No, this is not the beginning of another massive story I'm working on. I was playing ME3 during my random drought in updates (which I apologize for, again) and decided Tali needed her date with Shepard, too. The little conversation was nice, but I don't see the dear Commander stopping there for the girl he loves. So I wrote this in about four hours, saved it, and kept it here until I finished "The End of a War." After editing the living crap out of this thing, I thought I should give you guys something to make the after-holiday Monday a little more bearable. After all, most of us will be suffering from stomach aches and hangovers during our first day back to work.
This piece has actually turned out to be one of the biggest pain-in-my-a** stories ever. Not long after I finished it, I stuck it on deviantArt, just because. (Don't worry: there's no other stories there that aren't on here. I wanted to use this to test the waters.) Anyway, I posted it a lot earlier than I should have and did almost none of the necessary edits and proof-reading it deserved. I started editing it and cut out the entire swimming scene. I thought it just pushed what I usually write in a direction I didn't like. After about the twentieth time of reading it, I started arguing with myself whether or not to keep that section. I thought it wasn't bad, but it was too weird for me. My two halves fought for I don't know how long, never coming to an conclusion. I broke down and messaged one of my followers and got him to give me advice. He said that the newer version was better because of the general cleaning up, but the swimming scene ought to be kept because it's unique. After another few days of arguing, I decided to combine that scene back into the new edit and take my chances. Hope you all decide it was worth all of my mental craziness. This thing cost me sleep.
For my legion of insane following minions, here's a taste of things to come from me. I've got a very rough draft started of my next multi-piece story. I mean "I can't believe I wrote this" rough, and less than two chapters written. I have a decent plan for the rest of it though. Anyway, it's about Tali and Shepard's earlier days in their relationship. It'll take place about a week after the suicide mission of Mass Effect 2, but before the jail break for Amanda Kenson. Having destroyed the Collector base and told Cerberus to f*** off, Shepard and crew have spent all of their time in space scrubbing the ship of any trace of the organization. Knowing full well that the crew needs time to unwind after the mission, Shepard's got Joker docking back on Illium for a few days of shore leave. It will be a two night, one day (and one morning, probably) story of our favorite trio being themselves and getting into trouble. I'll explain all of that again in-story when I get to it, but thought you all would like a hint.
The thing I want to do with it are two big things. The first is bring in a little bit of Shepard's history and personality out. He's not going to meet his long-lost father or anything, but he'll meet an old friend and explain why he does some of the stupid stunts he does. The other is show a growth in Shepard and Tali's relationship. While ME3 did a great job of showing the change, it really didn't show that build up. You don't go from lovers to in love, wanting to marry overnight. I want there to be this subtle change throughout the story, as they go from the flirty couple into the pairing that we all love. I won't give the how's or why's, but I did leave a few hints in my other stories. You'll see. I promise. I'm giving a rough estimate of starting to publish it in May. I want to play through the entire series again for more inspiration, and read some fanfics for fresh ideas. I'm not promising on the date, but that's what it looks about to be. Wish me luck.
~ Yours truly,
Machinist's Guardian Archangel
P.S: I would really like to do a piece on a wedding for these two, but I have absolutely no idea where to start. I've never been to a wedding or read anything about one. If anyone has a recommendation of what I can read to get some ideas, please PM me. I'll take fanfics, poetry, novels, anything that could give me some clue as to what I can do. (as long as there's nothing sexually explicit in them. Keep it rated-R or M. That means no Fifty Shades of Gray.) I'm not making any promises on that piece, since it's so weird to me, but it's something I would like to do. You have my PM address if you have advice.
P.P.S: I apologize if I offended any of my fans by calling you "my legion of insane following minions." I have to find ways to keep myself entertained, and this helped. Well, that, and the fact that it sounds better than "giant group of anonymous people who like my writing."
