#edy's messages

[solargeist]

ghsotly im going to loset it

CHEK I DONT EVEN KNOW WHAT TO SAY ur saiyng it all 4me but im going to bite through wood

[edienotsedgwick]

Another day another sign! I keep seeing these little things that just make me feel like everything is going as it’s planned.

[supercanaries]

Whatever happened to that glee x hundred crossover fic you were talking about? Did you ever write it?

Hello anon ♥

TBH, it's been a while since those fandoms, so I have to admit I have no memory of it. Please, forgive me. My creative side is really chaotic and I write so much, I sometimes lose track of it. Years later, I would sometimes find thousands of words of concepts that I don't even remember writing.

I am almost certain I did not, in fact, actually write that AU/Crossoever however. I believe a concept is what it ended up staying. Sorry to disappoint you in case you were interested 😔.

Thank you so much for writing to me. I hope life is treating you well and that your day is great so far and beyond ♥

[fictionisthebetterreality]

Me: Yeah I like Mass Effect a normal amount.

Also Me: Did EDI know that she was going to die? Did she see the possibility, one of a thousand simulations, subroutines running like dreams in the back of her mind? Did she tell Jeff? Or did she feel the Crucible wave catching up to the ship as it was happening, feel its hungry claws reaching for her synthetic synapses, her circuitboard heart? Did they get to say goodbye? Was there time for her to give him a message? Say Thank You, Jeff, I'll always remember you, Jeff, Jeff, I love you- Or did he look over, start calling her name, only to see the blank shell of what used to be his love? Did they hold a funeral for her? Bury her body in the foreign earth of a planet scorched by the heat of their crashing ship (her true form)? Did he ask Shepard afterwards? Did he ask her if she knew, knew what would happen when she made that choice? Did she reply? Did she tell the truth, or lie, her tongue burning like a thousand suns because she is too far broken, too cracked with guilt and grief, to force herself to risk another? Kaiden, Ashley, Mordin, Thane, Miranda, Anderson, EDI - surely another would destroy her beyond repair, so does she lie? Does she crush yet more bodies beneath her boots, saying No Jeff, I would never-

[syncrovoid-presents]

DISCOVERIES OF THE NEW WELCOME HOME UPDATE (SPOILERS?)

NOTE: this is a first cursory glance without getting into things! Also, every video mentioned has a transcript below the video (ctrl+a) to highlight it.

First off the first page! If you zoom out on the left and right there are two eyes watching you @:)

WELCOME

The red drawn house is clickable and leads you to a welcoming audio (clownillustrations.com/i)

There is an out of place letter Y in the Serendipitous Salutations.

In Wally's character description if you click on his canvas itll bring you to a page with another audio file. This one is more direct, and silly! (Clownillustrations.com/will)

NEIGHBOURHOOD

The so-below has a spiral that when clicked brings you to a glitching audio file. The record acts weird and the audio is a series of squeaks and clicks. Most likely Morse code (from Home )!! (Clownillustrations.com/neighbor)

The so-below graphic has been updated to a black void with a white eye and spiral (image below)

If you click the beetle on the bottom right you get another hidden page. This one is a video and a message (looks to be a transcript). It is from Poppy with Frank talking about her recipe. It's pretty sweet haha. Glitches out at the end with Wally @:) (I think there is a freeze frame? The video cannot be replayed nor paused) (Clownillustration.com/9-14-fp)

There is another bug with Eddie that brings you to a video between Eddie and Frank. Glitches out when Wally is mentioned. (Clownillustration.com/8-14-ef)

There is an out of place X letter.

Fun thing! If you select all on the page home doesnt get blued-out.

The O is out of place

ABOUT US

The blue drawn heart is clickable. It brings you to another audio file. Wally is being so silly @:) (clownillustration.com/a)

Overlapped text: "When I unwrapped the first letter, I felt it. I heard it. Open. Open. Open. I want it out. I'm going to get it out."

The wally darling is my favourite line js new I think? Wally is being mentioned more overall.

In the bottom right another bug will appear that leads you to another hidden page. This is a video where Sally and Julie are talking, and "Williford" Wally is mentioned at the end (clownillustration.com/10-14-js)

The yellow drawn star is another link to audio. This one is very helpful @:) (clownillustration.com/i-2)

STICKERS

Top right there is a spider that brings you to a video where Julie and Barnaby are chatting. Glitches out again at the end when Wally is mentioned. (There is an mention during the conversation that he's there, I think that's different than the rest?) (clownillustration.com/11-14-jb)

Theres a few letters that look odd in the first part (in order of appearance): K P I (first one could be C, second could be S, third could be T. Might be in pairs of CK, SP, TI)

I managed to get a small blue orb thing in the top left but clicking did nothing. It is gone and couldn't be selected so that might have been just a my-laptop glitch. Weird though!

None of the stickers or banners are clickable (havent checked names)

There is a Caterpillar on the top right with another video. This one is between Howdy and Barnaby. Also glitches when Wally is mentioned. (Clownillustration.com/12-14-hb)

NEWS

E is out of place

The guestbook has officially been closed! Unless you submitted something a while back you cannot submit anything anymore. Understandable but unfortunate. There is a message to the guest book writers after the most recent update. Please respect boundaries @:)

There is a beetle on the top right that leads to another video between Edie and Howdy. Howdy calls Edie Ed and Julie Jewels @:P. Also glitches when Wally is mentioned (clownillustration.com/13-14-he)

GUESTBOOK

The drawn hello is clickable and leads to another audio. Theres some connectivity issues @:P (clownillustration.com/find)

I am too eepy to go through the rest of the guestbook but there is lots of new messages and images!

There is a little bug hiding in the top right that has another video link. This is a talk between Poppy and Sally. Wally is about @:) (clownillustration.com/2-14-sp)

EXHIBITION

Specifies that Welcome Home started airing on October 11th 1969 until sometime in 1974 (4 to 5 years).

I didnt go through to test the brightness and read the text for all of the images of the gallery. There are multiples with text!

The house drawing on the bottom left is clickable and leads to more audio. It's very friendly @:) (clownillustration.com/understand)

There is a bug on the left halfway down with another video. This is a talk between Howdy and Poppy. Wally is about @:) Glitches when Wally is mentioned (clownillustration.com/1-14-ph)

MEDIA

Theres a lot more on this page that I will go through later!

MERCHANDISE

You need to wait for the butterfly to appear at the Currently Unknown Records subtitle. Leads to another video where Frank and Julie were talking back and forth. It's very Silly @:P. Glitches when Wally is mentioned. (Clownillustration.com/6-14-jf)

OTHER

When trying different possible codes I managed to get a drawn stars on the error page that leads to another audio! This one I did not expect. It shows up after waiting a few moments, either appearing or being drawn in a 2 star or 5 star formation. (Clownillustration.com/soon)

The hidden Wally audios lead to a possible hidden message: "I WILL (HELP?)(FIND?) YOU NEIGHBOR (A?) (I?) (WILL?) UNDERSTAND (YOU) SOON". My guess is "I will help find you neighbour. I will understand soon". But that doesnt explain where "A" and "WAY" would go. It could also read "I will find a way to help you neighbor" (although "to" is not one of our words).

There is another hidden audio you get from clicking the drawn heart of YOU (clownillustration.com/you-1)

YXWVOE still works. Transcript has been added.

WOXYVE now had a cockroach that leads to another video where Barnaby and Home have a conversation. This takes place after his conversation with Julie and Howdy as he mentions both. It glitches out once Wally is mentioned. (Clownillustration.com/14-14-bh)

YWXOEV has a drawing of a phone after a few moments. Another audio with the transcript. Wally is being so Silly @:p (clownillustration.com/way)

VOYWEX works the same. I waited for a while and there were no added text or drawings.

EOVWXY works the same. Fhe webpage is also called answer, just like Wally's hidden audio files. Sounds like Wally is trying to communicate through the static at times?

That's all I found tonight without going through all the new images! It is 2am here, but it's so fun being able to dive into the new update!

By typing in different words you can get audio from HELP and PHONE (seems different than old phone call audio. More has been added, voice has been updated).

THOUGHTS

Also I have a guess that with all the videos the first numbers might put them into a chronological order? If true there may be up to 14 hidden audios as the last one (Barnaby and House) is 14-14 (14 our of 14). Might not work or mean anything if there are duplicate numbers (or they are happening at the same time).

If they can be placed in order, perhaps a new message or secrets can be found with the two letters they all end with! This I will test tomorrow.

Also the eyes appear on all pages out on the left and eight, most likely belonging to Wally as he makes multiple inferences towards eyeballs and him being related (I can see you, I see out of the eyes on my you've drawn, here is how you drawn eyes, etc.)

There has also been a lot of stuff relating to bugs, which Frank directly mentions is his expertise. Frank also is in multiple videos, which seems like there may or may not be a connection. I forget now, but it should be checked if Frank ever asks Wally's opinion since that is when videos glitch and end. If he does not, then that may be a sign that Frank knows more than they're letting on.

Good Bye for now!

[bellamer]

Man alright I’ve deduced it and here’s who absolutely did and didn’t tell Kaidan about Shepard and Garrus

Garrus- If Kaidan wasn’t on speaking terms with Shepard for joining Cerberus, why would he actively reach out to talk to Garrus ? And if Garrus was too busy to shoot Shepard a “U good” message to his girl Kaidan was definitely the last one on his mind.

Liara- Literally what reason would she have ? I’d assume she was too busy with shadow broker shit and her studying the prothean artifact unless she just did it to be mean because Geena originally rejected Liara for Kaidan and then moved onto Garrus like Kaidan was nothing but in ME3 she still assumes that she still has a thing for Kaidan but I don’t think it was her unless she wanted to be a bitch even though I don’t know how she’d know about Shepard and Garrus in the first place since she was too busy playing with her shiny new shadow broker toys.

Tali- Again, if he wasn’t on speaking terms with Shepard he wouldn’t be on speaking terms with her now matter how much she claims to hate Cerberus. If he didn’t believe his girlfriend why would he believe tali ? Also I can’t see them talking outside of a work basis anyways.

James- He didn’t even know that Kaidan knew Shepard so I doubt he knows their romantic history and he just freshly met Garrus while Kaidan was still comatose in the hospital and depending on how you play Garrus and Shepard might not even rekindle their romance until after visiting Kaidan or whatever. I don’t know, I know it wasn’t this idiot.

EDI- She’s way too smart for that and I can’t understand any scenario where she’d drop the bomb on Kaidan on their mission to mars since that’s the only time they interacted until he officially comes back but that’s way after he already confronted Shepard

Now let me tell you who it could have been:

Dr Chakwas- She cares about Kaidan deeply and even though she did join up with Cerberus she wasn’t officially part of them. She took a leave of absence from her actual job because the Cerberus thing was just a “temporary gig and Shepard needed her” and I can see her visiting him in the hospital and telling him that she knows Shepard and Kaidan had a thing but to not get his hopes up. She might have let it slip so that Kaidan doesn’t find out that hard way and gets hurt.

Joker- Even though he joined up with Cerberus too he technically started “ working” under the alliance again and since EDI only “obeyed” his commands and the alliance was too dumb to figure it out and he still had direct contact with Anderson, I figure he could convince Kaidan to have a drink with him. He probably accidentally let it slip and said that he wouldn’t say more and to just “ask Shepard”

Thane- If Thane is still alive in the play through it’s mentioned that he and Kaidan met in the hospital and while talking he probably let it slip and Shepard and Garrus hooked up but refused to say more once he saw the look on Kaidan’s face, knowing that he misspoke.

Any other answer kind of doesn’t make sense as to who snitched to Kaidan. Like it would take several convoluted reasons to explain to me why Urdnot Wrex, Kasumi, Grunt, Miranda, Jacob or whoever would go out of their own way to tell Kaidan that Shepard moved on like a day after they broke up but whatever

[bagog]

N7 Month, 2023 - Day 21: Omni-tool

Continuing Mshenko drabbles in the Shepard museum.

++

More people were milling about in the Shepard Exhibit. The Reaper War wing was the reason most people came to visit the Alliance Military History Museum, and the museum knew it. The architecture of the place basically bent the crowds toward the popular wing, and the exhibits themselves were designed to facilitate those crowds and still offer each visitor an experience that felt personal.

“Do you suppose when this exhibit travels, every museum it goes too is gonna be this big?” Kaidan whispered.

“…this exhibit travels?” Shepard turned his head, eyes wide but brow heavy, looking at Kaidan overtop his sunglasses.

“Yes,” Kaidan snorted. “It’s been in the Smithsonian, Pathanaxx Provincial, the British Museum…”

“I thought it lived here,” Shepard’s expression was growing stony. “It at least makes sense here. What’s my armor doing hanging in a salarian natural history museum?”

“Attracting visitors by the millions,” Kaidan hissed conspiratorially, turning Shepard by the shoulders to show him how many people were now, at this very moment, gawking at his armor.

“This couldn’t feel any stranger.”

“I’ll take that bet, look over here,” Kaidan took his hand and led him to a wall of alcoves. Before Shepard could read the plaque, his audio-tour began to speak.

“Essential to every soldier, the omni-tool has seen use on the frontier and the front-lines for almost a decade. Commander Shepard’s omni-tool would have not only have been by his side day-to-day (from sending and logging comm signals, to processing messages, to reminding the Commander his schedule), but also on the battle field modifying his arsenal.

In these alcoves, you can access a copy of Commander Shepard’s authentic omni-tool. Fee free to scroll through the battle data taken during every battle of the Reaper War in which Commander Shepard took part. Listen to the famous comms recordings that signaled the turn of the tide in real time! ‘Spectre Access Granted’ to read the messages from the Council during the Citadel Coup! See what mods Shepard used to win the war!

Due to high traffic, we ask that you please keep your experience with the Commander Shepard Omni-Tool installation to a maximum of ten minutes.”

Shepard didn’t even respond, casting a side-eye towards Kaidan, who may or may not have noticed it before dragging Shepard toward one of the alcoves. Still ahead of the morning’s traffic, it wasn’t hard for them to find an unoccupied alcove. There was a cylindrical, rigid sleeve mounted tastefully on a pedestal within the enclosure, a sign indicating you should put your arm through the sleeve.

“Well?” Kaidan said, smiling/

“’Well’ what?” Shepard scoffed. “You’re the one who wanted to come in here.”

“It’s gotta be you, c’mon!”

Shepard rolled his eyes, but put his arm through the cylinder. A familiar orange haptic interface of an omni-tool glittered to life around his forearm. It was tastefully dim inside the alcove, and Kaidan removed his dark glasses to huddle closer to the interface.

“Well, it looks like my old home screen…” Shepard tapped interface and called up the menu.

“Look,” Kaidan pointed gingerly. There was writing on the home screen, dimmer orange than the rest, nestled in one corner.

Commander Shepard’s omni-tool was destroyed in the Crucible explosion, this recreation is an imprint of that omni-tool from several days before the battle of London.

“How about that?” Kaidan grinned. “What imprint are they talking about, I wonder?”

“Cronos Station? EDI would have backed up all ship networks before the battle with the Cerberus Fleet.” Shepard scrolled through the data logs. There was a log of all comms he’d received in the last six months of the war, there was telemetry data on various battlefields, maps coded in from planets where Shepard’s war effort had taken him. An idea struck him, “I think I have something to show you, actually.”

“Oh?”

Shepard quickly navigated to his notes page, finding the way surprisingly familiar, given he hadn’t touched the interface in years.

His notes page was blank.

“Hmm,” Shepard frowned. “I… I guess they didn’t transfer everything.”

“You gotta figure they’d go through and at least remove all the top-secret and personal stuff, huh?”

“I guess so…”

“What is it you were hoping to find?”

“A letter I wrote to you. I could’ve sworn I typed it out on my omni-tool before Cronos Station.” He looked up at Kaidan, “I thought I lost my chance to give it to you when the Crucible went off. Was just me talking about how I feel about you.”

Kaidan smiled, a warmth in his eyes. His voice was rich and deep when he finally spoke. “That’s… that’s really sweet, Shepard.” He leaned forward and they kissed above the orange glow. “Guess they couldn’t leave a love note in a museum exhibit.”

“I didn’t ever think I’d see that letter again and now that I can’t get it back, I’m upset.” He slipped his arm out of the haptic display and it disappeared. Before he could exit the alcove, Kaidan took his elbow. Kaidan put his own arm into the sleeve and the interface reappeared.

“Here’s how I know how you feel about me,” Kaidan said softly. It took him seconds to get the hang of Shepard’s home screen and quickly find the data he was looking for. “Look,”

“What is that?” Shepard stared, numbers, names…

“Hardsuit data from your fire team, based on mission. Look:” Kaidan let the screen scroll. ‘K. Alenko’ was at the top of the hardsuit data list for every encounter of the late war. “I was with you the whole time. Look, I’m all over, here!” He used both hands to gently take Shepard’s face inside his raised hood, with the haptic interface dimmed, he stared at Shepard. “And I will always be here. With you. I knew how you felt about me then, and I know now.”

Shepard didn’t know what to say, so he let Kaidan kiss him deeply.

“ExCUSE me!” Came the trilling alto of a young salarian voice. Kaidan and Shepard leapt apart and fumbled for their dark glasses. “If you’re just going to use the kiosks to make-out, please try not to stay past the time limit, hmmmmmm?”

They made hasty apologies and slinked out of the alcove.

[dispatchwithlove]

📖

Okay, here's one I haven't talked about much, even with writing friends. It's playing with Beauty and the Beast a little (a lot). Setting: a small, isolated planet. Time period: the same week humans burst onto the scene and war breaks out between humans and turians.

Garrus is a sniper with a military unit taking out some batarians on said planet. It's not going well. The only way his team will get out is if he hangs back, gives them cover, and remains on the planet to die alone. Instead, though, he finds a strange hidden ship stocked with goods and possesses an AI (EDI). He can hold up there, but the ship won't fly. He’s protected, but stuck. Weeks pass.

Jane Shepard is on a small ship protecting some scientists and whatnot making a trip down to said planet. Something goes wrong, ship crashes, big flames. 

Back on EDI’s ship, EDI alerts Garrus to the crash, tells him there’s one survivor, unknown species who is unconscious and will die in the flames if he doesn’t rescue them. Reluctantly, he pulls Jane from the flames and brings her back to EDI’s ship.

Jane wakes up in the ship, terrified because she’s never seen a non-human life sentient life form before. And fuck is he big and scary. He gives her an omni-tool so they can talk and she nearly takes him out thinking he’s trying to kill her. He won’t let her leave, he keeps her locked in the ship saying it’s for her own protection. 

EDI swears she can’t make the ship fly. Jane is terrified of Garrus, Garrus can’t help but take it personally. But they’re the only company each other has. Weeks pass. Friendship develops, feelings grow, attraction happens. All while they learn of the first contact war raging throughout the galaxy via EDI. (no she can’t send messages to help them get rescued, how weird, hmmm). 

EDI feeds Jane romance books saying that’s all that’s available, gives Garrus tips on romantic gestures. And slowly Garrus and Jane grow suspicious of EDI’s strange behavior. Maybe they'd put more thought into it if they're weren't banging constantly.

Voila! Shakarian Beauty and the Beast. How will they break the spell I mean get off the planet. I WILL write this some day.

[st-writes]

It was Now or Never

ME2, A buildup to the Romance Scene, Garrus POV)

It was now or never.

The one good thing about the whole crew having been abducted was that no one was in the mess to witness him start out from the battery about a half dozen times before he made it all the way to the elevator. The one good thing about being a nervous wreck is that you could find “one good thing” about the whole crew being abducted without delving into what a callous thought that was. Sure, they may be in agony, dying or— worse— but Garrus was about to make a fool of himself, so who got the bad end of the deal, really?

She’d asked. She’d asked! Weeks ago and light years away, but she’d asked. The list of excuses he’d made to put it off was longer than the length of the Normandy, but this was it. They were on their way to the Omega-4 Relay, It was now or never.

He stepped off the elevator and stared at her door. Maybe he should’ve messaged ahead. He could still message ahead— right now—but then he’d be right there. Maybe he should go back down to the battery and message ahead.

“Shepard is currently indisposed.“ Garrus nearly jumped out of his plates as the voice of the ship’s AI suddenly filled the cabin foyer. “But if you’d like to wait for an audience, you may do so inside.”

“Uh, thanks, EDI,” he drawled uncertainly. The thought of what EDI might know- and how its unshackling might change its interpretation or reaction of whatever data it had sent a shiver down his carapace.

“This, uh, meeting… Are— do you monitor…” He cleared his throat. “Could we have some…privacy?”

“Of course. Without the crew, I am running more tasks than usual. I would be happy to devote more processing power elsewhere.”

“Great! Great.” Great? “Not—I don’t mean-“ Was he really afraid an AI was going to judge him for lack of empathy? “Thanks,” he muttered, and gestured the cabin door open.

He half hoped to find Shepard on the other side, just to get it over with. But no, the cabin was as empty as its decorative tanks. Taking a deep breath, he stepped inside.

The muted hum of a fan and wet percussion of running water from the bathroom made it easy to work out what EDI had meant by “indisposed.” Hopefully it wasn’t a cold shower—he was pretty sure he remembered some human idioms about those. He’d done his own preening earlier, but didn’t imagine hers was for the same reasons. If it was? No, he couldn’t think about that. It put his heart in his throat.

He took another deep breath. “This is good,” he muttered to himself. “You’ve got time to set up. To set the mood…” Garrus looked around. The cabin was already a little on the dim side. Taking the lights down any further could trip her up when she came out— or put her on alert. Not the way he wanted to get her adrenaline going.

Music, though… Syncing his headset with the room, he scrolled through the list of options he’d compiled earlier. There it was— “Crested Waves,” a piece from the Vaenia soundtrack. He hadn’t seen the movie himself, but the soundtrack was good. “Blue Azure” was in regular rotation to pump him up during missions. “Crested Waves” was a more intimate track—not great for battle, but… He wondered if Shepard knew it. Vaenia was popular with the humans, he’d heard. Not so much with the Asari, but Liara was a “pureblood” so—

Oh. Not Crested Waves, then.

Bittersweet asari vocals cut away to a building thrum of percussion, soon overlaid by a bouncy electronic refrain. Not the most romantic track, but upbeat. It was a favorite at Flux for a few years, and could have conceivably been playing when they all went for celebratory drinks after kicking Saren’s ass. He could conjure the memory of her, smiling, bathed in red lighting from the bar, the ends of her hair sticking to her skin, caught in the trails of dancing-induced sweat. It was probably the first and last time he’d seen her completely relaxed. Perfect.

Now. Where to greet her? Her office area was a no-go. It was too close to the bathroom door, too in her face, and there was nothing relaxing about the mess of pads and papers strewn across her desk.

By the tanks? The light was nice, but also would come from behind. His silhouette might be more intimidating than inviting. He looked to the right, where her bed seemed to demand attention. No, absolutely not. Too forward, to presumptuous. The single chair next to it wasn’t much better.

Couches below her model ship collection seemed like his best bet. The lighting coming off the case was a little harsh, and he was pretty sure he wouldn’t be directly visible when she came out, but there was a table for the wine and the seating seemed neutral.

Setting the wine down, he sat himself at the far end, shifting until he found a comfortable, casual position. He pulled at a few wrinkles in his suit. It wasn’t the one he’d bought for the occasion, but when it came time the black and white outfit looked a little too somber.

When it came down to it, they were making themselves a distraction from everything else. He wanted to keep it light, relaxed. And if it wasn’t— well, a horrible inter-species awkwardness thing could be a distraction too.

Did humans usually shower this long? Or was his anxiety just stretching time? ...Was that her old helmet on her desk? That was grim. He got up and turned it toward the wall. Would she mind him touching her stuff?

The sounds of the shower had faded beneath his music, but the hiss of the opening door sounded like it was right at his ear. He put the helmet back best he could and scrambled back to the couch, trying to slip back into the casual pose he’d settled on before.

Shepard came into his view at the top of the steps. Her short hair was damp, falling more heavily into place behind her ears, where she pressed at it with a small white towel. She looked... fresh... and clean... and completely unaware of him. He should have messaged ahead. What was he doing? What had he done?

He stood up. It was now or never.

The music cut out, and Shepard turned her perplexed frown from the panel beside her to him. Her eyebrows shot up, clearing her cloudy expression. “Hey.”

Shit.

[aukanemin]

~Commissions are open!~

Such beauty it could be if you distributed this post - or even had desire to aquire something for yourself!<ззз

Below I have described in detail almost all the information that I could imagine as neccessary, yet please do not hesitate to write for any reason in a private message or ask - it will be my absolute pleasure to tell or show you more, and I am always glad to have new delightful acquaintances!<зз

I do portraits in three formats - bust, waist-length and full-length, and with three different stages of completion - line art, flat color and full shadow work. They can be completely different in style, and you should pay close attention to the difference in the execution of these formats - the busts are always more detailed in the character's features, the atmosphere is more consistent in waist-length paintings, and full-length drawings are well suited to demonstrate clothing design or depict a scene. On average, I complete the first stage of work (sketching) in two days, and the second in three, but in case of various circumstances I may leave myself from a week to week and a half - depending on the complexity and its cost, and the duration of the work can vary greatly yet I always try to be transparent and tactful about all possible deadlines and reasons for such.

I adore to experiment with styles and learn new tones of this craft - as each meeting is a start of something beautiful, and I desire to create art that is complex and multifaced, but to an important extend I should say that I do not feel comfortable to copy or imitate other's styles of execution and sensuality, and a lot of expressions and detailing in my work are sudden - art is an journey and yet I would love to share this journey with you;зз

There is a path of my prices:

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Sketch: $ 45

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For background + 10 $ as base cost, prices over are determined by detailing. For each new character + 15 $ Cost of more complex and expressive pieces and backgrounds are increased by tips, which I express as an deeply loyal and tactful system - it is absolutely voluntary and happens only at the end of the project, so you have ability to define their cost to your feelings and abilities and nothing over that<зз Oh!! And you havve read almost everything! Thank you so much! And also tere, under the cut, I describe the whole process of work and how we pay. This is quite useful information for other questions that you may have if you desire to purchase my work, therefore I may advise you to take a look at it too;з

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After I discuss the content of the painting with the client and receive additional materials from them (a photo of the person I am drawing, or references that are close to what is expected of me), I start creating the first sketch.

In accordance with the request, I make a sketch of the future painting, which will contain all its important elements and an approximate color scheme (if any) that I will use. At this stage, you can freely make your amendments, and when the content suits you, I will ask you for an advance payment of half the cost of the work without additional prices of background or detailing.

After that, work on the portrait will begin. Its duration varies on several factors - to a greater extent on the volume and complexity of the work itself, as well as on my own workload with other orders.

After completing the portrait, I will send you its version in low quality- after you familiarize yourself with it (there is also possible some edits - of tones and color, elements of shading, character features and small details), and after you pay the rest of the amount, you shall receive the final result of our artwork! ~

[allatariel]

Tell me something about your WIP Through All That Masquerade, please friend!

Hello friend <3 <3 <3 Thank you for the ask!

This is my far too ambitious BSG canon divergence epic for which one lonely chapter is posted to AO3, as you know :) I'm not sure what I could say that you wouldn't already know, but it has been what feels like forever since I worked on it, even though in actuality it's probably been less than a year.

I don't think I ever posted this VERY rough snippet though, so maybe this will suffice?

~~~

“Have you two agreed on a book yet?” Bill called to his daughters from the couch across the room. They’d been in front of the bookshelf behind the table for the twenty minutes since they’d arrived. Bill hadn’t had time before they’d showed up to do more than change back into his duty blues. Laura’s lavender suit still hung over the arm of the chair by the closet, her discarded shoes still sat between the other chair and his rack. It felt more like home with her clothes lying around. 

They finally agreed on something, an old favorite from when they were very small called Ghostship Masquerade, and they settled in.

J.J. sprawled out under his left arm half dozing against his shoulder as her mother often did. Edie leaned against his right arm with her legs curled under her, helping to brace the book between them and turning the pages as he read aloud. 

Later, when Edie didn’t turn the page, he looked down to find her asleep against his right shoulder.

The phone by the hatch buzzed and Lt. Gaeta’s voice followed. “CIC to commanding officer.”

At the first crackle of the speaker, J.J. was already sitting up as Bill lifted his arm from around her and Edie took the book from him, giving him room to stand. He went to the phone and picked up the receiver.

“Go ahead,” 

“I'm sorry to disturb you, sir, but we have a Priority One alert message from Fleet Headquarters. It was transmitted in the clear.” 

“In the clear? What does it say?” He heard Edie ask J.J. in hushed tones what that meant, and her sister’s equally subdued reply.

"’Attention all Colonial units. Cylon attack underway. This is no drill.’" 

His eyes fixed on Laura’s Aghdashloo painting of Daybreak Over Caprica City that hung above the sideboard as he absorbed the message. Absurdly, he wondered if this would be the last view of open sky his family might ever see.

“I’ll be right there.” He hung up the receiver and buttoned up his jacket, his mind coming to grips with this new reality. There were too many civilians aboard, and they had no munitions save the bare minimum to equip their Viper squadrons. They could evacuate the civilians aboard the Vigilance, but where could they go? And they would be sitting ducks without the protection of Galactica and the rest of the Battlestar Group under his command. 

Bill turned to face his daughters huddled together on the couch, Edie clutching the book to her chest while J.J. clutched her. They had clearly sensed the shift in his demeanor. As a husband and father, his first priority was to protect his family. As a soldier and an admiral, his duty was to defend the people of the Twelve Colonies and lead his crew in that effort.

[bcacstuff]

Are you giving any credence to the info Purv has regarding CM?

No

You don't say so 😳

Good observation Anon! How come there's always something new when I just showed how fabricated her 'proof' is....

Eeeeewwwww

Yes I've seen it 🙄... The Hyrox patch is the same for one whole season, only the city name changes

The one for Glasgow this year

Berlin

Birmingham

Los Angeles

Do you need more?

Oh and this season (22/23) so far there have been these many events

I didn't take the time to count all the participants of all those events, if someone wants to be my guest. But I think you can imagine there are thousands and thousands of people all over the world owning these patches of the Hyrox event.

Oh and I don't know how to clearly identify what exact city or cities the patches (note patches as in plural) on the backpack are from. Can you?

Yeah, sorry this is very blurry, and it is going to look very shippery this way. I just can't help... but really... help me out here?

And... yes, as I noted above, and there's still not something wrong with my eyes and I swear I didn't have a drop of alcohol all day. (and it's 3.30am right now) but I'm not seeing double... do I? I see two, as in 2 patches of this season! Do you see it too???

I don't know, but it seems to me that every participant only get one (1) patch from the event he/she participates in. And by my knowledge, and as we can see on the website, Sam only participated in the one at Glasgow. No other ones!!! Go, f.i look at Nic Rasenti's entries. he has a lot more, London and Glasgow. Oh, perhaps Nic was with her in Paris? Is that how she knows Sam? he has been in Paris before with Nicole. And perhaps he was hoping he would be one of the friends invited for his Miami birthday party and told Cinderella to go there too.... 🤪

See what I did here? I just did what shippers do, and what Purv does. She tries to paste a couple of random things together that slightly can in some very far fetched way be connected, but there are a ton of other options, which conveniently aren't taken into account. Needless to say I don't think it was Nic in Paris cheating on Nicole 😉 But I take it that my dearest gentle readers do understand that.

Right... next. Btw. she wrote 6 weeks ago in a hotel with Cinderella... 😉

Now see, here's an Anon that can calculate for herself and use a calendar as well. Exactly, 6 weeks ago was Easter weekend, he was not only with his family but also spotted on the airport in Edi by a fan. (on 8 April)

But okay okay, I hear you she 'posted' a bunch of pics, she could have easily posted that a week later on. Okay... cause, it was Friday 30 March right, her Anon spotted them in a restaurant in Paris. Friday after he had just been one day on set (per the birthday post for Dries), that particular post you should expect Cinderella to like, especially if he would have given her the privilege to leave the set already after one day to spent the weekend with her in Paris. But exactly that one was not liked by her according to the fantasy lalalanders (how rude!)

Oh and for the record, if you would like to be in Paris in no time and not go through all the trouble an airport has, (going there Antwerp - Brussels and all the checks and security) we in Europe rather take the Thalys to Paris. Brings you right in the city at Gare du Nord, Very comfortable travel, and you'll be in the heart of Paris within the hour. Check it out people! (but yeah, I figure you in the US wouldn't dream of it)

right next...

I haven't seen any video, I did never requested to follow Cinderella (I never follow any of those or OL related accounts). I really do not need to see it but thanks for your observation Anon

There is no way anybody can identify the woman in NYC in the video, I even have the original one without the watermark... But for what it is worth, it doesn't strike any similarity to the pics I've seen from Cinderella.

Yes we're calling her Cinderella. Thanks for you message, maybe I can make some more sense out of it. Read on!

Oh... now that's rude, he didn't even bring a whole case of his whisky like he did for his birthday in Miami??? Not even a bottle??? Now... I'm totally disappointed now... or could it be that... oh right wait the backpack...

or just maybe not! ^^

Ah right the backpack! Uhm, I posted the image above. Let's do some comparing of backpacks we know Sam owns and travels with. (as that is what shippers do as well).

December 2022 leaving NYC

See the grey straps? No match

11 January fanpic by QueenNurys IG

These straps look even more broad with some cushion thing on the shoulder, I don't see a match. Do you?

and doesn't this backpack look sort of green? 🤔

Nope nope nope....

I think you're suffering from confirmation bias Anon. Don't worry though many do in this fandom

How am I doing so far Anon?

And how well did that work out 🤐

Conclusion: As said above, a lot of pasting things together. I really think P should be a bit nicer to shippers at this point as her posts are even worse in putting all kind of 'proof' together that is purely random and wouldn't hold in any court. She's making a fool of herself by doing the same things she condemns shippers for. Making the most fantastic connections that can be debunked easily in many ways. More over how these things come up right after something is posted here, like the Hyrox events. Why did she not notice that before... ooh right yes, her eyes after yesterday her eyes are hurting... but she had weeks in advance to figure this all out, no? Really, I almost have more respect for shippers for putting their posts together with proof (that also doesn't hold, don't get me wrong) but at the very least had more proper investigation and thoughts than what is fabricated here in 2 nights....

Now my dearest gentle readers, I hope you will grant me some sleep (3.50am right now) and hopefully I can spend my time from here on to real news and not fabricated nonsense.

[clericofshadows]

outside looking in

Description: Ashley finally has a chance to talk to and meet Zaeed in person onboard the Normandy and wants to get the know the man that has stolen both Regis's and Kaidan's hearts.

Pairing: Regis Shepard/Zaeed Massani/Kaidan Alenko

Notes: Part of my overall Regis Shepard series. Wren is my Shadow Broker, an N7 Fury and my replacement for Liara.

It was nice being back on the Normandy, even if she’d changed a lot since her first iteration.  Larger, brighter, and filled with crew new and old.  A similar hum throughout the ship.  

But it was different all the same.  The first few hours on the ship, Ashley nearly barged straight into Wren’s quarters despite knowing in the back of her mind that those weren’t Regis’s anymore, now housed at the top part of the ship, accessible via a specific keycode. Or a brave trek through the engineering tubes and vents throughout the ship.

The moment she came onboard, he handed her the credentials with a wink before heading off to the center of the CIC, already barking orders and preparing the ship for the initial checks to leave the Citadel.

Without Kaidan.  A fucking terrible business.  She had no idea how Regis was handling it, dodging her attempts to ask him about it by talking about Kaidan's condition.  Wren was quiet about the mission when she asked, which was never a good sign.

She took an interest in the mech, which didn't surprise her. Probably why she was so tight lipped about it. Regis likely didn't want that thing working ever again.

There was also Zaeed, also joining her on the Normandy, hand in hand with Regis before he slipped down to Engineering… How was he taking this as well?  She didn’t know him well, only talking to him a few times over vid calls during the two years before Regis was brought back.  And then there was little time at all to get to know each other during the prep work after Regis brought the SR-2 back to the Alliance, right after he and Kaidan destroyed the Alpha Relay.  

Wren was absolutely terrifying for what she was able to leverage to get them off scott free and twist it up into a Cerberus venture, a plan nearly foiled by Regis and Kaidan until it was too late.  Only a small group knew what Kaidan chose to do in Regis's place, what Hackett had originally ordered for them to do.

Ashley remembered Hannah Shepard warning her in a meeting with her not long before she decided to take up the N trials.

“There will be a time that you will face something like Torfan.  I hope it’s something far better than what my son had to face.”

She considered hers Asteroid X-57.  Those burnt bodies still haunt her some nights, but she wasn’t about to let Bahak get away.  Millions of lives were at stake.

Still, it was hard getting used to some of its changes.  EDI was… friendly, but a bit disconcerting at first, ready to answer any question Ashley had, which she was grateful for.  Regis sang her praises, but she had partially chalked that up to his cybernetics and VI background.

A small thought popped in her head wondering if Cerberus used EDI because of that.  She’d have to ask him about it later.

It was good having Chakwas on board as well, and Adams was another happy sight.  She missed seeing Tali right there next to him, challenging him with questions and her own tweaks.  

Hopefully she’s doing okay out there.  Messages have been spotty, but she’s with her people right now.  

Good to see Joker as well.  She got a little closer to him after Alchera, after all the shit that had happened, but lost touch after she started N trials.  She often wondered if she could've stopped him from joining Cerberus.

Doubtful.  He’s a stubborn bastard and even if he and Regis pretend to hate each other's guts, it must’ve been nice to have a few familiar faces.  She later got the impression Regis hated that they joined Cerberus, but was secretly a little relieved to not be out in the black on his own.

She still had yet to really get to know Vega and Cortez, as well as Regis’s new specialist all up in his business at the CIC.  She’s sure he loves that, but he doesn’t need to focus on every damn little thing.  Especially not now when everyone wants to hear from the great Commander Shepard.  

It’s also nice having some of his family on board.  Adrian seems to have already gotten on well with Cortez and Joker, being a pilot himself, and Regis seems a lot lighter knowing his uncles are by his side.  Vikram has made themself at home in the medbay, which surprised her when she realized they weren’t staying behind with Kaidan despite their knowledge on implants and biotics.

Concern for what they clearly consider a son likely outweighed that.  She hoped it wouldn’t backfire on Kaidan, but surely they’re keeping an eye on that situation as well. 

At least Regis is now not the only Spectre on board.

She found herself back in front of the elevator and decided to check on Zaeed.  Introduce herself a little less formally and maybe get to know the man that helped Kaidan heal, and later kept a close eye on Regis when he was in the belly of the beast.

They never mentioned him much at all on the SR-1.  One time she caught them on a call with him, but it seemed friendly.  Not romantic.  Something that never crossed her mind beyond an interesting friendship, it seemed.  When she asked about it Regis only smiled and called him an “old friend” which was accurate, she supposed.

And Kaidan told her a few months after Alchera there wasn’t anything between the three of them after they met in Omega, only during–really, you and Regis took a shore leave on Omega?--but that they all wanted it.  Too damn late to do anything about it. 

Regis seemed to melt in his presence.  Maybe he treated him like a lifeline, scared for Kaidan and holding onto his other love.  He looked at Zaeed like he hung the damn moon, the same way he looked at Kaidan once they were open about their relationship.

She was happy for them.  An odd couple, truly, two alliance soldiers–two human goddamn Spectres–and a merc damn near twice their age.  Not that she judged them for that.  She could see why they were interested in him purely from an aesthetic perspective.  Zaeed wasn’t really her type, but those arms and tattoos?  Damn.  

Hell, every time she talked to Kaidan in those two years, he always brightened when talking about Zaeed. Happy that he at least had someone that really knew Regis.

There aren't a lot of those out there.

A part of her still can’t believe Kaidan was the one that goaded Regis into doing that authorization, but those two have always surprised her.  Teaching her to not judge a book by their damn covers, that’s for sure.

So she’s trying to do the same for Zaeed.  She wants to be friendly with him–friends even.  And she hoped he was open to that.

She entered in Deck 4 as her destination and waited for the short trip down.  As the doors opened, she saw Regis walking down the hallway away from Zaeed's corner of the ship. He waved at her, and she noticed he was wearing his Alliance officer uniform, a clean blue leather jacket with grey detailing.

It looked a little broad in the shoulders… must be Kaidan’s, then. 

“What are you doing down here?” He asked, stuffing his gloved hands in the pockets of his jacket. 

“I can't explore the ship?” She teased. 

He smiled, shaking his head. “No, that's my job.”

“I wanted to talk to Zaeed for a bit,” she said.  Especially before they get to Menae. She was sure Zaeed would be on that ground team but had no idea who else Regis would bring down with him. “Haven't got to really know the man that stole both of your hearts. Think he'll be okay with that?”

A light blush dusted his cheeks, making the red lines of his cybernetics appear to glow even brighter. “We've talked about you a lot to him, so I can't imagine why he wouldn't. He's working on his Widow stuff now. He's got some good tools,” he said with a knowing look. “Bring by something you want to tune up and he might let you use his kit.”

“Well, I do have to work on my Piranha. It's not as efficient,” she said. “I'll grab it from the armory.”

“And I'll let him know you're dropping by, just in case. He won't bite,” he said, and she shook her head at him. 

“Maybe not me,” she said, testing the waters, seeing if Regis was fine with her teasing him about Zaeed. By the way Regis blushed and nearly hid a shy smile, he seemed perfectly fine with it. 

If you would've told her when she started on the Normandy that Regis Shepard would blush at any suggestive comment about his relationship, she would’ve thought you were crazy.  

It’s cute.  One minute he’s threatening whoever is in his way and the next he’s all starry-eyed with his boyfriend.

He cleared his throat. “I won't disagree with that. Go get your shotgun and I'll send him a message. Unfortunately I can't spend all my time hanging out with my boyfriend.”

“I know, right?  It's terrible. Let me know if you ever need to take a load off.  You made me the temp XO for a reason.” She keyed in Deck 5 to get to where she stored her weapons. 

“Don't worry, I will. When Kaidan gets back on board… I'll have two damn XOs. What are they going to do?  Tell me no?” He stepped in the elevator with her and queued up Deck 2. “Meet me for dinner in my cabin after the mission?  Good time to catch up.”

“I won't be intruding?”

“Hell no. I guarantee you and Zaeed will be fast friends and that's kind of a terrifying thought.  I need my best squad to like each other, you know?” He laughed as the doors opened. “Why so worried?” He kept the doors open with a hand over the sensor. 

“He's so important to you. The both of you. I guess I want to make a good impression.”

He snorted, and she tried to not show surprise at that. “I appreciate it, but trust me. I think you'll get along just fine. Like I said, we've told stories about you. He's a story kind of guy. If he tells you an old tale of his, you've made it on his good side.”

“Thanks, Regis.” She smiled at him and shut the elevator doors with a wave of his omnitool. 

She nodded at Cortez who was currently working on the shuttle and noticed Vega doing pullups in his little corner of the ship. Adrian was rummaging through his locker, grinning at her as she made her way over to hers a few doors down. 

“What're you up to?” He asked, reaching for an Acolyte. She didn't stick him for an asari weapon kind of guy, but then again, he was with a matriarch. 

“Grabbing my Piranha and seeing if I can get to use Zaeed's tools,” she said, grabbing it from the rack.

“Oh!  Good choice. He's got all the good shit. Maybe some illegal shit too, but that's when you know it's good,” he replied with a grin. “What's wrong with it?”

“I modded it to use the older heat sinks?  You know, the better ones,” she said, watching as he nodded along. “But the heat dissipation is complete shit all of a sudden and I can't seem to figure out why.”

“Zaeed loves working on older stuff. Might have a solution for you,” he replied. “And maybe you can size him up too, seeing if he's worthy of your boys.” He winked. 

Regis warned her that he was pretty good at reading people. 

“They aren't my boys,” she said with a startled laugh. “I think they can take care of themselves.”

“That they can,” he said, but a pained look crossed his face for a moment, likely thinking about Kaidan. Shit. “I never would've guessed the kid would've gone for two men, but he seems to be at peace with himself.  Of course, I saw that with Kaidan too, but despite everything, I can tell he's very happy with what they have.”

“I've seen it too,” she said. “Acting like newlyweds on the SR-1, those matching scarves and shit.”

A smile graced his face, but it almost seemed melancholic. “It has always made me happy to see them taking up my brother's tradition.”

It was Regis's father who started that?  She never knew.  Thought it was Regis's way of showing off their relationship. 

“Regis has found every way he can to connect himself to Atlas,” Adrian continued. “I think he would've loved Zaeed.” He cleared his throat. “At any rate, is this the first time you've met?  I figured Kaidan would've introduced y'all at some point.”

She wanted to tell him that Kaidan wasn't the only one he continued it with, as her own scarf was sitting with her some of her gear but the moment had passed. 

She'll make a point to ensure he sees it on her gear the next time she needs to suit up. 

“It's the first time I've been able to talk with him alone,” she offered. 

“I get it.  You'll be fine. Be yourself.” 

She laughed and grabbed her own personal repair kit before heading back over to the elevator.  It took no time at all to be back in front of Starboard Cargo.  A quick glimpse at her omnitool only showed a thumbs up from Regis, so that had to be good news. 

Ashley made a move to knock on the door, but instead the door opened automatically.  Zaeed waved her in and she stepped inside.  It was already well lived in with various trophies and knickknacks strewn about along with stacks of extra cargo that had nowhere else to go. A long table lined the wall covered in parts and a top of the line printer.  An old and battered M-8 Avenger was pushed to the side, along with a deconstructed Widow. 

“Regis told me you had a stubborn gun,” he started, brushing off his grease-stained shirt that did nothing to hide his large arms. Damn.  “Tell me about it.”

She put her kit down and extended the gun. “I mod my own stuff, especially this Piranha, and it was working fine, but suddenly my old-style heat sink has shit dissipation. I've tried fixing it myself but it looks to be a proprietary part that I can't find anywhere.”

“Mind if I?” He motioned to the gun. She let him take it.  “Spectre channels useless too?”

“Alliance made. I asked around. These days it's too much of a pain in the ass to get,” she shrugged.  “Maybe if I had the problem a month ago.”

He scanned it with his omnitool. “Think I found your fucking culprit, but you probably already knew that.”

“The replacement switch?” She said, and he nodded. “Yeah, thought so. I jury rigged it together ages ago because why bother making replacement parts when instead you can make it obsolete?”

He grinned. “You get it. Can't believe Regis fucking embraced the change. Thought he would've bitched about it the whole time.”

“He didn't?”

“No. Somehow, I almost think he liked it better.”

“I'm going to give him such a hard time about it.”

“We'll gang up on him. He won't be able to get a goddamn word in.”

Honestly, she doesn't even know why she was worried at this point. 

He continued, “Believe it or not, I think I have the ‘prints to this part around here. If not, Wren might.”

Shit, she didn't even think of asking Wren!

“By your expression I'm guessing you forgot about our lovely little trump card?” He said, his mismatched eyes damn near sparkling with amusement. 

“Oh fuck off,” she laughed, sitting down on one of the crates. “I'm still not used to having the entire galaxy at my fingertips!”

“It’s so fucking wild, isn't it?  Alliance having their own little shadow organization ran by their best and brightest Ns. Regis is one clever motherfucker for putting Wren in that place.”

“It wasn't like you had many choices, right?”

Regis was mostly tightlipped about what ultimately dealt with the former Shadow Broker. She knows it's all because of the bad feelings around T’Soni and her meddling in his affairs, to put it lightly. 

She would pay many credits to give T’Soni a piece of her mind. Sure, it may have benefited the galaxy, and it was nice to see Kaidan truly happy again and to have her best friend back, but the utter entitlement to deal with someone's corpse like that?

She's still surprised Regis let her go. 

“No,” he snorted. “The asari who violated his corpse, a drell and former broker agent in poor condition, myself, Regis, and Wren.  I thought she was going to blast him across the room with that biotic field of hers when he ordered her to deal with the network.”

“She's definitely embraced it. Dare I say even likes it.”

“That we can agree on,” he said, starting to dismantle her gun. “Never used one of these. Helluva gun though.”

“Has a lot of kick and bite. I love it.”

He keyed in something on the printer display. “Lucky for us, I do have the older specs. Won't even be a hassle to improve on your mod. Good job, by the way. Almost perfect.  Going to use your scan to improve the tolerance.”

She smiled under the praise. “Williams’ take care of their shit.”

“And so do Massani's,” he echoed with a knowing look. “Something tells me you weren't just here for a tune up.” 

“Wanted to really get to know the guy that has stolen my best friends’ hearts,” she said, freely admitting her real motives. “I have to say, I was a little curious.”

“Vid calls ain't enough,” he said with a nod. “Been curious about you as well. Never heard Regis sing the praises of a soldier under his command this much until he met you.”

“I've heard that a lot,” she admitted. “Surprised the hell out of me when he said he was nominating me for the N program. Managed to get it though just before Alchera…” she trailed off. “Saw me for me and not my family name.”

“Not sure I follow,” he said, setting down his tools. 

Ah, right. So used to working with fellow Alliance she forgot Zaeed wasn't it. But Kaidan did mention to her once that he was a former Alliance, but wasn't in it long. Not enough to care about its history. 

“My grandfather was the first human who surrendered to aliens,” she said. “Shanxi.”

“Saved a bunch of lives and all you get is shit,” Zaeed said. “Fucking typical Alliance. Only caring about optics and nothing else.”

She blinked at his response. Huh. “It followed my dad, and then me.  And then Regis came along and leveraged his notoriety to help me out.”

“And now you're a goddamn Spectre and an N7.  Hope your family is proud.” He crossed his arms.  “Are they alright?” His voice was laced with concern, his face softening. 

“They're trying to get to the Citadel. I have four sisters,” she said, tucking a strand of hair behind her ear. “I've leveraged what resources I can, and I've asked Wren to help out if she can, but it's a struggle.”

“You're a colony kid, right?” He asked. 

Ashley nodded. “Yeah, why?”

“Might have some contacts of my own I can leverage. Know a bunch of people out in the black.  Let me know,” he returned back to working on her gun, starting to scan her modded part, as if he didn't just offer something that could let a load off her shoulders. 

“Thanks. I may have to take you up on that.”

“Give me the details and I'll see what I can do.” He rubbed the Suns tattoo on his neck. “Use something good out of the shit I used to do.”

One of the things Kaidan made clear about Zaeed to her after their first call.  It wasn't something that escaped her notice, and she wasn't going to judge, but she did wonder about it. 

“He's former Blue Suns. But he's long been out of that life.” “Was I that obvious?” “My parents were a bit worse.  But Vik and Adrian made their thoughts clear to them, we may have had a little bit of a love declaration, and the next morning my dad and Zaeed were grilling up some stuff for breakfast.” “How domestic.” “He's… been everything I've needed right now.”

“It seems like damn near everyone on this ship has something they can leverage for the war,” she laughed, hoping to lighten the mood. “I’ll get you the information after the mission.  Regis invited me up for dinner, we can talk about it more then.”

He seemed to loosen up, releasing some of the tension in the air.  She wondered how many had judged him for his past, and hoped that none of the crew on this ship did. “Regis has gathered himself an odd bunch. But I'll correct some history you may know.”

Ashley raised an eyebrow. 

“I wasn't just a ‘Suns. I founded them,” he admitted. “And this–” he rubbed the deep scar on his face. “Was how I left.”

She thought Batarians founded the Suns… Now that's a story she admittedly wanted to hear. She let out a whistle. “And the other guy?”

“Stayed in the fucking Suns until he became dead by mine and Regis's hand.  Hunted the bastard down with Wren’s help.  Got away from me once, and we ensured he would never get a goddamn chance in hell again,” he said with a nod. There was something else in his tone she couldn't place. Bitterness maybe, as if the revenge wasn't so sweet. 

“Good to hear,” she said.  The printer chimed, and the part was sitting in the glass enclosure, gleaming in the low light of the room. “Does that mean it's ready?”

He examined it with a close eye. “Sure is.” In no time at all, he swapped out the part and reassembled her gun.  He motioned over to a cabinet beside her. “Got some old test cartridges in there. Toss one to me, and I can simulate the dissipation. Won't be the same as a live test, but good enough for now. Doubt we have time to assemble the shooting range down in cargo.”

“Probably not,” she replied, doing as he asked. She found a box labeled with TEST in large block letters scratched on with a marker and grabbed a heat sink.  It felt heavier than a normal one.  She tossed it to him, and he caught it with a grin. 

Once he slotted it inside, he pulled up a larger display and motioned for her to come closer. 

It took a moment for him to get it seated and calibrated, but soon enough, the screen filled with diagnostic logs and a live look at the expected capacity.  “Aim at that dart board over there and fire a few shots for me.”

She grabbed her gun and felt the weight of it in her hands before aiming and firing many shots in succession. Nothing came out, but the gun acted like it did, having to adjust for the recoil before firing her next shot.  He laughed, seeing her initial surprise.  

Ashley couldn't help but roll her eyes at him before hitting the cooldown point. Turning to the display, her eyes were on the status, and the heat appeared to dissipate much faster, watching the outputs and feeling the heat on the gun. 

She ran through the test a few more times, noticing a good improvement, even better than her original mod, close to how the gun behaved before the big transfer over to the new system. 

“Damn, she kicks and spits like she's fresh off the market,” Ashley said, ejecting the test sink and carefully setting it on the workbench. “Thank you. I owe you.”

“Nah, you gave me enough pleasure working on this thing.  Might need to try and get one for myself.  I'm more of a Raider guy myself.”

Batarian made.  Semi-automatic. Not bad. 

“And like Regis, you're a Black Widow guy,” she said, nodding at the disassembled gun, collapsing the gun and putting it back down for now. 

“Not just any Widow.  His old one,” Zaeed said, grabbing the scope off the table. 

Ashley recognized the scratched, knife-engraved skull that used to belong to his old squad with the Batarian name for Torfan underneath it.  But there was something new, a set of numbers she didn't recognize. 

“Lucky bastard was having the gun serviced on Arcturus and was using a newer one before Alchera,” Zaeed said, rubbing his fingers over the engravings. “Those are the galactic coordinates to that fucking wasteland. Since he used this gun to remember Torfan, then I sure as hell was going to remember his grave.”

“I wondered where it ended up,” she said quietly. “Shit, does he know you–”

Kaidan could snipe, but it wasn't his thing, leaving that to Regis and Ashley.  She expected the gun to end up with Kaidan or Regis’s mother, but now that she knows about Zaeed, it's obvious why it went to him in the end. 

Zaeed shook his head. “If he does, he never said it to me.  Probably should've told him, but he had enough reminders of what happened to him on that fucking ship.  Didn't need something else from me.”

Something else. “I wish I could've been there for him, but honestly?  I could have never worked for Cerberus in any capacity.”

“Good. Regis would've hated it if you did.  Hated enough that he had some of his former crew join him.  More fights to be had than just ours out there.  We were lucky enough as it were.”

Regis lost three people on his squad; she knew that much.  From the impression she got from him, it wasn't anyone particularly important to him.  Numbers that knew the score and the risks of the mission.  A geth, a krogan, and a turian that just so happened to be the one he passed up on their hunt for Saren. 

Ashley didn't think those deaths dwelled on him much at all.  They weren't mentioned much in his messages and reports either compared to some other members of the crew. 

“I'm glad he had you,” she said, holding out a hand. He shook it with a small smile. 

“Me too,” he admitted. 

“Attention all crew.  We are nearing Menae as I speak.  Massani, Williams, Shepard, you are on my ground crew for this mission. Suit up and get ready to debrief with me in the conference room ASAP.  EDI will give the rest of the crew your others on an as needed basis.  Shepard out.” Regis's voice filled the air as quickly as it left, short and succinct as always. 

“Guess I'll need to test this out later,” Ashley said, grabbing her unused kit and gun.  Zaeed started to get up from his table, shaking his head at his Widow and grabbing a Valiant from his locker. 

“Any particular kind of kit you're bringing?” He asked before she left. 

“My Valiant, an Executioner, a Valkyrie, and an Eagle,” she replied. “Wearing the same gear Regis does, scarf and all.  I’ll bring a few programs to the table thanks to him and Kaidan.  Hybrid infiltrator approach, if you know the Alliance standard loadouts.”

“We’ll complement each other well,” he nodded. “All with the benefit that we already know how crazy Regis can be with his damn biotics.”

“Right?  A damn shame Kaidan isn't here. God, those two and their biotics… they are one person.”

“That they are.  Blew me away when I met them.” A smile tugged at his lips. “Get out of here before Regis starts bitching at us for being late. Good meeting you for real this time.  I look forward to dinner.”

“So do I.” She smiled. “You aren't spared from his wrath?”

“Hell no. But don't worry, I can always make the bastard pay later,” he winked. 

Ugh. And she thought Kaidan was bad. 

“Did not need to know that!”

“Too late. You're friends with me now.  Get used to it.”

At that, she walked out of the door with a wave that turned into a middle finger.  His laugh echoed through the ship until the door closed back. 

That went well. 

She looked forward to fighting with him on the battlefield. She still wants the full story out of both Regis and Kaidan, but she could see why they were drawn to him. 

At any rate, Regis is happy to have him on board, and really, that's all that matters these days. 

When she stopped in front of her cabin to get changed into her undersuit, her omnitool pinged with a message. 

ZM: Think Adrian will like the scarves?

An image was attached, showing a picture of a red, blue, and black striped scarf.  Clearly, red for Regis, blue for Kaidan, and she imagined they had yellow on theirs to represent him. 

AW: I think he will.  Didn't know they were a tradition started by his brother.  ZM: Regis has found every goddamn way he can to connect to his dad.   AW: That he has… I'm glad he got his ring back. Any plans for that? ZM: It wasn't easy, but he got it back in the end.  We all have plans, I'm sure. 

Really… She's going to find a way to get involved with all of them.  

AW: Keep me informed, I'd love to help.  ZM: I will, if only because I know you want to be all of our ‘inside persons.’ AW: Guilty as charged!

She closed the chain for now, shaking her head as she started to prep her undersuit.  This fucking war wasn't going to be easy, and she feared and prayed for this crew. 

Yet, she felt comfort in knowing that she could trust damn near everyone on this ship or come to it eventually.  

Yeah, things were going to be okay, despite everything. 

[chokulit]

How dangerous do you consider your line of work. especially working for Mann Co? What precautions do you take to keep yourself safe? :3

"Wow... haha... thank you po..." (He adds it to the 'to shred' pile)

"Now, as for the question, I'm suppose you know my job isn't easy. There is a *lot* to look out for when you make a living concealing other people's 'misdeeds'.

I have my own office in the base, so a lot of things could happen to it if I leave it unattended. Break-ins, burglaries, just to name a few—so it's important to always have a spare lock for the door on hand. Or 26.

And if someone, somehow, *does* get past all those locks, I'll be sure to sound the secret alarm hidden underneath my desk that alerts everyone in the building. That is, after the unlucky intruder gets hit by all the booby traps.

But I can't stay in the safety of my office forever. I *have* to go out and go home at some point. And there's always the off-chance that one of my many, *many* "admirers", such as this one, (he points to the letter) happens to find my location. So, what do I do?

Edi, the best course of action is self-defense, pero if that doesn't make the message clear enough, I always try to collect as many addresses as I can, in case one of them is theirs, haha." (He holds up a picture of a house. Hopefully not one that you recognize.)

[otemporanerys]

Life Behind Enemy Lines - Ch 26

Gareth had spent the last few days thinking that, if he ignored an unread message, it might disappear into the ether, but, no, it turned out they multiplied.

Helos hadn’t called him yet – or if they had it hadn’t survived EDI’s new firewall – and the tenor of the subject lines wasn’t getting any more frantic. Still just the same old test results.

Just.

It was stupid, beyond stupid, for him to keep ignoring this. He was brave, he ran towards certain death on a distressingly regular basis, but for some reason, this he couldn’t face. Read more

[diaphanouso]

Fic Masterlist

Mass Effect, BG3, and The Shape of Water (2017). All fics live on Ao3!

All fics are one-shots unless otherwise noted; WIPs are denoted by an asterisk *

Mass Effect

*Vox Spiritus - M | FShakarian | [Chaptered] | Humanity-as-client race AU; Shepard, a cabal squad leader, joins the first human-turian mission in an attempt to catch Saren

*One (1) New Message - M | FShakarian | [Chaptered] | AU swap; Garrus falls asleep in his apartment one night, only to wake up on an unfamiliar ship in a life he doesn't recognize

Acts of Service - E | FShakarian | [Chaptered] | Garrus is a good boy in love; affectionate talon/nail grooming as turian headcanon

Acts of Temperance - E | FShakarian | Garrus suffers and is more in love than ever; meditative edging as turian headcanon

*Acts of Amity - E | FShakaryik | [Chaptered] | Garrus and Shepard's fantasies about Nihlus become reality

Flare - E | FShakarian | Sparring-to-smooching pipeline

Ship of Theseus - E | FShakarian | [Chaptered] | Flirting-to-smooching pipeline (also the first smut I ever wrote! 🎉)

Moon in Your Mouth - T | FShakarian | Garrus and post-Synthesis grief/angst

One in Ten Thousand - T | FShakarian | A very mogwai  space hamster Xmas

Twenty-One Seconds - M | FShakarian | [Chaptered] | A post-Destroy Xmas Carol

Growing Pains - T | FShakarian | Grunt loses his baby teeth

Happy Little Trees - T | FShakarian | Garrus discovers Bob Ross

Lead Me Home - M | FShep/Tali/Garrus | The night before the beacon, the end, a beginning

Deeper Understanding - G | EDI & Legion | EDI and Legion catch a movie while visiting the Citadel

Stay - E | Samara/Nihlus Kryik | How that "cat-and-mouse" encounter between Samara and Nihlus went down

Decompression - M | Nihlus Kryik/Dr. Chloe Michel | Dr. Michel runs into a handsome, injured turian who refuses her help, but it's not the last time they meet (the first fic with this pairing on Ao3! 🎉)

Longing Makes a Thief - E | Kasumi Goto/Rolan Quarn (Rolumi) | While trapped in a mansion together, Kasumi and Rolan Quarn get to know each other; creative use of 3D printer

Star Pupil - E | FShep/Kasumi/Conrad | Shepard and Kasumi are very mean to Conrad Verner and he loves it

Breathe With Me - E | FShep/Thane Krios | Shepard and Thane spend some time recuperating after the Reaper War

Sweet Tides - E | FShep/Hanar OCs | When Shepard is cordially invited to take part in a hanar ritual, she’s honored in a way she doesn’t expect (and is totally into); tentacles(!), hot Elder hanar with a deep voice

The Becoming - E | Prothean OCs | Stranded in a system with a broken relay, Karvok and Pavor make a home on Erinle, having escaped the Reaper threat; explicit rating is for gore/body horror

Agony of Creation - M | Morinth/Male OC | Morinth brings home her prey

Mass Effect Drabbles

Godless - M | FShakarian | 100-word drabble

Memories - G | FShakarian | 100-word drabble

Concussion - T | FShakarian | 100-word drabble

Come Back Alive - NR | FShakarian | 100-word drabble

Seashells - G | Mordin | 100-word drabble

The Taming of Time - M | FShryik | 200-word drabble

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Baldur's Gate 3 (BG3)

Dispel Darkness - E | Halsin/Female OC | A Ranger returns from the Underdark feeling unlike herself; she runs into an old friend who's more than willing to show her there's still good in this world.

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The Shape of Water (2017)

Lonely Gods - M | The Asset/Elisa Esposito | A former god ruminates on the nature of love and reverence