#siobhan shepard

[confusedlucifer]

there's no Shepard without Vakarian

this is from 2021 but i never posted it here so, happy n7 day! in many small ways i will always care about these characters and their journey

#mass effect #n7 day #shakarian #femshep #my art #siobhan shepard #shep hallucinating her best friend and anchor at her last moments when she most needs his support? more likely than you think #i think i painted this after the summer of playing the legendary edition and losing my mind all over again #idk if i will ever play another bioware game again lmao but yknow. #this world and characters really hit different and im thankful for the people who created them #truly happiest n7 day to people suing bioware

[properthieves]

Baby girl is back

#yes hello I played 6hrs of me1 today #siobhan shepard #shepard #mass effect #what if 2023 truly is the year i start oc posting for real

[battyaboutbooksreviews]

💋 That's SO Fetch!: What To Read After Watching Mean Girls

🩷 Good morning, bookish bats! I actually have a weird, complicated relationship with Mean Girls. After reading Queen Bees & Wannabes, my mother didn't let me watch the 2004 film, as if THAT would somehow protect me from the realities of middle and high school (WOW, feeling old writing this now).

👠 Yet somehow, I CONSTANTLY ended up around people obsessed with the movie (and we love Tina Fey, so, I can't blame a single person). Right before the mess of 2020, I even had the luck of seeing Renee Rapp perform as Regina on Broadway, and WOAH. It was everything (and my little, late-in-life bi heart has a whole new appreciation for it). Funnily enough, my parents and sister were with me, and my mom thought nothing of it. It's been a while since I've done one of these posts (namely because of the strike, though I have a few sitting in my queue), so I figured now was the perfect time. Here are a few books to consider reading if you love Mean Girls!

💋 Wren Martin Ruins It All - Amanda Dewitt 🩷 I Kissed Shara Wheeler - Casey McQuiston 👠 Queen Bee - Amalie Howard 💋 Royal Scandal - Aimée Carter 🩷 Diary of a Confused Feminist - Kate Weston 👠 The Revenge Game - Jordyn Taylor 💋 The Night in Question - Kathleen Glasgow and Liz Lawson 🩷 The Way You Make Me Feel - Maurene Goo 👠 Rivals: American Royals III - Katharine McGee 💋 The Favorite Sister - Jessica Knoll 🩷 Fat Talk - Virginia Sole-Smith 👠 Freaks, Gleeks, and Dawson's Creek - Jennifer Keishin Armstrong and Thea Glassman 💋 Queen Bees & Wannabes - Rosalind Wiseman 🩷 Gossip Girl - Cecily Von Ziegesar 👠 Pretty Things - Janelle Brown 💋 How Not to Be Popular - Jennifer Ziegler 🩷 Some Girls Are - Courtney Summers 👠 Pretty Little Liars - Sara Shepard 💋 Tiny Pretty Things - Dhonielle Clayton and Sona Charaipotra 🩷 One of Us is Lying - Karen M. McManus 👠 The List - Siobhan Vivian

#mean girls #renee rapp #books #book recs #book recommendation #queer books #queer community #queer #queer book recs #tina fey #broadway #batty about books #battyaboutbooks #young adult books #young adult fiction #young adult #ya fiction #ya books #book #book reader #book reading #books to read #reading #book lovers #book list

[fictionalcanadianshowdown]

Kaidan Alenko is from the video game series Mass Effect. He is a marine with Biotic powers. He is a romance option for Shepard.

Owen is destined by birth to carry on his family's legacy as a noble dragon slayer. Siobhan, his classmate and new friend, agrees to be Owen's bard, slated to tell his stories for posterity. Together they embark on an epic quest to protect their rural Canadian town from dragons who hunger for fossil fuels. For in this wildly creative alternate version of our world, dragons feed on carbon emissions, and they'll take down any human who stands in their way.

Owen and Siobhan have homework to do, instruments to practice, and college to think of, but their most important job is to keep the residents of Trondheim, Ontario, from getting caught in the dragons' cross fire. Literally.

#character tournament #mass effect #owen thorskad #another one i feel confident predicting

[unsleepingtales]

Junior Year Episode Three!! Reactions!

That’s really legible too lol

Speaking of strange curdled feelings!

Woo sklonda passed the bar!

As a fellow folk fair kid I appreciate the folk fair rep thank you Brennan

Look at the beautiful dome art!

The new riz art is So Good guys

Ally’s outfit is great

He put so much work into the school mechanics of this

The MCAT

Astral state, CUS Dabus, BCU! BCU is the reach/goal it seems

Oooh college credit for the quests!

Society of shadows

Lord Salazar edge’s college of lone adventurers 😭

LYDIAAAA that’s so sweet oh my god

Sandra Lynnnnnnn

What the fuck is this song oh my god

Every day I learn more and more about how much Riz Gukgak is me and I am him. This was exactly how I behaved about college.

Cloaca! Okay!

Digby and Wilma! They/them!

Can I run? From you?

I’m so glad it seems we get to see more of the thistlesprings this season!

It’s CHLOE

The throwback!! The throat and the rectum are connected by a series of tubes!

You’re fucking sharp, you’re sharp as fuck, stop

It looks like he has a bad diet. Emily. 😭

Cathilda’s in Leviathan!

Is that all they ever serve for lunch

Fig’s luck is wild

Aww they’re juniors guys

YES THE MINOTAUR’S LAST NAME IS PHAEDRA I love it I love her already

Grix! Ok.

His WIFE?????? Balthazar had a WIFE??

Awww a Scottish highland minotaur <3

What purpose does a decoy cloaca serve

What do you GET babe I spent six years on student government what you get is an ulcer

Kipperlilly Copperkettle what is your Deal

Murph is so stressed

KRISTEN

Kristennnnn

No I so get it that specific energy drives me up the wall. I get being aggro about it.

Ohhhh this motherfucker wrote that horrible song

The fun thing about Kipperlilly is that she actually used to be one of Brennan’s pcs in an old campaign, you can see art of her by ND Stevenson!

That’s a really fun ability

The ghost steaks!!

Badidas!

What are you doing!

TERPSICHORE THE MUSE OF DANCE BRENNAN YOUR MIND!!

Is seacaster manor the new party house.

Ey??

The shenanigans are backkk

Fabian WHAT

God I missed them so much

Jace is so pretty

That’s how high school works!!

He went out of his wayyy to create the exact opposite of Aguefort

Creepy!

Hey what?

It is very much the same vibe as the new principal coming in in Sex Education and enforcing rules and making them walk single file

Return of German Shepard mode!

WANDA CHILDA

When love is in the air… there should be a tiny emergency

Heeeeey girlieeeeee

Kristen you KNOW she’s in the jacket how does that fool you

Ooh I forgot that was Porter’s voice :)

Make it make sense 💀

I am also going into a worry.

Ooh these descriptions are making me miss dance classes

I miss music and dance classes a lot

This energy is SO accurate

Arcane trickster riz!!!!!

Oh ok what does that mean

Aww I love the Jawbone and Riz moment

Those are all of the emotions he’s ever had!

Ally looks like they’re hearing the Kristen music in their head

Kipperlilly better watch her back yeesh

Bucky’s going to Aguefort!!!!!

His art is so cute aww

I’m so glad we get to see one of Kristen’s brothers

Ooh the Applebees are also a they/them unit. Ok

Kristen. Girlie. What’s up?

That is not it

Cassandra what does that mean??? Are you okay??

Kristen yeah!!

The hug is so sweet

Ally WHAT

That’s what yououou thiiiiink and I pirouette. Byeee girlieeeee

Why is that something she does now

I love all the Applebees puns

Aaaaa school supplies are expensive

Siobhan making Brennan feel real emotions at the table

I’ll just text Aelwyn at lunch. My HEART

What is thisssss

What smell would be enticing to emo kids? Cigarettes and peach schnapps??? I can’t deal with this

She’s not even staying for class?!?!

Of course the agent of the council of chosen is a fucking eagle

Girl just drop the illusion. Just be Fig. Just claim you were doing some bard shit.

Oh okay OR DONT

What the fuck is going on! I am unnerved!

GIRL WHAT

Just go to fucking class!!!!!!!!

Please fail that stealth

All of the teacher’s last names are so on the nose

Kristen I need you to talk to Cassandra. I need for you to just have a chat with your god please. They need you.

Kristen trying to figure out how to refer to her ex OUCH

I really hope this goes well

Cassandra’s art is SO pretty

NO

NO SHE FUCKING DIDN’T BRING KALINA BACK

Next week looks fucking nuts I’m so excited and nervous about Kalina being back

#fantasy high junior year #reactions #verbal component

[annalyticall]

Thoughts on Mass Effect 3 and Mass Effect Trilogy

Well. It's over.

I'll keep it real with you chief, Mass Effect 3 was by far my favorite of the three games. That might be controversial given what I know about the divisive endings (basically the only thing I knew before I started these games), but as a newcomer to the series, Mass Effect 3 had a lot of what I was looking for from the previous entries. I also realized that fundamentally I can't compare these games to Dragon Age because the truth is I still like the Dragon Age games more individually but I do like Mass Effect more as a unified trilogy.

Again, I played Shiv Shepard, colonist Sole Survivor, Sentinel, and Paragon. I played her with survivor's guilt in ME1, with a burning hatred of Cerberus for bringing her back from the dead (and for the Akuze thing) in ME2, and a mix of burning hatred of Cerberus and a survivor's guilt over Earth in ME3. I don't think I ever mentioned this but I intended Shiv to be Irish/Korean, full first name is Siobhan

You see that bit of red? Those are renegade points I got every time I talked to the Illusive Man.

Major Story Decisions: Continued relationship with Kaidan, let Mordin cure the genophage, killed Councilor Udina myself with Kaidan on my side, secured peace between the geth and quarians, killed the Illusive Man myself, and chose the Destroy ending (which I'll get into later). I entered the war with 8000 war assets and the only character deaths I saw were the scripted ones (Mordin, Thane, Legion, Anderson, presumably EDI). I also beat James' 182 pull-up record.

The Pros and Cons lists are a little tricky for this one since I found a lot of the good came with some bad and a lot of the bad came with some good, but I'll try to keep it all in neat bullet points.

Pros

Satisfying Ends. From Mordin curing the genocidal disease he helped perfect to the control-hungry Illusive Man driven crazy by the same control he sought to have, everyone gets a nice and neat bow on their character arcs that had been set up since the beginning, or at least since Mass Effect 2. Honestly, playing ME3 made me like ME2 more than I had before since I could now see the consequences of my actions on the characters I grew close with in the previous game. Speaking of...

Consequences. Moreso than Dragon Age, it's fun to see how much my choices from previous games impacted my experience throughout the trilogy following a single character and her friend group. Of course, it's not going to be perfect - I AM miffed that my major game-ending decisions of ME1 and ME2 like saving the council, rewriting the geth, and destroying the collector base ultimately resulted in very little change in the story. Weirdly, it was the lesser decisions that mattered most - keeping Wrex alive, preserving the cure data in Mordin's loyalty mission, not cheating on my ME1 love interest, resolving Legion's and Tali's hostility, and reuniting Thane with his son were all very effecting choices on my story since they all add up into a pool of possible outcomes rather than dichotomous decisions (it makes sense Kaidan might trust me a little less in an armed standoff if I cheated on him I guess lol). And I appreciate that even the minimal choices were at least represented as war assets.

Gameplay. ME3 had the best gameplay of all games by far. I think it's telling when I could spend over 3 hours in the combat center just trying out different modes. Unlike in ME2, I didn't feel as restricted in playstyle with the introduction of a bonus power and a healthier shield. My favorite bonus power was Aria T'Lok's Flare, a large biotic blast critical in any fight with bunched-up enemies. I'm glad I got that one early on because it helped me survive so much of the game.

It looks good. Not that I hated the graphics in the last two games, but this one had some nice cinematic angles, richer colors, and grander set designs that made it more immersive for me to get into.

Pace and Scope. ME3 really pulled off the feeling of scale in a galaxy-wide conflict. It didn't hold back with its bang of an opening as we survive the reapers attacking Earth within the first 10 minutes, then slowly we see these behemoth machines devastate every other alien homeworld and invade more of the map in each story arc until it culminates in a grand final stand. I was worried the game would, in a sense, "nerf" the reapers since it took so much to take down just one reaper in ME1 and a single half-built reaper in ME2, but although we kill many more reapers in ME3, each one is an earned spectacle that requires either a lot of combined firepower or a giant thresher maw to do the job. Side note, I do like the irony of my sole survivor Shepard getting saved by the thing that killed her whole squad in the past.

Romance and Friendships. Listen, I don't think I've praised a Bioware game on its romance since Dragon Age Origins (Alistair my beloved) and while this game is still a little sparse in the romance department, the DLCs more than make up for it with a lot of great content for the love interests. I enjoyed the flirty, lively banter and the cute domestic scene in the Citadel DLC (Kaidan my beloved), and how worried he was about Shepard's safety in the Leviathan DLC. But even outside those addons, I liked the quiet moment shared before the final Cerberus mission, and while I typically cringe at Bioware sex scenes, I found this one to be, uh... tolerable. The romance in ME3 felt like an oasis after the lonely desert I suffered through in the last game lol. As for friendships, I loved the little platonic dates you get to go on with your squadmates both in the base game and the Citadel DLC. I never felt closer to these characters than I have here.

Cons

Contrived Means. Although I enjoyed the satisfying ends to many subplots and character arcs, I didn't enjoy the somewhat forced means it took to get there. I can forgive the last-minute sabotage that doomed Mordin to die since ultimately the end it led to was most fitting for Mordin's story. However, I took issue with a lot of the geth/quarian buildup, mostly involving Legion and the reaper codes. To be honest, I LIKED the geth being a completely alien hivemind and existing as a neutral anomaly that takes effort to understand and accept in ME2. The focus of becoming an individual (the original question the geth asked was actually "do these units have a soul", not "does this unit have a soul" as ME3 claims) undermined what I thought was compelling about Legion and the geth in the first place. Also, Legion's sacrifice felt unnecessary, especially when the reason for the reaper code upload not working was flimsy. And don't even get me started on the Citadel...

The Citadel. Holy shit, what happened there? I'm not talking about the Citadel as a location - I liked exploring the Citadel more in this game than any of the other games - I mean the Citadel as a plot device. For one, I was very surprised to learn the Citadel was the Catalyst when it was already an important plot device in ME1, where it was revealed to be a secret reaper mass relay. Now it's the key to a giant super weapon against the reapers whose original designers are never specified? Okay? But my biggest issue was that it was inexplicably "moved" by the reapers in the last mission despite millions of people living on it, then we can use it to blow up the reapers, destroying the Citadel and I assume most people still on there, so we're basically condemning millions of people to die and never get to see the impact of that decision. Granted, this is not much different than the weird 300K Batarian mass murder Shepard commits in ME2, but the difference is that these people are people we knew and spent a good amount of time helping and building relationships with throughout the game. What happened to Captain Bailey? What happened to Kolyat? The game never bothers to address that.

Kai Leng. Now, I don't expect every character to be wonderfully fleshed out. I accepted Kai Leng was just a plot device to stand in the way of Shepard and her goals, but his presence still left a bad taste in my mouth. He's never mentioned in any of the previous games, then he's introduced here as having a badass reputation despite his best move being a shield. He is so painfully one-dimensional compared to literally any other character that killing him didn't even feel good. I think it would have been cool if Kai Leng was someone else, maybe a character scorned by Shepard in the past who wanted revenge. Or, he could have been another character revived by Cerberus and abandoned in favor of Shepard, which was hinted at in his video logs but wasn't completely followed through on. I guess maybe I just wanted it to be Evil Clone Shepard from the Citadel DLC because even she was more compelling. What a waste of Troy Baker.

Let Me Speak. It's complicated because I do think ME3 has some of the strongest dialogue in the series (I didn't have the same jarring Talk No Jutsu problem as I did in ME1 because even when you're talking down a literal war, the dialogue feels earned and natural). However, the cutscenes went on noticeably longer without any input from the player character. It was frustrating since I felt like sometimes Shepard was railroaded into saying or doing something I wouldn't have chosen to do otherwise, but so is the burden of being a finale, I suppose.

Femshep Romance. Listen. I like Kaidan's romance. I like Garrus' romance. I like Liara's romance. If you chose to romance any of them in your playthrough like I did, that's great! You get a good romance. But if you're playing femshep and don't choose those 3 options... you don't. Thane dies early-ish in ME3 (which, I mean, I guess that could be good if you like inevitable tragedy) and Jacob cheats on you (which is terrible and I have NEVER seen in a video game romance before). And if you want to romance a girl? You get Liara or some minor side character, and that's it. You don't get Tali, Ashley, Jack, Miranda, or any of the several other female options that male Shepard has access to. Even in ME3, a male Shepard can romance Kaidan if they want a male companion to romance. Ashley doesn't get the same bi treatment. It's kinda sad just how limited femshep's options are for romance compared to their male counterpart.

The Synthesis Ending. Yes, I chose the Destroy Ending for rather complicated reasons that I will get into, but after watching the outcome of the other endings, I have a bone to pick with Synthesis. I discuss my opinion on the endings in a later section if you want to skip to that.

The DLC

Omega. It was fun. Not much more I can really say. I liked Nyreen as a character (and it was nice to finally meet a female turian) but I also felt her sacrifice was rather hollow. Aria grew on me and I was able to get her to spare Oleg at the end, but really, the shining star of this DLC was earning her Flare ability.

Leviathan. It's a double-edged sword because while I liked the expansion of reaper lore (and the extra dialogue with the LI and EDI) I also think that overexplaining the reaper backstory ruined a bit of their mystique. It also had strange implications for the ending, as the reaper AI explains its purpose in a more convoluted and obfuscated way than the Leviathan does, so it adds to the frustration of the limited ending dialogue choices given to call the reaper AI out on its vague statements.

Citadel. This is possibly the best DLC of any game I have ever played, I'm serious. With the exception of maybe Trespasser from Dragon Age Inquisition, never have I thought a DLC was so perfect for the story it was accompanying. Granted, I think the idea of taking forced shore leave is a little laughable when the fate of the galaxy is at stake, but I digress, the DLC was near perfect otherwise. It had fun in-jokes, meaningful time to spend with squadmates past and present, great scenes with the love interest, and, yes, I did spend 3 hours in the combat simulator just to get the rare One and Only achievement. And that pistol? It was the only thing keeping me from dying to brutes and banshees during the last Earth mission. I am not exaggerating when I say most of my enjoyment of this game actually comes from this DLC, and I consider its bittersweet ending to be the real ending for Mass Effect.

The Squad (including past Squad members)

Kaidan. Once again, I am listing the squadmates in relative order of how much I liked them, and Kaidan skyrocketed to the top within the last 30% of the game. I mean, I had to like him enough to romance him in ME1, but ME2 made me sour toward him, and even at the beginning of this game I was a little bitter that he was still so prickly about Shepard's forced involvement with Cerberus. However, after the hospital and the initial awkwardness of rekindling a strained relationship, I fell in love with his character all over again. He's not quite as deep as the other characters, true, but his human and down-to-earth presence is SO needed in a cast of complicated and eccentric aliens, and the random things he says are some of the only things I ever laugh at in this game. It almost makes me grateful for the mid-series break, because, for all the frustration, the relationship feels earned by the end. He might not surpass Alistair for top Bioware romance for me, but he comes close. Also, the unconditional reassurance he gives once realizing Shepard had actually been clinically dead and may not have been completely the same when she was rebuilt by Cerberus was so nice to get after the accusatory headache that was the Horizon mission in ME2.

Garrus. Admittedly, I don't think Garrus adds much to the narrative of ME3. Even when helping me cure the turian-ordered genophage he doesn't have much stake in the story, and then he has almost none after the genophage is cured. But that doesn't really matter when his purpose is actually just to be Shepard's rock. He is such a good friend and his presence is so comforting that I wish I could take him on every mission even if he's got nothing relevant to say. His farewell to Shepard at the end was the only other farewell besides Kaidan's that made me tear up. Shepard said it best: there is no Shepard without Vakarian.

Tali. I still love Tali, but she was shafted a bit by the lack of screen time she had in this game. It's a shame that she comes to the crew so late, although I guess it's understandable given that she's an admiral now. Still, I loved seeing her wistfulness as she dreamed of her new home on Rannoch, and her time in the Citadel DLC was very fun.

Mordin. Despite his fourth-place ranking on the list, I think Mordin is THE best-written character in Mass Effect. He has one of if not the best character arcs, and he's so likable that I can't not love Professor War Crimes. His singing as the building was falling down around him... it was so sad but a perfect way for him to go.

EDI. Her earnest and heartfelt quest to understand what it means to be human was endearing to me, and her relationship with Joker was great. I brought her along most times if Garrus or Kaidan didn't make sense to take. I am heartbroken that my chosen ending means her death, but it was a sacrifice I still decided to make, especially after she said she was willing to give her life to save the person she loved.

Liara. While I like Liara, I still feel like there's something missing in her character that I can't quite put my finger on. That said, I like the friendship she has with Shepard. There's an implication to their interactions that suggest she never stopped having romantic feelings for Shepard even after I turned her down in ME1, but I like how she still wants to be a close friend to her rather than be bitter about it.

Thane. I think the story did him justice, giving him a pivotal role to play in the amount of time he had left. The prayer read as he was dying sincerely touched me. He wasn't my favorite in ME2 but ME3 gave him a boost for me.

Legion. Despite some inconsistencies I noticed in his writing, I still like my little robot guy. RIP, buddy, sorry your sacrifice was kind of for nothing.

Grunt. Similar to Thane, ME3 (and especially the Citadel DLC) made me like Grunt more than I did upon his introduction to the series. He wasn't as important, but his enthusiastic welcome and his "last stand" made me feel like a proud mama.

Samara. I liked Samara enough in ME2 to try to flirt with her, so I was excited to see her again in this game, but unfortunately, she didn't have much to do. Then again, she doesn't really need to, given that her arc is to accept being a mother to her remaining child rather than her jailor. I still felt like there was lingering unspoken sexual tension between her and Shepard though...

Wrex. It was good to see Wrex again, and I sincerely love how the game portrays his openness to cooperation as the key to saving his people.

James. I feel like James fulfilled the Krogan Companion role for me in this game, which is: I like him, but not enough to bring him anywhere. His flirting was rather alarming to me at first since I had every intention of reuniting with Kaidan and didn't want to turn James down so early, but when it became clear that he wasn't serious about any of it, I liked playing along, though really femshep doesn't have a choice in the matter.

Javik. Don't get me wrong, Javik is incredibly interesting and I think he's a critical companion to take on a lot of missions because the Prothean perspective is so unique and necessary in some instances (seriously, how did Liara not realize her goddess looked suspiciously similar to Javik). As a person, though, my Paragon Shepard didn't really gel with him. Also, my Shepard is rather sentimental and values memories, so I may have accidentally doomed Javik to a tragic post-game death with that memory shard. Oops.

Kasumi. Speaking of dooming people with memories! I told Kasumi to keep her lover's memories last game, which felt meaningful to my Shepard at the time since it happened before Horizon and I was still playing a lovesick Shepard who missed Kaidan and could empathize with her situation. That was, uh, maybe not the right call to make, and I'm a little sad that I basically condemned Kasumi to waste away her life reliving the past.

Miranda. I don't really have a lot to say about Miranda. She lived in my game, and I thought it was a good end for her character to finally fight back against her father. But she is rather bland to me, and I almost wish they kept her the cold-hearted bitch she was introduced as, just more sympathetic. You know, kinda like...

Jack. I like Jack A LOT more in this game than in ME2. I think putting her in a teacher role was a perfect decision that displays her impressive growth as a person and her ability to overcome her traumatic past to give future generations of biotics a better life. However, she is still Jack, and her inherent abrasiveness meant I always felt like I was walking on eggshells picking dialogue options with her.

Jacob. Unlike almost everyone else on this list, I downgraded Jacob. I didn't mind him so much when I was playing, really - I liked that he was having a baby and that meant he would get the chance to be a better father than his own was, and I liked the little get-together I had with him in the Citadel DLC. I thought he was still a little boring but nothing offended me. After learning he can cheat on femshep though? Yikes, dude.

Zaeed. I wouldn't say I hated him as I did in ME2. He was just... there.

Miscellaneous. I liked Samantha Traynor MUCH more than I liked Kelly Chambers, so I was glad to see her fill the role. She was resourceful and a bit awkward but not annoyingly so. Let's just say, if I was actually in the ME universe, I'd probably be Traynor. Steve Cortez was also a great addition. I grew to care about him a lot, and I'm glad Bioware gave us a face for the person driving our shuttle around lol. Diane Allures is, uh... there. Dr. Chakwas and Joker are great as always. That goes without saying.

THE ENDINGS

I want to preface this by saying I thought the ending before the ending, aka the Illusive Man standoff, was well done. I was a renegade every time I talked to him, meaning for my last action I was able to shoot him point blank and he was able to give an ending speech about how he wished Shepard saw the Earth as he did. I thought this was an interesting angle for my Shepard to take since she was so Paragon in ME1 that she was able to talk Saren down. Having the ability to do the same with the Illusive Man and not taking it gave me the chance to show some growth in my Shepard, finally willing to put her foot down and abandon the moral high ground when dealing with the person who both resurrected and ruined her life.

Now to the final endings. I will not be discussing the Control ending, as I immediately dismissed it as a possibility. It was what the Illusive Man wanted, and if my Shepard was anything, she was staunchly contrarian to Illusive Man's ideology. That's to say nothing of what I think of it, which is - eh. I think it's a good ending for a renegade Shepard, and possibly a paragon Shepard that wasn't as anti-Illusive Man as mine was. Still, the other two endings are what I want to talk about.

I will also not be calling the reaper AI the Star Child because I think it's misleading. To me, the child-like appearance seemed like a ploy to appeal to Shepard, and I didn't want to forget that this is essentially the same AI that appeared on the Arrival DLC asteroid I hurtled into a mass relay just to tell me he was going to destroy me. With that in mind, when he gave me my options and explained what synthesis would mean, I took a long, long time deliberating on what to do. The game presents this option as the unquestioningly best one to take. After all, it's the hardest ending to obtain, it's the option the reaper AI clearly favors, and it's the default platform you're standing on when it comes time to choose.

But here's the problem: if I were Shepard, even a paragon Shepard, even a Shepard who loves EDI and respects the geth, as mine did, I would not choose Synthesis. Because I can't trust that what he says would happen. I asked him why it would work this time around when all their other attempts at synthesis were horrific failures, and all he said was "they were not ready. You are ready." Even for a seemingly all-knowing AI, that's not enough to convince me to fling my body into a particle beam and potentially give up on this one and only chance to stop the reapers for good. Of course, as a player, I can use context clues to know that it WOULD happen. I'm playing a video game after all, and this choice is presented honestly to the player. But I decided to think as Shepard at that moment, not as myself.

He's also... wrong. He says conflict with synthetic life is inevitable, but it isn't. My Shepard knows this. She obtained peace between the quarians and the geth, and she's watched as EDI grew into her own kind and compassionate human consciousness. So while it sucks that they will have to die in the destroy ending, I ultimately chose it because 1) my Shepard can actually see it happen and know that she sacrificed her life for something real, not just a promise of what could happen, 2) destroying the reapers was what the whole galaxy unified to do and they didn't agree to anything else, and 3) destroying the reapers gives organic life a second chance to live and learn from their mistakes and to do better by synthetic life in the future. Maybe, in the wake of Shepard's sacrifice, the galaxy would see that they can work together, and ensure any future synthetic life will never be abused as the geth were.

But there was another reason I didn't choose Synthesis: it didn't make sense. I'm not talking about its practical application, although the space magic it takes to imbue technology into the DNA of every living organism in the galaxy is a little hard to stomach even by Mass Effect standards. I'm talking about its thematic purpose. Throughout all of Mass Effect, the main message has been that working together and sympathizing with people fundamentally different from you is critical to making positive change in the universe, DESPITE the differences. Synthesis, as a solution, is suggesting that conflict is inevitable until you ERASE the differences. This isn't letting people take the time and effort necessary to truly learn about and understand others, this is a no-effort solution that negates that very core theme. It's like saying there would be no conflict in the world if everyone on Earth were of the same race and nationality, because, one, that isn't true, and two, that solution erases so many beautifully diverse cultures that would have existed otherwise. To me, the Destroy ending allows the galaxy to rebuild what was lost while preserving most of the diversity that is so important to keep, especially since the diversity that was lost, namely the geth, theoretically CAN be rebuilt.

There's also another thematic problem: the conflict between synthetics and organics was not the main conflict in Mass Effect. Sure, it took up a lot of screen time in ME1, but it always felt secondary to the conflict between all other organics. There were tensions between the alien council species and the humans, there was tension between the krogan and the turians and salarians, there was tension between humans and humans, there was tension everywhere you looked. Your role was to be a mediator, a shepherd. You guided the people toward a better understanding of themselves and others, and by doing that, you were able to achieve impossible things together. Synthetic life was only a piece of that puzzle. But by making the conflict ONLY about synthetics and organics, it undermines the things we learned about other organics. If this solution was only meant for the quarians and humans, maybe it would make sense - these species have already achieved AIs that they could come into conflict with. But WHY should I make this decision for the krogan, an alien species not even close to developing AI advanced enough to go to war with? Why is it fair to them that I'm rewriting their DNA to ensure they never see a war that they might have never seen anyway? Haven't they already seen enough outside meddling in their bodily autonomy?

So I chose Destroy. And since I had enough war assets, I was able to avoid mass devastation, and somehow Kaidan seems to think Shepard is still alive. Oh, look, I guess she is. Not sure how that's possible, but I'll take slim hope. Overall, I was satisfied with my ending, although I was sad that I had to deny life to the synthetics that wanted it.

Then I watched the Synthesis ending and saw that it was basically perfect. Besides Shepard dying, everything is just better. Everyone understands each other now, there's no more disease, no more death, EDI is alive, and apparently, everyone is just cool with their new DNA. It was a utopia. And I thought that kinda went against everything I saw in Mass Effect. Sure, there are good choices, and some are definitely better than others, but rarely should there be perfect or easy choices. I'm not saying Synthesis should be a bad ending, by all means, make it a good one. Make it the best one, even. But it shouldn't be perfect. Maybe some people are upset that they were genetically altered against their will (hell, my Shepard had an existential crisis about this after learning how she was resurrected by Cerberus, and it's not a fate she would have imposed on anyone anyway). Maybe the husks and other synthetics that were once organics live a hellish existence in between existences and can never reconcile with their living loved ones. I dunno, something. Like I said before: thematically, it doesn't follow what was learned in the narrative, and therefore should not be the perfect solution to problems that the solution had nothing to do with.

I want to stress that I'm not judging anyone who chose the Synthesis ending. I deliberated it a long time for a reason: it is a promising conclusion if you want to avoid Control and you want to save EDI and the geth. I totally understand that. I just think the way that choice is presented and executed by Bioware is clunky and counterproductive to the narrative. I've also seen people dismiss the Destroy ending as genocide, and I won't argue that. It IS genocide, if you consider synthetics a valid form of life in this game, as I did. But I chose it anyway because doing so would stop the reapers who were the Ultimate Genocide Machines, and if there was any situation where genocide could be justified to stop genocide, uh, I guess that would be it. Sure, Synthesis would finally give organics a chance to understand and cooperate with the reapers, but that is only on the basis that everyone fundamentally change themselves at the request of the reapers under threat of mutual annihilation. The reapers had made no effort to truly understand and sympathize with organics outside of their one-sided conversations with Shepard until this point, so I didn't really feel bad I was killing them all, to be honest with you.

Okay, so, those were my thoughts on Mass Effect. This took a whole day to write. As frustrated as some parts of the game made me, I loved the rest, and I'm very glad I played it. Giving it a score like the other parts feels wrong, since I know now it's all part of a whole, but if I had to give it one, I'd say 8.5/10. I'll be missing my crew for some time, I think. Thank you to everyone who took the time to read my thoughts on this franchise!

Now onto Andromeda...

#anna plays mass effect #whoo #longest thing i've ever written on this site I think #shiv shepard

[marivenah]

OC Icons - Batch 1 || Happy Holidays everyone! ❄🌟 (textures.)

Charlie Berger // Astrid Shepard (belong to @natesofrellis) Sydney Williams // Anita Gil (belong to @sstewyhosseini) Sarah Álvarez // Alex Córdova Hopper (belong to @hoesephseed) Ariel Herrera // Teagan Reyes (belong to @thomrainer) Theo Ward // Maxine Sinclair (belong to @jacobseed) Siobhan Kelly // Nora Summers (belong to @socially-awkward-skeleton)

#myedit* #friends ocs #these were fun to make! #I hope you like them 🤗💙 #you are NOT obligated to use these here or anywhere else ofc! #I just wanted to make a little something for y'all :-) #the hardest part about this was finding good pictures lol #and the original lighting of some pictures was horrendous too... #I discovered the joy of making icons so if anyone wants one hmu👉👈

[hallmark-movie-fanatics]

THE O’BRIEN FAMILY SAGA CONTINUES ON SUNDAYS! (Spoilers- Press Releases for Episodes 8-10) 

BREE GETS AN UNEXPECTED OFFER ON ‘CHESAPEAKE SHORES’ PREMIERING OCTOBER 2, ON HALLMARK CHANNEL

STUDIO CITY, CA – September 20, 2022 – Bree (Emilie Ullerup, “Sanctuary”), gets an unexpected offer on On “Chesapeake Shores,” in the episode “I Get a Kick Out of You” premiering Sunday, October 2 (8 p.m. ET/PT), on Hallmark Channel. Robert Buckley (“iZombie”), Meghan Ory (“Once Upon a Time”), Treat Williams (“Blue Bloods,” Hair), Barbara Niven (“The Crossword Mysteries”), Laci J. Mailey (“Falling Skies”), Brendan Penny (“BH90210”) Andrew Francis (“Christmas She Wrote”) and Ullerup star.

A DNA test reveals a possible location for Evan’s (Buckely) long-lost father and extended family. Jess (Mailey) hosts a historical reenactment at the Bed & Breakfast, and Abby (Ory) practices for an upcoming taekwondo test. Meanwhile, a Hollywood actress comes to town to offer Bree a movie deal for her book.

“Chesapeake Shores” is from Chesapeake Shores S6 Production Inc. in association with Daniel L. Paulson Entertainment. Dan Paulson, Matt Drake, Phoef Sutton, Nancey Silvers and Sherryl Woods are executive producers. Steve Kennedy, Mark Jordan Legan and Michael Shepard are co-executive producers, and Crystal Remmey is co-producer. Stacey N. Harding directed from a script by Ciara Van Gheem.

ABBY AND EVAN GO THROUGH A ROUGH PATCH ON ‘CHESAPEAKE SHORES’ PREMIERING OCTOBER 9, ON HALLMARK CHANNEL

STUDIO CITY, CA – September 20, 2022 – Abby (Meghan Ory, “Once Upon a Time”) deals with a sudden set back in her relationship with Evan (Robert Buckley, “iZombie”), on “Chesapeake Shores,” in the episode “Spring Can Really Hang Up the Most,” premiering Sunday, October 9 (8 p.m. ET/PT), on Hallmark Channel. Buckley, Ory, Treat Williams (“Blue Bloods,” Hair), Barbara Niven (“The Crossword Mysteries”), Laci J. Mailey (“Falling Skies”), Emilie Ullerup (“Sanctuary”), Brendan Penny (“BH90210”) and Andrew Francis (“Christmas She Wrote”) star .

Evan (Buckley) rejects forming a connection with his father, pushing Abby (Ory) and Mandrake (Wesley Salter, “When Calls the Heart) away in the process. Mick (Williams) is ready to ask Megan (Niven) to marry him and picks out a ring. Connor (Francis) and Margaret (Mariesa Crouse, “Zoey’s Extraordinary Playlist”) decide whether to take the case to prove Dennis Peck’s (Malcolm Stewart, “Riverdale”) innocence, all while Luke (Stephen Huszar, “Time for Us to Come Home for Christmas”) recovers from a gunshot wound from a convenience store robbery gone wrong. 

“Chesapeake Shores” is from Chesapeake Shores S6 Production Inc. in association with Daniel L. Paulson Entertainment. Dan Paulson, Matt Drake, Phoef Sutton, Nancey Silvers and Sherryl Woods are executive producers. Steve Kennedy, Mark Jordan Legan, and Michael Shepard are co-executive producers, and Crystal Remmey is co-producer. Siobhan Devine directed from a script by Sutton.

THE O’BRIEN FAMILY SAGA’S EXCITING SERIES FINALE!

THE O’BRIENS REUNITE FOR THE THRILLING SERIES FINALE OF ‘CHESAPEAKE SHORES’ PREMIERING OCTOBER 16, ON HALLMARK CHANNEL

STUDIO CITY, CA – September 20, 2022 – On the series finale of “Chesapeake Shores,” the O’Briens come together and reunite for good in “All or Nothing at All,” premiering Sunday, October 16 (8 p.m. ET/PT), on Hallmark Channel. Robert Buckley (“iZombie”), Meghan Ory (“Once Upon a Time”), Treat Williams (“Blue Bloods,” Hair) Barbara Niven (“The Crossword Mysteries”), Laci J. Mailey (“Falling Skies”), Emilie Ullerup (“Sanctuary”), Brendan Penny (“BH90210”) and Andrew Francis (“Christmas She Wrote”) star.

Sarah (Jessica Sipos, “Another Life”) and Kevin’s (Penny) baby arrives, kicking off a week of celebration. Mick (Williams) and Megan (Niven) prepare for their wedding, broken relationships are mended, and new surprises abound in the finale of “Chesapeake Shores.”

“Chesapeake Shores” is from Chesapeake Shores S6 Production Inc. in association with Daniel L. Paulson Entertainment. Dan Paulson, Matt Drake, Phoef Sutton, Nancey Silvers and Sherryl Woods are executive producers. Steve Kennedy, Mark Jordan Legan, and Michael Shepard are co-executive producers, with Crystal Remmey as co-producer. Siobhan Devine directed from a script by Sutton and Mark Jordan Legan.

#chesapeake shores #s6 e8 I get a kick out of you #s6 e9 spring can really hang up the most #s6 e10 all or nothing at all #hallmark channel #press release #hallmark original series #season 6

[makers-breath]

It’s Shepard’s Birthday so I had to start another playthrough.

Siobhan Shepard ❤️

#femshep #happy birthday Shepard #console player #no mods #cries in console player #one day Bioware will give us good hair options

[fiannans]

I was tagged ages ago by @starsandskies to create some of my OCs using this amazing Picrew. Thanks, sweetie! <3

Jane Shepard | Sara Ryder 

Siobhan Trevelyan | Ileana ‘Lea’ Lavellan

Rowan Cousland | Marian Hawke

Tagging anyone who wants to do it!

#tagged #picrew #my ocs #jane shepard #sara ryder #siobhan trevelyan #ileana lavellan #rowan cousland #marian hawke #<3

[properthieves]

16 for siobhan and 33 for sylvie from the (even more) asks pls

16. What was the N7 program like for Shepard?

Oh man Siobhan loved the N7 program. She's a spacer military brat through and through, she enlists in the Alliance when she's 18 following in her mom's footsteps and always had the N7 program in the back of her mind as a long term goal. She excels under pressure and loves a good challenge, so the training was perfect her (except for combat driving which she just barely passes but that's neither here nor there). The program is really what let her hone her leadership skills, and she knows she's a better soldier because it.

(needless to say she is like obnoxiously excited when Vega asks her if he should go through the program)

33. Reaction to the window over their sr-2 bed

At best she sees it as a cruel joke and at worst she sees it as a thinly veiled threat from Cerberus, especially in combination with the picture of Liara that is on her desk. She hates hates hates that stupid window. But she refuses to let anyone know how much it bothers her, she takes to primarily sleeping on her front to try and cut off a direct eyeline and when it gets really bad she sleeps on the couch in her quarters with her back to the window.

(late game ME2 when it gets bad and she's running on the bare minimum sleep she needs to function she ends up taking a lot of naps in Life Support. Thane doesn't say anything about it, and Sylvie is grateful to him for it. At some point in ME3 Liara asks Tali to install a shutter over the window claiming that she finds it distracting when she's trying to sleep in Sylvie's cabin.)

From these Shepard asks 

#tysm for the ask! these questions are great i'll have to go through and rb the other two at some point soon! #also man i have soooo many feelings about the window in shep's cabin rip #siobhan shepard #sylvie shepard #spookyvalentine

[installmentsweird]

[ID: left to right, Kugrash, Sofia Bicileta, Ox, Pete the Plug, Ricky Matsui, Kingston Brown, Misty Moore sitting on a couch, with the word Heroes in the Friends TV show font. END ID.  Design by: https://www.artpal.com/ltbaucum]

AHHHHHHH!!! Uhmmm so this is definitely going to be me fangirling, but honestly one of the best thing in 2020 was that the full season 1 of The Unsleeping City was put on the Dimension 20 YouTube channel.  I have been following this show since it first started then had to stop because they put the rest of them on Dropout.tv(as they should, but like I couldn’t pay for it sooooo). But now we can talk about Season 1.

Cast:

Pete the Plug(Vox Phantasma- Wild Magic Sorcerer) played by Ally Beardsley

Sofia Bicileta(Drunken Master Monk) played by Emily Axford

Ricky Matsui(Oath of Devotion Paladin) played by Zac Oyama

Kingston Brown(Vox Populi - City Domain Cleric) played by Lou Wilson

Kugrich/Kugrash(Man turned rat by powerful witch- Circle of  the Shepard Druid) played by Brian Murphy

Misty Moore/Rowan( Fae- College of the Lore Bard) played by Siobhan Thompson

Dungeon Master, All the NPCs, All the Bad Guys played by Brennan Lee Mulligan

(Info and spelling from Unsleeping City fanwiki: https://dimension20.fandom.com/wiki/The_Unsleeping_City)

This is a Dungeons and Dragons campaign, set in New York City, where magic lies just beneath the surface behind the Umbral Arcana, that hides the magic from mere mortals. The Unsleeping City is the sixth borough (aka Nod) where dreams live and thrive; we visit this land when we sleep. In this campaign, our intrepid heroes must stop Robert Moses from(what do I say here without spoilers...) from misusing the power of dreams for his dastardly plot. 

So why are we talking about this? The storytelling is incredible. The character development is flawless. And the fact that this is a board game, really brings it to life.  The cast is incredible, these are just people playing a board game, but honestly I got so invested because the acting is so amazing. There were definitely moments where I got choked up or cheered( I mean that moment with Esther and Ricky, like if you know, you know and cheered with me). Not only are they incredible actors, but the strategy is on point. Like these people are here to win and have fun. Like Emily, girl, some of the things she thought up I could never in a billion years. Watching Ally play Pete and portray him  so well, making me laugh whenever someone brought up his drug selling; I couldn’t. The stories of Kingston and Kugrash;  Lou and Brian killed those roles, like the museum scene...THE MUSEUM SCENE, y’all wanted me to ugly cry.  Zac’s tiny smirks whenever Ricky’s physique was mentioned was everything and his portrayal made me want to protect Ricky at all costs. And the lovely Misty Moore. Siobhan gave a stellar performance, what a star! She was incredible. And Rowan, what a stellar encore. We love to see it, darling!

Some of these moves were slick and creative and Brennan being an amazing DM, knew when to bend the rules for something cool to happen. I appreciated this because it made it fun and like that is what it is all about, it is a game after all. And seeing them have fun made it super fun to watch. This campaign fueled my imagination and just I watched it wide-eyed under my covers. 

Brennan Lee Mulligan is an evil genius! The fact that he could play so many characters and each has their own story and voices and mannerisms, INSANE!!!! The fact he created this based off of Neverwhere by Neli Gaiman!! I love that book and no wonder it felt familiar, just couldn’t put ,my finger on it at the time. Also I am just biased because I just love stories where magic lives beside the real world, I don’t  know it just makes reality a bit more magical. The depth he put into this story and still managed to make some social commentary, I just can’t even. I just can’t say enough, like this was inspired; I felt like my imagination was having so much fun.  This man is truly a treasure. 

This campaign is incredible and honestly inspired me to write my own one day, first I have to learn how to play and the rules and such. It’s a lot, but honestly it is such a unique way to tell a story and bring it to life.

[ID: Brennan tossing gang signs , mouthing I’m gonna kill that dog, with yellow text saying “I’m gonna kill that dog.” END ID. Op:fromuptown]

I like sharing what makes me happy in the world of writing and music, so you can follow my journey @installmentsweird​.

#dimension 20 #the unsleeping city #dungeons and dragons #brennan lee mulligan #emily axford #zac oyama #ally beardsley #lou wilson #brian murphy #siobhan thompson #storytelling #stories #boardgames #rpg #rpgboardgame #tuc #tuc2

[bardofheartdive]

OC Profile: Donovan Shepard

I was tagged by @ghostxofxartemis - thanks for the tag, hon! I will tag (only if you want to play) @alyssalenko, @bagog, @ljandersen, @pigeontheoneandonly, and @ronqueesha, as well as anyone who wants to play. Going with Donovan this time around (though I may do Vee in a bit too)!

Amazing art by @mooreaux​

GENERAL-

Name: Donovan Michael Shepard

Alias(es): Donovan Michael Gallagher, Donovan Michael Gardner O’Brien

Gender: Male

Age: 29 (at the start of ME1)

Birthdate: January 24th, 2154

Place of birth: Dublin, Ireland. Earth.

Hometown: Killorglin, Ireland. Earth.

Spoken language(s): English, Irish (kind of, not really), Galactic Trade Language 

Sexual preference: Bisexual

Occupation: Alliance N7 operative, Citadel Council Spectre, first mate of The Luck of the Iris

APPEARANCE-

Eye color: Green

Hair color: Light brown/dark blond

Height: 6′2″

Scars: By the side of his left eye and the right side of his chin. The majority of his back is also scarred from thresher acid burns prior to the Lazarus Project.

FAVORITE-

Color: Blue

Hair color: Dark

Song: This cover of “Candle on the Water” by Dwayne Britton (at the moment)

Food: American breakfast food (pancakes, waffles, streaky bacon, sausage, eggs/omelettes, etc.), pie, Irish stew and soda bread

Drink: Guinness (only in Ireland), tea (if Nan made it), coffee (black, no sugar)

HAVE THEY-

Passed university: Not initially but he went back for an electronics degree in order to commission with the Alliance

Had sex: Yes

Had sex in public: Yes

Gotten pregnant: He’s gotten his partner pregnant but hasn’t been the one who gets pregnant

Kissed a boy: Yes

Kissed a girl: Yes

Gotten tattoos: Yes. He has a yin-yang made of two trees on his left chest. He gets a sutured, anatomical heart surrounded by a carrick bend knot on his left shoulder/upper arm (for Theo) and an Alpha/omega symbol on his right (with Theo). He also gets a rope band with a single knot in it around his left forearm for each of their children

Gotten piercings: No

Been in love: Yes

Stayed up for more than 24 hours: Several times

ARE THEY-

A virgin: No

A cuddler: Yes

A kisser: Yes

Scared easily: No

Jealous easily: Not outside heat/rut

Dominant: Yes

Submissive: No (though Theo has him wrapped around his pinky) 

In love: Yes

Single: No

RANDOM QUESTIONS-

Have they harmed themselves: Not physically intentionally, though he has a penchant for throwing himself into harms way and has a tendency emotionally punish himself for things that he considers his fault (whether or not they were).

Thought of suicide: Yes

Attempted suicide: No

Wanted to kill someone: Yes

Have / had a job: Yes

Have any fears: Zero-g, visiting Alchera, losing Theo

FAMILY-

Sibling(s): Two biological sisters, Muirín (right) and Siobhan (left) Gallagher. (Art by @musingzeroart​.) Muirín was killed when Donovan was a kid and he and Siobhand have a strained relationship. He would say that she WAS his sister, not that she IS his sister. He also has an adopted brother, Felix O’Brien, who is his best friend.

Parent(s): Sean Kavanaugh (father) and Bronagh Gallagher (mother). His father is dead and he and his mother are estranged. He was raised by his Nan, an old acquaintance of his father’s.

Children: Yes, eventually he and Theo have two kids, a girl named Sarah Muirín and a boy named Sean Richard. (After Theo’s mother and grandfather and his father and sister)

Significant other: Theo Walker (who belongs to @cdrkateshepard​) is his bondmate, soulmate, husband, and heart.

Pet(s): He keeps fish in the captain’s cabin in the SR-2 but that’s it and he considers them therapy more than companions.

#mass effect #donovan shepard #my oc #commissioned art #commander shepard #custom mshep

[defenestrate-08]

The year is 2042.

97 years after the Super Bang, Raden City, the capital of the Republic of Sabaton boasts one of the highest percentages of powered beings in the world. One in a thousand citizens is an Aberration and the numbers increase with every generation.

You are a commander for Praetorian, a private security company in the golden age of superheroes and villains. The 31st Aberration Conclave looms over Raden City and you are the very reluctant representative for Praetorian.

Home | Game demo

CHARACTERS

You | Who are you?

Family | Zahra | Leonidas Clarke | Helena Gale Wells

Friends, maybe? | AXIS | Raven van Gogh | Logan Woods | Basilisk

Colleagues | Sage Hua | Siobhan Shepard | Eleazar Darcy

SETTINGS

Raden City | Brief | Heroes, Villains, & Aberrations

Nations | Sabaton | Helas | Oyashima | The UMK

FACTIONS

Praetorian | Brief | Ranks | Patriot

RCPF | Brief | The S.P.D.

RCCDF | Brief | The H.N.T.

Heroes | Brief | The I.M.O.

Villains | Brief

Civilians | Brief

#RadenCity

[theoriginalladya]

WIP Wednesday #3

Because @shadoedseptmbr opened a call for more WIPs and tags and I was peeking at something I started a while back for Caleb Shepard ...  

Setting:  Shannon, Ireland, approximately 8-10 months after the end of the Reaper war.  Caleb has finally gone home to Ireland for the first time since leaving at age 18...

~~~

Turning south, he passes a darkened alleyway and for just a moment, ghosts of his past tempt him.  He pauses, gaze peering deep within the darkness.  If he holds his breath for just a moment, if he listens intently, he can hear their voices.  Colin.  Nora. Siobhan.  Killian.  Brennan. Ciara.  Sean.  Aoife …

And then it shifts, like hoary images of some nightmare.  Suddenly he’s back in London, surrounded by reapers.  He, Kaidan and James fighting their way through.  The screams of banshees, the menacing snarls of marauders, the rumbling roars of brutes, the lose of so many allied forces just to get one up to the Citadel …

Caleb throws his free arm out, bracing it against the wall framing the entrance to the alley.  Rough stone meets his touch, solid, sharp and cold beneath his touch. It’s enough to pull him from the visions, anchor him to the present.  With a rough gasp, he blinks and the darkness fades to the overcast grey of the dawn.  Tilting his head back, the first sprinkles of rain start to fall, trickling across his face, soaking his hair, welcoming him home.

“Ar dheis Dé go raibh a anam.”**

After several minutes spent pulling himself together, Caleb continues down the road.  It’s been years since he last visited the cemetery at St. Senan’s, but even with the time that has passed, even after the war, there is a sense of calm and peace to be found as he enters the grounds.  Every visit he has ever made, he’s felt it.  Today is no different.

The grounds are in decent shape, or as decent as can be expected after what they’ve just been through.  If the grass is a bit on the tall side or there are a few weeds growing here or there, Caleb overlooks them.  The very fact the church and grounds are still relatively whole is more than enough for him.

As he walks through the grounds, he can’t help but think back to the last time he was here, his last visit to Ned and Nan, to Colin, Sean and Ciara.  Far too long ago, he thinks, an ache filling his chest, guilt marring each hobbling step.  By the time he reaches the graves, he leans heavily upon his cane.  Carefully, he takes a knee, using his scarred hand to brush away a few stray leaves from the front of the memorial.  Next, he tugs the sleeve of his shirt out from beneath his jacket and wipes dirt and mud away from the stone itself.  

Ned & Nan Byrne

“Nár laga Dia thú”

For just a moment, he rests his hand atop the stone.  The sense of loss has not diminished over his years away.  If anything, guilt now accompanies it and he has to dig deep to find a small yet warm smile deep within.  The blessing is one Ned requested when Nan died and at the time, Caleb wondered if it wasn’t more of a reminder for the older man.  May God never weaken you.  Each time they visited the grave, Ned recited it several times over, as if bolstering his courage.  

Odd that is the memory that returns first.  Caleb, to his shame, found no solace in it after Ned’s death.  Instead, he sank to new lows.  Those years were darker than they should ever have been, so focused was Caleb on finding vengeance and retribution for the deed.  His visits here were rarer, mostly on their anniversary when he remembered. But still, the words never spoke to Caleb as they did Ned.

Slowly pushing to his feet with the assistance of his cane, Caleb murmurs, “Nár laga Dia thú, Ned.  You taught me well, though I didn’t know it at the time.”  

 ~~~~~ 

** Ar dheis Dé go raibh a anam = May their soul be on God’s right hand

#WIP Wednesday #ladya writes #Caleb Shepard #mshenko #Shannon Ireland #Irish language #OTP: Brothers in Arms

[andsjuliet]

2020 books read

1) Red, White & Royal Blue - Casey McQuiston (Re-Read, Audiobook) / (Jan 1-Jan 1) 2) Since You’ve Been Gone - Morgan Matson (Re-Read, Audiobook) / (Jan 1-Jan 7) 3) Little Women - Louisa May Alcott (Re-Read, Audiobook) / (Jan 2-Jan 3) 4) Sounds Like Me: My Life (So Far In Song) - Sara Bareilles (Re-Read, Audiobook) / (Jan 8-Jan 8) 5) I Woke Up Dead at the Mall - Judy Sheehan (Audiobook) / (Jan 10-Jan 12) 6) A Good Girl’s Guide to Murder - Holly Jackson (Goodreads Giveaway Advanced Reader Copy) / (Jan 14-Jan 17 ) 7) The Cheerleaders - Kara Thomas / (Jan 18-Jan 19) 8) When I Was You - Minka Kent / (Jan 19-Jan 21) 9) Always Never Yours - Emily Wibberley & Austin Siegemund-Broka (Audiobook) / (Jan 21-Jan 27) 10) The Hand on the Wall - Maureen Johnson / (Jan 26-Feb 22) 11) The Haunting of Ashburn House - Darcy Coates / (Feb 23-Mar 2) 12) One of Us is Next - Karen M. McManus / (Mar 2-Mar 13) 13) The Carrow Haunt - Darcy Coates / (Mar 14-Mar 15) 14) American Royals - Katherine McGee / (Mar 20-Mar 22) 15) Tweet Cute - Emma Lord / (Mar 23-Mar 24) 16) The Unexpected Everything - Morgan Matson (Re-Read, Audiobook) / (Mar 26-Mar 27) 17) Burn for Burn - Jenny Han & Siobhan Vivian / (Mar 28) 18) Fire with Fire - Jenny Han & Siobhan Vivian / (Mar 28) 19) Ashes to Ashes - Jenny Han & Siobhan Vivian / (Mar 28-Mar 29) 20) Love & Luck - Jenna Evans Welsh / (Mar 29-April 1) 21) The Summer I Turned Pretty - Jenny Han / (April 1-April 3) 22) It’s Not Summer Without You - Jenny Han / (April 3-April 4) 23) We’ll Always Have Summer - Jenny Han / (April 4) 24) Love & Gelato - Jenna Evans Welsh / (April 5-April 6) 25) As Kismit Would Have It - Sandhya Menon / (April 6-April 7) 26) All Eyes on Us - Kit Frick / (April 9-April 12) 27) The Babysitters Coven - Kate Williams / (April 18-April 27) 28) What I Like About You - Marisa Kanter / (April 27-April 29) 29) Red, White & Royal Blue - Casey McQuiston (Re-Read, Audiobook) / (April 29-April 29) 30) Nancy Drew: The Curse - Micol Ostow / (April 30-May 1) 31) Out of Left Field - Kris Hui Lee / (May 1-May 2) 32) The 7 1/2 Deaths of Evelyne Hardcastle - Stuart Turton (Audiobook) / (April 20-May 5) 33) The Raven Boys - Maggie Stiefvater / (May 2-May 6) 34) If We Were Villains - M.L. Rio (Re-Read, Audiobook) / (May 6-May 8) 35) The Dream Thieves - Maggie Stiefvater / (May 7-May 12) 36) Blue Lily, Lily Blue - Maggie Stiefvater / (May 12-May 18) 37) The Henna Wars - Adiba Jaigirdar / (May 16-May 24) 38) The Raven King - Maggie Stiefvater / (May 18-May 25) 39) Break the Fall - Jennifer Iacopelli / (May 25-May 26) 40) The Foxhole Court - Nora Sakavic / (May 26-May 27) 41) The Raven King - Nora Sakavic / (May 29-May 30) 42) The King’s Men - Nora Sakavic / (May 30-May 31) 43) The Hunger Games - Suzanne Collins (Re-Read, Audiobook) / (June 1-June 1) 44) Catching Fire - Suzanne Collins (Re-Read, Audiobook) / (June 1-June 2) 45) Mockingjay - Suzanne Collins (Re-Read, Audiobook) / (June 2-June 3) 46) On the Come Up - Angie Thomas (Audiobook) / (June 4-June 5) 47) The Starless Sea - Erin Morgenstern / (June 7-June 12) 48) The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo - Taylor Jenkins Reid / (June 12-June 13) 49) The Lightning Thief - Rick Riordan / (June 13-June 15) 50) The Folcroft Ghosts - Darcy Coates / (June 19-June 20) 51) The Sea of Monsters - Rick Riordan / (June 20-June 23) 52) If We Were Villains - M.L. Rio (Re-Read, Physical + Audiobook) / (June 29-July 2) 53) The Titan’s Curse - Rick Riordan / (June 23-July 2) 54) The Battle of the Labyrinth - Rick Riordan / (July 2-July 4) 55) The Last Olympian - Rick Riordan / (July 4-July 5) 56) Beach Read - Emily Henry / (July 5-July 6) 57) Anna K - Jenny Lee / (July 7-July 7) 58) Circe - Madeline Miller / (July 9-July 10) 59) Emma - Jane Austen (Re-Read, Audiobook) / (July 12-July 15) 60) You Should See Me In a Crown - Leah Johnson (Audiobook) / (July 17-July 19) 61) The Song of Achilles - Madeline Miller / (July 21-July 23) 62) Second Chance Summer - Morgan Matson (Re-Read) / (July 25-July 28) 63) Stamped: Racism, Antiracism and You - Jason Reynolds, Ibram X. Kendi / (July 3-July 31) 64) Clique Bait - Ann Valett / (July 29-Aug 1) 65) Meet Me at Midnight - Jessica Pennington / (Aug 2-Aug 3) 66) By the Book - Amanda Sellet / (July 6-Aug 9) 67) The Black Kids - Christina Hammonds Reed (Audiobook) / (Aug 9-Aug 10) 68) She’s the Worst - Lauran Spieller / (Aug 10-Aug 10) 69) Love and Other Train Wrecks - Leah Konen / (Aug 10-Aug 12) 70) The Hate U Give - Angie Thomas (Re-Read, Audiobook) / (Aug 6-Aug 15) 71) The Poet X - Elizabeth Acevedo (Audiobook) / (Aug 16-Aug 16) 72) Fractured - Shay Siegel (NetGalley ARC) / (Aug 18-Aug 19) 73) These Witches Don’t Burn - Isabel Sterling (Re-Read) / (Aug 21-Aug 24) 74) This Coven Won’t Break - Isabel Sterling / (Aug 24-Aug 24) 75) This Spell Can’t Last - Isabel Sterling (Novella) / (Aug 24-Aug 24) 76) Save the Date - Morgan Matson (Re-Read) / (Aug 25-Aug 27) 77) I Hope You’re Listening - Tom Ryan (NetGalley ARC) / (Aug 27-Aug 28) 78) Twelfth Night - William Shakespeare (ReRead) / (Aug 12-Aug 31) 79) Boyfriend Material - Alexis Hall (Audiobook) / (Aug 31-Aug 31) 80) Only Mostly Devastated - Sophie Gonzales (Audiobook) / (Sep 1-Sep 1) 81) Where Dreams Descend - Janella Angeles / (Aug 30-Sep 5) 82) Majesty - Katherine McGee / (Sep 7-Sep 9) 83) I Killed Zoe Spanos - Kit Frick (Audiobook) / (Sep 10-Sep 11) 84) Nobody Knows But You - Anica Mrose Rissi (NetGalley ARC) / (Sep 12-Sep 12) 85) If We Were Villains - M.L. Rio (Re-Read, Audiobook) / (Sep 14-Sep 14) 86) Macbeth - William Shakespeare (Re-Read, Audiobook) / (Sep 15-Sep 15) 87) The Year Shakespeare Ruined My Life - Dani Jansen (NetGalley ARC) / (Sep 16-Sep 19) 88) Kisses and Croissants - Anne-Sophie Jouhanneau (NetGalley ARC) / (Sep 24-Sep 25) 89) The Lakehouse - Joe Clifford (NetGalley ARC) / (Sep 30-Oct 1) 90) The Poppy and the Rose - Ashlee Cowles (NetGalley ARC) / (Oct 1-Oct 7) 91) We Were Restless Things - Cole Nagamatsu (NetGalley ARC) / (Oct 8-Oct 10) 92) When Life Gives You Lemons Instead of Lattes - Rayna York (NetGalley ARC) / (Oct 11- Oct 12) 93) Where Dreams Descend - Janella Angeles (ReRead) / (Oct 17-Oct 21) 94) The Royal We - Heather Cocks & Jessica Morgan (Audibook) / (Oct 21-Oct 23) 95) The Heir Affair - Heather Cocks & Jessica Morgan (Audiiobook) / (Oct 23-Oct 24) 96) The Hollywood Jim Crow - Maryann Erigha / (Sep 30 - Oct 29) 97) Lies Like Poison - Chelsea Pitcher (NetGalley ARC) / (Oct 26 - Nov 1) 98) In Tune - Yeyet Soriano (ARC) / (Nov 2 - Nov 4) 99) Red, White & Royal Blue - Casey McQuiston (Re-Read, Audiobook) / (Nov 2 - Nov 5) 100) These Violent Delights - Chloe Gong / (Nov 6 - Nov 10) 101) Influence - Sara Shepard (NetGalley ARC) / (Nov 4 - Nov 11) 102) Ten Rules for Fakiing it - Sophie Sullivan (NetGalley ARC) / (Nov 11 - Nov 13) 103) The Worst Best Man - Mia Sosa (Audiobook) / (Nov 13 - Nov 14) 104) Sixteen Scandals - Sophie Jordan (Edelweiss+ ARC) / (Nov 15 - Nov 16) 105) The Life and (Medieval) Tiimes of Kit Sweetly - Jamie Pacton (Audiobook) / (Nov 17 - Nov 17) 106) You Have a Match - Emma Lord (NetGalley ARC) / (Nov 19 - Nov 21) 107) Be More Chill - Ned Vizzini (Audiobook) / (Nov 21 - Nov 21) 108) Dear Evan Hansen - Val Emmich (Re-Read, Audiobook) / (Nov 22 - Nov 23) 109) The Bitterwine Oath - Hannah West (ARC) / (Nov 24 - Nov 25) 110) The Gilded Wolves - Roshani Chokshi / (Nov 18 - Nov 25) 111) Rent a Boyfriend - Gloria Chao (Audiobook) / (Nov 26 - Nov 26) 112) I Love You So Mochi - Sarah Kuhn (Audiobook) / (Nov 27 - Nov 27) 113) The Twelve Dates of Christmas - Jenny Bayliss / (Nov 26 - Nov 28) 114) Wiith the Fire on High - Elizabeth Acevedo (Audiobook) / (Nov 28 - Nov 29) 115) Not Our Summer - Casie Bazay (NetGalley ARC) / (Nov 29 - Nov 30) 116) Meg & Jo - Virgina Kantra (Audiobook) / (Dec 2 - Dec 2) 117) The Honey Don’t List - Christina Lauren (Audiiobook) / (Dec 3 - Dec 3) 118) Clap When You Land - Elizabeth Acevedo (Audiobook) / (Dec 3 - Dec 3) 119) The Wedding Date - Jasmine Guillory (Audiobook) / (Dec 3 - Dec 3) 120) Perfect on Paper - Sophie Gonzales (NetGalley ARC) / (Dec 1 - Dec 4) 121) The Wedding Partty - Jasmine Guillory (Audiobook) / (Dec 6 - Dec 6) 122) If We Were Villains - M.L. Rio (Reread) / (Dec 5 - Dec 6) 123) We Are Okay - Nina LaCour (Audiiobook) / (Dec 6 - Dec 7) 124) Royal Holiday - Jasmine Guillory (Audiiobook) / (Dec 7 - Dec 7) 125) Party of Two - Jasmine Guillory (Audiobook) / (Dec 7 - Dec 7) 126) The Silvered Serpents - Roshani Chokshi (Audiobook) / (Dec 7- Dec 8) 127) Pride and Premediitation - Tirzah Price (Audiobook, NetGalley ARC) / (Dec 8 - Dec 9) 128) Faking Under the Mistletoe - Ashley Shepherd / (Dec 9 - Dec 10) 129) We Met in December - Rosie Curtis (Audobook) / (Dec 10 - Dec 11) 130) The Insomniacs - Marit Wesenbeerg (Audiobook) / (Dec 11 - Dec 11) 131) Rebecca - Daphne de Maurier (Audiobook) / (Dec 12 - Dec 13) 132) A Midsummer Night’s Scream - R.L. Stein (Audiobook) / (Dec 14 - Dec 15) 133) Julius Caesar - William Shakespeare (Audiobook) / (Dec 15 - Dec 15) 134) Maggie Finds Her Muse - Dee Ernst (NetGalley ARC) / (Dec 15 - Dec 15) 135) Don’t Tell a Soul - Kristen Miller (NetGalley ARC) / (Dec 16 - Dec 17) 136) Yesterday is History - Kosoko Jackson (NetGalley ARC) (Dec 17 - Dec 18) 137) Admission - Juliie Buxbaum (Audiobook) / (Dec 20 - Dec 20) 138) A Princess for Christmas - Jenny Holiday (Audiobook) / (Dec 20 - Dec 20) 139) I Love You So Mochi - Sarah Kuhn (Re-Read) / (Dec 19 - Dec 21) 140) RomaJuliette Christmas Short (These Violent Delights Universe) - Chloe Gong / (Dec 22 - Dec 22) 141) Roman and Jewel - Dana L. Davis (NetGalley ARC) / (Dec 22 - Dec 22) 142) That Way Madness Lies - Various Authors (NetGalley ARC) / (Dec 22 - Dec 24) 143) The Love Curse of Melody McIntyre - Robin Talley (Audiobook) / (Dec 26 - Dec 26) 144) Turning Pointe: How a New Generaton of Dancers Is Saving Ballet from Itself - Chlooe Angyal (NettGalley ARC) / (Dec 24 - Dec 26) 145) Written in the Stars - Alexandriia Bellefleur (Audiobook) / (Dec 27 - Dec 28) 146) A Midsummer Night’s Dream - William Shakespeare (ReRead, Audiobook) / (Dec 28 - Dec 28) 147) Cemetery Boys - Aiden Thomas / (Dec 27 - Dec 30) 148) Keep My Heart in San Francisco - Amelia Diane Coombs / (Dec 30 - Dec 30) 149) Felix Ever After - Kacen Callender (Audiobook) / (Dec 30 - Dec 31) 150) The Falling in Love Montage - Ciara Smyth / (Dec 31 - Dec 31)

#post: 2020 books read