#oc: truce shepard

[spookyvalentine]

sketch of my least talked about shep, truce, plus an old ficlet I just stumbled across trying to navigate my google docs

His name was John.

That is the first sentence you can remember finally understanding the rhythm and shape of your parents words.

His name was John, he was your big brother.

And you were made because he died—is what you learn to hear. You have the same birthday.

Every step you take, he has already done for you.

You will never be him. Why can’t you be him?

His name was John, he was your big brother, and he was perfect.

#anyway truce is a clone of their brother John Shepard who died in the first contact war #in my obsession w mercy I really neglect truce and stellan #oc: truce shepard #themshep #mass effect

[applbottmjeens]

HELP ME TO BREATHE.

title taken from duvet by bôa

tags: (semi canon compliant?? mentions of other ocs, angst, and heartbreak, Echo Squad mention, old fiction, other ocs mentioned.)

summary: post Las Almas, Anna falls apart.

I am falling, I am fading, I am drowning

Help me to breathe

I am hurting, I have lost it all

I am losing

Help me to breathe

It was one thing to see red flags through rose tinted lenses. It was another thing to see the red flags, try to walk away, but end up looking past them anyway.

Anna’s disdain for the Commander began not long after they were introduced. Disdain turned to a truce for the sake of working together. The truce turned…into something else.

“I don’t love him.” She’d tell herself with her arms around his neck, lips on his after one of many arguments.

“I don’t love him.” She thought when he grabbed her hand to stop her from leaving him alone the morning after, gently pulled into his arms.

“I don’t love him.” She assured her fellow Echo Squad when they saw how he looked at the young sergeant after exchanging quips at each other in passing.

She repeated this lie to herself hundreds of times to herself after the events of November 3rd. Her silence is deafening - mind spinning as the team plots their retaliation against Shepard- against him. Logic tells her it’s the only way to stop him. That killing him would turn the tides in their favor.

But her heart. Oh, her heart screams, and she is thankful that they decide not to involve her in the fight. She watches them march out in the skull masks, and when the others return to base alive, she’s relieved and overjoyed to see them safe.

Then they witness the relief crumble into the stinging realization: They killed him.

They killed Phillip. They killed her Phillip.

Sparrow holds her close as she cries into her arms. They know this sound- grief, pure pain as she trembles.

It’s crawling up her chest, making refuge in her throat. It’s not fair. It’s not fair.

He’d fooled her, tried to kill her friends, hurt so many people-

Why did it still hurt?

Why did she still miss him?

“Annie.” His voice is so clear in her mind. It’s an outrage she’d never hear him say it again.

It’s on the flight to Illinois that Anna finally speaks about it. Izzy hands her a bottle of water, having cried out enough that day.

“I loved him.” She admits aloud, voice strained and quiet. “I think I still do.”

These words don’t seem to surprise Isobel, who sits across from her and sighs.

“I know, honey.” She speaks softly. “I know you did.” And he deserved none of it. Even if he didn’t betray them, he never would.

Sparrow sits next to her, the tissue box on her lap as the smaller Sergeant lays her head on her shoulder.

Annabelle glances down, but she doesn’t seem to have it in her to cry anymore. “I think..the hard part is…trying to figure out if…if he was just using me, or…” Her eyes squeeze shut as the memory resurfaces- his hands gingerly holding her face as she cried, gaze soft as he wiped her tears with his thumbs.

“Was anything you said true?” Her voice is so small.

“Baby…” He gazes down at her, something in his baby blue eyes she can’t decipher. “I’ll explain everything in due time-” She takes his hands off of her face. Her face paint had smudged considerably from her tears. “No. I need an answer , NOW!"

“I’ve got my orders, and now you have yours.” He speaks, and she steps back, hands shaking as Alejandro steps forward.

“And who the fuck do you think you are, cabron? My men are inside!” The Colonel exclaims in disbelief.

“I’m afraid not.” The air is so cold now.

“Your men have been…detained.”

The rest is a blur. She remembers Alejandro being restrained. She remembers him shooting at Soap- Isobel, aiming for his throat - being pushed to run despite her legs wanting nothing more than to collapse. Sparrow had taken out several guys at the gate before she screamed at everyone to scatter.

“Anna…we have to move!” Her Lieutenant urges.

She glances at her reflection on the window of the plane, her sister in arms in her peripheral while she smiles sadly at her own foolishness. What a naive child her heart was..

"The worst part is...If he just said he was sorry - if he just told me he needed me, I would've gone to him in a heartbeat. If he said he was sorry, I would've forgiven him. I would've..." She laughs, pain in her eyes. “He’s..He really got me in the end.”

“I don’t love him.” Anna lies to herself, nothing holding her back from fighting now. “Not anymore.”

#call of duty #mw2 #modern warfare 2 #annabelle kit pham #hannah sparrow clayton #isobel medusa williams #phillip graves #canon x oc #phillip graves x oc #commander graves #graves angst #mw2 oc #modern warfare oc #call of duty fanfic #duvet boa #songfic #4:44

[frogblast-the-ventcore]

Bongoverse AU Bounty Hunters & Jedi OCs

A collection of OC bounty hunters & Jedi I plan on featuring in the Bongoverse fic.

In no particular order:

Arya Rook: Shistavanen Mandalorian bounty hunter, also a Jedi Knight who used be a Padawan of the Old Order.

Jiva Desh: Thakwaash heavy weapons specialist bounty hunter, married to Athiya Desh, 2.75 meters tall. A walking armory, goes out on the job energy shields-only. Muscular semi-cyborg full of fun & sexual confidence. Space Insta celeb (streams while on the job), slightly airheaded.

Athiya Desh: Talortai melee specialist bounty hunter. 2.03 meters tall Murder Birb. Dual-wields vibrosword . Married to Jiva, extremely High Class, 100% of Jiva's impulse control, definitely Force-sensitive but Does Not Use It due to Talortai cultural traditions.

Had-A-Name-For-Him-But-I-Can't-Find-It: male Ssi-ruu ex-bounty hunter/current GFFA SPECTR (SPecial Counter-Terrorism & Reconnaissance), basically Commander Shepard as a dino-man, related to Admiral Ivpikkis from Truce at Bakura.

Rip Tamson: male Karkarodon knife nut bounty hunter/eventual Jedi Knight; related to Riff Tamson from the Clone Wars (hates being confused for him). Has a tail because I headcanon Karkarodons have them (they look better that way).

Epona Delwesh: female Thakwaash ex-hunter turned Jedi Knight, user of a lightclub.

Iosunko'vu Kass/Iosun Kass: Mandalorian Rutian Twi'lek bounty hunter. Giant blue beef brick wearing heavy infantry armor. Married to Kuryai, sometimes does Organized Crime Things. Favors ballistic weapons over lasers for 9/10 applications. Adopted like 6 Jedi Padawans that got lost once. He is their buir now. Mess with them, you die.

Kuryai Sudaex: Sith Pureblood ex-Jedi from an entire family of Purebloods who were all Jedi themselves. Kuryai himself is not good with a lightsaber or the Force. In response, he set himself up as a minor crime lord legitimate businessman on Coruscant. Also a giant beef brick, just red flavored. Sharp-dressed man with a space Tommy Gun. Slightly less thrilled about having 6 Jedi kids, at least at the start. Eventually is also firmly in the "mess with my adopted kids, you die" mode.

#star wars #star wars au #jango x bossk #bongoverse #bounty hunters

[thunderheadfred]

During the surrender of Shanxi, a turian Blackwatch captain strikes a bargain with ex-Marine and single mother Hannah Shepard. 26 years later, the repercussions of their truce still echo throughout the galaxy.

Commander Jane Shepard. An Alliance soldier raised in exile by a notorious turian expat, overshadowed by her own past. Guiding her is Nihlus Kryik, the inscrutable Council Spectre who seems determined to advance Shepard’s career for personal gain. Then there’s Garrus Vakarian, a clueless detective with a fetish for redheads. He’s just along for the ride.

Characters: [Femshep/Garrus], Nihlus Kryik, Hannah Shepard, turian OC Genre: Alternate Universe, Canon Divergence, Epic Length, Multiple POV Rating: Mature/Explicit, Total Length: 100K+ (WIP)

Read: AO3 | FFN

#sorry that this is redundant #but to put a cover image on AO3 I need to to host the image somewhere #so #might as well be here? #shrug #it wasn't my intention to promo the crap out of my WIP this week #I GUESS THE STARS ALIGNED #Red Streak #Red Streak art #Shakarian #Mass Effect #freckleshep

[spookyvalentine]

I’m Commander Shepard,

L to R: Mercy, Stellan and Truce

they/them pronouns only please

‼️ 🔥 ART BY @pyxchta 🔥‼️

stellan: talking a million miles a minute about water pumps, shiala, their turtle, zhu’s hope, shiala’s flowers, keeping sourdough starter alive through all these years, aquaculture (oysters in particular), shiala’s biceps, regenerative agriculture, their cousins tilly and scott, and also their wife, shiala…

mercy n truce, making eye contact over Stellan’s head, clearly both thinking the same thing: tiny

MERCY SHEPARD

earthborn / sole survivor / sentinel / renegon

romance: kasumi

likes: music, anything physical like dance and sports, racing cars. fresh fruit. a good heist. getting to know people

wears: usually issued pants and boots, simple sweatshirt. occasional leather jacket, rare suit. big fan of fuzzy socks they’d normally only wear a tank like this on on the ship, but as @acrylicsalts-inspo pointed out… the gun show 🙈

dies at the end

fun fact: even though anderson won mercy a plea deal (alliance enlistment rather than a prison sentence), hackett takes it a step farther and threatens kasumi’s safety for mercy’s compliance

fun fact: mercy and kasumi met on earth as teens n were very close. until just before mercy’s eighteenth birthday they did a lot of hits together. they reunite in me2, over a decade later, and fall in love. my brain is currently rotting over them right now,, we in the pits fam

au’s!! 🙈: crimelord, sports coach, white collar

STELLAN SHEPARD

colonist / war hero / engineer / paragon

romance: shiala

likes: kepesh yakshi, fixing things, aquatic plants, kayaking

wears: like a walking carhartt duluth catalogue, but also likes jeans and shiala’s old sports teams jackets that are big and comfy on them (like rn)

joined the alliance to be a science officer/part of the engineer corps, not to be a military commander

fun fact: stellan lost their arm in an accident w farming equipment at age ten—tinkers over their prosthetic with their cousins tilly and scott (ryder)

fun fact: gets soft and a lil chubby with retirement—farm strong, but also really well fed on fresh bread and jam and butter and honey wine and thick yogurt and hearty stews and fruit beers, grilled veggies and smoked cheeses…

TRUCE SHEPARD

spacer / ruthless / infiltrator / paragade

romance: EDI

likes: really really good oil pastels and colored pencils. making the impossible shot. getting to check out local galleries and museums

wears: very muted neutrals, the occasional pastel. even if they’re wearing something casual it’s a monochrome outfit, which makes them always look a little formal. at minimum, put together.

wanted to run away to become a portraitist. when they wake up in me2, truce discovers their parents sold and published all of their private sketchbooks

fun fact: clone of their dead older brother, john. he died in the first contact wars, in the middle of a meteoric rise

fun fact: their baby sister Ruth, is also a clone of their dead brother John. Born on Truce’s sixteenth birthday. Truce dotes upon her

THANK YOU AGAIN @pyxchta seriously yall go check out her work, go commission her, it was an amazing experience and my heart is still bursting at how damn well she translated my word salad into ART

#you can tell they’re gay bc they’re all wearing turtlenecks and cuffed pants #🤡🙈 #look it them it’s my sheps it’s like actually them 🥹 #I don’t know how I’ll ever shut up about this I’m real sorry y’all #oc: mercy shepard #oc: stellan shepard #oc: truce shepard #themshep #commander shepard #mass effect

[spookyvalentine]

i do believe truce is my most openly disdainful shepard

like omg. control your face

#sir you are a PROFESSIONAL #joker has a bet w himself of when their eyeballs will finally roll out their head #no poker face? #this truly is a fun little character detail to discover simply thanks to game mechanics #all right so they’re easier to read and more genuinely emotive than mercy #haven’t figured out how they compare to stellan tho #oc: truce shepard #themshep #valentine plays ass effect

[spookyvalentine]

these pics from kasumis loyalty mission have FLATTENED me I’m sorry I can’t shut up

and the cherry on top!

#having a normal one this winter break #i can’t get enough of truce I’m sorry y’all #THE WINK #god bless #THE SMIRK #I’m dead #valentine plays ass effect #oc: truce shepard #themshep

[spookyvalentine]

some shepard retconning:

boy these three chickens have been doin some cookin. These are just canon hcs

MERCY

Fully a kasumi-mancer now. I got brainworms real bad for those two reuniting and falling in love

Initially I said they’re 6’2. They’re 6’5 and lee pace shaped

Mainly just making a Kasumi announcement lmao. I have been smashed to pieces

Mercy has a dick

STELLAN

Related to the Ryders via mindoir commune (tilly is like. Feral stellan)

Really young. Is ~23 during me3. War hero at a fresh 19

Just wanted to study aquaculture 😭

Has a pet turtle named skipperdee on the Normandy

TRUCE

Clone of their older brother John that died in the first contact wars (Hannah sent him to his death, thinking he could handle being outnumbered)

Purposely made to be born on his birthday

Was informed that they were a bad investment, and their baby sister Ruth (another clone of John) is born on their sixteenth birthday

(beats all of johns records but it’s still not enough 😭)

Hannah Shepard is like 130 years old and still active military. Admiral status or smth. Nihlus encountered her during the first contact wars. Not afraid, per se, but would rather take the stairs when he sees her

Humble Shepard (their father) is around 120ish and uses their (first) death as a campaign gimmick to be elected PM of earth. Lifelong businessman and politician. Was in the citadel embassy when truce was n7

#im a wreck #a shell of a man really #oc: mercy shepard #oc: stellan shepard #oc: truce shepard #themshep #valentine plays ass effect

[spookyvalentine]

commander truce shepard

( spacer / ruthless / infiltrator / paragade )

(they/them pronouns only please)

#we made it two baybeeeee #me1 might be my favorite but it was worth rushing through it this time to SEE THE SCARS #that face needed more scars!!!!!!!!!! #and it is only after their death that they finally feel free #excited to see what this means for their character #oc: truce shepard #themshep #commander shepard #mass effect

[spookyvalentine]

made a lil height comparison for my sheps 😈

#STELLAN IS SO TINY #A LITTLE BABY I DIE #mercy gives both piggyback rides #excuse the brainrot #oc: mercy shepard #oc: stellan shepard #oc: truce shepard #themshep

[spookyvalentine]

OCs as onion headlines

I was tagged by @aceghosts ! I cracked up reading your choices 😂 I’m gonna be snagging @stormikins @angstyastro @acrylicsalts-inspo @zet-sway @jadevakarian @bluerose5 @greenteabtch @mxssrelay and @aevallare!

Mercy Shepard

Stellan Shepard

Truce Shepard

#stellan is my little baby and did the skyllian blitz at nineteen before being sent through n7 program #truce makes me sad but dang I love that heartache #dead big brother John shepard #mercy is all about fucking around to find out. loves that shit #oc: mercy shepard #oc: stellan shepard #oc: truce shepard #themshep

[spookyvalentine]

Ohhhhh I done goofed

( spacer / ruthless / infiltrator / renegon )

Y’all, meet Commander Truce Shepard. I think I’m in love? Oops

(they/them pronouns only pls)

#godammit I’ve done sunk my ship like a true blue idiot #really well done me 🤡 #but oh god #see them face #I’m fucked #might romance nihlus maybe Miranda idk yet. as I come to know them I’ll decide #my Shepard collection is complete: mercy is earthborn-sole survivor and stellan is colonist-war hero #now I’ve got my spacer-ruthless #oc: truce shepard #themshep #mass effect

[spookyvalentine]

my name’s commander shepard 😑

#LMAO #sorry y’all #just new boot goofin #oc: mercy shepard #oc: stellan shepard #oc: truce shepard #themshep #mass effect

[spookyvalentine]

10, 12, 25, 32 (off your third shepard ama questions list) if you’re taking asks! 👀♥️

AHH YES I WILL!! and yes I'll do it off the fourth list ;) also im gonna to include truce too since I’m finishing this so so late I hope that’s ok!!

10. Favorite drinking buddy and why:

Mercy never met a homebrew they wouldn’t sample. like, oh shit you made it? yeah I’ll take a sip of that. They don’t drink much (that was their teen years), but they do want to taste something locally made. And mercy loves being someone’s drinking buddy. hell yes, sit next to me, gimme the DL. can always rely on them to be the dd and cover the bill. Didn’t get drunk on the sr1. On the occasions they do get close to shitfaced—well. mercy’s alone shut away somewhere. The ones that have a pass to drop by are Kasumi, Thane, Edi, Jack n Vega. (crime lord: wrex, kasumi. sports coach: vega, nihlus. white collar: samara, edi)

Stellan doesn’t want just a drinking buddy—they want a whole party! as many people as possible. On Mindoir, Stellan was raised in an artists farming commune that had large gatherings to celebrate a harvest and the gifts of the season—sharing fresh cheeses and bread, vegetables on the grill and fruit for smoking later, jars of jam and pickles and butter, honey wine and fruit beer. eating under the big tree. dancing and music around a bonfire, watching the sun (and for some, the moon, too) sink down into the lake. that being said they have a wine night or two doing some board games/group activity. oh you know their citadel party was just. spectacular. joyful

As for Truce? hmmm. Well since I’m still figuring them out their answers are gonna be shorter than mercy n stellans. First instinct? Joker. The two of em have a lot of shared history, even before me1

12. Where do their thoughts linger? The past, present, or future?

Mercy’s solidly in the present. the here and now. what counts is the time between each breath and what they’re gonna do with it. kasumi’s grandmama taught them and mercy’s kept up a regular yoga practice since akuze

Stellan is always looking to the future. thoughts skipping ahead, strategizing, making predictions… what is the next move? How to get there? there’s a reason Stellan was known as a galactic kepesh-yakshi talent first

Truce is hunted by their past in a way mercy n stellan’ve never had to suffer with. A legacy. fuck, a lineage. There’s a ghost already haunting their next footstep

25. Does Shepard dream of the starchild, or does it take a different form?

OKAY so I’m stupid and was a uhhhhh lil high when I wrote this list of questions, so I’m gonna articulate it a bit better n split it into two and maybe go edit the list: Who are they chasing after in their nightmares? Does the starchild/reaper take this form for the final confrontation?

So in Mercy’s nightmares, it starts out as strangers, acquaintances then loved ones revealed to be indoctrinated and consumed by reaper tech until barely recognizable. And inspired by @angstyastro’s big brained Isani idea that gripped me by the throat and hadn’t let up, is the starchild takes mercy’s image, flickering randomly between ages, from younger than they remember to older than they’ll ever be

Stellan’s first dream has the kid, Anderson and the alliance room they were in blasted to bits. They start having nightmares about the mindoir raid (they hadn’t had one in nearly seven years). And the starchild flits between all their siblings, many parents, grandparents and cousins. It hurts, makes them angry at first, but with the slurry of pain, concussion and adrenaline, it’s not too bad seeing their faces again

Ahhh I can’t come up with anything for Truce yet, I gotta rotate them some more

32. What kind of drunk is Shepard? Affectionate, weepy, belligerent…?

Mercy is… honest. They have opinions—in a way that others belatedly realize that until that moment, Shepard’s been holding them at arms length. And for all that mercy knows just every detail and decision that shaped their lives, and like, even after saving the entire galaxy together (twice!!!!), mercy rarely talks about themself. when they’re drugged with a psychedelic (a self-indulgent tropey abduction fic I’ll finish some some day), they are deeply affectionate and weepy

Stellan is a flirt. It’s so unexpected because hoo boy. The commander does not have game. after a pina colada though? Smooth criminal. Fetching blush all across the cheeks, their nose and ears pinking. Big velvet pupils, white teeth biting down on reddened lips. Clever timing, a charming laugh. Leans all up into your space. And with Shiala! Positively handsy. It’s a sight to behold for sure, of spritely little Stellan Shepard leaving tall beefy Shiala with a dropped jaw and a hot stare. Big dancer

Truce, I can’t decide if they go quiet or go out pickin fights

fifty (last) questions for commander shepard

#i think I said somewhere stellan was the eldest but I’m retconning that bc yeah fuck of course they were the baby #my god this took me forever pls forgive me #I just kept on shaking truce like a snow globe goin who arrrrre youuuuuuu #gosh figurin out these answers got me in my own feelins #mercy have mercy like MAN I think they might be my saddest shep #i do still have to get to know truce so that might change but like man. #i love that unreadable golden slice of sunshine carryin round that heavy heart so full of hope #is this why they have so many (3) aus? so they can be carefree? #also I think their fatal flaw isn’t just the moonshine but like they’re just the presence that people feel compelled to gift casseroles #and pie to and like mordin. Miranda. i cant NOT eat someone’s grandmas pie I’ve got fucking manners #thanks for the asks!! #my god I finally finished this #this was helpful solidifying truce in my brain #oc: mercy shepard #oc: stellan shepard #oc: truce shepard #themshep #commander shepard #mass effect

[spookyvalentine]

LAUGHING over this progression of emotion

really well done, truce

#still trying to figure out who they are #while debating what to do w mercy’s me3 run 😂😭🤡 #really want to get a solid backstory for them though since I’ve got the set now #mostly bc FUCK!!! i love their name #oc: truce shepard #themshep #valentine plays ass effect

[spookyvalentine]

Various weeping noises

truce shepard, born under the shadow of a beloved dead son

#they’re starting to come together #truce man you’re breaking my heart #born to replace their dead brother #raised on stories about him #raised on stories and legends of their parents and family history #I’m in pain #also they’re really hot #mamma mia! now that’s a face #oc: truce shepard #themshep #commander shepard #mass effect