Stellar Parallax

Chapter 12: Dig

The bar was already in hell.

Rating: Mature

Chapter WC: 11,617

Warning(s): violence, gore

Preview below the cut.

{READ HERE ON AO3}

John never invited her anywhere nice, Jane thought, watching the lava rivers gurgle and burp across the landscape as they landed. Well… that wasn’t entirely fair, was it? Maybe he’d invited her somewhere pleasant once or twice in the many emails she’d sent straight to digital hell. The last place she’d actually accepted had been to an iceball masquerading as a ski resort where she’d almost frozen her toes off and all their friends had died. All the furniture she and Palaven’s newest Primarch desecrated and-or broke in his private suite afterwards couldn’t quite salvage that one.

Just once, it would be nice if he invited her somewhere with white sand and clear water and banger margaritas and no potential loss of life or limb.

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Helix Taglist: @sparatus @thetrashbagswasteland @teamdilf @tabswrites @starknstarwars @sparrow-orion-writes @captain-kraken @cljordan-imperium

Ask to +/- in the tags, replies, DMs, or HERE!

WIP Whenever

@stormikins and @swaps55 tagged me for this like a week ago or so, and I am just now getting to it.

tagging @otemporanerys @mallaidhsomo @nickelkeep @bleuzombie and @imbiowaresbitch if you're so inclined

I was originally planning on writing this for a spec reqs treat this year, but I am quite confident I am not going to finish it any time soon, so I've decided to just write it on my own time and gift it to the person I'm writing it for separately.

Anyway, cowboy vampires in space

“It was Vido,” Zaeed says as he starts carefully inspecting his ablative plates. Shepard’s hand stills over his chest plate, and he looks at Zaeed, thick eyebrows drawn in confusion. “What?” “You asked how I fucked up my face. It was Vido.” He keeps his eyes on the heavy plating in front of him, fingers running over the surface in search of even the smallest crack or imperfection. It’s still early enough to fabricate a new piece if he needs to. “Had six of my men hold me down while he held a gun to my head, and he still didn’t manage to finish the job properly.” “That’s rough,” Shepard says, slipping his arms into the sleeves of his under armor. There’s another colorful tattoo on his chest, part of it visible just above the neckline of his A-shirt, but Zaeed can’t tell what it is. “At least you survived.” “Yeah.” He’d been damn lucky some young asari doctor had found him bleeding out in a dark Omega back alley. Zaeed glances up and gestures toward the long scar on Shepard’s face. “What about yours?” Shepard zips his under armor and turns away. His voice is soft and far away when he says, “Mindoir.” There’s not a human in the galaxy that isn’t familiar with the batarian raid on the farming colony of Mindoir. Brutal shit. The kind of thing that gives you nightmares even if you hadn’t had to live through it. The kind of thing that can break a man. Clearly hadn’t broken Shepard, though. “That where you got fanged?” “No,” he says with a quiet laugh edged by bitterness. “That was Torfan. Did you know batarian slavers collar their vampires and use them as front line cannon fodder?” Zaeed shakes his head and pulls on his under armor. “Yeah, we didn’t either.” Zaeed remembers seeing the news feeds after Torfan. Another bit of nasty business. Almost an entire company of Alliance Marines had died wiping out the batarians there. Some young lieutenant listed among the casualties had gotten smeared pretty good by the media. Zaeed grunts and raises an eyebrow. “You’re the Butcher of Torfan?” “That’s what the ANN says.” Shepard doesn’t elaborate, and Zaeed doesn’t ask. None of his business, really. Even if he is curious. Even if he prefers having every goddamn bit of information he can get his hands on. Even if ‘Butcher’ doesn’t quite add up to what he’s seen from Shepard. “Least you survived.” “Not sure this counts,” Shepard says with a snort. Zaeed shrugs, and moves to help Shepard with his armor. “Anything this side of the dirt counts, Shepard.”

Chapters: 11/11 Words: 82,814 Fandom: Mass Effect Trilogy, Mass Effect: Andromeda, Mass Effect - All Media Types Rating: Mature Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence Relationships: Saren Arterius/Nihlus Kryik, Macen Barro/Avitus Rix Characters: Saren Arterius, Nihlus Kryik, Sparatus (Mass Effect), Fedorian (Mass Effect), Benezia (Mass Effect), Aethyta (Mass Effect), Hannah Shepard, Macen Barro, Anita Goyle, Avitus Rix, Original Mass Effect Character(s) Additional Tags: Background Relationships, Murder Mystery, Mission Fic, Pre-Canon, Established Relationship, Friends With Benefits, Best Friends, Mutual Pining, Alternate Universe - No Reapers (Mass Effect), Implied/Referenced Sex, Non-Explicit Sex, Blood and Violence, Character Death Series: Part 1 of Dead Parents Club Murder Mysteries Summary: It was supposed to be an easy assignment. Practically a mandatory vacation, even. When Saren and Nihlus are sent to babysit an interspecies summit on Elysium, they're all set for a nice, relaxing stay at a scenic resort. Good food, luxury amenities, plenty of time unsupervised to cause chaos on purpose... Finally, for once, a mission they can enjoy. But all that is brought to a screeching halt when one of the diplomats is found murdered in his bed, with the doors and windows locked from the inside - and wouldn't you know it, here's two Spectres on the scene with nothing better to do.

Cut off from the outside world by a blizzard the first night, it's up to the Council's golden children to solve the case the old-fashioned way, with nothing but their wits and their own claws. Can they find the killer before they strike again - or before tensions at the summit boil over?

IT’S FINISHED! it’s done! after a YEAR of work, and using nano for crunch time to motivate myself, to catch a rabbit aka kryterius murder mystery is complete!! 🎉🎉🎉

i’ll be taking a brief break from writing for the rest of the year (mostly, unless a challenge pops up or a one-shot idea just demands to be written), but this isn’t the end of the murder bird adventures - there’s two sequels and a prequel planned, plus some one-shots! stay tuned, and in the meantime, enjoy the whole mystery in its entirety! see you in a few months for through the bars!

Chapters: 1/12 Fandom: Mass Effect Trilogy, Mass Effect (Comics), Mass Effect - All Media Types Rating: Teen And Up Audiences Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply Relationships: Abrudas/Desolas Arterius, Saren Arterius/Nihlus Kryik Characters: Saren Arterius, Desolas Arterius, Abrudas (Mass Effect), Original Turian Character(s), Nihlus Kryik Additional Tags: Retirement, Disabled Character, Prosthesis, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD, Family Secrets, Family Dynamics, Companion Piece, Tags May Change, Injury Recovery Series: Part 6 of Exponential Differentiation Summary: While Shepard and Nihlus are off playing hide-and-seek with Cerberus, Saren returns home to Palaven to finally, finally rest. After nasty encounters with hostile humans on the Citadel leave Desolas on edge, Saren is ready for everything to go back to normal once they're safely ensconced in turian space so he can get his new leg built in peace... except, then it doesn't. There's old ghosts climbing the front step and skeletons knocking on the closet door, and each new report from Nihlus about what Cerberus is up to only makes it worse. Something sinister has followed him to his brother's home - or maybe it was there all along.

Companion work to In the Land of Giants.

sorry not sorry the concept of what’s happening back on palaven with the arteriuses as Things Get Worse wouldn’t leave me alone

there’ll be one chapter of memory for each story arc of itlog, plus two at the start for saren’s initial homecoming at the same time as blood in the water and for the period between where the wind rests and nihlus rejoining shepard at the beginning of itlog. title is from the things they carried by tim o’brian, You’ll See Why :)

"I die when I say I die"

Geno by Crayon Queen/LoverOfPiggies

Reaper by Renrink

I dunno, new AU

what i mean when i say i like afterdeath btw

geno belongz to loverofpiggies reaper belongz to renrink

I feel a little cringe... BUT THAT'S WHAT WE'RE HERE FOR BABY‼️‼️‼️💥💥💥

A redraw of my greatest materpiece, except I added 15 GODAMN CHARACTERS. There are 20 people here and I have gone progressively insane and I have almost cried umm 5 times

If you've seen a drawing similar uhhh no you haven't (it's still very much up on my past accounts)

Some comm snas designs I made in a while :3

They all from same shift au hehe

I wanted to post this on Geno's bday but-

There we have it, CPAU redraw 😭

Geno belongs to CrayonQueen Reaper belongs to Renrink US Papyrus belongs to Popcorn Pr1nce Sans belongs to Toby Fox

if not, winter

What happens when your ex, who you definitely don’t still have feelings for, is your only hope?

After an explosive breakup, Nyreen and Aria go their separate ways — sort of. While Nyreen licks her wounds and moves on with her life, Aria lets them fester and lets the station rot around her. Cerberus has a nasty habit of throwing wrenches where they don’t belong, though, and Aria’s boat gets rocked enough to capsize entirely. With her kingdom in shambles, her rotten station seized, and her goddamn couch stolen right out from under her, everything seems hopeless — until Nyreen swoops in with her resistance to take it all back.

But will she take Aria back, too?

Rating: Explicit

Wordcount: 15,809

Chapters: 11/11

Tags:

More info, playlist, and preview below the cut.

{READ HERE ON AO3}

FINALLY i can reveal what the fuck i've been working on for MONTHS: my entry for mebb 2023 and also (technically) the fourth book of Helix. i had the privilege of working with @tentacledix, who made the incredible art and the banner for this fic!!

naturally, there's a playlist:

as well as music recs in each chapter.

acknowledgements: big thanks to my fellow mebb authors who graciously kept this thing going when i wanted to quit like fifteen times. y’all know who you are.

preview:

Then he dragged in a scrawny, pale-plated turian who had the gumption to stomp right up Aria’s stairs and demand a job, just like that. No references, no resume, no respect. Garka had a gun to her head before she’d finished taking a step forward. The turian had Garka disarmed and on the floor before the rest of them could blink. Nyreen Kandros. No rank like most of the military rejects tried to cling to, but she still used her full legal. Dipshit. “No handle?” Aria simpered. Nyreen flicked her mandible. “Only on my knives.” “Barefaced brat,” Grizz spat under his breath. She rattled back a slew of insults Aria was sure Grizz couldn’t spell with a dictionary in front of him. He had a point, though. Kandros wasn’t a family name one just threw around, and it was odd that one of theirs had wound up on her doorstep without a speck of blue anywhere on her. Aria stretched her arms across the back of the couch. “You’re either very brave or very stupid, and neither of those is any use to me.” “Good,” Nyreen huffed, crossing her arms. “Because I’m neither one of those, ma’am.” Anto choked on his drink. “Ma’am,” he wheezed. “My apologies,” the interloper sneered. “I’m neither one of those, Your Majesty.” She even sketched a bow, glancing up at Aria beneath her browplates. Insubordinate dipshit. Aria swiped Anto’s drink and took a sip. “So what are you, then, if you’re not brave or stupid?” There was the posture everyone expected of a well-bred bird. Nyreen straightened up, held her head high, clicked her heels twice — oh, she still had that stick jammed right up her pretty little— “Loyal, Your Majesty. I’m loyal and efficient.”

“I’m always gonna love you…”

A promise of love…

But that’s when the God realized promises were only reassurances in the moment…

in which our heroes meet up with the leaders of the batarian resistance to learn more about potential cerberus victims, miranda postpones an existential crisis, and the next step in the hunt is revealed. and then problems immediately occur, because nothing can be easy, ever.

everybody say hiiiii <3 to the resistance’s spymaster syril’rahza he’s quarian soundwave and he’s a fucked up little weirdo i love him very much

Exponential Differentiation Series Masterpost

welcome welcome, we’re now [checks notes] 3 major installments and some extras into my big no-reapers au, so it’s probably high time i actually make a big masterpost for it, huh?

Features

Premise: 50,000 years ago, the Protheans were able to complete the Crucible, but by the time of firing, their population had been reduced to unsustainability. Their technology still remained for the later species, but the Reapers would never return. All’s well that ends well, right? Well, not quite. When a routine artifact retrieval on Eden Prime once more goes awry, new Special Tactics candidate Matteo Shepard is thrown headfirst into the fray, hunting down the mysterious team that attacked the colony - and stumbling across something so much bigger than they ever could have imagined.

Our Hero: Matteo Shepard, DMAB nonbinary (they/he pronouns). Native of Terra Nova, Matteo’s mother disappeared at a young age, leaving their family fractured and their trust in others on shaky legs. When their team’s investigation into the disappearing colony of Akuze leaves all but themselves and two others (that they know) dead and them needing intensive psychiatric care, they withdraw in on themselves, not wanting to get close enough to other people to be hurt again. Unfortunately for them, the universe disagrees with this plan.

The Crew: The Normandy crew has been supplemented with a whole host of other Shepards imported into a different canon OCs to flesh out the crew, as well as a couple familiar faces - Nihlus Kryik, mentoring Shepard for the Spectres, is a fixture on the team, and his rude shadow Saren Arterius is (very grudgingly, because the boss said he had to) coming along for the ride. Beyond the Normandy’s hull, the rest of the galaxy’s got a lot of new faces too, both friend and foe, ranging from Saren’s secretive family to the batarian Resistance and back again! Both canon characters and OCs join the party to bring the awfully empty galaxy to life...

Most Wanted: ... including the antagonists, of course. An entirely new team of mini-boss antagonists causes problems for Shepard left and right as Shepard explores the depths of Cerberus’s depravity, and an enemy often overlooked gets their own time to shine, with a subplot all their own, because I think they deserved better and had a lot of potential, and I’m the author so I decide the subplots, dammit. (You didn’t think I mentioned the batarian Resistance up there just for fun, did you?)

Love and All That: It's no Truck Shepard and the Space Kissing Adventure, of course, but we're not leaving romance off the table entirely! There's both established relationships and budding relationships for the discerning connoisseur. A couple of them are even majorly plot relevant, check the AO3 tags. Endgame for Matteo themselves is with Jack, but we have to get there first ;)

Links

Full Series: Exponential Differentiation

Broken Mirror: Start here! The first fic in the series. 333k words, completed. The adventure begins on Eden Prime, as usual, but takes a turn for the Something Else when the beacon is assaulted instead by a human strike team, launching a manhunt across the stars that quickly spirals into something so much bigger than Shepard ever could have imagined. [LINK]

Blood in the Water: A novella in-between-quel set maybe a month after Broken Mirror. 50k words, completed. Shepard is taking a much-needed break from the hunt for Cerberus when an unwelcome guest turns up on their doorstep with dire news. It's a race against time to stop batarian terrorist Ka'hairal Balak and his genocidal plans, but this time, with some help: half-mad salarian Spectre Gurji Taeja and her pals from the batarian Resistance, Tarvok and Teezh Shad'derah. [LINK]

Where the Wind Rests: Two-shot glimpsing what Nihlus has been up to while Shepard was dealing with Balak. 8.6k words, completed. Nihlus takes a detour to Palaven to visit Saren and get an answer for an important question. [LINK]

In the Land of Giants: The second major installment. Currently in progress! With Hislop dead and Terra Nova safe, Shepard is back on the hunt for Cerberus. A friend's disappearance and a strange message both point them to Omega, where they encounter a surprising new ally... [LINK]

The Weight of Memory: Novella companion piece to In the Land of Giants. Currently in progress! While Shepard and Nihlus continue the hunt for Cerberus, Saren returns home to Palaven to get his new leg built and adjust to retirement. Unfortunately, the problems for the Arterius clan are getting too big to just retreat from and wait for the storm to pass... [LINK]

Thinking about afterdeath during this month 😭💘

Dialogue below cut cause my handwriting is awful :

Reaper : Awww! Look at my cute wife taking care of our baby 💙!

Geno : Call me wife again and you won't be able to make any more babies

Reaper (quietly) : 😅 okay

Geno (quietly) : Goth, baby, don't chew on Mom's scarf