[Create a short piece (art or fic) that encompasses those 3 words]
Thank you @mallaidhsomo for the prompt!
Any stray Shenkos out there, come join the Big Place Shenko Discord for weekly art/fic prompts! ✨
"Our Get-Along Icecream"
[[TW/CW: Food, death mention, alcohol mention, oral sex mention]]
“What the fuck, Shepard?”
“Relax, Jack. You don’t have to marry her, just sit together and have a nice treat in the same room without killing each other.”
Miranda, hands on hips, raised a scathing brow, “You think she can manage, Commander?”
“Keep talking shit, I might not.”
“Ladies!”
Maybe this wasn’t the best idea, but who could be angry while having a bit of icecream? Shepard frowned. Judging by their scowls, Jack and Miranda were exactly the kind of people to rage-devour a cone. She sighed.
“If you can fight together, you can eat together. Now grab a cone. That’s an order!”
She really should have anticipated Jack “accidentally” dropping a bit on Miranda’s floor.
“This is why I didn’t want this in my cabin!”
“You wanted to do this?” Jack teased, “Because I didn’t want to do this in any cabin.”
“Ladies!”
Shepard let out a deeper sigh as she sat between them on the couch.
Jack leaned over to address Miranda, “What flavor did you get?”
Huffing, Miranda rolled her eyes, “It’s all vanilla, you ass!”
“Hey!” Shepard snapped, “Enough!”
“You’re a mean drunk,” Jack murmured, slinking back into her space.
Shepard glared, “Stress makes me drink.”
“You shouldn’t be drinking so much anyway.”
“Miranda!”
“Just saying,” she commented innocently before attacking the swirl with her tongue.
“It’s not a dick, Miranda. Calm down.”
“Jack!” she protested, as her offender and commander broke into a shared laugh.
“You do kinda chomp it like a dick,” Shepard said, chuckling.
“Et tu, Brute?”
“What? You’re so valid for that.”
“I’d like to see you eat a peach,” Jack winked.
Miranda stopped eating, “You’re both thoroughly disgusting.”
Their giggles died into a mini silence, broken by Jack, “How long’s it been since your last, uh, icecream cone?”
Miranda looked scandalized and Shepard looked sad.
“I’ll start! Since before I was sold to that prison.”
“Bet it was plenty before though,” Miranda muttered.
“Sooooo many!” Jack teased, “Enough to lodge the odor in my mouth. Come give it a smell, cheerleader.”
“Gross! I’m eating!”
“Not since I died…” Shepard said, eyes far away.
Miranda patted her knee knowingly. Jack smirked.
“Plenty of opportunity to change that, Shep.”
She scoffed, “Yeah… right.”
Jack didn’t know yet, and Miranda was feeling protective. So she answered boldly to take the attention off Shepard.
“Last week.”
It worked.
“Last week?!” Jack exploded, “WHO?!”
Miranda snickered, “An engineer on Ilium.”
The other two howled.
“Naughty, naughty,” Jack teased, “Someone you knew?”
Miranda shook her head and buried her face.
“AAAAHHHHH!!!!!” Shepard shouted, and Jack slapped her knees.
“Look at yoouuu, gettin’ Cer-busy!”
Jack actually made Miranda laugh from that. Shepard smiled a secret victory to herself. Looks like icecream was a good idea after all.
At our store, we do games and contests to motivate employees and encourage sales. Well on a slow Saturday morning, I thought we needed something lighthearted and..petty. 💁🏼
Today's three little words: Invisible, Gear, Mislead
[Create a short piece (art or fic) that encompasses those 3 words]
Thank you @mallaidhsomo for the prompt!
Any stray Shenkos out there, come join the Big Place Shenko Discord for weekly art/fic prompts! ✨
"The Perfect Moment"
[[TW/CW: Hospitals, medicine, food, illness]]
Kaidan had faced things before that should have made him more nervous than this. He’d survived Eden Prime and fought the Geth. He came through battles with Collectors and Reapers, even getting through that grueling final push in the war for Earth. The only thing he was facing right now was the future. Shepard and that little box in his pocket.
He cleared his throat, gearing himself up to say the most romantic thing he’s ever said in his life, “Uh—Um…”
“You choking?”
“No, I’m not choke—I’m not choking, Shepard.”
“Mmmm. Good.”
But was now really the best time to do it? In a hospital room after the end of the world? Without any stunning views, memorable meals, or notable outfits?
“Are you all right, Kaidan?”
“I’m fine,” he said to her suspicious brow, “Uh, I’m good.”
Her expression leapt from query to concern, “Oh… You didn’t have any of that ‘lamb’ stew, did you? They say the food here is made fresh, but Wrex told me he saw them use canned ground meat from before the attack on Vancouver. So… Hold on, I think Miranda gave me some pills for that.”
“Don’t get up,” he urged as Shepard turned to search the crowded table at her side. She knocked into one bottle of medicine, and four more fell over in a chorus of rattles.
“Whoops.”
“I got it.”
He knelt down to grab the two plastic bottles that dropped to the floor.
He was kneeling. He could stand up and…
Well, at least she’d be surprised. It’s not like she’d be expecting him to pop up with a ring and a question that could change their lives forever. If he wanted to mislead her before the big moment, now was the time to do it.
“Kaidan?”
“Yeah?”
“You okay down there?”
He was still under the table.
Kaidan sighed, “Yeah, just dropped a contact.”
“…You don’t wear contacts?”
“You’re right. I don’t.”
“So… You taking a vacation?”
“No!” He stood up with vexation, more at himself than anything, and placed the bottles back on her table. Three more fell to the floor. He knelt back down with a little more vexation.
This time he just grabbed them and stood up.
“Ah, fuck!”
“Kaidan!”
… And bumped his head on the bottom of the table, knocking over some of the other plastic medicine containers.
“I’m all right.”
Maybe it was a good thing he was still picking bottles off the floor. The more bottles, the more time to think, to decide. But by the time he gathered them all, both of his hands were full.
He stood up with a sigh, “You could open a small pharmacy.”
“Blame Miranda.”
His hands shook as he re-organized her side table.
“You sure you didn’t have any of the stew?”
Kaidan let out a light chuckle, “I’m sure. No offense, but it was grey.”
“Right!”
“I didn’t want to say anything earlier when you and Wrex…”
“You should have!” she insisted, “I must have some residual brain damage on top of everything else, because my taste and smell have been off lately. Or maybe it’s one of the medications… Remind me to ask Miri.”
He sat down on her bed. His hand found hers and he squeezed it.
“Oh, hey there!” Shepard smiled, “That’s better.”
Kaidan moved her hair out of her face and leaned in close to it, “And what about me, Shepard? Can you still smell me?”
She laughed, something between a chortle and a giggle. Shepard made a show of giving his neck a deep sniff, and then fell back into her pillow snorting with hilarity.
“I’m glad you find yourself funny,” he smirked.
When she settled down again, Kaidan was still very close to her face.
“And what about how I taste?” he asked, bringing his hand up to cradle her chin; bringing his mouth closer.
He brushed his bottom lip against the space between hers and waited for Shepard to interlock them.
There was that light moan at the end of her tongue, just like there always was. No matter what they’d lost, they didn’t lose this.
Breaking their kiss shattered his thoughts. The only thing left in the universe was Shepard’s face in front of him.
Kaidan spent his whole life feeling invisible. It was like he was born into the world without being born into the world. Shepard’s murky blue eyes were the first pair that really seemed to pluck him out of his lone dimension and force him into the life that everyone else lived. With Shepard came love, and friendships, and a home.
So really… Every time was the perfect time to offer Shepard his forever.
Nuzzling his forehead against hers, then his nose against hers, Kaidan reached for his pocket.
“Shepard…”
She planted a small kiss on the tip of his nose before asking, “Yeah?”
SLAM!
Jack stormed into the hospital room, bristling with everything short of biotics.
Kaidan stood straight up, guiltily smoothing out his pockets.
Jack sat down aggressively in one of the chairs and hid her head under crossed arms.
“Uh…” Kaidan asked.
“Shepard!”
She blinked with the patience of a commander and the alarm of a friend, “Yes?”
“Kill me now!” Jack whined, with the dramatics of a teenager at the mall.
Kaidan and Shepard looked between each other.
“Jack?” she asked.
“I did the worst thing. It’s the worst thing.”
“What?!”
Jack bit her lip and shouted, “I kissed the cheerleader!”
Yeah, no, the proposal was definitely gonna have to wait.
[Create a short piece (art of fic) that encompasses those 3 words]
Thank you @mallaidhsomo for the prompt!
Any stray Shenkos out there, come join the Big Place Shenko Discord for weekly art/fic prompts! ✨
"A Smile When You’re Stuck"
[[TW/CW: Captivity, awaiting trial, fictional war crimes]]
“Hello, Shepard.”
She didn’t stand for her Admiral. She just didn’t have the energy. Every second was excruciating.
“Oh, so we’re pouting today?”
“No,” she pouted.
“Cut that out, Essie. We know each other too well.”
The affection in that statement was the only thing keeping her from lashing out.
“I started a war, Anderson.”
“Might have started a war. There’s a big difference. Would you mind if I sat down?”
It wasn’t a very large room, but it also wasn’t the worst cell. There was a couch and an armchair. It even had a breakfast nook for fuck’s sake! Anderson gestured to sit at the end of her bed, where she remained practically buried under the covers.
“If you want,” she answered, her voice muffled by her pillow.
Anderson sat down on her bed like the father he’d never acted like, and she never had.
“I’m sorry,” she sobbed.
The sound of it pierced his heart, filling him with a real, tangible sickness. Shepard never sounded like this before, not even after Mindoir. She shed tears for Alchera that she’d never spill for herself.
He rested his palm on the cover lump that must’ve been her calf, “I’m here, Shepard.”
Instead of pouring out her grief more aggressively, his words put a lid on it.
Shepard slowly began to sit up.
She wiped her eyes on her sheets, “Excuse me, Admiral. I didn’t mean for you to see me like this.”
“I already told you to cut that out.”
“I appreciate that, sir.”
“Shepard…”
“What?” she exploded, “What do you want from me? What do you want?”
Anderson gave a very deep sigh. He obviously didn’t know what to say or how to act. But it was apparent that he was trying.
Very hard.
He stood up and paced around the room.
“How do you like it?” he asked, waving his hand around.
She hiccupped, “It’s fine. No cameras—Thank you for that.”
“You know I’d never let them do that.”
“I know. I can—” she hiccupped again, “Breathe now. Sort of.”
“I’m sorry you had to go through all that. It wasn’t okay.”
“Thanks.”
“Yeah, well—” his thoughts were racing, “It wasn’t your fault, Shepard. None of this has been. Hell, we owe you a debt!”
Shepard smirked, but it was heartbroken, “Yeah.”
“Drink some of that water, Shepard.”
She hiccupped, then reached for the bottle at her bedside.
She wiped her mouth, “I wasn’t supposed to survive.”
A heavy pause punched the room.
“Which time?” Anderson joked.
She’d forgotten the last time she smiled.
“I’m just glad you did,” he continued, “And I hate that it gives me a reason to feel grateful to Cerberus. But talking to you again is worth that five times over.”
‘Only five times?”
“Okay, ten times!”
He grinned and she laughed weakly.
“Can I come sit down again?”
She nodded her head, a small smile tugging at the corner of her mouth.
He cleared his throat after he sat back down, “What do you do all day? They give you access to the extranet?”
“No,” she groaned.
“So pushups? Pace around? Scream?”
“Cry, type up messages and delete them, go insane, and then scream.”
“Here I was worried you’d struggle to fill up your days.”
“Yeah.”
Anderson seemed a bit embarrassed when he asked, “You uh... You ever hear anything from Alenko?”
She didn’t answer.
He sighed, “Yep. That’s… That’s just how it goes sometimes.”
“You die? They move on? You come back? And then they dump you for working with terrorists to save the earth?”
Anderson chuckled, “Sounds like my divorce.”
“Which one?”
He pointedly poked her forehead with a finger, “Now you know it was just the one time.”
She hiccupped loudly, and it made them both laugh.
Now it was Shepard who looked embarrassed, “Do you uh… Do you think I will hear from him, sir? Not anything specific just… ever again?”
He smiled sadly, “I don’t know, Shepard. But I hope so.”
Today's three little words: Crutch, Attract, Chase
[Create a short piece (art of fic) that encompasses those 3 words]
Thank you @mallaidhsomo for the prompt!
Any stray Shenkos out there, come join the Big Place Shenko Discord for weekly art/fic prompts! ✨
"Emergency Distress Signal"
Huh!... Huh!... Huh!…. Huh…. Huh… Shepard swallowed hard to catch her breath. It didn’t work.
She’d found cover, although cover wasn’t worth much against husks. They didn’t stop and shoot, just kept running and pursuing until their reaching hands grabbed you; those undead, glowing claws. They’d grab you and grab you with their cold, dead flesh until you were torn apart.
She’d seen it happen.
Shepard didn’t want them to touch her. Not even a poke.
She panicked and closed her eyes.
Whoooooom!
Kaidan threw out a biotic flare to attract the attention of the herd.
Shepard’s heart caught in her throat again, this time watching them turn away from her hiding spot to sprint directly at him. She raised her pistol.
The cave turned bright blue, one of Liara’s singularities caught them all like a net—Right before the moment they reached Kaidan.
Shepard’s heart was beating so fast she thought it would leap out of her chest.
Now the husks were being ripped apart, their blue desiccated bodies shattered like watches. Wires and debris from some kind of alien tech scattered the ground with bits of dried flesh.
“Gross,” she heard Liara say. Her voice echoed among the stone.
“Shepard, are you all right?” came Kaidan’s concern as he made his way over.
“Fine,” she insisted, but she still held onto his hand like a crutch when he offered to help her up.
Shepard could tell by the look in his eyes that he knew she was shaking.
“Sure you’re all right?”
She nodded, “They didn’t get me.”
“Almost did,” Liara said, hands on her hips.
“But they didn’t.”
“Shepard…”
“I’m fine, Liara. I just don’t like when they chase me.”
Liara and Kaidan shared a look.
“You know,” he started, “I’d never question your leadership abilities, and I’m not doing so now—I just… What if we took a break for a while? Just to calm down.”
“I don’t need to calm down!”
Her eyes and her tone said otherwise.
“Hey, they freak me out too. If you don’t need a break, I do.”
“Kaidan…”
“Cave’s empty!” Liara shrugged, following Kaidan’s lead, “Those should be the last of them.”
They both sat on the rock she’d been using as cover. Shepard rolled her eyes before joining them.
“I just… Why do they have to run so fast?” she admitted.
Kaidan sighed, “I don’t know, Commander.”
She spoke again, “Do we know who they were? You know… Before?”
Liara shook her head solemnly, “Just that they were miners.”
Shepard bit her lip, “Imagine dying at work.”
The other two realized it before she did. A moment later, Shepard got there too.
“Thanks, you two. If you hadn’t been there…”
Kaidan took her armored hand in his, a gentle gesture that held a little more than friendship in it. Liara pretended not to notice.
“We’ll always be there, Shepard. Just like you are for us.”
Liara nodded in agreement.
Shepard’s comms crackled and Wrex’s growl filled the room, “Husk fuckers were everywhere! But it’s all clear. Ashley might have sprained her ankle and Garrus took a little scratch, but we have enough medi-gel to take care of it. You holding up?”
Shepard gave Kaidan and Liara a look and a nod. She was okay, and she was ready to move on.
“Rodger that, soldier! We’re all good here. All husks, no survivors. I’ll radio Joker and tell him to come pick us up.”
That day's three little words: Gun, Upset, Speculate
[Create a short piece (art of fic) that encompasses those 3 words]
Thank you @mallaidhsomo for the prompt!
Any stray Shenkos out there, come join the Big Place Shenko Discord for weekly art/fic prompts! ✨
"Priorities"
[[tw/cw: Violence]]
Their guns were trained on each other’s heads.
She’d been so eager to see him too.
See him okay; alive. To see his smile of recognition. Share an embrace if she was lucky.
Then they greeted each other with the end of each other’s barrels.
Hi honey, I’m home!—But make it the end of Humanity; the end of the whole galactic cycle. Make it “if everything goes south here, the Council falls and the final cry for unity across species, across planets will die out in an uncomfortable scream.”
Sprinkle in a history with Cerberus. Add a pinch of Udina.
That’s how you get guns in faces.
And that’s why it was a god damn miracle to see Kaidan on the Normandy again. Or the SR-2 for the first time.
“This is the Cargo Bay.”
“I know. Shepard, we’ve been here together. I stood over there, and you stood over there.”
“Right.”
Right. That’s right. Right before Mars. Before the thing that was EDI, before she was EDI, smashed his skull against steel with a sound that—
She trailed off at the end of her sentence, leaving Kaidan alone in his head to speculate everything that could possibly be wrong within the space of the Big Bang until now.
Shepard continued in the worst way possible, “I don’t want you to be upset. So, I don’t exactly know how to tell you this.”
“Uhh…”
“EDI!” she called out, “Can you meet me in the Cargo?”
A mechanical voice rang through her omnitool, “Is there a reason you need me?”
Shepard rolled her eyes, “Guess Joker’s really rubbing off on you.”
“I do not recall Jeff rubbing me anywhere.”
They could hear his distressed cries in the radio background.
“Can you please just come down here?” Shepard’s voice was strained with more anxiety than impatience.
If robots breathed, there would have been a sigh, “Yes, Shepard.”
Kaidan had no idea what was going on.
“You remember that robot?” she asked, looking slightly unhinged.
“Robot?”
“Yeah! The um, uh… The uuuhhh,” she laughed nervously, “So we stood here. Because?”
“…Because?”
Damn, that bitch showed up so fast.
“You needed me, Shepard?”
Fear spread from Kaidan’s eyes to his eyebrows to his forehead all the way into his L2 implant, bathing him in a ready glow.
“This is fine!” Shepard shouted in panic.
“That’s—”
“It’s not!”
Kaidan kept looking between Shepard and the Cerberus assassin.
“I’m EDI.”
“So, um,” Shepard explained, “My ship is alive, and—and she took over the body of the robot who almost killed you. Right? But we’re, uh, we’re all cool now. So… And I really think you’ll get along! EDI, this is Kaidan. Kaidan, this is EDI.”
Joker’s voice came over the comms, “You forgot to tell him, didn’t you?”
“Yes, Joker. I forgot.”
His radioed laughter echoed through the cavernous, metallic Bay, “She forgot!”
Kaidan ignored them and shook EDI’s hand like a gentleman. Still trembling a bit, but also manically calm after his sudden flood of relief.
Today's three little words: Moment, Acceptable, Stock
[Create a short piece (art of fic) that encompasses those 3 words]
Thank you @mallaidhsomo for the prompt!
Any stray Shenkos out there, come join the Big Place Shenko Discord for weekly art/fic prompts! ✨
"Illuim Sunrise"
[[tw/cw: Alcohol]]
“What do you want, Commander? It’s on me.”
The bar was stocked with bright, glowing alien alcohols.
“Uh…” Shepard didn’t know the names of any of them. She knew there were hypnotic blues, poison greens, lemon yellows and electric purples, but she didn’t know what they were. “I’ll take the uh… that blue and yellow cocktail that Asari has at that table over there.”
Kaidan didn’t know what it was called either, “Oh, right. Right the, uh, the…”
“Illium Sunrise,” Liara interjected helpfully.
“So three of those?” he asked.
“I’d say that’s an acceptable offer. Wouldn’t you, Shepard?”
“Hell yeah!” she agreed, eyeing the dance floor.
Shepard and Liara sat down at a table across from that Asari as Kaidan got the bartender’s attention.
“Not to be a bother,” Liara began, “But what does an evening at Flux have to do with our investigation of Saren?” Understandably, she’d been even more eager after the way things went down on Noveria.
“Come on, LiLi. Don’t tell me the Asari don’t take breaks every once in a while. You’ve got the lifespan for it.”
“Why do you keep calling me that?”
“Don’t tell me you don’t have nicknames either.”
“I know what a nickname is, Shepard.”
She raised her eyebrow and answered by asking the stranger across the table about her drink, “Hey there. Is that any good?”
Shepard knew her mistake when the Asari looked up. This wasn’t a “cute cocktail at the bar with me, myself, and I” moment, it was an “I’m alone at the bar when I should really be dead” moment. The stranger’s eyes were ragged and accusing, wearing their sockets like old rags.
The voice that came out of her mouth was a thousand years passed its glory days, “You ever sucked on a Krogan testicle?”
Shepard and Liara looked at each other.
“No…?” Shepard answered carefully.
“Well, it’s like that!”
It was then Kaidan came around with a small tray of drinks, “I have no idea what we’re in for, but at least they look nice.”
The Asari stranger got up and left. Too many people spoiled her solitude.
“Why don’t you go ahead and give us a report?” Shepard smirked.
Kaidan picked one up and took a sip. His face puckered, “Strong.”
Then Liara took a swig of hers, “That is a regular Illium Sunrise. No hint of Krogan.”
“No hint of what?”
Shepard and Liara burst out laughing.
“Come on,” Shepard commanded, “Let’s dance.”
She picked up the remaining cocktail and dragged Liara to the floor by her hand. Kaidan dropped off the tray at the bar before following them into the gyrating crowd.
Liara went further into the dance floor once Kaidan approached, giving the two of them their space.
Shepard felt his hand on her hip; his body move in closer. She fell into his rhythm (the best she could, god bless her), and took a sip of her drink.
“Care for a dance, Shepard?” Kaidan asked, the look in his eyes making her weak.
“With you? Always.”
She couldn’t face him any longer, not without crossing that line. So she turned around to fit her back into his chest. Their hips swayed against each other.
He spoke low, right behind her ear, “I like this.”
She felt fireworks shiver up her neck. Her skin almost started glowing.
“I really like this,” he continued. He ran his hands over her arms as they danced.
That did it. Her body crackled with a slight biotic reflex, and she matched her Illium Sunrise.
