• when or if I started shipping it.
Pretty much right when I recruited Thane for the first time. I’d already decided on romancing Garrus, but as soon as I saw Thane I was like “Yep, next playthrough, I’m tapping that.”
• What makes me happy about them:
The way they lean on each other when times are tough, and how they could just talk for hours without ever getting bored of each other. In my headcanon, they could literally talk about any topic and just enjoy the sound of each others voices.
• What makes me sad about them:
Pretty much EVERYTHING in ME3.
• things done in art/fic that annoys me:
Miracle cures for Thane’s illness. I’m not against fix-it fics, as long as they’re realistic. If you want to go the route of a treatment that’ll prolong his life, for example, then that I’m cool with, but the “Oh he’s completely cured and everything’s sunshine and rainbows” just isn’t my cup of tea. I do get it, though. (Though I AM totally 100% with handwaving his survival against Kai Leng)
• things I look for in art/fic:
I like fics that talk about Irikah and Kolyat. I also LOVE fics that delve deeper into Thane’s religion.
• Who I’d be comfortable them ending up with, if not each other:
For Thane, there’s Irikah, obviously. I’ve also read a couple of fics of him with Garrus, and I can very much get behind that.
For Shepard, it depends. If we’re talking Shepard in general, then I’m enough of a multishipper that I’m really okay with nearly any pairing with her. If we’re talking about specifically my Thanemanced Shepard, Rio, then I guess Kaidan. If she’d never met Thane, I imagine she would have gotten back together with Kaidan in ME3.
• My happily ever after for them:
While I don’t begrudge anyone their “they both live” headcanons, in Rio’s timeline the best ‘happy ending’ for them is that they end up together in the afterlife. Even though they have different religious beliefs. Shhhh, it’s okay, it’ll all work out!
• what is their favorite non-sexual activity?
As previously mentioned, they love to talk about anything and everything. They also really like to pray together, despite their different religions.