seen from Norway
seen from Netherlands
seen from United States
seen from Norway
seen from Vietnam
seen from United States
seen from Germany
seen from Ukraine
seen from Australia
seen from Germany
seen from China
seen from Malaysia
seen from Germany
seen from United States
seen from Germany
seen from Spain
seen from United States
seen from Spain
seen from United States
seen from Germany
how about a little Traynor/Ashley fraternization
it's the 24th on MY side of the date line, lesgo ME Ships Week!
hear me out: let's ship Ashley with...
not an option in canon edition; no Shepards or Jameses here.
Jacob: hey remember how Jacob's an Eden Prime survivor too? maybe they knew each other from there when the units had shore leave together or joint exercises or whatever. and Ash is so mad when he joins Cerberus down the track but (and I nicked this from @beltsquid) Cerberus recruits frustrated people who want to do more and Ash has to have the guilty thought that that could have been her too. later on they have a lot to work through with Jake having joined Cerberus and worked with Shepard while Ash stayed with the Alliance, but so satisfying! even if they didn't know each other on Eden Prime, they both have that frustration with the Alliance's inaction and that core want of wanting to do something good. also we know that Ashley likes her some beefcake. 👌🏼
Thane: he says he'll watch over her in the hospital! they can bond over physio, and over both working with Shepard, and over both being religious even though they don't worship the same god. (lemme tell you what I have friends who are Muslim and Jewish respectively and dated at one point and this apparently worked out well for both their food restrictions if nothing else.) Ash can be Thane's siha 🥹
Tarquin: yeah the Victus kid. both have their male family member's legacy hanging over their heads, both have so much survivor's guilt but Ash is in a much different place with hers by the time Tarquin hits it - in a good place to help him through it, that's where!!
Samantha: Samantha was on Horizon when Ashley was - maybe she was the only person who was nice to that Alliance soldier (derogatory)!! they're both colony girls and if you go by L'etoile's thoughts, both brown girls. Sam with her spa sessions and beauty supplies can help indulge Ash's girly "look pretty damn good in a dress" side and with her bartending can also indulge the drinks 😂 I think they'd have a lot of fun gaming together! also, soooooo awkward if Sam finds the voice of the robot that beat up her girl sexy lmao.
Tiran: the parallels are paralleling: old military family legacy, expectations they'd do the same as their family, trying to prove they're more than their family members, willing to martyr themself for it, family curse, both get drawn into the plot with a geth ambush! sooooo much to bond about, and like Tarquin, being at different stages of it.
Miranda: the big sister bonding potential is immense and could probably get them through the "boooo you were with Cerberus" tension like that with Jacob above. Miri being so PeRfEcT is an interesting foil to Ash always having to be better than the best. they can be troubleshooting space divas!!
Suvi: two women of faith in space gotta stick together!! instant bonding over that and the way they've both been derided for it in their lives. plus they both come from big families. super cute jock/nerd potential here.
Jack: you know what they have in common? "fuck Cerberus" and also. poetry. what if Ash is getting into more modern stuff besides the classics and finds Jack's online. I feel like Ash would appreciate Jack's attitude and how protective she is of her kids (it's like her and her sisters) and Jack would admire how tough Ash is despite not having any biotics! also. Jack talking Ash into a tattoo? 👀
Nyreen: the strong moral compass girlies!! bonding over the Expectations of military family legacies/curses and being super underused by their militaries despite their leadership potential. and then the tension when Nyreen goes off on her own as a merc and Ash stays military.
Kaidan: it's a tragic classic for a reason 👌🏼
Garrus: I wrote the manifesto nine years ago but let's just leave it at Ashley being the only ME1 squadmate Garrus doesn't offend in the elevators.
write these for next year's @spectre-requisitions-exchange lol. or if you have any extant recs lmk!!!!
Rare pairs exchange @spectre-requisitions-exchange has revealed gifts and there's an adorable Ashley/Samantha fanart!
I Love Completely Unsubstantiated Yet Canon-Plausible Minor NPC x Major Romanceable NPC Ships: Mass Effect edition
specifically I am thinking about how they were both on Horizon when the Collectors attacked, and how Traynor is duly unimpressed with the Alliance farting around instead of keeping her family and home colony safe, which has so much potential for conflict and drama with Daddy's Goodest Marine. then add in Ashley as a plausible "i'm probably bisexual but I have a job so idrc about that rn" type VS Traynor being a canonical "flagrantly seducing ur commanding officer is fine actually" type. I am also enchanted by both of them being very prissy bc the only thing better than 1 high maintenance woman is 2 high maintenance women. and finally of course the sacred principle of I Would Like To See It
ETA I can't believe I forgot about jock x nerd excellence
shepard shut the hell up my pet crackship is theoretically making eye contact
WIP Wednesday AKA Ashley having such a horrible time on Horizon that she figures she might as well dig into her latent bisexual feelings while she's at it, and who's there to answer the call but one Samantha Traynor
overall plan is to go over the whole Horizon arc between ME2 and ME3 with the relationship developing along the way, but I'll see what actually comes out
must be nice where lovers go (AO3 link)
My Ashley/Traynor brain worms aren't done yet, but my fic is now complete 😌
Rating: M, no Archive Warnings Ship: Samantha Traynor/Ashley Williams Tags: Self-Reflection, Mental Health Issues, Drama & Romance, Developing Relationship, Mild Sexual Content, Flirting, Hook-Up, ambiguous past mshepley situation, Angst with a Hopeful Ending Words: 12.8k | Chapters: 3/3 Summary:
It feels silly in the context of all that shit she doesn’t want to think about now, because she isn’t sure how much she has left for it to eat up from her. But then she thinks of a piece, and softly recites to herself, “Somewhere along the banks of this liquid world / let all of us hold close to the lost and the unclear / and, in our own little way, find some refuge here.” Or: Lonely, anxious, and angry while stationed on Horizon, definitely with nothing horrible about to happen, Ashley figures she might as well dig into those latent bisexual feelings.
AO3 link: must be nice where lovers go
in keeping with my typical course of action when falling in love with a niche ship (following a semi-shitpost that rapidly becomes super serious to me, then a drawing that makes me spend way too much time thinking about Them), part 1 of my Ashley Williams/Samantha Traynor fic is up
Rating: M (may go to E later) Archive Warnings: None Additional Tags: Self-Reflection, Mental Health Issues, Drama & Romance, Developing Relationship, Mild Sexual Content, (so far) Chapters: 1/3 Summary:
It feels silly in the context of all that shit she doesn’t want to think about now, because she isn’t sure how much she has left for it to eat up from her. But then she thinks of a piece, and softly recites to herself, “Somewhere along the banks of this liquid world / let all of us hold close to the lost and the unclear / and, in our own little way, find some refuge here.” Or: Lonely, anxious, and angry while stationed on Horizon, definitely with nothing horrible about to happen, Ashley figures she might as well dig into those latent bisexual feelings.
