#maisy shepard

[fiddlesticksss]

An Archive of Our Own, a project of the Organization for Transformative Works

Chapters: 1/1 Fandom: Mass Effect Trilogy Rating: Teen And Up Audiences Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply Relationships: Jeff "Joker" Moreau/Female Shepard, Kaidan Alenko/Female Shepard Characters: Jeff "Joker" Moreau, Female Shepard (Mass Effect), Shepard (Mass Effect), Kaidan Alenko Additional Tags: Slow Burn, Friends to Lovers, Jealousy, Autistic Shepard (Mass Effect), Pining Series: Part 5 of Falling Backwards Summary:

Joker has an interesting sense of timing.

[fiddlesticksss]

So it's been a while since Sunday Funday, but ah...

⭐? Director's cut thingy? 👀 I wanna hear all about what you're excited about!!

Ooooooh I'm so excited to get one of these!!!! Really hard to decide what to talk about though.

Actually I think I'm going to talk about the latest part of the fic (Safe) because I used it to explore a topic I often don't find in media.

Generally, I've found that my little Maisy Shepard has been a great way to explore thoughts and feelings around my experience with late diagnosed, "high-masking" autism. A big part of that is that I've always been touch-averse, but I didn't realise I was because there were exceptions. I've always had one, maybe two people I felt okay being close to, usually my mum and a very close friend. I'm still more aware of myself when I'm say, cuddling, hugging or holding hands with someone, but there are some people I'm okay doing it with (my housemate is essentially the little sister I never had, and I've turned into her pillow, plushie and stress ball).

All that to say, I've seen fics where touch becomes something grounding for Shepard (Ale's fic is one example, and it's beautifully done), but never ones that represent how I feel about touch, where little by little and seemingly for no reason, one person will become safe and reassuring to touch even when no-one else is.

Maisy being okay with touching Joker says "you're my person, and I feel 100% safe with you"

[fiddlesticksss]

How would you describe your Shepards sense of humour?

I see Ale's request has made its way to you!

Shepard copes with difficult things using dark humour, but in general her brand of humour is a lot less acerbic than Joker's. Depending on her mood and level of masking, she can maintain a perfect poker face while Joker shoots shit in her ear, or burst out laughing at a single funny word.

[fiddlesticksss]

Who is your Shepard's favourite sparring partner?

&

Does your Shepard watch TV? Is so what kind of shows?

I have been blessed by the Anon!! Thank you for the questions, dearest.

Sparring:

Maisy is an Infiltrator, so close-quarter combat is not her strong suit. She's not reckless, and the last thing she wants is to get injured in between missions, so on the rare occasions she does spar, she prefers to do it with people she trusts not to go overboard and hurt her. Garrus is her best friend and a safe bet in all three games. In ME1, there's also Kaidan (although she avoids sparring with him for fear of getting flustered). In ME2, there's Samara and Thane, and in ME3, James. When she's sparring, she focuses on technique, dodging and effective moves rather than brute force, so Thane is a great teacher on that front.

TV:

Maisy LOVES TV and movies. She institutes regular movie nights on the Normandy, but also just sits down to watch things one-on-one a lot with Joker and Tali. With Tali, it's Fleet and Flotilla and other cheesy romance and drama. With Joker, it's Blasto, sitcoms and whatever terrible movies they can find. It becomes a competition to find the worst, most hilarious thing to watch every week. I also like to think they dug up an archive copy of The X Files to watch in the cockpit when they're just hanging out and working, and neither of them wants to admit the tension is hitting a little too close to home.

During house arrest, she bonds with Vega by watching old Earth shows and telenovelas. They have less time on the Normandy, but they still have the occasional watch party and drag Cortez into it.