#tbmsfic

[spaced0lphin]

I illustrated a scene from my Shoker longfic. You can find it on Ao3 and also FFnet but Ao3 has nicer formatting. N E WAYZ enjoy

[spaced0lphin]

B & J Go to Earth & Find a Thing

So I wonder if anyone recognises this artist, they went by Chibimiji on DA a billion years ago (around a decade now) and they did this for me, which I put in the grey tones for. Anyways, their account has been dead for a billion years. To this day it’s my favourite pic I’ve had of them.

[spaced0lphin]

Fleet and Fanboy

A little snippet from Chapter 15.

“I just wish we all had a chance to do things like that more often. I know Tali wants to go places other than the Main Battery and the Engine Room sometimes.” “Anywhere you have in mind?” asked Shepard. “I… want to take her to the physical set where the Fleet and Flotilla series is shot. She’s crazy about that show,” he said as his mandibles flexed with a laugh. “I wasn’t sure about the vid, but the series is alright. I figure I could name drop you and get her and I up there… With everything going on, who knows how long it’ll be around for.” “You gonna do the pose?” she asked with a grin. “Tell me you’re going to do the pose and get someone to take a Holo.” “Are you volunteering?” he asked. “It would be easier to name drop you if you were actually there.” “I don’t think you want me as your third wheel, Garrus,” she laughed. “Bring Joker.” Shepard just smiled, closed her eyes and shook her head. “I’ve never seen Tali’s face before, but somehow I can imagine exactly what expression she’d pull.” “I’ll tell you something you apparently didn’t know about Joker,” he said. “He’s a fan.” “Of Fleet and Flotilla?” Shepard covered her smile of disbelief. “When we first started playing poker down here, those two would sit next to each other and make constant in-jokes about it. It got so annoying that I watched the whole thing just so that I could understand what they were saying.” His rasping laughter made Shepard’s stiff shoulders relax and her aching leg somehow not hurt as bad. “Then I ended up enjoying it.”

[spaced0lphin]

WIP it... WIP it Good

Time for a WIP Wednesday, because astonishingly I managed to both remember accurately what day is and what Tumblr is all at once! Be proud of me. It will be summarily ignored of course that I am posting this at 12:01AM, thus making it in fact, Thursday. In this house tumblr we do not call out such behaviour.

“A positive individual? He cornered me at the coffee machine yesterday to ask how much less pressure than normal it'd take to pulverise one of my vertebrae. I don't know if that counts as positive."

"It may interest you to note that Grunt discussed this interaction with me. His clarification suggests that he was threatening you in line with krogan custom."

"Pfft, you're going to have to narrow that one down. I mean, krogan threaten each other just because the weather's nice," he snorted.

"This threat followed a conversation with Commander Shepard, in which she mentioned her upcoming plans to spend time with you. Grunt has identified you as his Battlemaster's chosen mate."

"Uh," said Joker worriedly, doing some awkward math. "Well, I wouldn't go that far… is he jealous or something?"

"If he is, he will attempt to kill you," blipped EDI.

"And nobody thought to warn me!? Why are you just telling me about this now?"

"He has acknowledged that human participation in krogan ritual is voluntary. Additionally, Grunt's behaviour does not indicate jealousy," EDI added, but Joker's mind was already whirring with thoughts of moving his bunk into the pilot's escape pod and just never leaving the cockpit again. Chambers would bring me food, right? 

"What should I do?" He looked at EDI. "Threaten him back or something? That'll go down well. 'Hey, Grunt. I'll give you the worst indigestion you've ever had in your life!'" he said, lifting his arms dramatically.

"You may consider responding with the relevant information," said EDI. "The purpose of this question is to willingly ascertain a weak point as a show of good faith, so that in the event of your betrayal, a krogan in Grunt's position is well armed for revenge."

He laughed. "You mean, in case I betray Shepard? This is some real 'What are your intentions with my daughter' level stuff. I'm pretty sure Grunt wouldn't have any trouble if he thought I'd look better as a pancake."

"In this case, the question is symbolic."

"Alright," he said, shaking his head. He laughed as he pictured knocking on Shepard's door just to have Grunt answer, cocking a shotgun and demanding her home by ten. He brought up the comm panel and selected him. "Hey, Grunt?"

"Huh? Joker?" His baritone voice rumbled in Joker's ear.

"Yeah, uh, hey. So, after some thought, I got some info for you. I figure if you grabbed my spine between your fingers you'd probably only need to sneeze more or less to snap it in half. But, if you really wanted to mess me up, just smash my hands. That way I can't do anything I actually like ever again."

"Heh heh heh," Grunt's slow laughter in response was unsettling. "Understood."

"Oookay. Great. Glad that's cleared up."

"As long as what you say doesn't get in the way of what Shepard wants, I'll do what you say now, too," Grunt said.

"… Do a jumping jack," he said without even thinking. He heard scuffling on the mic as Grunt stood up and Joker had to catch his laughter in the back of his throat.

"Just one? How many?" Grunt asked.

"Nah, I'm only testing you," he said, and fought hard to keep his face straight. "Keeping you on your toes, you know. You don't want to get lazy. Gotta be ready for orders any second."

"Heh heh heh," he laughed again. "You are a good choice," he said, and clicked the mic off.

Joker leaned back in his seat. "Man, I am having a weird day."

Hehh, hehh, hehh.

[spaced0lphin]

Fic Thoughts

I finished my seven page long graphic novel adaptation of part of TBMS’ Chapter 13 last night. Instead of feeling a sense of pride or accomplishment, I instead feel anxious and a little bit empty. This is new for me. Throughout my career as an artist I have finished hundreds of works, and always felt glad when I finished them, but not so here. A friend explained to me that it was ‘the emptiness of giving a gift to onesself.’ I’ve drawn lots of silly things for myself before... but this time it just hits different, I guess. It was Sunday today in the small town where I live, so everything closes at 5. No one was out on the streets, which were slick with rain and I went for a short walk in the cold. I had hoped to find somewhere open that I could buy some takeout, but everything was shuttered, and everything else has closed down more permanently because of the pandemic. My walk was fruitless and restless, which is different for me. Usually I am full of ideas when walking; I think best when moving and listening to music. When I came home, I went and opened up Chapter 15 (the recent one in progress) and couldn’t focus even on reading what I’d written. I went through my story’s arc notes and saw that I’m coming relatively close to the end. By that, I mean the end of the Mass Effect 2′s era. I have ideas for where I want to go in ME3, and even some sketchy loose things for post-war. But the thought fills me with anxiety and dread. The thought of drawing close to the end of TBMS fills me with genuine apprehension and sadness. I closed my story, and went to sleep for a few hours to try and reset my brain but I’ve woken up feeling mostly the same. A little better, perhaps, but not so different that I haven’t just sat here staring at a screen for hours without doing anything remotely interesting. What a stupid reason to be sad. Me: I worked really hard and made an art Me:  Me: :(

[spaced0lphin]

Promts? Promps? Prempts?

I think I would very much like to live in a gentle, nice moment with my characters for a little while, but I am terrible at coming up with ideas for such. I don’t know if it’s bad form to ask for prompts out of the blue like so, but if you read my fic or know my characters or just have a nice, probably sort of romantic moment you could give me an idea for to write, I’d appreciate it.

[spaced0lphin]

Answering Some Fluff Stuff

For the Fluff:

1. What are things they both find funny? 2. If they could each describe each other in one sentence, what would it be? 3. If they complimented each other, what would they say? 4. What would be their ship name? 5. What activities do they enjoy together? 6. What is/are their love language(s)? 7. Write a ~300 word love scene for them.  8. What were their first impressions of each other?

1. Both of them find deadpan humour very satisfying. Bailie likes to overstate things, Jeff likes to understate them. Somewhere in the middle is something resembling reality. Jeff thinks puns are funny on their own for the most part, but Bailie’s tired, withering and generally sickened reactions to them are funnier.

2. “My favourite pain in the ass.” “My favourite pain in the Reaper’s ass...es? If they have them. I’m guessing they do, right? For the purposes of this sentence, they have them.”

3. “You are the most fearless and loyal man I ever met, you know just what to say to keep me sane when you need to, and what to say to drive me crazy when you want to.” “... Uh, you’re not so bad yourself.” 4. “Bailoker? Jokailie? Um... Ah, how about Baileff, because it’s almost a word?” “Heh. Jebailie, because it’s almost a meme.” 5. When not at work, they just generally like being around each other. They’ve been known to watch old vids together, and it’s a somewhat secret desire of Jeff’s that they will fly something together, someday. Bailie is bad at relaxing although she tries not realising that ‘trying’ is antithetical to relaxing, and Jeff is all about it - just comes naturally to him. They do a lot of things apart from each other by necessity, but when the day is done, they love to come together to talk about it.  6. Bailie’s love language is direct, tempered by seemingly endless founts of patience and a willingness not only to listen, but to move heaven and earth to accommodate. She is all about giving the unscheduled, unexpected gift that she will have thought for hours about. Her love language is often literally language as well; she composes haiku to help her slow down and analyse her thoughts, although it’s rare that she shares one. If she does, it’s something she considers important, and an exercise of trust. Bailie goes out of her way to give gestures and go the extra mile for anyone she cares about -- in a romantic context this goes a hundredfold. For emotional and sensory reasons she’s not a particularly touchy-feely person under most circumstances, even with close friends, but is absolutely a real cuddler for the right person and craves their touch. Jeff’s is similar in some ways, but crucially different in that his is distinctly indirect. He will say or do something nice... then downplay it, or say it was actually for another purpose altogether, not just the one that benefits you, you know. It’s fine, don’t get excited about it or whatever. In fact, just forget about it. Don’t forget that I’m great, though, because I totally am. But forget about the thing I said or did. He is very keenly observant and naturally very empathetic, something he has defense mechanisms to cover for in other situations. This natural empathy makes him an intuitive and active listener, in stark contrast to other aspects of his daily life. He maintains lists of music and media that remind him of people he cares about, his longest list being one titled “Def Sheppard.” His love language can also get quite physical in the right contexts, because for him, physicality involves a lot of trust. He’s a cuddler too, is what I’m saying. Very privately, he is a complete and utter sap. A total, desperate, hopeless romantic. But you didn’t hear it from me. 7. See the entirety of my fic... I’m exhausted lmao I’m literally going to bed 8. Bailie’s first impressions of Jeff were of a confusingly scruffy, standoffish and somewhat macho helmsman -- Kinda typical for pilots, really, save for the scruffy bit. That was unusual. Still, every pilot is preening in their own unique way. She had a feeling about him, and the more she listened, the more she liked. Also when he turned around in his seat to speak to her, the light caught him a very particular way and, he was actually pretty handsome... if scruffy. His first impressions of her were mostly her looks, if he’s honest with himself. Not many women in the Alliance just waltz around with their hair all shaved off, that’s for sure. A bit weird, but it made her eyes really really stand out though. Nice to look at... But just another in a long line of superior officers with something to prove who’d probably figure he had something to prove to them, too. Especially when the time came to look in his file... which she would... because they all did...

[spaced0lphin]

More WIP

So uh, yeah Bailie is hot and I will fight anyone who says otherwise OK back to the other panels