previous anon hopping in again to ask: how do you pronounce beaudoin? I have like 3 different pronunciations rotating in my mind palace as I read cantata. thx for sharing the goat with us btw <3
So sorry it has taken me so long to answer this! It's a great question. It's pronounced BOW-doyn. I'm sure there are other pronunciations, but that is how the person I stole it from pronounced it. I actually know two people with this last name who pronounce it like this, and the stark differences between their cultural heritages - neither of which is French - is why I picked it for Clay.
Okay so I usually don't really care for OCs in a story, but the Yang's crew has stolen my heart completely ngl. So I was wondering, what would Pendergrass, Aslany and Beaudoin think about the ME1 Normandy's crew? How would they get along with them?
I've been sitting on this question so I could give it the attention it deserves, because it's a really fun thought exercise.
[And now that I've written this out, I really wish I could put them on the SR-1 and explore it further, so thank you again for an amazing question.]
Beaudoin: By nature, he gets along with everyone, but I think if you were to put him on the SR-1 or mix him with that crew, he'd feel really out of his element. He's never seen himself as anything other than Just A Guy. The superhero stuff is for other people. Courage, bravery, heroism, and The Cause isn't his thing, not because he doesn't care, but because he lacks the drive and initiative people like Sam, Kaidan, and Aslany do. (Pendergrass doesn't have initiative so much as insatiable curiosity and an unsettling lack of concern for safety).
So when it comes to the SR-1 crew, he'd probably feel even more of what he did on the 'Yang with Sam - that he's not good enough to work with these people. But he's very good at hiding his insecurities, so you probably wouldn't see it unless you knew what to look for.
He'd probably avoid Wrex. Dealing with Wrex is outside his paygrade. Garrus' loose cannon tendencies would worry him a lot, and he'd nag Sam to watch that guy because he was bound to get himself and everyone else in trouble. I wrote a scene in my ME1-fic, Exordium, in which Shepard (not Sam) notices Ashley get weird during a card game, finds her in the cargo bay, and then discovers she was playing poker with her unit when the geth attacked. Beaudoin would be the guy who sought her out if he were there, and he'd give her someone to talk to or confide in about Eden Prime, pep talk her about her family legacy, and have a smile when she needed it.
He'd find Tali delightful and charm the pants off her. He'd make sure she had something decent to eat, and when he figures out she's lonely away from home, guess who becomes a Fleet and Flotilla fan and sucks Ashley into it. The three of them hold watch parties, and suck in everyone they can. Aslany has to be dragged kicking and screaming, but she does it for Clay even though she scowls the whole time. He'd be equal parts fascinated and amused by Liara's blend of competence and naivete. He'd be the one to shake Sam by the shoulders and say, "to you Benezia was a monster to put down, but to Liara it was her mom."
Joker and Ashley would severely test his, "you don't fuck crew," motto, but he'd resist. Virmire would put a rift between him and Sam, while also putting himself in a guilt spiral, because the other choice would have been to leave Kaidan behind, and he wouldn't have been able to live with that, either. Virmire, more than anything, would teach Beaudoin things about what Sam does that he never truly grasped on the 'Yang, and reinforce that he wants no part of that. I think he gets out of the Alliance after Virmire.
Pendergrass: We saw in Fugue that Pendergrass developed some pretty intense jealousy over the SR-1 crew, fearing that Kaidan and Sam had replaced her with something better. And I think if she were on the SR-1, she'd get off on the wrong foot with Tali specifically. But they're both huge tech nerds, and Tali is Tali and Kara is Kara, so that would pass quickly. It wouldn't be long before they'd be attached at the hip, and and when one of them said, "I have an idea," the whole ship would nervously hold their breath.
She wouldn't get Liara at all, and probably ask a lot of really inappropriate questions about asari sexuality, requiring Beaudoin to intervene and explain to Liara, "Sorry, she's just Like That, she doesn't mean anything by it.' She would have no fear of Wrex, thanks to Sam's reverent krogan talk over the years. Wrex would find her excessively irritating at first, but would find a deep appreciation for her after watching her work in the field. She's a different kind of warrior with different weapons than he's used to, but a warrior all the same. If you can imagine anyone lounging in Wrex's lap to watch a movie, please imagine Kara.
She might bounce off Ashley a little for similar reasons to her initial clash with Tali, but my guess is they don't make up the ground the way Kara and Tali do. ME1 Garrus is probably a little too intense and focused for her, but she'd get along famously with ME3 Garrus. She'd think he was funny, and take his side over Vega's when they play one-up with each other.
Aslany: She would predispose herself to hating everyone. This is her family, her squad, and fuck you. You aren't part of it. Opening up her small circle of people she loves so fiercely would be extremely difficult for her. None of them are good enough to protect her people. Kara becoming close with Tali and Beaudoin becoming close with Ashley would make her crazy. She'd need a lot of reassurance, and Kaidan is probably who she'd go to for it. Ironically, she'd find Wrex the least threatening and warm up to him first. He'd be skeptical of the fragile human who wants to spar, but ultimately sing her praises, and Sam would be insanely proud of this.
She might grudgingly start to tolerate Ashley, but by that time it'll be too late. She probably becomes more neutral towards Liara, but the swiftness with which Liara becomes close to Sam would irk her a lot. Garrus would also piss her off - who the fuck does this guy think he is, I'm the sniper in this family - but after the events of ME2 she would respect him for sticking with Sam when the rest of them didn't, and see him a lot differently.
I’m rereading cantata (y’know. As one does on a quarterly basis) and I’m lying down getting all weepy because I’m at the part with the tamales prep and Capt. Oseguera and Beauduin, and I’m making myself weepy imagining a fic from either of their POVs when the Battle of the Citadel happens, thinking about how they’ve been on the ‘Yang the longest, and they go down with her, and how Shep and Kaidan don’t know until after what happens and I’m sad, sad, sad about it 🥺
(In the clean up in the aftermath, the remnants of a cross stitch is found floating in space.)
Clay Beaudoin and Anya Oseguera are a platonic, doomed love story that you can pry out of my cold, dead hands.
When I was writing Sonata, I drafted a "black box" recording of their final moments that would have been played during the inquest. I cut it because it was too cruel and unnecessary, but the comforting thing about it was that they died together, on the bridge.
I'm really glad they had an impact on you. I didn't get to devote as much time to them in Cantata as I would have liked, so I tried to make each moment they got together count.
A while back I got this thing in my head that needed to exist, so I wrote it, even though the timeline is wrong and this scene kind of...can't exist. But I wanted it, so I wrote it, and since there is nothing to do with it but let it languish in my files, I'm gonna put it here.
We'll call it Jeremy Bearimy, because that's the only explanation I have for how this could work.
~
Ashley’s eyes snap open, heart beating in her throat, though she can’t remember why.
It’s warm, humid, salt hanging in the air. Shallow waves lap at her boots. Out on the horizon, the storm that’s been threatening ever since the Normandy landed on Virmire is finally clearing, and the Hoc star cuts one hell of a silhouette as it sinks behind the breaking clouds.
(things fall apart. the centre cannot hold.)
She wipes the corner of her mouth, expecting blood to be there, but her hand comes away clean.
Wait a damn minute. Where the fuck is her helmet?
She’s supposed to be in combat armor. Alenko checked every piece of plating on her Colossus suit himself before she climbed in the Mako; she remembers, because he gave her shit over her neon green boots again, joking that she should just toss them out the airlock and wear the Colossus boots with her uniform instead.
She’s back in the damn green boots. And her BDUs.
A lance of pain cuts through her side, and she hisses through her teeth. But there’s nothing there. No breach in the hardsuit she isn’t wearing, no tear in her uniform. No slab of medigel stuck to her skin.
“You look lost,” a voice says.
Ashley turns with a start, reaching for a gun that isn’t there – where the fuck is her rifle – to find an unfamiliar marine with a southern drawl wearing Alliance fatigues and a thick mop of dark hair sitting at a table, sipping a cocktail with a paper umbrella stuck in it.
“What the fuck is happening right now?” she demands, crossing her arms defiantly across her chest. If she can’t shoot him, she might as well look like she can.
He pushes a second chair out with a foot, a grin on his face that could charm a krogan. “Have a seat. Got a full bar. Figured you’d need a drink.”
“Who the hell are you? Where’s Shepard? Where’s Alenko?” She tightens her arms around herself, unease knotting deep in her gut. “We were…” She shakes her head, trying to remember. “It was important. Alenko was in trouble.”
The grin softens into a wistful smile. “Yeah. I know. But he’s all right. Or will be, I think. Sit down. You’ve earned it. I’d really like the company, to be honest. My name’s Clay Beaudoin, and I think we have a lot to talk about.”
y'know what ? gimme 8, 19, and 23 for Beaudoin. that is, if you wish. I always want to know more about the 'Yang gang <3
Clay Beaudoin! What a treat! Thank you!
Edgy OC Ask Meme
8. Would your OC ostensibly be able to get away with murder?
Clay Beaudoin is such a charmer that if he murdered you, you would probably thank him for it.
19. How does your OC behave when enraged?
You know, I can’t really think of a time he ever has been enraged, or think of a scenario that would get him there. Clay is stubbornly even-keel, and rarely if ever swings hard to an extreme. His job is to be the emotional heat sink for other people, and he can’t do that if he can’t keep his own emotions pretty staunchly in check.
23. What emotion is the hardest for your OC to process? How about express?
Anger, probably. His focus is always on other people, at the expense of himself. Everyone looks to him to be the stable center, which doesn’t leave him with anyone he can look to when he needs a shoulder or an outlet. One of the things I wasn’t able to fit into Cantata and wish I had was the effects of Sharjila on Clay. He didn’t handle it well. Innocent people – including kids – died down there in front of his eyes and they could have stopped it. But his squad needed him to be their goat in the aftermath, so he couldn’t afford to process that anger and grief. Sam let him down. It might be the only time Sam ever let him down. But Clay had to swallow that back and be there for everyone else. And because he’s so relentlessly stable and even-keel, I doubt any of his squad thought he needed help. He would have hid it very well.
I like to think Captain Oseguera kept an eye on him and stepped in when he needed someone to. She’s his goat, so he can be everyone else’s.
Happy Holidays, Swaps! Your HH Minion here. Have a question for you: What do the 'Yang Gang (including Captain Oseguera, please!) think about the holidays, specifically during their time serving together? Who/What do they think about? Memories of holidays past? Favorite foods? People they miss? People/things they don't? Songs they like? Favorite gifts? Anything you can share will help. Thanks! :)
👀
What an exciting question! I may have gotten a little too into answering it.
Anya Oseguera and Clay Beaudoin both have ties to Mexico (Anya was born there, and Clay’s mother is from there) and have similar holiday traditions. Around the holidays, Anya gets very homesick if she doesn’t get leave to be home with her daughters (Olivia and Malena) and extended family (she has a huge extended family). Neither of them are particularly religious, so to them the holidays are about being with family and friends and taking joy in each other’s company. Also, eating a lot of food. On the ‘Yang, the holidays all about food, and Oseguera runs the show. Kaidan is her second in command, with Clay and Aslany ready and willing to do what they’re told. Tamales as the main course, buñuelos for dessert. Clay plays bartender – given he has bartending experience – and fixes Ponche Navideño.
Anya also plays the guitar, and knows a slew of Christmas songs that she would gladly play for the ‘Yang crew.
Clay loves this holidays. He misses his family – his parents would host a huge feast at the ranch with tons of extended family, tons of food, dancing and singing. Everyone would come and go throughout the day as they please. So a big ‘Yang gathering with the people he loves makes him very happy. He’s the kind of guy you could put reindeer antlers on and he’d own it.
Kara Pendergrass grew up on the street, so she’s never celebrated a winter holiday. She’d find it all fascinating, and go overboard trying to participate. She’d coordinate an insanely complicated, choreographed light/laser show with holo emitters, etc. and drive everyone a little batshit until the final reveal, which would be mind blowing. Stabby gets a Christmas setting, in which Joy to the World plays whenever it stabs an ankle.
Kaidan Alenko would be more of a North American style traditionalist when it comes to the holidays, and would make sure everyone gets a Christmas sweater, possibly with omni-tool powered lights on them. Clay’s would have a goat on it. Aslany would wear hers under duress, but the fact she wears it at all is a true sign of her affection. Kara would strip her shirt off in the middle of the mess in her hurry to put hers on. Sam will wear his because he’s a lovesick idiot, and everyone will be almost angry at how good he looks in it. Kaidan would also see to it that everyone got a stocking, with some meaningful but silly trinkets in them.
Sam Shepard never celebrated a Christmas holiday growing up, but his father was a bit of solstice guy. They lit candles in the ‘winter,’ but you’d have to pry that one of out him with a crowbar. He’d be really missing his dad, very self-conscious about not having his own family, refusing to say anything about it to anyone, because Kaidan is the only one who knows anything about his dad. You might think it would be Kaidan who finally gets the candles secret out of him. You’d be wrong. It would be Aslany.
Muriel Aslany doesn’t have a religious bone in her body, but comes from a Muslim background, and doesn’t have much exposure to something like Christmas. She’d be both alienated and fascinated by it, listening, cautiously asking questions if she feels secure no is going to make her feel stupid (she’s most likely to ask Clay), and she’d get really into the food part. But at the same time, like Sam, she’d be very self-conscious that she is so distant from her own family (she has a big family that she does not talk to).
She’d take some softening up to connect with the concept of celebrating family and friends, but in the end, she’d be the one who was listening with eagle ears and manages to do something for each of her squad that is incredibly meaningful. Like make Kaidan a cup of hot chocolate exactly how he likes it, make sure Stabby gets a gift, and giving Sam a candle. You know what would really shock everyone on that ship? Discovering she can sing, which they would learn when she steps up to sing a carol that Oseguera plays on the guitar – a carol she learned because she heard Oseguera lamenting that her daughters used to sing along to it when she played, and she misses them terribly. What would Aslany get for Clay? She can’t figure it out. Asks Kaidan for help, gets increasingly agitated when nothing feels right, then admits her failure to him. His response?
Clay: Are you happy?
Aslany: I guess. (She is, and Clay can see it.)
Clay: [grinning] There are some gifts you can’t hold in your hand, but they’re gifts just the same.
That’s what I’ve got for Christmas on the ‘Yang – please let me know if there is anything else you’d like to know! This is exciting!!
Aaaaaahhhhhhhhh, look at what @nightmarestudio606 gifted to me!!!!! This is her Mark Shepard and my Clay Beaudoin from Paper Umbrellas wandering the streets of Rio in a future story we have planned.
Service Chief Clay Beaudoin, SSV Myeongnyang, born 2145 to Harold and Sofía Beaudoin in south central Texas, Earth. :)
He’s a master of charm, giver of amazing hugs, and the galaxy’s best goat.
“Come on, LT, look at this bunch. We’ve got a mad scientist, a marksman with the galaxy’s shortest fuse, the Butcher of Torfan, and a space wizard.”
“So what does that make you?”
“A goat,” Beaudoin says with a lazy grin.
Kaidan frowns. “A goat.”
“My dad owns a ranch back on Earth. Cows and horses, mostly. When he gets a particularly high-strung horse he sometimes throws a goat in the stall with it. They have a calming influence.”
“Ah,” Kaidan says. “My mom owns horses. But she’s never had goats.”
Beaudoin gestures to himself with a flourish. “Welcome to your first goat.”
