#muriel aslany

[swaps55]

Always

Prompt in the Big Place discord server: write a scene using the words survivor, cluster, and friend.

Instead of a scene it turned into a 2k fic, whatchagonnado.

In which Kaidan and Kara Pendergrass have a very ace conversation.

~

It’s late morning before Kara stumbles out the screen door, blinking into the sunlight, to find Alenko swaying lazily back and forth in the porch swing. A smile touches his face as the voices of Shepard and Aslany carry up the hill from the barn, followed by the whinny of a horse.

Kara sits heavily on the swing beside him, disrupting his moment of quiet contemplation, but she makes up for it by handing him a coffee thermos. “I threw out Shepard’s shit and made this.”

“Thanks,” Alenko says, flashing her a grin. He smiles a lot more these days. They all do, really. Even Aslany.

Alenko takes a long, grateful sip from the thermos. No matter how much you love a guy like Shepard, you can’t love his coffee.

“Think the real survivors of the reapers were everyone who had to drink his bullshit,” she remarks, pushing her foot off the ground to start the swing again and tucking her leg underneath her.

“Yeah, maybe,” Alenko says with a chuckle. He always indulges her stupid jokes.

They sit in comfortable silence. The wind makes the trees wave. The orchard is a lot…friendlier in the summer. The leaves and the blooms and the sun and the warmth make it feel a lot different than that cold winter where reaper cannibals and husks crept in the woods.

Now there’s just deer.

“Surprised he got her in the barn,” Kara says, nodding down the hill. After that string of terrible nights sleeping on haybales and keeping a sniper’s perch in the loft, staring at the clusters of trees and waiting for nightmares to emerge, Aslany had sworn she’d never come here again. But here they are.

“You know Shepard,” Alenko says, lost in thought now. “He’s hard to say no to.”

“She trusts him.”

Alenko gives her the look he gives when he’s putting some pieces together she’s not gonna like. “She trusts you, too.”

Kara shakes her head and draws her feet up onto the swing, wrapping her arms around her legs and resting her chin on her knees. “But she doesn’t think she has to protect him. Me? She has to protect me.”

“We all protect each other. Always have.”

“Maybe. I don’t know. It’s just…different with her.” She scowls in frustration. She’s never been good at explaining things. “I can’t take care of her the way she takes care of me. It’s not just a squad thing.”

“Kara, we haven’t been ‘just squad’ in a very long time. Any of us.”

She snerks. “You mean since you started getting naked with one of the squad?”

A flush creeps up the back of his neck. It’s so easy to poke at him sometimes she can’t help herself. “You know what I mean.”

She does, sometimes. But other times…she doesn’t get it at all. She spends about as much time with Aslany as Alenko does with Shepard. If she didn’t have Aslany to spend all her time with and talk her ear off over bad Chinese food that Aslany loves for some reason, she probably wouldn’t spend her time with anyone.

And living alone sounds…well, she’d rather not think about living alone. Too many monsters in her head. Aslany’s, too, based on some of the nights they’ve spent sitting in front of the holoscreen at three in the morning, watching one of Shepard’s stupid B movies and not talking about what happens when they fall asleep.  

Friend doesn’t feel like the right word, which is why she’s always fallen back on squad. But they have no orders to follow anymore, and the only fighting they do these days are chicken fights in the lake. She’s never had a sister, and Aslany shuts down whenever the word ‘sister’ gets thrown around, so that one’s out.

They’ve never fucked. It’s never come up. But it didn’t come up for Shepard and Alenko for a long time before they finally did, and despite all the details Beaudoin shared on the ‘Yang, she doesn’t actually understand how these things work.

She blows a puff of air out the side of her mouth. “When did you know you wanted to fuck him?”

Alenko chokes on his coffee. She pats him patiently on the back until he stops.

“Um,” he manages.

She gives him an expectant look. He hems and haws for a while. Sometimes you just have to be patient while he works things out in his head.

“Why do you want to know?” he says finally.

“Well, at some point you changed from just being squad to sucking his dick, so—”

He holds up one hand to stop her and rubs the bridge of his nose with the other. “Can you just…can you call it…something else?”

“Sucking face?”

“Okay, fine. Sure. I’ll take what I can get.”

He stops talking. The swing creaks. She raises an expectant eyebrow. At first he pretends he doesn’t see it, but eventually he swears under his breath.

“My feelings, uh, changed a few months into the first tour.”

“Damn. You already wanted to fuck him just a few months—”

“No. I don’t work like that. I need…time before that happens. But—” He gestures helplessly. It shouldn’t be so funny to see Alenko so pitiable. He sighs in defeat. “Do you remember Mavigon?”   

“Mavigon.”

“Yeah.”

“The ice storm? That his dumb ass got us stuck in?”

Alenko’s face gets redder by the second. “Yeah. Uh. Well, you know, when it got cold that night and we all had to..."

She dissolves into laughter. “Wait, wait wait wait, no. You wanted to fuck him on Mavigon?”

Alenko’s face does all the stuff it does when he plays out an argument in his head, loses, and concedes without opening his mouth. “Yeah. Okay? Yes. I wanted to fuck him on Mavigon.”

“Still, like, a decade before you actually fucked him.”

“It wasn't a decade.”

Kara shakes her head in admiration and then sniggers. “You are the only person I know who can have both literal and figurative blue balls.”

“Wow, I am really feeling the love and support after offering up some very personal information I’ve never even told Shepard, so—”

“Wait, he doesn’t know how close he came to getting railed on Mavigon?”

“Kara.”

She holds up her hands in surrender. “He won’t hear it from me. On purpose.”

Alenko groans. She grins.

She kicks her feet to get the swing moving again. “Okay, so. What does that…feel like? Wanting to have sex with someone?”

He arches an eyebrow. “Are you wanting to have sex with someone?”

“No. I don’t know. That’s why I’m asking. How do you know?”

Now he actually looks thoughtful. “Well. It’s different from me than for a lot of people.”

“You mean Beaudoin?” She snickers into the back of her hand.

“Yeah,” Alenko says, though something sad flicks across his face. Guilt flashes through her. She always forgets that the others still think about his death before they think about his life. “For me I tend not to notice the physical stuff beyond aesthetics, at least not right away.”

“And then, what, one day Shepard’s ass is all you can think about?”

Now he actually cracks a smile. “No. Not quite like that. I just…couldn’t stop thinking about him. All of him. Not one particular piece. Wanted to be around him all the time, hear everything he had to say. When he wasn’t around I just had this…knot in my chest. At some point I started imagining what it would feel like to kiss him and then it, uh. Went from there.”

She scrunches her nose. Kissing Aslany is such an alien thought she can’t even picture it when she tries. Probably not a good sign. “Okay.”

“Why do you ask?”

Her turn to hem and haw a little. She considers lying, but lying never works with Alenko, so she just says it. “I don’t want Aslany to leave me.”

He sits up straighter. “What do you mean?” 

She shrugs a moody shoulder. “I don’t know. She’s my Shepard. But we’re not like you and Shepard. We don’t fuck. We don’t even hold hands, and yeah, I’d kinda like to hold hands sometimes but I don’t wanna get punched and I don’t think I wanna fuck, but I don’t know what it feels like to want to fuck someone, and she does like fucking people and I don’t want to lose her because we don’t.” She stops to catch her breath.

Alenko looks at her for a long time without speaking. She squirms.

“How long have you been worrying about this?”

She stares out at the trees. “Dunno. A while, I guess.”

“Kara. Hey.” He waits until she meets his gaze. “Just because it doesn’t look like what Shepard and I have doesn’t make it mean any less. To you or to her. Everyone’s different. Sex isn’t a requirement for a relationship. Or whatever you want it to be. You get to define it. Even if that means not defining it.”

She nods, and looks back down the hill as Shepard leads his horse out of the barn, Aslany walking a safe distance away. Shepard may be hard to say no to, but even Shepard isn’t going to get Aslany to not be afraid of a horse.

“She cares about you more than most people care about anything,” Alenko says quietly, like he’s seeing a few of his own monsters. “She’s not ever leaving you behind.”

They’ve all seen a lot of shit. Lot of it they’ve seen together.

Shepard leans lazily against the fence, watching the horse graze. He says something and Aslany laughs. Kara’s heart tightens. But…in a good way.

“Thanks, boss,” she says quietly. He puts an arm around her, and she snuggles up to his side. Maybe he’s right. Maybe they’re all more than squad. But squad was pretty good, too.

~

That afternoon they shake the chicken teams up, and it’s Aslany and Alenko against Kara and Shepard in the lake. Shepard complains about her bony ass on his shoulders the entire time, but it’s affectionate, and he does a lot of crowing when they finally manage to dethrone Aslany. After they’ve had enough, Shepard uses his biotics to throw Kara around in the water for a while. They finally climb out when the sun starts to get golden but there’s still warmth in the air. Aslany and Kara lay on their towels and stare up at the sky while Shepard pins Alenko to the ground and makes wisecracks between kisses, grin the size of a planet every time Alenko laughs.

Kara watches them idly, then looks over at Aslany, who ignores them completely. Instead the folds her arms behind her head, her dark hair splayed out behind her head in a wet clump. She closes her eyes and sighs in contentment, her usual standing scowl replaced by not quite a smile.

She might be the most gorgeous person Kara has ever seen, but. Nope. Doesn’t want to kiss her. Or anything else.

“Hey, Aslany. Can I ask you a question?”

“Sure.”    

Kara chews her lip. There’s a cloud in the sky that looks like a pyjack. “Are you ever gonna leave me?”

Aslany lolls her head to the side, the contentment replaced by the look she gives someone who asked a stupid question. “The day you tell me to go, I guess.”

“I’m never gonna say that.”

“Then I’m never leaving.”

Kara grins. “Good.”

Aslany nods in satisfaction before turning her attention back to the sky.

Alenko always makes things make sense. Aslany always makes things so simple.

“Ready to head back to the house?” Shepard asks.

Kara picks her head up. Alenko is still pinned beneath him and looks quite happy to be there. “Dunno, you done sucking face yet?” Alenko gives her the finger, but he’s grinning.

Shepard considers her question. “For now.”

“Then yeah, I guess.” She gets to her feet and offers Aslany a hand to pull her up. They gather their towels and the bag Alenko always brings, because part of him will always be a medic prepared to take care of them when they’re far from home. Shepard starts talking about the B-movie he’s going to inflict upon them when they get home as they walk, Kaidan’s hand gripped firmly in his.

Kara falls into step beside Aslany, like always. But not like always, Aslany reaches out and laces their fingers. It’s awkward, like she doesn’t really know how to do it. Neither of them do, really, and that’s why it’s perfect. Kara beams. Aslany squeezes her hand, with a tiny, tentative smile.

Maybe from some angles, it does look like Alenko and Shepard. From others, it doesn’t. But whatever it is, it’s theirs. And it’s good. And it’s always.

It’s the always part she likes the most.

#mass effect #mshenko #kaidan alenko #otp: after all this time #my fic #opus!verse #kara pendergrass #muriel aslany #i have a lot of feelings about the yang crew post war #very ace feelings XD

[eluvisen]

Commission for @swaps55 of Muriel Aslany!

#art #commission #mass effect #original character #tysm for commissioning me! <3

[pip-n-flinx]

Ok. I need your mixed drink wizardry once again. I need a cocktail for Muriel Aslany, the anger-ball with trust issues who weaponizes paper umbrellas. She'd go for something with just enough class and just enough fruit that someone might raise an eyebrow, but would want it strong and mean. The drink, of course, requires a paper umbrella.

Aight so we're gonna drop some tiki cocktail tech on @swaps55

First, a disclaimer! I am not an expert on tiki drinks. I haven't practiced nearly as many of them. I've sat on this one for a couple of days trying to sort out my thoughts on this one.

The drink I'd want Aslany to drink is terribly impractical assuming the constraints of space travel/agriculture. Here we go anyway!

Chief Lapu Lapu:

This cocktail is served in a hollowed out pineapple and features a blend of light and dark rum, lemon and orange juice, grenadine and simple syrup. Served, of course, with a little umbrella! It relies on balancing ingredients, and I honestly would have trust issues with this even at a dedicated tiki bar. The trick here for someone like Aslany is to request it made with 151, or overproofed rum. There are light and dark variations of 151 proof rums, and personally I'm personally partial to Plantation's O.F.T.D. 151 dark rum (I actually repurpose it to make my own coffee liquor, but that's a different post...) and there are plenty of silver 151 options available on the market.

I should point out that I want Aslany to order this because I just love the idea of Muriel walking around with a full pineapple in hand.

And now, for what Muriel Aslany would probably actually order!

151 Swizzle:

Crushed Ice, lime juice, Pernod (or other anisette I suppose), Angostura bitters, simple syrup, a dash of cinammon... But what gives the cocktail its name, and its signature kick, is Lemon Hart 151 demerara rum (though I've seen recipes that call for El Dorado 151.) after the cocktail is built in the tin cup, it is deliberately topped with more 151 proof rum to ensure the first few sips will sucker punch you straight into a - hopefully pleasant - buzz. This is easier to conscience for off-earth consumption because it doesn't require any fresh fruit (although fresh squeezed juice is ALWAYS better) and because it doesn't require Aslany to make any modifications to the recipe. Less likely to confuse bartenders, and more reliable no matter where an alliance jar-head finds themself.

Some notes before I drop my recipes for the peanut gallery to test at home!

One hundred and fifty one proof rum, 151, is a high enough alcohol content to be lit on fire (it's usually the secret behind flaming shots) and will knock you on your ass. Proceed with caution, it will burn out your tastebuds and overwhelm most anything.

For tiki cocktails in general, I highly recommend looking for some pot-stilled rum. As weird as it sounds, the funkier the better. This is because tiki cocktails play with huge, bright, intense flavors and you need to balance them with that in mind. Big, bombastic flavors are needed to combat the falernum, orgeat, grenadine, fresh citrus/pineapple/coconut, and anisettes like Pernod that are often found in this genre. Everyone's tastes will be different, but I encourage you to use rums that you wouldn't drink on their own for your tiki cocktail creations. Put it this way, I wouldn't put my friendliest aged rum in a tiki cocktail. Save that for neat or rocks sipping, or as a substitute for brandy/cognac whiskey/scotch in other drink recipes. This does mean my suggestions may not be your favorites, feel free to experiment!

Aslany's Lapu Lapu

1.5 oz Bacardi 151 or Rum Fire 1.5 oz Lemon Hart 151 or Plantation O.F.T.D. 2.5 oz Orange Juice 2 oz Lemon Juice 1 oz Simple Syrup or Gomme Syrup 0.75 oz Grenadine (use real pomegranate grenadine!!!!!) Shake in tin with ice, then strain into a hollowed out pineapple. Serve with a straw, and garnish with your umbrella (your choice of color, I recommend a light blue or something between red-pink for contrast with your pineapple.)

I'd recommend Bacardi 151 with Plantation or Rum Fire with Lemon Hart, but hey try any combination of dark and light 151 rums you can get your hands on!

151 Swizzle

1 cup Crushed Ice. (Crush it yourself in a cloth bag if you have to! You want this finely crushed.) 1 oz (fresh!) Lime Juice (I want to try 1 oz lime and 0.5 oz lemon on a hunch but haven't gotten around to it yet) 1 oz Simple Syrup (try Demerara? Seems like it would be better) 1 barspoon or 0.33 oz Pernod 1 dash Angostura bitters 1.5 oz Lemon Hart 151

to top:

0.25 oz Lemon Hart 151 dash of cinnamon

build in your collins glass. Stir til frosty, then top with the remaining rum and cinammon. Serve with a straw and an umbrella again, color your choice ;) gonna tag @ferusaurelius and @pigeontheoneandonly again because cocktails.

#tiki cocktails #mixology #bartending #alcohol #drink recipes #mass effect #would they be growing pineapples in space???? #IDK man I just really want it to make it into the fic despite the fact that the 151 swizzle is just a better choice #151 swizzle #Chief Lapu Lapu

[swaps55]

So if Garrus is Sam’s ride or die BFF, who is Kaidan’s?

This is an EXCELLENT question.

In all honesty, Sam is his best friend. And Kaidan is Sam's, in a different way than Garrus is.

I don't think Kaidan has a direct analog to Garrus, but the person he probably trusts and depends on the most outside of Sam is Muriel Aslany.

Garrus and Sam bonded as hard as they did because they hung out at rock bottom together and survived it - because of each other. Aslany and Kaidan did the same thing - it just looks different on the outside. They aren't boisterous and loud and physically affectionate, but they go through things together Sam cannot understand, in the same way Sam & Garrus go through things Kaidan and Aslany can't understand.

Their ride or die is a quieter, more understated one, but it's fierce and unassailable.

#swaps replies #Anonymous #muriel aslany #opus!verse

[swaps55]

18!

Send me a #1-101, and I will either tell you what fic the corresponding Spotify Wrapped song inspired, or write a ficlet that is inspired by the song.

Boy did you ask the right one.

#18 is a cover of Ho Hey, by BURNS. It's a really beautiful, wistful cover, and the person it makes me think of is actually Muriel Aslany.

I have a very specific arc in mind for her that will go all the way through the end of the reaper war, which is when this little ficlet takes place. This contains rather significant spoilers for Opus, but given how much road there is to travel between now and then, to hell with it. For context, the only time Aslany sees Sam between their parting on the 'Yang and the end of the war is on Horizon. It does not go well.

~

So show me family All the blood that I will bleed I don't know where I belong I don't know where I went wrong

The sun is out when they arrive, waning in the late afternoon, giving hints of gold to the new green sprouting on the trees. It's a much different look than in the winter, when those endless fields of trees were nothing but dead sticks covered in ashy snow, and Aslany had to focus all her attention on whether or not the tracks belonged to wildlife or reaper shock troops.

She never wanted to see this godforsaken place again.

Pendergrass bounds out of the skycar when it comes to a stop on the gravel drive near the steps of the front porch, as oblivious to the hell they went through here together as she is about just about anything. Aslany’s betting it’ll get to her some other way some other time; Pendergrass is oil to water – able to repel anything you throw at her until the water finds a seam and tries to drown her.   

But it’s all right. Aslany will be there when it happens to keep her afloat.

Some people will just be in your life forever, Lora Alenko had told her during the worst of it, on one of those miserable days they'd spent in the barn all huddled together for warmth without a fire. She’d nodded towards Pendergrass when she’d said it.

Lot of things are supposed to last forever but don’t. Wasn’t long before Mrs. Alenko had learned that, too.

But, as Aslany catches sight of the figure seated on the porch swing waiting for them, she can't help but hope maybe there’s some truth to it.

She gets out of the skycar slowly, eyes on her feet as she pulls her bag out and shrugs it over her shoulder. Pendergrass’ voice floats back over the breeze, talking a mile a minute. Alenko chuckles, and it’s a laugh Aslany hasn’t heard since the ‘Yang. Her chest tightens, fingers clenching around the strap of the shoulder bag.

She can’t do this.

She’s not like Alenko, who had the chance to bury the hatchet sticking out of his back after Horizon, or Pendergrass, who never cut anyone in the first place.

But she trudges toward her squad anyway, because while she may not have always been a good soldier, she’s never shirked her duty.

The conversation dies when she comes to a halt near the bottom of the steps. Pendergrass and Alenko both turn their heads to look at her, but she isn’t paying attention to them. She’s watching the figure on the porch swing.

He doesn’t look good.

Too thin through his cheekbones, and he sits like he doesn’t have the energy to do it without help. A thin spider web of scarring runs across one cheek, like someone smashed a pane of glass. At the sight of Aslany he sits a little straighter, but it takes effort.

She braces herself for that rail gun stare he wears for everyone but the ones he calls family. It would hurt less to take a bullet.

But there’s no rail gun. There’s just…Shepard. Gazing at her like he’s not daring to hope, because hope is for fools and he’s tired of being one.

The knot in her chest gets tight enough it forces a sound out of her.

Next thing she knows, her bag is in the dirt and she’s running up the stairs. To hell with what is or isn’t supposed to last forever. Shepard never played by the rules anyway.

Aslany flings her arms around Shepard’s neck. He traps her to his chest and holds her tight, eyes closed, exhaling like something just broke inside him.

“You came for us,” she mumbles without lifting her head.

He hugs her tighter. “I made a promise.”

#swaps replies #onionjuggler #my fic #'shoot it again sam' shepard #muriel aslany #i have a metric fuckton of feelings about this moment #the first and only time aslany ever hugs anyone

[swaps55]

I'd appreciate 14, 23 and 25 of the Edgy asks for Aslany! I love her so much.

Oooh, Aslany! Thank you!

Edgy OC Ask Meme

14. How does your OC want to be seen by other characters?

Mostly, Aslany does not wish to be perceived. If she has to be perceived, she would prefer to be perceived as a threat.

23. What emotion is the hardest for your OC to process? How about express?

Intimacy, of any kind, including platonic, is extremely difficult for Aslany, even though she is fiercely devoted to her squad. She has a pretty severe aversion to touch, so there will be no hugs, no cuddles, no crying on her shoulder. Instead, she expresses intimacy through acts of service, unwavering loyalty, and homicide. Aslany murdering someone for the crime of hurting you is a love confession.   

25. What is your favorite thing about your OC?

How much she cares. I think she carries around as much anger as she does because she cares so much and the world has let her down in unforgivable ways. For someone as closed off as she is, she is surprisingly emotionally intelligent, and wants to help who need her. Sometimes she just doesn’t know how. In Fugue she did her best to hold her broken squad together with her bare hands, and it both broke and mended my heart.

#swaps replies #vela-ad-astra #mememe #meme replies #muriel aslany

[swaps55]

I feel like I know the gang so well, they're family. I found myself chuckling and answering most of those questions for myself. But surprise surprise, I'd love to hear your music picks (number 9 on the OC meme) for Aslany and Pendergrass.

Also, um, number 1 if you're feeling generous.

Thank you!!!!

Edgy OC Ask Meme

9. Do you have a specific lyric or quote which you associate with your OC

Kara Pendergrass: Ha, this actually isn’t an easy answer because her vibe is so different from the other characters that I don’t often listen to music that evokes her specifically. She is a determined ray of sunshine, not out of any driving act to put kindness in the world, but as a defense mechanism. If you don’t take anything too seriously or hold it too close, no one can hurt you with it. Because she serves as my earthborn “Shepard,” so-to-speak, she’s also someone who learned very young that you might not get a tomorrow, so get your kicks today. And that’s why I like this one: 

Hey child, hey child We were born wild Let your neon lights Keep shinin' bright

(Though I thought really hard about “Boom,” by the same artist, for obvious reasons XD)

Muriel Aslany: I have a similar problem with Aslany, because she just doesn’t quite lend herself to my usual writing aesthetic of “sad dude playing a guitar,” but I heard BURNS' cover of ‘Ho Hey’ while I was working on the latter part of Fugue, and then promptly went off and wrote the scene where Aslany will finally see Sam again after the reaper war. I love this song for her, because the cover is infused with so much wistfulness and longing, and as hard as she is on the outside, that’s the inner Aslany. Someone who desperately wants to belong, but doesn't know how.

I been tryin' to do it right I been livin' a lonely life I been sleepin' here instead I been sleepin' in my bed, sleepin' in my bed So show me family All the blood that I will bleed I don't know where I belong I don't know where I went wrong But I can write a song

The Lumineers version of the song has always felt like a ‘Yang song in general to me because of the lines, “So show me family, all the blood that I will bleed.” That whole bunch is a group of misfits who needed family. They found it in one another, and it’s worth bleeding for.  

1. What memory would your OC rather just forget?

This is a tough question for both of them, because I’ve almost purposefully let their past histories stay a little murky. Both of them have childhoods they try not to think about. I have a lot of daydreams about Sam, Kaidan, Aslany, and Pendergrass hanging out at the orchard doing dumb shit like climbing trees and having chicken fights in the lake after the war, because they all had interrupted childhoods and I like the idea of them having the chance to reclaim them – together.  

#swaps replies #katerinaalianovamindin #mememe #meme replies #muriel aslany #kara pendergrass #i have a lot of feelings about the fact #that the 'yang marines #wound up each representing a different piece of sam #except for kaidan #who was his missing piece

[swaps55]

WIP Whenever

Tagged by @cr-noble-writes, @mallaidhsomo and @westernlarch. Thank you!

I am freezing up on who to tag. Please, consider yourself tagged!!!

A Mezzo snippet:

The only thing worse than getting saddled with colony babysitting duty is watching Pendergrass microwave a toaster pastry. “It’s called a toaster pastry,” Kaidan informs her. “You’re supposed to toast it.” Pendergrass gingerly takes it out of the microwave in their temporary quarters on Horizon, waving it at him like it’s somehow proof she isn’t committing a food crime. “Takes too long.” “It takes two minutes!” “Takes too long.”    Aslany eyes them from the tiny kitchen table that’s mostly covered in Pendergrass’ diagnostic gear and takes a pointed bite of a granola bar without saying a word. Her position on toaster pastries – that anything that tastes like cardboard can’t be called a pastry no matter how you prepare it – is well-established. Kaidan shakes his head and puts his own toaster pastry in the toaster like nature intended. “Faulty AA guns. Constant stonewalling from colonists who can’t stand us. And now here’s Pendergrass, siding with the enemy.” “Wait, who’s the enemy?” “People who microwave toaster pastries.” Aslany snorts. “Man, promote a guy and he sure gets fancy pants about his breakfast.” Pendergrass shoves an oversized bite of criminally prepared breakfast in her mouth. “Let’s not talk about the promotion,” Kaidan mutters. It had been as unexpected as it was unceremonious. You have hereby been promoted to Staff Commander, right alongside the orders to Horizon. If it hadn’t had Hackett’s signature on it, he’d have thought it was a joke. He’d only been named a Lieutenant Commander a year ago. None of it sits right, and not just because he now has Shepard’s rank next to his own name.   Pendergrass gives Aslany a shit eating grin. “We could talk about the fact that Aslany got laid last night. Guess not every colonist hates us.” Aslany takes an enigmatic sip of her coffee. “’Cause she wasn’t a colonist. Off-duty Alliance.” “Who?” Kaidan asks with a frown. “I didn’t know anyone else here was Alliance.” Aslany shrugs an indifferent shoulder. “I wanted to fuck, not talk. Didn’t care, didn’t ask.” Kaidan sighs. “Well, someone who understands we’re not actually here to poison their crops or exert martial law and knows the locals could actually be helpful, you know.” “Fine,” Aslany says with a put-upon sigh. “I’ll see if I can figure out what her name was. But if she tries to get to know me, you have to cock block.” “Just get her name, please?” Pendergrass makes a reassuring sound. “Don’t worry. We won’t let the hot girl ask for a second date.”

#snippet #did i write this for the sole purpose of muriel aslany at some point having to come to terms with the fact #that she slept with one of Sam Shepard's future crew members #whose name is Sam? #who's to say!

[swaps55]

Mezzo - 03 - Know Your Devils

Pairing: mshenko | Rating: M Tags: Canon-typical violence, trauma, dealing with your problems poorly, body autonomy struggles   Summary: The twists and turns of ME2, through the eyes of everyone but Commander Shepard. Chapter Summary: Kaidan and Joker meet devils they know, and devils they don’t. Jacob and TIM have a heart to heart.

Thank you, @sinvraal for betaing!

Chapter 3: Know Your Devils | Read on Ao3

27 October 2185, Serpent Nebula, Widow System, Citadel

Kaidan wakes up with a start in the dark of his temporary quarters on the Citadel, heart hammering, the pleading voice of David Archer still ringing in his ears.

(Please, make it stop!)

He exhales, grinding the heels of his palms against his eyes and then wiping the sweat from his brow with a shaking hand.

Rogue geth. Cerberus scientists playing god. David Archer, hardly more than a kid, strung up on a dais begging for help.

“Fuck,” he mutters under his breath before getting out of bed. The chronometer reads 05:42, which isn’t much better than the 02:15 he’d seen before finally closing his eyes.

Not much point in giving sleep another try. The debriefing is scheduled for 07:00 sharp, and he still has some notes to put together.

A quick shower and a fresh uniform later he’s ordering coffee from a kiosk on the Presidium, blinking resentfully into the Presidium’s eternally bright afternoon lighting. To his surprise, a familiar face sits at one of the nearby tables, brooding into her own cup of coffee. At the sight of Kaidan, she pushes the chair across from her out with a foot.

“You’re up early,” Kaidan says, sliding into the offered seat. Muriel Aslany scowls at him over her nearly empty cup.

“Didn’t bother sleeping. Went for a walk instead.”

“A walk? We got here four hours ago.”

“It was a long walk.”

Kaidan grunts. “Where’s Pendergrass?”

“Tinkering with that geth electronic countermeasures mine thingy last I checked.”

“The damping mine?”

“Yeah. She wanted to improve on it. Didn’t like that you got singed.”

Kaidan rubs his shoulder, then shrugs it in a circle. The doc on the Ain Jalut had healed the burn, but the skin is still tender. He hasn’t let himself even think about the repair his armor is going to need yet. Too much else to triage, first.

Read from the beginning | Read the rest on Ao3 | The Mezzo Playlist

#mass effect #mshenko #kaidan alenko #mezzo!update #in which i finally get to write joker again wooooooooo

[swaps55]

Fugue - 17 - All The Time

Art by @eluvisen. From left to right, Corporal Muriel Aslany, Lieutenant Commander Kaidan Alenko, and Specialist Kara Pendergrass.

Pairing: mShenko

Rating: M

Tags: Angst, Grief, Major (Canonical) Character Death

Summary: Alchera, and the two-year gap.  

Chapter Summary: Epilogue

Thank you to everyone who stuck with this story. I started writing it in the fall of 2020, and it’s been the most difficult writing journey I’ve ever taken. Writing Fugue was like fighting a war, and there were many times I didn’t think I would get to the end. The story was too ambitious, outside my scope as a writer, and just too difficult to do justice. But it was very important to me, and I wanted to give it my best shot. The fact that I am posting the epilogue is in large part because of everyone who read it, commented on it, supported it, and encouraged me through it. You believed I could do it when I didn’t. Thank you for that, from the bottom of my heart.

Chapter 17: All The Time | Read on Ao3

23 October 2185, Sol System, Local Cluster, Earth, Vancouver

Light rain starts to fall when Kaidan heads back to his parents condo in Vancouver, a fresh jar of saffron tucked into his pocket that will, at least in his mother’s eyes, save dinner from being a disaster.

Shadows from the surrounding skyscrapers loom large in the quickly fading light as he heads up the street and around the corner, wishing he’d thought to bring an umbrella. The rain and wind with winter on its mind make the last eleven weeks he spent at the Villa a distant memory. Should have grabbed a better jacket.

He shakes rain off his boots as he gets in the elevator, checking his omni-tool one more time to make sure his mother hadn’t thought of anything else she’d forgotten, or worse, Pendergrass had found some way to make the oven explode in his absence. Leaving her and Aslany alone in a confined space with his parents feels like a tactical misstep, but the afternoon had passed without incident, if you didn’t count Pendergrass’ elcor sex joke. Which, given his father’s fifty year career in the military, probably wasn’t anything they hadn’t already heard.

Besides, his mother had laughed.

Light and a blast of warmth spill into the hallway when he opens the door, on the heels of Pendergrass’ laughter. The smell of the stew, Khoresh-e Fesenjoon, made special for Aslany, is enough to make his mouth water. He’s pretty sure the saffron isn’t going to make much difference in the end, but you can’t tell his mother that.

Pendergrass and his father stand in the living room, eyes on the photo wall that his mother has so carefully tended over the years. Normally his mother is the one who tries to embarrass him with old photos, but apparently his father is on duty tonight.

Kaidan kicks off his boots in the foyer so he doesn’t track in the rain and heads to the kitchen, where his mother and Aslany peer into a dutch oven. Aslany has a spoon in her hand and a look of concentration on her face.

“Not sweet enough, is it?” Kaidan’s mother says.

Aslany shakes her head. “Needs more molasses.”

“Or saffron,” Kaidan says, handing her the jar.

“Goodness, is it raining?” his mother exclaims at the sight of him. “Hang on, there’s a few spare towels in your old bathroom, and I can grab one of your dad’s sweaters.”

“I can take care of it,�� Kaidan tells her with a chuckle, hand on her arm to keep her from charging out of the kitchen. “Take care of the stew.”

“I don’t know, I think Muriel’s got it,” his mother says, offering Aslany a proud grin. “Don’t think I’m even needed here.”

Aslany ducks her chin, flush building at the back of her neck. Leave it to his mother to be able to charm Aslany right out of the gate. His mother straightens his collar and smiles at him. “Thanks for running to the store.”

“Can’t have a chicken stew without saffron,” he says in mock horror. “What would the neighbors think?”

Her smile deepens, and suddenly she tugs him into a hug. She squeezes him tight before she lets him go.

“What was that for?” he asks.

“Good to see you smile again,” she says, before making a face and wiping at her shirt.

Read from the beginning | Read the rest on Ao3 | The Fugue Playlist

#mass effect #mshenko #kaidan alenko #otp: after all this time #fugue update #the last update #i can't believe it's finished #i hope you enjoy it

[swaps55]

not sure if you play dnd (or if you have the time/energy/interest to look things up), but if so-- what do you think the 'yang gang would be as an adventuring party? either what you think they'd choose to play as if they were playing dnd together or what they'd actually *be* in universe, your choice!

This is a very fun question! I am a terrible role player, especially when I have to do it externally, so I do not play much DnD, but I do love it.

A few of them are no-brainers, others a little trickier. The no-brainers:

Clay Beaudoin: Bard. His words and his charm are the source of his power.

Kara Pendergrass: Artificer, with a specialty in explosions.

Kaidan Alenko: Cleric. Healer who answers to an unshakable moral code.

The trickier ones:

Sam Shepard: I go back and forth between a fighter and a barbarian. He fights like a barbarian, but he isn't driven by rage, and is incredibly strategic and intelligent on the battlefield. He just does everything so BIG and is comfortable with chaos and improvisation. Fighter is still probably the best fit for him.

Muriel Aslany: She's also tough to pin down, because she's got elements of a fighter and a rogue, with a sprinkle of barbarian. She does fight from a place of rage, but she bottles it up until that rage is precise, honed, and hidden in the dark. When she shoots, she does not miss, and you never saw who fired the bullet. She doesn't want to give someone the satisfaction of perceiving her anger. Gun to my head, I'd probably go with rogue.

Now, if they were to PLAY DnD, I imagine Kara would still be an artificer and Clay would still be a bard, insisting on doing a Voice and acting out his performances, though let's be honest - he's the DM.

I can see Aslany choosing a Monk as a player and solving the party's problems by punching. Kaidan would wind up a cleric because last time he tried NOT to be a healer, no one else had any healing and everyone died terribly.

Sam? It depends on whether you get him in a Shepard mood or a Sam mood when they roll characters. If you get Shepard, he probably plays a fighter and gets too into it and takes it too seriously until someone reminds him this is Fun, not Work. If you get Sam, his primary goal is to find a way around Clay's No Krogan in DnD rule, and every game includes that moment where he gets a shit eating grin and does something like cast Wild Shape as a druid at some unexpected moment and becomes a krogan while half the table cackles and the others groan, are you fucking kidding me. He is very creative, can find and exploit every possible loophole, and has succeeded every time.

#swaps replies #Anonymous #opus!verse #the yang gang

[swaps55]

speaking of ur playlist: every time I hear a banners song I think of sam and kaidan 😭 I started listening to them bc of you and even their newer stuff that isn't in your playlist makes these dorks appear in my mind's eye

(also have you shared the yang gang's drink recipes yet? im Intrigued)

Oh gosh, BANNERS. I don't know if I've ever heard a Banners song I couldn't make an OTP song. I have half a first kiss AU written to In Your Universe. Do I have a story for it? Nope. But the vibes.

The drink recipes! All courtesy of @pip-n-flinx.

Clay Beaudoin's Paloma

Muriel Aslany's 151 Swizzle

Alma Ingram's Egg Nog & Kara Pendergrass' Firestorm

Kaidan Alenko's Sack Sipper (scroll down to the bottom of the post)

Sam Shepard's Govorkam's Roar

#swaps replies #Anonymous #the yang gang #mass effect cocktails #opus!verse

[swaps55]

*screaming into a pillow*

I FUCKING CALLED IT

I KNEW IT WOULD BE KARA

I was literally mulling over the ways Horizon would go a couple of chapters back, when Hannah tells Hackett to send Kaidan to lure Sam out (which I think is a SUPERB twist, by the way, but more on that in a moment), and while I was not expecting Muriel Aslany to shatter my heart before you even got to the meat of the Horizon mission, goddamn if I'm not sitting here vibrating impatiently for the next chapter because SWAPS HOW COULD YOU?

I mean, I know how, it's brilliantly done and you should be so proud of it oh my God but HOW?

I CANNOT WAIT for an eventual Pendergrass POV now. She's the perfect "person on the inside," as it were, and you set it up so well. This line in particular really sells it: "Yeah, she's not nearly as oblivious as she seems. She's just good at not seeing what she doesn't want to." Pendergrass is about to see so. many. things. that no one wants to see. That she's not going to have a CHOICE but to see. Is she going to be up close and personal for the... emulsifying? En-goo-en-ing? (whatever you want to call turning people into a human reaper via sludge-based means) Whatever happens to her in there, she's going to process it and deal with the fallout so differently than anyone else in the cast would, and I am here. for. it. I'm so excited to see how her arc plays out.

(Also, Kaidan telling Aslany to keep her out of trouble and then THIS? We're gonna gloss over it but it done did hurt my heart and you should know)

Okay, back to Hannah for a second. So, in this version of events, Hannah Shepard is directly responsible for sending Kaidan and the gang to Horizon. If she doesn't intervene, THEY DON'T GO. She goes through the motions of learning Sam might be alive and thinks, "give him something he wants," looking at it through Sam's SOLDIER'S perspective. Because she only knows the soldier.

And as a result, she puts three of Sam's most beloved people directly in the line of fire, throwing all three of them at the mercy of genocidal bugs. In one fell swoop, she has completely unmoored him, and HE'S NOT EVEN THERE YET! He doesn't know! The main tether he could have had connecting him back to Sam the Person (TM) has been cut and he doesn't even know it yet and his mother was the reason why.

"If that is my son, I want him back."

Ma'am, if those three die, I don't think Sam comes back. Where he's at right now, I'm even willing to go so far as to say I don't even think SHEPARD would. I don't think Anderson or Garrus or any of his other friends save him at that point.

Mezzo!Sam is already fucked up ten ways from Sunday, I don't want to imagine the alternate timeline where he loses them all basically right after he wakes up. That's a bad reality.

I am so so so SO tempted to ask you if Sam ever finds out she was responsible for the gang being on Horizon. To ask you if he does find out, if he forgives her for using them as bait. How does that change their estranged relationship? Hell, I want to know if KAIDAN finds out, how he'll react. I will be patient. I will wait to find out. But I am DYING to know. It is SUCH a gut punch for Hannah to be such a big part of the reason Horizon happens the way it does. I'm enthralled. It's masterfully done. I want every damn reader of this fic to stand and applaud you.

God, the next chapter's gonna hurt bad, isn't it? How dare you make me feel my own feelings

...I'm so excited tho

I'll end this ask on an actual ask for once instead of just enthusiastically yelling: what are the 'Yang gang's favorite toaster pastry flavors? A new Opus!verse Pivotal Food Item (TM) just dropped, so I figure I should get in on the action while they're fresh and hot (out of the TOASTER, Pendergrass)

I have been sitting on this ask ONLY because I wanted to give folks a chance to catch up if they didn't want to be spoiled, but please know this DELIGHTED me.

It had to be Kara. For a lot of reasons that . And you are correct, it is a BAD reality if Sam loses all three of them. He doesn't come back from that.

Re: Hannah Shepard, I have given a LOT of thought to the questions you posed about whether or not Sam and/or Kaidan find out, and how they react, or would react. I think I have the answers to both, and they will be covered eventually in Opus.

And the poptart question!

That whole scene is actually a nod to a post I made eons ago about exactly this question, and it remains the best breakdown of the 'Yang gang's personalities to date.

#swaps replies #soulcastermindset #long post #opus!verse

[swaps55]

The 'Yang Gang Approach to Problem Solving

Sam Shepard: We solve the problem by any means necessary.

Kaidan Alenko: We think about the problem.

Muriel Aslany: We punch the problem.

Kara Pendergrass: We throw a grenade at the problem.

Clay Beaudoin: We make it someone else's problem and go out for drinks.

#the yang gang #opus!verse

[swaps55]

WIP Whenever

I am two scenes and an epilogue away from finishing Fugue, so have a snippet. Sorry it's short. Almost everything in the next couple of chapters contains BIG spoilers. ~

Muriel Aslany scowls at the bunker door once it shuts behind Alenko and Pendergrass. By the time they finally called it quits last night Alenko seemed to have shaken off whatever had been eating at him, but it sure is hard to tell these days.

The Alenko she used to know wore everything on his shirtsleeves unless they were playing poker. This Alenko…well, the one she used to know is still there. She just has to dig deeper to find him, and Beaudoin was the one who knew where to put the shovel.

He also knew what to do when a problem couldn’t be solved with a gun and a full ammo block. Turns out the hardest part of protecting a squad isn’t from bullets, but bullets are what she understands.

She scans the area just how Červenka taught her. Shepard was better at a lot of things than a lot of people, but stealth recon wasn’t one of them. Červenka knew her shit, though, and now Aslany knows hers. That’s something she can bring to this wounded squad, anyway.

If Cerberus is here, she’s going to fucking find them.

They almost lost Alenko once to a terrorist group that went too far, and she’ll go straight to hell before it happens again on her watch.

Shepard had taught her that.

#snippet

[swaps55]

Hi, it’s the anon about post-Alchera Sam again. Thank you so much for answering! I thought your response that Sam would be hurting and would want everyone else to be hurting as well to be so sad and thought-provoking. To be honest, it made me think a little bit about Anakin/Vader, and I wonder how Sam’s mindset would affect his choices during the Collector attacks (especially since the Collectors basically killed Kaidan!) and the Reaper War. If Kaidan didn’t come back, would anyone or anything be able to pull Sam out of it? Would he take a long time to heal or would he just spiral in a terrible manner like Anakin?

I have no doubt that Sam would vent a lot of his anger and pain on the collectors. But it also wouldn't satisfy him, because they're just husks. There's no satisfaction to be had. They don't fear his rage, they don't buckle when he inflicts pain. His wrath means nothing to them, and that would be a slow burn to devastation.

He'd do his damnedest to drive off any of the people who care about him, so how long they keep trying to reach him would depend on how much they're willing to take from him. At some point, any reasonable person is going to stop trying to help someone who refuses to be helped.

The only one who would never leave his side is Muriel Aslany, and that's because when her first attempts to pull him out of it didn't work, she'd shrug her shoulders and ask, "where do I aim?" Because if he's not coming back from the brink, she won't let him go over it alone. She is not afraid of the dark.

The two people best positioned to help him, Anderson and Liara, have the misfortune of serving a duel role in his life - they care about the person, but they need the soldier. At some point they have to choose between helping Sam and just triaging what has to be triaged to keep Commander Shepard on the front lines where they need him. It's the story he's faced all of his life: people need to use him, and if forced to choose between the person and the weapon, they almost always choose the weapon. Given what's at stake...it's hard to blame them.

It would be hard for Sam to heal because he wouldn't give himself the chance. Kaidan understands the only way out is through, whereas Sam would probably say 'fuck that,' and veer around it. Anesthetize himself, and use the collectors and the reapers as his anesthetic. There is a problem he has to solve, and the only thing that matters is the solution.

And he'd do it. Whatever the cost. There's no life after the reapers that he's hoping or wishing for. There is no happy ending waiting for him. So he'd sacrifice whatever it takes, be as ruthless as he needs to be, and commit whatever sins he has to in order to ensure the reapers are destroyed.

And if he lives through it, you have a wreck of a human being left. They don't need the soldier, now. With nothing left to fight, he'd now have to find his way through his own grief, while carrying the baggage of a war on his back. It wouldn't be easy.

I wonder, in the end, if Aslany is the one who ultimately has the power to save him from himself. I like to think that if there is some point where he is about to take a step you can't come back from, realizing he'd be taking down someone he cares about deeply might shake him out of it.

I'm glad I don't have to write that story.

#swaps replies #Anonymous #'shoot it again sam' shepard