#kantama

[hadalplumes]

You seem to have a really good grasp on the Apothecary Diary light novels and how they go - might I ask you some questions about them that have been bugging me no end for ages?

I wouldn't say I have a particularly good grasp of the LNs considering this is my first ever read and I haven't even caught up with all of them yet

But feel free to ask lol I'll answer in anyway I can

[sephirona]

Your latest work of Cullen is simply marvelous, but I must point out that you forgot the scar on his lip. Was that intentional?

Yes, it was intentional, haha. Part of the process of painting involves sculpting out his features using light/dark values, so finalizing details such as scars are left for last so I can make sure his upper lip has the right lighting first. There’s no point adding the scar now if I have to paint around it - it ends up being more work than is necessary. There's also the fact that I'm not sure which way I want him to be facing in the final version - if you look at my earlier WIPs he's actually facing the opposite direction. Even his facial hair is on a separate layer right now so I can turn it off and on as needed, LOL! Thanks for paying attention, though!

[loquaciousquark]

I know it’s not really your main fandom (let it be known your Fenris is the definitive Fenris for me, game and any other interpretation of him be damned) but when you do write for the Mass Effect fandom does it affect your stories that Garrus is younger than Shepard, or that he’s actually quite a measure taller than she is? Neither really come up in the games (I often can’t actually tell there’s much of a height difference in game and the age thing is never spoken of) but I imagine it would affect life somehow.

— kantama

These are great questions! The age thing… probably that doesn’t come up very often, considering they’re not that far apart and since turian mandatory service begins earlier than Shepard did hers, they have similar amounts of experience in their fields. Regardless, by the end of the series they’re very much equals in terms of their professional and personal relationships, and I can’t see Shepard (my own, at least) getting too worked up about being a few years older than her significant other when they’ve got enough other differences between them. If nothing else, I’m just really glad that turians and humans have similar lifespans, though with the cybernetics who knows how long Shepard actually has left post-game.

All the same she’s not one to participate in a lot of public affection; she’s very private about that sort of thing anyway, and after ME1 she’s even more careful about her public profile just because she knows every word she says reflects back on the Alliance and, to a greater extent, humanity. When she’s in uniform, she’s professional and she conducts herself professionally. End of story.

That’s not to say she doesn’t engage in physical affection in private, though. A lot of being cosy on the couch together, casual touches when one of them’s cooking in the kitchen, the aforementioned holding hands just for the sake of it. If they’re out and about on personal time she doesn’t particularly try to hide it either, though she’s never what Al-Jilani would call “demonstrative.” She’s not ashamed of Garrus in the slightest, and she doesn’t worry about what the media will say about her, but at the same time she’s…she’s a very protective person of the people who associate with her, and to some extent the organizations she supports by her membership, and those she’s careful to keep out of even the hint of scandal.

This includes Garrus at first, much to his occasional consternation. It’s worse in the early stages, ME2 to early ME3, but honestly, after, say…Rannoch, maybe, she gets to a point where she’s like “screw it.” She’s still careful, but if the tabloids are more interested in her briefly kissing Garrus after a dinner date at a (for once) really nice place on the Citadel than they are reporting the impending end of the world, she’s not going to worry about it.

The fancy dates, incidentally, are the only times Shepard wears heels. As far as I can tell, she’s worn them maybe about twice before she gets aboard the Normandy, and Liara’s the one to suggest she practice the heels before Kasumi’s mission, just in case she has to run. She can’t deny her legs look great in them, even if it takes her uncomfortably long to adjust to the new balance issues. Anyway, she likes them (when they’re comfortable) and she likes the way they make her look (she is, among other things, not used to feeling pretty), and she really likes that it puts her closer to Garrus’s eye level for adept sneaky mandible-kisses.

Finally, and this has nothing to do with anything, but one of my favorite Shepard/Garrus business-before-pleasure relationships is in anonymous-moose’s The Proposal. It was one of the first ME fics I read and still one of my favorites, so you should all go read it and enjoy.

[tarysande]

While I'm peppering you with questions (as I believe I sent one or two not too terribly long ago), I have another one for you: Would Tyrra be barefaced? I imagine not since that carries a stigma in turian society, but whose markings would she take? Her mother's? Her father's? Garrus'? Would she get an N7 marking on her nose? If it happened early in life then would Rose want markings of her own?

Oh, I hope you don't mind that I'm answering this publicly, but I've been asked before, and it's an interesting question.

I'm not going to completely spoil everything, but I do actually have some ideas about Tyrra and her markings, and there's definitely some story there. It should come up fairly soon in the narrative. I'm not going to go into detail here, but I do promise it's something that'll get discussed.

As a lore question, I think turian markings are a bit of a headscratcher. I know they're intended to be a colony thing and not solely a family thing, but I also find it hard to believe that Garrus, evidently from the largest city on the turian homeworld, has markings we never see on anyone else. I mean, if those are Palaven markings, or even Cipritine markings? We should see them. (And I know it's a game mechanics thing they chose to differentiate him from other turians, but...) Occasionally, as with the Talons on Omega, it appears it can be a sort of group thing? I suspect the turians of the Talons chose that red marking (and that they had any other tattoos removed/replaced with it) rather than just believing it coincidence that they all had the same colony markings. At some point I guess I'll make a choice and explore it a bit. :) I will say, though, that I do belong to the camp that believes turian markings are tattoos and not paint. The way Garrus' markings were affected by his scars seems proof enough of that? If it was paint he could've gone over the scarred area and the blue wouldn't have been so broken and ragged on that side of his face. The tattooing process can likely be reversed or changed (again, consider the Talons) but is permanent unless action is taken.

To answer the other set of questions, about Rose... as I hinted at with her love of Jack's tattoos, I can imagine Rose decorating herself as an adult, and being fascinated with choices of color and imagery. I don't think she'd end up covered head to heel, like Jack, and I think her colors and images wouldn't be as stark and violent as Jack's, but I think she'll definitely have some tattoos. I don't think any of them will be on her face. I do think the question of humans and turians and families and tradition will come up, but I personally balk at the idea of, say, Shepard getting tattoos to match Garrus' and I can tell you it would never occur to my Shepard. She's not turian, and it's definitely a turian thing. Nods to the joining of their family would be done in a different way, I think. (As an aside: my Shepard is a bitch tetchy about the N7 insignia if you're not actually N7. See: James getting his giant tattoo. And I'm pretty sure Rose isn't going to be military, so no N7s for her.)

ANYWAY. Thank you for asking, and for jogging my brain with questions :D 

And to anyone who's made it all the way down here, a little apology: I know I have been SO absent recently. I'm up to my eyeballs in New Game and Visiting Bestest Best Friend, and both tumblr and fic have taken a temporary back seat. I'm not going anywhere; I'm just not very here at the MOMENT. If there's anything I've missed, messages are a great way to reach me <3

[acequeenking]

I adored your breakdown of the ME2 romance between Garrus and Shepard. It was simply beautiful. I can't wait to see you take on ME3!

Why thank you very much!I'll definitively update it for ME3. That might be in a few weeks, though, because:

 I l don't have saves ready to take pictures of the way I do for ME1 and ME2 yet (It's a bit scary how many saves I have, actually.)

Flycam is being a butt and will activate in everything but cut-scenes and the cut-scenes very rarely show full body shots (Which makes it a lot harder to discern body language).

I keep getting distracted by Dragon Age and stupid sexy Alistair and Loghain Mac Tir.

Holidays. I'll be out of town this weekend, and again for Thanksgiving.

I'm pretty amazed at how positive the feedback has been, honestly! I just hope people will think the Mass Effect 3 part is as good.

[loquaciousquark]

You might find the Lazarus Chrome extension to be useful. It keeps momentary copies of whatever you type so if something happens you can call it back up with relative ease.

I have just downloaded the extension for Firefox, which I use, but it's good to know it exists for Chrome too! Posting this for any Chrome-using followers who might find this helpful. Thanks!

[tarysande]

Happiness of birth unto you from a random English teacher in South Korea! May the sand not bedevil your toes and your ability to dream of turians continue unabated!

Thank you so much! If that isn't just the nicest birthday wish, I don't know what is <3

[loquaciousquark]

Oh...my goodness, you guys.  I am blown away by your generosity and kind words and support and hugs. I'm so sorry for...basically throwing myself at your feet like that; I was just really freaked out and desperate for a little actual human contact and, naturally, my first choice for that was my fandom home where there's always someone awake. ;) I also did end up going to get the dog just so I could have a body in the bed with me, which helped a lot, but the way you guys responded and your suggestions rolling in like that honestly got me through the rest of the night. I am so grateful; thank you.

Replies under the cut.

eponymous-rose replied to your post “I just had the most horrifying nightmare. Not the jumpy blood guts boo...”

*belated hugs* Those are always so, so much worse than the jumpy blood guts boo ones. :(

They really are! My dreams are usually perfectly forgettable, so I honestly have no idea where this one came from to be so linear and excruciatingly vivid. At least I'm set for another twelve years or so, I guess!

apocalisse replied to your post “I just had the most horrifying nightmare. Not the jumpy blood guts boo...”

I'm so sorry, how about a cute baby owl? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3G1PFLuTrgM

This was ADORABLE. I had no idea owls' faces could be so expressive! But man, I felt relaxed after watching that little one get the head massage. Thank you!

kantama replied to your post “I just had the most horrifying nightmare. Not the jumpy blood guts boo...”

You could try some TED talks. Those are fantastic ways to distract yourself.

This was BRILLIANT. I love the science/innovation TED talks but hadn't watched one in a while, so I went back and listened to Mick Ebeling's talk on his EyeWriter glasses for a paralyzed artist. This was a fantastic suggestion and I'm definitely going to be recommending it to other people in the future. Thank you so much.

sekritjay replied to your post “I just had the most horrifying nightmare. Not the jumpy blood guts boo...”

Those kinds of nightmares tend to be the most unsettling - I used to get similar ones and I know for a fact that they can really fuck you up, even after you've woken up. You have my sympathies

Ugh, I am so sorry! This one rocked my world; I can't imagine having to go through it more than once in a good long time. Thanks. <3

crazyyinthecoconut replied to your post “I just had the most horrifying nightmare. Not the jumpy blood guts boo...”

/hugs tight! Oh gosh, I'm so sorry, Quark. Those suck, a lot, and often leave me feeling shaken for the rest of the day. Something that always makes me feel better are funny videos of cats. ; u ;

It's a classic for a reason! There is nothing like watching large cats try to fit into tiny boxes, and by the end of several of these I was already feeling better. Thanks for the suggestions!

Anonymous asked you:

I don't think I know of any Hawke/Fenris fluff that you haven't seen yet ;-; I'm sorry. ._. I love you okay

Hahaha, it's the thought that counts! Thank you, anon. <3<3<3

onelastwishonelastkiss asked you:

*Hug* Sorry 'bout that nightmare, darling. Hope you feel better. <3

Daylight always makes things like this better. Thank you! :)