#dandenbo

What an EXCELLENT question.

Because I think it's a little complex in ways he doesn't quite clock. Ashley is his kind of soldier - bold, brash, willing to do the hard things, eager to prove herself. Just like him, she's taken it on the chin from the Alliance and keeps coming back for more.

She's also a powerful personality like he is, and putting two very powerful personalities in the same room can create some friction. I imagine she reminds him a little too much of himself sometimes, and he has to do a little work on his end to keep that his problem, and not make it hers. But he would recognize she is worth doing that work for.

I think her closeness with Kaidan would get in the way of Sam developing a deeper rapport. As more responsibility sits on his shoulders, and as the Saren/reaper threat becomes so dire, he has less time and opportunity to be Sam. He'd have less downtime with his crew than he did on the 'Yang, and less time with Kaidan.

That would really gnaw on him when he saw that free time Kaidan now has more of going to Ashley. While some of it would be jealousy he just isn't going to examine very closely, I think it's more the realization that his time on the 'Yang showed him how good it can be to just be Sam rather than Commander Shepard, but the career path he has chosen means he can't really have that. He's seeing that now, firsthand.

Is he making some of it up in his head? Probably yes. Kaidan, of course, never has any intention of letting him just do what he does alone, but with the beacon vision eating up his brain, the responsibility of having to define what a human Spectre is, and the stress of Saren and the reapers, he would regress a little and try to isolate himself more than he did on the 'Yang. I think he forces some distance between himself and Kaidan, then feels sorry for himself when Kaidan fills that void with Ashley. Or rather, Ashley never gives him the opportunity to NOT be her partner in crime. XD

So, professionally, I think he would rave about Ashley, go to bat for her to get anything she wanted from her career, trust her with his life, and give her any opportunity he could find.

Yaaay!!! Let's see... (using Roy as he's easy to answer for lmao)

7. Is there something that could cause your oc to question their identity? What?

Listen. Roy is not completely immune to buff woman propaganda. I like to imagine sometimes he's seen Ash training/working out whatever and her muscles are a bit shiny from her sweating and for a split second he's like "Hm!"

9. Are there cultural or lore specific aspects to their identity? If applicable, does their species affect it?

There's exactly two thing in the ME lore about gender identity (for humans): jack and shit. I guess they want us to assume it's all Fine and Great, which. I guess. Culturally, because Roy spent a lot of formative years on Arcturus and only a little bit on Earth it could be a mixed bag. I'm not sure, as he was still pretty young (and hadn't come to terms with his identity) when he left Earth. My HC for Arcturus is that the military/space port part of it gets a lot more attention than the residential area so it depends on Where exactly in the districts you're in. And Roy was basically the equivalent of a middle class suburbanite growing up with a kind of quiet acceptance to his identity, coupling with his career in the adult entertainment industry that let him really solidify who he is currently.

I'll also say, as he was in a military family it did influence his perception of his self as more middling-masculine, than anything more feminine. Didn't make him much of a top tho...

10. Does your oc celebrate Pride? How?

Oh sure, when he was younger he donned the trans and rainbow colors like it was a second skin, participated in events and shows, etc. I think as he got older and deeper into his military career he becomes more subtle about it. Not out of shame but more because he's just too damn busy for it. He wouldn't be opposed to doing anything if his crew asked it of him.

thanks for the ask :D

OTP ASK

39. What other couple would your otp get along with the best?

I haven't touched much on my ME3 canon, but my N7 Fury OC and later Shadow Broker, Wren Clarkson, ends up with a bit of a crush on EDI, so that develops into a fun relationship between them post-war (I plan on then getting together during Citadel DLC? something around that time since I make it a post-war event). EDI and Regis are best friends, Kaidan and Wren became close during the two year gap, and Zaeed is always up for talking about the state of the galaxy with Wren, so the five of them get along well, with Wren and Zaeed talking shop, EDI and Regis getting into conversations about tech, and Kaidan interjecting with his opinions on both sides. They enjoy eating in, with EDI trying to learn how to cook from Kaidan, how to grill and fry from Zaeed, and desserts from both Wren and Regis.

Another pairing they get along with are my OCs Vikram T'Lara and Adrian Shepard, Regis's uncles. Mostly because Kaidan and Zaeed delight in getting childhood stories from them, and Regis loves spending time with his family that he didn't get a ton of time with as a kid. Even if he does despair hearing Vik call him Reggie all the time.

Aka: I didn't get any sleep last night, so my self control is currently non-existent and you're getting a pretty decent chunk of what's written for Chapter 6 of My Serene thus far.

Featuring Kaidan having a little late-night realization with the help of his friend, Murray.

I'll give @mtreebeardiles and @theoriginalladya a tag, if they're so inclined to share 😊

"Hmmm," she switches gears, grin suddenly widening, "alright, fine. In the meantime, why don't you tell me how that big fat crush of yours is going, Lank?"

from this list

Thank you so much for asking!!!! Let's see....

17. Describe a fic that is still in the ‘ideas’ stage.

Answered here.

18. Do you have a fic reading/writing routine?

At the moment, my fic reading routine is sort of on hiatus. Life's been a bit...challenging for most of this year, and though I have a huge list of fics I want to read, most have the potential to be far too much for me to handle at the moment, so I've limited myself to reading fluffy, for the most part lighter hearted stuff, or shorter/oneshot type things. I'm trying to get back to reading things more, though it's very slow going at the moment.

Writing wise, that's sort of fallen off quite a bit the past few months, too. PLENTY of ideas - don't get me wrong - but the actual writing has been minimal, slow, or just plain pulling teeth which is really frustrating. I'm hoping that will start turning around soon, too. Normally (prior to the past few months), I would write anywhere from 1-5K words per day at the drop of a hat. These past few months? Probably averaging less than 500 per day.

19. What’s your favorite character headcanon?

Okay, so Caleb Shepard has two tattoos on his arms - on his left arm, an Irish Claddagh, and on his right arm, a Celtic braid that wraps around and ends with the N7 logo in the middle. There is a story behind the N7 one.

Sometime after he completes N training, Caleb and Coats meet up and go out to a pub for the night. While there, one of the waitresses mistakes them for not just brothers, but twins. Eventually, in their half drunk state, it results in Coats suggesting they go get tattoos to make it easier to tell them apart. Caleb agrees, but only if Coats lets Caleb choose Coats' tattoo.

Caleb gets the N7 and Celtic braid on his arm.

Coats ends up with a large green shamrock on his hip with the words "Kiss me I'm Irish".

Thank you SO MUCH!!!! It is an absolute gift to know you, and every time I see you on tumblr or discord I do an excited corgi butt wiggle.

Here, have some Solcrum scenery, because Madrigal lives in my head rent free!

Thank you for the questions :D

I answered 9 here. I'll replace it with 15: Does your OC have a face claim? If so, who?

Not really. I'm also kind of bad at coming up with face claims. Fun fact: The headmorph I used as a base for his sculpt was default shepard/sheploo, but definitely edited a ton to get to where he is now. If I removed his beard, piercings, and hair mods, and changed his textures back to being default shepard's, he might look like a cousin of Sheploo ;) maybe... I've never actually tried that.

25. What is your favorite thing about your OC?3

I'm going to get sappy here. Regis is the only reason why I'm a mod developer in the first place. Back in the fall, a mod released called Custom Head Mesh Framework that also came with a tutorial that laid out how to make a custom shepard using blender. I made it my goal to make Regis come to life, and dammit I succeeded. From there, I started finding resources and things to port that would fit his sense of style and canon, and it spiraled from there. Now I have multiple releases, some pretty neat blender and GIMP skills, and have really made myself at home in the ME modding community.

Ooooh excellent! I'll try and do all of them! (my poor neglected darlings...)

8) Do they collect anything? If so what and why?

Jet collects boots and hats. I've been thinking where his lineage comes from/what kind of region in Mindoir he grew up in, and all roads point to cowboy. His family had pretty sizeable land and they had a few horses. Anyway, up to the raid he had only one pair of boots and a hat which were destroyed. Since then what was something to help remember his old life turned into a collection. He's got several boots for nearly any occasion.

12) Do they have any sense of style? Regardless of the answer do they believe they have a sense of style?

Nix's style is best summed up as "I want to be a vampire in my next life". They're still being workshopped but I get Ozzy Osbourne meets Lady Dimitrescu which only makes sense to them. Joker thinks they look like a dork. They think they are the epitome of style as they sweat profusely wearing all that black.

18) How easy is it to become their enemy?

Aside from the Reds, most people are considered "over there" or potential enemies until proven otherwise almost immediately upon meeting. Even getting away from London and spending time with the camaraderie amongst other soldiers, Blake still finds himself labeling absolutely no one as friendly. Kaidan and Joker are one of the first people to make Blake move past that.

19) How easy is it to become their friend?

Jet has a very friendly personality and can get along with just about anyone, but actually being a friend is a much longer process. The trauma of Mindoir has caused him to be a little more withdrawn and not as willing to get too close to people.

50) What is your favorite thing about them?

Nix is my opportunity to get real wacky with gender presentation and I can't wait to get my PC running again because I NEED a face to work with! I have a vague amalgamation of what they look like but I need something physical in order to make things work.