S'up, guys, I'm Sslerok.

I know others on this site like to give profile statistics (age, gender, current level of schooling, the classics), but I figured I'd just tell a short story.

Way back when, before I was aware this site existed, I was a casual denizen of the Internet as well as a casual gamer. No endless games of COD or Battlefield, and only a few forays into Halo Multiplayer. For me, one of my greatest sources of entertainment is discovering a great story, be it book, movie, T.V. show, anime, or video game. I almost feel bad that I haven't picked up an actual book and binge read through it, like I used to with the Harry Potter books or the Redwall series (both of which I highly recommend), in years.

I had a passing awareness of the idea of "Fan Fiction," often scathingly referred to by some witty Abridged Series or snarky (sometimes accurate) YouTube mockumentary as wish-fulfilling, painfully executed, grammatically appalling smut. And of course, we all know the rather infamous story of how one particular fan fiction bizarrely received the goodwill of the original concept's author, became a series of bestsellers, and is getting a movie adaptation, of all things. Ugh.

But for me, my initial, albeit reluctant, dive into this strange new world resulted from a little Xbox 360 game called Mass Effect 3 (and don't worry, this isn't going to be an angry rant against what is, foregoing the last fifteen minutes, a phenomenal game. That's a can of worms for another day.). As many would guess, I was left feeling dumbfounded at how such an amazing series of games could just...fizzle, particularly with an ending and dénouement that defied the logic of the game's world, spat in the face of all the choices and sacrifices you made, and made no sense. I quote GRArkada: "To me, the ending is paramount!" I stopped playing the series, followed the news as the other fans rightfully made their voices known, and hoped against hope that the Indoctrination Theory would be vindicated.

And it was during this time that I found a story from this site that worked around the endings, pulled Shepard through with one last choice in an altered, plausible situation, and gave their take on a Mass Effect ending, not in sunshine and happiness, but in choice and consequence, which was the original spirit of the series to begin with. I never remembered that story, but it was a start.

And the rest, as they say, is history.

I was hooked. For a few years, I snuck around anonymously on the site, searching for stories to sate my various interests. And, as is true according to Sturgeon's Law, I've waded through some pretty rancid stuff here, as we all have at some point. Not just the endless Twilight love fests or obsessive yaoi shipping (which amuses, irritates, and terrifies me depending on the day), but the half-realized visions pushed from the nest too soon, or the novel concepts trapped by crippling bad grammar.

However, the flip side of Sturgeon's Law is that there are always gems in the river of sludge. These are the ones that make it to the surface, or in this case, the top of the Favorites tab. These are the ones that truly take advantage of the unusual freedom this sub culture can express: The ability to say "what if..." and exercise our brains in love of the stories that originally took our hearts and minds by storm.

Because deep down, we know we can't change canon in real life.

But here?

Hmm...what if...