An intriguing, sensitive and thoroughly emotional take on one of my favourite mass effect romances. Nicely done :)

Wow, great lead in to your other story. These chapter are worth the wait. I was slightly disapointed that in ME Shepard's LI was not located in his cabin, it felt like Bioware was afraid of letting relationships move forward, glad you fixed that.

I can't wait to read what you write next:)

Another story finished, well done! No comments on this one, I can't see anything really to improve. Sure you can tweak anything you want, but it's mostly subjective at this point.

Looking forward to the next installment!

nice job on the happy interlude, the heroes have earned it

First of all, great chapter. Small but fine. A nice little epilogue. Especially the Tali bits :)

Regarding your question. I say you go straight to the LotSB stuff. Put the ME1 stuff into another piece. If you put it in here it would destroy the flow. My humble opinion tho.

Stay strong my friend.

Phil

Quick comment on the writing; overall good! The time-scale works well, and the progression of thought followed the pattern you established with the previous chapters.

However, and this is probably just me, the sentences beginning with "Even" and "Because" were a little off-putting. That's not to say they were bad, just a bit monotonous in texture. I believe you were attempting to enforce a solid ending, make it a resounding affirmation of what had transpired; for most part, that works. A somewhat more simple ending would have worked slightly better in my opinion, combining more of the reasons into maybe two paragraphs. Again, that's just my opinion. Unlike butter, there's no reason to spread it around ;)

ME1 or ME2? Hmmm ... I would suggest you follow where your concentration is currently located. When I'm writing, I am sometimes asked to insert changes or updates. Normally, I'm happy to add in suggestions; sometimes, no matter how logical or brilliant the suggestion, I just can't write what is asked. I don't know if it's due to lack of passion, or maybe a intense desire to keep my writing *mine*, but writing something I don't want to write doesn't work.

On the other hand, being able to write despite antipathy is a good way to improve your skills. Going back to ME1 would let you recapture the "feel" of how the original crew fit together, and how resources were acquired. Then, possibly, those resources could be used for the SR-2 ... or the missions could be flashbacks during the SR-2? That last would be kind difficult to write though.

Congratulations on the popularity of your writing, and being able to bring it to such a climactic finish!

my vote is for moving on the the post me2 stuff,

Sorry I haven't reviewed lately, I was kind of in a rush to get 50,000 words done on one of my other stories last month but now that that is done I am playing catch up. I really liked this chapter. I really want to see your Me1 stuff particularly if it features Tali. You can always do post ME2 stuff later or alternate between the two. I think the ME1 stuff could be put in RCWM without any problems.

As for why this story get so many more views well I think that is just because you write the Shepard/Tali relationship so well.

Thanks for continuing to write and sorry I have not reviewed in a long time.

Keep up the good work.

That was a great read, Hope there is more soon.

Nice elaboration on the romance scene with Tali and Shepard before the suicide mission...I felt like I could actually see that happening.

Another great chapter! I liked how you perfectly managed to show the character's emotions in your story; from Tali's nervousness, to Shepard right before taking off the mask, to how they both felt at the ending. It was done perfectly and well written in general.
The only thing I can really complain about is that it just felt too short. Though that isn't that horrible (it shows that I liked the story and want to see more). Aside from that, my only other point of minor complaint is that their time without the mask was quite short. However, I liked that you used that small amount of time to put more emphasis on how important the moment was. I definitely prefer the focus on the emotions over ruining the moment by writing a fic that belongs to the MA category, it's good to see that you stayed far away from that stuff.

In the end, I think this is one of the best chapters from the series. Good job!
About 'Explanations', I think that it's fine to keep that one a separate story. It's quite lengthy on it's own and has a slightly different atmosphere, so I think it deserves a place on its own.

while im a long time talimancer, ive never really cared about what she looked like under the mask. its one of those things where the mystery is better then any answer could be

As long as your other stories are in the same universe and Talimancing stories you bet i will read them :D Regarding the Explanations story. You could do that. I think it depends on how far you go with this story.

Well, the chapter itself was awesome. Like always. You are such a good writer. I really love to read how you write the emotions of Tali and Shepard. Splendid work i say.
From what i read. You are basically using the Canon Tali appearance right? I can't argue against that. I always liked what Bioware did. Just not the execution of it. That Tali or Quarians in general look from all races the most like Humans is even in the Codex. So nothing wrong with using biowares work :D

One last thing. That they didn't make it before the suicide mission was the right move. From a Talimancer perspective it might be disappointing, but i think you explained it well enough. If they really had sex before the suicide mission, Tali would be dead sick. So i agree on the abstinence here. Especially since she showed her face to John anyway. That was the important part after all :D

So i think i praised you enough again :D

Keep it coming and good luck with your other stories. We might meet again.

Phil

I would post it here. I added my ending one shot to the story recovery because it makes the story easier to follow and I think the same applies here. Good job on this chapter. I take it your idea is that Tali will expose herself to the room and Shepard for longer and longer periods of time to let her body get used to it before spending a whole night out of her suit. That always seemed a little more logical then what happened in the game. Oh and good for you having the guts to describe Tali's face,I must admit that is something I haven't had the guts to do in my own stories for fear of enraging readers. I think everyone has their own idea of what Tali looks like,in fact i think the only thing the fans agree on is that Tali doesn't look like the bad photoshop job we got in ME3.

Any way good job with this chapter and keep up the good work.

A good writing! The described appearance sounds like a combination of a Night Elf and a Trill (lines on eyebrow, mottled side of face). Very imaginative!

Looking forward to your other updates, and I'll try to take a look at your rewrites as they come up :)