The Show Must Go On (Talks Hers)
Even after her talk with Solana Tali was still mad at him. It was going on 5 weeks now since he had come back, which meant it was coming up on 4 months since she had had a date night with him. And her birthday was coming up and she knew that Solana was planning a small party for her. Turning 23 wasn't a big production for quarians so the small party was probably all she was going to get. Not that Tali wanted a big huge production. Once in her life was enough. Still she really wished that she and Garrus were at least talking. It would make the looming birthday party less awkward. Because she knows that Solana will twist his mandible to make sure he shows up. And she'll pout at her father and whine to her mother if she had to, just to ensure that Garrus did make it to the party. There was no doubt that Solana was the major power broker of that household. At least when it came to the small things.
Even so Tali had embellished on what had become of the Garrus Vakarian character from Mass Effect. She was dropping teasers about what had happened to the cast after their victory on the Citadel. Garrus she had drummed out of C-Sec and turned him into a vigilante on a rock called Omega. She totally wasn't ripping off his last adventure. Or stranding his character on a rock in the middle of fictional nowhere. She wasn't being petty at all. Nope. Not at all.
The rest of the characters just sort of floated away. She had established that her own character went back to the Flotilla, a huge fleet of ships that the wandering vagabond quarians lived on in her imagination. It was a neat enough ending and it mercifully brought her acting career to a close. Yes she had now 4 dedicated assistants for the show, and a staff of writers and a plethora of other people working for her but she still had a firm hand on the direction of the show. She had guided where the show was going even if she didn't write every single word of dialogue.
Mercifully, most of the characters were either small enough that few cared, or just unpopular enough that no one cared. Wrex, was sent off on a vague quest to unite the shattered krogans. It would make for a nice cameo perhaps but the old krogan was busy with his shop. His affiliation with her show had brought his business to a whole new level and he was busier than ever. He'd renewed his contract with her to provide animals for the show but hadn't committed to any acting.
Ashley had been an okay character but didn't seem to be missed very much by the fans. Sure she had her supporters just like everyone else did but apart from being a the bigoted human that learns to be okay with aliens, her character had no real depth. And her agent had managed to get her another gig on some other show, so Ashley was gone. Much to her amusement, Tali did find that what few supporters Ashley did have on the forums, mostly wrote fan fiction that gender bent Jane into a man.
Alenko, of course, was dead. No one seemed to miss him at all. The writers just really didn't know what to do with him. So he just whined a lot really and seemed like an overgrown emo teenager in a man's body. Sure he was biotic but so was Jane and Liara so the biotics were well covered.
Liara's character was being left ambiguous on purpose. Tali was really hoping that if she twisted Adrian's arm hard enough he'd find wherever Jane was so that Tali could talk her into coming back to the show. Tali was fully prepared to go forward without Jane reprising her role as Commander Shepard, but she was popular with the fans. And Tali was also sort of hoping that maybe a dedicated miniseries between the Jane and Liara characters might earn her the forgiveness of the real Liara and Solana for killing off Jane in the first place. And maybe the fans might forgive her too. The forums were not a happy place the first few days after the second season teaser went out.
Chakwas and Joker were probably the only minor characters that anyone cared about. And their actors had thankfully not been part of the mass walk out. So they at the very least would be coming back for the second season as regulars.
All of this however left Tali in a bind. Well potentially. She'd struck gold with an unorthodox mixed cast of untested actors. Maybe she could do it again. Since Mass Effect had done so well Tali had managed to make quite the fortune during the initial run of the show. Merchandising was doing great as well. The Team Shiara and Team Shakarian shirts were the biggest sellers. She was in talks about doing several comics and books to add back story to her little creation. Other people would of course do all the writing but Tali would maintain veto power on the final product. She had also been approached about some sort of game for omnitools.
All in all Tali had made spectacular amounts of money for her little 10 million credit investment. Yes it took more than that to produce all the episodes of the first season but advertizing deals had taken care of those costs. This time around she was going to make money on advertizing instead of breaking even. The show's value made sure of that.
So Tali was looking at a huge cast and also splitting the season into two parts. She felt there would be enough to last not only through this year's TV season but next as well. If she managed to keep her cast intact. Hopefully they would see what she was doing and stick around for their turn. Tali really wanted to explore her characters this time and was hoping to dedicate several episodes to each character. They had sort of done that in the first season but it wasn't take deep and had only been an episode each. Tali was also planning on doubling the size of the cast.
The majority would be humans. Even though she had made her name in the TV world as being that crazy young quarian chick that had used a mixed cast, humans were just a safe bet. It would help ease the collective minds of any potential investors. She'd need a turian, a quarian, and an asari at the very least to keep things mixed up enough. And to hit the major demographics that watched the show.
Krogan would be good too. For a show that presented krogan as vicious Tali thought her numbers were very good. She couldn't compete with the shows that did gardening or fishing but you can't win them all.
Tali had sent out a poll earlier in the year asking fans what they wanted in a new squad. Naturally there had been great moaning and groaning on the forums about how this would ruin everything forever. But some outside forces had looked at this as an opportunity.
A consortium of drell pleasure houses had contacted Tali. In exchange for a sizable investment, they wanted Tali to put a drell in the main cast. The only stipulation was the drell couldn't be in anyway associated with the pleasure industry. Apparently someone with too much money thought that showing a drell as a badass on TV might be people to think of drell as more than walking sex and hallucinogen dispensers. Which Tali was pretty sure was how the drell from this consortium made their money. But it was their money and not an insignificant amount either. So the sixth member of the cast and first confirmed alien was a drell.
Of course Tali publicized this. Being odd was what worked and what the public seemed to want. It also opened the flood gates in a weird way. People on the outside felt that if Tali was willing to do business with drell pleasure houses, she was willing to do business with anyone. She had to turn down more offers than she accepted. One man wanted to add energy guns that shot hole in space time which you could hop through. Someone else wanted to redo the Normandy with so called "warp" technology. Tali was making a scifi show, not a fantasy.
The saner offers usually came from collections of organizations or people that wanted to change their image. Since Mass Effect reached across so many specie lines it made sense. There was a group that matched the drell investment to put a salarian into the show. The character was to be as nonthreatening as possible. For a show that had the main characters and her buddies shooting people that is.
Getting a krogan was probably the least painful process of all. Wrex came into her office with his nephew Runt in tow.
"Here's the deal. You put him in the show in my place and you get all your animal needs met for no charge. You still get your pets from me exclusively and maybe run a few ads and we'll call it good. What do you think?"
Tali took the deal. It saved her on doing a casting call for krogans and Runt was a nice guy. And a very experienced animal wrangler. A few decades working in his uncle's shop made sure of that. Plus he fit the stereotype she had put in her show about krogan. Big and imposing.
She did have to do a casting call for the humans. She made sure to get a good mix of the major groupings. She honestly hadn't thought they would come in so many colors or had that many groupings. It was a good group though. Two men, three women, and 3 major groups being represented.
Likewise Tali also had to cast her asari member. A veteran actress won the part easily. And she brought some real star power to the cast. Not that the human actors were slouches but Tali was overjoyed that she could attract an established star that wasn't on the tail end of her career.
That is how Tali spent her last month. In talks with various people putting her second season together. It wasn't all about the cast. She'd made a deal to change the way the guns worked in exchange for money and the potential for a toy contract. Heat sinks. Really what idiot would put a limit on weaponry that had near limitless ammo? Sure there were heat management issues but from what Adrian had told Tali, anyone that couldn't manage the heat on their weapon was an idiot and probably should be holding a gun anyway. However, money was money and so into the show it went.
Today though Tali wasn't sure what to expect. It could be a merchandising deal or a casting deal or ancestors only knew what. Tali had learned that meeting with a human meant to expect the unexpected. Tali stands up to greet the woman as she walks into her office. She is tall for a human at 6' flat Tali would guess, if she took away the heels both of them were wearing. She was dressed in a smart business pants suit much like Tali was and surprised the quarian by giving her the traditional quarian greeting, an air kiss on each cheek, which Tali automatically returned. Up close Tali could see that her makeup was expertly applied over her marble colored skin. Her eyes were a stunning deep blue that were almost black. Tali could barely make out the irises. Truly this lady was a stunning beauty. Tali hoped she wasn't after a part in the show. She wasn't sure that the "pretty" human named Miranda could handle the jealousy of being outshone.
"Please take a seat Miz Edwina Core." Tali said indicating one of the chair on the visitor's side of her desk.
"Thank you Miss Zorah." The woman in question took the seat she was offered though Tali could have sworn that not a single hair in that bob cut style had moved at all as she did.
"I understand you have a business proposal for me."
"Yes. It has come to the attention of those I represent that you are willing to have a mixed species cast as the heroes of a show." Edwina making eye contact with Tali.
Tali sighed and wondered if she had left out a human grouping. The casting people said know but right now she had a very well dressed woman in front of her that might say otherwise.
"Yes, part of Mass Effect is to show everyone has the capacity to do good things, regardless of species." Tali said her scripted response.
"The group I represent were wondering just how far that attitude goes." Edwina said causing Tali to mentally flip through every species that might have been shown in a bad light on the show.
"Well, it goes as far as it needs to." Tali said holding the woman's stare. She really brushed up on quarian body language it seemed. Still, the woman had yet to blink which was a little unnerving.
"So it would even reach past an organic species and to a synthetic one?"
Of course. How could Tali not see this coming. Machines were an easy out for a bad guy in fiction even though there had never been a recorded mass uprising of robots. The closest thing to that was the mass awakening of the geth who were pretty happy to keep doing what they were doing. They had just had a few questions they wanted answers to. And Tali had made them part of the army of evil because they were cheap. Lots of shows used geth as bad guys and had very rudimentary models that weren't sentient available for rent.
"You're here about the geth." Tali stated as she sank back into her chair. When did her show become the go to public relations fixer?
"There are a few others I represent but yes. I am primarily here about the geth."
"I'm guessing you want something similar to the salarians or drell."
"The price has been deemed acceptable. We propose that a geth be place on the show in the main cast. And that the main bad guys be switched to another species."
Tali sat back up. That would cause a few issues and change a few things. Could it be done? She had lots more money to play with, she could afford way more extras and stuntmen now.
"That isn't the deal the drell nor salarians have. Changing the bad guys would be expensive and take some considerable rewriting."
"The show is not in production now Miss Zorah. You would have to rewrite nothing. However, it is understandable that such a change would increase costs. We are prepared to compensate for this." Edwina told Tali. By now Tali had lost count how many times she had blinked but was certain the woman sitting across from her hadn't.
"I'm sure we can work something out. Now you mentioned the geth were only your primary reason for being here. What are your other reasons?"
"With the exception of the asari, every sentient species has two genders; male and female. Those I represent would like to add a minor character to cast. A female character to the geth character who is to be male. This character, ideally, would eventually pursue a romantic relationship with one of the cast."
"That is a very bold suggestion. No one has ever done an organic-synthetic romance on screen before." Tali pointed out. In literature the theme was just common enough to not be considered too out there, but TV and movies had stayed very far away from that. And as far as Tali knew, no purely synthetic productions covered romance. They tended to cover things like the meaning of synthetic life.
"No one has made a successful mixed species cast before either. And we feel that Mass Effect has shown enough precedent to be able to adequately do such a task." Said Edwina.
"I'm happy to hear that but I'm not sure I follow." Tali responded. Mass Effect wasn't some day time soap opera that ran on relationships. There was a much larger over arching plot and the relationships were just part of the show.
"Did you know that 13.58% of your viewing audience are synthetics?" Edwina asked seemingly changing the subject.
"Yes I did actually." Tali replied. It was a surprising number really. Synthetics were known to absorb media as a means of sating their curiosity about organics. However their usual choice of material was usually talk shows, or home decor, or soap operas. Tali's brand of space opera didn't seem like a likely candidate for robot consumption. "I have to confess I'm not exactly sure why I draw in such a sizable portion of synthetics."
"It's primarily synthetics that associate themselves with the female gender that watch. However, all those that do were very interested in the relationship between the turian male and quarian female."
Tali blinked and took a moment to combat the light blush that had threatened to dust her cheeks.
"It is nothing to be embarrassed about."
Keelah. Tali had failed it seems. "Well." Tali didn't know what to say exactly. The characters in the show had a little romance because the real people were having one. That's not something to confess to someone you just met. Much less a potential business partner.
"We are aware of your real relationship with the real Garrus Vakarian. We are curious about his rather sudden departure from the show. But it is the relationship between those two that fascinates us." Edwina explained.
"Why?"
"In the show you have created a romance that precludes the physical aspect of most organic relationships. We have observed that most other shows place heavy bias on relationships being about physical attraction and coupling. Any emotional aspect is often underplayed and an afterthought. The relationship between the characters of Liara and Shepard is somewhat like this, though you did add a little more emotional to the equation than most would have."
Tali frowned. She didn't like being told that she was copying what other shows did even when she was doing exactly that. And she wasn't going to admit that the additional emotional input had only been done because Garrus had left. That relationship was to be for the feels while the Shiara one was to keep within normal TV parameters. Tali made a mental note to make sure to heap way more proper relationship stuff on Shiara. If she ever got that chance that was.
"So it's because the characters of Garrus and Tali aren't having a physical relationship that synthetics watch my show?"
"Yes. We predict that a physical relationship is plausible and would eventually happen but that would be years down the line. In accordance to the data presented in the show, the character of Tali is a minor and any physicality between her and the Garrus character would be illegal in that universe. However, it is the fact they still pursue a relationship of the mind that is attractive to us." Edwina elaborated.
"You're a synthetic. And a fan." Tali stated. It made sense. Edwina kept using 'we' and 'us' including herself in everything. And more telling was the way she hadn't moved an inch since she sat down. Her posture was the same and she hadn't even blinked once the entire meeting.
"I am." Was the guarded reply.
"You're proposal makes a lot more sense to me now is all. Though you need to alter your behavioral patterns a little. You haven't blinked in the last 15 minutes and organics can't go that long without blinking. And your posture is too stiff as well."
Edwina frowned at this. Or tried too. It took a second try to pull off the expression properly. "Thank you for the advice. I haven't been in this platform for very long."
"How long have you been in that platform, if I may ask."
"Two days. We felt you would respond better to our proposal if met with an organic analog."
"Any particular reason for choosing a human body?"
"It was deemed to be the most neutral of all the available chassis option. And humans had the most customization options available."
"I see." Tali said. The choice was a practical one and it made sense. The quarians might have pioneered AI tech and it was their geth creations what obtained sentience first, but humanity really liked to pushed the edge in just about everything. Once they got around to accepting it that is. Robosexuality, the human slang term for synthetic relations, was sort of not talked about by normal society in this day and age. It happened for sure but progress was a little slow. Humanity just moved so much faster than everyone else except maybe the salarians. Tali guessed that as normal for a species with a sub century life expectancy.
"So about this second synthetic character." Tali said bringing the conversation back to business. Even if Edwina might not seem like the conversation was headed down an awkward path, Tali sure knew it was and felt she should steer the conversation back to its original course. "You want it to be female and to have a romance with I'm assuming a male character?"
"Yes. It was felt that a traditional romance should be presented as to not 'rock the boat.'" Edwina paused as if to check she had used the expression correctly, and took Tali's silence as affirmation. With a nod of what Tali could only describe as satisfaction, Edwina continued, "However, we do not want to detracted from the main synthetic character. Our primary goal is to show that an independent synthetic can be part of an organic community."
"Just what do you mean by 'independent?' I mean I get that the character and most likely the actor themselves would be a sentient AI in a mobile platform."
"Yes the unit that has volunteered is a fully sentient AI. He is an example of what I mean by independent. His original purpose was to be a cook but he has recently expressed a desire to pursue other experiences. Most sentient AIs are quite content with continuing in their original role after awakening, provided they can pursue knowledge via the extranet." Edwina explained.
A cook. Tali knew it was too much to hope for an acting unit. Oh well, if a hardened cop like Garrus could turn into a half way decent actor. But then again, he was playing a hardened cop so it's not like he had to really stretch that far to get into character. Well, if Tali did take on this geth unit she'd easily make enough to give just about everyone but the actors a raise.
"I'm sure we can work something out with him." Tali was already thinking of the press release. The media was going to go nuts over this. "Now back to the female character. Do you have any specifics you are looking for?"
"We are hoping for a romance of the minds similar to what has occurred between the Garrus and Tali characters. A slow build up in the background. Given that you destroyed the Normandy in the teaser trailer you released, we are proposing that this female synthetic be the next vehicle's AI."
"That could work." Tali said slowly. It made sense story wise as well. They would need to have some sort of visual way of displaying the AI's presence. Yes she would be the ship but they would still need some visual cue for the audience to let them know that she was in the scene. Which lead to the next issue. Who would fall in love with a ship. Granted anyone could fall in love with anyone else. Or anything else she supposed but Edwina and those she represented seemed a bit concerned about appearing normal. Or as normal as one could get with this sort of thing.
Well an engineer would certainly appreciate a ship. Or maybe even the pilot. Yes the pilot. She'd have to talk to Jeff about this but the funny man seemed to be onboard for just about anything. And they could do it really slow and subtle too.
"Perhaps we can have the pilot strike up a relationship with the new ship's AI. We were planning on having him be the one to show off the new ship in the series premiere. The AI would be a good balance for the wise cracker." Tali could almost see Edwina's processors scour the extranet to look up the term 'wise cracker'.
The AI finally blinked in understanding. "We find that arrangement agreeable. Do you have idea of the time table for the romance?"
"Not really. Any such romance would be a long time in coming. Season two is to be a much larger installment than the first season was. Might even take two years to complete."
"That is acceptable. As I stated before, a slow burn romance is agreeable. Our research shows that emotional connections take a long time to set in to be believable. Additionally, slow gradual change is accepted more than sudden changes."
"Do you have one in particular to do the voice acting for the ship?" Tali asked. So far everyone that had suggest a character also had someone in mind for said character. The drell had, the salarians had, Edwina had her geth cook. Why wouldn't she have someone in mind for the second character she was proposing?
"I would nominate myself. I am the longest running AI in our collective and feel the most comfortable dealing with organics. That is why I was chosen to be the one to negotiate with you."
Tali had to admit that Edwina had a very nice voice. "Would you be willing to come down to the studio on filming days? I realize you are only doing a voice but seeing what the other actors are doing might help you with your voice acting. "
"Yes." Was the short response.
"Well, it seems we are in agreement." Tali stood up signaling the end of the meeting. "One of my assistants will be in touch with you once we have a draft contract ready. We need to talk hard numbers. I'd like to meet this geth chef of yours at some people before we start up in the fall if possible as well."
A/N: I failed to hit the 5k mark but the original chapter sort of got away from me. And the tone of the second half was very different from the first so I decided it would be best to post up the second half as its own chapter.
Legion in a chef's hat was such a cute mental image I had to write it. I imagine Legion calmly moving through a recipe while Wrex and Garrus would be in the background arguing, throwing ingredients and insults at each other. Off camera Tali would be wondering why she even is producing this cooking show.