#juniper ryder

day 13 of fictober 

Juniper Ryder has a talk with her mom (warning: angst)

“Hey, mom.” Juniper’s mouth found glass. It felt cold beneath her lips. The steady hum of thousand cryo pods calmed her.

“How are you?” She sat on the ground and hugged her knees close to her chest. No one would dare to disturb her. No one even asked any more. Her weekly absences from the Tempest became a regularity. First, there had been questions, friendly concern from Liam and Peebee, a hug from Cora, a pat on the shoulder from Drack and some imported chocolate from Vetra. Not to mention a two hour star gazing session with Jaal, who talked about his own mothers and the importance of family.

“I know that you can’t hear me, but I like to pretend that you’re alright.” Juniper closed her eyes and remembered the voice of her mother. Throughout the years, fantasy and reality had merged.

“The asari are working on a cure, you know? Got help from the turians and salarians. It’s looking pretty good and you’ll be up in no time.”

Juniper licked her hips, regretting not having a drink before this. “It’ll be strange, I guess. You’re father’s last secret.” He’d never trusted his children enough. Kept his secrets to himself, seldom spoke of his wife. And Juniper hated him for that. Even his death didn’t make her whole again. She still carried a hole in her heart and a childish dream of his approval and love.

“Everything has changed so much. We’re not even in the same galaxy any more. Wait until you hear the story about the Archon and how I totally kicked his ass.” Juniper shook her head, remembering their last encounter. “I’m such a powerful biotic now. Finally able to control my powers and all. You’ve always scolded me for being irresponsible with them. We need to find other things to talk about now.” Would she believe her? It sounded strange. At least, there were vids of her heroics and the tales of her crew and allies.

“”And … I’m in love. For the first time.” Juniper chuckled. “Elon is a bit nervous, though, because Scott told him some stories about you.” Juniper would spare her the details of her twin punching him. 

“Remember when I brought that cute asari home? She seemed so impressed with you that she never spoke about dating me again and sent you flowers for about a month?” Some things just weren’t meant to be.

“But he’s nice. A bit gruff on the outside, but he’s a good one.” And he’d stayed at her side through everything. An engineer turned teacher, then lover and best friend. Sometimes his scarred hands had been the only thing keeping her together.

“We’ll have some dinner, wine, and a talk about the future. You’ll fit in just fine. So many bright minds have gathered here and it’ll be fun to show you all of our settlements. Humans have come such a long way.” Juniper hung her head. Ignoring her own tears and the lump in her throat.

recent things from twitter perfectly summing up what im into rn lol....

Second round of some of my mutuals’ Ryders.

Soli (@lady-pounce-a-lot) | Cassie (@guileandgall) | Ursula (@rock-paperback-scissors) | Winter (mine) | Juniper (@continuousspec) | Asha (@syzara) | Skyler (@thievinghippo) | Maia (@faejilly) | Selene (@fereldanwench) | Billie (mine) | Eloise (@hornkerling)

second day of fictober!

Mass Effect Andromeda

Juniper Ryder x OC (Elon Miller) / sfw

“Here you are. Already tired of your party?” Elon sat down at Juniper’s side, shoulders barely touching and legs stretched out in front of him. “They’re throwing it in your honor, you know?”

Shrugging, she continued to watch the arriving ships and the ones that left. Juniper’s legs dangled down the platform, probably breaking some regulation or another. “Got a bit stuffy in there and hearing a cheering crowd gets boring after a bit.”

A bottle appeared in her line of sight. Glorious, heavy glass filled with an amber liquid.

Juniper’s eyes widened. “You got beer?”

“The good stuff. Earth imported, 600 year old vintage.”

“Damn.” She could in fact remember the last time she’d shared a bottle of beer with someone and where it happened and the memory spoke of easier days and real sunshine and her brother laughing and making stupid jokes. Right now, Scott was nowhere to be seen. Neither was Cora and Juniper seemed pretty sure that the two of them celebrated in their own way. Not that she wanted to know the details.

Elon took a sip. “Do we drink to something?”

“Sure.”

“Not to you, of course. That would be lame and you’re already tired of hearing your name and congratulations on being the best Pathfinder, defeater of the scourge, hero of our civilization.” His lazy smile made her insides squirm. It’d been one of the first things she’d noticed about him, back in training and back when he was nothing more than a teacher. Talking about conflicted feelings and all. Luckily those days lay in a far away past.

Juniper answered with a laugh and took a sip herself. “Totally.” The beer tasted earthy and a bit too sweet to her liking, but she treasured every drop.

“Oh, I got something.” Elon moved closer and wrapped an arm around her shoulders. He smelled comforting, musk and oil and beer and harsh soap. And he felt impossible warm, even with the temperature of the Nexus regulated to fit every species’ needs.  

“Here is to us. May we’ll have beer under every sun and moon in the galaxy.”

“Shit, Elon. That sounded almost romantic.” Juniper patted his hand.

“I’m a guy of many talents.”

“That I know.” An Angaran cruiser landed. Without her and the help of her crew none of this would’ve happened. Juniper tried not to think about it too much, because she liked having a normal sized head. Celebrations seemed appropriate and also rather tiring and she hated the superficial smiles and the shaking of hands. 

They watched the departing Angarans in silence. No one seemed to notice the pair of humans sitting on the higher levels of the port, sharing a bottle of beer.

Juniper felt Elon’s eyes on her and his voice seemed quiet. “What’s next for us?”

“Don’t know. We’ll have to rescue the Quarians and the Drell, of course.” Surely not an easy task and one that she’d start in the morrow. She rubbed her neck. “And shit, mother. I have to wake mother up from cryo, once they found a cure for her illness.”

She blanched at the thought. Having her aboard the Arc seemed so surreal. One of her father’s best kept secrets and a final prove of his distrust towards his children. Mother. Juniper tried to wrap her head around the thought of having her back in her life and found nothing but fear and grief.

Elon, noticing the shift in her mood, inched even closer, head resting on her shoulder and eyes warm. His breath tickled her ear. “And here I was, happy to not have to endure another member of the Ryder family giving me the talk. Scott already did that. Many, many times.”

She chuckled, remembering when Scott did more than talk and beat Elon, because of some code of brotherly honor. 

“Scott loves hearing himself talk.”

“Oh, he does.” And she adored him for that. At times. Juniper smiled. “And don’t be afraid. I’ll protect you from her motherly wrath.”

his stupid bedroom eyes and his stupid cute line about “wanting to be someone” and his stupid whiskey and his stupid smugness.

and his hidden softness

and that he can’t stop talking and thinking about Ryder

and that he is far less subtle than he thinks

and the way the sun sets on his face

I just

The Ryder Files

Juniper Hesther Ryder

Combat Class: Vanguard Personality Type: emotional/sarcastic Love Interest: Liam Kosta

Major Decisions: 

Chose to rescue the angara at the facility on Voeld, but shot the Kett Priest in the back.  

Saved the Salarian Pathfinder (too cute to not rescue)  

Supported the Charlatan’s rule of Kadara Port  

Gave the Remnant Drive Core to the Krogans  

Nominated Krogan leader as Andromeda’s representative.

Other relevant Information: Juniper has a rather outgoing personality, bordering on bubbly, very chatty, open-minded, flirty, friendly, but deemed too loud by some, polite to a point, and good at drinking and card-games, biotics, hand to hand combat, and she tries to hug everything and every one (crewmates, her brother, every kind of alien wildlife - friendly or not - ) She also collects rocks (the shimmering and pretty kind) and is a geologist. 

Juniper is not very good with actual feelings, though, and tries to deflect everything with humor, which can be pretty annoying, if you’re trying to have a deeper kind of conversation with her about anything. You can also bet that she is going to do a lot of group hug sessions on board of the Tempest. Trying to solve problems with strong arms and a pat on the back. Bigger problems may be solved with some old-fashioned armwrestling… No wonder that she’s on good terms with most of the Krogans. Juniper believes in fair chances and shits on prejudices. 

I have a whole story and headcanon about Juniper falling in love with an engineer back in the Andromeda training, Elon Miller, who’s quite a few years older than her and who balanced her bubbly personality. Depending on the story, he died during meeting the Scourge or is alive and well and still the love of her life (and Scott hates him).

Her romance with Liam is based on feeling alone and cold and seeking someone to warm her bed and later a deep friendship. Their feelings took their sweet time, because Juniper wasn’t ready to begin something new, but his natural warmth got her in the end.

This was fun. Your turn!  The game is tell us about your Ryder(s) and use the tag “ryder files” so anyone playing the game can learn about them, even if they’re not following you...  Tag three friends who might be interested, and check the tag often to see what other Ryders are out there!

<3 thanks! took me ages and all

Liam Kosta x Juniper Ryder (sfw/slight spoilers)

prompts

They’d been driving around the mountains of Eos for a while now, searching and destroying any possible treat to their colony. Beside the usual Khett presence and some over confident mercenaries, everything felt quiet and in order. Juniper was almost ready to get bored. Almost. To be completely honest she loved Eos and the hope and how its victories made her forget about Scott and her father and all the battles, which had yet to be fought.

“Shit,Ryder, stop the Nomad.” Juniper grabbed the stirring wheel a bittighter and tried to look at Liam whose face seemed glued to thefront window, eyes wide and curious.

Sheraised her brows. “What? Now?” Liam nodded and Juniper shruggedand maybe rolled her eyes a bit, which earned her a chuckle fromVetra on the backseat. At times, she thought that maybe he faced thesame problems concerning concentration and the general direction ofthoughts. Always a bit too much and always a bit too fast. Borderingon recklessness and eager to follow his impulses on every whim.

“Come on. Open that damn thing.” Liam’swhole body bristled with energy and Juniper jumped out of the Nomad andfollowed his direction.