Perpetually in the works, I jump fandoms like an Olympic ice-skater jumps her competition. Primarily Mass Effect, feel free to ask about additional fandoms, or check out my AO3(@Liminally_challenged) Additionally, I am an adult! My work is SFW, but please do not contact me directly/privately if you are a minor.
If you're like me and you enjoy using The Most Dangerous Writing App for your short fics/warm-up exercises, there's something you need to know.
The host site, squibler, is an AI-powered software that scrapes any work you input into it, using it to train its AI writing tools. This is a site that touts the outcome of "Turn your ideas into a book to become a published author", which, of course, is a slap in the face.
However, all is not lost! The original creator made sure the original is open source, and can be found here: The Most Dangerous Writing App (GitHub link). The privacy policy states: "No, all your writing is private and not submitted to or stored on any server", meaning there will be no stealing or scraping.
I'll do mine! I don't have a problem with long haired Sheps, but for God's sake please have it up. No military officer in the galaxy has ever gone on ops with their hair down at that length and it's ridiculous. In non-combat/post war art it doesn't bother me at all.
Tali is a lovely character but damn does her entire fanbase have to be gooners? If you step outside tumblr it's actually ridiculous. Same goes for most female characters/EDI.
I don't really like Liara that much and the fact that the devs were so adamant that she needed to be there all the time was really annoying. If you like Liara that's great though.
Every game has a "everyman" type Lieutenant and as much as I love Kaidan, Jacob and James were both so clearly derivative and they could've been great if that wasn't the case. You could almost make the case for Liam being a mix of Kaidan and Joker in terms of personality while still filling the same niche.
The games should have been a lot harder on Cerberus. It doesn't make any sense that the human-supremacist group would readily allow aliens into the fold, even for Shepard.
To even see the dresses in Shepard’s wardrobe as a viable option is to be ridiculous. Why would anyone choose to lounge around in skintight leather dresses?
Treating EDI like a woman is weird and it would have been much cooler to have her deny the concept of gender completely, and this comes from someone who actually does like Joker x EDI.
We should have had the option to not trust any of the defectors to Cerberus after the prologue of ME2, INCLUDING Joker and Chakwas.
Jack had every right to be as cagey and combative and destructive and hostile as she wanted. I do not and will never like Miranda or her general dismissive nature of everyone around her and their difficulties/trauma. Jack should have killed her.
Kai Leng could have been great. They could have made him more cruel and more sadistic and a complete psychopath but he was more just vaguely annoying. The renegade interrupt was iconic though.
Thane dying makes sense and I'm glad it happened, as much as it hurts.
This goes for most fandoms but I get really tired of the in-jokes sometimes. "We'll bang, ok?" Is not that funny. "Calibrations" is not that funny. "I'm Commander Shepard and this is my favorite _______ on the Citadel" is not that funny. If they were used sparingly they'd be awesome but everyone says them all the time.
Anyway that about wraps it up for now, feel free to interrogate me on these points I'm happy to talk.
And with that, we are getting things started! As a brief reminder for those new to the event -- AU Roulette is a casual fic-writing challenge encouraging fanfic authors to play around with different types of alternate universe stories, which will be randomly assigned to each participant regardless of the fandom they sign up with.
Writers will be able to sign up from May 10th-31st with a fandom of their choice. At the start of June, each participant will be assigned three AUs from a masterlist using a random number generator. Each author will then have the choice of completing the challenge one, two, or all three of the AUs. Any fic exceeding a 500-word minimum will be considered a completion, so long as it employs the AU premise. Fics can then be posted at any point during the month of June.
As a reminder: The fandom you signed up with is used to filter AU assignments, in order to minimize re-rolls! (For example, someone signing up with "The Lord of the Rings" will not be assigned a High Fantasy AU). Please only sign-up with one fandom.
The sign-up link can be found here. Please feel free to spread it around and get the word out about this year's event!
She was splayed out on Anderson’s bed as she did paperwork, her legs kicking lazily as she doodled. Every now and again, she reminded herself that it was her bed now, not his. The wires by the light panel behind her bed were still exposed from where she’d taken a pocket knife to them, stripping the wires and jury-rigging a switch to turn the floodlights that ran across the floor off. She worked mostly in the cockpit, much to Joker’s amusement.
“Is that regulation, Commander?”
“I won’t tell if you won’t.” She’d said, plopping down next to him, tinkering with an array of circuits and rubber bands. “Do we have anything sturdier than rubber? I’m concerned it’ll snap.”
“Did you ask the Requisitions Officer down in the hangar bay? Maybe there's a gun thing that can help.” He fiddled with the instruments on his chair, his cap pulled low over his face. It was late, and they were both tired.
“A gun thing? Joker, have you ever examined a gun? ”
“Sure, there’s the shooting part, the bullet part, the metal part-”
“The metal part?” She choked on her laugh.
“Yeah! Y’know, the metal part! It’s a gun.”
“Sure, and all these blinking lights are just the button parts, right?”
“What? No…that’s the switch to the viewports, that’s the induction vent control, that one right there-” He pointed to the one closest to his hand. “Spaces whatever’s in the airlock. Boom. Goodbye trash, enemies, or mouthy XOs.”
“You astound me, Joker.”
“Yeah, yeah. Why do you need all that anyway? Isn’t it against regs to tamper with the ship? Even if you’re, you know, an all-powerful overlord of the crew.”
“What did I say about calling me the overlord?”
“Sorry, sorry. So what exactly are you doing with it?” He yawned.
“Sure. I’m trying to knock out the floodlights in my room. They’ve been keeping me up at night.”
“Why not just take a hammer to them?”
“That just seems like a more blatant violation of regulations. I don’t want to push my luck just yet.”
“The first human Spectre, forced into Alliance exile for exploring her newfound passion in construction.”
“A shame.” She thought for a second. “Do you think Tali could help out with this? She literally lives in engineering, and Adams says she’s leagues ahead of the rest of the crew.”
“Sure, let’s reinforce stereotypes about quarians and crime.”
“Has anyone ever told you you’re an ass, Lieutenant Moreau?”
“No, never.”
“Then let me be the first. You’re an ass. Answer my question."
"I bet Tali would be thrilled to help you."
"Thanks," She said, punching the shutter buttons as she left. The sound of his protests were quickly swallowed by the ship's natural atmosphere, the current humming through and between the electronics.
Tali was in engineering, deep in conversation with Adams. She was bouncing on her toes, gesturing to the drive core, up towards the ceiling, and then to herself. There weren't many things that went over Grace's head on her own ship, and fewer still that she would admit to, but whatever was happening in the engineering bay qualified.
"Sorry to interrupt. I need to borrow you.," she said, pulling Tali aside. "Walk and talk?"
"Whatever you need." Tali said, the shadow of her eyes blinking behind the mask. "Did I do something?"
"No, no, nothing like that," Grace assured her, opening the door to her room. "It's not technically above board, but I'll take the fall if anything comes of it."
The quarian sighed, her suit's modulator making the exhale crackle in the small space. "What do you need?"
"You see the floodlights? I want to rig them to a switch so I can turn them on and off when I want."
"Oh, that? Shepard, I thought this would be a challenge." Tali quipped, already fiddling with the panel. "You just want manual control?"
"Pretty much," She shrugged. "I'm a simple woman."
"I don't know about that," Tali hummed. "You seem complicated enough to me."
"What's that supposed to mean?"
"Oh, nothing. Just…your reputation. The way you carry yourself." She said, stripping a few wires and twisting them together. Grace watched her from the desk chair, making note of each thing she did for future reference as she pondered the comment.
"When we come back from our pilgrimage, we're seen as 'different', or 'changed'. I've always thought of it was a certain intelligence. But it stays constant. It's a slight growth, a gap in youth and maturity. Maybe it's because I met you as you are now, but the way you assess the world—it feels like you've been on a pilgrimage for a long, long time. What is the human phrase? Something about water…Adams said it described you and I remember asking what it meant."
"Wet behind the ears? In the deep end? Fish out of water?"
"No, it was an indicator of depth," She grabbed a screwdriver, loosening a few of the screws on the fusebox, letting it swing aside. "Water is deep?"
"Still waters," She snapped her fingers. "Still waters run deep?"
"Yes, that was it! What do the others mean?"
"They're more…wet behind the ears means someone is young and inexperienced. In the deep end means you're in over your head—you're struggling—and a fish out of water is someone who is out of place and is doing a poor job."
"No one would say that about you." Tali reassured her, testing the lights. They flickered and then went out, before coming back on with a gentle buzz. "You're totally capable, even Wrex seems to think so."
"I know, it's just…" She sighed, letting the matter drop. "How's it coming?"
"I'm almost done. I just need to hook up the switch mechanism you built to the wiring and reattach everything so it looks decent."
The wires slid easily into the switch, which in turn slid easily into the wall. The smell of metal invaded the air as the quarian cut a hole in the panel with a precision unlike any Grace had seen. Within minutes, the panel was reattached, and the wall looked as though it had never been touched.
"Give it a try," Tali invited her, beckoning her over. "It was a simple reroute of the wiring, forcing it to go through a manual switch that can open and close the light circuit. You should have full control.
Grace padded over, hesitantly reaching out. The panel was cool, and she flipped the light off. Darkness immediately rushed in to extinguish the light. Another flip and Tali was in front of her again.
"This is…perfect. Thank you."
"Of course, Shepard. I'm always happy to help." Tali said, her hand coming to rest briefly on Grace's shoulder, squeezing lightly. "I should probably get to the mess hall. Garrus and I have made a pact to stick together, since they can't accidentally poison two dextros at once. Let me know if you need anything else, okay?"
"Of course, Tali. Enjoy your meal."
The door slid shut quietly, and she let out a shaky breath. The silence was oppressive, leaving her alone. She ran through a list of people she wished were there, and called none of them. She turned the lights off and went to bed.
Reblog this if you want readers to come into your ask box and ask for the “director’s commentary” on a particular story, section of a story, or set of lines.
Or, send in a ⭐star⭐ to have the author select a section they’ve been dying to talk about!
One of the Andromeda complaints I never understood was the "We should have played Alec" argument because like a) I understand a lot of people view Shepard as a pre-established character, but Shepard very much is still a customizable character and playing as a truly pre-established character in Mass Effect would fucking suck. And b) we already have Mass Effect games where you play an already established war hero and badass N7 it's called the Original Trilogy.
I like that Ryder is the opposite of Shepard. I like that, in contrast to Shepard's hyper-competence and the respect they've already earned, Ryder is out of their depth and has to prove themselves to everyone around them. I like that Ryder is not Shepard 2.0. I wouldn't have hated playing Shepard 2.0, but it would have felt like retreading old ground. The team deliberately made Ryder distinct and different from Shepard and I think some people never let go of the fact that Shepard's story was done, and this inability to let go of that is part of why Andromeda was so poorly received (in addition to things like EA's bungling of the release)
THIS ^ and also (now I haven't finished the game yet so I could be wrong) Alec Ryder haunts the narrative in a pretty palpable way, so playing as him would remove that from the narrative. The younger Ryder works best because (so far) the theme of the story has been persistence and hope in the face of fear and loss, just like the original trilogy, except this game is less about going to war and more about building diplomatic relationships, where the trilogy tends to do the opposite.
slowburn or love at first sight // fake dating or secret dating // enemies to lovers or best friends to lovers // there’s only one bed or long-distance correspondence // hurt/comfort or amnesia // fantasy au or modern au // mutual pining or domestic bliss // smut or fluff // canon-compliant or fix-it // reincarnation or character death //one-shot or multi-chapter // kid fic or road trip fic // arranged marriage or accidental marriage // high-school romance or middle-age romance // time travel or isolated together // neighbours or roommates // sci-fi au or magic au // body swap or genderbent // angst or crack // apocalyptic or mundane
Some of these were haaaard to choose between! Tagging @garfbin and @liminally-challenged , no pressure!
slowburn or love at first sight // fake dating or secret dating // enemies to lovers or best friends to lovers // there’s only one bed or long-distance correspondence // hurt/comfort or amnesia // fantasy au or modern au // mutual pining or domestic bliss // smut or fluff // canon-compliant or fix-it // reincarnation or character death //one-shot or multi-chapter // kid fic or road trip fic // arranged marriage or accidental marriage // high-school romance or middle-age romance // time travel or isolated together // neighbours or roommates // sci-fi au or magic au // body swap or genderbent // angst or crack // apocalyptic or mundane
Tagging @sanguinemoonglitch and @spacevixen2024, apologies if you've already been tagged! :)
Hi everyone! We're a little over a month out from nominations (yey!) and since this is a new part of the exchange, I'd like to go over what that means.
So, what is a nomination?
A nomination is a pairing or relationship you'd like to see in the exchange. Since we're opening the exchange up to relationships other than shenko, this can be anything, as long as Kaidan is one of the people in the relationship.
How to nominate:
When nominations are open, I'll share a link. It will look something like this:
You'll fill in the blank spaces. Under "Relationships", just enter the relationship you want to nominate!
Under fandom, enter "Mass Effect - All Media Types".
So, a filled out nomination should look like this:
After you're done, just hit submit! That's it!
Some other things:
Types of relationships: For romantic pairings, separate names with a "/". So, Kaidan Alenko/Liara T'Soni would be a nomination for a romantic pairing. For platonic pairings, separate names with a "&". So, Kaidan Alenko & Garrus Vakarian would be a nomination for a platonic pairing.
You can nominate relationships between more than two people! Just use the name / or & markers are above. You can't mix and match, though, sorry. So, Kaidan Alenko/Female Shepard/Ashley Williams is fine, but you can't nominate Kaidan Alenko/Female Shepard & Ashley Williams.
I'm "front loading" the following relationships, so you don't have to nominate those: Kaidan Alenko/Female Shepard, Kaidan Alenko & Female Shepard, Kaidan Alenko/Male Shepard, Kaidan Alenko & Male Shepard, Kaidan Alenko/Non-Binary Shepard, Kaidan Alenko & Non-Binary Shepard.
There's a limit of 10 nominations per person, but since I'm already loading up the big ones, that should be enough.
If your nomination is rejected, it's probably already been nominated and approved by someone else! Don't worry!
As usual, if you have any questions, please do not hesitate to reach out to me. I'm looking forward to all the tasty noms!
Please see the previous post about nominations for the in depth rules, but the crux of it is:
- Limit 10 noms per person
- One of the people in the relationship has to be Kaidan (that's kinda the point lol)
- Use / for romantic pairings, & for platonic
- You don't have to nominate the following (I already added them): fshenko, mshenko, and non-binary shenko (both romantic and platonic).
If you have any questions about nominations, please reach out to me!! Happy nomming!
blakekathryn
theartofmadeline
turnnoffyourmind
izzy806
2087
germansingergirl
