Need to Know (Miranda/Ashley) 50/50
anonymous
January 29 2015, 11:57:06 UTC
Epilogue
A few days later the Normandy met up with Admiral Hackett’s fleet to go over the plans to attack the Cerberus Headquarters. This was where Miranda and Oriana were getting off. Miranda was in no shape to join the attack anyway, and Oriana, who was adamant to contribute to the war effort, convinced her sister to let her join the Crucible team. Miranda did not argue much once she realized that she can’t keep her tucked away again and expect her to be idle, and it wouldn’t be so much different from hiding her from their father. There was no way she was letting her out of her sight either. She also had to admit, that Oriana’s intelligence would be well utilized in such an important project, it would keep her happy and the always moving Crucible construction site was probably the safest place in the Galaxy at the moment.
Miranda already sent a message to Jacob and a few other old acquaintances, putting together her own little strike team with which she planned to hit Cerberus bases wherever they could find them. With her insider knowledge of Cerberus and the research during the last months to find Oriana, her information would also be invaluable to the Alliance to avoid attacks and better protect their routes and civilians. It might just buy her redemption with the Alliance brass, not to mention her freedom.
She also knew she will probably earn some sideways glances, but she couldn’t care less. With her peace offering and the “glowing reviews” from both human Spectres she would be set for as long as the war was going on.
With Ashley, though, it was a different issue. The marine was eager to go up against Cerberus on Shepard’s side, and Miranda couldn’t blame her. And after that? “I think I will join Hackett and coordinate with the turian and quarian fleet when the time comes, so Shepard can do… well, whatever he is doing.”
They were standing in the hangar bay, behind the shuttle that was being prepped for taking her and Oriana to Hackett’s flagship. Ashley’s hands were holding her by her waist, while her hands rested on Ashley’s shoulders. It was their last private moment before departure, although by now, everyone knew about what happened in the med bay. This kind of attention bothered Miranda more than the mistrust of the Alliance personnel, but she could live with it. Ashley didn’t mind the looks they got either.
“Then maybe we could meet again, soon,” Miranda said. Ashley nodded absently, pulling Miranda’s head to her chest. “I still think it’s crazy for you to go raiding Cerberus bases like a pirate.” Miranda chuckled softly, resting her cheek on Ashley’s shoulder. “I know someone who would enjoy the irony.” “Will you be all right?” Miranda leaned back to look into Ashley’s face and cupped her cheek. “I will be. Really,” she said softly. Ashley groaned, shaking her head with eyes closed. “I hate this. I don’t like goodbyes. What if-” “I know.”
There was a polite cough and a few seconds of pause before Oriana walked around the shuttle. “Randa? We’re ready to go.” “Thank you, Ori,” she said, planting a soft kiss on Ashley’s lips and quickly breaking away from the embrace before she got too emotional. They walked around to the door, Ashley following a few steps behind.
As the sisters climbed in, Ashley couldn’t stop herself. “Wait!” she called after Miranda, grabbing her elbow. The woman turned back towards her. “Yes?” “What if we don’t- what if we can’t meet again?” Miranda pressed her lips thin and nodded in understanding. She slowly pulled her arm away, touching Ashley’s cheek gently again for a quick second. “When this is all over-” she nodded around in a gesture that encompassed everything, “-find me,” Miranda said quietly and stepped back.
Ashley nodded solemnly, watching the shuttle’s door descend. “I will,” she said just before it closed.
Ashley could only hope that Miranda had heard her.
A/N: Need to Know (Miranda/Ashley) 50/50
anonymous
January 29 2015, 11:59:17 UTC
author’s note: So there we go. After many-many months of idling, writer’s block and half-abandonment, it is finally finished. I wish to apologise to the OP for taking so long, but finally it’s completed.
The story bears a passing resemblance to my previous Ashley/Miranda story, “Played”, especially the last part, which is a variation and extension of the bonus scene from Played. I kind of worked my way back from that. There are other places where the story or motifs overlap, and some of it is intentional. I was experimenting with writing a variation on a theme that was more relevant to the games, while trying to remain as faithful to the original as it made sense.
I also thank you for all the kind readers and feedback that I got, it is always appreciated. I will take another look at the story, iron out the wrinkles and start uploading it to AO3.
Re: A/N: Need to Know (Miranda/Ashley) 50/50
anonymous
January 29 2015, 16:23:43 UTC
Huh, now I can't not leave a comment - I read this from when it started, and I really enjoyed the inclusion of many 'plot' scenes, especially as you capture the feeling of the ME world really well! Also being a fan of this relatively-rare pairing does help - now that you say it I do see the parallels to Played (which I re-read some time ago), even if the dynamics resulting of the fact that they are supposed to be enemies (which dominates that other story) looses its importance here half way through, being set in ME3 and all. But their comparable backgrounds give this another (not unrealistic) basis here... And the characters totally make sense, Miranda changing between her seemingly over-confident 'perfect' behavior and her complete vulnerability multiple times, and Ash's confusion seem in character to me, contributing to the feeling of the world I mentioned earlier. So, uh... cool thing!
Re: A/N: Need to Know (Miranda/Ashley) 50/50
anonymous
January 29 2015, 19:01:37 UTC
Thank you for reading and staying with the story! I appreciate the feedback, especially since it is always the trickiest part to make these characters as believable as possible, while accepting that doing this will essentially be out of character for them. I'm glad there are other Ash/Miranda fans out there. :)
Re: A/N: Need to Know (Miranda/Ashley) 50/50
anonymous
January 29 2015, 18:29:15 UTC
I liked those scenes where Ash an Miranda were together and actively interacted with each other, like the whole Citadel part in the beginning was very good. The smut scenes were great, especially the latter two because of the cool locations.
But I found the parts where they were alone doing their own thing a little dry and not very interesting.
I already mentioned that I didn't like the frequent location changes and time jumps. The story just never slowed down enough to let Ash and Miranda spend a reasonably long time together to properly develop their relationship. For example, I really wish the Australia scene was longer. It was a pretty unique location for a ME fic and maybe they could have done something interesting there together.
Re: A/N: Need to Know (Miranda/Ashley) 50/50 - A!A
anonymous
January 29 2015, 18:54:20 UTC
I appreciate the feedback and I understand your issues with it. I already started extending/re-working the motel scene and I'll add the beach scene to the list. I will try to round them out a bit if I can before starting to upload it to AO3.
(trivia: The Australian location is actually a bit stalker-ish choice, as it is the hometown of Miranda's voice actress.)
The parts where they are alone doing their own thing is different, though. I tried to keep them as short as possible, but those were necessary to move the plot forward and set up the story until they can meet. One of the reasons for the quick jumps in time and place were to try and cut out the boring parts and get to the important bits. (Maybe one of the reasons that some parts are dry was because I was rushing them to reach the interesting parts.)
Thank you for your feedback, it really helps to fix things and to motivate!
A!A: Need to Know (Miranda/Ashley) 50/50
anonymous
February 5 2015, 23:37:03 UTC
I took the advices and tried to flesh out the first two chapters: the citadel encounter and the beach scene. The extended scenes are up on AO3. Hope you like them.
Re: A/N: Need to Know (Miranda/Ashley) 50/50
anonymous
January 30 2015, 16:20:19 UTC
Enjoyed this greatly, however the piece is not without it's flaws. Mainly, there is a lot of 'tell' and very little 'show', especially in action chapters. Now that may be because A!A is simply not familiar with the subject matter (military life, infantry combat etc.) I would also suggest you try a more direct storytelling approach in present tense or even first-person narrative for action bits. Again, loved the fill, just throwing something for you to consider.
Re: A/N: Need to Know (Miranda/Ashley) 50/50
anonymous
January 30 2015, 17:30:31 UTC
a!a here, and thank you for your comments, they are quite useful. I do agree about the show don't tell observation. However, since I'm writing this in my free time, that turned out to be way too hectic to keep the narrative tight, I can't afford the time to develop these scenes fully. I just wanted to get the story done, and thus, some scenes were indeed, rushed. I'd love to spend more effort on these fills, but that would make the story much bigger and a lot of work which I can't necessarily put into it. In the future I'll try my best to show more and tell less as much as my time and energy allows it. Being not a native English speaker, however, I know I have my limits. That's why I write for a kink meme and try to get to the smut, and don't make a living out of it :)
A!A: Need to Know (Miranda/Ashley) 50/50
anonymous
February 5 2015, 23:39:16 UTC
regarding the combat part: I know it's not authentic, but it's kinda based on how I played the game (e.g.: blindly shooting anything that moved). I love action sequences, just not writing them :)
A!A: Need to Know (Miranda/Ashley) 50/50
anonymous
February 1 2015, 10:55:01 UTC
I started to upload the story on AO3, here: http://archiveofourown.org/works/3262514/chapters/7114733 I extended the first chapter to include more dialogue and tweaks, and a few extra paragraphs at the end. I'll try to make a few more fixes as I upload the rest in the coming weeks.
A!A: Need to Know (Miranda/Ashley) 50/50
anonymous
March 2 2015, 08:05:11 UTC
Wow! Not only did this story get nominated in the kmeme awards, but it won a first and a second prize! I am grateful for the nominations and the votes, this really helps to motivate me to write more! Thank you all for the votes!
A few days later the Normandy met up with Admiral Hackett’s fleet to go over the plans to attack the Cerberus Headquarters. This was where Miranda and Oriana were getting off. Miranda was in no shape to join the attack anyway, and Oriana, who was adamant to contribute to the war effort, convinced her sister to let her join the Crucible team. Miranda did not argue much once she realized that she can’t keep her tucked away again and expect her to be idle, and it wouldn’t be so much different from hiding her from their father. There was no way she was letting her out of her sight either. She also had to admit, that Oriana’s intelligence would be well utilized in such an important project, it would keep her happy and the always moving Crucible construction site was probably the safest place in the Galaxy at the moment.
Miranda already sent a message to Jacob and a few other old acquaintances, putting together her own little strike team with which she planned to hit Cerberus bases wherever they could find them. With her insider knowledge of Cerberus and the research during the last months to find Oriana, her information would also be invaluable to the Alliance to avoid attacks and better protect their routes and civilians. It might just buy her redemption with the Alliance brass, not to mention her freedom.
She also knew she will probably earn some sideways glances, but she couldn’t care less. With her peace offering and the “glowing reviews” from both human Spectres she would be set for as long as the war was going on.
With Ashley, though, it was a different issue. The marine was eager to go up against Cerberus on Shepard’s side, and Miranda couldn’t blame her. And after that?
“I think I will join Hackett and coordinate with the turian and quarian fleet when the time comes, so Shepard can do… well, whatever he is doing.”
They were standing in the hangar bay, behind the shuttle that was being prepped for taking her and Oriana to Hackett’s flagship. Ashley’s hands were holding her by her waist, while her hands rested on Ashley’s shoulders. It was their last private moment before departure, although by now, everyone knew about what happened in the med bay. This kind of attention bothered Miranda more than the mistrust of the Alliance personnel, but she could live with it. Ashley didn’t mind the looks they got either.
“Then maybe we could meet again, soon,” Miranda said.
Ashley nodded absently, pulling Miranda’s head to her chest.
“I still think it’s crazy for you to go raiding Cerberus bases like a pirate.”
Miranda chuckled softly, resting her cheek on Ashley’s shoulder.
“I know someone who would enjoy the irony.”
“Will you be all right?”
Miranda leaned back to look into Ashley’s face and cupped her cheek.
“I will be. Really,” she said softly.
Ashley groaned, shaking her head with eyes closed. “I hate this. I don’t like goodbyes. What if-”
“I know.”
There was a polite cough and a few seconds of pause before Oriana walked around the shuttle.
“Randa? We’re ready to go.”
“Thank you, Ori,” she said, planting a soft kiss on Ashley’s lips and quickly breaking away from the embrace before she got too emotional. They walked around to the door, Ashley following a few steps behind.
As the sisters climbed in, Ashley couldn’t stop herself.
“Wait!” she called after Miranda, grabbing her elbow. The woman turned back towards her.
“Yes?”
“What if we don’t- what if we can’t meet again?”
Miranda pressed her lips thin and nodded in understanding. She slowly pulled her arm away, touching Ashley’s cheek gently again for a quick second.
“When this is all over-” she nodded around in a gesture that encompassed everything, “-find me,” Miranda said quietly and stepped back.
Ashley nodded solemnly, watching the shuttle’s door descend.
“I will,” she said just before it closed.
Ashley could only hope that Miranda had heard her.
FIN
Reply
The story bears a passing resemblance to my previous Ashley/Miranda story, “Played”, especially the last part, which is a variation and extension of the bonus scene from Played. I kind of worked my way back from that. There are other places where the story or motifs overlap, and some of it is intentional. I was experimenting with writing a variation on a theme that was more relevant to the games, while trying to remain as faithful to the original as it made sense.
I also thank you for all the kind readers and feedback that I got, it is always appreciated. I will take another look at the story, iron out the wrinkles and start uploading it to AO3.
Any comment or feedback is appreciated.
A!A out
Reply
Also being a fan of this relatively-rare pairing does help - now that you say it I do see the parallels to Played (which I re-read some time ago), even if the dynamics resulting of the fact that they are supposed to be enemies (which dominates that other story) looses its importance here half way through, being set in ME3 and all.
But their comparable backgrounds give this another (not unrealistic) basis here... And the characters totally make sense, Miranda changing between her seemingly over-confident 'perfect' behavior and her complete vulnerability multiple times, and Ash's confusion seem in character to me, contributing to the feeling of the world I mentioned earlier.
So, uh... cool thing!
Reply
Reply
But I found the parts where they were alone doing their own thing a little dry and not very interesting.
I already mentioned that I didn't like the frequent location changes and time jumps. The story just never slowed down enough to let Ash and Miranda spend a reasonably long time together to properly develop their relationship.
For example, I really wish the Australia scene was longer. It was a pretty unique location for a ME fic and maybe they could have done something interesting there together.
Nice work overall!
Reply
(trivia: The Australian location is actually a bit stalker-ish choice, as it is the hometown of Miranda's voice actress.)
The parts where they are alone doing their own thing is different, though. I tried to keep them as short as possible, but those were necessary to move the plot forward and set up the story until they can meet. One of the reasons for the quick jumps in time and place were to try and cut out the boring parts and get to the important bits. (Maybe one of the reasons that some parts are dry was because I was rushing them to reach the interesting parts.)
Thank you for your feedback, it really helps to fix things and to motivate!
Reply
Reply
Reply
Again, loved the fill, just throwing something for you to consider.
Reply
I'd love to spend more effort on these fills, but that would make the story much bigger and a lot of work which I can't necessarily put into it.
In the future I'll try my best to show more and tell less as much as my time and energy allows it. Being not a native English speaker, however, I know I have my limits. That's why I write for a kink meme and try to get to the smut, and don't make a living out of it :)
Reply
Reply
http://archiveofourown.org/works/3262514/chapters/7114733
I extended the first chapter to include more dialogue and tweaks, and a few extra paragraphs at the end. I'll try to make a few more fixes as I upload the rest in the coming weeks.
Reply
I am grateful for the nominations and the votes, this really helps to motivate me to write more!
Thank you all for the votes!
Reply
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