Hello there, my legion. It has been far too long. After a semester of hellish classes, long tests, and never-ending lectures from a clac teacher I plotted on murdering (mind you, I had everything planned. Where to hide the body, what time of day to strike, even how long I would feign sympathy for her. I just couldn't decide which caliber to use), it's good to be back amongst my anonymous friends. Hopefully, this story has eased some of the pain of separation.

Anyone looking for the edited stories that were posted here, Ive replaced their originals with the new edits. Just look for the actual story on my profile, and you'll find the edits.

Also, if anyone has concerns about my new 3rd person POV for this story, relax. I don't plan on doing this as a standard. My creative writing class taught me some new ways to write, and this is one of them. I want to incorporate it a little into future stories, but that will only be for a chapter or two: I still prefer, and I think I write better in, 1st person. Just to alleviate anyone's fears.

And something of entertainment for this story. When I originally wrote it, Tali came up to the crew deck for lunch. She grabbed an MRE from the fridge, stuck it in a heater, and waited for it. When she heard Shepard's voice, she climbed atop the counter to listen. Garrus scared her, she fell, and he helped her up. When Shep came out, they all sat and talked on the table in the mini-kitchen before and after Shepard's concert. The problem: There wasn't a fridge or mini-kitchen or anything over there in ME1. It took me two weeks to catch this problem, as it had completely slipped my mind all that was added to the SR2. So... yeah, had to fix all of that. I felt really stupid about it for a few days. Thought you all would like laughing at my bumbling.

Next, here's my plans for future stories. The next big one I'm working on is, as I mentioned before, is kind of a rewind story. A week after blowing the Collector base and telling the Illusive Man to go to Hell, but before the attempted rescue of Dr. Kenson, the crew docks back on Illium for some supplies and well-earned shore leave. Shepard and Tali plan to have a day to themselves and enjoy being alive. But of course, things never go according to plan. No more guns are involved, but Garrus runs into someone he never thought he'd see again, Zaeed cashes in on a few favors some clients owe him, and Joker has an incident with strippers. I'll get the first chapter out sometime towards the end of the month, or at the latest, the first half of June. I won't make a definitive promise about when in this time line, because I want to make sure it's worth the wait. But I will get it within that time line.

And now, a bit of good news. Thanks to the advice and aid of a friendly minion by the name of Getizm, I will be, for sure, doing a piece for a Tali and Shepard wedding. I've been on the edge for a long time, mostly because I don't even know what goes on in a wedding. (Never been to one; blame it on all my relatives getting married at really inconvenient time or location.) I still don't have a 100% certain idea on what I'm going to do, but I've got a dozen pages of notes I'm going to tinker with and see what comes out. It'll be a while, minions, but it's coming.

Two more notes before I go. First, I would like to thank Para-Cord for her motivating me into actually posting these edits. I was keeping them for myself, but she convinced me to let you all give it a chance. Be sure to thank her if you like the new versions. (That does NOT mean you can pick on her if you don't like the new edits. If I find out you did, I will personally turn your computer into a boat anchor with no hope of revival. Don't piss off the computer science major with a background in PC repair. Ye have been warned.) Second, there's another minion who would like your help. He goes by Ebalawn JFR, and he's got a story of his own called "The Other Mass Effect." He's looking for some constructive criticisms from anyone who'll read, and I promised I'd throw him a few of you psychos his way. It's a different story: he's added three OCs which have been with Shepard through all three games. (The story starts off right before reaching the citadel beam in London; the dialogue tells the story of how long they've been together.) Shepard's still got his Tali, but they're not the main characters: the OCs are. The chapters are really long, but they're worth reading. If any of you all get a chance, wander over there and give him some advice. He's getting better, but he's still got room for growth.

So, that's pretty much everything. I'll be rolling out the next story shortly, but I wanted to throw you all something when I planned to have the long one out. Everyone behave out there. Good luck with life. Cause you can't, you can't, you can't kill me that easily.

~MGA

(And yes, that was a 10 Years Russian Roulette reference. Awesome song.)