk sequel” -there is literally nothing in this file except “SEX! Only a little angst” because I wanted to write some “we can’t actually touch each other” smut but never actually did. 🤷‍♀️

BioWare (also all Not-In-Progress Anymore)

“seb/adelaide”, “Theia” & “DAI Erana” -these WIP folders were cannibalized for ficlets for the last few times I did fictober, and while originally I had ideas for longer epilogues for all three of them, at this point I don’t think any of the remaining bits could support a story any longer.

”whispers in the dark” -Maia Ryder never really got much fic at all; the cancellation of any further Andromeda stuff was really disheartening, and at this point I’d have to play the game again, and I don’t think I’m gonna manage that any time soon

”TSP” -a Mass Effect 3 Shepard AU collab project that kind of went off the rails, and our mutual brains/lives never quite seem to line up so we can try and rebuild it ”Ngaio & Tane” -my one truly ruthless Shepard (Alliance background, who romanced Traynor) whose father Tane Shepard was, I think, in PsyOps, and I wanted to figure out their complicated relationship but never really did know where I was going with it

”JE Zu & Yaling” -so I’ve rambled about my Tragic Sagacious Zu Romance Thoughts regarding Jade Empire more than once (#Icy Yaling should have most of it) but apparently I want to yell about it more than I want to actually write it? Whoops.

”CI sequel: 5 times fic?” -Cruel Intentions is a kinkmeme fill that I started and then it sat for like five years before I actually finished it, and I liked the ending, but it does leave a giant fucking question mark in terms of how those people got from there to where they are after the game, and I kind of wanted to write a proper h/c fic rather than just... leaving them wallowing in all that trauma?

But I didn’t. I don’t even remember for sure how I wanted to frame the 5/1 of it all, besides it being something sad about allowing people to see you or touch you in some way. (Prayers maybe, since I think there was definitely some Sebastian & Fenris & faith stuff going on in there.)

“candles” -Merribela prompt fill that I never was happy with? Not sure what I might do with it at this point, so it’s just sitting there all sad and lonely and neglected-like.

Shadowhunters

pt1: WIP LIST ONLY

“Persuasion” -so I keep trying to write Persuasion AUs in many fandoms because it’s my favorite Austen, but I think I like it too much, I have no real solid concept of how I’d transform it, and if I don’t have anything else to say about different characters within that framework, I have no push to actually write anything? Also this SH version of it suffered from MASSIVE scope creep when I started outlining and it got too big for me to handle so I like, killed it twice? Whoops. This one is really probably never gonna happen.

“oosdt sequel” -I wanted to write more about the Forest That Eats People and Magnus & Alec as Guardians Between Worlds, and also some background Magnus’ Found Family & Lightwood Family Feels (maybe some clizzy?) and I left a Madzie plot-thread dangling from the first one on purpose even but I think this one had too many ideas and not enough focus so it’s sort of sprawling all over a doc with a lot of “???” in it

“procedural-ish” -this was originally going to be a sex-farce. and then it turned more serious. and then maybe kind of copaganda which was uncomfortable in terms of the Everything That Is The News in 2020, and then maybe it was more a Mafia AU and at that point I had self-inflicted tone whiplash and I wished the voices in my head were a little more forthcoming about their plans so I stopped before I brained myself on my computer monitor in frustration.

“I had rather a rose than live forever” -I started a reverse!verse Malec (Shadowhunter!Magnus, High Warlock!Alec) for bingo last year, and I couldn’t quite get it together in time, so I made a moodboard inspired by the bits I’d started instead. I may see if one of my prompts from Bingo this year help me finish it?

“fall fright fest (practical magic  au)” -exactly what it says on the tin! almost exactly a year old & neglected! IDEK ANYMORE (I talked about this one with the WIP meme last time tho: here)

“priest!kink theology?” -I thought it was gonna be smut? I like priest!kink. I have made other people like it and yell at me even! But then I kept diverging into demon!Magnus thinking about Priest!Alec’s faith and as usual, IDEK ANYMORE *laughs*

(If they’re remotely canon-adjacent or divergent, a bunch of these are in here because I need to rewatch the show to get the pacing/timing/tone right and I haven’t, and I don’t know why, because I enjoy the show, but BRAINS! Are Dumb! So I guess that’s it?)

“I do” -I have tried to write this damnable Malec arranged marriage fic like six different times. I have signed up for fic exchanges and bangs with it, I have rewritten massive sections, trying to change tone or structure or POV or whatever, and it basically comes down to they like each other too fast and I keep not gutting it enough to get back to a useful pace, but by the time I realized that I was on take six and kind of sick of it. I may get back to it eventually

“wing!fic” -canon divergent in early s1, trying to deal with the consequences of Simon’s kidnapping as the Truly Serious Event that it should have been. It uh. Got heavier than I expected with those consequences (considering it was originally just supposed to be Alec’s wings flirting with Magnus) and also see above re: rewatching for pacing.

“2x20 aftermath/date night/pandemonium porn“ -yes that is the actual wip title. It used to be “spite fic” because I was originally inspired by fighting against a lot of fic!Alec characterization that was clearly based more on the books and ATG syndrome than the Alec in the show, which is the Alec I know and like and want to read about. BUT, pacing and etc. again, I think. Also I have somehow entirely lost my knack for writing porn, which makes it difficult to finish something originally intended to be smut!fic. Or even teasing almost!smut.

“rubbish heap” -so this is about three different fics that I realized complemented each other really well so they’re now all in the same file as I try to turn them into the sequel of “with an if in its soul”. It includes amnesia, parabatai lore shenanigans, a s3 rewrite, and some truly awful Owl adjustments that make me wince in horrified authorly delight and pain. BUT, as with the other ones in this file, the scope is large and I normally write short-fic and I kind of just threw up my hands in exasperation. I may have to break it back up into the three different fics instead, if I ever actually want to write it. Them? But also I need to take better notes on s3 to make sure I have what I need in here.

SH Pt 2: Started posting or not yet in hiatus because it’s actually almost ready to be a thing in the real world! maybe!?

“kisses (firsts)” -I actually started publishing this one, a “series of firsts” that was supposed to be kind of relationship milestones and kind of an excuse for smut, and then there wasn’t that much smut and I lost momentum and also dear lords & ladies the timeline is stupid, wtf. I may not ever add to this one, tbqh. It doesn’t stop in a terrible place, and they’re all ficlets so they stand alone all right.

“clizzy epilogue” -this is blank atm, it’s more a reminder for me to keep poking away at my “girls who can’t breathe air, only fire” collection BECAUSE I WOULD LIKE TO ACTUALLY GET TO THE CLIZZY AT SOME POINT

"mer!alec" -pts 2-4 of a series, but apparently having an actual plan gets in the way of me *writing* the thing, and I haven't managed to throw the half an outline far enough away from my brain to be able to write again. Or something like that.

"ibhww" -if broken hearts were whole is a soulmate fic I started a million years ago, and purposefully set aside to finish some other WIPs because I thought they'd be quick, and now it's just buried under two and a half years of regret and shame so it's hard to get back to it

"iafy" -i am for you is a delightful & frothy semi-epistolary fluff piece that also just lost momentum because Life & 2020 & etc. It's far and away the most popular thing I've ever posted on AO3, which also makes me feel weird sometimes, and I feel like the fact that there's no grand conclusion planned, just a bit more fluff and settling in, might end up being disappointing? Basically, it's the first time I think I've psyched myself out about reader expectations, and until I get over that I'm going to have trouble finishing the last couple chapters. (There really are probably only two more chapters though. IT’S SO CLOSE, I wish I could just... write it. And yet?)

“fake-hating” -I do not like fake dating as a trope that much, I just do not get it, but I love outside POVs and arranged marriages and there’s this delighful tumblr post about how they wished there was more fic about people who were together but had to pretend they werent’, and uh. This may be that? Eventually? I’m not exhausted by my failure to finish it yet, so it’s still in the regular folder rather than the hiatus folder, even though nothing’s been posted for it.

AND I THINK THAT’S IT?

Not as terrible as it could be, but still. MANY WORDS THAT MAY NEVER SEE THE LIGHT OF DAY. Posting the equivalent of one’s old ratty sketchbook is always a weird feeling. :D

[crqstalite]

fic back friday.

i wasn’t actually tagged for this, but poking around on my ao3, aftermath was published only a year prior to now (april 14th, 2020! wow, time is meaningless!). there’s nothing special about the date to be entirely honest, i guess the thought just amuses me, now looking back on a far less developed kodee and my first - albeit hasty, published a few days after finishing mass effect 3 for the first time - fic for mass effect.

beyond the point. aftermath mostly focused on a few months after the end of mass effect three, a sort of reunion fic for the characters, primarily kodelyn and kaidan. it reads a lot like my old writing, lots of monologuing, too many analogies, not enough dialogue. that and that there’s nothing inherently special about it. here kodee reads like any other shepard, and it was long before i gave her any real distinctive personality. beyond what’s below the cut, i characterized the pair of them...just weird. like off somehow. doesn’t read right anymore and i kinda avoid it like the plague at times. i did actually meander back through the fic itself while hunting around for snippets that i liked, and it’s?? not bad. i’m not a huge fan of it anymore (read: not exactly hate but definitely not love either) but it’s a nice benchmark of sorts to see just how far i’ve come in just over a year. under the cut is a few paragraphs if you don’t want to subject yourself to the whole work. it’s not canon to the eye of the storm continuity, btw.

(another interesting note is that i think between this and the original ‘i have questions’ that eventually grew into redamancy is how a handful of people in the ME fandom found me in the first place. there are a few now-mutuals who left comments on this one in particular that i have actually either spoken to a few times now or regularly talk to these days. what a small world.)

It's a blur getting to the hospital from the Normandy. First, everyone is in denial. That there's no way Kodee survived. Kaidan doesn't care. Hell, he was about to just run on foot if that took him to his wife faster. But the docking manager had been sincere. Every account said that Kodelyn Alenko was alive and working at Huerta. People don't believe it's him, C-Sec officers want to stop him through security. He hears Tali making half-hearted apologies alongside Garrus' sarcastic ones.

Hackett had gotten patched in at some point, Kaidan didn't know when. But the story they'd gotten was missing pieces, as if even he didn't understand the miracle that she was. Yet, she was alive and well. Had even started a memorial program for biotics, named after him. Lived up in his old apartment. Was getting reinstated for the second time in the coming weeks.

Liara makes the comment she really shouldn't have been alive. Kaidan knows it's true. He keeps from snapping at her.

He's out of the cab before it even stops, pouring on the speed and flying through the halls on the trails of hope. The thought she might be with someone else now, it crosses his mind but he doesn't care. The adrenaline is pumping through his veins, hell he's left Joker in the dust with EDI. Liara and Garrus have just barely caught up with him once he sees the check-in desk. The wide eyes of patrons don't matter as he searches the eyes and faces for the woman he loves.

-

Kodee can't stop asking for confirmation, from anyone. From Raya, from the nurses and the doctors. No one has a solid answer except for that the Normandy really was docked in Bay D-24. The ghost ship had finally come back to the Citadel. Everyone had been accounted for by the docking manager. Jeff Moreau, Liara T'soni, Tali'Zorah Nar Rayya Vas Normandy, Garrus Vakarian, James Vega. EDI had been among them as well, though they hadn't immediately managed to classify her as part of the crew.

The moment Kaidan Alenko hits the voice of Raya, that's the moment she feels like the world shatters around her. That the last seven months hadn't been for nothing. More aggressive than necessary, she demands she know where they all are. She apologizes once the Asari says she truly doesn't know. Kodee leaves her coat behind, willing the elevator to move faster as it hits the ground floor. Playing with her hair, eventually deciding to tie it up as she races out of the elevator.

Through the labs, she gets odd stares. This wasn't like the usually pacifist Mrs. Alenko, odd for someone of her status. What was going on, no one knew. Her heart swells, hoping there isn't a lie behind what she's been told. Where they've been.

She hits the patient lounge, and the doors slide open just as she enters the room.

-

Time stills. The lounge isn't full, but it isn't as if they don't have an audience.

His deep auburn eyes meet her matching set from across the room.

He's disheveled, he knows that. He hasn't seen hair product in months. His clothes have ripped from various adventures after the crash.

She's put together, hair pulled back and wearing clothes she wouldn't be caught dead in during her service on the Normandy.

He remembers everything about her. More scars, yes. Longer hair that reaches her shoulders in a ponytail. But the way she freezes, her lips gently parted, he remembers that. Remembers every curve and muscle on her body.

She sees him for what he is, but still knows who he was. His hair had grown out, he had more of a five o'clock shadow than usual -- maybe twelve. But his stance, as he just barely manages to skid to stop. Remembers every touch, remembers how it made her feel.

Liara and Garrus just barely hit the lounge before time starts again.

Then, they've flown into each other's arms. Tears flowing down their cheeks as they hold each other so tightly. Like they can't fathom how the other is here. Like if they let go, they'll wake up from the dream. She can't breathe, through choked sobs and how tight he holds her, surprised that he and the crew hadn't died. He can't believe she's here, spending so long thinking she was dead. Their names cross each other's lips a few times before they're breathing hard and finally look up at one another properly. The kiss is hard, there's loss and sadness behind it but hope within it. Her hands are shaking, and the way she holds his face with her hands is so reminiscent of the battle for Earth. But he's not crying because he's lost her, God he's crying because he's found her.

Leaning their foreheads against each other and shaking with their laughter, they become all too aware of the crew joining them. Cheers from the patients and attendants alike for the two human Spectres. Liara first as she nearly flies over to her Commander, her own tears so evident as she runs up to her, Tali following after. James even manages a hug in, saying something about thinking Lola was dead. Garrus allows her a hug shortly after. EDI and Joker bring up the rear, and though it so very clearly pains him, he runs as fast as he can up to her as well. She's never been this happy to see her pilot. All of them are laughing or crying, or really both. EDI seems wary at first, as if she doesn't belong before she steals a hug from the AI.

[sirloozelite]

Oh no! I’ve been tagged with a series of questions by @minniethemoocherda! Thanks for asking friend! XD

Why did you choose your url?

Long story short, it’s a variation of a nickname I used to use back in the day for family game nights. We used to play things like Cluedo and Risk. Good times.

Any side blogs? If you have them, name them and why do you have them?

Nah. No side blogs. Just this rubbish one. XD

How long have you been of Tumblr?

According to my archive of posts, July 2019 is when I started.

Do you have a queue tag?

I don’t no. I just post/reblog on a whim when I see something I like.

Why did you start your blog?

Mainly as a way to interact with anyone who wanted to know stuff about my fanfics in an easier fashion than replies on AO3 and Fanfic.net. Thought it’s evolved since then.

Why did you choose your icon/pep?

Previously it was Harbinger from Mass Effect... because I liked to destroy planets and harvest organic life whilst taunting them. XD I recently changed it to a ‘surprised face’ Thel Vadam though... cause I fancied a change and he’s my fav character of all time.

Why did you choose your header?

I’m not even sure I have a header! XD

What’s your post with the most notes?

I honestly don’t know... and to be fair the vast majority of my notes are usually me bantering back and forth with some mutuals, so the don’t really count.

How much mutuals do you have?

I have a few I interact with regularly. Though 9 times out of 10 they end up giving me a headache and winding me up... and I’m almost certain they enjoying doing it. (you know who you are! XD) No bad blood though. It’s all good fun... mostly. :)

How many Followers do you have?

100 apparently. Not sure how many of those are genuine but hey. Thanks anyways I guess. :)

How many people do you follow?

Um... 18. -_- I generally only follow people back if they chat with me a bit or are good friends. Otherwise my timeline gets a bit messy. XD

Have you ever make a shitpost?

Oh yeah! Anything Galaxy-8 related is not to be taken seriously and is pretty much the dictionary definition of ‘shitpost’. As are the meme wars... mostly.

How often do you use tumblr each day?

Pretty much. I have no life and no real friends after all. XD

Did you ever have a fight/argument with another blog once? Who won?

Yes... and again they know who they are and I’m still sorry and ashamed about it. No one won that day.

How do you feel about “you need to reblog this” post?

You mean the ‘reblog this and you’ll get good luck’ or the ‘reblog this or you’ll die’ posts? I like to tempt fate and see what happens for the lolz. So no... I don’t generally reblog them. I do read them though. XD

Do you like tag games?

Sure! As long as they aren’t too personal.

Do you like ask me games?

Again, yeah, as long as they don’t invade my privacy. Can’t let you lot know about my plans for world domination after all. ... oops!

Which of mutuals do you think is tumblr famous?

I’ve no clue myself. I try not to think about that, lest I be worried about their ‘famous status’ going to their head.

Do you have a crush on a mutual?

I mean... I’ve not even met any of them in real life (does such a thing even exist?)! For all I know they could be a Dalek in disguise... or a mass murderer... or something else! XD

Anyways, before this gets any more awkward... thanks again for the tag @minniethemoocherda. Appreciate it. :) I won’t tag anyone directly, as this is a rather personal set of asks, but I’ll open the floor to anyone who sees it and wants to partake as well. :)

[bisexualgarrus]

alright i KNOW this has problably been discussed a million times because mass effect 3 came out like 7 years ago but i just watched the destruction and control endings to see how they compare to synthesis and see if i liked them best and HERE ARE MY THOUGHTS because this is the reason i come to tumblr dot hell to talk about my stupid interests 

okay so i feel the problem with the mass effect endings is that none of them feels 100% satisfacotry tbh? so like

destruction is imo the worst option, because all synthetics are destroyed. i guess if you’re playing as a super anti-synthetic shepard this ending is the one that makes the most sense but my shepard couldn’t tolerate knowing she killed so many, including her friends and people who she have fought for like edi or the geth. also the problem with destruction is that it doesn’t guarantee the destruction of the cycle of war like. it does solve the problem momentarily but there’s no way to know organics won’t fuck up again thousands of years in the future so. yeah. not a fan of this one.  but it is the only ending in which shepard survives so i’ll you that

control is alright i guess? like, it’s just weird? shepard becoming this kind of god for eternity? i guess i’m simply not a fan of the destiny for her, to put the future of the whole galaxy on her shoulders forever. again, the AI says that by controlling the reapers shepard can’t gurantee the cycle of war will be destroyed either so like, i can only imagine what if in the future organics build new synthetics and shepard has to fight them AS THE NOW CONTROLLED REAPERS? would she able to control new synthetic forms as well? like idk, maybe it’s explained somewhere but it was kind of confusing for me honestly. because if shepard cannot control new synthetics, then she just destined herself to witness war for eternity lol. that’s sad. 

so synthesis...... i do personally think this is the best option because it does put an end to the cycle of war and guarantees peace until the end of times, and this is also the reason why my shepard chose this ending. she knew the sacrfice was a lot but she thought if it was the only way then so be it, no more destruction. but like, idk, the idea of all life forms both organic and synthetic being “the same”, a new race, just doesn’t sit well with me idk. like, i DO like the concept of a mutual understanding between organics and synthetics but what repecursions will it have? will alien races still conserve their unique cultures? customs? physical appearance? or will all life forms eventually start looking the same and become one? losing all diversity? all uniqueness? i wish things would have been explained more 

like overall all the endings feel lacking in one way or another. i also hate how synthesis is presented as THE ONLY WAY of breaking the cycle when weeks earlier shepard was able to make peace between the geth and the quarians, proving they CAN co-exist. so like..... yeah maybe the quarian / geth war could have been handled differently because it made the ending seem so out of touch for me idk

well i think that’s all for now i’ll probably have more thoughts later. also this is so messy i’m just word vomiting here but yeah <3

[fawnferns]

Get To Know Me Tag! - sims edition, under cut for length! 

tagged by @citrusjuice​ @abstractsim​ @wesunnysimmer​ and a few others i think! i’m so unorganized my bad 😂😂

your name: call me elle! languages you speak: english, and understand a bit of french lol 

Are you a mermaid: we’ll i’m from the caribbean so it’s probably in my blood lmao

Your playstyle: 70% gameplay, 30% story, but really i’d like to do more story stuff

Your selfsim picture: i’ve had my dreadlocks for like 8 years!

Stories or gameplay, builds, lookbooks, edits or cc: stories for sure, i have a bunch of sim-stories planned out and i want to integrate more story elements into my legacy. i want to get better at portrait editing too! but grad school means i’m perpetually tired LOL 

Your favourite age state: teen + YA, i feel like so much growth happens in these stages 

Your favourite season: summer baby give me that stifling heat and clear blue sky for days 

Your favourite holiday: none of them i’m a scrooge :(( How was your day: i’ve been listening to sir gawain and the green knight on audible because the new trailer with dev patel looks so good. going to hike up to the top of a cathedral later which i’d rather not do bc it’s raining lol 

Your favourite career: hmmm the writer + artist + medical career, though i wish the rabbit hole mod for the doctor career was active 

Your favourite aspiration: none of them tbh i’m more interested in my sim personality over anything else 

Your favourite ep, sp or gp: seasons for sure! i quite like strangerville and parenthood even though toddlers are the bane of my existence  How old is your simblr: oh gosh, i think i made it last autumn? so many 5 months old? time is arbitrary 

Have you woohooed: no comment ;) 

Your favourite skill: artist and any of the muscial instrument ones, they’re so calming to watch and listen to! 

The size of your mods folder: 2.01 gb hahaha the mac life limits me 

Your 3 favourite mods: MCC, wicked whims, and the better schools mod by kawaiistacie lmao 

Your interests (other than sims): painting, journalling, yoga, and playing video games! 

Your favourite sim (picture if possible): noemi is my forever daughter and one day i will finish her and dustin’s story 

which sims games you have played (including mobile games): i played the fuck out of sims 2, totally skipped sims 3, and played sims 4 all throughout uni, forgot about it, and then picked it up again when i was living in korea 

Propose a crazy scheme: finishing a legacy/story lmaooo whilst still doing some of my other hobbies lol 

Best part of simblr: making friends from all over and seeing the sheer amount of creativity that people have with this game! it’s amazing what people can do with sims. 

Worst part of simblr: the loneliness i guess? i haven’t made too many friends even tho i have some really cool mutuals. i want to branch out and make more friends! 

What other games you play: stardew, mass effect, dragon age (especially origins), neverwinter nights, final fantasy, more visual novels than i can count, monster hunter world...basically i have way too much screen time lol but i love video games as an interactive story telling medium so it’s fine 

other websites or accounts (origin, twitter etc..): my main tumblr is empiricallly where i blog about kdramas, writing, and aesthetic things 

i think most people have done this game but i’ll tag @viaearthling @seviies @eqountl @opheliavilla @kvpcvke @simmerlau​ @sammsims​ + anyone who wants to do it!

[rebsrebsrebsrebs]

Q&A Answers

Thanks everyone for participating! I’m so glad y’all are here. Thanks for sending in questions for the Q&A and letting me talk gratuitously about myself lol. Questions and answers below!

show me a meme that describes Emil! - nerieda

Congratulations on all your followers! I'm curious because you mentioned it, have you had lots of different hair colors? - makeapactwithme

Yeah! I’ve been dying my hair for 10 years. I’ve done full white, platinum blonde, electric pink, fuchsia, at least 5 shades of purple, teal, pastel blue, bright green,  teal-green ombre, bright red, dark red, naturalish red, half teal half pink, half blonde half pink, and currently I’ve got a deep sea green. 

What's your opinion on the Lucifer x Diavolo ship? Yay or nay? - impastaz309

I like DiaLuci but I’m picky about it. I think there’s a lot there to explore in the interplay between each of their personal feelings, Lucifer’s oath of allegiance to Diavolo, how the incident with Belphie affected them… There’s so much playground for angst with a happy ending. Yes the happy ending is obligatory, I want my husbands to love each other and also me, thanks. 

what if any other otome/ dating games have you played? - winter-rose-wolf

have you ever played Mystic Messenger, if so, what was your fav route? (rip to the Vanderwood stans, still waiting for his route 😔😔😔) - peachykindalovesyou

Mystic Messenger, The Arcana, Ikemen Sengoku (briefly), Dramatical Murder, Cinders, Doki Doki Literature Club, Katawa Shoujo, Syrup and the Ultimate Sweet, Corruption of Champions (yes I’m counting it). In the ‘not strictly dating games/VNs but games where you can kiss people’ category, I’ve played all the Mass Effect and Dragon Age games.

I have played MysMe, but I stopped a few years ago. I played I think uh, one or two routes from Yoosung and Zen, and then the Jaehee friendship route. Cheritz let me kiss Jaehee you fucking COWARDS. Zen was one of my faves, but I have a thing for white-haired anime boys. Zen, Clear, Mammon, Solomon, and my own MC Emil.... Hhhhhhhhhhhhhh

Speaking of,

YOU LIKE DRAGON AGE, TOO?! Eep, so many questions so little space. Okay, favorite DA game out of the three we have currently? Also, who's your favorite romance option (If you have one) and why? Favorite race, class? My favorite is probably Origins, my favorite romance is Cullen (because I'm a simp). Although Alistair and Fenris are WONDERFUL as well. I also like Dorian, but I haven't made a male inquisitor to romance him with yet. I'm scared to romance Solas. I'm a sucker for Elven mages. - valkyrie-1369

OH YES HOMIES I LOVE DRAGON AGE. Inquisition is my fave game. I like Iron Bull, Cullen, Josephine, and Dorian’s romances the most. Save yourself the trouble of romancing Solas, you’ll get either really sad or really angry or both. My most played race/class combos are Elf Mage, Human Rogue, and Qunari Rogue. Fun bonus fact, five of my eight MCs were originally Dragon Age OCs because I am a dirty, dirty recycler.

Hey! Congrats on the milestone! Can you tell me about your favorite fanfic? Fandom doesn't matter, just something you liked a lot! - tatsukohime

I have two favorites that come to mind. The Obey Me! one that comes to mind is feels like I'm losing my mind (feels like a dream of me all the time) by Take_Me_To_My_Fragile_Dreams. Do you like getting punched in the gut metaphorically? Do you like vivid descriptions of smells and emotions? Do you like demon fucking? This fic is for you. The plot rocks. The characterization rocks. The original characters (more than one!!!) rock. All around a wonderful investment of your time. Author is also a friend and a sweetie.

For a not-Obey Me! rec, The Tricky Business of Disclosing the Greed of a Martyr by ActuallyAndroid. Breath of the Wild slow burn featuring lots of cooking and mutual pining. 

Any suggestions for digital art? - cakenpiewhyohmy

This is really vague and IDK what to tell you, so I’m just gonna spout some stream of consciousness advice I guess. If you’re interested, give it a shot. It’s kinda like any other art in that you gotta practice and try different things. The computer doesn’t make it easier, it’s just a different set of tools. That said, I like that I only had to invest in the tablet and it doesn’t take up a lot of physical space, since I don’t have much space. Be sure to do your stretches. Always put your tablet pen in the same place. Keep your desk clear if at all possible, I say, looking at my three cups that I need to clear away. 

Thanks everyone again! I’ll probably do another one of these at 300 or so, so I’ll see u then <3

[meggannn]

ship meme: shakarian, shepley, vhawke

sorry i’m late babe!! i already answered shakarian so here are the others

SHEPLEY:

What made you ship it?

starting from my first playthrough, Ashley has been one of my Shepard’s favorite companions because of her easiness to talk to, practicality (that conversation about siccing your dog on the enemy and running the other way is crude but accurate, and Shepard knew that), and also I think Shepard sees a bit of herself in Ashley, where deep down, she really doesn’t have that high of an opinion of herself. like most of my ships, I enjoy a “best friends” angle there—I wouldn’t call my Shep and Ashley best friends, because like, Ash probably considers her sisters her best friends, but on the Normandy especially after Kaidan’s death, I think they share a lot of unspoken mutual connections as the only human women combatants who are expected to carry humanity’s legacy in this war.

What are your favorite things about the ship?

they have a lot of things in common at first glance, but the further you look, the more they feel like mirror opposites in other ways. they’re both level-headed marines that take their career trajectories very seriously. in my head, Shepard and Ash are also both woc, so they have that in common on the SR-1 as the only combat women onboard. my Shep and Ash are also both older sisters, although Lydia failed to keep her sibling alive, and Ash succeeded in successfully raising four younger sisters; Ash has a big family and they’re very dear to her, and Shepard has none, and in fact, a lack of family is a big thing for her because she feels she rebuilt herself in the Alliance. yet, they’ve both built identities around being career soldiers.

they both know sacrifices are going to be made in war; they don’t have to mince words with each other. but maybe the biggest thing is that while Shepard is highly recognized, Ashley’s skills are constantly looked over and pointedly ignored, and yet Ashley doesn’t let that bother her at all. eventually, when they both become Spectres (and post-Ash’s promotion) they gain equal footing in rank, but Ash is still more than willing to take orders from Sheaprd because she believes in them that much. so like... the ease with which they’re able to fall into each other’s orbit again after reconciling on Huerta. they acknowledge Horizon was a low point in their relationship that was neither of their faults. if Shep keeps visiting her, Ash trusts Shep entirely again by the time of the coup that she turns on Udina herself. if Shep puts effort into meeting her halfway, Ash returns so much.

Is there an unpopular opinion you have on your ship?

well... idk if this is unpopular but I really only ship femshepley... sorry mshep players...

VHAWKE:

What made you ship it?

I know the exact fic that started all this, Liquid Courage by pibroch. I remember seeing this in a friend’s bookmarks and going “what? varric/hawke? that’s stupid. that would never happen.” then my cursor moved and clicked it without my consent and then suddenly I was reading it. and I remember thinking this had a nice Varric voice, so I kept reading for that at first. iirc the angle was that they start something as friends with benefits, and then Varric realizes as he’s picking up a gift for Hawke he’s caught big feelings and oh shit. and then I was oh shit too.

eventually, damalur’s fic became a big reason I stayed with it—she wrote so much vhawke back in the day—and then her starting starting the hightown funk exchange kept it a regular interest.

What are your favorite things about the ship?

I won’t say “best friends to lovers” again, I promise (even though it’s true)

I have a mix of reasons here that are similar to the answers I wrote in my shepley and shakarian responses, about grief, and found family, and juxtapositions, and blah blah. the long and short of it is that they’re both very similar in several ways, but in other ways they’re mirror opposites, but I think, at least with friend!Varric, that their relationship is one of the only reasons either of them gets through DA2 at all.

a big theme for Hawke, of course, is family. DA2 is, among other things, the story of how they slowly end up losing one family and gain another (and possibly lose that one too if their friends leave them in the story). Varric is a little of the same way: he’s lost his parents and eventually loses Bartrand to betrayal; the person who is there for him before, during, and after is Hawke. they both sort of become each other’s lifeline for the greater found family no matter whatever chaos Kirkwall or the rest of their friends descend into. bioware obviously intended for Varric to be your bff, and while in Mass Effect with Garrus I think this attitude of forcing a companion to be your best friend had its problems, with Varric I think it works better because Varric is meant to be a “true neutral” compared to the others that sticks by you not because he always necessarily supports you, but because he finds you interesting enough to tell stories about. morally and politically, this has its issues, because he’s a centrist and even if he’s sympathetic to mages, he’s also a ~both sides have their good points~ kind of guy, and besides, he’s more of a talker than a doer. but Hawke speaks in actions, so it makes sense to me that he’s so fascinated by them: Hawke has the courage to do all this heroic stuff that he’s only ever written books about. of course he’s going to write about them too!

but while he starts viewing them as a sort of iconic, larger-than-life figure, he realizes over the years that by penning his best friend’s exploits, he’s made them a political target as the violence in the city grows—and eventually, he realizes he might have straight-up ruined Hawke’s life. it’s a burden of his own that he bears as Hawke shoulders the weight of the city: they both feel like Kirkwall’s downfall was their fault. post-DA2, they both set off to try to make it right in the best way they can, Hawke by leaving, and Varric by setting the story straight and protecting his friends the best way he knows how, with words. a big part of why all of that attracts me is just the drama of it all if you decide to view that romantically—especially if Varric recognizes his feelings but chooses not to say something, like if Hawke is with someone else—but really I see Hawke and Varric’s relationship as a tragedy no matter if it’s platonic or not.

of course a lot depends on how you play Hawke, but no matter if they’re blue/red/purple, I think they hide their grief behind whatever their facade is. Varric is much the same, where he hides his behind humor and only really expresses himself fully in writing—however exaggerated—but also growing up in a family full of bitter alcoholics has given him the ability to recognize when his friend’s at a low point, and how serious that low point is. since he’s sort of a peacemaker, his inclination is to look out for them without forcing them to talk about their grief; I’m really attracted to ships that have that “I’m here if you need me” energy with no pressure attached.

Is there an unpopular opinion you have on your ship?

hm, I don’t think so? I think this ship has the potential to work in a lot of different ways so where I’m normally picky about the way I like things, with this one I am more open to interpretations I wouldn’t normally like.

I guess, idk if this is unpopular, but I don’t really have any hard feelings against Bianca, although I am not convinced Varric’s infatuation for her is healthy. so in general I am in favor of him finding a way to move on from her, although that isn’t the main reason I like vhawke