Mass Effect: Discovery (ME1 novelization, complete)
Mass Effect: Labyrinth (ME2 novelization, in progress)
The Wanderers (ME/DA Crossover, in progress)
Shenko Ficlets & One-Shots:
Nathaly Shepard: Dancing | Drunk | Kiss | Whale | Poker | Crazy | No One Is Ever Ready | Crossroads | Work Night | The Woman He Remembered | Routine | Lemongrass | Provocation | Listen | Breaking Ranks | Digital | crutch attract chase
Ben Shepard: Loss | Meeting | Mako | First Kiss | Bunkmates | Waiting Room | Just One More Before We Go
Other F!Shenko: Home | Hot Chocolate | After Mars | A Measure of Devotion | Flotsam | exit criteria
Other M!Shenko: Once More, With Feeling
Shaynor Series:
Jane Shepard: Never Marry a Soldier | Domesticity | Jane’s Fall | Swimming | Back Home
Other Shaynor: Worth It
Mass Effect Gen Ficlets & One-Shots:
Kaidan Alenko: Fireflies | A Shade of Yellow (Liara friendship) | A Cold Day in October
Nathaly Shepard: One Way Out | Sunday Morning (set in Citadelsushi's Western AU)
Other: Flirting (M!Shepley) | Eternal (A Thorian Origin Story) | A Long-Forgotten Complication (Chakwas/Hannah Shepard) | Science | Regret (Jonathan Shepard) | Sometimes We Get What We Deserve (Jack Nought) | Storm Warning (David Anderson)
2020 N7 Prompt Challenge Collected Fics
Dragon Age Ficlets:
Daeroavain Tabris: Serendipity | The Birthday | Older and Wiser
Freeze (Crossover ficlet)
In Dreams (F!Hawke/Sebastian Vael)
Headcanon & Misc Posts:
Solar System Holdouts | Mass Effect Languages | Writing Advice | Writing Military Culture | Turian Sex & Reproduction | Rethinking Virmire | Soulmate AU Culture | Ash Positivity | Writing Resources | Pacing Advice | Directed Energy Weapons | Comparing Kaidan and Anders | Who signed the Systems Alliance charter?
Trick or Treat 2022
BG3: A Happy Feast
Bad Poetry: Burning Iron | grief is not sanitary
Random Stuff Side Blog: @randomactsofpigeon
Dragon Age Side Blog: @pigeonage
So genuinely, thank you. Any weird art I end up putting into the world is technically your fault now xD
I've wanted to draw your Shepard for a while now. Reading your works on AO3 was honestly what pulled me back into the community beyond just playing the games. It also got me back into drawing and trying to write my own stories after more than a decade away from both.
I headcanon Miranda following Shepard around in ME2 completely bemused by the sidequests, like really, is now the time to try to solve a quarian's service contract??? Do we need to ask this barman why she's different from other Matriarchs???? Really, Shepard?
But as time goes by, it starts making sense to her. You care about saving the galaxy because you care about the people who live in it.
And Shepard trusts her enough to take her on those sidequests. It all matters.
I'm going to say something that will surprise no one but I love Mass Effect, flaws and all, with all my heart. I love that it's there when I'm in a good mood or when I'm in a bad mood. I especially love that I can feel terrible and sad but being on the Normandy (hearing the engine, the doors opening and closing, the conversations between friends) can make me feel a bit better. I love that the games are familiar but it still manages to make me feel a thousand things. I cried my first playthrough, I'll cry this playthrough and the next. I love that I always learn new things, things I somehow missed before. It doesn't matter if it's small or not. I love that my perspective on characters and events change as I change myself, but I somehow still have this utter fondness and love for it all.
I truly feel grateful it's a part of my life.
Female characters who are the sole voice of reason <<<<<<< Female characters who think of themselves as the sole voice of reason but who are actually just as insane as those around them
Your dialogue is stiff because everyone is being too honest
Great dialogue can come from radical emotional honesty. But in most real conversations, people
dodge questions
answer indirectly
lie (badly)
change the subject
crack jokes to avoid serious answers
lie (convincingly)
say half of what they mean
tell the truth but get so anxious/angry/defensive others now think they're lying
If your dialogue feels unnatural, it might be because everyone is saying exactly what they think, or articulating their thoughts too well. Try letting characters hide things instead.
The best part of Grace and Ashley not technically getting together in me1 is that I get to torture them both even more by having the Horizon reunion confirm that Ash does actually feel the same way about Grace and then having them immediately breakup in the span of a 10 minute conversation
[Note: * denotes paired lines; Kaidan would normally only have one of these, which is why it may sound like he's answering his own question.]
Shuttle arrival (expak1_m4_shuttle_arrive_m_dlg):
Shepard: "Cortez, what's the status on the probe we launched?"
Cortez: "Tracking it now, Commander. I've confirmed that Leviathan's signal originates from this planet."
Cortez: "Heard how Ann helped us locate it. It's pretty spooky stuff."
Kaidan*: "Makes you wonder… what exactly's down there?"
Kaidan*: "A Reaper-killer it would seem, and one that doesn't want to be found."
Shepard: "It doesn't have a choice. We're here."
Kaidan: "Absolutely. But then what? Say it is a Reaper. Do we really want its help?"
Shepard: "Nobody says we have to be friends with it, but if this thing has the rest of the Reapers worried, then we need its help." / "We're not going to win this war by turning away help, even if it does have blood on its hands."
Cortez: "Commander, new readings from the probe. It's narrowed down Leviathan's location. You're not going to like it."
Shepard: "Let's hear it."
Cortez: "There's nothing but ocean. I show a concentration of structures floating on the surface, but the probe's giving us a signal below that. Way below. "
Shepard: "Under water?"
Cortez: "Looks that way. The shuttle should still be able to reach it."
Shuttle crash (expak1_m4_exit_shuttle_b_dlg):
Shepard: "Everyone all right?"
Kaidan: "A little banged up, but fine."
Shepard: "How's the shuttle, Cortez?"
Cortez: "Checking now. I'll see if I can get power restored."
Shepard: "Copy that. We'll look around."
Kaidan: "Huh. Looks like we're not the first ones to be taken out by that pulse."
Shepard: "Could be Leviathan's last line of defense."
Exploration comments:
Kaidan: "Amazing. I don't recognize those ships. How long have they been here?"
Kaidan: "Shepard, one of those artifacts."
Shepard: "Any idea how old these are?"
Kaidan: "Bodies I don't know. It's probably easier to look for hardware with a date stamp."
Shepard: "Looks like a damaged Atlas. Different, though, and it's not flying Cerberus colors."
Kaidan: "Or Alliance ones. Regardless, it looks out of commission."
Shuttle update (expak1_m4_reach_cortez_c_dlg):
Shepard: "Status."
Cortez: "Shuttle's a mess, Commander. That pulse knocked it right out of the air. We're not going anywhere."
Kaidan: "Could we get the Normandy down here?"
Cortez: "Same thing would happen to her… and the landing won't be as pretty. I'd say Leviathan has some sort of defense system in place."
Shepard: "Then we aren't getting out of here until we find it. So how do we do that?"
Cortez: "Well… you might be able to use a mech. Looks like it's rigged for diving."
[Shepard: "A diving mech?" | Cortez: "It's a Triton model. Military grade, repurposed for deep-sea exploration. As long as the seawater hasn't corroded it, you should be good to go."]
[Shepard: "Go underwater? In that thing?" | Cortez: "It can handle the depth. Not saying it'll be easy, but… I don't see any other options here, Commander." | Shepard: "Well, if that's what we have to do, then let's finish this."]
[Shepard: "I'm game. We chased Leviathan this far. Let's finish this." | Cortez: "It's a long ways down. Not going to sugarcoat it." | Shepard: "I hear you. And time's wasting."]
Kaidan*: "Wait a minute, here. Are we seriously considering…"
Cortez: "First, we'll need to restore power to get that cargo door open."
Shepard: "How?"
Kaidan*: "Looks like we are."
Cortez: "These old Ballard-class ships are equipped with exterior power sockets. They use 'em for emergency repairs. We can strip the cells from the shuttle and use those for juice. Hang on, and I'll get you started."
Combat comments:
Kaidan: "Reapers, Shepard! Must have been right behind us!"
Kaidan: "More Reapers! Grab another cell, Shepard. We've got this!"
Kaidan: "Bastards! They just keep coming!"
Kaidan: "We need to hurry!"
Pre-dive (expak1_m4_diving_suit_m_dlg):
Cortez: "All right, Commander. Let's get you out of there, and I'll do a systems check."
Kaidan: "Shepard, I've got to say… I'm not too crazy about this plan."
Shepard: "We've come too far to stop now. The way home is through Leviathan."
Cortez: "Okay, seals check out. Oxygen pressure is nominal. Systems are a go. It's as ready as I can make it."
-
Cortez: "You ready for a swim?"
Shepard: "Let's go."
Kaidan: "But Shepard…"
Shepard: "I'll be fine. Closing hatch. Engaging systems… Ready."
Shepard resurfaces (expak_m4_shep_returns_m_dlg):
Kaidan: "Shepard's back! Cortez, talk to me!"
Cortez: "We're good to go! I don't know what the Commander did, but the pulse is offline!"
Kaidan: "Shepard! Can you hear me? [They're] freezing!"
Shepard: {Coughs}
Kaidan: "You okay?"
Shepard: "Yeah… yeah, I'm fine. Hell of a headache."
Kaidan: "Never do that again."
[🡓 Dialogue tree if Ann isn't available]
Kaidan: "So what happened down there?"
Shepard: "We found it. It's real and a lot more than we ever imagined."
Cortez: "So was it worth almost dying for?"
Shepard: "I don't know, but we proved it can't hide anymore… that it's a part of this war, just like us." / "It was. We exposed it, pushed it into the light. Whether it likes it or not, it's a part of this war now."
Shepard: "And it's going to help fight."
Kaidan: "Wow, Shepard. That is just amazing."
Shepard: "Yeah. One for the history books."
Debrief comment (norhen_kaid_lev004_dlg):
Kaidan: "Nice to have everyone back on dry land, so to speak. You scare the hell out of me with those risky stunts, Shepard, but I guess it's also part of what I love about you. You know, whenever we discover something amazing like that, I wonder what else might be out there… or even right under our noses."
