#morinth x shepard

[corpocyborg]

"You've been through a lot."

#morinth #mass effect #jane shepard #commander shepard #renegade shepard #morinth x shepard #see does this look like the face of evil to you? #if this is manipulation it's working 😂

[continuous-spec]

ME Fic: Bait (3/5)

Summary: Morinth lured Shepard up to her apartment. Garrus and Samara race to save her.

Length: 2187

Links:  Ao3

A quick ping followed up on Garrus’s omni-tool. Shepard was moving fast towards the Fumi district- most likely a sky car. Garrus pushed his drink to his side and stood. Vlyrica’s hand snatched out and held tightly to his tunic. 

“Are you going after them? Just leave me here?” Her pink accent marks scrunched as she contorted her face in anguish. “Was this some sort of weird kink thing?”

Garrus scoffed, trying to focus and plan for the next step ahead. But Vlyrica was an obstacle, a drunk stumbling obstacle. 

“No, she’s in danger.” Garrus clipped. He gently removed Vlyrica’s hand and scanned the bar. Thinking on his feet, he called attention to the dancer from before. 

“Please make sure she sobers up, okay? Five hundred credits now and five hundred once I’m back.”

“That’s a deal,” the dancer said gleefully, waving her Omni tool and awaiting the transfer. Omega is a dangerous place. Even with the credits, there was no guarantee that she’d be safe, but money still held much power. 

The dancer’s face softened as she approached Vlyrica, ushering her towards a back room. 

“Don’t worry, credits or not, I’ll watch over her. We got to stick together here. What's your name?”

“V..Vlyrica.” Her eyes narrow at Garrus, gulping back anxiety. 

“I’ll be back, I promise.” 

Vlyrica nodded and stumbled along with the dancer to the back of the Afterlife bar. 

Garrus spent a second watching her disappear and was out the door.  He hoped for the best for her but still expected the worst of Omega. He can’t save them all. 

Shrouds of industrial dust clung to Garrus’s vision as he passed through the doors—the haze of crimson neon lights directed out toward the markets.

He brought up his omni tool, Shepard's ping stationary, within a wealthy apartment. 

Samara's arm shot out of the shadows, grabbing his shoulder, and pushed him into the grated metal of a ramshackle vendor.   Her glare into him cut stronger than her words from before. If Morinth gets away, especially at his actions, she will kill him. 

“Garrus, if you…”

“I got their location towards the wealthy district. Let's get a car and move.” Garrus clipped her off. The threats would have to wait until after Shepard was safe. 

Their arrival was quick as they cut through unoccupied side streets. Morinth’s building was on the outer edge of the asteroid, illuminated in the dark red glow of the barriers of Omega.  

Text flashed over Garrus’ omni-tool.

OS: Apartment penthouse floor, only entrance elevator into the room. Biometric entrance. Get here NOW

GV: Distract her as I override the controls. We will be there in 5. 

OS: Hurry

His omni-tool flashed as he bypassed through the system's code. Garrus fought past multiple firewalls, one of the more sophisticated security for Omega he’s encountered. He worked his way into the system within minutes, and the elevator opened. 

Garrus punched the keys to the top floor. The elevator lifted with a slow pull. His mandibles clamped to his jaw. They didn’t have five minutes. Samara stood tall, her barriers blazing tightly to her. An empty stare at elevator doors. She was ready. 

The comms cut back as the elevator ascended, in reach of Shepard. Morinth cool voice slithered into his brain. 

“I love clubs- the heat, the deafening rhythm. Here, it’s muted, and you're safe. But here, at least, I have you all to myself. There are no distractions, no watchers, just us. Is that what you want, Alison?” 

“The safety or you?” Shepard returned with a husky whisper. Confirmation she was still alive. 

The ticking of floors went by slowly. Seventeen, Eighteen, nineteen. Thirty to go. Garrus, with just a pistol, had it aimed and ready. 

“That’s up for you to decide.”

“I want you, Morinth.” Shepard’s voice was calm and sultry. “How do you want me?”  

Garrus imagined her half-lidded green eyes, wanting her to say such things to him. 

Shifting sounds of fabric and couch, a slight moan over the comms, this one more pronounced and longer in their privacy. Garrus wanted nothing more than to switch his comm. Ten more flights and this would be over. 

“Tell me you want me. Tell me you’ll kill for me.” Morinth's voice grew louder as if speaking directly into her comm. 

“I…I want to…I’d kill for you. Anything you want of me.” Shepard's calm, sultry tone was gone, now stilled and drunk-like as she spoke. Garrus punched the floor button to no avail to make the elevator move faster. 

“Shhh. Just relax, my darling, and hear my words. Embrace Ent...” 

Garrus stormed the room, not checking corners, directly lining up a shot on Morinth. Dark black eyes snapped and leered at him. 

Morinth crouched over Shepard, straddling her hips, bite marks redden from Shepard’s chin to her shoulder. Morinth hand gripping her long brown hair in a tight fist at the base of Shepards’s skull. Garrus trained his shot on Morinth’s head, too close to Shepard as she entangled her.

“Garrus…” his name barely fell from her lips, her voice rasped and pained. Before he could respond, Samara warped Morinth, hurdling her into the apartment window. With one fell swoop of her hand, she brought Morinth's body and crumpled her head into the concrete ground. 

With one thud, Samara's daughter, once lively, lay motionless on the floor. Her jaw and eyes opened in horrifying surprise. 

Shepard sprawled out on the couch, face pale and gaunt, her voice shaking.  “I don’t know what happened. I couldn’t move, I could barely think for…”

“It’s her way, Shepard, as I warned,” Samara interjected, placing a calming hand on her back. “It’s over now, thank you.” Samara's voice soothed over Shepard but remained distant. 

Garrus reached out to her, his hand awaiting hers. Shepard placed her hand delicately, almost too carefully, around his forearm.  Cold shock ran through his arm to his shoulder from her freezing fingers. 

Garrus easily brought her to her feet as Samara helped support her. Shepard stumbled in her heels, her face growing more pale. 

“Shepard, are you alr…”  Shepard's hand snatched away from him at his words, almost like a stinging slap. 

“I’m fine!” she snapped, her voice hitched. "I just need to get back to Normandy.” The purple hues of the apartment glinted off her pale face and brightened under her forming tears. 

Shepard pushed them both away, striding towards the elevator. Garrus followed in quick step, hovering to check her balance. 

“Let’s get off this damn asteroid.” Shepard hissed at him as she hit for the ground entrance. 

Samara stayed still, taking in the surroundings of Morinth apartment. 

“Samara, are you coming?” Shepard’s voice was sharp, more of a command than a question.  

“Give me some time with my daughter, Shepard.” Samara knelt over her body, only focused on Morinth. “My duty to you will continue when I am done here.”

Shepard's body straightened, trying to maintain composure and a commanding presence, but her words came out softer. 

“Take all the time you need.”

The sliding doors closed on Samara, who kneeled down and gently closed her daughter's eyes. 

Butler's mouth hung agape, eyes wide in horror, rigor already set. Nothing Garrus could do in his short time could put his face at peace. He tried and tried to close his eyes, but the best he managed was half-lidded and a screaming mouth as he laid the final cover over Bulter’s face. 

A sharp sigh snapped Garrus' attention back to Shepard. Shepard kept her body turned away as they silently faced the elevator doors. Quiet humming music filled the air.

He tried as subtly as he could to steal glances her way. Not sure where her mind dwelled. Her fist clamped tight to her side. 

Tears edged and crowded past her eyelashes. Her hands were quick to wipe them away. 

She caught him looking at her, her heart rate and breathing patterns still erratic and on high alert. She turned to Garrus. Bloodshot veins surrounded her mint green irises. On any other occasion, he’d grow excited and nervous from her stare, but her gaze was glossed over and fogged. 

She was lost to him. 

A heavy sigh parted her lips again. Garrus stood silently, awaiting her. Wordlessly, Shepard bridged the gap between them, resting her head on his shoulder. 

Her hand moved into his, Garrus tightly gripped back. The warmth of her hands radiates past the simple cloth of his glove and tunic. Three within five. 

The elevator doors hushed open, and Garrus half expected Shepard to let go of him. But she continued to cling to him, walking in step into the abyss of Omega together. 

He moved her towards the sky car, but she tugged his hand along. 

“I need to move, walk, anything, please.” Her voice was quiet but pleaded with him. Garrus twitched in discomfort. Walking Omega streets, even in the wealthy district, put him on edge. 

Patrols of guards strolling by still didn’t place him at ease. Guards on Omega were just gang members for hirer.  Red and silver armor, new upstarts, probably within the power vacuum he created. Nothing he did even made a dent here. His men died for nothing. 

The thought of Vlyrica's bright smile flashed by on Garrus. Even if he had just saved one person throughout his two years, that was still dent. He had to remind himself that. He'd hopefully find her sobering up at the Afterlife once this was all done. 

The hums of skycars filled their silence as they crossed the bridge. Orange neon lights glinted the silver dust of element zero that clung in the air.  Garrus steered them towards a more well-lit and populated street, past the markets- a path he had taken hundreds of times. 

They entered the Kima district, only a five-minute walk to his base. His wounds stung as he clamped his mandibles again.  Shepard's free hand massaged his arm, almost as she sensed his tension shift. 

In her distraction, her heel caught in the pot-marked street. A curse left her lips as she fell into Garrus. 

“I want to chuck these off this damn asteroid.”

“Barefoot on Omega is not something I’d suggest unless you want to step in vorcha crap.”

“Or used needles or sewer water.” Shepard pipped in. 

“That or varren blood, rotting trash, probably krogan piss, but that’s not so common for this district,” Garrus jest. 

“You would be the expert.”

“On krogran piss?” 

Shepard let out a guttural laugh that erupted in a large snort. It was Shepard’s laugh. There was no airiness or deceit, just Shepard. “Fine, death trap heels stay on. You can carry me then.” 

“You know I would.” 

Shepard pressed herself into him as they walked. He encircled one arm around her, letting her press against him further.

She stumbled along with him on the ever-lit night of Omega, crowded by the towers and orange neon hue.  Together, they walked the streets of the Kima district—past years of memories of good men now gone. 

Erash. Monteague. Mierin. Grundan Krul. Meleni. Ripper. Sensat. Vortash. Butler. Weaver.

Each of their faces haunted him. He tried to remember them as they were. 

From Erash’s bright eyes, whenever an explosion went off without a hitch. Or Montague and Vortash's anger as they bickered over a game of Poker. Too Bulter’s passion and crocked smile as he spoke of his wife. And all the other countless moments in between each mission with them all. 

But their last moments stayed. All their lifeless, gaunt faces.  One by one, as he covered them carefully. 

Shepard's fingers tightened into his palm, pulling him back from the past. 

He squeezed back and pushed them forward to the Normandy. 

 ***

Arrival at the dock was surprisingly uneventful. Shepard pressed the code into Normandy to enter, her free hand still tightly wounded in his. He stood in place, hesitant to join her. 

A tight frown formed at the corner of her lips and softened as she spoke. 

“Go make sure she’s okay.”

“Shepard, I just want to make sure you’re okay first.” He pleaded with her. 

She signed, untangling their hands as she stepped closer to him. 

“I will be. I saw how much that girl drank. She’s still out there. You should go.”

“I am. I just…” Garrus paused, unsure how to phrase it. He just wanted to make sure things went right. Just once. 

“Are we okay?” His voice betrayed him as it wavered at the question.

Shepard’s hand trembled as she caressed the newly healed scars. Her palm gently cupped his face. Bloodshot eyes beginning to soothe, she stared into him. He felt his heart pound, waiting for her answer. Her grasp just made him want to fall into her embrace. 

“We will be, but we need to talk. Just give me some time, please.” 

Shepard's fingertips trailed off of him as she stepped back. She engaged the door controls, leaving him with a sad smile as the airlock shut between them. 

#shakarian #garrus vakarian #commander shepard #shepard x garrus #mass effect fanfiction #morinth #samara #implied sa #my fics

[wildfluffyappeared]

Y’all ever think abt in Mass Effect 2, if Shepard dies due to sex with Morinth, how pissed off the Illusive Man would be?

My dude spent billions of credits on essentially future necromancy to resurrect Shepard and then they go and get themself killed because “ooh evil hot goth blue lady who I know for a fact will kill me if we fuck, wants to fuck” bro I would not want to be Miranda having to report in to TIM to tell him what happened to Shepard lmfao

#mass effect #Mass effect 2 #morinth #commander shepard #Shepard x morinth

[janexasaris]

Jane's favourite asari lovers

Dr liara T'Soni

Shiala

Tevos

Morinth

Samara

Tela vasir

Wasea

Aira t'loak

#tela vasir #shiala #shepard x liara #femshep #councilor tevos #aria t'loak #wasea #justicar samara #morinth

[clericofshadows]

VIKRAM T'LARA ASARI MATRIARCH, PHYSICIAN BONDMATE TO ADRIAN SHEPARD AND UNCLE OF REGIS SHEPARD Rendered in Blender v3.3 Eevee, Map Source (X)

Vikram finally has a canon sculpt and they are looking good! They are part of my Regis Shepard canon, which can be found here in my writing masterpost.

some extra sculpt details, they were sculpted from Morinth's head as a base, using Samara's textures along with newly a baked skin tone and markings.

#mass effect #mass effect oc #asari oc #vikram t'lara #cleric's renders #regis shepard

[alongtidesoflight]

There are so many good prompts in that kiss post. How about 'a kiss after treating a wound'?

absolutely loved the prompt, i'm sorry it took so long for me to finish this! life has a habit of getting in the way. anyway here's some shavik during priority: earth! | prompt list: [x]

Faintly, through a world-subduing haze, muffled cries reached out for Helios's consciousness. Once more he tried to push himself off the floor, but his limbs refused their purpose. Aching and motionless they remained pinned beneath his battered body, trapped between jagged debris and the blood-splattered asphalt of London's streets. His biotics flared uncontained in strained flickers, flooding his surroundings in a desperate glow of indigo, but their aftershock wasn't strong enough to push the concrete slab off him. A frustrated grunt escaped his lips as his overexerted implant sent a searing pain through his brain, splitting his skull.

Somewhere close by, a concentrated barrage of shots cracked through the night. The eerie howl of a Banshee responded in a spine-chilling fury before finally falling silent.

"Over there!", a familiar voice exclaimed triumphantly, mere moments before Helios felt the debris being hurled off him as if it was made from merely cardboard. He gasped as life-spending oxygen - tinged with the smell of rusted metal and burnt flesh - flooded his lungs. Strong fingers dug into his shoulders and dragged him away from the battlefield, propping him up against a damp boulder. When he finally willed his eyes to open, he met the bright shine of a stern gaze.

"Commander", Javik bit out, and for a brief heartbeat relief flooded his grim expression.

Heavy footfall interrupted Helios's attempts at speaking. "You got this?", Rafe asked the Prothean, his bright biotics burning an irritating afterimage into Helios's irises. Defensively he lifted his hand before his eyes.

"I do", Javik responded sharply.

The Ardat-Yakshi nodded and threw himself back into the fray without another word, leaving nothing but a trail of destruction in his wake. This latest encounter seemed to have changed something deep within him.

"Where's Morinth?", Helios asked weakly as fragments of his memory came flooding back in. Breathing heavily, he leant against the boulder and traced his hand down the side of his body. Blood seeped into his palm and coated his fingers, began pooling underneath him, sapping his strength with every minute that passed. His limbs felt sore still, too lacerated to motion any more.

"Dead." Bringing up his omni-tool as he spoke and sinking to his haunches next to him, Javik seemed more than satisfied with the outcome of the fight that had nearly cost Helios his life. The great Commander Shepard, brought down by a Banshee. Well wouldn't that have been something. Helios grimaced, the savage pound of his skull putting a swift end to this train of thought.

When Javik began to apply medi-gel to him, Helios flinched. Gritting his teeth he watched as Javik's eyes narrowed as well. Undoubtedly his sensory ability had to have interlinked the excruciating pain Helios was in with Javik's senses by now. "Your implants are damaged", he observed, wiping a trickle of blood from his nose.

"But my omni-tool's still working. I can keep going", Helios insisted stubbornly as the first tendrils of drug-induced relief caressed his body. He had to get to the crucible. And nothing and no one - neither reaper nor injury, hell, least of all an injury - would stop him.

"Yes, you can", Javik agreed. "You have to. We have to."

There was no doubt about it. Humanity, the galaxy, would fall if this battle was lost. One way or another, he intended to end this war tonight, once and for all.

As the medi-gel spread through his body and Javik's fingers pushed into his skin, worked it into exposed muscle, bone and armored weave, Helios allowed himself a short moment of restless respite. Nestling his head against the boulder, he watched as squadrons of intergalactic warships barely made a dent in the plating of a reaper before a single, blaring red-hot strike of the gargantuan being blew up half of their formation. The sky rumbled with thunder and lightning lit up the debris as they burnt up and fell from the heavens.

It all seemed so damn hopeless.

"Javik." Now that his limbs were his own to command again, Helios spread his hand against the Prothean's cheek, forcing him to meet his gaze. He bent his head towards his and met his lips in a kiss, perhaps the last one they'd ever share. Javik's tongue slid between the seam of his lips as it had done countless time before, conquering his mouth hungrily. Helios hadn't intended for it to rob any more of their time, but the truth was, there wasn't any left. This push was it. He saw nothing beyond it. So he lingered on the blaze of heat that ignited between them as heavy raindrops soaked their intertwined, bloodied bodies and explosions shook the ground beneath them.

"No matter the cost, I will see this through", he promised and drew himself up as they parted, ignoring the throbbing sting that had returned to the cut on his lower lip.

He patted the dust off his pants and drew his gun. After this night was over, Javik would experience the joy that were peacetimes. He'd make sure of it.

Or die trying.

#mass effect #mass effect 3 #mshep #javik #shavik #commander shepard #me3 #ask #my writing #writing prompt #writing

[diaphanouso]

I'll throw a bunch at you, feel free to answer any or all :) 8. Do you prefer the beginning, middle, or end of a story? 15. How do you write smut scenes? Do you get very visual or detailed? How important is it to be realistic? 55. Of the characters you write for, which is your favorite? Has that choice been swayed at all by your followers/readers’ reactions to certain ones? 65. Tell us about what you’re most looking forward to writing – in your current project, or a future project

Thanks for the ask, friend! I wanna answer all of 'em ❤️

8 - Do you prefer the beginning, middle, or end of a story? I'd have to say the middle, because by that point I've gotten to know and care about the characters and world, and there's time to spend with them yet 😊

15 - How do you write smut scenes? Do you get very visual or detailed? How important is it to be realistic? Oh YES you see me, friend 😆 I don't really know how I write smut scenes other than like they're odes to turian cock, lmao. I love to lean into the details (dripping turians are my love language) and get explicit with sensory descriptions, though I enjoy writing less explicit scenes, too. And I really like to focus on the emotional/interior components (so much of which I've learned from you!). As far as realism goes, though I pretty much exclusively write alien and monster smut, my goal is to write scenes that ring true and resonate for me.

55 - Of the characters you write for, which is your favorite? Has that choice been swayed at all by your followers/readers’ reactions to certain ones? Garrus is definitely a favorite and the character I feel most comfortable writing, but I really enjoy writing Mordin and Legion! I love their distinctive speech patterns. Morinth was pretty fun, too. I don't think my favorites are necessarily swayed by reader reactions, but positive ones do encourage me to write more!

65 - Tell us about what you’re most looking forward to writing – in your current project, or a future project Well, I am most looking forward to getting the fuck over this mental block at the moment 😅 But aside from that little barrier, looking forward to these scenes:

For Hungry Eyes

Anytime Nihlus and Athena Shepard are dancing too close and she's like "help he's too hot"

Nihlus takes her up to this quiet little spot in the mountains nearby (Athena's only ever seen mountains from far away so this is going to rock her world)

Nihlus shows Athena similarities between dancing and fighting by having her spar with him. Ugh and she's going to get pinned to the floor with him panting above her

Their first night together! It's already mostly written and I've shared it a gazillion times but I'm excited to eventually get to that part in earnest!

For HE part 2 (Untitled)

Athena's N-School training

Athena N7 induction

First time Athena meets Garrus

Second time Athena meets Garrus (this time it sticks 😏)

S e x u a l T e n s i o n

Awkward/unintentional cyber sex followed by in-person sex (haven't decided how awkward the in-person sex will be but regardless it'll ultimately end up real good for both of them)

For HE part 3 (Untitled)

Athena runs into Nihlus at a Spectre bar after Spectre induction and gets hit with waves of angst/nostalgia/longing/oh fuck

Garrus meets Athena's old flame and gets hit with oh fuck he's hot

For Vox Spiritus

More Saren and Jack Harper

Catching up with [REDACTED]

S e x u a l T e n s i o n

Shepard confides in Garrus about Veria

Shepard and Garrus t o u c h

BLESS you for asking this question! Just thinking through it has gotten me all jazzed, haha. ❤️

Ask Away!

Previous Answers: 27, 20/40/45, 24/37/54/74

#ask game #asks for fic writers

[impishbiscuit]

WIP Titles Tag Game

Got tagged by both @zet-sway and by @missydiabolical, and so how could I refuse? I hope yall are ready for uhhh whatever this is

rules: post the names of all the files in your wip folder regardless of how non-descriptive or ridiculous. let people send you an ask with the title that most intrigues them, and then post a little snippet of it or tell them something about it.

alchemy

cross eyes

a googly walks into a bar

googly goes swimming

love letter to the painted desert take 2

shepard on the morinth mission doing her best

splits

thane no longer fears the water

the out of control feral thing

dragonfly season act II in a straight line brrrr (someday, @wanderingaldecaldo. someday)

johnny x panam shit

dota au part 4

Popcorn @wanderingaldecaldo, @ravenstrange!

No pressure obviously <3

#writing meme #writing

[minthara]

You’re different, I sensed it when we first met. You have the prothean cipher in your head, you died and came back. There’s no one like you.

#gamingedit #meedit #meedits #mass effect #morinth #commander shepard #mshep #morinth x shepard #shepard x morinth #petra.gif #oc: ryan shepard #otp: ryan x morinth #im so normal rn cant you see.

[corpocyborg]

"I know all about you, Morinth. Why would you even try seducing me?"

#mass effect #morinth #morinth x shepard #shepard x morinth #it's so hard to tell if this is genuine or manipulation but either way how fascinating #because if it's genuine then imagine the misery and loneliness she's faced all her life #and the cold front she had to put on to bear it #and then thinking she's met the one person who she can love without killing #but she was wrong #on the other hand if it's manipulation wow what skillful manipulation #because it's so believable! and the fact that she would pull a long con like that when she has so many easier targets is chilling #and it's really hard to tell from her tone and from what actually occurs in canon which is true #hell maybe both are true on different levels even #massively underutilized character

[bellamer]

Morinth, flirting with my Shepard, thinking she's hot shit: Tell me you'd kill for me, you'd do anything for me.

Shepard, thinking about Kaidan and his tight ass: Ohohohoho, I think the fuck not, you trick ass bitch.

#mass effect #mass effect 2 #samara mass effect #morinth #femshep x kaidan #custom femshep #femshep #female shepard #kaidan romance #mass effect kaidan #kaidan alenko #shenko

[kasinonightlife]

Samara: So, are the two of you dating now?

Morinth and Shepard: Yes.

Samara: Why?

Morinth: I happen to find Shepard very appealing.

Samara: Yes, I can understand that. I am attempting to discern what's wrong with Shepard.

#mass effect #incorrect quotes #incorrect mass effect quotes #mass effect incorrect quotes #samara #morinth #shepard #femshep #commander shepard #shorinth #shepard x morinth

[incorrectly-quoted-queers]

Part 2- Chapter 25: Biotic Crushes is UP! I am so excited to come back to Anya and Garrus EEP this is going to be a fun arc <3 

Chapters: 42/? Fandom: Mass Effect Trilogy, Mass Effect - All Media Types Rating: Teen And Up Audiences Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply Relationships: Female Shepard/Garrus Vakarian Characters: Garrus Vakarian, Female Shepard (Mass Effect) Additional Tags: Awkward Flirting, Best Friends, No Shepard without Vakarian, Custom Shepard (Mass Effect), Everyone Has Issues, Eventual Shepard/Garrus Vakarian, Awkward Garrus Vakarian Summary:

Anya Shepard wasn't one for romance, but she just can't keep her thoughts off her turian best friend...

But how do you not make a fool of yourself when the galaxy's at stake AND Garrus Vakarian's shoulders short-circuit your brain?

#Drunk Punch Love #Miranda Lawson #Shakarian #Garrus x Femshep #f!shepard x Garrus #Garrus Vakarian #f!shepard #Femshep #Anya Shepard #Kasumi #Thane Krios #Samara #Illium #Morinth #Eclipse #Detective Anaya #Blasto #slow burn #party banter #friends to lovers

[maskydoolovesmasseffect]

Mass Effect Tag

Wellio, I’ve been tagged by @berryshiara. Passing this on to @grummel83

Gunna answer my questions now. Y’all feel free to tell me what you think of these answers. ​

I’m a fan since: 2008. I was just out of high school and still not over KoTOR. I was fresh in the army and got to talking to some other dude fresh to the army about video games. He asked me if I played Mass Effect. I said no. By the next day I just about totally forgot about him, then he suddenly appeared out of nowhere sat in front of me in the chow hall and pulled a copy of ME1 for Xbox 360 out his pocket like he was a magician doing a magic trick (ACU pockets are huge.)

Anyway turns out that guy was a romance option and I must have picked the right dialogue options. I’m still with him, too.

Favorite game of the series:

Mass Effect 2. It seemed like that’s the one where choices mattered most and you really got to know your squaddies. Also MAJOR gameplay improvements over the first game. And that game gave me the most freedom to do basically whatever I wanted and wasnt afraid to give me consequences for it.

MShep or FShep:

FShep. Nothing against MShep, but for me the real Shep is FShep. Can’t beat Jennifer Hale’s voice. 

Earthborn, Colonist, or Spacer:

Colonist. I like having the background of knowing just how dangerous the galaxy can be and how the Alliance can’t be everywhere at once so sometimes you need to manage your best on your own.

Biotics or Tech:

Both.

Paragon or Renegade:

Paragon, mostly. I tried being renegade but some of the actions are just so pointlessly dickish, or even outright unhinged in a way that would make it impossible to believe the Alliance would ever promote Shepard as an officer or even keep her in the Alliance at all, especially in the first game.

That said, there are times where a renegade action is more expedient and practical than a paragon one, like in 2 when you stab a dude in the back to prevent him from repairing an enemy gunship, so even with a paragon playthrough, my Shepard will have no issues taking that opportunity. She’s already seconds away from betraying all those guys anyway.  

Paragon in treatment of others, renegade in combat pragmatism.

Favorite Class:

I play as infiltrator and vanguard.

Infiltrator is great for using a sniping and opening loot, and then for going invisible, and if I remember right AI hacking too. That’s cool and I wish there were more genuine opportunities for stealth.

Nowadays I play as Vanguard in my playthroughs mainly just so my Shepard can be canonically biotic for story reasons. From 2 on when looting no longer needs a special skill and I get to charge around the map. I don’t really care much about using biotics (that’s what the squadies are for) but the movement is super useful (when Shepard actually does the thing instead of just standing out in the open soaking up bullets until the ability decides to actually work.)

Favorite Companion:

Garrus. I like to set him up in sniper positions. When he actually STAYS where I put him instead of running straight up to enemies to try to snipe them at point blank, he’s great.

Also his quips in 2 on are pretty entertaining.

Least Favorite Companion:

Garrus, Oh my god. Go back to the sniper position where I put you. Leave tanking to krogan; you do not have the HP for this.

Also Kaidan in ME1. He can not shoot to save his life - literally.  

My Squad Selection:

For all ME1 playthroughs after my first one, Ashley and Kaidan, just of their comments and because... well... I only have so much time with them.

Apart from that I mainly just pick my team based on who’s likely to have the most interesting commentary on whatever the mission happens to be, squad balance be damned. 

Favorite In-Game Romance:

Garrus X Shepard is my favorite love story. They are just so adorable together and always supportive even when they disagree.

But my cannon romance is Kaidan X Shepard for the drama and angst.

Favorite NPC:

In ME1 there’s this random Turian on Noveria who randomly has like a New York accent and I absolutely adore him. He plays basically no part in the story other than some minor information but he’s just so pleasant to speak to.

“If you need anything, I’ll be here.”

Favorite Antagonist:

Morinth, the Ardat-Yakshi daughter of Samara. Yes, she’s a murderous vampire who will absolutely kill you given the chance... but like, it’s a medical condition. And I really can’t help but feel for ardat-yakshi in general when their only options are to spend their whole lives on the run from justicars out to execute them, or waste their entire 1000 year lifespan imprisoned in a monetary unable to experience the world at all. Yeah, Morinth is evil, but Ardat-Yakshi don’t exactly have a good deal.

Favorite Loyalty Mission:

Grunt’s loyalty mission is the best. I get to help my baby boy, reunite with Wrex, enjoy krogan society being fleshed out, have a kickass battle against a thresher maw, and get a breeding request. It’s nice to have a quest that isn’t about family drama and genuinely gets a happy end.

Favorite Mission:

Despite Citadel DLC requiring everyone to have a deathgrip on an idiot ball, and also basically gloss over some really dark stuff, the whole clone storyline with the whole crew is an absolute ride all the way though, with lots of interesting and unique scenarios, a ton of replay-value, and funny party banter that feels like it came straight out of a Marvel movie.

Favorite DLC:

Again, Citadel DLC. Not only did it come with the story above, it also had all those interactions with past and present crewmates, including a memorial for Thane (finally!), a cool apartment to hang out in, a party, an arcade, and an awesome battle arena. It really added a TON. Also, it’s nice to see Bioware figure out that DLC needs characters - I’m remembering back in the DLC to ME 1 the party never had a single thing to say, no matter what was going on. The fun and wacky Citadel DLC is a far cry from the serious and somewhat dark space opera Mass Effect started as, but as the final DLC capping off the end of the series, it gets to do a silly victory lap (and get the taste of the ending out of our mouths.)

Control, Synthesis, Or Destroy:

No.

Favorite Weapon:

Sniper rifles, whatever I have that’s fast and has high damage output. Also that one pistol that shoots tiny energy grenades. Pew pew.

Yeah I wasn’t really big into the weapons so much. I’m here to get my story on. 

Favorite Place:

The presidium on the Citadel. It bothered me a lot when I couldn’t explore it in the second game. I know it would have been terribly impractical, but as the presidium is just a huge ring, it would have been cool to be able to explore the whole thing, going past all the little park areas, shops, monuments and so on until you loop aaaaall the way back around to where you started. Like, how cool would it be if the ring had a running track? Maybe C-sec  academy trainees would be spotted jogging together along it in formation. And can you imagine grabbing a coffee (I was going to make up a space-related name for Starbucks but it’s already STARbucks...) and taking a nice stroll along the water before finding a nice bench to alien-watch from? Other locations in the game are like great places to explore and do gameplay stuff, but the presidium seems like a nice place to just be.

Favorite Quote:

"Stand in the ashes of a trillion dead souls and ask the ghosts if honor matters. The silence is your answer." - Javik.

This is such a fucking raw damn line. It makes me think a lot about Cerberus. When ME3 wasn’t out yet, I thought maybe the plan was Shepard would at some point choose a side, Alliance for paragons and Cerberus for renegades. It would have been so cool to have morality not merely be good vs evil, but idealism vs that ruthless calculus Garrus mentioned. How fucking raw would it be if Cerberus wasn’t just generically evil for no reason and suddenly indoctrinated but really were embodying that ruthless calculus, determined to defeat the reapers at any and all cost. Maybe Cerberus actions’ were more likely to do terrible things for the sake of ultimate victory, doing whatever it took, whereas the Alliance would be less willing to make the terrible choices and ultimately be less likely to succeed.

Now obviously, that’s not what happened, as it would have required Bioware to basically make two entirely separate games. But that line from Javik makes me think of that concept, and a universe where like Dragon Age party members can approve or disapprove of actions not merely as good or evil but along the lines of their personal values. I think Javik would sit at victory at all cost.

Also that one mission in 2 where some random NPC catches Shepard sneaking around and is all like ‘what are you doing here?’ and Shepard is like ‘What am I doing here? What are you doing here? Get out here before it blows!’ and the guy’s freaking out like WTF and she says ‘RUN!’ then laughs to herself as he flees from an imaginary bomb. Shep you troll. 

The thing I like the least about the entire franchise:

The misogyny and objectification that crept its way in, epically from the second game on. Really didn’t like those ass-shot camera angles, or female characters being slut-shamed in-universe for the clothes the designers made them wear. Yikes. 

But the biggest yikes for me in that regard is actually the reveal in 3 that the prothians guided asari development. That was fine and all, but the part that bothered me was the characters commenting “ooooh, so that’s why asari are so advanced,” as it was ever any kind of mystery before that exact moment. For one thing, asari aren’t really shown as being more advanced than anyone else, apart from having discovered the citadel first, and for second, why wouldn’t asari be advanced? All the way from ME1 it’s established that 1: Asari live for a really long time, and 2: can instant transmit information directly from brain to brain. That means they have long lifetime in which to accumulate knowledge and experience, and also can easily spread and preserve that knowledge without even the need for books. That ALONE should put them ahead. And even with all that, they only barely beat the salarians to discovering the Citadel first. But no one asks for an explanation for why salarians, who live only a few decades and can’t do mental data-transfer, are so advanced. No, only the success of the all-women race needs explaining. It was just one moment but it still bugs me. 

Also the general loss of realism after the second game. First game everyone gets armor, including full-face helmets automatically on in environments that need it. After that, people can apparently just wander the battlefield half-naked and even somehow survive in a total vacuum if they just put a plastic cup (that isn’t even connected to anything) over their mouth and nose. In the first game they at least made up some reasonable-sounding science fiction explanation for things, but after that it’s like F-it everything is just space magic now. 

Oh, and those repetitive unlocking stuff minigames. I use a mod to just skip those. 

#mass effect #tag

[dirtybiowareconfessions]

Confession: I had a sexy dream with a surprising amount of plot for how spicy it was: My renegade Shepard was a ruthless violent asshole even before my favourite trope "X dies and gets resurrected but they're really fucked up now" happened. She killed Samara, recruited Morinth (and survived bonding with her)(that's the sexy part) and after defeating the Collectors she said "fuck this I want nice things I'm out" and they ran off together, manipulating, seducing and murdering people, enjoying senseless violence and every vice (sexy part no. 2), all across the galaxy as it all burned once the reapers came. They died in an explosion while fucking in an abandoned building next to the body of the young turian that was very excited to have a threesome with the women who not only rescued him from all those marauders but wanted to fuck him (too disturbing to be sexy)

#Commander Shepard #morinth #Mass Effect #mass effect 2 #BioWare #Dirty Confessions #dirty confession

[emrisemrisemris]

I gave this a proper title, but its working title was Selected Highlights of Mass Effect 2, Renegade Lesbian Space Pirate Edition, which says it all, really. 

So there’s still a couple of days left on the May @meflashfanwork​ prompt, “What Might Have Been” and I already did one thing for it, but then I came across this space pirate AU fanmix by @verhexen  again and I was like SPACE PIRATE AU YOU SAY, LET’S DO THIS.

And then it got completely out of hand.

Red Skies

I never heard of a pirate commander, Jack had said. A pirate ship's gotta have a Captain. It had started as a joke.

And before that, You could go pirate. Live like a queen. That had started as a joke too.

And then, much later, If you do do it, Shepard, I'm with you. All the fucking way.

*

"I told them," Shepard said, staring at the photograph in her armoured hand. "I told them I'd never work for Cerberus. And you showed me that sometimes you need to stand outside the law. That's what Spectres are for." A rueful grin. "Doubt they'll have me back though. Not after this."

She kissed the glass, and carefully put Nihlus' picture back on the desk.

*

"You're sick," said Lawson. They'd caught her without a gun, but blue light clotted and curled around her fingers. Biotics were never unarmed. "You're actually insane. I told him it'd cause brain damage, I told him it was too soon to bring you out of cryo -"

"You have a choice," Shepard interrupted. "Option one is to hand over the codes to the ship's AI and we'll drop you off at Omega in one piece. Option two is you say anything other than Yes, ma'am, and so help me I will send you back to your father in a box."

Lawson snarled. Shepard levelled her pistol.

"Don't shoot," said a wretched voice from the door. "I know the codes."

"Get them off him, Jack," Shepard said without turning around, and heard the whirr of an omni-tool behind her.

"Jacob Taylor," Lawson spat. "You coward. You sentimental idiot -"

Shepard raised an eyebrow. "He just saved your ass, Miranda."

"He's a coward and a traitor," Lawson said, folding her arms, and looked past Shepard to Taylor.. "Do you have any clue what you're doing, Jacob? This is on you, whatever bloody mess comes out of this. This is on you."

"Got the codes," chipped in Jack.

"Good," said Shepard. "I was getting tired of the commentary."

*

"This isn't the Normandy," Shepard said, standing with Lawson's blood still on her gloves. "Normandy's in pieces in a snowdrift on Alchera. You can't just build another one and say it's the same. Ships have souls, and the Normandy's dead. This one -" she ran a proprietary hand along the rail overlooking the galaxy map "- Cerberus may have built her, but that doesn't make her theirs. That makes her mine."

Joker had looked as if he wanted to say something, but hadn't.

"First thing," Shepard ordered, "I want everyone who can wear a hardsuit out on the hull. Get the goddamn Cerberus insignia off. Second thing, we're giving her a new name. And then we're going to hunt down the Collectors and blow them into hell."

"What do you plan to call her?" Garrus had asked quietly.

Shepard turned without taking her hand off the rail. "Nihlus' Revenge."

*

Grace Shepard had red hair and red armour and these days she had red eyes, the fierce glow of burning suns and burning starships permanently reflected in her visor and spilling from the scars that lined her cheekbones and brow.

She wasn't reckoned a bad captain, by the standards of the Terminus Systems. For one thing, she'd only shot the actual Cerberus operatives when she took the ship. Then she'd docked at Omega and announced that anyone not willing to serve under her flag could get off then and there. They'd lost both medics, which was unfortunate, and both the Cerberus specialist engineers. (She'd expected Daniels to go; she'd been more surprised when Donnelly followed. Shame.)

But she had Garrus, and Grunt, and Zaeed Massani, and the unshackled - and fast-learning - intelligence that called itself EDI. And she had Jack.

They hunted Cerberus ships. They hunted Collectors with maps patched together from EDI's databanks and the desperate confessions of Cerberus prisoners. They laughed, and they sang, and they left the skies red in their wake.

*

"Who the hell are you?"

"Genetically, you." The stranger holstered her gun and folded her arms. There was something eerily familiar about the motion. " You know Cerberus cloned you, in case you needed - oh, a spare leg or a new eye or something? I was still on ice when you came back. Then when you went off the rails, they woke me up and tried to get me to be part of their little conspiracy." She grinned. "I said no."

"I like her," said Jack from somewhere behind Shepard's shoulder. "Hey, Cap. Can we keep her?"

"You got a name?" Shepard asked, staring. The clone was fresh-faced, without the awful scars, and her eyes were green.

"Call me Mercy," said the clone, and extended a hand. "I heard it recently. Liked the sound."

"Mercy Shepard," Grace breathed, still unbelieving as she reached out to shake the clone's hand, "you and I are going to change the goddamn world."

*

They'd stopped at Horizon to refuel and sell some of their latest cargo. It was a small colony, and the colonists usually had a need for 'salvage' and a willingness not to ask too many questions.

It wasn't until they'd made landfall and trekked into the colony town that she saw the blue-and-white Alliance shuttle tucked in behind the shield generator complex. "EDI. Since when has there been an Alliance presence here?"

"My orbital scans picked up nothing," EDI said a moment later. "I am scanning at a greater level of detail now."

And that was when the squad of Alliance marines walked into the town square.

"Grace Shepard," said Ashley Williams, "You're under arrest."

"Does that include me?" said Mercy, as her tactical cloak came off.

*

"Damn, Shepard," Garrus said after they were back on the Revenge. "That was … cold, even for you."

Grace paused, halfway through stripping down her rifle, and shrugged. "She was in my way."

*

"Forgive me staring," said the black-eyed woman in the high-collared jumpsuit. "I see twins so rarely. Multiple births are unusual amongst asari."

"We're used to it," said Grace.

"Buy me a drink and you can stare as much as you like," Mercy said, staring back almost as avidly.

"It'd be my pleasure," said the asari.

She returned a minute later with drinks for all three of them, and settled back into the padded seat of the booth, crossing her legs at the knee. "I'm fascinated to meet you. My name's Morinth."

"I'm Captain Grace Shepard of the Nihlus' Revenge," said Grace. "This is my sister, Mercy."

Morinth's eyes widened very slightly. "I've heard of you, Captain. The tales of your exploits are … diverting."

"I've heard of you, Morinth," Grace said, watching the asari's face. "I hear you're unusual amongst asari yourself, and I like having unusual talents on my crew. I also hear you might want to be somewhere other than here when the justicar I just met in the docks comes through."

"Where are you bound?" Morinth said.

"Long way from here," Mercy said, laconically.

"I'm intrigued," Morinth purred. "I'm extremely intrigued." She leaned forward. "I would be delighted to accept."

*

The derelict Reaper gave Shepard claustrophobia of the mind. Morinth on her left hand, Jack on her right, she stopped to knead both temples with her knuckles and said "I feel … is this any easier for you?"

The two biotics both shook their heads.

"I hate this fucking place," said Jack.

"It's dead, and yet I feel it watching," Morinth whispered. "I can feel it running its fingers through my mind. I've never felt anything like it."

*

"We are not keeping the geth," Grace said flatly.

"Like I said," put in Jack, "space the fucker."

Morinth was stroking the inert machine's carapace, head cocked as if listening. "It would be a pity to destroy it. A geth that speaks is a fascinating curiosity. A geth with a true mind - if it has one - would be unique."

"We are not keeping the geth," Grace repeated, in the same tone as before.

"Sell it," volunteered Mercy.

"Who the hell's going to buy a geth?" demanded Jack. "One reckless owner, some damage, big hole through its entire damn chest -"

"I have a suggestion," said EDI from the console at the table's end. "Admiral Daro'Xen of the Quarian Migrant Fleet is known for her pioneering research into geth systems. I am certain she would pay handsomely for a specimen as close to intact as this."

*

"Beautiful," Xen said, her voice so soft it was almost lost in the helmet's static. "I am in your debt, Captain." She stepped back from the pallet that held the inert geth, and looked Shepard up and down with undisguised interest. "The promotion suits you. And I did not know you had a twin."

"She's actually my clone," Shepard said, and to Mercy, "Xen's in charge of research and development for almost the entire fleet. She takes an interest in this kind of thing."

"Alas," Xen said, "I am an engineer. My biology training is minimal. But the two of you would make for a fascinating research study."

"I could've told you that," Jack said, not quite inaudibly.

"Admiral," Grace said. "I used to serve with a quarian. Tali'Zorah nar Rayya. Is she -?"

"I'm sorry," the Admiral said. "She was lost on a field mission not long ago. But she spoke highly of you."

*

Omega glowed outside the observation window like a used-up thermal clip. Beyond it, the Omega-4 relay was a hard spark of red light in the distance.

"What is it?" Mercy's voice was low and urgent. "Don't you want -"

"Of course I want," Morinth said, equally low. "But listen to me, Shepard. My - talent. My condition -"

"I have as much steel in me as Grace has," Mercy said. "I'm tougher than most. And dammit, Morinth, tomorrow we could both be dead anyway -"

"You would die," Morinth said, ice in every word. "I could reach into your mind now and take you apart, and you would revel in every moment of it. And it would kill you."

"Try me," Mercy said softly, and reached for her.

*

In Shepard's cabin, half the bedsheets were on the floor. Shepard lay curled on her side, red hair wild around her, eyes closed.

Jack stared at the ceiling, and wondered how many stars had had to align to bring them here.

"Do you ever regret it?" she asked, suddenly.

Grace stirred sleepily beside her. "Regret what?"

"All of it," Jack said. "All this."

"Wonder what it could've been like, sure," Shepard said, and reached for her hand. "Regret it? No."

#mass effect #fanfic #my fic #au #space pirate au #commander shepard #f!shep #jack #morinth #cloneshep #f!shep x jack #cloneshep x morinth #meflashfanwork #I have no explanation #but I too regret nothing #I had so much fun